COMMENTS:
Voted : Yes
I think I probably do.
Voted : No
I don't think they are Western. With the creation of the state of Israel, Jews have all the objective accoutrements of a separate civilization: social, language, customs, literature, institutions, and a territorial and political home. The fact that they refer to their nation-state explicitly as 'the home of the Jews' is a direct form of correlating Judaism the religion to identity. This cannot be called a Western trend.
On a separate note, another reason why Israel is not Western is because I don't think the rest of the West aknowledge such a thing. One cannot be part of a civilization, if the rest of that civilization do not recognise that. It's all about identity politics.
I would easily consider it as a sister civilization though.
define western civilisation first. I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to mean
But I have a very strict definition of Western Civilization.
I perceive it as encompassing the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe (I consider Orthodox civilization to be separate. I consider Latin America to be a separate civilization too).
not sure. i guess in some ways, but not in others. geographically it sort of rules them out of being part of what i considered to be the western world. but style of government makes them more western. not sure. how about this -- i consider them, like all, to be part of the human civilization.
Mr_Susan - to generalise Western civilization is currently defined by the Classical Legacy's influence, the historic experiences of countries affected by Reformations of Catholicism and Protestantism which gave way to secularism, separation of spiritual and temporal authority, European languages, the rule of law, repersentative bodies, individualism, consumerism- as well as a nation having to identify itself as Western AS WELL AS the rest of Western civilization also identifying that nation as Western.
This is not to imply that none of these characteristics are not present in other civilizations. They do. Sharia acts as a rule of law for many Muslim countries, Japan and India are democracies. Individually, these factors are not unique to the West. The combination of them is.
Socrates - I hope you dont mind - But I'm going to set up a related ballot -
What determines if a country is a western Civilisation?
Voted : No
no, most western civilizations do not send assassins into another country.
I conside them middle easterners.
by LCD on Tue Dec 12, 06 9:00am
[+]
LCD - So you consider middle easterns to be the sort of people to send assasins to other countries -
havent the CIA done that
Does that make the US middle eastern?
Voted : No
They do a hell of a job trying to destroy it from within.
Almost a quarter of Jews living in Israel today were born in the U.S. or Europe. A majority of Jews living in Israel are descendents of Jews from Europe. After it's establishment, Israel was dominated, and to a large extent, still is, by European Jews. As time passes, I think Israel is becoming less European, less Western, but still is heavily influenced by Western Civilization.
Perhaps connected with it would be better, in terms of their politics and economy.
Voted : Yes
Israel is Western for they share common values and culture with Europe.Israel continues the Western tradition of democracy;it's arts,fashions,food,religious systems and even lanuage all derive from Europe.The majority of Israelis are of European stock, they are Western in every sense of the word.
Voted : No
Hey
No,I thought they were the Middle East's only democracy, I did not know the Middle East has become part of the Western Civilization 
Voted : Yes
"no, most western civilizations do not send assassins into another country."
That is one of your dumber comments. The USA wouldn't qualify, neither would Russia and most of western Europe who have certainly orchestrated at the very least similar things. The main time when assassins were used was when Israel went after the terrorists who killed the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
Israel share similar political, cultural and religious values with western countries. It has freedom of religion, freedom of speech, free elections and all of the other things that are associated with "western civilization".
lol, certainly not overtly as israel is doing anyway.
calling me dumb? okay, I it may be just the pain killers talking, but  at least I  don't  post with an agenda  and a bias  that even a 5 year old can spot.
Pfffft!
by LCD on Tue Dec 12, 06 2:57pm
[+]
"They have an entry in the Eurovision Song Contest each year, does that qualify them?"
- So does Turkey and Russia, and neither are part of Western civilization either.
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