that I still love so much is now ugly because our leaders are ugly. Our leaders are ugly because they are the ones put there by us, the People. It is therefor up to us, the people, to remove them. Not just remove them, those in power at the moment, but remove the whole crooked and corrupt system. Only then will our beloved Israel become beautiful once again. Our future is in our hands and as long as we leave it in the hands of the "elected ones" it will be at best bleak and at worst not at all.

Our leaders are leading us to disaster.

I told Uriel some 20 years ago that he was wrong about the nationalist Zionist camp when he worked at Davar newspaper. Glad to see he finally admits the problem of the "hate" of the Revisionist camp.

It is very sad, that there are still people like you, who measure the success of Israel only in militant terms. I think that we came into many moments of glory that were not part of the dictionary definition of war. We were and we will continuo to be a great country of science, agriculture and more. I am happy to know that there is some young smart men and women that refuse to take part of someone else war. And you know what I am one of them. You want to fight, go do it your self.

For so many years now, we have been struggling to stay alive in a place full of so many dangers and so many wars. Yet, yes yet , Israeli society manages to develop a beatiful democracy. If our heros are not in the front pages, but our trespassers are, it is simply because of that democracy extruding them for all to see.

The draft-dodger who received money from foreign sources for his compaigns. The guy who hates us and especially people without money. The other ugly folks just follow this individual.

My profile is 21 and i am very proud of this, cause I do not want to die for the Olmert-Peretz-Sharon etc ideas. There is no Jewish Israel anymore. I, as a citizen, had two choices: 1. to fight for the nowadays corrupted Knesset, or just get out of this. I choose the second option and didn't failed.

What is the level of public support for the Olmert government? WHen are the next elections? Is it probably a better person will be put into office?

The idea that you can kick out indigenous people, simply because you want their land is ugly. It was a fatal mistake, and now there is no solution. The Torah sages were right. We should have lived peacefully with the Arabs, side by sided, instead of fighting them, in order to establish our own political hegemony.

What do you expect? I bet Herzel would have a heartattack if he came back and saw this mess.

What I have seen of Israel is very lovely indeed. But even the most beautiful woman may not look so good when she first wakes up in the morning, etc. Since when do we judge an entire country's future based on the short term politics of an idiotic prime minister? Remember he will be gone next year, but Israel will be the beautiful place it is forever.

the country is still the same, the sky, the stars the country side.... all is as beautiful as ever, children from a generation ago or the one from today are all filling our surrounding with laughs, and Joie de vivre.... we grew bitter, dishillutionned and can't see the beauty any more. but we can change starting from oneself .... as to the gov, well, what about the 1st israely revolution? others did may be that is the only way to get rid of all the puppet politicians!!!and start again

Israel is being made ugly primarly by the influence of other countries with overbearing "cultures". Aside from the neverending challenges of the Arab world, we are being drowned by US-style alienation and materialism and corroded by Soviet-style paranoia and self-destruction. As less-than-useless as our own religious extremists can be, they are small potatoes in comparison.

Read my comment to # 10. its one size fits all....you will have no problem applying it to your feeble brain.

apparently the 70% got the leadership they asked for-why shas supports olmert is a mystery if they are religious?let the 70% that wanted olmert fight his battles for him if they think he's worth fighting for-myself i'd miss him as much as i miss arafat-not at all.

the leadership is corrupt and cannot be removed from power. Most Knesset members are appointed to their positions, and not elected by the people. The government represents the interest of the rich, not the average Israeli.

Since your name is Handel...and you reside in Brooklyn...what on earth makes you an authority on jewish Arab relations in the middle east...pre Israel or post 48? Have you ever heard of dhimitude? As a son to JEWISH refugees who lived in arab lands for more than 2000 years.....there was never " side by side" co existance...only forced Dhimi status...no KUMBAYAS at all. Now if you take a minute from eating bagels ans lox...and catch up on some real history reading,you may...just may...posess the knowlege to come here and write some meaningful talkbacks. Untill then you are just showing all that is defficient in your education AND world view. suggested reading: "From Time Immemorial" by joan Peters

Just a note - Joan Peters' book was exposed as a massive fraud - not real scholarship and certainly not something to base your worldview around. Of course it is tempting for us to believe that ALL the arabs in palestine/Eretz Israel were newcomers, but it is not intellectually, morally or historically accurate. undoubtedly many of them were born and bred sabras, they belonged here. why they chose to cut and run so rapidly is another story which has never been adequately explained. if something is precious to you - you stick around and fight for it! in any case, we need to be honest with ourselves if we are going to ever find a way forward - mimicking the wishful thinking and intellectual laziness of the enemies of Israel is not a recipe for success.

Israelis like to ignore Israel's original sins and cling to some glorious war of independence, when if fact Israel was born upon the blood of innocents and the actions of Zionist terrorists, and was very far from being honorable or glorious. Israel has yet to atone for those sins, and instead continues to pile sins upon sins that in turn continue to erode the very fabric of Israel's fragile existence from within, and earn it the scorn of the outside world as well. I believe that eventually Israelis and Palestinians will live in peace, but as long as the setters and Zionists rule the country, it will only further decay until even the lowliest Jew in the world would refuse to live there. To those on both sides of this conflict, release the hatred that sours your souls, and learn tolerance and seek peace instead.

...we avoid the curses that make it ugly. It is in G-d's power to make us rich or poor. It is in our hands to do Torah the way it was written. If you force the cafe worker to take a job on shabbat (so they can be emplyed) in order to serve you, count on Israel becoming worse. If you cheat your neighbor or actly rudley, it will get worse. If you wait for Yom Kippur to be a good person, it will get uglier. If you suppress converts and ignore widows, it will get worse. Make the most of this life and pass the test before you, choose a blessing. If the evil choice looks more promising, forget it anyway. God will open the path of good and remove your walls if you chose the good. Do not choose the curse. It is the system of choose a blessing of chose a curse. When Israel goes to war with the support of G-d, all should stand shoulder to shoulder. If the war is to please the goyim UN and US, count on ugly. Even Abraham refuse to take gifts from a corrupt king for fear the king would say what he achieved was from the hand of the king. Israel should understand its wealth is from G-d. Take a note politicians.

it was in 75 befor sadat visited israil for the peace between egypt and israel ,, the people there as a nation wanted this peace .they did not like naser actions becouse they did not like to loose life in algeria or alyaman or palastine .. so they accepted the peace action that sadat did it after 2 years .. but israil accepted it becouse they wanted to get rid of egypt the biggest arab state .. but sure it was illusion to israil ipeople the most enemy was here on the same land of israil or palastine .this peace did not stop lost of the life of the israili .. it was mainly peace to the egyption people even it was not the security to any of states here in the middle east

There was great force in Mr. Ben-Ami's account. Where, I might ask, are leaders with the judgement of Ben-Gurion, the honest vision of Rabin? Law has become a twisted thing, writhing on the fork of dark motives within the leadership of a minority of Israelis and Palestinians. The admiration must be reserved for... get this, a foreign monarch that once gathered his compatriates to agree to an accord of which one can only dream--Arab recognition of the State of Israel if Israelis will only remain within. It was "tabled." Who will vote for virtue in the chaos of madness, who will fail to dismiss the rule of law?

It is a hope. Crooked politicians are guarding the gates to make sure that the ifs never happen.