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Thread: "We're all Israeilis now?"

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    "We're all Israeilis now?"

    As you all have likely heard, there was a terrorist attack in the UK... again.

    Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/w...explosion.html

    The other night I was listening to a Sam Harris podcast and he used this phrase: "We're all Israelis now."

    He went on to explain that we now live in a world where terrorists attacks can happen to almost anyone almost anywhere and that this is how the Israelis have been living since the Jewish State was founded.

    Thoughts? Do you share his sentiments?

  2. #2
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    I dont have any words of wisdom, just words of support for those in the U.K. We are thinking of you all!
    Last edited by iris lilies; 9-15-17 at 8:56am.

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    I thought you need to form your own thoughts, then you might be interested in posting them, if you want a discussion.
    Why do you want others to do homework?

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    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
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    My take is that there is some validity to this. It does seem as if there are more attacks being carried out and there is no guarantee as to when and where - in that sense we all are all vulnerable. The other day I was on the light rail passing through Tempe and it dawned on me - what is there from stopping a terrorist act from happening on this light rail train here and now?

    Not a pleasant thought but I realized that though the chances of an actual terrorist act happening are not very high - there really is no way to know when and where such an act will happen. In that sense, we are all living with this reality that Israelis have long lived with. I wonder what their everyday coping skills for this are or are they just used to living with this or is it a little of both, coping skills and getting used to this vulnerability? Rob

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    Before 9/11/2001, I remember being somewhat surprised that the United States had not suffered high fatality coordinated terrorist acts, especially since Europe and the Middle East had had these for years.
    After 9/11/2001, everyone was on high alert for many years but now I think that feeling has waned somewhat. I think we have empathy for victims in Brussels, Paris, etc. when these attacks happen though, that we as a nation probably would not have felt as deeply prior to our own on 9/11.
    So maybe we are all Israelis now.

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    Rob,
    I read that one of the Israelis coping mechanisms is their rapid response to a restaurant bombing, or suicide bomber, etc. Their aim is to clean up the area immediately and restore it as quickly as possible to normal. The goal is to minimize the attack's devastation and therefore any opportunity for the attackers to gloat over it.

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    Senior Member IshbelRobertson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ultralight View Post
    As you all have likely heard, there was a terrorist attack in the UK... again.

    Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/w...explosion.html

    The other night I was listening to a Sam Harris podcast and he used this phrase: "We're all Israelis now."

    He went on to explain that we now live in a world where terrorists attacks can happen to almost anyone almost anywhere and that this is how the Israelis have been living since the Jewish State was founded.

    Thoughts? Do you share his sentiments?
    Whilst in no way denigrating the long and ongoing threat to the people of Israel, we in the UK are no strangers to terrorist attacks.

    I lived in London when the IRA bombings was at its height. I sat in London pubs in Camden and Kentish Town (particularly Irish areas of the city) when young sympathisers, male and female came in dressed in black jackets, trousers and berets as well as dark sunglasses (in London at night!) shaking collection tins in your face saying 'Donations for the Bhoys'? I had rellies serving in N Ireland, I wasn't about to give donations to let them purchase guns, often courtesy of NORAID in the States.

    All this from the early 1970s. In the UK we dealt with Hitler's bombs, the IRA and now Islamist terrorists, many of them, sadly, home-grown. We just keep our stiff upper lip. Perhaps you need to buy a poster the the British WWII slogan 'Keep calm and carry on'?
    Last edited by IshbelRobertson; 9-15-17 at 1:36pm. Reason: Typo and clarity!

  8. #8
    Yppej
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    No we are not all Israelis now. We don't in most cases engage in the ethnic profiling El Al does, our TSA does not trick people into carrying around tracking devices like the Israelis did to Ultralight when he visited (which is why so many of our undocumented come on planes and overstay their visas), Trump has been unable to get his wall built, and we do not have a religious test for citizenship. But I could foresee a devolution in our civil liberties due to terrorism so we become more like Israel.

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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ultralight View Post
    Thoughts? Do you share his sentiments?
    No.

  10. #10
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by IshbelRobertson View Post
    Whilst in no way denigrating the long and ongoing threat to the people of Israel, we in the UK are no strangers to terrorist attacks.

    I lived in London when the IRA bombings was at its height. I sat in London pubs in Camden and Kentish Town (particularly Irish areas of the city) when young sympathisers, male and female came in dressed in black jackets, trousers and berets as well as dark sunglasses (in London at night!) shaking collection tins in your face saying 'Donations for the Bhoys'? I had rellies serving in N Ireland, I wasn't about to give donations to let them purchase guns, often courtesy of NORAID in the States.

    All this from the early 1970s. In the UK we dealt with Hitler's bombs, the IRA and now Islamist terrorists, many of them, sadly, home-grown. We just keep our stiff upper lip. Perhaps you need to buy a poster the the British WWII slogan 'Keep calm and carry on'?
    I remember the days of "the troubles" well. History repeating itself with a different cast of characters.

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