@Moment-in-Time,
What the hell is the "worst kind of Jew"? I believe the phrase expresses a prejudgment of Jews, a prejudice, which I suspect Cicerone would deny if he was accused of it explicitly.
While it is certainly true that the wish for a return to the land of Israel from which the Jews were expelled by Rome in the 2nd century, has been an explicit part of Jewish culture and religion more or less ever since the expulsion, that was NOT the proximate cause for the mass exodus of Jews from war-ravaged Europe in 1946 & 7.
It is simply a fact that the large scale actual return of large numbers of Jews didn't occur until after the Holicaust, and until after surving, displaced Jews, who, in most cases, lost everything but their lives, found to their dismay that they were either not welcome or were decidedly uncomfortable back in their former European homes immediately after the war. This is understandable in that in most cases their homes were either destroyed or occupied by someone else. In addition the roundup and transport of Jews across Europe occured in many cases with the passive (in some cases active) participation of their former neighbors. Suspicion and mistrust replaced their former relationships. THIS WAS THE REAL CAUSE FOR THE EXODUS TO PALESTINE. It was certainly rationalized by a salient part of the Jewish tradition, but the fact that there had been no large scale return of Jews for almost 1,800 years while the tradition was ever present, clearly tells us something.
The situation in Palestine today is a tragedy in that the parties involved were initially driven by understandable motives which did not necessarily require injuring the other.
Despite that the current conflict arose because of a string of selfish and exploitive acts on both sides. Each side has thoroughly rationalized and justified its role in continuing the conflict, but neither has invested much energy in the creation of a tolerant society in which both could thrive.
For me, I blame most (not all) of this on Israel because they have more power and greater ability to manage the siutuation. Instead they have allowed themselves to be driven by their worst sectarian zealots to the notion of a permanent Jewish state. In part this occurred becauser things like appropriating Palestinian land made life cheaper and better for many. Soon enough opalestinian violence became a sufficient rationalization for everyone in Israel. I'm sure an analogous situation playerd itself out on the other side. Sadly these conflicts can last centuries, and there are many others of them in this world.
