Londoner In Israel

Awesome facilities and atmosphere - I think you guys put on an amazing show and set a new benchmark for other countries to follow.

P.S. Hi H in case you read this

Israel's military messed up badly yesterday by all accounts, and many Palestinian civilians have paid the price, as well as three Israeli soldiers. People are grieving on both sides, and more violence could easily follow. Do we all agree that we need to find a way of stopping such tragedies from occurring?

Jews and Muslims are locked in seemingly perpetual dispute on this site over who this ancient land belongs to. Then along comes a religious Christian, who Jews hate because they fear he is trying to convert them, and Muslims hate because they see him as a Zionist crusader.

But I have a secret weapon to promote religious harmony on this site, because I have a friend who is a lesbian paganist. To me she's just a nice girl, but to many of you no doubt she is an idolatrous and perverted Satan worshipper, and so I guess she might be just perfect for uniting all three religions together?

Just wanted to express congratulations to all Egyptians on their superb win! Hopefully I'm not going to reap too much criticism for being an Israeli trespassing on the Egypt site - I promise there are no strings attached, and all I want is to give applause where applause is due.

It's plain to see in these photos on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gall...

Israel supporters will say that it shows the benefits of focusing on prosperity rather than violence; Israel haters will say it demonstrates the deprivation of the Palestinians.

I'm not taking sides - I just thought you might find the photos interesting, and I can certify that the first five are a fair reflection of life here in my home city of Tel Aviv

Londoner In Israel

I have just woken up to read all of last night's hilarious entertainment - Shishak (the undisputed master of account creation) has truly surpassed himself this time...

But for anyone who hasn't worked it out yet, all of the fictitious accounts were created on November 9th (if you hover over an avatar you get to see the date it was created).

So the question entitled 'Look at my avatar?' was posted by the real Ultra N (avatar dated November 8th), while the response 'you're right' was by Shishak pretending to be him.

OK I'm going away for a few days now, but I promise to return soon. Please try not to kill each other in the meantime!

Londoner In Israel

P.S. In case anyone gets the bright idea of trying to impersonate me in the meantime, my account was created in August...

In Rabbi Avraham Ben Eliezer's opening question, he declares to paperback that he is new to the forum, despite the fact that he seems to know all about MikeInRI:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvlXy...

He reveals his true personality a few questions later in a discussion with Whoo:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmqM6...

Shishak - please return to this forum under your usual name.

Everyone else - stop shutting down his account. It's far better to have him here in a form where we can recognise him, than to have him here masquerading as a 'rabbi'. Better the devil we know...

Londoner In Israel

A CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man in Jerusalem who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. That’d make a good story, she decided.

So she drove to the wall and, sure enough, there was the elderly gent, praying away. She watched him for an hour and, as he turned to leave, approached him for an interview.

“Rebecca Smith, CNN,” she said. “Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall to pray?”

“Sixty years.”

“Sixty years! Amazing! What do you pray for?”

“I pray for peace between Christians, Jews and Muslims. I pray for all hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship.”

“So how do you feel after doing this for so long?”

“Like I’m talking to a bloody wall!”

A CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man in Jerusalem who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. That’d make a good story, she decided.

So she drove to the wall and, sure enough, there was the elderly gent, praying away. She watched him for an hour and, as he turned to leave, approached him for an interview.

“Rebecca Smith, CNN,” she said. “Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall to pray?”

“Sixty years.”

“Sixty years! Amazing! What do you pray for?”

“I pray for peace between Christians, Jews and Muslims. I pray for all hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship.”

“So how do you feel after doing this for so long?”

“Like I’m talking to a bloody wall!”

Someone under the name Gam Zo Letovah today refused my invitation to join in positive and peaceable discussion on this forum, stating that my own willingness to do so amounts to dangerous naivety.

Is he/she right? Is it complete folly to make any attempt to improve inter-faith relations? Worse still, is it actually dangerous to try to do so? What damage might such forum chat cause?

Have any of you been positively affected by anything anyone has said in this forum, which has made you view members of other races or religions with a little less anger and suspicion? Or has your overall experience merely intensified them?

Do you think peacemakers are wasting their breath, both here and in the world outside?

Judaism also used to practise execution by stoning, and rules for when and how it should be applied are defined in the Torah, which religious Jews believe to be the words of God. But over the years rabbis decided that it should not be applied any more, even though it is prescribed in our holiest texts.

What has to happen for Islam to decide to reject such ancient barbaric practices, in favour of ones more suited to our times?

And on a similar note, under what circumstances could devout Muslims accept to relinquish land that is holy 'waqf'? Judaism views Mount Sinai as exceptionally holy (it's where God gave Moses the Torah), but we still handed over the whole of Sinai in the interests of peace. What could be done to allow fervently religious Muslims such as Hamas to do something similar, without feeling that they are abandoning their religion?

(Note: I'll be out all today, so I can only respond to answers later. But I feel that this question goes to the root of the issue.)