More answers for you

I can't speak to the specifics of the restaurant case. I can say in general, that some restaurants are open on the Sabbath, again a restaurant that wants to be certified kosher can not be.

These points just show how anti-Israel you are. You take one story and then claim Israel is like the Taliban without having teh slightest idea of what you are talking about.

Your point about India and refugees is wrong as usual:
1. Many Jews did move, namely from the Arab countries where they had lived for hundreds of years to Israel
2. Where would you like the Jews to go to? The "Palestinians" can go to Jordan, Egypt, etc. they speak the same language, have the same culture, etc. Yasir Arafat was born in Cairo, Faisal Husseini in Iraq
3. At least 20 million refugees were resettled in India or Pakistan. Israel as well has a significant Arab minority
4. The Arabs are the ones who left in 1948 because their leaders promised them that they would throw the Jews into the sea and then they would return

One last point about religion and the state, last I checked, Christmas was a federal, state and local holiday in the US, no Jewish, Muslim, etc. holiday has the same status. What does that say about the US?

The point of bringing up the story is that to a visitor Israel appears to be run by something equivalent of the Taliban. Perhaps we can call it oppression by a religious majority. And, that's something I fear in the US as well.

My point about India you have chosen to misunderstand. In terms of population, India is the second largest Muslim country. A secular democracy with Muslims is possible. I'll grant you that the many who passionately did not want to be in a minority resettled during the partition of India and Pakistan. Kashmir is the legacy of partition approaches. You would choose not to learn from that conflict.

Personally, I don't care where someone was born. Save that for someone else. I was born in Eastern Europe, a WW-II refuge, and am a naturalized American. One swears to defend the US and the Constitution of the US to become a citizen something natural citizens do only if they join the military. If called, I would serve with no hesitation. This is my country and I have no divided loyalties. While admitting faults and misdeeds of the US, I am proud to be an American.

As far as the Arab minority in Israel goes, I understand them to be treated, at best, as second class citizens. I bet, in your whole life, unsolicited (if then), you ever once smiled and said "Good Morning!" to an Arab Israeli. Tell me I'm wrong, please.

Agreed that there are Arabs that want to reclaim Israel. That's a dead cause and it won't happen. You do have to resolve the "right of return" issue with these. Maybe buy them off somehow. Now, tell me there no Israelis that want to reclaim all the Biblical Israeli lands. In my view, both these groups come from the same mold.

Christmas Day in the US is more of a commercial holiday. It is not overly coercive to have a day off. But, it would please me if it were replaced by a floating personal choice day off. Taking a day off for a Jewish holiday has not been a problem to anyone I've known at school or work. In my experience, teachers in fact often did not start new material on such days.

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