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Citizens of Israel

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Druze and Ethiopian Israeli citizens are treated differently than other Israeli citizens. Even though they have citizenship like Jewish Israeli citizens, they are not treated as authentic citizens. Druze community members are not only active volunteers in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), but their men are the only non-Jewish citizens who join the military combat (Rosenthal, 307). Druze also serve as Members of Knesset (MK) (Rosenthal, 308). In 2007, the first non-Jewish member of the Knesset became acting president when Moshe Katsav resigned. He was a member of the Druze community (Rosenthal, 308). Yet, when the Basic Law of Israel was created and voted on, Druze communities were not considered. On one hand, the Basic Law lays down the ground for Jews to have a state of their own. On the other hand, it created a situation where those who are not Jewish but have been loyal citizens to the State of Israel, feel betrayed.  According to The Times of Israel , Rami Zadeen, a ...
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Family = ?

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According to The Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel, by 2009 Israel’s demographic characteristics showed that 75.5% of the total Israeli population were Jews, 20.3% were Arabs and 4.1% were defined as others. These populations are among those who are intolerant of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness in Israel. Israel is a small but very diverse state religiously and ethnically. Within Israel there are communities from the ultra-Orthodox to the non-religious. Each community deals with various areas of life differently. Specifically, when it comes to homosexuality and sexual permissiveness, each community has its own level of tolerance and intolerance.  Those that are most intolerant of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness are among the ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, Christian and Arab communities. The similarity amongst these communities and their intolerance is religion. Each religious community follows the laws and commandments of their own religious ...
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Ceasefire, to be or not to be?

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The Jerusalem Post issued an article on Tuesday April 2, 2019, stating that the head of Hamas’s “political bureau,” Ismail Haniyeh, announced they received Israel’s implemented timeline of understandings for a ceasefire from Egyptian intelligence officials. Haniyeh stated to Gaza City reporters he had given Egypt demands regarding Palestinian prisoners to relay to Israel. The demands included removing cellular jamming devices so the Palestinian prisoners could use their smuggled cell phones. He also demanded the Israel Prison Service stop their sanctions against Palestinian prisoners who had stabbed two Israeli guards in Ketziot Prison in the Negev two weeks ago. Hamas prisoners are also threatening to go on a hunger strike in response to the jamming devices and sanctions placed on them after the stabbings. On Monday April 1, 2019 sources close to Hamas reported U.N. Middle East representative Nickolay Mladenov met with Hamas officials to discuss the issue of the prisoners. Acc...
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Gazans Under Fire?

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The Gaza Strip may seem like a foreign Palestinian territory where most of us only understand it as a volatile place where missiles come from. That's only one side of the story. What about those living in the Gaza Strip? Those who live under the Hamas regime and yet at the same time under the Palestinian Authority. Many of us fail to understand the economic hardships the Palestinian citizens have to live with in the Gaza Strip. Khaled Abu Toameh tries to give some insight to these hardships in his article, What's happening in Gaza?   Toameh tells his readers how organized Palestinian youth movements are joining together in the streets of Gaza under the banner “We Want to Live” to protest for their depleted lively hood. The protesters are demanding better solutions for their high cost of living, taxes and unemployment. Instead of being heard by their leaders, they were used as pawns in the continued blame by one another for the hardships they face living in the Gaza Str...
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Wonder Woman vs. Bibi Netanyahu

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Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman On July 19, 2018, Israel’s Knesset passed the Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People . The law pertains to the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and their right to self-determination through their natural, cultural, religious and historical rights. It declared the national language, flag, emblem and anthem of the Jewish People. The law states which days are for rest and which are recognized holidays as well as the Jewish Memorial Day and Independence Day. The law also states that the State of Israel will ensure the safety of the Jewish people and its citizens according to their Jewishness or their citizenship. Lastly, the law touches on Jewish immigration, the right for Jews to develop settlements and the act of holding on to ties of the Jewish people and the members of the State of Israel in the Diaspora.  Many points written into the Nation-State Law are already practiced by the citizens of Israel. Aroun...
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My Very First Blog Post

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I have never made a blog or posted on a blog before.  Netanyahu  will make a speech in Israel today. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister
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