Worth reading

Been too busy to post, but it is worthwhile to read this piece by David Bogner in response to a troll who called all Israelis "colonialist." Punch line:

As a parting gift, I would direct you to the U.N. Declaration Of Human Rights; a document which is so often mis-quoted as a weapon against us. It clearly states that "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country". You can't turn over a stone anywhere in the length and breadth of this country (especially in Judea and Samaria; the areas you refer to as occupied Palestinian territory) without finding hard, indisputable evidence of an ancient and continued Jewish presence here. The very label 'Jew' comes from the word 'Judea'; the real name for the southern half of the so-called 'West Bank'.

You want to engage me in an intelligent discussion of prejudice, of second-class status, of disenfranchisement and confiscated property? I won't rub your face in your own country's shameful conduct against the Jews (although by all rights I should). Instead I will freely admit that like most countries in the world, Israel has many social and legal hurdles to clear before we have the Utopian society we would all prefer. But our societal shortcomings and ills are not unlike the problems each and every one of your countries has had to face in trying to balance civil liberties and homeland security.

But if you want to call me a Nazi? If you want to tell me I'm a colonialist? That tells me that not only are you not interested in an intelligent discussion... but that you don't even understand the meaning of those words.

And by the way... in reference to your continued reference to Palestinians as the only indigenous people of this land, I am still awaiting the discovery of the first 'Palestinian' artifact tying that people to my homeland and giving them a greater claim to it than mine.