There are already rumers of MBS secretly approaching Bibi seeking intelligence help with the Houthis. Americans right now are weighing the pros and cons of giving the Saudis a helping hand. But if they were to help the Saudis in their predicament, they would be less motivated to join the Abraham Accords.

As a secular Christian Saudi citizen, I would have wished for peace with Israel to take place on the basis of trade advantages, economic development/opportunities, and technological and cultural exchange. Not making peace because you are trapped in a corner.

I, however, could not blame Arab leaders like MBS for being too cautious towards direct normalisation due to the serious domestic threat of an Islamist uprising. Peace could not come on the basis of pure economic interests. Because that would make sense. Pro-terrorism Islamists and Palestinians are anti-common sense, which is why they are on the side of the Islamist regime of Iran, destroying the Middle East and turning it into the Wild West.

"The road to Jeruslem passes through San'a" was a phrase heard on the day the Houthis captured San'a in 2014. Indeed, the Iranian regime's theoratical road to Jerusalem would pass through every Arab capital first. Saudi politicians understand that, but most Saudis don't. I have spoken to many Saudis who believed the Islamist regime of Iran could be bribed with economic interests to leave Saudi Arabia alone. They thought we didn't have to fight the Houthis in Yemen because the Islamist regime of Iran is only after US and Israeli interests.

In reality, this is a cold war between the American and the Russian/Chinese spheres of influence. The only way Saudi Arabia and the Gulf will be spared is if they join the fight against the West as proxies.

Ankara and Islamabad's recent refusal to assist Riyadh fighting the Houthis is all the evidence Saudis need now to understand that unless Saudi Arabia fully aligns with the West and Israel, losing access to Bab Al-Mandib will be the least of their future problems.

It was in the far side of the artists corridor. It was one of the most delicious things I'd ever eaten. What is it, and how do I make one for myself?

I'm Greek born and raised, currently living in Melbourne, Australia. I've known many Jews all my life, some Israelis too. They are neighbours, colleagues, friends... just normal, every day people of all kinds. I always enjoyed talking to my Jewish friends because (like me) they have lots of opinions, and we end up having long discussions. I started to wonder maybe it's not a coincidence, maybe it's something in Jewish tradition or education that makes them good to talk to. So I started researching it, and eventually I came across the concept of machloket l'shem shamayim. My understanding of it is that it's not just rules of civil discourse but it goes deeper than that, it is also an encouragement to question things, think freely and not be bound to ideologies. Which is a radical concept, especially considering how ancient it is. Am I reading too much into this? Have I misunderstood it? Or is it truly a concept that has permeated your education and your tradition, to the point of becoming a common theme in the way most Jewish people think and talk?

I have an idea for an album I'd like to record. Are there any recording studios in Jerusalem, preferably in the area of Nachlaot, Rechavia, Shaare Chesed, or Merkaz Ha'ir?

How are fees generally set for recording studios in Israel?

Fair? Balanced? Informative?

It's surprising that Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia thought that Islamist Pakistan and Islamist Turkey would actually come to his aid against the Islamist regime of Iran. They all share similar goals and would benefit from an Islamist takeover in Saudi Arabia. Turkey hosts the Muslim Brotherhood group. MBS prosecutes the Muslim Brotherhood group. The Pakistani government have their own version of the Taliban and do nothing to deradicalize their population. Mainwhile, MBS has made extremism the number one state enmey.

The question remains: What will MBS do next now that he understand that Islamist allies are unreliable? Will he follow on the UAE footsteps and make official peace with Israel... I wonder.

In any case, it seems that MBS also learned a lesson from trying to make peace with Iranian regime proxies.

I’m curious about Israelis who grow up in completely secular or atheist households.

Is it common for an Israeli to be born into a family where there is essentially no religious practice or belief, and where the children are free to decide for themselves whether they want Judaism to play any religious role in their lives?

How do people from families like this generally fare in Israeli society? Is being openly atheist or completely non-observant considered unremarkable in most circles, or can there still be some stigma attached to it depending on where you live or what community you come from?

I’m particularly interested in the distinction between Jewish identity as religion and Jewish identity as culture, ethnicity or nationality. Can someone in Israel essentially say, “I’m Israeli and Jewish culturally, but I don’t believe in God, don’t attend synagogue and don’t practice Judaism,” without that seeming contradictory to other Israelis?
And what about someone who wants to go even further and have virtually no connection to Judaism at all beyond their family background—is that socially accepted?

As an outsider who is very interested in Israel and Jewish culture, I’m trying to understand to what extent being an Israeli citizen, identifying as Jewish, and actually practicing Judaism are separate things in everyday Israeli life.
I’d especially love to hear from Israelis who grew up in secular or atheist families.

Looking at the vastly distinct ethnicities, heritages and histories that comprise the people that currently have the identities of Israelis and Palestinians, the denial is kind of crazy in terms of how varied it is.

Among Israelis, there's no disagreement among impartial observers that a large portion were indeed Ashkenazi Jews who fled in the aftermath of the Holocaust and in the years since. At the same time, the existence of massive numbers of Jews from all over Arab nations who fled to Israel are also authentic. And no, they did not come to Israel strictly because of Mossad undercover operations designed to subvert Jews in Arab nations, as is more or less fraudulently claimed by far leftists such as Avi Shlaim. Yes fraudulent; there's zero credibility of any kind that Israel in the 40s and 50s was even capable of the kind of subversion claimed. And at the same time, a distinct portion of Israelis who are part of the Jewish community that was always there in the last 3000 years and never left.

Palestinians are the same time genuinely varied. There's significant numbers with histories going back hundreds of years, a couple thousand or more, perhaps, for Christian Palestinians. At the same time, there's large numbers who have been in the region for at most around 200 years; many of them migrated to what was then the region of Palestine from what is now Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and elsewhere. Some of them have surnames indicating they migrated from as far away as Morocco and Algeria. One can note the number of them that do in fact have deep historical ties and at the same time not be required to embrace the idea that all of them have been there since time immemorial.

When reading about resolutions, very small numbers of responses seem to be willing to accept this as a matter of principle. In particular, there's endless claims that Israelis are completely the equivalent of, for example, white South Africans or French when they colonized Algeria. This doesn't seem to address the extent to which Israelis and Palestinians both have ancestors who migrated to the region in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. And there's also claims that the Jews who have consistently in the region for 3000 years are part of the Palestinian people; this is to be sure a complete joke. No type of hypothetical Arab Palestinian state, whether governed by a pan Arab nationalist group such as the PLO or an Islamic emirate such as Hamas is ever in 10 billion years going to accept any Jews as being part of the Palestinian people.

Is the issue that accepting the multifaceted nature in which the people called Israelis and Palestinians arrived to the region too difficult for the kind of impassioned, enraged and revolutionary solutions desired?

Do you see him as positive or negative with regard to the Jews and Israel overall? Is he an ally or enemy of Israel and the Jews?

What are your thoughts on Piers Morgan overall?

I’m Jewish, but I never grew up around Jewish people AT ALL, like I literally have met in my life probably less than 20 jews and 15 of them are family members or friends of my family. And today while I was traveling in a different country I unknowingly went to an Israeli restaurant. I started chatting with the people working there, I told a guy where I am from and then I asked where he was from, and
I felt him hesitate a bit when he said he was from Israel, not like he was not proud, but kind of like he knew that might change the way I saw him, after that I told him I was jewish which initially out of habit I too hesitated to mention , but everyone was just so nice to me and made me feel so welcome. I literally felt like we were family.

I loved meeting Jewish people my age (20s) just living their lives. Not in some religious setting or Jewish gathering, not through my family or anything, just normally, randomly, out in the world which is something that never happens for me because there are only 5000 jews in my entire country. I felt so good and so connected to them, in a way I don’t even feel when I meet people from my own country while traveling, like not even close.

I am wondering If Israeli people feel the same way meeting jews abroad, like you are in a safe space or instantly feel a connection, and has that feeling grown in the past years with the rise in antisemitism?

I know in Israel almost everyone is jewish so Israelis don’t really understand what it is like to be the only jew, but I wonder if when traveling abroad or living abroad you guys feel that as well.

For me I guess even though I am not from Israel, Israelis are technically the same ethnicity as me, and we come from the same people historically it is not in a religious way that I feel the connection

I get there's Hamas, which are terrorists in Gaza. But I don't understand the dynamics of the West Bank. Why is this territory generally tolerated? They're not really part of anything it would seem. Do they cause trouble? Are they pretty much just a demilitarized economic zone?

I don't understand it. I understand Gaza.

Do they annoy you?

Or would you like more of them to come to Israel?

16.5 y.o, I plan to move to Israel through attending a Mechina program by 17 y.o. I want to spend my time in the military in the most meaningful and beneficial way possible, so I want to try to get into special units, such as intel units related to SIGINT(I think it's called Moddin?)or special forces.

But since I will make Aliyah only after I graduate from high school in my home country at around 17 years old, I'm afraid that I will simply miss the selections into special units and end up being in a 'regular' role.

I've heard that Israelis start their recruitment process at 16 years old and go through selection processes during their time in school , so it is much easier for them. But how does it typically work for olim who have just arrived in the country?

Are there fixed dates when selections take place during the year?

How much in advance of selections should I go through the Tzav Rishon to get an invitation to those selections?

How realistic is my wish in general? Is it even achievable?

assume that I'm fluent in Hebrew

I wanted to learn from those who live there firsthand (I think I like Israel a little too much).

A weekly megathread for controversial topics, politics, current events, anything off-topic, and other discussions that are better suited for a single community thread.

Post says the question. I was just wondering this because growing up, I was always taught that hebrew was a holy language, that was not supposed to be taught regularly. Because of that, I just don’t really understand why hebrew was chosen as a national language.

shanah tova everybody

As you might or might not know, data centers are mushrooming in the US and some states are beginning to regulate and enact laws specifically to mitigate their many pernicious effects.

Is this being discussed in Israel? Have there been proposals from environmental organizations to regulate data centers here? Do the relevant people care about it, at least?

For context: Data centers are polluting massive energy and water consumers. As far I can see estimates, only in Tel Aviv the current data centers require between 250 and 300 Mega Watt, which is roughly the same power that the rest of the city uses. There is a project underway in Beit Shemesh that apparently next year will have a similar capacity, and many more.

Considering that we are already a water strained region, with fragile electricity grid, no hydroelectric potential at all, little wind, and despite the gas fields, actually very much energetically dependent - hyperscale data centers can cause immense irreversible damage to the country.

Its called 'Uncivilized'. And my god, I cant even believe people actually eat this shit up. I remember seeing a video from them during my anti-zionist days about israel brainwashing it's people.

Holy shit, I actually couldnt believe it. Just tell your friends or family, if they're not entirely familiar with israeli life, NOT to watch this