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2005-01-04 Israel-Palestine
Britons rank Israel 'worst country'
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Posted by PlanetDan 2005-01-04 3:31:18 PM|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 We need more data!

Who was the best groomed country?

Who was the smartest country?

Who was the funniest country?

Which country was best dressed?

Which country was most likely to unroll the nukes from their cheap tees and commence beating the shit out of the most popular country?
Posted by Shipman 2005-01-04 4:08:03 PM||   2005-01-04 4:08:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 "online survey" should have stopped you from reading further...
Posted by Rawsnacks 2005-01-04 4:10:33 PM||   2005-01-04 4:10:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Britain instrumental in the creation of Israel, and wasn't that creation an attempt to address mistakes of colonial history, the crimes of the holocaust and long-term universal hatred of Jews?
Posted by Jules 187 2005-01-04 4:11:30 PM||   2005-01-04 4:11:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 The Balfour Declaration was prepared prior to the holocaust.
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-01-04 4:24:03 PM||   2005-01-04 4:24:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 I can only apologise for this...
Posted by Tony (UK)  2005-01-04 4:26:56 PM||   2005-01-04 4:26:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Perfect, Mrs D, heh. And from there...
Posted by .com 2005-01-04 4:27:17 PM||   2005-01-04 4:27:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Tony - Hey, bro, we have an infection level of 48% - we're not crowing - we're commiserating.
Posted by .com 2005-01-04 4:29:02 PM||   2005-01-04 4:29:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 My mistake-thanks, Mrs. D. Found this interesting info on adl.org:

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the British assumed control of Palestine. In November 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, announcing its intention to facilitate the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." In 1922, the League of Nations granted Britain a mandate over Palestine which included, among other things, provisions calling for the establishment of a Jewish homeland, facilitating Jewish immigration and encouraging Jewish settlement on the land.

The Arabs were opposed to Jewish immigration to Palestine and stepped up their attacks against the Jews. Following an increase in Arab attacks, the British appointed a royal commission in 1936 to investigate the Palestine situation. The Peel Commission recommended the partition of the country between Arabs and Jews. The Arabs rejected the idea while the Jews accepted the principle of partition...

Posted by Jules 187 2005-01-04 4:33:23 PM||   2005-01-04 4:33:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 I can't help wondering why there is such a sudden rise in antisemitism in countries like our own, Britain, France, etc. It's odd and I just don't get it. I'm glad Kerry lost because I think it would have escalated here too if he had won. What's most odd is that it comes from the left - our embracers of multiculturalism and diversity. I really think it's all about the culture of blame that defines the left.
Posted by 2b 2005-01-04 4:39:26 PM||   2005-01-04 4:39:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Why the rise in antisemitism? I think its because

A)the Palestinians continue to ride the lefty anti-colonialist (ie 'its all our fault the noble little brown and black natives are backward') wave, and

B)the left wing liked the Jews when they were being progressively non-religious and living communistically on kibbutzes. But now the Jews refuse to give up their religion (this drove the Catholics and Martin Luther mad as well, that the Jews refused to accept the superiority of their religious systems over the original) and are happily and successfully capitalist -- the kibbutzes are more tourist destinations than anything else -- the socialist/communist wings of the left reject Israel as if it had leprosy.

Oh, and despite British pre-WWII idealism and promises, the British government fought hard to retain their Mandate over "Palestine," and when the UN stymied that effort, set things up so that the rump Jewish state would fail immediately, hoping that Israel would then call in Britain to protect her from the invading Arab armies. Israel had not yet been forgiven by the British governing types for failing to fail.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-01-04 5:30:02 PM||   2005-01-04 5:30:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 The tops and bottoms of the results: here.

The Telegraph's own article on the poll here.

"United Jewish Israel Appeal UK spokesperson, Beverley Kaye, commented to The Jerusalem Post that 'this survey showed an interesting perspective bearing in mind the small sample number, which represents the number of Telegraph readers in the UK.'"

No it doesn't. The poll was conducted for the Daily Telegraph, not by the Daily Telegraph. Respondents were selected from YouGov's membership, which has nothing to do with Telegraph readership.

From the Telegraph article: "Several countries – notably the United States – turn out to have "crossover" reputations. Large numbers rate them highly. Large numbers take the opposite view." And that's about it...
Posted by Bulldog  2005-01-04 5:32:44 PM||   2005-01-04 5:32:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 that brits would find Israelis "unfriendly" is hardly surprising. Brits tend to be polite, while Israelis are among the rudest, bluntest, people there are. Sometimes this is refreshing, but its not very British.

That they find it undemocratic is clearly an effect of their press coverage that focuses on events in Gaza, and not debates in the Knesset

As for beautiful, they dont know what theyre missing.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2005-01-04 5:36:06 PM||   2005-01-04 5:36:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 insightful comments all.
Posted by 2b 2005-01-04 5:39:58 PM||   2005-01-04 5:39:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 As for beautiful, they dont know what theyre missing.

Many know only what they see, hear and read from the likes of the BBC (and the leftoid rags) - not only the execrable news reportage but the news analysis, rigged political debates and the pervasive anti-Israeli sentiment that infests the whole organisation, including most prominent presenters, when they bother to express an ill-informed opinion. They'll never see a holiday programme lauding the sights and smells of Jerusalem or the spectacular views from Masada nowadays, for instance. What this poll reflects more than anything else is the power of propaganda. It's effects on people should never be underestimated.
Posted by Bulldog  2005-01-04 5:49:16 PM||   2005-01-04 5:49:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 well said, Bulldog!
Posted by 2b 2005-01-04 5:51:29 PM||   2005-01-04 5:51:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 I can't help wondering why there is such a sudden rise in antisemitism in countries like our own, Britain, France, etc. What's most odd is that it comes from the left - our embracers of multiculturalism and diversity.
Your #2 sentence answers your question. What is sadly ironic is that the Jewish Left embraced these 2 concepts as well because they thought multi-culturalism and diversity would bring tolerance for different cultures/religions and also dilute the threat of nationalism in the West, which they equated with Nazi Germany. Instead today's multiculturalism came about from high immigration levels from source countries in the Third World, many of them Muslim dominant and diluting nationalism meant that the good Judeo Christian founding values of a country like the USA were also diluted so that being American has become a hyphenated after thought with the source country's values coming first in the equation.
Posted by joeblow 2005-01-04 5:55:34 PM||   2005-01-04 5:55:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 I'm really surprised at the US topping off the "least safe" countries, ahead of Egypt and Russia. Sometimes stereotypes die hard.

In the late-80s my (now) boyfriend had a couple friends visit him from Britain. He said they were constantly looking over their shoulders and preparing to dive for cover. Apparently they believed that suburban St. Louis was nothing but a constant hail of bullets (40% chance of gunfire tonight, with occasional 9mm hail).

They seemed like nice folks -- they smiled a lot -- but between dashing for cover and refusing to open their mouths, lest someone ridicule their (northern) accents, it was kinda hard to tell.

Some people take TV too seriously.
Posted by Angie Schultz 2005-01-04 6:09:29 PM|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com]  2005-01-04 6:09:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Thanks .com, I just read the headline and groaned...

BullDog - your #14 comment is spot on, add in trailing wife's points and I think we have a pretty good description of this phenomena.

Angie, I quite agree about the taking TV too seriously. I've been to the States three times (Florida-7 days, California-4 days and DC-3 days), and have transitted through LAX a dozen or so times on the way to NZ/Oz. Ok, I was a bit nervous in Florida (I think this was the time there were people getting killed at rest-stops), California (LA/Santa Barbara) was really something and DC was superb for all the sights there - Air and Space Museum of course. Thing is, virtually all the Americans I met were (a) very friendly/incredibly polite, (b) talkative and (c) didn't want to shoot me. Ok, there was an incident on a Florida golf course where things could have got nasty (our green etiquette was a little lax), and the store clerk in Santa Barbara who, on hearing I was from England said 'so what's so Great about Britain?' (I was a model of politeness), and finally the guy who propositioned me in DC - I guess he was being friendly too, but not in the way I was interested in! :) I was even invited out for dinner by a fellow RB-er (who shall remain anonymous), but couldn't make it as my schedule was crazy.

I guess my point is, that TV really doesn't do any country justice, and I think America gets it worse than most. That is, unless you've seen Takeshi's Castle? ;)
Posted by Tony (UK)  2005-01-04 8:07:59 PM||   2005-01-04 8:07:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Complete horseshit, as indicated by this disconnect from reality:

More Britons ranked America as the least safe country than those who thought the same of Israel, Egypt or South Africa

Egypt is a totalitarian third world nightmare state. Not even tourists are safe there. Israel is at war. South Africa-- funny how the basket-case post-apartheid mess of a nation escapes MSM coverage these days-- is probably the most dangerous peacetime state on the planet: ca. 20% of the female population has been raped, and carjackings are a daily occurrence in Johannesburg. Half the workforce is unemployed.

Anyone who thinks the US is more dangerous than these nations is either bullshitting or completely detached from reality. So much for online opinion polls.
Posted by lex 2005-01-04 8:39:52 PM||   2005-01-04 8:39:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 I'll take completely detacehd from reality lex.

These same morons also declare the US and Isreal the most dangerous nations to world peace as well.

More crap from teh Joo hating left.
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-04 8:44:05 PM|| [http://www.slhess.com]  2005-01-04 8:44:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 Is this the same British public that doesn't know what the Holocaust was, per recent accounts?
Posted by very anon 2005-01-04 9:23:32 PM||   2005-01-04 9:23:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 Tony, I'm glad you had a good time. Ya'll come back and see us again now, ya hear?
Posted by 2b 2005-01-04 9:31:15 PM||   2005-01-04 9:31:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 Of all the malicious MSM/Euro canards, the most ludicrous is the notion that the US is an unsafe country. Anyone who's even marginally numerate can read the violent death stats put out by any reputable government agency and see that the homicide problem in the US is overwhelmingly concentrated among a minority population of a minority population that itself is very narrowly concentrated in a few islands of drug dealing lawlessness. Even the UN, which recently collected such data from government agencies around the world, could not forbear pointing out this very un-PC and very powerful, blindingly obvious truth: 99.999% of US locales are as safe as or safer than any place on the planet. In other words, foreign tourists who stay away from the gangbangers' hood will likely be safer in the US than they would be in any decent-sized city outside the US.
Posted by lex 2005-01-04 10:00:35 PM||   2005-01-04 10:00:35 PM|| Front Page Top

00:02 joeblow
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22:51 Captain America
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