[ars]

Perhaps you don't know that Muslim attacks on Jews long predate the modern state of Israel.

Additionally hate for Jews is common in Arab counties that are very far away from, and don't interact with, Israel at all.

There is nothing at all Israel can do to change this. Look at Egypt for example - very long and successful peace treaty. But the populace still hates Jews.

If it's not possible to make an ordinary Egyptian not hate Jews, what makes you think there is any chance for a Palestinian not to?

If you want to change this, first see if you have any success in Egypt.

[Cyph0n]

You are overgeneralizing.

Morocco and Tunisia (my home country) have some of the oldest Jewish populations in the world. As a Tunisian, I am extremely proud to have Jewish brothers and sisters who share my culture. My grandparents (from both sides) had very close friends who happened to be Jewish.

Yes, they have decreased in number over the years, but I think Tunisia has done a good job protecting them. For example, right after the 2011 revolution, the interim government immediately reassured the Jewish community of Djerba that they would be protected.

Also, El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba is one of the oldest in the world AFAIK. I haven't visited it yet though!

[ars]

> You are overgeneralizing.

A bit, I know. But Morocco and Tunisia have some of the best relationships to Jews among the Arab countries. You have to be aware that they are the exception, not the rule.

> I am extremely proud to have Jewish brothers and sisters who share my culture. My grandparents (from both sides) had very close friends who happened to be Jewish.

And it's people like you and your grandparents that give me hope for peace in the world. May there be more like you, and may you have much success in both your personal life, and in influencing others!

[starik36]

That maybe true. But nearly 99% of the Jews did leave Tunisia, according to the Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Mu....

In 1948, there were 105,000 Jews in Tunisia. Now there are 1,500.

How do you explain that?

[icebraining]

With the creation of an affluent Jewish state that grants them automatic citizenship?

[berntb]

You can't get 99% of a population to leave their homes where they grew up without hard push factors.

Especially since their assets were confiscated...

[Cyph0n]

That was a dark time and was fueled by politics rather than the respect of the local population. A large percentage of the Jewish population left for France and Israel - I believe it was an almost 50/50 split between the two.

More notably, this was a move by the Tunisian government, in "solidarity" with Palestine and in agreement with the rest of the Muslim world. This does not mean it was right of course. From my conversations with my paternal grandfather (b. 1927), Jews were treated like regular Tunisians.

[berntb]

So, on one side you have the Nakba in a burning civil war when populations were thrown out (both Jews and Palestinians). Civil wars are horrible.

The other side is when the Jews were thrown out of the Muslim countries and their property stolen. Not in a civil war, but just from racism -- because they had the same religion as in some other country.

Note here that more Jews fled from the Muslim world than Palestinians in the Nakba. And in the fleeing Jews' stolen property there were more land than multiple times the size of Israel.

Contrast this with that not every Palestinian fled from Israel. They are still a large part of the population today -- the Israeli Palestinians were NOT thrown out as a reaction to when the Muslims threw out their Jews.

And you are really, really upset about Israel -- but dismiss the worse things happening in e.g. your home country Tunisia...

I have to stop here -- any further comment on your opinions, moral and intellectual integrity can't be polite. Let me just say that as a Westerner, I think you should judge yourself harder than you judge others.

[Jugurtha]

This is a generalization. I'm from Algeria.. Saying Jews are "hated" is simplistic. In other countries? Maybe, I don't know.. Here? There's only a seeming anti-Jewish sentiment, but there's way more to it than that: it's akin to estranged brothers than anything else.

You can notice it in traditions, in food, in music (have a look at התזמורת האנדלוסית הישראלית). Many Muslim musicians here used to go to the Synagogue because their friends playing in the same band were Jewish. And that's not that long ago, these people are still alive.

A bit back in time, Jews found a place to live here after being thrown out of Spain in 1492 because of the Catholic reform. To this day, there are towns with strong Jewish heritage. The "hate" you're talking about is only superficial, and only from the people who'd behave that way no matter where they are in the world.. Clothes have prêt-à-porter, thoughts have prêt-à-penser. Not all people can afford bespoke clothes and it's even more true with beliefs. They pick what's available, the easiest to wear, something not too challenging, not too far beyond the Overton window.

It's amazingly easy to talk with them and completely shatter that "hate" in 5 minutes. I've done it so many times that the pattern is clear. If it were hate, what I said would be so much against their beliefs that I would be attacked. Hate is not something you can shatter in 5 minutes, so this must be something else..

It's mainly lack of contact and communication that makes it easy to think that, somehow, Jews are a "different" specie. Once someone thinks they're a different specie, there's a feature void to fill, which people fill with their fears. I've been learning Hebrew and have corresponded a couple of times in it. I'm learning because of the culture but to tap into all which doesn't make the news: stuff regular folks do. There isn't a single one person I have told who hasn't been curious and intrigued about it and wanted to know more, or encouraged me.

Generalizations and simplifications are tempting because they work sometimes but this is exactly what I'm talking about. You don't like them because you think they don't like you, and they don't like you because they think you don't like them.

Everyday, conversations are taking place that address these issues and people are taking all kinds of perceptual positions. Hard questions that get talked about in groups of people who don't let you take the easy way out. People aren't dumb, despite what the media makes them look like.

And on that note, Happy Yennayer 2967. Today's the new year of my ethnic group.

[metaphorm]

this is noxious. Christians also have an extremely long history of anti-semitism and yet you're not coming in here saying "how can any Christians ever be trusted, given their history?"

[ars]

Easy for you to say when you're not the one being attacked and hated.

"Just trust them and wait them out, they don't all hate you. Let them kill a few and hopefully they'll stop someday."

Right now, today, Muslim hate of Jews in nearly universal. In the past Christians were anti-semitic, sure, but right now today, it's relatively rare.

Tell me something, is there any city on the planet that you know with 100% certainty that if you stepped foot in it virtually the entire populace would try to kill you? And I don't mean the criminals, I mean the ordinary people who live there.

Because when a Jew travels near Palestinians areas simply getting lost is fatal, unless the army rescues them. And you want them to trust?

[metaphorm]

I'm a Jewish American with holocaust survivors in my extended family. I have not personally experienced that kind of hate but certainly it is known to my family.

You, I think, need some perspective. There's nothing more to be gained from this conversation.

[kirillkh]

It's when you see pictures of Israelis being lynched with nothing more than bare hands of Palestinian crowd: https://goo.gl/hmKwJi

... you know that there can be no peace. Peace is made with people, not with governments. And Palestinians are overwhelmingly against peace with Israel on any terms other than submission.

[ghostDancer]

Hate for jews is over the world, i think that in USA or in Europe you will encounter quite a number of people that hate them and blame them for every kind of conspiracy. And it comes from the middle ages when they were blame for a lot of things just to get their money and influence. The hate problem is not only in arab countries.