Would a greater policy of openness benefit or hurt Israel?

LCDR (Join to see) - Commander; Of course it will have unintended consequences. EVERYTHING has unintended consequences.

On the other hand, a statement from the Israeli government to the effect of "We will nuke the three largest cities of any country that invades us." just might have some tempering effect on Middle Eastern politics. [Extend that to "We will nuke the three largest cities of any country that invades any other country in the Middle East." and you might really get somewhere.]

LCDR (Join to see)
As far as I'm concerned Israel can go f--k itself. Remember the USS Liberty incident... I don't forget and I don't forgive when one openly attacks my Navy.

Israel has been getting attacked since its independence in the the late 1940s. The 6-day war in the 60s - Israel is invaded by the armies of 7 different nations (Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Algeria). They beat these invaders so decisively, that they won additional territories in the process (including the West Bank and Gaza).

For years the UN and many other nations (including ours) played this bleeding heart routine of feeling bad for Egypt for having lost the GAZA strip. Ever since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, they've had some 11,000 rockets fired up their asses from Hamas and the Palestinians - FROM GAZA, which many of us predicted would happen.

You know .. as each year passes, it seems to me that Israel is constantly being challenged as the ones that need to make "concessions". They're the ones that constantly need to "evolve", or "change their mindsets", or "fall back". Yet, every time I look up, Israel is the ones being attacked.

Attacked in the media
Attacked by the Palestinians
Attacked by Hamas
Attacked by Syria, Egypt, and Jordan

Given all that's happened to them in their short history as a sovereign nation, Israel should thumb their noses up at anybody who continues to tell them what to do.

I think Israel is in need of more openness in many things. They really have to open their society to Palestinians by educating them and making sure they have jobs. Then a lot of hard feelings will begin to diminish. And there will be unintended consequences - good and bad.

With due respect LCDR (Join to see) who cares? Israel is an ally yes, but they are still a foreign nation. They will do what is in their best interests regardless of what the United States thinks. Part of our problem is that we as a nation stick our nose into everyone else's business without taking care of things at home first.