The Expulsions. To force soldiers to carry out such acts caused the beginning of the unravelling of the IDF's spirit. Alex writes: "Career army officers were asked how they thought they were depicted in the media. Prior to the war in 2005, it was quite good: 50 percent of professional army personnel thought that the image of the IDF in the media was positive." And then Alex goes on to blame the media "for not reporting that we won the war" (what?), and goes on to blame technology, low salaries, heavy workloads, declining resources and organizational changes. Not a word about the traumatic actions that took place just before Lebanon 2, when Jewish communities and thousands of human lives were torn apart with the help of the IDF. The failures in Lebanon 2 were due to many reasons, but nothing could have damaged the soldiers' spirit as much as turning against their own people. That was a shameful act and until it is redeemed with an act of courage and love for the land of Israel, the IDF and the country will continue in their state of malaise.

Let's be honest here - the day that the IDF agreed to stop training for the mission of routing Hizballah, instead concentrated on expelling tens of thousands of Jews, is the day its morale sunk. The corrosive effect and psychological indoctrination of this 'mission' was lethal.

i have just started a sabbatical to use up my annual leave and some sick/stress leave into retirement date of june 21/08.i used to work for a civilian branch of the military.34 years of working for less than honest people gets you down and the last 12 years have been the worst.it has been like working with a den of thieves with the boss being the worst offender there-all complaining to higher up authorities got me was ridicule and contempt so i got to the point that i had to quit because it was too much mental anguish to handle being around these crooks-if the enemies kill them-sorry but they'd be doing the rest of us a favour.dont get me wrong i love G-Ds laws and would not want to see any righteous person get hurt-

THAN ITS OWN SOLDEIRS? WHY KEEPING ON SERVING IN AN ARMY THAT DEPORTS ITS OWN CITIZENS? WHY SERVING IN AN ARMY THAT INSTEAD OF BEING ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF ITS CITIZENS "MAINTAINS ORDER" NEUTRALLY?

Left has managed to besmirch Israel's name abroad; demoralized the country; demonized and hounded the most patriotic and dedicated segment of Israel’s society ‘the settlers’; Leftists media and intellectual and political elites have worked to demonize Israel and the Israeli Army. Reform? Outlaw the far-Left, do away with B'selem and those various ISMs, expel foreign 'civil right’ provocateurs and put the Oslo traitors on trial. Then make sure that the soldiers are well trained and combat ready.

Yahn, your talkback is rather unpleasant (that is a euphemism), but, more to the point, I believe you forgot to tell us one important thing: you're not talking about the IDF!!! You're talking about Canada, ain't you???

Dana Olmert is always campaigning against the IDF, against Israel and against Israel's right to defence. Put her in jail, she's a traitor to Israel. As for the government, get rid of them. Israel needs a strong, democratic government, whose main concern should be the protection of the Israelis, not the opinion of internationals. Israel needs patriotic, solid leaders, who will implement a proper constitution, change the way elections are held, and allow Israelis to have proportional voting by electing their local MKs, instead of voting for one party. If this happens, a lot of corruption will disappear overnight, because no-one will vote for anyone with dirt on their hands. Get a new government who will protect the people, the land, and won't be manipulated by the international leaders who don't care about Jews! How can any soldier have faith in a leader who says the following: "A country cannot protect itself ad infinitum, because there would be no end to it." -- from a recent statement by Ehud Olmert "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies..." -- Ehud Olmert

This is very anoying! Israeli leadership is the present problem of israel and not the IDF. IDF has no problem. Israeli leadership is presently her greatest problem. As long as Olmert prefers to serve the international (enemies) of Israel with the pop-corn of apeasement, things will not get better for israel. Perhaps it is time for iIsrael to trun back the God of their fathers, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). Israel get back to your Torah and learn from the stories of your past kings (good and bad ones) and learn the pattern of your histroy with God. Stop looking for help in all the wrong places....

...cowards that wont let them do their job - win wars! We capture terrorists and the cowards running this country let them go, gee, you wonder why a career officer may want a job change?

The media and the politicians are the real enemy. There is nothing wrong with the army,they were led by idiots instead of a p.m. and a c.o.s.!

It took us, the Arabs, almost 60 years to over come the Zionist "mighty" myth of strength and fearing. thanks to Hizbullah and Syria. now it will take you, the Zionists, at least 60 years to over come your fear of our true strength, maybe more, anyway, you will be, by then, in Europe and America. I.E gone with the wind...We will supply the ships and aircraft, for free.

To # 12 - you have no idea what the Orange Jews have in store for you. Wait and see, if you have the balls.

pay them excellent compensation and you will keep the best. there is no other answer.

These results are disheartening, but hardly surprising. To send young men and women in harm's way, they need purpose, motivation, and a sense that the nation is behind them. A nation's military mirrors the ethos, and sense of purpose of the nation. In Israel's case, it also involves a sense of shared sacrifice. But if the elite spend their time wallowing in the "original sin" of the nation's creation, how can they legitimize the need to defend that creation? If the ultra-Orthodox, and most of the non-Jewish minority are automatically "exempt" from service, and many secular seek to avoid service, should those taking up the slack not feel like "suckers"? I'll go further. Soldiers who have risked their lives to capture his nation's enemies now watch as they are released, not at the "end of conflict" but to serve a delusional ideology. He's asked to care more about the well-being of the enemy's civilians than his nation's own, expected to conduct an impossibly "clean" defensive war. He's asked to allow the arming of the "not so bad" among his enemies, and to stand down while that enemy strengthens for the next round. Now these soldiers are asked to look the other way as known terrorists seek to join their brothers in resistance. And, yes, tasking a Jewish army to depopulate the territories of Jews was madness. As always, leadership sets both agenda and tone.Those at the top are killing the country.

that cant even defend the thames river in london with its "leadership" that sends it sailors to iran for a personal dressing down by ahmadinejad and a pat on the head as he gives them all a bag of trinkets for their send off-its that kind of leadership in general i am talking about-great leaders in their own minds that have no ethical values-no idea of what is right or what is wrong-just in it for the paycheck and the praise of those they respect.

Morale and high spirit is vital to any army or militia even more vital then fine weapons and things as my people would tell you when we defeated the USSR.While modern weapons are nice i will take morale anyday of the week and the army will continue to be sad so long as the govt deals with enemys instead of destroying them.Bottom line in warfare everyone must be on the same side not the army on1 side and the govt and enemy on the other.Israelis i do not understand how you can live in such conditions and still have such liberal views and a worthless liberal govt.Get a govt that works and protects the people not spineless politicians.

I believe the IDF is as capable as ever of fighting and winning a war. Unfortunately, the most recent Lebanon war is a good example of exactly what's happening to the US military and that is that soldiers have to walk on eggshells. They can no longer operate effectively because they have so many restrictions on what they can and can't do. When you have politicians making your battle plans, one shouldn't wonder why the military is suffering from low self-esteem.