Israel part of Europe?

ponpon

I have been having this debate with a friend and would like to see what others opinions are. I believe that Israel may be culturally involved with Europe, as it is part of the EBU and participates in many European sporting events. However as far as I am aware it is not officially considered to be part of Europe. My friend believes that Israel is 'politically' part of Europe. However as far as I am cocerned, wouldn't Israel need to have a representative in some European body such as the parliament or council to be.considered as politically part of Europe?

eth0

They should join the EEA or maybe even the EU. They are a great bunch of lads

ejmaztec

Israel is politically part of Israel.

Gee Bag

They're in the Eurovision, thats what really counts in international law

MadsL

ejmaztec wrote: »

Israel is politically part of Israel.

and Eurovision...:rolleyes:

edit - damn you Geebag a split second before me....

Qualitymark

Post a poll, do.

Pawwed Rig

That would be the European Union you are thinking of. Albania while it is in Europe is not part of the European Union. Israel on the other hand is in the Middle East and not part of Europe as such, however it's culture and circumstances mean it is closer to Europe than the region in which it is located.
An Israeli football team for example may have issues playing, say, Saudi Arabia so it is better for all concerned that they play European teams

philologos

ponpon wrote: »

I have been having this debate with a friend and would like to see what others opinions are. I believe that Israel may be culturally involved with Europe, as it is part of the EBU and participates in many European sporting events. However as far as I am aware it is not officially considered to be part of Europe. My friend believes that Israel is 'politically' part of Europe. However as far as I am cocerned, wouldn't Israel need to have a representative in some European body such as the parliament or council to be.considered as politically part of Europe?

I was reading the last issue of Wired and it had Tel Aviv down in the list of Europe's top 100 startups, but it's not really in Europe. It seems that Israel is culturally more European than many of it's neighbours, but other than that it is geographically in Asia.

fergpie

Its part of the middle east with other countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and ehh... Palestine.

AnonoBoy

If Dana International can win the Eurovision then that's good enough for me.

keith16

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

An Israeli football team for example may have issues playing, say, Saudi Arabia so it is better for all concerned that they play European teams

Sadly it means they will never integrate with their neighbours. How there will ever be peace in that region is just impossible to see.

charlemont

Hope they never do join the EU, They would have us fighting their battles for them.

karma_

Israel is in Asia.

Lawrence1895

They play in all European football competitions, that's enough for them

Tzar Chasm

AH answer
People worked long and hard to get them out of europe :eek:

Serious answer
Although historically the founders of Israel were mostly european jews nowadays they hail from all corners of the globe, so if they want to be a nation they have to deal with their imideate neighbors in the region. And anyways their human rights record would have to improve before they could have anything to do with the EU

Pottler

karma_ wrote: »

Israel is in Asia.

Yeah, but it's the "European" bit of Asia, so it's all good. Middleastopean?

entropi

fergpie wrote: »

Its part of the middle east with other countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and ehh... Palestine.

Palestine will be lost to Israel sadly, take them out of that list.


As said above though, OP. It is in Asia, with the "Middle East" as a geographical region.

Sulla Felix

There isn't a continent called Europe, whatever you might have learned in primary school. That's just a western contrivance.

Lawrence1895

Sulla Felix wrote: »

There isn't a continent called Europe, whatever you might have learned in primary school. That's just a western contrivance.

From a geographical point of view, you are right. But from a political point of view, there is 'Europe' as a continent, also religion is sometimes seen as a border, imo

Chuck Stone

Israel isn't far from The Nile.

karma_

Sulla Felix wrote: »

There isn't a continent called Europe, whatever you might have learned in primary school. That's just a western contrivance.

This is just manifestly incorrect.

Sulla Felix

Lars1916 wrote: »

Sulla Felix wrote: »

There isn't a continent called Europe, whatever you might have learned in primary school. That's just a western contrivance.

From a geographical point of view, you are right. But from a political point of view, there is 'Europe' as a continent, also religion is sometimes seen as a border, imo

Not really, unless were calling the Russia asian. If Europe could stretch all the way to the pacific then a mediteranean country undoubtedly belongs.

jam_mac_jam

Its the middle east. Its not Europe. They may have a European culture due to the amount of European and American imigrants who would have more in common with Europe then the rest of the middle east but geographically it is not Europe.

jam_mac_jam

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Not really, unless were calling the Russia asian. If Europe could stretch all the way to the pacific then a mediteranean country undoubtedly belongs.

Lots of Russia is in Asia.

Pottler

I dunno, we accept Leitrim as part of Ireland, when clearly it is more allied with Albania. Is is such a stretch to accept Israel as part of Europe?

Gee Bag

Lars1916 wrote: »

From a geographical point of view, you are right. But from a political point of view, there is 'Europe' as a continent, also religion is sometimes seen as a border, imo

Sulla Felix wrote: »

There isn't a continent called Europe, whatever you might have learned in primary school. That's just a western contrivance.

karma_ wrote: »

This is just manifestly incorrect.

Technically speaking, Ireland isn't part of Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe

karma_

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Lots of Russia is in Asia.

Europe exists to the Urals, which includes all of Russia, east of the Urals is Siberia.

jam_mac_jam

karma_ wrote: »

Europe exists to the Urals, which includes all of Russia, east of the Urals is Siberia.

Ok. And you think Siberia is a country?

keith16

Gee Bag wrote: »

Technically speaking, Ireland isn't part of Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe

Technically speaking, yes it is.

mike65

karma_ wrote: »

Europe exists to the Urals, which includes all of Russia, east of the Urals is Siberia.

That's Eurasia!

Gee Bag

keith16 wrote: »

Technically speaking, yes it is.

Wikipedia never lies!

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

That's Eurasia!

Have a little respect

karma_

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Ok. And you think Siberia is a country?

No. It's obviously not, I'm just pointing out where the demarcation line of Europe extends to.

Lawrence1895

Gee Bag wrote: »

Technically speaking, Ireland isn't part of Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe

As the link correctly says 'continental' Europe.

Then Norway, Sweden, Finland, the UK, Iceland, every island. in fact, has to be excluded.

Pawwed Rig

Lars1916 wrote: »

As the link correctly says 'continental' Europe.

Then Norway, Sweden, Finland, the UK, Iceland, every island. in fact, has to be excluded.

But Norway, Sweden and Finland aren't islands?

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Ok. And you think Siberia is a country?

No it is Russia in Asia

ponpon

But would anyone say Israel is "politically" part of Europe?

dlofnep

Israel shares very little in common with Europe. Israeli culture isn't homogeneous either. It is split between moderate Israelis, who are probably closer to Americans than Europeans... and lunatic orthodox Jews who believe in public segregation akin to what existed in apartheid South-Africa.

In anycase - I can't think of a single country in Europe that is similar to Israel.

My name is URL

https://www.google.ie/search?q=what+continent+is+israel+in&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

As for the football thing - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/feb/27/worldcup2010

keith16

Lars1916 wrote: »

As the link correctly says 'continental' Europe.

Then Norway, Sweden, Finland, the UK, Iceland, every island. in fact, has to be excluded.

"Continental" or "the continent" are colloquialisms and are not the same as the continent of Europe proper.

These terms are used in place of 'the mainland'. Quite true to say that Ireland is not part of mainland Europe or "the continent" but untrue to say that Ireland is not part of the continent of Europe.

ameeee

ponpon wrote: »

I have been having this debate with a friend and would like to see what others opinions are. I believe that Israel may be culturally involved with Europe, as it is part of the EBU and participates in many European sporting events. However as far as I am aware it is not officially considered to be part of Europe. My friend believes that Israel is 'politically' part of Europe. However as far as I am cocerned, wouldn't Israel need to have a representative in some European body such as the parliament or council to be.considered as politically part of Europe?

Israel is a country in the middle East. How on earth would it be part of Europe?

KenSwee

In my opinion, they shouldn't have anything to do with Europe.
Having them playing their sports and singing their songs along with Europe is just an easy way out for those lot.
The sooner they accept that they are part of the middle east, the better for everybody.
If they didn't have the support of western democracies, then maybe they would be in more of a hurry to organise their own backyard.

Stabshauptmann

I can't believe there are so many people making definitive statements, and making on-up comments, technically its X without any explanation as to why...

The simple way to put it, is that the term "continent" is open to interpretation, and a unanimously agreed definition does not exist.
If you subscribe to the "traditional" view of Europe and Asia as different continents, Israel is not part of Europe.

And if you want to subscribe to the Eurasian view, then why not Afro-Eurasia

keith16

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

And if you want to subscribe to the Eurasian view, then why not Afro-Eurasia

My god....this new super-continent will kill us all!

Duckworth_Luas

Sulla Felix wrote: »

There isn't a continent called Europe, whatever you might have learned in primary school. That's just a western contrivance.

Yeah, it's really called Zubadoobadooo!

im invisible

Pride Fighter

Israel is not a part of Europe, it is a part of Asia. The only European Country Israel is similar to is Belarus, cause they both have horrible human rights records.

wendell borton

it's part of eurasia.

Show Time

My nephew is starting fifth class this week and looking at his geography work book the map of Europe has changed an awful lot since my day thirty four countries on the map compared to about the twenty or so back when i was his age.
** It was well before the wall came down""

Pawwed Rig

Yugoslavia made things alot easier in my day

wp_rathead

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Yugoslavia made things alot easier in my day

you obvo didn't grow up there :pac:

Augmerson

Well, with regards to sport, Israel is included in UEFA because many countries really don't like the Israeli's and their football associations have shunned them in the past. They made it to a 1958 World Cup play-off against Wales without having played a single game (nobody would play them). They were expelled in 1974 from the AFC.

For instance afaik Jews are banned in Saudi Arabia. Might make playing a qualifier a bit troublesome. I couldn't imagine Israel's team going to Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Islamabad and so on. These are all places where you might end up going to if you were included in the AFC.

For me, Israel is in Asia. Specifically the Middle East. It is not in Europe. It doesn't even touch off a country that touches off a European country. Plenty of countries have a western lifestyle, have immigrants who settled there having come from European countries, but that does not make them European or in Europe. Australia isn't in Europe, neither is New Zealand, neither is Canada or the US.