5 ms·

Tel Aviv is in Europe now?

by yyqux 13y ago

duggan 13y ago
Enough to be in the Eurovision (it's a more complex question than you might imagine). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93European_Union_relations#EU_membership_for_Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93European_Union_r...
- qompiler 13y ago
  Except that Eurovision has as much to do with the European Union as the UEFA champions league (read: none).
  - duggan 13y ago
    For some purposes, Israel is grouped with Europe; that's all.
- cateye 13y ago
  This is so hypocritical. What it actually says is: world is full of politics and bullshit. We just bomb the ones we want and call them enemies while we call others friends because it is better in our intere$t.
noloqy 13y ago
Apparently Asia doesn't want it anymore.
- nir 13y ago
  Judging from the article it seems like Asia's loss.
Samuel_Michon 13y ago
Similarly, what continents do Istanbul and St. Petersburg belong to? Cyprus is an EU member state, but geographically, it is in Asia.
- wowoc 13y ago
  Part of Istanbul is in Europe, another part is in Asia. Whole St. Petersburg is in Europe. No part of Tel Aviv is in Europe.
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    Sure, geographically speaking, that’s correct. That’s not what I was getting at, though. Israel is more akin to Western Europe culturally than European countries like Albania. Israel has a functioning democracy, freedom of speech and religion, excellent education and healthcare, and it has a higher GDP than most European countries. Europeans have been coming to Jerusalem en masse for thousands of years, especially this guy by the name of Jesus has been quite popular with Europeans.
    - VexXtreme 13y ago
      Pretty much everyone I know considers Israel to be a middle eastern country. While it's true that European Jews have absorbed a huge amount of European culture and are Europeans for all intents and purposes, whether Israel can be considered a part of Europe is extremely debatable. Just because certain nations are culturally close, that doesn't suddenly close the geographical gap between them. New Zealand and Australia are culturally much closer to Europe than Turkey and yet that doesn't make them a part of Europe. Now, to say that Israel is a western country would be correct (as are US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and possibly even many central and south American countries). But to say that they are in Europe would be incorrect. Let's stick to geographical facts and not reinvent common knowledge, shall we?
      - sbmassey 13y ago
        In the same vein, "European" is not the same as "In Europe"
1timeposter 13y ago
Israel tags along several European events such as football championships, Eurovision etc. Partially I suspect it's because they don't have the necessary relationship with their neighbours to be included in a more regional context.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

Tel Aviv is in Europe now?

by yyqux 13y ago

Tel Aviv is in Europe now?

Enough to be in the Eurovision (it's a more complex question than you might imagine). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93European_Union_relations#EU_membership_for_Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93European_Union_r...

qompiler 13y ago
Except that Eurovision has as much to do with the European Union as the UEFA champions league (read: none).
- duggan 13y ago
  For some purposes, Israel is grouped with Europe; that's all.
cateye 13y ago
This is so hypocritical. What it actually says is: world is full of politics and bullshit. We just bomb the ones we want and call them enemies while we call others friends because it is better in our intere$t.

noloqy 13y ago

Apparently Asia doesn't want it anymore.

nir 13y ago
Judging from the article it seems like Asia's loss.

Samuel_Michon 13y ago

Similarly, what continents do Istanbul and St. Petersburg belong to? Cyprus is an EU member state, but geographically, it is in Asia.

wowoc 13y ago
Part of Istanbul is in Europe, another part is in Asia. Whole St. Petersburg is in Europe. No part of Tel Aviv is in Europe.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  Sure, geographically speaking, that’s correct. That’s not what I was getting at, though. Israel is more akin to Western Europe culturally than European countries like Albania. Israel has a functioning democracy, freedom of speech and religion, excellent education and healthcare, and it has a higher GDP than most European countries. Europeans have been coming to Jerusalem en masse for thousands of years, especially this guy by the name of Jesus has been quite popular with Europeans.
  - VexXtreme 13y ago
    Pretty much everyone I know considers Israel to be a middle eastern country. While it's true that European Jews have absorbed a huge amount of European culture and are Europeans for all intents and purposes, whether Israel can be considered a part of Europe is extremely debatable. Just because certain nations are culturally close, that doesn't suddenly close the geographical gap between them. New Zealand and Australia are culturally much closer to Europe than Turkey and yet that doesn't make them a part of Europe. Now, to say that Israel is a western country would be correct (as are US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and possibly even many central and south American countries). But to say that they are in Europe would be incorrect. Let's stick to geographical facts and not reinvent common knowledge, shall we?
    - sbmassey 13y ago
      In the same vein, "European" is not the same as "In Europe"

1timeposter 13y ago

Israel tags along several European events such as football championships, Eurovision etc. Partially I suspect it's because they don't have the necessary relationship with their neighbours to be included in a more regional context.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]