Of all the nations in the Middle East, Israel least needs more US dollars and aid. Really impressive would be helping the Lebanese rebuild their homes as well. Maybe then, those who view Zionism as a militant, aggressive and narcissistic movement would have to reconsider their position.

It is so wonderful that there are still some Jewish youth out there who recognize the importance of helping out fellow Jews (as important as rebuilding New Orleans and protesting the genocide in Darfur).

Matt, I don't believe that those who see Zionism as militant etc. care about facts, details or gestures. They only care about blindly reinforcing their own views. For example, all you can see is $'s going to Israel, not that innocent civilians were bombed or that students are giving up their free time to help victims of war. Why can you and yours only see what is wrong when it comes to Israel?

Matt, when will you learn we don't care how ignorants distort ZIonism or Judaism? We believe in ourselves and help ourselves (b/c no one else will)and that's all that matters and is important. Enjoy yourself reading our Zionist newspapers and reading about how we care about each other. Let it eat you alive.

if their own brothers can use it? Your family comes first and so do Jews wherever they live. And this is a commandment of our Torah. There are enough Arabs worldwide who should help their kinds.

GD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES FOR DOING THIS ! It is good to hear that today's youth is not so self centered as it was in my day. There are many poor and elderly residents in the North who's days have been brightened because of your actions. May you enjoy your stay here, and continue your good work!

Israel needed 120 US volunteers to raise $200,000 and plant more trees. Lebanon needs 20 years to rebuild its country.... again. This is pathetic. I can't believe people donated to such a stupid cause.

The Israelis bombed CHILDREN in LEbanon- in a hospital- it was DISGUSTING. I feel no sorrow for the welfared nation of Israel- It is a travesty.

Look if jews wanna help out other jews i dont got problem with that and i dont think anyone else dose. If you do have a problem with that then you got issues. The problem matt and i have is this. Israel gets more money from american tax payers than any nation on earth. It gets more aid then 2 contenents together. (africa and south america) The reason people like me usually see the wrong in Israel is because we think that from its inception Israel is wrong. Its hard for Israelis just like it is hard for Americans (and germans, british, french etc etc.) before them to see the horrible things that they do in the name of country and religeon. The Israelis ive met have been generally good people but if you mention an arab or they discuss arabs they change completely into something else and i cant trust people like that sorry you guys just showed up after living abroud and came in their land like you owned the place. That is why people dont like Zionist.

Israel is not strong with its weapons or IDF, it is strong with the people who believe in it. Israeli people are my enemies and to me they are criminals killing our children but i really respect them for this spirit, coz ill never expect any arabic stuident who would give up his vacation to help Lebanon after the war, this what make Israel stong and different

u r right 100 %, but unfortunately no arab student would do the same coz all wat they think is about their hormons

The Lebanese community all around Australia held numerous charity benefits to raise money. These along with other Australian charities raised over $20million US for Lebanon. We also sent a medical team. and i am sure the US did the same. The Lebanese Airport was destroyed in the first days of the bombings... how did you expect them to get into the country, when they had enough trouble getting people out?

-Per the Israeli Treasury Ministry: Damage to tourism in the North-Estimated at $150 million; 7,500 small businesses in Haifa and the North faced closure; schools, libraries, community centers, clinics, homes for the elderly, public housing, roads, bridges, overpasses were damaged; Damage to agricultural infrastructures was estimated at 75million; Hizbullah rockets started fires and destroyed thousands of acres of forests, nature preserves and parks. Thank you to all those helping to rebuild Israel following this senseless terrorist attack by Hizbullah.

It has always been jews relying on jews for help, as we are the scapegoats to theworld. When Israel was attacked by Lebanon this summer where was the UN or the outcry from the rest of the world? There was none,it was the Hezbollah who started the war by crossing the border and kidnaping soldiers on the israeli side of the border, it was hezbollah who rained the katushas down on the Northern cities forcing families to flee their houses and spend the weeks in bomb shelters, or in other people's houses in the center of the country that were generous to open their houses up. No other country especially Lebanon told Hezbollah to stop, infact Syria And Iran were encouraging Hezbollah to continue the bombings and even do more> So stop blaming Israel for the retaliation on Lebanon, would any country allow itself to be attacked daily and not respond? I think not, When Germany attacked Poland,France in WWII, did those countires sit back and take it, no they fought back, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor did the United States sit back and take it, no they did not, when Japan attacked China years ago did China sit back and do nothing no they did not. So Why should Israel have had to sit back and do nothing when the katushas hit? We are tired of being the Scapegoats of the world, the only way to stop it is to stand up for yourself,especially when no other nation is ready to root out terrorism. Incase you people forgot Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and they are trying to over throw the legimiate government in Lebanon, and the world is still sitting in thestands watching!

Can u please tell me how much u donated for lebanon and wat are the activities u have done to donate and send money to Lebanon. Act and Dont talk, this wat make a difference

Arabs did not help Lebanon??!! millions of aid money went to Lebanon from ALL Arab countries.. Arabs were donating blood, food, medicine and money.. in Syria people were opening their doors for the Lebanese refugees to stay with them!! I do not know of one Arab who wasn't donating and trying to help in sme way during the war on Lebanon.. but unfortunatelly people like you never see those things.. all you're good at is sitting back and criticizing the Arab and Muslim world when you're clueless on what you're talking about!!

Quit with the nonsense, the only aid to Lebanon came from the West. Syria, Iran and other Islamic dictatorships supply Hezbollah with weaponry--that's all. Same for any "charities" in the West which funnel money to Hezbollah, and not to those those who actually need it--i.e the beleaguered Lebanese Christians who will soon be living under de-facto Sharia law.

Who's militant when being lobbed missiles ferom across our border? What history and news reports do you read? Have you ever been here? Asked the people what their lives are like?. THEN maybe you can make a reasoned judgment; otherwise you just come off as arrogant and ill-informed.

If you go back you will see that Lebanese Hizbullah directed by Iran and Syria- opened hostilities on Israel's border by kidnapping Israeli soldiers on Israeli land. Get your facts straight before you start shooting blind prejudice- you will have more credibility.

Larissa, Maybe in Australia you can afford to think first of all about the trees, but here in Israel we need to help the PEOPLE whose lives and incomes were shattered by the war first. Those are the real recipients of the help. Check your facts with the Israel Gov't before making unfounded and erroneous statements about money and trees.

"you guys just showed up after living abroud and came in their land like you owned the place. That is why people dont like Zionist". If you feel so strongly you presumably believe that the US should be returned to the native Americans, and that Australia should be returned to the Aborginies. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

If their were any native americans left. Their are very fiew of them left and at least they have recieved some repirations. classic zionist argument if americans critisize the state of Israel. David do you believe what your ancestors did to the native americans was correct? If you do then you are sick. If you dont then how can you support Israel?

no, you GET your facts straight. -------Read up on WHO the Isrrelis are occupying- (PALESTINIANS )the amount of welfare the USA gives the jewish nation. the amount of children KILLED by the IDF,both in PALESTINE and LEBANON. go look at the "wall', go visit the checkpoints- You jews need to get a reality check. the world is sick of it.

I suggest you keep quite when you don't know what you're talking about.. I myself have witnessed the campaigns in the Arab and Muslim world to held to aid Lebanon during the war but unfortunately it wasn't given the attention it deserves from the media.. so the result is that we find people like you never realizing those facts.. regarding weapons-- Arabs and Muslims have EVERY right to aid Lebanon with weapons during the war.. you speak like poor Israelis never recieve any aid for weapons!! why don't you jump up against the US - the supplier of Israeli weapons?? whatever weapons Arab and Muslim countries donated to Lebanon it won't add up to 10% of the US military aid to Israel..

look very carefully at the picture of this wonderful young man helping his "family" in times of need and tragedy. you are "sick of us jews"?, as you claim, really? do we bother you so? does our existance hurt you in anyway? or is it that we are breathing perhaps? that we have our own country, our own land (which by the way, if you read your history you ignorant fool, you'd realize that those lands were bought from arab absent landowners at an ehorbitant price by jewish immigrants, being told by those same arabs that the land purchased was 100% uninhabitable, a waste of land....you bought it non the less because we had a vision and determination to succeed)....maybe it is this determination that irkes you so? you hate zionism? there is no more zionism. it is a term and an ideology that was and is being used by the arab propaganda to criminalize israeli existance. forget your hate, man. if we israelis started to use the media, lie and twist history, revise the truth, show images of massacres that are fake, fake bombings and dead babies, we'd also have the world's pity. but we don;t do this because we are not barbarians. you may think we are, but we are not. we want to be left alone to live in peace. the arabs have never given up the main objective still...to eradicate any jewish presence in the middle east. they made it unbearable for jews to live in arab land and so these people ran to israel in fear, knowing they have a safe haven there. if it wasn't for arab aggression in 1948, 1949, 1967 against the israeli state there would be no refugee problem today. read your history....also learn how to spell and express yourself. reading your talkback, the way you write and express yourself explains your complete lack of historical knowledge and understanding of geopolitical issues that seem to be way way over your head and way to complicated for you to comprehend. saying so, please refrain from hateful comments and statements related to history that show you as an ignorant uneducated person. i am not saying this to you because i am jewish. i am saying it to you because i am educated and know what you seem to know very little about.

i am glad some arab countries and good people around the world donated money to lebanon. being israeli and jewish, i don't want to see anyone suffer. however, don't you think that had hizbullah not kidnapped our soldiers and citizens, all this mess wouldn't have happened? these people were not attacking lebanon at tghe time. theywere mainly guarding the borders against suicide bombers and infiltrators, as any country under these circumstances must do for safety and security. these soldiers were kidnapped by the terrorist organization of hizbullah with the full knowledge of iran, lebanon and syria who probably funded the operation and encouraged it. these terrorists entered OUR borders, OUR country, OUR envoironment, took away our men in uniform, claiming that they are terrorists and kidnapped them, killing two in the process. i consider this an act of aggression, an act that doesn't respect international law, an act that doesn't respect the geneva convention (soldiers never seen or heard from by red cross), an act of violence against our nation. and israel responded! the matter of degree of our response remains to be argued. however, we needed to respond as any other nation must do to protect what is theirs. by the way, numbers 11 and 12 are not at all clueless. they, in fact, see the reality inside their own people and inside lebanon. they are there, as witnesses. you are not!!! and so, i will tend to agree with their truth. you may not like it because it tends to put islam in a question mark and we know what a devout muslim you are, with all due respect. this has nothing to do with religion. what #11 and #12 wrote is devoid of any religious significance. it is plainly the truth on the ground in lebanon and is a fact. as much as you may not like to hear it or it may not suit your agenda, it is a fact that jews are extremely helpful to their own, no different than arabs are to their people, as it should be. #11 is extremely on the mark and honest. jewish strength and the strength of israelis doesn't come from bullets or kalachnikovs and terrorism. it comes from a spirit of religious and emotional unity, a unity of the love of the land and its protection, the love of life and building a life and future for their children, the love of hard work and self actualization, and the spirit of community in times of trouble and tragedy. israel lets in all jews into the country that have suffered persecution and insecurity all over the world. not only jews, but russians, ethiopeans, sudaneese, vietnamese etc... that need refuge and peace in their lives. while arab nations do not! look at saudi arabia, egypt, jordan, iran, etc...they don't even allow their palestinian brothers in. shame! i am proud to be called ajew and an israeli. i am proud of my people and what they sacrifice for me and i am proud to love my land and country and protect it from anyone that wishes us harm. is there something wrong with that? yes... i know your silly argument...."not at tghe expense of the palestinians" we've heard this before.

My precious son led a delegation this winter from MIT Hillel. He knows full well that actions speak louder than words. Now, where EXACTLY are Olmert's 2 (wayward) sons when bombshelters need painting?

#21...see last line of the article "planting trees and fixing up bomb shelters" #16....Although irrelevant. I actually gathered 20 people to go to a benefit and i donated $1000. I cannot save the world but atleast i actually did do something.