...from a dirty journalist. No surprise. Would there be such "incidents", the Pals would have already informed all media about that. BTW, were there many such "incidents" during the 2nd Lebanon War?

You sound like you are sorry that Hamas will not be able to claim a "Divine Victory".

Stupid article...

Israel TALKS peace. FACT is, Israel runs TWO WARS in short term. Israel TALKS democracy. FACT is, Israel BANS Arab parties. Talk about 'peaceloving democracy'?FACT is, Israel has turned into a WARMONGERING APARTHEID state!

backward people without hope who spit in the soup.

The soldiers fighting and dying so that Ariel Rubinstein can write his articles are the kravi soldiers, good people with high moral standards. The violence in the nightclubs is usually done by the mishtamtim, losers who avoid going to the army

Rubinstein may have problem discerning between Kadima, Labor and Likud, but most people do not. After the war, Israel will be forced into negotiations with Abbas to establish an Arab state in Judea and Samaria. Labor and Kadima have, before negotations have actually started, agreed to pull back from 98% of Judea and Samaria and to compensate Abbas for the remaining 2% with land from pre-67 Israel to make Gaza larger. The only thing left for Kadima and Labor to negotiate is how many tens of thousands of Arabs will move into the new borders of Israel. The Likud will be able to restart negotiations without having promised anything.

Great! WE are praying for the children of Gaza, THEY are bombing houses of G´d. (see Paris) Any questions? Cora, Cologne

Well the Palestinians in Gaza have fared much better than in previous engagements with Israel. In fact there are encouraging signs of improvement. The atrocities of the 1982 war against the refugees in Lebanon were far greater than they are now. And the generation of 1948 almost wiped out the Palestinian people. The war crimes are becoming less severe from one generation to another. The missing question is will there ever emerge a substantial Israeli progressive movement that is brave enough to end the madness rather than tip toe around the indefensible by maintaining some romanticism with regard to the dispossession of Palestinians that their fathers engaged in 1948.

If he is the Economist ("Game Theorist") who wrote so many books he cannot tell above points seriously he is kidding Rubinstein do you think Olmert can win this Game, any chance to come out of Gaza with slightest positive for his voting base?

Is it possible the Left might one day change it's tune? Start holding our enemies to account? Start appreciating the people who put their lives at risk so that they can complain about those same soldier's behaviour?

Articles like this highlight the beginning of the end. With a society 's image built being the tough guy on the block will go out of his way to be more bloody to prove his toughness if that's the only thing that matters to the psyche for this society. shame on us to allow this to happen to us.

You asked in #1 :”.. would it not be best to return the cell phones to the IDF soldiers in Gaza and allow journalists to accompany them .. “ NO. War is NOT a vacation, war is NOT a picnic -- so, NO cell phones. IN ORDER to avoid journalists coming in the crossfire, in order to avoid journalists getting killed -- journalists should NOT be allowed. War is NO sightseeing. AFTER the war, all (Israeli and International) journalists will be ALLOWED to enter Gaza Strip -- to do their investigations and research, take interviews of ALL the civilians. BTW journalists craving for live-reporting straight from the battlefield while the battle is going on -- is sheer STUPIDITY. Why is it stupidity ? Because war is NOT a child-play, war is NOT a dancing-party, war is NOT a theatrical performance. War is a killing business (between Israeli Army and Hamas et al operatives) -- so, journalists should NOT be eager to stand in the crossfire.

Keep them out. They don't need to be in there. It's way too easy to distort the story and it's just not worth the price. BTW, Mark Regev is a great spokesman for Israel. Way better than anyone from the 2006 Lebanon war.

Israel may not be a perfect state. BUT your country, South Africa, is the number one in the world on killings by gun violence. An average of 34,000 South Africans are killed by gun violence EVERY year. And thus, you pointing a finger at Israel is quite awkward !!! Make your own house in order -- before giving lessons to Israel. (BTW an average of 900 Iraqis are killed violently every month -- that is less than 11,000 killed a year. It means, South Africa is worst than a war zone like Iraq.)

First let me tell you something. The ones in society that are in discos are on their own leisure time. When you are in uniform, something does change. It is a switch that turns on. One is trained to fight, to work as a team and to protect their brothers. An 18 year old in uniform going into gaza is a mature man. Not because he wants to but because if he doesn't act as such he could die and others around him can die. This journalists probably never put on a uniform.

Ariel Rubinstein tries to pretend there is a "weighty question" about withdrawing from settlements. He's totally wrong, and it's not because he'd like to see me kicked out of my own home. His three leaders had the guts to evacuate settlements, and they did so - closing down the Gaza enterprise in it's entirety. All settlements were evacuated and razed, all army bases closed. There were no more Israelis in Gaza. They had the guts, they took the painful decision. And what did we get? Sorry to use the expression, but "hamastan" was and is the result. So Ariel Rubinstein wants them to do it again in Judea and Samaria (west bank) and show some "guts". Then what will Ariel Rubinstein suggest when the inevitable rockets come crashing down on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv? Nice try, but lousy thesis. Back to the drawing board for Ariel Rubinstein.

To question #1 Rubinstein gives the answer himself without realising it. The last thing the IDF and Israel as a whole needs, are reporters who turn over every anthill to see if an IDF officer touched it. No matter that Hamas "militants"kill Jews and Fatah members indiscriminately and bomb Jewish civilians, the IDF must always be at fault. Never the Arabs, even though they ignore every international law. We get enough of that on the European media already. I am very glad that this time no journalists are allowed in and that there is some kind of censure on the Israeli radio at least.

Here's an idea that is mutually beneficial. You round up the journalists that are clamoring to get in, and we put them out there before the hayalim as human shields. The Hamas would never fire on their beloved, maybe...

This taharat haneshek (purity of arms) is an alien idea that has infected us and dogged us from the begining. In a situation where our people are routinely and randomly terrorized by rockets from thugs hidden in a complicit and hostile population, you attack that population with extreme prejudice. If a mother waxes euphoric in her homicide bomber child, I have not a care for that hellish mother or for her other children. That mother is Hamas. The right and most effective thing for which most dont have the guts, is to blast open the border with Egypt, and start carpet bombing north to south. The surviving misfits can run their sorry behinds to their country of origin. Another million or so on Mubarak's bread lines wont make a big difference.

It is pretty clear that our Hellenist humanists are in a deep crisis , without ofcourse admitting to that. While our childeren do the dirty job in Hamanistan, that was created by the same confussed moral superior clique that is getting us in to trouble time and again . Why these people stay here is beyond me , there is a big world out there were they can join the likes off them . In the end they will be forced to see that there will be no place for their hedonist utopia here in the holy land off Israel.

Just wanted to convey some best wishes and luck to Israel and its people at this time. I'm sick of the media coverage in UK. Despite what you might believe from listening to our weak duplicitous Government the 'silent' majority of Brits support Israel to the hilt in it's struggles.

1.Fighting a war with a cellphone strapped to your ear and a contract with CNN or BBC perhaps.Idiot 2.3. Israeli Democracy has given you freedom to express your views, but its hard to imagine it ows you a brain!

Ruturn cell phones ? allow hostile jounalists wannabees? What else would you like? Maybe a CC tv following our young boys in battle so that filth like you can "do thier jog" while your "reporting from the battle zone" will be written with our children blood ???