r/AskIsrael

Israel has been criticized for its weak response to Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine, even though most Israelis support Ukraine over Russia.

Common argument why Israel isn’t bigger ally of Ukraine is that Israel has to thread carefully with Russia because of the countries’ conflict of interests in Syria, where Russia was supporting Assad, who was Israel’s enemy. But that argument can’t be made now because Assad was toppled and Russia lost any leverage over Syria.

Israel still didn’t sanction Russia nor did it provide any particular support for Ukraine if any. And that’s despite Ukraine being very pro-Israel. According to some polls perhaps one of the most pro-Israel countries in the world.

And most recently, there was the scandal where Israel was caught accepting stolen Ukrainian grain from Russian ship, to which Ukraine reacted with wanting to sanction which even users of r/Israel were in favor of.

Why isn’t Netanyahu and by extension Israeli government more anti-Russia? Especially given that Russia has warm relations with both Hamas and Hezbollah and it’s one of the closest and most important allies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for which Zelenskyy expressed support to the, because they provide Russia with Shared drones. Ukraine is one of very few countries that support toppling the regime, so Israel and Ukraine have a rare and very important interest in common.

Hope all is well in Israel brothers & sisters. Curious Muslim American Revert here, I know there probably isn’t one “Israeli opinion,” but I’m curious what the general social attitude is toward Islam and Muslim communities globally. Does it differ between secular/religious Israelis, older/younger people, or by political background?

European countries, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Uruguay are generally considered the Western World due to common Greco-Roman heritage while rest of the World is considered the Eastern World

Broader definitions also include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore in the Western World because some people conflate being "Western" with being "Developed" but those concepts are orthogonal as the cultural heritage of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore is more influenced by the classical Chinese thought than Greco-Roman

So do Israelis consider themselves part of the Western World or the Eastern World?

Apart from the usual middle eastern stuff, what foods and drinks are uniquely Israeli?

This is something I have wanted to ask after my last two questions. In the responses, I noticed how much october 7th affected you all.
I want to say thank you to everyone who responded to my last two posts. I was really fortunate to be able to hear from you guys. This has really helped me in understanding the Israeli perspective better.
I have really heard your pain on this attack. I ask you to please answer this question (only if you want, of course) about your own personal experience. I am not here to judge you. I am here hear you, and to see you. I want to understand your perspective.

For people that want to talk about it more, i have a few more questions. These are questions I wonder from some of the perspectives i’ve heard from you guys. Please only answer if you feel up for it.

Did the attack of 7 october change your view of the palestinians?

How did you move on from 7 october?

How did it affect your personal life? Did it affect your family dynamics? If you are a parent, did it change the way you talk to your kids about the conflict?

How did the world’s response, and here I mean especially the pro-palestine movement, affect you?

Did 7 october change your view of a possible two state solution? and if so, how do you look at it now?

I will try to respond to everyone. I am still going to respond to people on my last post as well. If you notice i don’t respond to you, it might be because i’m trying to find the right words, or because english is not my first language, and some things can be complicated for me to understand.

Thank you🙏🏼

Yesterday I posted a question about what you guys think of jews that support palestine. I really liked being able to see your perspective. And i talked to some really pleasant people, so i decided to ask another question.

English isn’t my first language, so i am going to try to explain it best I can. I think it is obvious many innocent palestinians are suffering. And especially when you see a picture of a child dead, or starved. I mean, I don’t think anyone hears the story of Hind Rajab, and is happy about it. I can understand that being so close to it, and living in a country that’s part of the conflict, this can be very difficult. Especially because there’s no clear way out because of the conflict. I was wondering how you feel, watching all suffering happening, knowing it’s so close.

I am genuinely wondering about this. Please feel free to speak your truth openly. I tried to make the question as clear as possible. But i struggle a bit with explaining things well sometimes.

Hey! If there are any Haifans on here, I (30F) will be spending the summer there - taking an intensive Hebrew course, and I’d be very appreciative of any tips and tricks, specifically:

1. Must visit restaurants / bars
2. Good cafes to work / read
3. Must-visit museums / galleries / other attractions
4. Good gym / sports club
5. What’s the best beach to hang out at / meet new people / join into activities?
6. Any good scuba-diving centers?
7. Any welcoming communities / activities / Shabbat hangouts I could join into?
8. Any places I should be wary of as a woman? (like districts I shouldn’t go into alone)
9. And any other useful insights you may have on Haifa life.

Some background info:
I’m originally Russian Jewish (with Israeli citizenship) but have lived in the EU all my life. I’ve visited family in central and southern Israel numerous times (last time Jan 2023), spent some summers as a kid with my grandparents - so I’m somewhat acquainted with Israel.

Thank you for any tips you may have ❤️ I’ve had a very shitty year and have had this longing to go to Israel because I’ve been really missing the sense of belonging where I live since there aren’t many Jews here. I am looking forward to it so so much!

From outside coverage, I keep seeing reports of tensions during the marches in Jerusalem, including clashes, nationalist chants, harassment incidents, and confrontations in Arab neighborhoods. I’m trying to understand how Israelis across the political spectrum view these events.

How much of the reporting is exaggerated vs accurate? Are the people involved mostly fringe groups or is this seen as a mainstream celebration? And what role do the police usually play during the march?

Also, what is the status of Arab residents in East Jerusalem legally and socially, and why do these tensions seem especially connected to those neighborhoods?

I'm Canadian. I'm aware of the war with Iran, and it's probably not safe to go anywhere int the Middle East currently. But otherwise how is it normally?

I can see how this can be hard for Israelis, so I’m wondering what you guys think.

Edit: Realized the question was a bit vague, so I’m going to make the term a bit stricter:

Anti zionist jews, that support Palestine, but do not support Hamas.

I'm mainly talking about the heavy r and the vowels.

My family is from Israel. I’m not. I think they think quite extremely. They very strongly believe every single palestinian person is equivalent to a terrorist.
I want to know how other Israelis think.
Also, do many Israelis have believes such as my family’s? does it depend on the region?

I am not israeli. If I had ideas or wanted to discuss a thing with the israel society or government what is the best place to send a message if I am allowed? How long would it take if they wanted to reply to my message?

Hello! Jewish American here.

I came across operation SIG in a US state department report once a few years ago. I looked into it once. I can only assume this is a real operation in what has had last effects in the state of not just your region but also the world. But outside of the report at the time i could find very little credible details about it.

Is this a real operation? And if so, why is it not talked about more often?

Or am I just a consiracy theorist?

This is admittedly probably a poor comparison, but for example: the word “patriot” in the U.S.

Most of us are patriots in the sense that we want what’s best for the country. Some have a broad view of what “patriotism” means and what a “patriot” is. Some say only their side can be patriots, the other side says “no it’s actually us,” rinse and repeat.

In a similar vein, are most Israelis broadly “Zionist” in some sense, but different groups argue over what “real Zionism” means today? Or is “Zionism” like “the American dream,” something that is part of our collective cultural memory and reality but has little practical relevance in government or day to day life?

(Again, I know “patriot” isn’t a perfect comparison because Zionism obviously has much deeper historical, religious, and political meaning. It’s the best comparison I thought of.)

Wouldn’t it make more sense to enter through Egypt by land?

Does anyone know about how or where to contact the Israeli Embassy in Egypt ?

I wanted to go there for tourism but I can't find them anywhere

I tried asking on the Egyptian subreddit but I got cooked there 😭😭😭

Would appreciate any help , thanks

"According to an Israeli soldier interviewed in the documentary, members of Scagio’s unit were so upset that his reputation had been spoiled by killing Abu Akleh that they started using her photograph as target practice." I feel if both sides say it happened then it happened so I don't know how I would be mislead here. Why would they shoot a reporter? The guy was promoted to a sniper commander after so I doubt he misfired. But I may be wrong or mislead by mainstream media, I am unsure.

Then II saw a video of the IDF beating the people carrying her casket. That seems kind of harsh wouldn't you say. Is this justified? Or is this all just propaganda? And if so how am I being mislead? I've been trying to look at Israel media sources as well as mainstream western media but these incidents often aren't mentioned by them.

I truly want to know. I see videos of inherently bad things the IDF is doing all over reddit (destroying aid) and never am able to hear your side of it. I mean there's video proof so it seems irrefutable but I see people trying to justify or excuse it on here saying the west doesn't understand or its propaganda or anti semitism. I read every post I could and people haven't been posting links or evidence, just saying they don't have to explain it to the west cause we're all bad people who root for Hamas (which isn't true at all!). I really want to believe Israel is in the right in what it's doing! My Grandpa fought in WW2 so I do not support anti semitism in the slightest but I see so many negative posts about Israel yet don't see any of your sides arguments (and yes I understand these are probably downvoted by reddit so they're hard to find). But they won't be here!

I mean didn't Israel legalize Execution and the guy who did it celebrated with a noose cake? How is that being justified as not just cruel or sadistic. Or is the west putting a spin on it?

Sorry I really am fairly ignorant on the whole conflict but after some anti semitic things at my University I want to make sure I'm on the right side of history here. I don't want to support hateful things and really am trying to make sure I'm not being tricked by the media into believing a false narrative. And I promise I'll admit when I'm wrong if I'm shown evidence, I'm a Scentist so I want facts and videos and not just hearsay which is mostly what I see on this subreddit.

The reason I brought up a few examples is that I actually want to be proven wrong or told that I'm misinterpreting all the videos I'm seeing. I hope this gives you guys room to actually defend some negative things people are seeing with factual evidence.

Thanks!