Pssst Clive, the bible is not real old son and judaism is an invented religion.

Why does Online opinion give so much space to these spinners for the criminal statelet?

Dear Marilyn Shepherd,

Which religion is not an invented religion?

At least, dear Marylin and James, Australia still has freedom of expression which allows Clive to post his rather reasonable views. In the Arab world, undoubtedly he would be killed for expressing such views.

While we are dismantling counties why stop at Israel lets dismantle Pakistan. It was formed by chopping up India and was only formed in 1947. Millions of people were displaced but Oh of course it is Muslim so it is alright. Take Israel apart it is only a Jew country.

After all the only people that became refugees are Muslims. OH you say there were 950,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries when Israel was partitioned! All their things taken from them and they had to flee for their lives. But they do not count after all they are only Jews.

No if Israel was only Muslim it would be alright. no problem what it was called.

Let us not be naive Muslims have been ruling the area for a long time and do not want anyone who is not Muslim in their area of influence.

Israel was a nation before Islam when all the Arabs were Pagans or Christian. Jews have lived there for centuries when Hittites/Romans/Greek/Persians then Muslims conquered.

So despite what the anti-Semites and supporters of terror have to say Jews and Israel have a right to exist. Israel is a sovereign nation and must be respected as such.

Despite what the Islamic Brotherhood/Hamas says Jews are not decedents of Pigs and Monkeys but people with a right to live and have self determination.

Having said all the above it does not mean that the Palestinians do not have a hard time. They do. But it is not just Israel's fault alone. The Palestinian leadership has a lot to answer for. Constant fomenting of hate and violence. Strapping explosives on children and sending them out to kill and die may have some reason for harsh security processes. The snipping at civilians and rocket attacks on Israeli towns might be a reason for a security barrier.

When the Bali bombing killed Australians there was a huge hew and cry. 10 years on we remember with rage and sadness at the wanton murder of civilians but the sear volume of terror attacks on Israelis are ignored.

Marilyn Shepherd

The article makes no reference to the Bible being the basis for Jews claiming a right to Israel, rather it claims that there has been a continuous Jewish presence in the land “since biblical times” which justifies a sense of continuous association with the land. This is to counter the belief that Jews left Palestine after defeat by the romans, and only started to return under the influence of Zionism.

Judaism may be a human invention, but then so are all the other social constructs that we use to define our identity and affiliations – ideology, nationality, race etc

It has been noted that religions are all made up and I agree. But the question raised was the exisitance of Israel. Not all the people are in Israel are Jewish. In fact Jews may be a majority but over 20% are not and you can be any religion or none and still be in government. Muslims, Jews and Christians are all Israeli citizens and have equal rights under law.

Some might say this does not apply to Palestinians and that is true. Palestine is ruled by Hamas and PA and they do not have the same laws. You cannot be anything but Muslim to be in government. Not dissimilar to other Islamic nations that tax people who are not Muslims.