[Bleeding Red]

Originally Posted by octothorp

You've got some good points in your post, but I really have to disagree with your characterization of the Gaza strip. If it is an example of ethnic cleansing, then it's the only instance of a population ethnically cleansing itself. Israel voluntarily and unilaterally dismantled all of its own settlements there and removed the roughly 9000 Jews, almost all of whom had moved into the strip during the post 1967 settlement period.

Fair enough. Israel did remove the Jewish population of Gaza and Israel is the country that is refusing Jews entry into Gaza. But Israel did not dismantle the buildings and businesses in Gaza - the Gazans did, against the pleas of Gazans who worked at those businesses and felt they could run them.

It is not just that the people were removed but everything associated with them was destroyed rather than made use of.

And the 25,000 Jews living in Iran would disagree with your characterization of them as 'showpiece hostages'. While life is far from easy for them, they do have freedom to maintain synagogues and practice their faith, the are allowed their own schools, cemetaries, newspapers, and hospitals. Despite being strongly anti-zionist, the Iranian government has traditionally been very supportive of the Iranian Jewish community.
Despite financial incentives they would receive for emigrating to Israel, less than 200 (less than 1%) have left in the last year. I wouldn't be surprised if the obvious fraud of the most recent election resulted in an uptick in Jewish emigration, though nothing on the scale of the 20% of the Jewish population that left after the Islamic republic was formed.

I am not sure about that. Iranian Jews that I have spoken with in Toronto tell stories of how they were lucky to get out when the Shah was disposed, how relatives cannot get travel visas for more than a single family member at a time. They are the poster community for the Muslim Dhimmis - see how well we treat the Jews here, they have their own community and services (but cannot travel abroad freely, and cannot speak freely with being accused of spying for Israel).

http://http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2003/March/Jews/

The above links to an article from 2003 that highlights the difficulties of the Iranian Jewish community.

I guess the argument can be made either way that they have not left because they do not want to or because they can not.

You're completely right that it's important to separate the reality of the settlement policy from accusations of ethnic cleansing, but it defeats your arguments when you turn around and do exactly the same thing in your description of Iran.

How does it defeat my argument to put forth examples of countries that have rid themselves of an unwanted minority?