Bookworm120 – you have touched on an issue that I feel many people lack a lot of intellectual honesty with – is Eretz Yisrael really safer or not. Statistically speaking I’m not sure if it’s safer or not in a general way (they say the chances of getting killed in terrorism here are still lower than from a traffic accident but that could just say something really bad about Israeli drivers). However I personally have come to the conclusion that the odds of getting chalila getting injured or killed solely for being Jewish is higher here than any other place in the world (with France probably coming in second place these days) and on a pashtus level it seems that is because of zionism. Possibly even most anti-semetic attacks in chu”l are a result of zionism. I’m not basing that statement on any rabid anti-zionist neturei karta ideology – I’m just basing it on what the people who carry out these attacks tend to themselves say is their reason.
We have to be honest with ourselves – one shouldn’t choose to live in E”Y because they think it’s safer. The choice should be based on if that person feels it’s ratzon Hashem and it will allow them to live a life more connected to Him. For myself and my wife we feel it’s something worth being somewhat moser nefesh for. I do leave the house for work every day knowing there is a possibility I might not make it back that night G-d forbid, however that possibility isn’t grave enough to prevent me from doing it every day. And if it’s Hashem’s will that chalila some guy pulls out a knife/gun/bomb/whatever, at least I can die with the comfort that I lived in a place I loved – not because it’s necessarily the nicest place to live but because it’s the place Hashem gave me as a yid.