The Jews of the Israel had a chance to prove that they could build a country that would be a light unto nations, but instead Israel has become a blight unto nations, an embarrassing regime of thugs who bring only shame and dishonor to Judaism and humanity as a whole. Who would have thought that the most corrupt, immoral and despised nation in the world would be one created by Jews. The problem is not the simply the current leadership, it is the Israeli society as a whole as their leaders are simply a glimpse into the moral malaise that is Israeli society today.

Jews who despise their own homeland.

and someone thinks that American Jews are indifferent to Israel? This retard Olmert has been running around trying to give the whole show away and Israeli Jews have done nothing to stop him.

You right wing nut jobs keep bashing liberals as Israel haters. Don't forget that the most anti Israel are the most devout Orthodox. Satmar and their ilk sure ain't liberals. Do you think Ben Gurion et. al. were conservatives? They were Socialists. You wouldn't have that countyry without leftists.

Maybe when Israelis stop treating American Jews like garbage, they'll care about Israel again.

academic hostility to Israel, i.e. the determined and relentless defamation of Israel by idealogues in the academic community. one thing upon which everyone in the academic community can agree is that Israel is the greatest threat to peace, the greatest violator of human rights, the most aggressive imperialistic power. of course, to describe these charges as ludicrous is to give them a dignity that they do not deserve. but, these slanders are articles of faith for many who are responsible for educating America's children.

totally agree with you.

Bush said: This has nothing to do with olmert and friends. This has to do with religion or not. Abdullah: I agree:)

I see Aharon, you too buy into the media propaganda of the left and of the disgraced CNN, whose own journalist, Nic Robertson, admitted to being intimidated by the Hezbollah. His story was not allowed to get out unless he towed the Hezbollah line. Many journalists complained that the Hezzies roughed them up and threatended to take away their passports. Those "civilains" you refer to were actually Hezzie murderers, hiding among their "civilain" brethern, who were hiding the rockets in their HOMES!! What would you have Israel do--allow those butchers to kidnap the soldiers from Israel land and not pursue them? Allow all those rockets to fall and do nothing? Well that is exactly what they are doing in Gaza. Do you hear the world praising them now, while the gov't allows Israelis to be terrorized? Every Jew the world over is very proud of Israel. Who could ever have believed that such a strong, brilliant and courageous people would come from the ashes of the Holocaust, where so many could not fight. Stop reading Haaretz and watching CNN. Israel, make this govt and all the Jew hating Jews and arabs disappear from your midst. You are protected by Hashem. G-d bless Israel

And all the muslim states enact apartheid laws against Jews and christians. Ever hear of Vatican City? I see you too are a vicim of lousy history lessons, or is that biased??

this sickening fascination with israel is way way overboard. please, leave that country alone. they have enough to deal with as it is. do not make your opinion battle ground on its soil. if you don't like it, leave it and settle somewhere else. no one is forcing you to stay where you feel not wanted or not liked. but this anti israel that and anti israel this, the jews, the israelis, the this or that. what is it to you? what is this sickening fascination with a country the size of new jersey? there are so many other pressing humanitarian issues around the world on a much much much larger scale and no one is fascinated by these issues. darfyr for example or the civic situation, torturew and starvation in north vietnam and other more bombastic nations around the world. why don't you harp on these issues? why always israel? what is it about the jews that attracts so much hate and negative feelings? COULD IT BE BECAUSE EVERYONE IS JEALOUS? WE ARE SO ACCOMPLISHED AND REFUSE TO BE THE VICTIMS ANY MORE. COULD IT BE BECAUSE WE CAN NEVER BE DEFEATED BY THOSE WHO HATE US AND WISH US HARM? COULD IT BE BECAUSE WE HAVE SUCCEEDED DESPITE ALL ODDS? the usa has a myriad of very bad problems yet no one is so vehemnt about it. look at the taliban, at iran, stoning, hanging, killing, oppression, murder, terrorism, 9/11 israel pales by comparison.

B"H The survey respondants were chosen to produce the result. Thank you for admitting it YNET. Quote: The findings were based on a representative sample of 1,704 non-Orthodox Jews in 2006 and 2007 contacted in writing. Its error margin was plus or minus three percentage points. The authors said they excluded Orthodox Jews because they tend to be overwhelmingly supportive of Israel.

So #5 it's ridiculous for you to have a Jewish State but it's OK for Britain to be a Christian State (Church of England) and for Egypt and Saudi Arabia to be Moslem States. That's racist.

What truly is amazing is the rhetoric of the Professors Norman Finkelstein and Noam chomsky---the Jew hating jews. It is now fashionable to be anti-semetic and allow the jew haters to deny the Holocaust. These academics flourish all around the world but amazingly are safe to teach another day in Israel. Why even the Peace Now-- Jew hating Jew --founder is the minister of education and has included the naqba in the education books of Israel. She won't allow the Jewish girls to teach culture in the schools as they have been doing for decades. The Holocaust, --complete with actual footage and the survivors-- must speak in every school and university in the world. They must be recorded for the future.The artifacts from the Temple Mount, which are currently being destroyed by the palistinians who have no claim to it, must be salvaged and displayed to the world as proof of Jews inheritnace to this country thousands of years ago. And for G-d's sake, Israel, hire a good PR company to get the truth out because this gov't is there to destroy the Jewish identity and rights of Israel. Peres dismantled this gov't office rith after he murderously brought oslo to Israel. G-d bless Israel and the world because as they say--as the Jews go---so goes the world. Shana Tova

Typical of the antisemites to condone a Jewish State but to clearly accept Moslem States and Christian States.

im happy that people are diluting their genes, maybe it will avoid those inbred diseases youall have in closed communities (incl them arabs)

i NEVER comment but you made me angry. what are you talking baout? NO israeli would answer "sderot doesnt interest me", when asked about it. ALL israelis ive met said that THATS the reason they hate olmert: he does nothing for sderot. is that indifference??! and what about all the good ppl, houndrerds of israelis who phisically came to sderot and helped them? huh? you have absolutely no idea about who we are- and i than god you are no longer a citizen of MY state; and an israeli- whom i love so much.

So we have people who are Jewish and the Jewish People - looks like they are not nesecarily one and the same. The Jewish People and Israel are however, inseperable, so perhaps the Christians who speak out for Israel are more a part of the Jewish People as an entity than the Jews who don't feel any affiliation with Jews in the cradle of the faith.

Well, Israel views itself as a modern advanced DEMOCRACY. In most western europeasn DEMOCRATIC countries religion and state are separated, however in Israel it´s not the case. Yes, there are Muslim States but those don´t view themselves as DEMOCRATIC modern western states. that´s the point. Israel is a state based on religion and an ideology called Zionism, so it shouldn´t view itself as a democratic state. It´s not comparable to the western european democracies. stop this democracy talking around and nobody will accuse Israel as being unhuman and racist. Why does the international community not accuse Saudi Arabia of having an apartheid system? If Israel is a Jewish State then stop talking about equal rights for everyone and all the other West stuff which doesn´t apply to this country!

American Jews born after 1976 have a lesser connection to Israel largely because they didn't do that critical high school age/gap year teen tour of Israel. During the worst years of the intifada participation in these tours dipped dramatically. Since they've never been to Israel, they don't feel attached to it.

If you bothered to read #5 comments, then mine make perfectly good sense.The comment was about a people's identity, not democracy. Being from Germany, the country that brought the world nazism, I am not surprised you took this opportunity to attack Israel. The only country in the Middle East that allows for freedom of religion and a gov't representation for arabs. Why were you silent on murderous muslims and the fact that you cannot live in their lands as neither a christian nor a Jew or Period? Don't become a lawyer, your clients would be in big trouble. You picked a random position with no bearing tothis discussion to create a false argument and not deal with the facts. But that is what anti-israeli arguments always look like. By the way, democracy is when the people vote in their government representation. You should also have a problem with the palestinians, particularly Hamas---they were voted in and are converting it into sharia law---islamic religious law---AGAINST the will of their electorate. But hey why bother commenting on that when this is another opportunity to bash the evil Joos and Israel???

Stop it with the criticism of Olmert and others. This is the facts: Half of American Jews think history is what they ate since breakfast; and have no clue who Olmert is. They only care about their own fat rear ends, living the high class life, and getting more and more money and toys. No one can deny this...it SURROUNDS ME !!

Wanna know why? Liberalism. It creates a environment where a great sense of culture and pride in that culture is considered racist. It's better to think in their mind that everyone loves one another and there can only be peace. It is for this reason that as a Russian Jew, I LOATHE American Jews. I once told an American Jewish acquaintance I went to Israel. Him being Jewish asked, "Why would you do that?" WHY WOULD I DO THAT?!?!

While I may be the exception, I know plenty of other American Jews who are Conservative Jews and feel very strongly about Israel. It is our homeland and as important as our home in the US. Incidentally, I would kill or die to defend US also. Maybe its about being conservative. Liberals dont seem to have the same deep committment to religion, tradition, doing the right thing. They are more interested in narrow views of things.

since Israel was re-created Israel has done phenomenonly well. Israel has integrated Jews from all over the world, kept an Arab minority, grown in wealth, technology, made the desert bloom. Israel is a huge success and other countries are jealous of it. Think about it. The per capita income is wonderful. Israel has beaten every enemy. Israel liberated Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and now everyone is allowed to pray at their holy sites. Ironically, Jews arent allowed to pray at our holiest site, the Temple Mount. Understand, no society is perfect, but I would take Israeli living as an equal to anywhere else desirable in the world. In fact, I am a bit jealous. I would love to have sephardi neighbors, ethiopean neighbors, blend of eastern eurpoean ashkenazi, secular jews, ultra orthodox, druze Idf, an arab ms israel. Its not perfect, but it is something to be very proud of. Maybe thats why so many are jealous of it.

I don't doubt that the information in the survey is fairly accurate and it represents the nihilistic nature of so many young Jewish Americans. I do disagree that younger American Jews perceive Judaism as a religion rather than a peoplehood. With the huge percentage of young Jews marrying out, it is obvious that Judaism doesn't matter to them in any way. Even traditionally Jewish food is no longer "in" with so many youth. I attended a wedding officiated by a Reform Rabbi that had little Judaic content and the cocktail hour featured shellfish, bacon wrapped food and there was very little for even nominally kosher guests to eat. The bride and groom were two nice and bright Jewish kids who are favorably disposed to Israel and do feel Jewish but are remarkably ignorant about their heritage. During the Lebanon War and at other Israel rallies, most Jewish attendees are middle age or older with few young Jews present. On the other hand, Israel does little to engage Jewish youth. With the prevalance of intermarried, those non-Jewish partners who convert to Judaism are being constantly insulted by Israel and the interior ministry's latest proposals to not allow converts to be covered by the law of return is just causing more bad feelings.

then the amont of israelis that would cear)

beautifully said!!!! you are so right. whenever i go there it feels like coming home. the way some of the people paint israel is so very far from the truth. you only hear bad things, but good ones abound in multitudes. i love the variety; the arabs, the christians and druze, the bahaiis, secular and orthodox. they give this beacon of freedom a spice unlike any other in the world. people may complain, but deep down they are happy. considering they are always in a tense situation, it is not hard to find some tense, nervous and even impatient and obnoxious know it alls. this is just the flavor that goes with an evolving democratic society full of have and have nots, different races with different demands and issues, etc.. no country is perfect, but considering what israel has on its borders and what it has to put up with daily, they indeed did what most nations could not do for centuries. the jewish mind, you know, is the light unto the nation. they are brilliant, resilient and fiercely independent. they are fughters and survivors. israel will be there forever, no matter what the arabs or the world has in store for us. we didn't perish during the holocaust and in no way do we intend to perish now.