As the cities here are Jewish, if they look like a pig stye then who is to blame. Not all criticism is anti-semetic simply because the Jews are to blame. I agree, some of the cities are pig styes. Meah Shareem is one of the messiest places I have ever seen and there is no one to criticize for this? Of course no one but the Jews that live there. I realize the women are very very busy rasiing rather large families. But the men of these areas are fully capable of maintaining the yards just like everyone else in the world that works six or more days. Six days you shall work and on the seventh you shall rest. So start picking up the garbage around your apartments and teach you children to be polite and to toss the trash where it goes. Are we Torah people and a light to the world or are we closed and embarrassing our dignitary guests by leading them through cities where mold has long been covering up the paint. According to Torah, you should keep you camp as if G-d walks through it. Is that what we are doing? This isnt an example of anti semitism, it is an example of we Jews failing to do Torah and failing to be a light to all nations. Anywhere in the world, even what is known as "the mistake on the lake" Cleveland, as coined the rust belth. People are cited for not painting their houses or maintaining their lawns. Despite how unpleasant parts of Cleveland are, there are areas here in Israel that are far worse. It bothers me when the anti-semitism card is played. If you look at the talkbacks you get the impression everyone thinks we are above being criticised. What Israel should do is address the cities that look like pig styles with programs to clean them up and to invite Alexander Lukashenko to come see areas where Jews have turned the dessert into Gan Eden. Let him travel some new cities. Usaually in most countries if a foriegn dignitary visits they are taken and shown only the good areas. Being that Israelis have a habit of not taking the time to understand other cultures, I have the feeling they took him for a tour right past our dirty undies. This nation needs to mature rather than cry wolf every time we are justly criticised.

this guy shouldn´t be taken seriously :D He´s stupid and didn´t even finished school. Let him talk... without Russia´s support he wouldn´t have been in office for such a long period of time. Actually, among the states of the former Soviet Union Belarus has the lowest rate of antisemitism. Russia & Ukraine are far worse. oh yes: the level of anti-semitism in Kazakhstan is also one of the lowest in that region.

I agree this president needs to put aside his hitler imitation and clean up himself and his country first before blaming an entire race for his own and his country's corruptions. Besides, israelis are the cleanest people in the world, I've been to israel while on leave from army service in the sinai, and it was like coming back home to america.

to get involved in this country- look what he did for kazakastan

The Plaza Hotel in NYC is owned by Yitzhak Tshuva's Elad Properties . He's an Israeli.

..Above and beyond the fact that this idiot is a racist, is the uncomfortable truth he said about Israel. Israel is trashed with ugly litter. It stunned me to see that Israelis seem perfectly comfortable living with filthy litter all over the sidewalks, fronts of yards, and in every space available for collection in the wind. TA is the dirtiest city I have personally ever seen. In some areas it appear trid world filthy. On holidays, the public leaves literally hundreds of tons of garbage at every park and beach in the country. In TA, the sidewalks are filthy and often covered in dog droppings. In many places in TA entrances of buildings and apartments are heaped with discarded trash windblown against walls, trees and steps... In public showers at pools Israelis will simply leave empty shampoo bottles as it is seen as beneath them to toss it. A person who picks up any of this is viewed as a frier, a loser, a slacker. Until Israel takes pride in cleanliness the truth will be told every time an outsider strays off the tourist path and sees how Israelis actually live. I am sorry, but it was a shock to observe this. It is a failing. I love Israel, but when I go for a walk and see the total lack of caring about basic cleanliness I have to wonder.

Israel has an embassy there as there are still some Jewish communities there. The attitude of the government can range from hostile to indifferent. So having Israel there is necessary to keep tabs on what is happening in that country. There are also educational programs (I'm thinking of ORT and another university level program) that are operated in the country, and these help to increase opportunities for the young people who remain. There are also programs for homebound elderly, who depend on meals provided by Jewish NGO's. For quite a few, it's the only decent meal of the day. Also, there are programs in place that allow for smaller communities to have a Shabbat. These are valuable for bringing communities together.

take any area in the US...there's dirt..there's grime...do you blame a particular segment for it???? To justify his comments that the Jews have let the area go is just crap. This is just typical of Jews trying to self-criticize in order to placate the masses and not feel disdain for someone who is obviously full of hate and should be ridiculed. Develop a backbone for christ's sake. no wonder we had the holocaust. with pussies like you all, who the hell needs enemies. We are our own enemies. disgusting.

Better look in the mirror...:-)

I've been to Israel several times and always marveled at how clean the country was and that included a visit to Mea Sharim. Anyway, what does Israel's cleanliness have to do with the comments made by the evil Lukashenko. Besides being a dictator and tyrant, he is a racist and antisemite.Unfortunately, he didn't understand that the pigsty was for him and his followers because living in that place would be an improvement.

and back yards. They are animals and the "police" will not do anything. They are mentally disturbed and should be locked up. Some people have clean houses,but they garbage from their autos or dump it on the first place they come to. There is no laws here and no one to enforce them. Children are sent to throw away garbage,but drop it on the way and go play with their friends. There should be cameras placed in different places and the pigs should be punished with fines and community service.

And I know from my own experience about Antisemitism in this country. Till now it was hidden from the public eyes because of the political and historical events. Maybe most of you don’t even know that the western part of Belarus was part of Poland. And with all the sentiments to their neighbors Belorussians hated and repressed their Jewish minority. As part of the former USSR Belarus has very well established KGB with mafia style concepts and the most vigorous forms of “closing the mouths ” of their critics. About the dirt: the most unhealthy restaurants and school buffets were at the time of the USSR where the hamburgers had 80% of bread, and the sour cream was flowing like milk, the cockroaches were occupying the empty shelves of the stores desperately searching for any food and the mice were found in food cans. And the drunken men were on almost every bus stop. Antisemitism doesn’t come from nothing. Firmly acknowledging the high level of Jewish intelligence, Belorussians don’t like to let Jews get any form of official respect. There are many Jews of Belarus left their marks in science, arts, music, literature, and politics. But you heard only about those who left Belarus: Isaac Asimov Menachem Begin, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Irving Berlin Marc Chagall But if you think you’ll find other national minorities in Belarus having any rights you are mistaken.

emanating from Belarus or Poland but the man is right. It hurts me to say so but my beloved Israel, strictly from an ecological point of view, is nothing short of a pigsty. The blame has not to be put on the public but rather on the authorities, starting with the Minister of the Interior and all the way down to town and regional officials. Heavy fines and jail sentences will quickly "adjust" public awareness to street cleanliness and all environmental problems such as landfills and polluted rivers.

I think it's really helpful to hear from an insider. It's sick how Jews can be so self critical and just generalize and not realize that they are blinded by their own guilt. a strange phenomenon. It would be nice to have some arabs be self critical, not even to one tenth the degree of Jews on this message board. So there are some dirty people, does that generalize to a whole country? Is that worth getting upset to the point of completely trashing Jews and blaming them for the mess in that part of Belarus? Don't you get that Jews aren't making up a large portion of that very area, but rather the "leader" there wants wealthy Jews to return to clean it up, to improve the country. This is typical nazzi type rhetoric. Don't you get it? you people are morons.

"This is a Jewish city... I call on Jews who have money to come back to Bobruisk." Get it? The Jews were driven out, hauled out, killed. Now this asshole wants some wealthy Jews to do what they do best..in his opinion..spread their wealth. Well screw him. Go find another group to bail you out you scumbag. Jews need to be proud. stop bending over backwards because you're afraid of getting beaten up.

Ok so the guy is a bigot, racists, dictator who is anti-semetic. That doesn't mean the comment in itself is not good criticism. I have been in Israel for nearly a decade and the people here think they are above critcism. If you criticize they lower their eyes, close their mouth and leave to go tell someone how "How dare he critcize us." As if they are little princes and princesses. Get this straight ISrael,G-d did not give us Israel to make it look the way it does. You have the ungliests buildings anywhere in the free world. The trash sweepers pickup after society because aparaently many mothers never bothered to teach their child any class. These childred grow up to be imature uncooth adults. I have seen young adults throw trash on the ground when a recptacle was less than six inches from their hand. As for the person who said Mea Sharim was clean - that is just an outright lie. Maybe an Ethiopian from out of the African bush caim and instilled a little pride in the neighborhood's appearance. they certainly didn't pick it up themselves. If Israel doesnt want to give fuel to critics, we need to clean up of act and not litter. We need to institute laws about building maintenence and health codes about letting mold coat the buildings and sidewalks. We need to give tickets for littering and investigate trash dumping with prosecutions. We need goverment sponsored add campains and education of children in schools. While they are at it they can educate against smoking like the US does.

"Develop a backbone for christ's sake. no wonder we had the holocaust." Christ's sake?! Let me get this straight - you think the Hollacaust happened because Jews were a bunch of Pussies who had no backbone?

I wonder why Lukashenko refers to Bobruisk as a Jewish city. It is true that many years ago in 1897, 60% of the population was Jewish, but after years of pogroms and death camps, the Jewish community was practically annihilated. Today, the community is a mere 10.000 strong in a total population of ca. 227.000.

Israel is a dirty, filthy country and Jews there have to learn to be clean and to take care of the place they love. It is a disgrace! The air is polluted, the water is polluted, and the land is polluted. Where is the love for the environment? On the quality of living scale, Toronto is #15th in the world. It's a beautiful city! There are no US cities in the top 25. On the other hand, Tel Aviv is 105th place and Jerusalem is 122nd place on the quality of living scale. Jews are paying a high price for a low quality of living in Israel.

i wonder where have you been in israel but one thing is for sure inNYC you have a lot of filthy placesand there are no jews.did you know that wise guy?

Go to any arab country, the reason they dont it pig is because its canabalism. The russian quarter in Ashkelon is very neat and tidy.

Not to add fuel to the fire, but I find myself in virtual agreement with Micha (#38). Any attempt to justify the slander by suggesting that it is based upon truth is cowardly and, in my humble opinion, an outrage as equal to Lukashenko's. So the Jews are dirty, are they? So the cities in Israel are filthy, are they? So the Jews must clean up their cities so that folks like Lukashenko cannot, without basis in fact, criticize them? One notes that rats and cockroaches run wild where Jews live; another notes that some Jews prefer to toss refuse on the street, though a receptacle is but inches away. I believe that you all are misguided fools. One of Nazi Germany's big lies was that Jews were filthy. Comparisons to rats, roaches and other vermin abounded. They even made a feature film ("The Eternal Jew) to show the "filthy Jews" for what they were. As recently as several years ago, the host of a prominent German television station broadcast in American ("Deutche Welle," I believe) was fired because he refused to shake hands with those "dirty Jews." Any of you ever been to Detroit? How about Harlem? Not many Jews living there, are there? Pretty filthy nonetheless. Ever been to a Jewish medical center? Where Jewish doctors and nurses are in control, they are among the cleanest facilities of their kind. There is nothing to justify. There is nothing to atone for. Some Jews are filthy; some are not. Some non-Jews are filthy; some are not. Anyone of you who believes that an Israeli effort to clean-up its streets would have an impact on antisemitism is living in a fantasy world. And whether or not he may offended some by his reference to the Holocaust, I also agree with Micha's charge, "Develop a backbone * * *." After all, if it's proper to stereotype Jews as filthy creatures, it is equally as proper to stereotype them as complacent sheep.

No Jews there, and no clean anything. I'm sure he'd love the missles too!

Murray, You must have been living in a lala land. I also live in NYC and can hardly call it a clean place. Hardly cleaner than Israel's cities (that have a higher population density by the way). Most buidlings have cockroach issues and lately, we have a new invasion - bed bugs. Interestingly, areas where Russians live in NYC do not have an issue with bed bugs.

New York probably has more Jewish residents who hail from Bobruisk than Bobruisk itself. Lukashenko is still stuck in his kolhoz years. The guy has a peasant, lowlife mentality.

I'm sure you mean keeping Israel in the same shape as your beaches when its over 22 degrees you close your beaches due to crap, you mean clean like spadiana and college "china town" and do you mean like scarbrough where you take you life in your own hands after dark due to gangs killing each other, do you mean when it turns dark out a kid cant walk on the side walk due to some pig trying to harm them, do you mean going to your public shcools and maybe not coming home due to some other kid shooting you, do you mean your roads and highways in such poor state that you must have a SUV to get around. do you mean that Toronto is so full of garbage that it sends its garbage to Michigan, or do you mean taking a walk on any street at any given time and seeing the garbage piled up due to no street cleaners, or do you mean that your home garbage is picked up every other week due to lack of money. I rather have the clean streets of Israel that your toilet that you live in. My ten year old can still go out after dark not have the fear of being harmed by some pig walking the streets

I observe how Jews react to various things. There is always a huge chorus of people self-criticizing in light of some outsider's criticism. How about working on things that really matter for a change. How about defending your culture for once. Instead of just complacently going along with something that might make you feel guilty because, oh my gosh, there might be a little true to it but otherwise it's completely distorted. Every city has filth. What else? Have there been some bad eggs in the IDF? sure, of course there has. along with every other army in the world. Do Jews try to accomodate virtually everyone? Yep, keep going. Hey, what about the US? Was slavery a problem? yep. Is there still racism? yep. Does that make the US a harbinger of awful human rights within its borders? I think not. Perhaps overseas? yeah, probably so. Do you feel safe travelling to moslem countries? nah, not really. Are you even allowed entrance? not to all. Is antisemitism rearing it's head? Yep, sure is. Did the Jews of Germany attempt to justify the hatred around them and not protest and live in substandard conditions and allow the groundswell of hate to fester and accumulate and eventually overtake them? yep, sure did. Do I say that JUSTIFIES the Holocaust? hell no. get your points straight.

Saying that a city is looking crappy? especially when compared to what it used to look like? All the rich jews left and the town has deteriated since then? lol sounds like pricess tzipi and ynet are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. She says nothing useful when the enemies within call for blood. Tzipi is a foolish troll and should resign along with olmert and the rest