the antisemitic appeal of purchasing and my argument

Submitted by myth (Netherlands), Jun 22, 2011 at 11:47

The legal-purchase argument sounds attractive to antisemitic ears for it illustrates the "jews handle money well" prejudice. I would be more careful with this argument. Even worse, if one has a god-given right to have a home this makes the sale of the homeland unlawful. There is no way one can sell ones natural rights. Also a legal sale of an individual does not scale up to the sale of an entire country.

My argument is different: the Israelis cultivated the land for the better, established a free democratic society and shaped the country to their specific character. Israel's succes-story legitmates Israel's existence. Israel's succes came with the achievements of t he jewish settlers, it did not result from the territorie's natural prosperity. This is not the Jews luckily finding oil in the ground and get rich that way, with clean hands all along.

My second argument is this: Israel defended itself many times with great success. The outcome of those wars answers the question to whom the land belongs, for those who attacked asked the question.

In historical context, a time when 50million people were killed in WW2, among them 6 million jews in concentration camps, the struggle for survival provides the answer to all questions. Selling, stealing or whatever were of minor importance in that time of history, certainly for Jews.

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