There are many Jews in Israel who do not approve of their government's policies. They protest, write articles, and freely disperse their ideas. There are Palestinians in the territories who do not approve of their leaders' policies. They are shot in the head and dragged through the streets. Equivalence.

* * *

A side note, not really relevant to the modern discussion, but still interesting:

There is no arguing that modern Israel was formed by outside forces and the people living there already didn't have much to say about it. So were half the nations of the Middle East, most of Africa, and for that matter, most of the nations most of us live in. Let those living in a nation that was NOT formed by some outsider rolling in and taking it over from whoever was there first, cast the first stone.

Israel has a long and bloody history. No doubt about that either. And actually, their recent history is a lot more benign than their biblical history.

The original Jews, traditionally personally guided and advised by God, took the region of Canaan like Attilla the Hun in full glory, with rape, pillaging, massacres, and worse. A reading of the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy is particularly educational. God's involvement in these actions is wildly enthusiastic, instructing in detail how to perform various atrocities, encouraging destruction, punishing Israelites who refuse to participate, and when really enthusiastic, throwing in a few deadly army-blasting miracles of his own to help the cause. When I first read the Bible end to end, which even few fundamentalists ever do, it was extremely educational. An example:

Num 31:3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.

Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.

So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of [every] tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of [every] tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.

And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.

And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; [namely], Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

And the children of Israel took [all] the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, [both] of men and of beasts.

And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which [are] by Jordan [near] Jericho.

And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, [with] the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify [both] yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

[Let's see Charlton Heston play THAT scene. Here is omitted a nice bit on the massacre participants "purifying" themselves, and divvying up the loot in great detail. The Old Testament is excruciatingly anal about keeping records. Much of it looks like an accountant's notebook. This says something for its roots in at least some historical accuracy, since normal myths and legends don't usually take account of who paid so-and-so how much for a donkey, or which person's cousin build the second door in the south wall of the Temple.]

Num 31:32 And the booty, [being] the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,

And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,

And threescore and one thousand asses,

And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.

Whoa. Makes Sharon sound like a regular pussycat, don't it? And this is just a sample. Granted, EVERYBODY did these things back in the Good Old Days, often with the enthusiastic support of THEIR gods. Check out the history of Islam for example.

The God of the New Testament is a completely different deity. Forgiving. Laid back. One suspects that some sort of heavenly prescription was obtained sometime between the Old Testament and the New.