What's he supposed to say? Did it ever occur to you that at least half the reason Putin is doing this is to discredit Olmert?

Half the poors in israel are arab israeli. it is a fact, Gabrielle. Half the poors are jewish and David of Karmiel is right, they suffer but a lot of jewish association help them. The leftist high court rule for the total equality among israelis, arabs and jews, when newspapers tell you that a lot of children in Israel are hungry they are right but they speak mostly for arabs children ( arab israeli are 20% of the total population but are 50% of the poors) and for haredim children (but a lot of money for haredim come from outside thank to jewish diaspora). Both me and David are right.

KGB man

We are seeing here ,quite obviously,the lack of,difference,between Putin and the Iranian."President".they are both Very stupid,childish;and way off course.Maybe it would be interesting for Israel to invite the Chechen To Israel for diplomatic talks.You know those very people that Moscow calls Terrorists.Or even the group that attacked the Beslan school ,that ended in a massive blood bath.and we are to be expecting Russian Diplomacy on their Behalf???Putin is an International Joke.He is hoping to have his name in the history books,of being the "man" that tamed Hamas??what a joke.As the saying goes,,"YOU CAN LEAD AN ASS TO THE WELL,BUT YOU CANNOT MAKE IT DRINK.Here we have unfortunately ,2 ASSES.I guess that water will stay in the well for a long time.

Putin was all for the war on terror after 9-11, but during the global negotiations on how to handle Iraq, western countries forced him not to take on Chechnya's terrorism problem with more vigor, like he wanted to and should have. Since then there has been 2 planes downed by Chchen Mulsims, a school taken oven with hundreds of kids dead, and many other atrocities by Muslims in Russia. Putin has been withdrawing from the west ever since. Now I fear that he's gone completely mad from this and may be giving up and going into appeasement mode. The west needs get out of it's own appeasement mode, and start working more closely with Russia on it's terrorism problems.

How would the Russians like it?

The Russian record toward the Jews is marked by blood, pain and misery.

Russia's latest move to accept Hamas should not surprise anyone with basic knowledge about Russia. Russia's foreign policy has consistenly been based on cynical protection of Russian interests and hypocrisy. During the cold war the Russians had the chutzpa to accuse the embattled Israel of "imperialism while Russia was arming and inciting Israel's Arab enemies and occupying a large chunk of the globe. Today Russia hopes that the nuclear crisis between Iran and the West will lead to an expansion of Russian profitable trade with Iran and accepting the Hamas thugs is the Russian way to impress the nazi mullahs in Iran. The US should have crushed Russia's economy completely after the cold war and told the Russians that no US dollars will be invested in mother Russia until mother Russia proves that they want to be part of the civilized world. Tsar Putin should realize that today the the Jews have a strong state of their own perfectly capable of defending themselves.

I have heard Arabs claim that Jews have intoxiacated thier water source to make Arabs stupid. Shame on you Jews

Israel must accept the fact that Hamas won a democratic election. Just because you don't like the results is not a good enough reason to forego a continuing dialog. Putin obviously recognizes what Israel doesn't, that Hamas must be given the chance to make good or fall on its face. Hamas won because Sharon emasculated Fatah. Now you must live with the result. There were not many Israeli's deploring Sharon's actions as he imprisoned Arafat in his office and bulldozed Palestinian homes in the name of security. Many of Israel's top government officials past and present, were once labeled as terrorists by the British. Israel has always had a conveniently short memory about its history, and labeling everyone who points out unsavory past incidents as anti-Semetic. History is what it is. You can't change it by wishing it to go away. Give Hamas a chance. You have much to gain and little to loose by allowing Hamas to form a government. This process has changed former terrorists into world citizens; Israel is itself proof that people can change given the time and the chance to make a difference.

JIM,I see in your artical,you are very optimistic about the Hamas.and as we Israelis are aware of the fact,that they have UNFORTUNATLY won the Palestinian elections,You must also be aware,that,they have called for the destruction of the state of Israel,just as the Iranian "President"asks for the same.Do you really think that a future government,that calls for the destruction of another state ,has the right to be accepted into the International Comm??Nobody is denying the facts,that Hamas was elected Legally.and democratically,But as long as they continue to lance attacks against the people of Israel,and kill her citizens;Israel has all the right to do what ever is in her means to protect her Citizens.And now that the Palestinians have chosen their "Leaders",they are responsable for ,what ever happens.In the future. How can you further more state that Israel has a short memory about her history???Have you any Idea what she has been through ,just to EXIST??I think ,it is you JIM Who have no Idea at all what you are saying,and about Israeli history.I will not in turn, say that you ,might be Anti-Semitic,for I think you are waiting for this as an answer.NO,I think you are just fery Ignorant of the FACTS.And not until HAMAS,recognizes,Israel's right to exist,and stops,terror attacks,by the Al-aqsa,Islamique Jihad ,etc,etc.Israel will be in her right,to protest and continue to eliminate her enemies.So it is not ISRAEL,but Hamas,to show proof ,that people can change,and make the difference.