>How about adding that a good chunk of my family died in death camps, so I
>understand why all this stupid reductionist talk about imperialism and
>Israel just misses the point of why Israel mattered for a lot of folks.
You're talking about terror, Nathan? Not wanting to be in the situation that lots of Jews were/are in? Yep, understandable. I've been reading Peter C. Newman's book The Establishment, and he gives a layman's/reporter's psychological assessment of capitalists and CEOs; he comes up with just that point: that one reason capitalists do what they do is sheer terror of what would happen to them if they didn't (don't worry: Newman doesn't get mawkishly sentimental for them one bit). After The Holocaust what Jew wouldn't want to get out of Dodge, and find peace of mind by being surrounded by like-minded folks. I just wish they hadn't decided to take over where they did, and helped start that widening pool of blood they're standing in.
Todd