Viking & Logic, thanks for the enlightenment.

Great info, logic.

Jews got a bad name as moneylenders because the Church banned usury (charging interest) for centuries. As the only non-Christians around (there were some Muslims in Christian countries, but they also ban usury, and still do, under sharia) Jews gravitated to moneylending (since there were few professions available to them) and so raised Christian ire. One presumes that it was easy to hate someone to whom one owed money (plus interest) when Christians did not (officially) charge interest.

Logic: "The first heart transplant was done by a Jewish doctor"

Who was that? I don't recall that Christiaan Barnard was Jewish?

Viking: " there are historical reasons for this"

Which don't change the fact of the current situation, which is that the proportion of people who have control of the world's finances who are also Jewish is much higher than the proportion of Jews in the population. That is not the same as saying "all Jews are rich", which would be simply stupid, but to ignore a common bond between many of the super-rich would be equally as dumb. I am firmly of the view that the reason Israel is allowed to behave so poorly is directly and overwhelmingly due to that disproportionate influence. I have no other concerns about it.

Logic: "Israel is not perfect but it would be given a much higher scorecard were it not for the antisemitic attitudes which still prevail,"

Poppycock. In my own case, my anger at Israeli misbehaviour is mostly because I was so much a fan of the early years of the place. I am similarly disappointed and hurt when one of my friends does something that I feel is below par.

It is precisely because Judaism has been such a positive influence in so much of Western culture that the behaviour of the Jewish State is so castigated. Modern Zionism seems at odds with all the Jews have achieved.

Revealing.

I'd say most if not all of Barry Cohens best friends are either Labor Party Members, Unionist, or Labor supporters.

Thanks for the honesty Barry

Antiseptic

I am basically happy with what you say, but am a bit at odds with your statement about Israeli "misbehaviour". Faced with an enemy which has vowed to destroy it, and which is training children to hate and to become suicide bombers, how do you expect it to behave?

This hatred developed in the early 20th century, and was already extreme long before the establishment of the Israeli state. Consider the treatment of Jews from the ancient communities in Hebron and elsewhere, with the growth of Islamic fanaticism.

Consider also the move against Christians, Jews, Samaritans and even Islamic offshoots like the Baha'i and the Druze by fanatics in Islamic states. These states had always given a lower status to non-Muslims and were now allowing, often encouraging, attacks on Jewish citizens, and attempting to drive out non-Muslims. And it is by no means only Jews who suffered from these fanatics. This is deliberately ignored by most of the Western Press but not in parts of Asia where a more balanced picture is given.

With this background, the half of the Israeli population who come from other ME countries, and whose presence there predates Mohamed rightly wish to defend themselves and their families. If Israel is guilty of overreaction here, how much more guilty are the Allies whose attacks on Germany were far more vicious than those of Israel? The Israeli raids are a picnic compared with the allied bombing of that country.

Suggest by all means better methods which Israel might employ, but remember that Hezbollah rockets and Hamas suicide murders also killed Muslims and Christians. And please realise that Hamas is spoiling the lives of the ordinary Gazans. Stopping these religious zealots would benefit a lot of Muslims.

And don't wear the argument that Israel is blockading Gaza. Israel still supplies electric power to that region, treats Gazans in their hospitals (it Hamas lets them go there) and that Gaza has a border with Egypt. It was once part of that country, which after the 6 day war refused to take it back when Israel returned the Sinai.

"Jews got a bad name as moneylenders because the Church banned usury (charging interest) for centuries. "

Actually, the church commited horrific crimes against the Jews. Money lending was the only item missing in a long list of things forbidden to Jews, and this omission came from an error as the church never thought of it.

Jews were banned from owning property, moving outside of designated ghettoes, had to wear special attire, they were banned from universities, government jobs, legal and medical professions, owning a shop, restaurant and any service businesses. The aspect of money lending was the only thing Jews could think of, without facing death or imprisonment. This business began amongst the ghettoe jews within themselves, then speard to a bartering system, and then expanded to non-jews borrowing moneys at better rates. Those who did not want to pay, simply made false charges on the Jews, and it was successful.

The break from this prison came when the Jews invented Travel's Cheques, with a guatantee it could be transferred and encashed in many countries for traders and travellers, upto the Middle and Far east, marking the first time peoples' money was not in the European church's control, and that people did not have to travel carrying money in their persons. The facility of banking emerged from this point. Jews were trusted more than the church, because the Jews were good at protecting peoples' money without robbery. It was the 'control' of other peoples' moneys, and not that Jews controlled the world's moneys, which created banking instutions such as Rothschild Bank.

It is ubsurd that the Jews, who were the victims of persecution, be accused, when the church should be the one pointed at as the prime culprit of racism and discrimination. The church's deeds backfired - and they lost control of the peoples' moneys.