Elyakim Haetzni brings it right to the point.

I think the incomes in Israel are too low and the taxes are way too high. You can't survice in a country where you can't make a living. Most people get an arnona bill which is twice their monthly wage. How can anyone survive? At a certain point I could choose between being poor in Israel or relativly well off in Holland. I want my kids to speak Hebrew and grow up in Israel but if I can't feed them...

The young secular Israeli has no Jewish identity and learns from Likud Labor and its television that we stole the land from the poor Arabs. Our only hope is Noar Hagvaot who learn their way from the torah. With Love of Israel David Jacobs

Well, a couple of things. I have lived in Israel. For a non-Israeli born citizen life in Israel is pretty hard. For one thing, an Olim can not find work. So the reasons that brought him or her to the country are now all but gone as the reality of life settles in. Secondly, the people in Israel are some of the rudest, most unaccepting people on Earth-that is one of the reasons I left. Now take all of this and couple it with the fact that in the United States or other Western countries, the threat of violence does not hang overhead at all times, and we have something. As a Jew I will always love Israel, but like a parent, I may not always like it, and I have almost no desire to go back. So I say to the people leaving Israel-go and find a better life it really is out there for the taking!

Daniel, you speak as if Israel is a Third World countr along the lines of Panama or Ethiopia. While I will certainly agree that our economy is not as it should be, and that Israel is full of problems (most of which can be attributed to the country's young age and security situation), it is not impossible to make a living here and 'feed' your kids just fine. I moved here one year ago from a life in California of 32 years. It was not easy to do. It was a difficult situation. I gave up a lot of income to be here in Eretz Israel because I simply WANTED to be here....much like you also want to be here and raise your kids in Israel. The fact is, if you want to do it, it is here for you. Doers do. Talkers talk. Perhaps you fall into the latter category...? Perhaps you simply like the non-Israeli life in Amsterdam too much to leave it? If not, and you are in fact a doer, then making a comfortable life here is entirely possible. But only if you truly want it enough. The question is, do you? Do you really?

I am doing aliyah early next year. I am 38, and my husband is Israeli. He is a professional and has a great job here in London. However , with the rise in anti semetism rising threefold over the past few years here in the UK , Now is the time to leave and help Israel in her time of need: I WOULD emplore EVERY young Jew, across the Diaspora , to seriously consider doing aliyah, not only because we have a Jewish homeland, but to help economically with Israel at this time of change. If 60.000 are leaving israel as you said then there has to be a huge ALIYAH campaign to get the young back. American has a great system of Nefesh b Nefesh. The UK has a smaller jewish population, but we need to along with the Israeli Embassy need to PUSH the Jewish professional to look towards Israel. It is our future, and we need to stand united!

Usually I would say, 'Israel will implode,' but I think it's really been decaying. Look at the crime rate, 1/3 of children in poverty, the moral degeneration, the demographic situation, and the hundreds of thousands of traitors who leave Israel. At this point I don't think Israel will survive very much longer. How sad.

some big money abroad. That's great, people that once couldn't contribute much to the state economicaly comes back and spends their money here.

I wish that was true, that many return, but, currently 1 Million Israelis live 'abroad'.. it doesn't seem like that many people are coming back, does it? I can't think of many first world countries where nearly 20% of the population have emigrated. Making 'big money' abroad is more important than staying in your own country and trying to make it a better place? Israel is amongst the top 25 richest nations on the planet... is that not enough? Why do so many Israelis feel that they need so much more money? I consider avarice to be demonic. These people who leave damage Israel in so many different ways - the social, academic, cultural, and military losses from 1 million Jews absent from Israel greatly outweighs the $10 an hour minumum wage cheque from America that Israelis so fatuously boast about.

This is a spiritual battle and a leadership issue that Sharon is incapable of understanding.

"These people who leave damage Israel in so many different ways - the social, academic, cultural, and military losses from 1 million Jews absent from Israel greatly outweighs the $10 an hour minumum wage cheque from America that Israelis so fatuously boast about. " If only ten dollars was the minimum wage-- right now it's something like $5.75, and jobs are hard to find here, too. When all is said and done, Israel is our home. Instead of fleeing from the problems, let us face them and fix them, so Israeli society can be a society where employment, housing, and education are plentiful, and life is safe! Without Israel, our only other choice is the ghetto, whether it is of the physical, mental, or spiritual variety. Without Israel, we are without freedom.

Your blanket statement that Olim cannot find work in Israel is utter nonsense. I have been here one year now and have found two very good jobs in my field of law. I have met many Olim in the Ulpan and elsewhere who are working and making a living. What an unbelievably irresponsible thing to say: there are no jobs for Olim in Israel. You sound to me like a person who just doesn't have many convictions or who isn't really willing to try hard. If you dislike Israel, just come out and say so. But spare us the generalizations that only do Israel more harm. Israelis can seem rude and unaccepting...if you want to stereotype and generalize, go right ahead. But if you are a person that recognizes that the vast majority of Israelis will drop whatever they are doing to help you out if you just ask, then you know why life here is so good. You sound like a quitter to me. You sound like someone whose priorities are completely out of whack. Yes, the economy is rough. Yes, finding work is not easy. But nothing in life worth having is so easy to find. Making a life in Israel is sometimes difficult. Which makes it all the more satisfying when you accomplish it.

This very well written analysis will upset both the deluded, and the politically correct left wing champions of "humanism" and "relativism". The book written by Dr. Kenneth Levin, "The Oslo Syndrome;Delusions of a People Under Siege" can best explain why so many Jews are "Jewishly" challenged. Due to the very physical sieges that have befallen Jews throughout their history, coupled with the mental sieges that Jews have consequently embraced, there is almost no room left in their psyches for national pride, love of land and Jewish honor. In its place is a deluded need to placate their most avowed enemies, in the desperate hope that the "siege" will end. Earth to my fellow Jews world over, not just in Israel - the Jews have a homeland, have made some of the biggest contributions to all of humankind, and have a behemoth of an army. Buy yourselves this book, (borrow it if you have to), but DEVOUR it. Get some pride back and fight for your homeland. If you don't, the Islamic terrorists will be more than happy to take it from you. There is more than one way to fight for Israel, and trust me, I am doing my part.