I found this a very thoughtful and well argued article. As an American, I also agree that the rift with the US was totally avoidable and has left a scar that will be hard to heal. We can only pray that long term effects of the agreement bring a silver lining---someday, somehow, somewhere.

is no leadership worth a damn. If you want to save Israel, you must replace the PM the DM and that sorry excuse of a COS Gantz. Israel has shown itself to be weak. At the very same time that bombs are flying all over the place, the people in their selfishness have demonstrated their lack of unity. Those who came to Israel in the early 30's to establish the Negev area Kibbutzim would be ashamed of their grandchildren who today advocate for the withdrawal from the Gaza area Kibbutzim. Those who survived the Holocaust would be ashamed of their religious grandkids who refuse to join the Army. There are many examples of how certain segments of Israeli society have shown their selfishness during the past 7 weeks.. The enemy has come out of this battle stronger, while you have become weaker. As a father of an active IDF tank corp soldier, I suffered day in day out for the past 7 weeks seeing how Israeli society has become weak, fractured and solely lacking in real unity. The soldiers bore the price and they did it alone. Shame on you for allowing your children soldiers to bear the price while the rest of you spend your time whining, bitching and complaining.

They are up to something that they will not even tell other cabinet members. We will all find out in due course!

It's a cease fire only to allow hamas to rearm. Not finishing hamas guarantees another more violent war in a couple/few years.

Sales of shipping containers and of large suitcases are strong.

He only cares about himself, his wife and the settlers. Israel's future is not important to him, as long as these three can continue doing what they're doing. Like Sharon he's an egomaniacal fool.

intentions and no fear of G-D. The day Israel's leadership and Israelis will fear G-D, their foes will respect and fear them.With or without Obama's help.

But there is at least one leftist idea in the article that is definitely politically slanted, Intentionally or not. Barnea and his ilk murmur leftist agendas whilst sitting in N Tel Aviv sipping cappuccinos and writing their next stories on napkins. Look at this lie and the propaganda! "Secondly, wars, even limited ones, demand a price that the Israeli public had not expected to pay". Who knows what they expected to pay (pure supposition) but the overwhelmingly Israeli public wanted the IDF to stay the course and to destroy the tunnels.

How would Mr Barnea have handled things differently - or more SUCCESSFULLY ?? All we have is his critique - not a word about an effective alternative that might have actually worked....

I can guarantee that this article has nothing to do with reality on the ground or the real sentiment of the rational people of Israel. This is wishful thinking on behalf of the author. This war was very well managed under the circumstances. We all know this is a long war that will last many more years...and will involve the entire planet. I actually discovered that in my city (Haifa) relations between Arabs and Jews were not damaged at all. People are waking up all over the world including Israeli Arabs.

Well I have to agree with Mr. Solomon Balas also. Its always easy to ''sing songs out of the dance''. But once inside dance and then parallel singing things become more dificult. The only mistkae I do see from Israeli leadership side, was the early comment ''It is save to go back to your homes'' for near Gaza leaving Israeli residents after 1st truce. Everything else from Israeli leadership side was well handled and of course there will be always space ''we could have done better''. Since more than 3500 years Jewish people are strugling to keep on going and we will continue for our sake and our childrens sake.

over twenty years ago. No, I am not clever or have the gift of foresight. It so simple that any fool, even Netanyahu, if was able to see beyond his own ego, would not have walked into Gaza. The fact is modern technology can be operated by a moron. You cant stop its spread to whoever wants to buy. A simple press of a button and there you go. It was obvious to any body with some thought that it was going to develop into a rocket barrage war and that sheer weight of numbers from all sides would leave Israel extremely vulnerable. War is no longer an art . Israel needs to reconsider its leadership and perhaps return to the days when its leaders did not wear ties and was able to draw some sympathy from the common man around the world.

Does anyone really think Hamas wants peace?

Bibi had a choice, he could have gone into Gaza with ground troops and found himself in the middle of a booby-trapped war with civilian dressed terrorists that just might take many lives of our boys. So, instead he hit them with bombing that caused much damage but left Hamas still in charge. I think he was very responsible given the choices.

Gaza ceasefire is too little, too late ANALYSIS: Operation Protective Edge has left behind several poisoned chalices: Israelis have discovered they have no leadership, no political trust, a tenuous grip on coexistence and democracy, Comment - Exactly !. Arn.Sweden.

Excellent But no mention of the anonymous Ganz. Is he still alive?

All of you join the real world. The U.S. is a major power. They support us with billions of dollars in aid, and they are the only country to consistently stand up for us in the U.N. even when we go against their policies. They aren't even Jewish, and yet, the support is always forthcoming. Bibi did stand up to them. But there is only so long you can bite the hand that feeds you. Do you think we could go it alone without their aid? Antagonize them long enough and we would lose them as allies.. Also, I am thankful that he did not opt for a Gaza operation that could have lasted for years, little by little killing off our soldiers and never stopping the rockets. There are a 100 million Arabs surrounding us, and the majority is Muslim. Islam believes everyone should be Muslim, even moderates. There is never going to be an end to the conflict, ever. So we can live, or we can stop living and only live to fight an enemy we can never destroy. But we might be able to live with them, especially if we supported the moderates among them and help them to stand up to the extremists.

I beg to disagree. The row was with the current administration of the United States, and was triggered in 2008 when the people of the United States elected an Islamist to the office of president. Since 2008, Obama has pursued a very aggressive policy towards Israel. The only time he has softened his rhetoric against the State of Israel is when Congress has reined him in -- and rightfully so. The State of Israel is a sovereign state. It is not a lapdog. Israel's foreign policy is crafted in Jerusalem; not Washington D.C. I remember Obama's first inauguration speech, when he announced that he wanted to "fundamentally change the United States." I don't think that anyone expected at the time that he meant that he would completely disregard the fact that he works for the American people. The American people have made it abundantly plain that they don't like Arab extremism, they don't like Islamic extremism and they very definitely do not like Arab terrorists. ISIS, the resurgence of the Taliban and the Syrian nightmare have all occurred on President Obama's watch, as have the collapse of Libya, and the increasing threats to the Arab Gulf states. That Obama has a private agenda is beyond dispute. That the American people don't think much of him as a president is equally beyond dispute. Just check the approval ratings, which have plummeted like a stone. But do not ever -- EVER -- assume that Israel puts the interests of the United States ahead of the interests of the State of Israel. We like Americans, but we aren't going to fall on our swords to please an incompetent, lying U.S. president. We didn't do it for Lyndon Johnson in 1967; we didn't do it for Richard Nixon in 1973. We didn't do it for Ronald Reagan (Osirac) and we didn't do it for George Bush (Deir ez-Zor). OBAMA = One Big-Assed Mistake, America.

What would you expect from someone who spends for wardrobe, shoes, make-up and hair treatment some £11,700 per year (some 60,000 shekels). I do not expect him to live in a kibbutz like Ben Gourion or in a drab two room flat like Begin, but wanting to look like some TV anchorman says a lot about the guy. And it is not positive at all.

Bibi the hairdo PM

#2 - unluckily you are 100% right

An alternative could have been 1 - pushing untill the Hamas organization crumbles (they were very near the point of no return) 2 - giving some hope of a better life to the half of the Gazawis who are not YET (deep inside) supportive fo Hamas 3 - letting in PLO (Bibi said he would have liked Abbas controling Gaza) 4 - letting in Egypt (undercover?) 5 - using Saudi cash to rebuild 6 - using all the above to start reversing the death cult of jihad (stopping spreading it for the next generations) This would have sent a very strong signal to Hezballah for instance that jihad doesn't work, that Israel is back in the retribution business. But what we send to the world is an hairdo politic.

"Perhaps Operation Protective Edge is the silver salver on which the State of Palestine is established." But in Gaza. Not in Judea and Samaria. Israel is not going to forcibly relocate Jewish Israelis from Judea and Samaria. But we can -- and will -- send 2.5 million illegal Arab aliens to Gaza. Where they can fulfill their silly dream of actually having the ability to build and create a thriving state. Judea and Samaria are the Jewish heartland. We aren't going to hand it over to a terrorist rabble, and if that terrorist rabble doesn't shape up rather quickly, they're going to lose Gaza, too. Then, they can either make their way in Jordan, or find a welcoming home in Qatar. I don't think the Jewish people really care. I certainly don't.

other than sweeping dirty streets in Chicago slums.

so much that he is willing to declare victory for the hamas... sick, sad and counterproductive. but then again the only thing lefties worry about is their own absolute power, even if this means destroying the country!

There can be no doubt that Hamas was the clear winner. Bibi and his entire govt. have to be immediately replaced The IAF performed well but the IDF seemed to remain on the border and than left before they accomplished their mission. This seemed to be a politicasl and wrong decission. I cry for my beloved Israel.

Incredible article ,After being pandering and more quite all the analysts of Ynet news the security cabinet and specially the PM during 50 days of war now they are critizising them like a zero government team . Amazing .Good to read Ynet news .to understand new event.