Why Israel Could Be the Next Cybersecurity World Power

jfruh writes: Beersheba is a small town in southern Israel, more than an hour's drive away from Tel Aviv and the bulk of the country's population. But the city is a hotbed of cybersecurity startups driven in part by a graduate program at the local university and the country's military and intelligence apparatus's keen interest in the subject. "To become such a cyber nexus, any place has to have several ingredients: A great university with a solid computer science department with a penchant for security research. Check. Several industry partners who have set up their own research and innovation laboratories nearby, to take advance of the cheap labor pool of graduate students. Check. An active venture capitalist operation that can fund startups is also essential, along with mentors who can help entrepreneurs along. Double check. And finally some solid support for local and national government to grease the wheels of progress. Check."

Comments

Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

is a hole of institutional racism against it's majority Arab beduin population. Beersheba is as likely to be famous for Cybersecurity as Johannesburg was famous for research on limiting black fertility during Apartheid.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

While the arabs are terrorizing the world with their dark-age fascist ideology and portraying jews as blood drinking monsters i think noone is surprised that nobody wants to live with them.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

While the arabs are terrorizing the world with their dark-age fascist ideology and portraying jews as blood drinking monsters i think noone is surprised that nobody wants to live with them.

You can be sure that not many people want to live with jews either. I despise muslim fanatics as much as jewish bankers.
https://thezog.wordpress.com/w...

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

While this may certainly be true, it does not ameliorate the fact that the notion of a Jewish *state* is inherently and inescapably racist.

Denying this would necessarily lead to acceptance of an Aryan state, and that didn't really work out well, did it?

In fact, denying that a Jewish *state* is racist is a subtle form of Holocaust denial, in that it would require insistence that the Holocaust was not an act of racism, but solely of anti-Jewishness. This conclusion would be neither factually nor morally correct.

While I can understand and support the idea of a Jewish homeland, it is difficult to see how encapsulating it in a Jewish *state* can be anything but unjust. I believe that the state of Israel is doomed, but not from any outside forces. Its fatal flaw lies within. Israel and I happen to have been born in the same year. It will be interesting to see who dies first.

Re: Beersheba

[jellomizer]

Way to oversimplify a very complex geo-political situation.
First you have a nation that is in the the area considered a holy land for the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. Jewish religion was first there, then Christianity branched off from it. Then Muslim was a way to try to merge the two back together. So they all have claim to say this area is their roots. The facts about the religions isn't as much of an issue, but the differences in cultures that rooted from people with the religions. The Jewish population is largely from Christian europe so culturally the Jewish and Christians are rather similar. The Muslims are more from the middle east and north Africa. So there are two different cultures meeting in the middle as Israel is the center point between Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa.

After WWII the Jewish were given Israel, kinda like a double edge blade, to make reparations for the holocaust, and because most of the populations were still so anti-semitic that they didn't want them in their own back door. So they chose Israel as it wasn't controlled by a major power. So we have a group of people who had suffered a hard time, moving to an area where the existing population really didn't want them there anyways, but being backed by large superpowers meant they had more power. When your group is in power, you will try to expand your cultural values. This causes more conflict on the area.

Because of the conflict both sides are feeling that the other are against them, so they preemptive position themselves to protect against the other, which then creates more conflict.

   

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

You are also a fascist, statist pig. All IDF deserve to be tortured and killed, the same fate that all nationalists deserve!

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Hopefully all IDF pigs and their supporters die as quickly as possible then! (Including all Israel supporters outside of Israhell!)

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

You are an ignorant semi-literate idiot. Go away.

Re: Beersheba

[Penguinisto]

While this may certainly be true, it does not ameliorate the fact that the notion of a Jewish *state* is inherently and inescapably racist.

1) Race != Religion. ( 'the hell are mods thinking these days?)

2) The context of the time: Millions of your fellow worshippers were just slaughtered wholesale because of their religion, no one lifted a hand to stop it until it threatened them, and now that it's over no one really gives a shit about you. Meanwhile at least one superpower (the USSR) is still actively hunting down what few Jews live in their borders. Yeah, fuck that. Time to find a place where we can at least stand up for ourselves, and hey - the British promised that such a place was available in one of their colonial holdings, and BTW, that place happens to be your ancestral homeland! Makes perfect fucking sense in light of all that...

3) Vatican City is a nation-state based on one religion - not much racism going on there. No one complains about that because their 'army' (if you want to call it that) is on loan from Switzerland, and they're not surrounded by folks from an opposing religion who are actively out to eliminate them (quite the opposite, actually).

4) Regarding: Denying this would necessarily lead to acceptance of an Aryan state - you forgot one small detail: If 1930's Germany had stayed within their pre-existing borders, they could've had this alleged "Aryan" state with the world's indifferent blessing.

Re: Beersheba

[schlachter]

u do realize that every country in europe is a christian state, with the exception of turkey which is a muslim state? and nearly every state in the middle east is an arab and muslim state? it's no different, except that jews had lost their state and were stateless for a long time, until recently. you are a racist evil person who can't see the equivalence through your hate.

Re: Beersheba

[CODiNE]

Then Muslim was a way to try to merge the two back together.

This is certainly a new claim for me. Can you suggest any further information on the topic? Googling has been quite unfruitful.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

" Jewish religion was first there " Wrong, there were several religions in the region before Judaism was even conceived.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Wish I had mod points. I used some on this thread so I have to post as an AC.

signed .. GLMDesigns

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Of the major religions which remain today, Judaism was the first in that area.

There, is that pedantic enough for you?

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

1) My one Jewish friend - who probably remains so because we've never really discussed the issue - is fond of pointing out that Israel is a secular, not a religious state. The central question is "who's a Jew"? My understanding is that by Israeli law, the answer is essentially that you're a Jew if your mother was, regardless of any religious practice or belief. This, being a genetic definition, goes far beyond any pseudo-scientific notion of race and makes the racism explicit and concrete.

2) see 1). Also, you will then, no doubt, have great sympathy for all the Muslims of sect X who are being slaughtered by the Muslims of sect Y. Or perhaps the body counts are not high enough to warrant your attention. A schande.

3) As far as I know, the Vatican is not currently engaged in the active theft of property of the neighboring native Italians. Were that to be the case, I would expect rather loud complaints.

4) Perhaps, but we'll never know. Times do seem to change though. The world finally seemed to realize that Apartheid in South Africa was unjust, but the racism in that case was visible on the surface. Israeli racism is rather more subtle. A decade or two ago, the under-representation of Israeli Arabs in the Knesset was striking. It currently seems to be in rough parity with the percentage of population, but this leaves Israeli Jews very nervous about relative reproduction rates. It remains to be seen how this will play out.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

concretely, not so sure - but:

- you 'revert' to islam, which supposedly is the 'true religion of abraham'
- it is focused on the law (like halakhic judaism) and judges , and 'judges' specifically (rather than kings.. which came later to judaism)
- it accepts jesus as the christ (jewish messiah) but denies his divinity (allowing some tolerance for christianity in some kind of way, and giving jews an 'acceptable' way to accept christianity - the jewish state had already lost its way before the time of christ, who was the messiah, but the christians were wrong too in making him a god)
- islamic adherents claim to be of the lineage of one of abrahams wives and that jews are the other (isaacishmael etc) - not sure if/how this is resolved genealogically - but shows that they can be reunited through the 'prophecy' of muhammad
- it states that muhammad is the 'final prophet of god' (thereby 'sealing' any further conflict)
- it allows shellfish but not pork in many sects (kind of a middle ground btw christianity and judaism - not sure how important this is but I likes me some shrimp lol)
- it allows christians and jews to live under the islamic caliphate (sectarian interpritation) provided they are peaceful pay tax and do not convert others as 'people of the book' but forbids other religions
- conversion by others is encouraged, rather than the religion being 'for' a specific people of certain specific bloodlines
- the 'end times' for islam incorporate the second coming of christ who somehow confirms that islam is the true religion somehow ( am a bit fuzzy on this )

so, philosophically and theologically, it rejoins the 'people of abraham' by making them all worship a single , non-incarnate, monotheist deity, without
regard for 'legitimate' bloodlines, and provides the political framework with which to do so (the islamic law)

disclaimer: as schnazzy as this all sounds, I am an orthodox christian, and not just for bacon.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the people who were there first were conveniently slaughtered by the Israelites since god apparently promised them the land.

Re: Beersheba

[davydagger]

Point 1:

Context. Judaeism is both a race and religeon. There is a stark diffrence between jewish ethnicity, and jewish religeon.

Israel is not founded on the jewish religeon, but on the jewish race. 90% of the population is secular, and its founders where athiests and national socialists.

American and European Jews mainly identify by the Jewish religeon, but the Jewish religeon has a racial element to it.Your jewish Identity determined by birth, i.e. your mother's status, rather than your beliefs. Becoming a Christian is often as simple as getting baptized, and reciting "God loved the world so he gave them his only son". Becoming a Muslim is as simple as reciting "There is no god but allah, and his messenger muhammed, peace be upon him" in arabic.

Convert to judaeism? Forget about it. The proccess is extremely difficult, and many rabbis simply won't do it unless you are either marrying in, or they have some other motive or really like you. Even still, your conversion most likely won't be recognized by all of judaeism. Under biblical law you'd still be a "gate jew", and not a real jew, something attainable only through birth. Forunately if you lived in America this wouldn't be an issue, because American Jews are extremely westernized, and they don't follow this.

Oh, but thats religous standards on race, of which Americanized jews(hassids not withstanding) are notoriously lax with. Most consider themselves white, and are very accepting of their neighbors. However, Israeli standards on judaeism are soley race based with the exact same standards as nazi germany had on the subject: Two or more Jewish granparents:

Point 2:

Millions of your fellow worshippers were just slaughtered wholesale because of their religion

you obviously have not studied the holocaust too well. They were slaughtered for their race. A jew was not someone who believed in judaeism, but someone with two or more jewish grandparents. Secular jews, and even people with some jewish blood and no relation to the Jewish community where also sent to the camps, or at least singled out from society. Along with communists, gays, gypsies, even slavs(eastern europeans).

Time to find a place where we can at least stand up for ourselves

you can stand up for yourself anywhere for being a human being. Also exploited where roma(gypsies) and homosexuals, they never got a state for being themselves.

British promised that such a place was available in one of their colonial holdings

basicly occupied land based on imperial holdings, with original residents still living there. Israel was founded by colonists from Europe.

that place happens to be your ancestral homeland!

Ancesteral homeland of what? A race. my people insiuates race. "Blood relation" that is not extended family. That is race. This is also ridicolous. Its land your ancestors lost in some long ancient war. Its also land they gained a thousand years prior in some long ancient war as well. You have no relation to any actual flesh and blood people from that long fallen ancient empire. Just distant memories.

Your also using Hitler logic. The German people have also been pushed around for most of history. By France, Spain, England, Russia. They only became a country in 1876, with No empire, and no colonies and the traditional European powers saw them as a threat to their imperialism. But hey, it just so happens their enemies have thier "ancient homeland", where northern european people originally came from, in a lot shorter time span than the ancient Judaen empire.

Also by your logic, is that of Osama Bin Laden reviving the Islamic Caliphate from Anniulus to India, again, their ancient homeland, of which is a much shorter timespan between that and the ancient judaen empire.

Mousillini and his Rome, Saddam Hueissan and Babylonia. The list goes on, but you share a common delusion with dictatories, Fasc

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no question that Jews have been persecuted throughout history. Only a fool would deny that.

But the thing that gets me is no one stops to ask "why".

Also, many other groups have been / continue to be persecuted (slaughtered) but this barely raises a mention in the media or in Hollywood films.

Again, why?

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

u do realize that every country in europe is a christian state

Bollocks! Religion doesn't enter any legislative equation. In fact, many European countries have laws that are in complete opposition to Christianity.

with the exception of turkey which is a muslim state

Centuries ago* they had parts of Europe under Ottoman rule (Islamic law) but since the early 1900's (via Attaturk) the major cities of Turkey were rather secular. (Forget the rural areas, they were always religious, and without any issues.) It's only the past 10 - 15 years that Erdogan has been pushing an Islamic agenda, and with much success on his part. Unfortunately, majority-Sunni Turkey is also buying oil from ISIS, which is also Sunni Muslim, much to the dismay of the rest of the world. Again, this is the work of Erdogan.

* Turkey still illegally occupies northern Cyprus, but that's more a political thing than a religious thing.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't have an issue with the Jewish people nor do I really have an issue with Israel existing beyond the obvious situation is causing contention I do however have issues with Zionism which is a political philosophy!

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Time to find a place where we can at least stand up for ourselves,...

At the end of the day, though, everyone has to play by the same rules.

Either everyone gets to discriminate or no one gets to discriminate. In one future, every little ethnic group in the world gets it's own little piece of land where it can huddle together in fear of the rest of the world - wallowing in self pity, striving to remain victims of injustice long past, and building up a towering nuclear arsenal in preparation for an eventual nuclear Armageddon. In the other future, everyone is a citizen of the world - free to live and work and travel freely to explore and benefit from all that the world has to offer - where nation states and their arbitrary borders are a distant ugly memory.

Many parts of the world still have severe socioeconomic dysfunction. Billions of good decent hardworking people are trapped in poverty. Depending how you count, somewhere around 20,000 children die of poverty every day. Many of these children would not be dying if their parent were free to move to other parts of the world with less socioeconomic dysfunction. But what if you have a policy where only certain ethnic groups are free to move to better parts of the world? Can you have a whites-only drinking fountain that doesn't discriminate against people who aren't white? Can you only allow Jewish people to move to better parts of the world without discriminating against people who aren't Jewish? No, fundamentally you can't.

At the end of the day, either everyone is safe or no one is safe. The key to solving the Israeli-Palestinian situation is for everyone involved, and particularly the Zionists, to understand that discrimination can not be allowed to continue in the long term.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutre drivel. Judaism survives on converts, and foreign converts to Judaism have more rights in Israel than native people born in Palestine! It's utter nonsense to paint it any other way. It is racist-colonial in nature, was founded and survives through violence, and feeds off anti-Semitism.

Edit: captcha was, fittingly enough, "steals".

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Every single thing you say is complete drivel.

Re: Beersheba

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you please explain what Zionism is as a political philosophy?

Re: Beersheba

[schlachter]

Your posting as AC and seem rather ignorant, but I'll bite.

By definition, all European countries are Christian States. It's not a matter of your opinion. They were founded and remain Christian. Not just in nature, but in law and in decree. Others may live there with equal rights...at least recently...and on paper if not in practice...but that is no different than in Israel. Similarly, Turkey and all ME countries are officially muslim states. It has nothing to do with how secular they are in practice. BTW, seems like you've never been to Israel, but it's very secular both in population and in governance.

Religion doesn't figure into Israeli legislature any moreso than in most countries.

Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Anonymous Coward]

What kind of yahoo is running that country anyhow?

Re:Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[penguinoid]

What kind of yahoo is running that country anyhow?

Netanyahu.

Re:Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[halivar]

Is Netanyahu a yahoo or not an yahoo?

Re:Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Sun]

The general concensus, both here in Israel and, it seems, worldwide, is that he is.

He is also the yahoo most likely to be the prime minister after the elections. No, Israel did not crack the "how to make democracy work" riddle either.

Shachar

Re:Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[halivar]

Step 1: Don't be a theistic monarchy.

I'd say you're closer to solving the riddle than your your regional... uh... "friends".

Re:Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Hevel-Varik]

We could do far better than Bibi (Feiglin comes to mind) but we could also do far, far, worse which is exactly why he is likely to be the next pm after the elections. But slashdot leans left so yeah of course there is 'a general concensus' cause reality tilts left dontchyaknow

Re: Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot leans using brains before gut. So I guess that's left...

Re:Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 2: Don't have a 'chief rabbinate' which:

"
has jurisdiction over many aspects of life of Jews in Israel. Its jurisdiction includes personal status issues, such as Jewish marriages and Jewish divorce, as well as Jewish burials, Conversion to Judaism, Kashrut and kosher certification, olim, supervision of Jewish holy sites, working with various mikvaot and yeshivot, and overseeing Israeli Rabbinical courts.

The Rabbinical courts are part of Israel's judicial system, and are managed by the Ministry of Religious Services. The courts have exclusive jurisdiction over marriage and divorce of Jews and have parallel competence with district courts in matters of personal status, alimony, child support, custody, and inheritance. Religious court verdicts are implemented and enforced—as for the civil court system—by the police, bailiff's office, and other agencies.[2]
"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Rabbinate_of_Israel

?

orite - it's a 'secular democracy' I forgot..

Re: Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Hevel-Varik]

Yes funny, guess what they say on the right leaning sites...

Re: Will the Internet become the next Middle East?

[Hevel-Varik]

Further equating technology with brains over gut is rich. Tech is no different than farming or machining. Takes an understanding of the relevant dynamics and modes of manipulation and you get the job done. I find that tech people tend to be clever. I don't find them any more any more insightfull than non-tech people. I also think arrogance makes you stupid and there's a ton of arrogance on this site. The major falacy behind this assumption that slashdot (or other tech site) is some domain of enlightment where crass polical attitudes are but reflections of reality is the equation of cleverness and intelligence. It's safe to say that all tech people are clever. But it is not safe to say all clever people are techy. Nor that all clever people are intelligent. What is intelligence? It's what separates man from beast. Insight into the meaining of things, according to which developes a perspective. A cat walks into a wedding banquet and perceives dinner. A human being percieves a celebration of life. The prevaling stupidity though as that there is no intrinsic meaning and indeed no difference between man and beast and if that is where you come from then this isn't aimed at you.

Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."

2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."

3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."

4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."

5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."

6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."

7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."

8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."

9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."

10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."

11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."

12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."

13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."

14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."

16. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."

17. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."

18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."

19. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."

20. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."

21. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."

22. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 156: "When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined. For the property of a Gentile, according to our law, belongs to no one, and the first Jew that passes has full right to seize it."

23. Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deah, 122: "A Jew is forbidden to drink from a glass of wine which a Gentile has touched, because the touch has made the wine unclean."

24. Nedarim 23b: "He who desires that none of his vows made during the year be valid, let him stand at the beginning of the year and declare, 'Every vow which I may make in the future shall be null'. His vows are then invalid."

Seeing how Goyim/Gentiles are viewed by jews above isn't helping your case.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Thanshin]

I wonder if there's any way or system to confirm those are not an old hoax/fake.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[JaredOfEuropa]

The bible has plenty of similar peace loving statements of equality and acceptance. The difference is not what exactly is in each holy book, but how followers interpret those words: as laws, suggestions or stories. Christians and jews generally do not go around killing non-believers and transgressors of holy law, nor do many of them think they should. Muslims however have frequent and violent clashes over holy texts (with each other), and in many muslim countries the nastiest kinds of holy rules have been set into law. In addition, many of the "moderate" muslims who might profess to be against violently taking the law into their own hands, will still proclaim the koran to be law over and above the law of men, and will explicitly agree with (for example) a death sentence for apostacy.

Islam is not a religion like any other, not by a long shot. From a humanitarion point of view it is worse than the others both in word and in practice. With that said, every person deserves to be treated according to their own actions and convictions, not to those of others.

Re: Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

At least he narrowed it down my specifying the Jewish Talmud so we don't waste a bunch of time combing through, say, the Eastern Orthodox Pastafarian Talmud.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Sun]

It's called "Google". It points here.

Short answer: they are either misquotes or ourright fakes.

Shachar

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

There is but we'd have to kill you afterwards, see rule #3 above.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

Spin, spin, spin from you (but it's not working). Jews and Arabs are related and are constantly causing trouble around the world. That's all anybody needs to know.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[tehcyder]

I wonder if there's any way or system to confirm those are not an old hoax/fake.

I'd hazard a guess they come as an appendix to that old favourite The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[MagickalMyst]

Scary stuff. It explains a lot though.

At least not all of the Jewish people subscribe to this supremacist nonsense.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Penguinisto]

The bible has plenty of similar peace loving statements of equality and acceptance. The difference is not what exactly is in each holy book, but how followers interpret those words: as laws, suggestions or stories.

Well, there's also context - is the cherry-picked verse part of a story/parable, part of an instruction, a no-kidding commandment, addressed to a specific individual or group ...what? Also, was the quoted text later superseded by later teachings/events (especially if we're talking about Christian Theology, which explicitly has the New Testament superseding and eliminating a lot of stuff in the Old)?

Far too many sophomoric lines of argument conveniently ignore such things (and are thus easily destroyed), but, if you'll pardon the pun, the devil is in the details. :)

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

"It is every Jew's Duty to kill as many GOY as possible" - Abraham Lincoln, the world's first jew

Re:Jewish Talmud

[schlachter]

the fact that you believe these quotes is what's scary. at least not all non-jews are as anti-semitic as you are.

OTOH, jesus was jewish, and the talmud is also the bible for christians, and that not with standing, even the new testament has horrible stuff in it if you seek to cherry pick from it, and WRT supremacist nonsense, christians also believe that jews are the chosen people, so they are no less supremacist in their views.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

Scary stuff. It explains a lot though.

WTF does this actually explain?

At least not all of the Jewish people subscribe to this supremacist nonsense.

Try none. No Jews believe the crap posted above. The only ones who believe it are the idiots who posted it.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[jbolden]

They are mostly taken way out of context and grossly distorted. On top of that the Talmud itself is a collection of debates and offhand comments. Saying something is in the Talmud is a lot like saying it is in Federalist papers, it is not saying it is a point of law.

So for example to take one of the less offensive ones touching wine makes it unclean. The context there is that wine blessed to an idol isn't kosher. As a Jew if you are ambiguous whether wine has or has not been blessed to an idol don't drink it. That's the meaning. The above has it appear as racist when the discussion in context is not shockingly about wine not about gentiles.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[qbzzt]

If anybody wants the context, there is a project to translate the classical Jewish sources: http://www.sefaria.org/texts

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

Why this fixation with the Talmud or details of Jewish belief? Judaism is no worse than Christianity or Islam. Just the Old Testament shows you how rotten all the Abrahamic religions are: racist, genocidal people subjugated by a amoral and insane God.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[MagickalMyst]

Whoa, Tonto. Hold on...

You are suggesting that i'm "anti-semitic" because I find some quotes in an old Bible scary? Seriously? Are you for real?

Firstly, you do not know me. And if you did, you would know that i'm a very easy going guy who is not racist, bigoted, or "anti-semitic" in any way. I get along with pretty much everyone.

I believe that the quality of a person's character is determined by their actions - not their skin color, race, religion or sexual orientation. In fact, I have friends who are Jewish, Arab, Asian, Portugese, Black, etc... and they are all wonderful people.

Second, "Semites" are people of middle eastern origin - which includes both Arabs and Jews.

Third, the fact that you would crawl out of the woodwork crying "anti-semite" because I found some old bible quotes scary, suggests that you are most likely one of these Zionist nutters who gets paid to troll message boards, spew hatred and create anti-semitism where none exists.

It would appear that simply having the words "Jewish", "Talmud", and "Supremacist" in the same post automatically constitutes "anti-semitism" in your mind.

I strongly suggest that you watch this Jewish made documentary about anti-semitism. You could learn something from it.

That said, I would like to think that you are man enough to realize your mistakes and short comings, and apologize for your "anti-semitic" remark.

If you are not willing to do the right thing and apologize, then please crawl back under whatever stone you crawled out from under and take your hate-mongering xenophobic attitude with you.

Your shenanigans are not welcome here.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[MagickalMyst]

"WTF does this actually explain?"

The genocide of Palestinians by the Zionist regime, for one.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[schlachter]

Your self perception is not inline with the meaning of your comments. Best to be honest with yourself and accept that you are a racist bigot. Then go fuck yourself.

Scary stuff. It explains a lot though.

Implies you accept most if not all of it as true when a person with less bigoted view or less ignorant would recognize the intent of the post and the content as lies.

At least not all of the Jewish people subscribe to this supremacist nonsense.

Implies that many, although not all Jews subscribe to these kinds of statements.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[MagickalMyst]

> "Best to be honest with yourself and accept that you are a racist bigot. Then go fuck yourself."

Ditto.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[schlachter]

Ah, i found your other post. You are a anti-semitic racist bigot. Or perhaps a Palestinian? Line up for your genocide. :)

Re:Jewish Talmud

[MagickalMyst]

> "You are a anti-semitic racist bigot. Or perhaps a Palestinian? Line up for your genocide. :)"

Spoken like a true, hate-mongering Zionist. I really hope that you are not Jewish, because you are an insult to them also.

Loser.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

also: gentiles are generally speaking *idols worshipping roman pagans* not 'random modernist agnostic dudes reading slashdot whose best friends are jews'

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Sun]

What genocide? Less Palestinian were killed by Israel (including combatants) since the conflict started 100 years ago than Syrians over the past two years.

The Palestinians in both Gaza and the west back, individually, experience a positive natural growth.

If Israel is trying to commit genocide, it is criminally ineffective.

Shachar

Re:Jewish Talmud

[Anonymous Coward]

christians also believe that jews are the chosen people

Clearly you are not Christian. The only "Christians" who believe *Jews* are the chosen people are certain modern Christian denominations in the US, where there is a heavy Jewish influence.

The older Christian denominations (Catholics, Orthodox Protestants) believe "Jews" refers to people who follow the word of God (i.e. Christ). The New Testament also refers to "Greeks" ... but that does not refer to "Hellenes" (who the world today would consider to be those living in Greece). Rather, "Greek" in the New Testament refers to scholars and intellectuals. (It's obviously related to "Hellenes" in that ancient Greeks were obsessed with mathematics, medicine, astronomy, etc). However the New Testament uses that word generically / as an adjective.

Re:Jewish Talmud

[schlachter]

really odd response. perhaps something your local church told you. but christians believe in the bible, which says jews are the chosen people. perhaps those who want to hate will distance themselves from jews but that's not mainstream thought.

Israel in Charge

[koan]

I feel safer already...

Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

Those assholes are committing genocide and you , double faced American scum, are doing nothing.
Those same asshole israelis have attacked your own navy and guess what, your tax dollars are still sent there to feed this evil.
Fuck Israel and fuck those who do business and help Israel.

Re:Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey buddy, take it up with Allah, he made them the Chosen People, not us.

Re:Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

Those assholes are committing genocide and you , double faced American scum, are doing nothing.

We should help them. Send them napalm. Bigger bombs. And please send your address to. America wants to bomb you too.

Re: Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi McCain

Re:Fuck Israel!

[MagickalMyst]

"...he made them the Chosen People"

So, God, or Allah, or whoever you choose to call the creator has his(her) own special "Chosen People"?

I was always taught that everyone is equal under God; even the sinners. Repent and ye shall be forgiven!

The belief that God has "chosen people" suggests that God is a bigot. Ridiculous!

Re:Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

Non-jews can only be "saved" through jeebus.... the jews don't believe in that though... So, yes god is racist.

Re:Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

For any interested, here's what he's referring to by "Israel attacked the US navy":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

Re:Fuck Israel!

[Anonymous Coward]

MagickalMyst is a bigot.

Free Occupied Palestine

[ikhider]

Stop interning the Palestinian populace. Allow the Palestinians to have their land back as per UN Resolutions. Let them have freedom of mobility, the chance to build a viable economy and rights as a regular citizen, not a second class citizen. No justice, no peace.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[noshellswill]

PC drool.  Ex Christian/Jewish  Levantine Muzzi-wogs have no **rights** to Palestine ... as they took it from others so it will be taken from them.  Land is always taken, protected and expanded by the sword with the strong doing as they wish and the weak doing as they must. What lib.com faggboi spews otherwise? **REM** American slavers and rum.runners  had to kick-out Brit do-gooders to establish our bloody-handed colonial republic! Seems to me the Assyrians kicked-out  Palestine Jewboi *zzwhole a few thousand years ago and repopulated and restructured adjoined nation(s).  Tough bastards. Now Zionists do  similar.  I'm no fan of **genetically** flawed Semite cultures  ( law defining culture ) in general . Yet if only Zionist schoolboys had the ruthless Ottoman mien  then lots of  Levintine political/moral problems would have clear solutions ... which includes genociding the Muzzi-wog infection. 

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Dog-Cow]

Let's make it really simple. The Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza can have their autonomy when they grant Israel theirs. That seems to be a very basic first step that the Arabs find completely impossible.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

+1 fuck Israel.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

When you return Texas to Mexico and Alaska to Russia, we will listen to you again.
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, when you loose a war, you may loose your land. And life. And sometime _both_. And when you keep trying to get your land back by means of more war, you may keep loosing.
"Justice" is not a concept of international politics, stop using it.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

Let's make it really simple. The Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza can have their autonomy when they grant Israel theirs. That seems to be a very basic first step that the Arabs find completely impossible.

When they grant Israel theirs? Israel already have it.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[halivar]

More importantly: don't start wars you can't win (a universal and timely maxim). And when, having chosen to decide the contest on the field of battle, do not expect a redo in the courts of law. The biggest mistake the Palestinians every made was letting their regional neighbors (that hate them anyway, btw) egg them into starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. They lost their land, and the Jewish population swelled from expulsion from Arab countries. They had a two-state solution already and they fucked it up.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

Because blue-eyed slavic trash have a claim to land in the middle-east, apparently. Face it - there's more ancient Israelite blood in the Palestinians than in Ashkenazi jews.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

loose?

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[halivar]

I can't pick out any 5 contiguous words in this post that do not have a false assumption. Maybe "middle-east, apparently. Face it"?

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you saying Ashkenazi Jews are "blue-eyed Slavic trash"? Then you are wrong. "Trash" aside, look up Ashkenazi and get your bearings before you spew misinformation.

Are you saying Ashkenazi Jews are the only Jews who live in Israel? Then you are also wrong. Look up Sephardic, look up Mizrahi.

As for Palestinians having "more ancient Israelite blood...", I think genetic testing clearly proves that you are a moron.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[allcoolnameswheretak]

I think the problem might have to do with the fact that Hamas has repeatedly stated that it will never accept the state of Israel.

I am not a fan of Israels "foreign policy" towards Palestine, especially the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, it's hard to argue with someone who says he will never accept and will always fight you.

On the other, other hand, Israel has been nurturing this sentiment towards it for decades by indiscriminately leveling buildings and killing dozens of Palestinians every time some idiots fire a mostly useless rocket over the border.

Basically, both sides are being jerks and feeding the hatred towards each other. This is how far "eye for an eye" will get you.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

But the Hamas is not Palestine. I am sure there are some radical groups in Israel who promised to never recognize Palestine. In fact the Israeli government never recognized Palestine so their position is not that far from the one of the Hamas.
Palestine recognized Israel in 1993. It's now Israel's turn to recognize Palestine.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Jason Levine]

Another fact that is often ignored: The Arab states could have absorbed the Palestinians who fled Israel when they were told "flee and you can have your land back when we wipe Israel off the map." Instead, they set them up in refugee camps so they could point to them and say "Look at how horrible our brethren have it. This is all Israel's fault. Keep looking at these downtrodden folks and ignore the horrible things we're doing to our own populace."

I'm not saying Israel is blameless (far from it), but the people who try to claim that the conflict in the region is all Israel's fault vastly oversimplify the entire situation.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, they should have all fled and allowed Israel to steal all the land.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry but this is idiotic. By the same logic the US could absorbe all Israeli citizens and end the conflict.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

"Justice" is not a concept of international politics, stop using it.

Except that Israel was not created by a war, but by international "justice" aka UN resolution to split British Palestine into two countries. Therefore the international community, especially those who voted for that plan, have a responsibility in the current situation.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

They had a two-state solution already and they fucked it up.

It's way more complex than that. The proposed two-sate solution was acceptable to Israeli/Jews and the West, but not to Arabs/Palestinians. The plan proposed for a Jewish state with only 55% Jews, and an Arab/Palestinian state with something like 99% Arabs/Palestinians. The plan would have been more fair with less land to the Jewish state, but with a higher percentage of Jews. Since the Jews represented only 33% of the population, and they received 56% of the land (and more valuable land), the Arab reaction was to be expected. More efforts should have been put in finding a compromise acceptable to both parties.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[halivar]

I will be honest, a lot of this is stuff I am picking up for the first time; but it's fascinating to me so I did some looking up. If you think I'm using a questionable source, let me know.

Wikipedia cites 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris:

The Arabs refused to accept the establishment of a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. And, consistently with that “no,” the Palestinian Arabs, in November–December 1947, and the Arab states in May 1948, launched hostilities to scupper the resolution’s implementation

The mindset characterized both the public and the ruling elites. All vilified the Yishuv and opposed the existence of a Jewish state on “their” (sacred Islamic) soil, and all sought its extirpation, albeit with varying degrees of bloody-mindedness. Shouts of “Idbah al Yahud” (slaughter the Jews) characterized equally street demonstrations in Jaffa, Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad both before and during the war and were, in essence, echoed, usually in tamer language, by most Arab leaders.

It seems the initial rejection was due to religious (or ethnic disguised as religious) reasons.

During the ensuing war, the Civil War of 1947-48, the Jews won a decisive victory but ended up with (and I don't fully comprehend how or why) effective control of only a tithe of the land originally granted them by the mandate. In May of 1948, the state of Israel was formally declared, followed by immediate invasion by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It was as a result of this second war that Israel expanded control to over three-quarters of the original mandate.

This is interesting to me because I had formerly believed that the Jews were simply handed regional control, while the May 18, 1948 map of the Yishuv-controlled territory seems to belie this.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

More Arabs would have supported the plan if they were given more land. It's never black or white. Of course the most extremists would have refused to give up even 1% of the land. But with the proposed UN plan, more land was given to the Jews, even if they represented only a third of the population. With such conditions, even moderate Arabs rejected the plan and no matter if we agree or not with them, it's easy to understand. This conflict will never be solved with Israel continuing its expansion.
The most realistic plan is for Israel to withdraw from West Bank and East Jerusalem, and to give full control, with international recognition, to Palestine. Israel will still have a much larger share of British Palestine than they originally deserved, but at least the Palestinians would have a state. Another important condition is for Israel to allow the return of refugees and for Hamas to stop rocket launches but the best hope about this last condition is either to have an international peace keeping force, or for the Palestinians themselves to have the means to control Hamas.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

On the other, other hand, Israel has been nurturing this sentiment towards it for decades by indiscriminately leveling buildings and killing dozens of Palestinians every time some idiots fire a mostly useless rocket over the border.

So it's ok for the terrorists to keep firing rockets at Israel as long as they usually don't hit anything? Of course you're also ignoring the other main provocation against Israel, the terrorist attacks consisting of shootings, bombings, and other attacks on random Israeli civilians. When Israel retaliates, it's usually actually quite directed and discriminate. The way people falsely equivocate the terrorist attacks and the Israeli response (as done above) is a contributing factor to the continuance of the problems.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no such thing as "Palestine" at this time. There is only Hamas, the elected Government of the Gaza Strip, and the rival Fatah, which is a de facto Government of the West Bank. There is a certain amount of cooperation between these groups, but at the same time they still fight and kill each other, too.

Both Hamas and Fatah has publicly declared, repeatedly, over decades, that there will be no peace until Israel is gone.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

Before we break out the moral high horses, perhaps you could point to the community of blameless countries that, at a strategically important time, declared that they would welcome a large influx of displaced refugees into their land?

I count precisely one country in that roll of honour: the Dominican Republic. Everyone else in the world? - had their chance to extend the hand of welcome, and said "nah, we're fine thanks".

And don't get too self-righteous even about that, unless you personally are willing to share your land and income with a stranger.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

There is no such thing as "Palestine" at this time.

There is a Palestine. Just because it is not recognized by most western countries and Israel doesn't mean it doesn't exists. It doesn't have a single government with control on its whole territory (but neither does Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and many others), but it still exist.

There is only Hamas, the elected Government of the Gaza Strip, and the rival Fatah, which is a de facto Government of the West Bank

Well of course as long as Palestine remains geographically divided by force by Israel, and that free movement between the two parts isn't allowed, it's likely to continue this way. But that wasn't the plan. The UN planned for a contiguous Palestine (although it had two crossings points shared with Israel).

There is a certain amount of cooperation between these groups, but at the same time they still fight and kill each other, too

As if it was the only place in the world with a civil war or tensions between factions.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it's impossible. It's a ridiculous argument to make.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Lew-the-nerd]

If you look at the land denoted as being Jewish in the partition plan, a major part of it was the Negev desert - an arid region that had never supported life.
Both sides got some shore lines and decent farming land.
The Jews would have said yes, the Arab Palestinians said no.
There was no Palestinian country there before and the land 'stolen' from Palestinian farmers was, to a great degree, actually bought from absentee Arab landowners who saw a chance to make some shekels, dispossess their tenants and not take crap for it.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

The proposed jewish area was still more valuable (yes, even with the negev desert) and larger.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Lew-the-nerd]

Then that should have been a point for peaceful negotiation.
Land for peace has always been a part of Israel's negotiations.
Israel withdrew troops and settlements from Gaza, hoping for peaceful neighbors.
There were no border restrictions or barricades just hope for a peaceful life.
In the face of continuing threats and rocket attacks, Israel still provides electricity, water and medical care to Gaza.
With peace, Gaza could have been prosperous and successful, instead Hamas chose war.

I have yet to hear someone suggest a course that Israel could have taken at any point, that would have had a peaceful solution.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Lew-the-nerd]

Actually Israel absorbed the almost one million Jews evicted from Arab countries for no reason except that they were Jews.
After WWII, Germany absorbed and resettled the millions of ethnic Germans evicted from what became post-war Poland.
It is only Palestinians who were kept in camps by their Arab supporters.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[danbob999]

Then that should have been a point for peaceful negotiation.

What tells you it wasn't? The UN plan didn't come out of nowhere. The Arabs/Palestinians said they were against the plan. The UN still pushed it forward, instead of trying to find a compromise acceptable to all parties.

Israel withdrew troops and settlements from Gaza, hoping for peaceful neighbors.

It's as if I were your neighbor, robbed your home, gave you back half of your belongings, and then hoping that we would be in good terms. Of course the Palestinians are not going to be happy with only Gaza.

I have yet to hear someone suggest a course that Israel could have taken at any point, that would have had a peaceful solution.

You are wrong. There are tons of possibilities that would lead to peace. The question is to find an acceptable one. But if Israel only wanted peace (at any cost), they could move out of the region and give the whole land to Palestine. While I don't support that plan, I am sure that there are many others less drastic solutions which would lead to peace instantly (such as moving back to the UN plan). Hamas has support for the same reasons that right-wings extremists have support within Israel. Each side is taking the hard line in this conflict. But yes, it is true that any plan for peace means compromises for Israel as they currently have control over much more land than originally planned.

Re:Free Occupied Palestine

[Jason Levine]

The reason the Arab countries should have absorbed the Palestinians was because THEY were the ones who said "flee your lands and you'll get them back when we kill those Jews." Instead, the Arab countries lost the war they started and the Palestinians found that they had backed the losing side. Israel wasn't going to let them just waltz back in (would YOU accept someone back who had just supported your enemy's attempt to kill you?) and the Arab countries suddenly decided that they didn't actually care about the Palestinians (beyond photo ops and distraction purposes). Yet, Israel gets blamed solely and told they should have just let the Palestinians back in no questions asked.

Hypothetical scenario: Suppose Mexico suddenly decided to invade the US and told a bunch of people in New Mexico to flee and they would be rewarded. A group of US citizens in New Mexico listen to this and cross the border into Mexico, supporting Mexico in this war. Mexico invades, but is easily beaten back. Should the US take back the citizens who sided with Mexico so much that they crossed to Mexico's side? Or should the US be wary of their loyalties and refuse their re-entry?

Religious fanatics scare me

[NotDrWho]

Jew, Christian, Muslim. The hardcore fanatics always scare the shit out of me. And you would be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of ISIS and Al-Quaida more fanatical than Mossad and its crazy Zionist ilk. The thought of them having cyber-weapons is scary. But much more scary is the thought that we actually gave those religious crazies nuclear weapons.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Dog-Cow]

You really have no fucking clue how Israel operates, nor how religion plays a role in the life of the typical Israeli, do you?

You are a sad example of humanity, much like all the others who spout garbage without even attempting to ascertain the facts.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, enlighten us.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

Secular, atheist fanatics (see "communism" for more info) killed more people by several orders of magnitude. Fortunately, religion is not required for being crazy lunatic.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

>> we actually gave those religious crazies nuclear weapons
You did not "gave" anything. For some crazy reason you seems to think that concept of nuclear weapon and engineering needed for it is limited to some arbitrary set of nations.
Guess what, everyone can read physics book. Israel is not an ISIS - it is pretty technologically developed country. Believing in God never prevented people to achieve technological success.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[halivar]

I'm not the GP, but I think I can help. Israel is a secular liberal democracy, in the literal sense (I think most American Israel supporters would be surprised at how much Israel does not match their own political and social views). Palestinians have more say in the Israeli government than most of your average Arabs do in their own. Israel is one of the only nations in the middle east where things like blasphemy, homosexuality, and being a woman in public aren't a mortal danger. Now, it was not always thus; the Arab world has significantly regressed since the 1960's, and largely due to American and British corporate interventionism, but Israel really has no part in that.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Well from my experience religion for the typical Israeli is much like religion for the typical American. It will run the gamut from atheist to crazy nut job Fred Phelps. Most of the Israelis I have worked with have been much closer to the atheist and what would be the Jewish equivalent of a C&E christian. As one guy put it "I can eat a whole fucking pig covered in cheese". Granted this was in the fairly cosmopolitan city of Haifa working at a place populated by engineers. That said there did seem to be a higher concentration of the more devout in Israel than I have typically seen in the US. The problems with the more devout are at worst minor rioting when different religions have conflicting holidays. For example I was cautioned one time I was there to just basically stay at the hotel over the weekend because Yom Kippur and the Feast of the Cross fell on the same day and these 2 holidays really are incompatible so to avoid some minor street fights or getting caught up in some stone hucking between the more orthodox followers of those religions. At this point I get the impression that these conflicts aren't all that different in scale than the Protestant vs. Catholic issues in Belfast now.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

Israel, for some of its citizens, is a liberal democracy, and that's commendable. On the other hand, it's an apartheid state, and for the sake of "maintaining it's Jewish character" is doing what apartheid states are wont to do, and committing a slow genocide against its oppressed.

So, what was your point about religious fanatics?

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[mr.mctibbs]

Israel, for some of its citizens, is a liberal democracy, and that's commendable. On the other hand, it's an apartheid state, and for the sake of "maintaining it's Jewish character" is doing what apartheid states are wont to do, and committing a slow genocide against its oppressed.

So, what was your point about religious fanatics?


-------------
(repost because accidental AC)

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[schlachter]

Israel is less religious than the USA. Although probably more so than parts of Europe. Really amazed at your linking Mossad, composed mostly of non-religious Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Jews to religious fanaticism.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[halivar]

You're putting "maintaining its Jewish character" in quotes like it comes from somewhere other than your own bias. It's a straw man. The original mandate called for a two-state solution with lines drawn exactly where the Jews and Arabs at the time lived. That mandate was unilaterally abrogated by the Arabs of the entire region who thought dirty Jews shouldn't have a country at all. Tit for tat for tit for tat. But don't pretend that the Palestinians are blameless. They had a state, it wasn't good enough, so they gambled everything on a holy war and lost.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[blind biker]

And you would be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of ISIS and Al-Quaida more fanatical than Mossad and its crazy Zionist ilk. The thought of them having cyber-weapons is scary. But much more scary is the thought that we actually gave those religious crazies nuclear weapons.

Huh? The Mossad, based on their past performance and actions, is a very level-headed, pragmatic secret service. The Zionist agenda is not their scope, albeit one could make the argument that any security apparatus, including the army or air force that ensures the survival of Israel, also indirectly serves the agenda of Zionism, to some extent.
That said, I am also not sure why you would lump Zionism and extremism together. Zionism simply means, in its broadest definition, bringing Jews to live in Israel.
In any case, comparing ISIS to practically any secret service in existence, is quite dishonest. ISIS is an organization that has institutionalized the torture and enslavement of girls, the torture and decapitation (sometimes burning alive) of non-Muslims, and systematic genocide of non-Muslim civilians.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[halivar]

composed mostly of non-religious Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Jews to religious fanaticism.

Yes, yes, but do they have any Jews?

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

The scared, sad sheep that lose the ability to think clearly in the face of their fear are more worrisome, because these folks are what make extremism possible.

Case in point, you.

You are apparently so scared that you're presenting an unsubstantiated and extremist view that the Mossad and "it's crazy Zionist ilk" are more fanatical than any right wingers in the US, any environmentalists anywhere, any vegans and vegetarians, Buddhists, Hindus, North Koreans, Iranian mullahs, or Justin Bieber fans.

Sounds like you have a pretty black and white belief system. Let me give you a clue. If you think anything in the world, much less the Middle East, is black and white, you may be an extremist yourself. Might want to go have that checked out.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

Except Israel isn't an apartheid state. For ALL of its citizens, it is a democracy. Arab citizens of Israel have all the rights non Arab citizens do.

Is there racism in applying those rights? Probably... But that puts Israel on par w the USA as far as apartheid goes. I suggest you read up on apartheid before you repeat this absurd canard again. Start w Wikipedia. It gives a pretty good overview.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[jbolden]

Inside of Israel proper is a democracy with almost full equality and an Arab Israeli population who is not only keeping up with Israelis overall rapidly increasing standard of living but gaining ground. The Gazans have 0 Jews among them. They live in misery after the withdrawal because they have been unwilling to live in peace. Most of the West Bank is arguably a military dictatorship on issues of defense. But even here the areas that Israel inhabits has very little Palestinians population. The population centers where the Palestinians live (Areas A and B) are self governing.

Israel is not an apartheid state. People just like to make up crap about Jews.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[jbolden]

Inside of Israel proper is a democracy with almost full equality and an Arab Israeli population who is not only keeping up with Israelis overall rapidly increasing standard of living but gaining ground. The Gazans have 0 Jews among them. They live in misery after the withdrawal because they have been unwilling to live in peace. Most of the West Bank is arguably a military dictatorship on issues of defense. But even here the areas that Israel inhabits has very little Palestinians population. The population centers where the Palestinians live (Areas A and B) are self governing.

Israel is not an apartheid state.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

Israel is not a "secular liberal democracy": it accords special status to one particular religion, and in real life, there is massive discrimination against non-Jews that is tolerated by the government. You're right that Israel is a lot better than the nations around it, but so what? And claiming that "the Arab world has significantly regressed since the 1960's, and largely due to American and British corporate interventionism" is ludicrous: in fact, the Arab world has improved greatly economically since the 1960's, and liberalization of trade and influx of Western investment is responsible for that.

But the real question is: why should America even care about any of this b.s.? There is almost nothing of interest to the US in the Middle East. We get our oil from elsewhere, those countries aren't economically significant, they don't matter strategically anymore, and we owe nothing to either Israel or the Arab nations. All we are doing with our continued meddling in the Middle East is waste a lot of money and paint a big red target on our own backs.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

And the 'mandate' given by certain superpowers to one of these superpowers supersedes the interests and liberal-democratic rights of the country's native population because... ?

Also, there's no 'gamble' involved. The Zionist Yishuv had clear plans to remove some/most of the Palestinian population from the territory in its control to ensure a sort of territorial-ethnic integrity (read about Plan Daled concretely, and earlier writings not as specific.) The Palestinian population tried to resist British colonial rule and its Zionist settlement policy for decades already - this way and that - and failed. The major failure was in 1936-1939, a three-year uprising against the British which took tens (hundreds?) of thousands of soldiers to quell.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[halivar]

And claiming that "the Arab world has significantly regressed since the 1960's, and largely due to American and British corporate interventionism" is ludicrous: in fact, the Arab world has improved greatly economically since the 1960's, and liberalization of trade and influx of Western investment is responsible for that.

If all you care about is trade, yeah, they're super awesome. If you care about anything else, they're still medieval loonies.

Re: Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people don't care about what imaginary friend you believe in. They are however tired of funneling trillions of dollars to secure the region.

Re: Religious fanatics scare me

[jbolden]

So don't. But don't make up stuff about Israel as an excuse to get out just say you want the USA to take a less central role in international affairs an step back.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[ThatsDrDangerToYou]

ISIS is an organization that has institutionalized the torture and enslavement of girls, the torture and decapitation (sometimes burning alive) of non-Muslims, and systematic genocide of non-Muslim civilians.

To be fair, ISIS has also institutionalized the torture, decapitation, and burning alive of Muslims who are not quite their kind of Muslims. So yeah, ISIS is pretty much the gold standard.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[MagickalMyst]

>You did not "gave" anything...everyone can read physics book.

And some (Israel) would rather steal nuclear secrets, develop nuclear weapons, and flat out deny it and/or lie about it.

See also Mordechai Vanunu

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

And for all Arab NON-citizens? All the people whose rights are trampled on and called terrorists because Israel neither wants to admit they're its people nor accept that as foreigners it doesn't get to treat them however it pleases?

It's a terrorist state run on behalf of religious extremists. Two close friends of mine bonded over their birth nations shared enthusiasm for religious violence. One born in Israel, one in Iran. Both were sent away as children never to return because their parents didn't want them tainted by this insanity

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[Anonymous Coward]

> Israel really has no part in that.:

https://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/dual-citizens-in-the-112th-congress-their-top-5-financial-contributors-who-is-in-control/

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

If all you care about is trade, yeah, they're super awesome. If you care about anything else, they're still medieval loonies.

Sure, but you can't blame "American and British corporate interventionism" for that. That is entirely due to their oh-so-high-and-mighty culture. And it's true for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[dave420]

Not an apartheid state, really. Wow. Gaza doesn't exist, then? A massive ghetto, cut off from the outside world, where collective punishment is used by Israel to coerce the people into self-destruction as they fight for their survival.

Re:Religious fanatics scare me

[jbolden]

Gaza exists but as a self governing independent territory that's not apartheid. As for Gaza fighting for their survival in 2005 they were fully independent had trade and had a security agreement with Israel. They instead choose to elect a government that refused to cooperate on security with Israel and instead was openly dedicated to Israel's destruction. The Gazans not the Israelis were the aggressors in 2006. This sounds so far fetched since militarily the Gazans are so much less powerful than the Israelis and thus the war has gone badly for them, but I urge you to check the timeline.

If the Gazans want peace: recognize Israel, maintain the sanctity of their border i.e. prevent their territory from being used for terrorists attacks on Israel and that's it. Similarly with Egypt, they need to stop interfering in Egyptians internal affairs and the Rafah crossing will open. They aren't fighting for their survival they are fighting for their bigotry, their right to destroy the territory outside of Gaza. The fact that the Gazans elected a government not too far different ideologically from Al Qaeda is why their lifestyle is deteriorating. Picking a dreadful government usually results in bad consequences. If you want to call that collective punishment it is a the collective punishment that every society and culture is subject to since the beginning of time.

Jew Talmud tells us about that too

[Anonymous Coward]

"A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them." Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: and "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording." Schabouth Hag. 6d, both of which sum your reply up imo.

Re:Jew Talmud tells us about that too

[Thanshin]

I think you're not taking into account the other one:

Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 33: "A Jew must always speak the truth except when writing passages of the Talmud, in which case he can lie about making false oaths, which of course he wouldn't be able to make according to Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 33."

Re:Jew Talmud tells us about that too

[Anonymous Coward]

So there are contradictory passages. Once you have contradictions in a logical system, you can infer anything you want. Which is, of course, what religions and religious leaders tend to do: they can find a justification for any of their actions after the fact, and find condemnation for anything they don't like.

Free Occupied USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Well that BS, not only does Israel have autonomy, it has effective control of the US which is re-purposed for Israeli aims not beneficial to the US.

So 'Free Occupied USA' should be the first step. A difficult task when USA sends billions without any need to account for it, and in return the political class receive hundreds of millions in donations from interests tied back to Israel. It's difficult to believe those sums aren't connected.

Anti-cybersecurity maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

The people who made Superfish are Israeli as are Komodia the people behind the MTIM exploit.

Re:Anti-cybersecurity maybe

[stooo]

Double Check.

Check, check, check

[oldmac31310]

Check, check, check, fucking check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check and don't forget to fucking check, check, check, check...

Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actual Israeli here, with family in Beersheva, happy to answer questions. ;tldr, the article is bs, no one wants to live and work in Beersheva and don't confuse a few offices with a new silicon valley - here's why below.

Not sure where the author is getting his information from, but this article is dubious, albeit in an innocent way. First of all, let me explain that Beersheva is hardly a cosmopolitan city. It is a place most famous in Israel for cheap living until the last couple of decades, our version of guidos/greasers (arsim), and for housing one of the largest influxes of former Soviet immigrants after the flood of them we had pre/post fall of the Soviet Union. It is a place that no one really chooses to go, only to leave. Many of the people there were put there when they immigrated because it was cheap to build and the going theory besides developing the desert in the South was to also have a line of defense against Egyptian advances that traditionally marched up towards the heart of Israel via Beersheva.

So if Beersheva sucks, why are these businesses opening and why do people live there? Well generally, people just are stuck there or can't afford anywhere else. One of the largest problems and why this article may have even a hint of truth is that living in Israel is expensive relative to our per-capita incomes. Really expensive. Most of the country lives in the center, and not so shockingly, the center is really really expensive. As you can imagine, a lot of people would love to move somewhere cheaper, less crowded, more natural, etc. One option, highly encouraged at times by the government is to move to the periphery which to many Israelis essentially starts in the area of Beersheva in the South, and North of Haifa and the Kneret (Sea of Galillee I believe in English) in the North. In Hebrew we'd refer to this area as the end of the world, or how do you get to Beersheva - turn left at the end of the world. Before you start in with your naive and ridiculous comments, no, this does not include the West Bank or Gaza (glad we got that out of the way, but I expect the usual lunatics).

So enough background, why else is this article bs:

1. Ben Gurion University is hardly well-respected in Israel. It is known to be incredibly left-leaning in a way that even liberal people often detest and has been the subject of a lot of controversy. More importantly, no one in Israel really cares where you went to school. If they do care and you went to an Israeli university for tech, God help you if it was not the Technion. At best you can get someone to admit that Hebrew University's computer science department is not so bad.

2. Beersheva was/is under constant rocket threat. The property values in these areas is considered dubious in the future, especially given the obvious range of Hamas rockets in relation to Beersheva. Hint: people in Beersheva heard a lot of sirens last war. A lot.

3. There are much nicer, cheaper places in Israel for smaller tech firms who don't care about recruiting from the pool of people in Tel Aviv/center.

4. The traffic crush to Beersheva is unreal by Israeli standards. The infrastructure in and around Beersheva is not good enough to support a large amount of people coming and going every day, so no one is going to want to commute there to avoid living there. Commuting in Israel is just not something people generally do, especially not multiple hour commutes if they can avoid it. My wife does commute between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem a few times a week, but only out of necessity and the fact we can't afford to give up our apartment we own here and buy a new one in Jerusalem. Moreover, given the prices of gas and the fact that cars are egregiously expensive in this country, most people aren't even able to commute on a daily basis.

5. Apparently the author has never met actual Israelis in tech. They are all "security" experts. This is exacerbated since many of them spent years writing crappy VB forms for security companies here like Checkpoint

Re:Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are indeed a lot of shitposts on this article but hand-waving away the continuing expansion of settlements in the West Bank is pretty dishonest.

Re:Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know, I would say it's pretty dishonest to write a reply about politics in a thread about Beersheva's and Israel's growing tech sector. You are completely off-topic and just looking to troll, but I'll bite here. It seems any article about Israel, crazy people turn up, hence my comment above.

Really, someone please explain to me what is this obsession with my tiny, barely working country? We do a lot of great things in the world. Pretty much every computer and phone related tech you can imagine has something either directly or indirectly of Israeli origin, design, or support in it. We contribute a lot back to the world and generally want to be left alone. You don't live here, so until you do and actually understand our culture, history, and actual problems, stop judging and move on to dealing with your own problems (which if you are American, British, etc. arguably far outweigh ours at the moment).

I am not saying my country is all roses. Please find me a country that does not do some evil and actually contributes anything to the world. You should know that Israeli society is very open and democratic which is also why we have so much turnover and turmoil in politics. No one is a harsher critic of government than ourselves. Our political issues revolve around the fact that no one, including the United States, Europe, and ourselves can find a balance between making peace and security. We have some pretty rotten neighbors and they prove time and again they are the ones who cannot be trusted, not vice-versa. Last summer while the Internet decided to collectively punish us without logical arguments, we were being shot at during cease fires, had every single day disrupted by terror and rocket fire, and generally lived in a feeling of shittyness you cannot even imagine. Just because we didn't all die or fail to protect our people doesn't make us guilty.

Our problems are nothing new, rather it's caused by conflicts going on thousands of years. In some places like Egypt and Lebanon, the conflict has been essentially ended by evil largely winning. In others like Israel, it's still ongoing. Similar conflicts are all over the world, but people who are in more stable borders with friendlier neighbors enjoy their place of judgement upon us despite having gone through arguably as bad or worse things themselves only decades or centuries before.

Listen, whether or not you agree with my country's policies, it has a right to exist. Israel went through legal channels dating back over 100 years ago through the 40s and now to become a state. You don't get to decide anymore if we are a state or not and what we do to defend ourselves, especially when you (rest of the world) failed to protect our people, let us return to our own land, and took our land, possessions, and property when it suited you hundreds of years before. What is legal is not always what is right, convenient, or even shockingly, just. Unfortunately our enemies and neighbors don't see it that way. Moreover, people in our borders are actively working against a government that protects and represents them.

Fun fact - did you know the most brutal people in our army with the most offenses against Palestinians and foreign Arabs are typically not Jews, but Druze. They are loyal to the bone and hate the fact that ignorant people including even Israelis confuse them with Palestinians. Another fun fact, when people in our army actually do something bad even under understandable combat conditions, they are thrown in jail. I'm not saying it is always the case, but I've witnessed more than a few things happen where someone got in trouble for doing what was completely rational when you're 18, holding a gun, and in a life-threatening situation.

I will remind our critics that a huge percentage of our population is only here because they were forcibly pushed out of their own countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Iraq, etc) by actual, well-documented ethnic cleansing. I will remind you that no country has properly given right of return to us for what w

Re:Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because clearly, "my ancestors used to live here hundreds of years ago" is a fair claim on land that somebody else was living on after the fact, that totally entitles you to kick the existing inhabitants (who have lived there for hundreds of years, too) out.

Re:Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Another Israeli here, no family in Be'er-Sheva though...

Well, most of the parent post's statements are valid, as is his/her conclusion, but I must contradict some of them.

1. I believe parent post is denigrating the university due to his dislike of the political positions of some individual members of faculty. I could write a really long explanation of how one should go about evaluating a university and how this applies to Ben-Gurion U, but instead, there are established university rankings, and here you'll find some rankings for BGU. It made Times ranking 286th (I think this is the 2014 ranking but am not sure). So, it's not as high as the Technion or the Hebrew U in Jerusalem but it's pretty respectable. I think Comp Sci is sometimes in the 101th-150th range worldwide. The claim that "liberal people detest" the "left leanings" of BGU - I'd say that the neo-conservative elements in Israeli government tried to pressure BGU into censuring non-Zionist academics. Now, sure, it might be debatable - but parent will be hard-pressed to support his view with proper evidence. Also, not being a staunch Zionist does not make you "left-leaning" (i.e. a Socialist, supporter of state intervention in the economy, workers' struggles etc.) ; not sure about the actual left leaning of faculty in BGU, but to my knowledge its not a Big Thing (TM).

2. The rocket threat is real, but it is not constant. Not to belittle such a threat, but we (= Haifa) got a lot more rocket fire and more people were killed; true, that was in 2006, but it didn't scare any Hi-Tech companies away (and we've got plenty with sites here).

4. Maybe parent is right, but maybe the trains can help with that. Not sure though, I'm not a local. If companies build offices next to one of the train stations (e.g. next to the BGU train station) it could work.

7. There's plenty talent in Haifa (especially when you count Yokne'am). Probably not so much in Be'er-Sheva, unfortunately.

Finally, I couldn't agree more with point 8. ! It's terrible!

Re:Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Study the real history of the area. It was just about deserted before the Brits got it after WWII. They allowed a bunch of immigration from the surounding countries. Those Palestinians you are talking about? Their families immigrated to what is now Israel in the 1920s for the most part. Part of the reason that there is so much squabbling about it now. There were people who lived in the west bank towns, but the countryside was deserted.

The narative you have just stated: "the existing inhabitants (who have lived there for hundreds of years, too)" is BS.

Re:Beersheva a hub for anything? Really?

[aaronb1138]

I'm glad somebody mentioned Checkpoint, though it sounds like you aren't a fan.

Having worked plenty with Cisco, Juniper, Sonicwall and Checkpoint gear, the Checkpoint stuff is my favorite to build out and easiest to administer. Also the easiest by a good amount to take a quick glance at the configuration or log and know exactly what is going on. It does take a lot of overhead in the way of a dedicated configuration utility which only runs on Windows.

Juniper is a close second, and they definitely have superiority in the CLI department. Their C style nested configuration file is the best there is with beautiful logic and organization.

Cisco's configuration text files are a joke. They look like the result of letting every architect have a hand in the action without anyone dictating a direction. ASDM is even worse, featuring every bad design and logic decision possible and just feeling like a senior project at a university with a mediocre CS department.

Getting past the UI side, it's nice dealing with equipment that logically validates the configuration directives (Checkpoint / Juniper) instead of letting anything go even if it won't work.

So why the fuck...

[Anonymous Coward]

does the US still give financial aid to Israel? The number one recipient of US aid is apparently a technological power. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that a foreign power is allowed to act with impunity - its 'think tanks' and PACs registering as foreign powers - on US soil?

They are just Arabs with good Public Relations. Same crazy desert god. The Middle East isn't worth a shit, and not worth a single US life or dollar.

all your imaginary friends are crazy assholes.

[Thud457]

Better a Yahoo than some damn dirty Houyhnhnm.

NUKE ISRAEL

[Anonymous Coward]

race war now!

Sure, we can trust Jews...

[Anonymous Coward]

The same Jews who pulled off 9/11 and then used it as an excuse to get 'goyim' to attack Israel's enemies in the Middle East. Sure... we trust you with 'cybersecurity'...

Fuck a 30m

[Anonymous Coward]

say I'm packing surE that I've non-fucking-existant. Rul3s to follow copy a 17 Meg file Creek, abysmal Despite the Raymond in his ballots. You could turned over to yet

Sounds about right

[pak9rabid]

The company I work for hired a few security consultants from GE that were based out of Isreal to conduct a cybersecurity training seminar, and holy shit. These guys definitely knew what they were talking about. Easily one of the most valuable training seminars I have ever attended.

Re:Sounds about right

[Ukab the Great]

Wow, after about 70 posts that are either anti-semitic/israeli trolls or troll counter-trolls, we finally get our first post that addresses the actual article topic. Slashdot's set a new record.

Re:Sounds about right

[Anonymous Coward]

EXACTLY!!!!

I just wanted to come here and read the arguments about how just because people are putting in an effort doesn't mean that's where the success is going to happen. Wasn't Texas super big in tech long before California? Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley because that's where it was successful.

Instead, we've got a bunch of weirdos arguing religion and some asshats modding them up.

Dictatorial Fascist regimes

[Anonymous Coward]

With the backing of the US Government can do whatever they want.

Re: Dictatorial Fascist regimes

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but can we stop talking about Iran, and go back to cyber security?

Only Japan is free of them in the whole world.

[Anonymous Coward]

> Why Israel Could Be the Next Cybersecurity World Power

Because they create the very threats cybersecurity is meant to protect against. (Or they task their "Five Eyes" minions to create those threats at tehir own costs.) It's not like Iran is creating and distributing Stuxnet, Tilded, etc.

Talent

[Anonymous Coward]

The Palestinians would have great success in their endeavors if they didn't live in concentration camps.

Re:Talent

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, because their free and liberated brethren all over the Arab world are doing so well.

Time

[MrL0G1C]

Israelis treatment of Palestinians is appalling. Good Israelis see this and leave Israel, leaving behind the worse racist Israelis. Mean Jews don't see this and emigrate to Israel.

Concentrating hatred and racism. I fail to see how this can end well.

This is outright scary

[Anonymous Coward]

The comments are dripping with anti-semitic bigotry (note: anti-semitism means "jew-hatred", don't try to spin it). I would expect this level of discussion on worldnews, politics, or conspiracy subreddits, but seeing it on /. is disappointing.

balance?

[pepty]

Isn't Israel also a hotbed of computer hacking, phishing, etc.? Kind of makes sense they would have have a strong cybersecurity presence, even if only to defend against themselves.

Re:balance?

[Anonymous Coward]

AC Actual Israeli again.
No, Israel isn't really a hotbed of hacking, phising, etc. I think the reason people are interested in security here is because they are taught some about it in army computer related units like 8200, and because there was an existing base of more successful security start-ups that many of us worked at such as Checkpoint. Furthermore, there are also a few big government defense contractors who again need people who are highly security focused.

You should know some of the following:

1. In Israel the laws for spam texting, phone calls, phishing, and email are much more restrictive than places like the states. If for example I receive a spam text message, I merely need to go to court with my phone and records, and I can collect money. In practice, not so many people do this unless they're getting harassed constantly, but it's a nice law to have.

2. As a result of #1, most of our spam/phishing/etc is from outside the country. This is often Israeli firms though trying to get around the law. For example I receive a few calls per year from Thailand with pre-recorded messages asking for money for ultra-orthodox people in Hebrew. Obviously not the Thais doing this.

3. Microsoft has been a big employer here and has a huge influence in the IT market. Say what you want about Microsoft, but it's not generally where the hacking community builds itself around in terms of acquired skills. It does make for some softer targets internally.

4. We do actively protect and take measures against things that happen from the outside or our neighbors. For instance during our last war, we got spammed with threatening messages from Hamas, and a lot of phishing attacks from Hamas. Whenever there are well publicized incidents like this, you can be sure next opportunity for budgets, a government contract is handed to someone's old army buddies to fleece the people.

5. Our internet carriers suck. We have a separation between ISP and Infrastructure. I'm not sure how you explain this in English, but essentially you pay one company for service and the other company for the network. What this means to hacking is that it's not the best idea and infrastructure in the end to hack. It's usually buggy, slow, and monitored to some degree by the government. Good hackers here usually would move abroad or have to be extra careful.

6. Tech here is expensive. Not everyone has the latest tech, but prices are 2-4x what they are in the states, and for most jobs several orders of magnitude lower salary. Tech jobs are among the only ones that pay well, but still a lot less compared to the same job in the US, while prices are much more. Of course you can hack on anything, but it's important to point out these aren't your geeks typically with a huge home LAN and a switch in the basement. We often don't even have real basements and certainly most people don't have large houses.

Talmud

[NewYork]

"A flat disk of the earth, above which the sun completes its semicircle in an average of 12 hours" --Talmud