A Dutch commentator said something incredibly profound that stuck with me: Israel is a Middle Eastern country instead of an outpost of European civilization.

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weregiraffe 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Interesting idea, considering that the European civilization tried to exterminate the Jews in Europe not so long ago.

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hibberl7 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How is this profound? Only the goofiest evangelical boomers nowadays are hanging onto comically misguided propaganda like this. The rest of us can't wait for boomers to get out of the way so we can put an end to their stranglehold on Western politicians and mainstream media while we inexplicably send billions of dollars their way for the privilege.

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fakedang 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I wonder what makes Europeans think Israel is an outpost of European civilization - just the skin tone? Lol.

Israel has always been a country trying to coopt the culture of its Arab neighbors. They've tried to claim shawarmas, falafel and hummus, dishes that are quintessentially Arabic, as their own.

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yoavm 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Skin tone? The aspiration to assign Western concepts of racism to Israeli society is so uninformed, if I am to be assuming good intentions, or very manipulative. More than half of Israeli Jews immigrated from Arab countries, and look Arab by all means. Including myself. It's literally impossible to tell if someone is an Israeli or a Palestinian based on their skin tone.

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mschuster91 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Israel has always been a country trying to coopt the culture of its Arab neighbors. They've tried to claim shawarmas, falafel and hummus, dishes that are quintessentially Arabic, as their own.

That argument is just as much BS as the squabbles in the Balkans over who can claim Nikola Tesla, cevapcici, burek/börek, döner/gyros, pljeskavica and a whole other host of foods. Everyone got their own takes on food and trying to act like shawarma/falafel/hummus are "exclusively" Arabic (or Israeli) is borderline moronic.

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ChrisMarshallNY 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Baklava is a fairly good example of a “regional, not cultural” food.

I have enjoyed Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Moroccan, Afghan, and Iranian baklava.

Each culture puts its own stamp on the food.

	▲	jijijijij 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Also dumplings, tortellini, Maultaschen, pierogi, ... Local pride across the globe, kinda boring around the world.