I have a feeling that I am about to take a bit of a massive sh*t sandwich by weighing in on this, but it seems to me that one of the primary causes of ridiculous violent behavior is idleness. We see it in the Arabs who have nothing to do but sit around in the sand, and we see it in gangs in the inner city who have nothing to do but sit around all day.
Isreal's subsidizing the radicals who don't work, but rather sit around all day with their pals in the religious schools is going to come back to haunt them.
People who have to work, take care of kids, make food, etc. don't have time to fill their heads with crazy thoughts, and also understand better the consequences of their actions.
That has to be THE most ignorant statement that I have seen on FR in ages...and there have been some doozies. This one, takes the cake, though. Congratulations on the championship stupid comment of the day and it's early yet.
When we start to see kollel students (that's what they call people who spend all day studying) shooting people, then I'll concede that your comment has merit.
Actually, the study that they engage in is extremely rigorous, and far from idleness.
Nevertheless, there are quite a few religious Israelis who do not work, but spend their time studying instead. I believe that this is a difficult social problem for Israel, and that they should combine their study with work. I don't believe that this sort of sociological group exists in Jewish communities anywhere else in the world. Even in Lakewood, NJ, the center of kollel activity in the US, those who study tend to do so for a few years, not for an entire lifetime.
But that's an issue for another thread, I think.
I think there are two different types of Islamic terrorist, both of which have a striking parallel in the modern United States. Type #1 is the shiftless dope like the London bombers who have way too much time on their hands because "survival" takes far too little effort for them. If the criminal/thug element in our urban areas were prone to suicidal tendencies, these types of attacks would occur with boring regularity right here in the U.S.
Type #2 is an intelligent Muslim who could very easily be successful in today's world, but whose secular mindset has made him utterly bored with his worldly existence. He becomes a "revolutionary" of sorts simply because he feels a need to somehow make his life relevant in any way he can. Mohammed Atta was this kind of terrorist. His U.S. parallel is not a career criminal from Detroit, but a spoiled, snot-nosed sh!t from a well-to-do family. He's probably remarkably similar to Lori Berenson, that dip-sh!t from New York who joined the Shining Path revolution in Peru and who will probably spend the rest of her life in a Pruvian prison 15,000 feet up in the Andes.
>>Isreal's subsidizing the radicals who don't work, but rather sit around all day with their pals in the religious schools is going to come back to haunt them.
So yer talking about settlers who built their homes with their own hands and grow 30% of Israel's exports on the sand dunes. Yep, too much time on their hands.
Hate to interfere with your screed at the "settlers" but the latest news describes him as a secular Jew from Israel who because of the disengagement deserted the IDF, "turned" Religious and was loitering in the "West Bank". Some one who obviously had psychological problems and not a product of the lazy "Right Wing" as you described (a particularly strange posting for "right wing" FreeRepublic).
But if this guy can be considered a terrorist, you do know what that means: we have to look at the root causes of his grievance and humiliation.
Get enough insane people like him and give them a State.
You are confusing groups of people here. By and large --
1) "Settlers" (I hate that term since it is used to marginalize and deligitimize a brave group of people) are not the ultra Orthodox Hasidim, also known as Haredim, who get army deferments because they study in Yeshivas
2) "Settlers" do serve in the army and make up an inordinate percentage of the Officer Corps and Elite Units
3) "Settlers" do work. Note the dismantling of the "settlements" in Gaza is often bemoaned, among other reasons, for the loss of its produtivity, its thriving agricultural industry
4) The non-working group you are talking about Hasidim/Haredim live in very Orthodox communities in the heart of Israel such as in the heart of Jerusalem (Meir Shearim) or in Tel Aviv (Bnei Brak). Their non-service in the army and welfare status is a source of great resentment and controversy in Israel.
It also unfairly tarnishes the image of Orthodox "settlers" who are another group entirely.
And finally, any community/country can have some one who goes off the deep end. Israel had Baruch Goldstein in 1994. I think the generalizations come from the rarity of Jews committing acts such as this at the same time they are held to an impossible standard of perfection expected of no one else.
"the radicals who don't work" What, posting on FR 24 hours a day isn't work?