[97fan]

This seems to me to be the most intractable problem: Having Israel be a democratic Jewish state that isn't too microscopically small to be functional or defensible. Notice that places like Gaza don't have this problem, because they aren't surrounded by enemies.

Huh? Gaza is completely fenced off from Israel, and also blockaded by Israel in terms of air and sea travel, with a small crossing into Egypt serving as the only outlet -- and that has been closed for the last couple of years, I believe. Israel certainly faces big challenges in defending itself, but it's pretty ridiculous to say that Gaza is more easily defended than Israel.

[97fan]

This seems to me to be the most intractable problem: Having Israel be a democratic Jewish state that isn't too microscopically small to be functional or defensible. Notice that places like Gaza don't have this problem, because they aren't surrounded by enemies.

Huh? Gaza is completely fenced off from Israel, and also blockaded by Israel in terms of air and sea travel, with a small crossing into Egypt serving as the only outlet -- and that has been closed for the last couple of years, I believe. Israel certainly faces big challenges in defending itself, but it's pretty ridiculous to say that Gaza is more easily defended than Israel.