You seem to forget that illegal immigrants criminilize themselves by illegaly entering the United States.

You seem to have forgotten this piece of wisdom from the Torah: “You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Would it hurt you for once to have a bit of sympathy for those less fortunate than yourself??

You claimed that all Jews care about all other Jews

I never said that. I made a generelization about diaspora Jews which I stil believe holds true. Chabad, for example, probably has reached out to most communities including the ones you mention. I would hardly call the Joint a smalltime operation. ADL and AIPAC have very specific and narrow ajendas. You can be sure that if any country in the world treated Jews the way Lebanon treats people of Palestinian heritage, those big groups woulds not sit idly by.

Many states refuse to provide the very services you claim immigrants enjoy & in fact practically criminalize them

You seem to forget that illegal immigrants criminilize themselves by illegaly entering the United States. As bad as life is for illegal immigrants in the states, as you say, apparently it’s good enough for them to keep coming.

even your rebuttal of my comment supports my comment since you admit that Jewish groups are doing “amazing work”

Not at all. You claimed that all Jews care about all other Jews. I pointed out that the most powerful, wealthiest & pro-Israel groups here do not care for all Jews. American Jewish World Service & the Joint Distribution Committee which are the groups I was referring to exist on a pittance of what the other groups do. These 2 groups live in the shadows of the others.

You simply don’t know what life is like for immigrants in this country. I’m not saying it’s as bad as for Palestinians in Lebanon. But it is quite far worse than it ever has been since 9/11. We are no longer a nation that welcomes immigrants. We tolerate them & just barely. And then only because they do jobs we wouldn’t be caught dead doing. Many states refuse to provide the very services you claim immigrants enjoy & in fact practically criminalize them.

Are you saying that arresting someone for illegaly crossing an international border is “arbitrary”? I’ve read of illegal aliens in the US getting medical care in hospital emergency rooms, paying in state tuition and state universities, being eligible for driver’s licenses, cities declaring themselves sanctuaries etc. Lebanese of Palestinian heritage, i have read, are not allowed to live outside the “refugee camp” cannot hold political office, are not allowed to hold certain jobs and have limited etc. And yet, you hardly ever hear a word of protest from “human rights” groups, Arab groups, Muslim groups or the UN.

Diaspora Jews care for the hardships of Jews all over the world

That is a gross overstatement. Abe Foxman could give 2 craps about poor Jews in Siberia or Hungary. He only cares about Diaspora Jews who are beaten up by Muslim thugs or Israeli Jews killed or injured by terror attacks (not that they aren’t deserving of concern). He only cares about Jews whose jeopardy corresponds to his own ideological & political agenda. The same holds true for AIPAC & AJC. As a result those Jewish groups struggling to meet the needs of poor Jews who aren’t high on the priority list get short shrift. Some of these groups do amazing work. But they’re far less well funded & get far less attention.

So in short Jewish groups are just as selective about which Jews they care about as Arab groups.

If you’re a Guatemalan and illegaly cross the border from Mexico to California you probably have more rights than a man in Lebanon whose father and grandfather were born in Lebanon

You clearly have no clue about what U.S. border crossings have become like post 9/11. The treatment of all foreigners at border crossings has become a nightmare in many cases with people treated to arbitrary detention & arrest. Conditions are undoubtedly bad in Lebanon for Palestinians. But to claim one situation is worse than the other is hard to defend. Another thing you neglect to understand is that the U.S. has been a democracy for over 200 yrs. Lebanon is still creepting toward democracy & is still recovering from a horrible civil war. It hasn’t had a chance to sort out all the divisive ethnic/immigration issues as we have here (sometimes quite unsuccessfully btw).

What the B’tselem/Binkom report shows is that even if one accepts the objective of constructing the Barrier to protect settlers, it still does not explain the route of the Barrier. Rather, it was routed (in many instances) to pave the way to build new settlements and expand existing settlements .

care so much for the hardships of a few thousand farmers.

First, you vastly underestimate the number of Palestinians severely impacted by the Wall. Meron Benvenisti’s research comes up with a much higher number & frankly he’s more authoritative than you on this subject. And second, perhaps Arabs care so much for the hardships of these Palestinians for the same reason that so many Diaspora Jews care so much for the hardships of Israeli Jews. Did that ever cross your mind?

The Wall has no bearing on the IDF’s ability to protect settlers.

I disagree.

What really worries you is that a Wall on the Green Line might militate toward Israel giving back more territory on which current settlements sit than it would with the Wall’s current configuration.

Also true. I am not ashamed to admit it. But it also important security wise.

Many settlers in the major settlement blocs will probably remain under Israeli sovereignty in a final peace agreement.

Not if they are on the wrong side of the fence. Which is precisely why the Arabs and the left are so opposed to it. I find it hard to believe that the Arabs, who stand by as generation after generation of Arabs live in the worst conditions in “refugee camps” in Lebanon without any political or even civil rights, care so much for the hardships of a few thousand farmers.