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"Arab oppression of Jews existed and that it is a contributing reason the Arabs and Jews have historically had problems, and a partial justification for Israel to have been given to the Jews."

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Jews were not oppressed in Arab lands.

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Andy, as much as I respect your historical knowledge, this is quite inaccurate.

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Muslims considered Jews and Christians people of the "book" and considered that their religion should be respected.

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Haha, so their religion is "respected" but they can't worship in public? So they have to pay a special tax? So Jews and Christians can't preach Judaism or Christianity to Muslims, but Muslims can preach Islam to Jews and Christians? A Muslim's word as a witness in court is to be legally considered worth twice that of the word of a Jew--legally speaking?

That's not RESPECT; that's DISCRIMINATORY LEGISLATION and oppression--and while not terribly bad hundreds of years ago, it still exists today and IS very bad by today's standards. And it also existed and was very bad about the time Israel was formed.

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This is precisely what caused problems for Jews in the western world and in Russia: their religion. While Jews were considered dhimmi, and thus were not of the same status as Muslims, oppression is the wrong word to apply to Jewish life in Arab/Muslim states. No historian who has studied Jewish existence in Arab states comes to this conclusion.

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Dhimmitude IS oppression; there is no other rational way to look at it by 20th/21st century standards. And I assume that since it existed around the time of Israel's formation, along with many oppressive laws, that measuring it by modern standards has a proper place in this discussion. By the way, all that "Protection" meant, was that if you do what we say, and remain subjugated under our laws which DON'T grant you equal rights, we won't kill you. If you don't proselytize a Muslim, we won't kill you. If you don't build a temple or church higher than a mosque, we won't burn it down. If you don't worship in public, we won't arrest you. Exactly how the hell is that not oppression?

(excerpt)"...And the first church in Saudi Arabia is opening when?

On April 21st (2005), the Saudi religious police (known as the Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”), scooped up a criminal gang in a raid on a Riyadh apartment. The desperate and dangerous felons (40 Pakistani men, women and children) were listening to Christian sermons on tape and praying in the name of Jesus. All of which are hanging offenses in the most Muslim nation on Earth.

A Saudi police source was quoted as saying, “These people tried to spread the poison (i.e., Christianity) and their beliefs to others, by means of distributing pamphlets and (missionary) publications.” The villains!" (end excerpt by Don Feder)

Come on Andy. That's not oppression???

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Thus, Arabs and Jews did not have historical problems of anywhere close to the magnitude of the problems problems that Christians and Jews had. Jewish treatment in Arab states had absolutely nothing to do with the Zionist movement and the justification for the formation of the state of Israel. There is nothing in any of the Zionist writings about the condition of Jews in Arab states.

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So what, even if that is true? It's still good reason and good partial justification for the existence of Israel, and it remains a good justification today. Arab laws are HORRIBLY discriminatory against Jews; Arabs are even legally allowed to do things to Jews that Jews cannot do to Arabs.

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BTW, Israel defines itself as a Jewish state. I can move to Israel and I immediately become a citizen. My daughter in law cannot do so. The problems Arabs have in Israel boil down to Jewish insistence on being the DOMINANT religion and politics (instead of merely being an EQUAL religion), and to laws denying non-Jews equal rights--plus a certain amount of plain anti-Arab sentiment (often with a background religious component).

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I am sorry to say it but I expect better of you than to ignore DEGREE in this comparison. Arabs are free to practice Islam in Israel without restrictions such as Jews must legally observe in Arab states. Judaism in Israel does not SUPPRESS Islam in Israel; there are no laws that Muslims cannot pray in public, cannot proselytize, etc. So you are flipping my meaning of the phrase "dominant religion and politics" to mean something else.

More importantly, Arabs are legally granted full human rights protection in Israel. Don't you remember the post wherein I cited sections of the legal codes of various Arab states? Things like: a Muslim committing a serious offense against a Jew or a Christian or Bahai is not nearly so punishable a crime as the converse, LEGALLY speaking. In fact, in one Arab country (I forget which), a Bahai has no legal status at all, so if a Muslim kills a Bahai, that is not even a crime! That is in their damned legal code, for crissakes, and I posted it verbatim. Do I need to go search and post their legal codes all over again?