Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#22What is a good place for this new startup? Maybe Al-Arakib which is a Palestinian Bedouin village where peopel have been living for hundreds of years and have deeds from Ottoman era but the settler startup nation keeps demolishing their homes? http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/al-araqib-demolished-for-the-3...
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-stu...
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#23Why would anyone here support a fundamentally racist, oppressive de-facto apartheid occupying state which is about to commit genocide? Especially considering the above average intelligence i presume people here to have. Israel needs to be boycotted, globally. Not supported. Not in any way. Not in the slightest.
From the guidelines: Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say about them.
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#24Why would anyone here support a fundamentally racist, oppressive de-facto apartheid occupying state which is about to commit genocide? Especially considering the above average intelligence i presume people here to have. Israel needs to be boycotted, globally. Not supported. Not in any way. Not in the slightest.
This is supporting Israeli startups, not the Israeli government. more and more Israeli startups outsource work to Palestinian high tech companies, which is probably a good thing for both sides. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/technology/29compute.html?... http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-high-tech-compa...
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#25Someone may as well close this thread. People can't resist bringing politics into this startup discussion because it happens to involve Isreal.
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#26I don't know what Google intends by support , but if it were me I certainly wouldn't invest in Israel. The amorality of it aside, Israel is also a huge intellectual property and espionage risk. Check out "Spy Trade" by Grant F Smith as an example reference (links below). http://vimeo.com/31298789 http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Trade-Israels-Undermines-Americas/...
Edit: After seeing it is a one hour lecture I instead spent 5 minutes googleing the uploader - IRmep. IRmep is not a fair and balanced organization. It is obviously anti-Israel with its statements on twitter (https://twitter.com/IRmep).
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#27This is ridiculous pink washing of war crimes, apartheid, murder and terror perpetrated by a colonial settler state which is the last such project in which the natives are still not allowed to return to their homes from which European settlers kicked them out in 1948. The population of Palestine was only 3% Jewish in 1905, and the UN plan gave them 55% of land in 1947 (Jewish population still 33% of total population)…
How is this the top comment?
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#28Why would anyone here support a fundamentally racist, oppressive de-facto apartheid occupying state which is about to commit genocide? Especially considering the above average intelligence i presume people here to have. Israel needs to be boycotted, globally. Not supported. Not in any way. Not in the slightest.
I could respond to this comment by saying, "Why be so negative toward Israel, when there are so many countries that treat people so much worse?" But even though I believe that there are indeed countries with far worse human-rights records than Israel, and which treat citizens and non-citizens worse than we do -- it doesn't comfort me to hear, or to know, that we do a lot of things wrong.
I could say that if you feel this way about Israel, that you should be equally adamant about boycotting China, Syria, Saudia Arabia, or Iran, let alone Russia or other "illiberal democracies." But that's a cheap excuse; after all, I didn't move to Israel, and I don't believe in the re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty, by creating and fostering a country with a dismal human-rights record.
The sad fact is that Israel doesn't treat the Palestinians well. As a religious Israeli Jew, I find much of that treatment to be an embarrassment, giving me pause regarding the type of country that we've established here, and the future of Judaism in a sovereign state. That said, I'm pretty liberal in Israeli political terms, and the bloodthirsty words I hear coming from the Hamas leadership, along with the more muted tones I hear from the Fatah-led West Bank, make even me wonder if we can trust the Palestinians. I have to hope that the answer is "yes," because if we can't ever trust each other, then we'll never reach a peace treaty, or ever reach a reasonable compromise.
In the end, I get comfort from knowing that Israel is a democracy, with a very strong tradition of free speech and free press, in which all sorts of opinions are allowed, if not welcomed. I have to hope and assume that while the process might be messy, and might take far longer than I like, Israeli governments will eventually manage to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Oh, and to claim that Israel is interested in genocide is pure nonsense, and makes an already complex situation into a set of bumper stickers and meaningless statements.
To bring this back to the HN focus on startups: One of the reasons for Israelis to compromise, and to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, is to see that we have a lot to lose by not compromising. The rapid growth of high tech in Israel has changed the face of the country, making it stronger and wealthier than ever before. I believe, and maybe I'm wrong here, that the strength, wealth, and integration into the global economy gives Israel an opportunity to negotiate from a position of strength.
In other words, Google's entry into Israel's startup scene has the potential to chip away at the problems you have with Israel. It will take time, because things always do in democratic countries, and especially when failure in your foreign and defense policy means the potential death of yourself and your loved ones.
So instead of calling Israel names, and saying that the world should simply disengage from what we're doing here, I encourage you to take a more nuanced view, to talk to actual Israelis about what we're doing (and not doing), and to see how we can improve the world through startups and high-tech inventiveness. Google is having a more direct, positive affect on the peace process than your comment did, and for that I commend them.
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#29Why would anyone here support a fundamentally racist, oppressive de-facto apartheid occupying state which is about to commit genocide? Especially considering the above average intelligence i presume people here to have. Israel needs to be boycotted, globally. Not supported. Not in any way. Not in the slightest.
Preface: I'm an Israeli Jew, born in the United States. I've lived in Israel since 1995, and now have a family (with three children). I could respond to this comment by saying, "Why be so negative toward Israel, when there are so many countries that treat people so much worse?" But even though I believe that there are indeed countries with far worse human-rights records than Israel, and which treat citizens and non-c…
Take your hasbara somewhere else. Saudi, China etc are not settler states which deny equal rights to their people of certain race or ethnicity or religion, and they don't get $3 billion in aid from US for 7 million people of a preferred race only. Israeli apartheid regime gets more aid than sub-Saharan Africa and entire Latin America combined. Saudi, China etc haven't violated dozens or UN resolutions and don't get US diplomatic shielding for their war crimes. They are criticised for their brutal actions and so should Israeli terror be criticised. Stop demanding special treatment for your settler state. You can talk when you give equal rights to Palestinians, when you give the natives the right to return, at least the same rights as a US-born settler, if not more because they are the rightful owners of their land.
Re: Supporting Israel’s “start-up nation”
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is this the top comment?
Because accountswu is spamming this thread and most of the top level comments are his. I wish there was a way to report him. Looking at his history he isn't exactly what I'd want a fellow HN contributor to be. Anyways it isn't the first comment for me, so hopefully it will sink even further soon.
If you are more enlightened and you feel that I am the one who is ignorant I will appreciate it when you correct me.
However, if you only attack my personality rather than countering what I said then I would assume that I didn't say anything wrong.