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Many times I watched them gleefully speak of ''Anti-Zionism'' which we all know has been a code word for plain old Jew hatred.
Folks - I need some help here...and please give me the benefit of the doubt regarding my question....

I read a great deal of threads over this issue...and constantly find myself confused. In many areas, for thousands of years, it's clear the Jewish people have been subjected to unbelievable abuse. But I have ALOT of trouble understanding the origin of the hatred behind it. And if were easy to understand, threads would be aplenty on other subjects, and debates on this one few.

On the other hand, I do not understand Arab hatred either. I DO understand, and share, the loathing for fundamental Islam - for it gives religious sanction to murder - it's in the Koran, black and white. But I DON'T understand Arab hatred, the Koran notwithstanding.

In other words, if I DON'T hate Arabs, I am guessing several of you, based on your many posts that I follow, will believe I am an Anti-Semite (and God forbid, maybe even a leftist)----even if I state I DON'T hate Jews (and I don't hate either for the record).

I have teen age kids. Now is the time when any statements I make about the Middle East will make deep impressions. For it is them that will be voting soon, and them that will be watching the story unfold on the Temple Mount - for in the long run, that is the central piece of land known as Zion, no? And the bad guys currently run the show there, yes?

I want above all to be fair in my statements. But I am totally unconvinced regarding so many of the Arab arguments, as well as so many of the Jewish arguments.

From both sides in general, I sense a vengence-fueled appeal to tribalism. Voices of restraint are drowned out.

I see very few posts or links that point to reasoned solutions of what is going to be the central issue of the coming decades. I see instead immense howling and cries of "injustice" - and endless streams of information about who is dead wrong and why.

Of all things I took from my 2nd grade teacher, it was the total belief that tribalism was a core taproot that nourished war. She said being an American had nothing to do with blood line - and for that I should thank God I was born an American. Oh how totally true that has turned out to be.

Am I naive to teach this to my own kids? In fact, what I am really asking is this: if I teach my kids that tribalism is inherently evil, am I raising an Anti-Semite?

if I teach my kids that tribalism is inherently evil, am I raising an Anti-Semite?

It depends on your ability to weave a blanket of condemnation that falls equally over all tribes. If your blanket rests more heavily on the tribe of Ishmael then you are not anti-Semite, but should you attempt to balance the overall condemnation of tribalism (here at FreeRepublic) by placing your emphasis on the tribe of Isaac then you enter perilous waters.

You need to remember that the Jewish Nation is composed of multiple tribes - some lost and some found . . . It is risky business condeming tribalism, come to think of it. Don't do it.

Arabs are very tribalist. Jews are tribal to some extent but freely participate in Western liberal societies and have no objections to it. Can you say the same about the Mohammedans? The Jewish intermarriage rate in America is 50%. How tribal is that? Jewish leaders rightly worry about this.

There are 5 million Jews in Israel surrounded by 200 million Muslims. Which tribe do you think has the advantage? Saudi Arabians and the Paleostinians in Gaza have some of the world's highest birthrates.

Israel is only able to fend of the Arabs with the nukes in their arsenal and the Muslims darn well know it

Dear Gobucks,

I was moved by your post and your desire to raise your kids to be free of anti-Semitism and anti-Arabism. I also think you were right on the money when you wrote:

"I see very few posts or links that point to reasoned solutions of what is going to be the central issue of the coming decades. I see instead immense howling and cries of "injustice" - and endless streams of information about who is dead wrong and why."

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is fueled by high-octane rage and hate on both sides which are the two serpents strangling the Laocoons of the world who are warning of the disaster this unbearably tragic situation poses to universal hopes of world peace.

My advice to you and your kids is to educate yourselves by reading books by the right, center, and left on both sides. And above all, get to know and talk to Jews and Arabs from each of these segments of opinion.

"Am I naive to teach this to my own kids? In fact, what I am really asking is this: if I teach my kids that tribalism is inherently evil, am I raising an Anti-Semite?"

Tribalism is not inherently evil, it's simply a fact of life in most of the world. I live part of the year in Vietnam and tribal rivalries explain much, much of the politics and friction there. The same seems true in Iraq. Heck, in the U.S. what is the joking about Yankees vs. Rednecks or the Easterners vs. the rest of the country? There are countless other examples, e.g. Mexico, but I think tribalism speaks to much of the conflict. Is that evil? I don't think so, it's more just a fact of life.

BTW, you sound like you're doing a great job of parenting.

Your answer, sir. Short and sweet.

"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the other sect, who believe or pretend to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization."
-John Adams, 2nd U.S. President, 1806