These arabs are actually a national liability of Yisrael. That is the TRUTH ! IDF must be for Israel's National Security not for the enemy recruitment tactic against the very mission of the Natinal security of Israel People. The arabs just want the pay and job security, thats all. Thay have nothing to give Israel other than horror and terror ! Wakee Wakee To the IDF PLEASE ;-)~ Wake up for goodness sake !

"Just because we're Israeli citizens doesn't mean you can treat us like everyone else." Go to hell.

The generals of israel must be muslim arabs.

Israel won't have to try. Surely, Arabs that see both sides can't be so stupid as to not realize where the better future lies or would that be expecting too much? There's just a little something I fail to understand, though: One minute they bitch, because they're not 100% included in Israeli life, and the next minute they want no part of it. Which is it? I can't remember anybody trying to Americanize me, but it happened. This country knocked every last one of those German chips right off my shoulders, and since it was done with a Southern twang, lots of "Honey's, Sugah's, y'all's," generosity and big smiles, I couldn't resist and never regretted it. God bless free people everywhere!

Why do these people have a problem with their youths working in their own community to help the community? If you read what was proposed it was not to enlist them in the IDF, but to get them to volunteer in hospitals and at schools or other community benefiting activity. So the people who are against it are against people helping their own.

This must go through, but not just for the Arabs: for the Haredim as well! I don't care who you are: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, Bedouin, ultra-ultra Othodox of whichever sect, and whoever else I'm leaving out: YOU MUST DO AT LEAST 1 YEAR OF SOME KIND OF NATIONAL SERVICE, EVEN IF IT'S ONLY IN YOUR LOCAL NEIGHBORHOODS. I'm not talking military service, just good, old-fashioned get-your-hands-dirty work, whether it be building things or sitting behind a desk answering phone calls. Anyone who is against this is simply a user, lazy, and someone who wants everything for nothing. But then again, people get comfortable where they are in society or life. What it comes down to is that Haredim can cut back on studies for a year (I didn't say completely stop!) and Arabs can cut back on salaried jobs, studies or whatever it is they'd normally do during that time --- for the sake of a litle work in their own neighborhoods.

pack up & go

For Israeli Arabs who feel they are not at home in Israel, the new Palestine welcomes you and beckons you. For Israeli Arabs who are at home in Israel stay The important thing is to ensure that you participate fully in every aspect of your country and not opt out. In our new Palestine we will have a 'peoples' army and anyone choosing to 'opt out' while we all work to build the country will not be welcome. A few Israeli Arabs want to have their cake and eat it - but I know that the majority WANT to make a full contribution. Its only people like Bishara et al who are trying to drive a wedge between Israeli Arabs and the wider Israeli population.

Could it be that these guys are scared to death that they might lose their grip on their minions? It's been dawning on more and more American Blacks that it pays much better to be part of the American mainstream than to listen to some of their "preachers," who profit handsomely from other people's status as " the downtrodden minority." If it weren't for that minority, some of those guys would actually have to get real jobs.

I bet that if they were told to evacuate Jews from "settlements" the Arabs would Join the I.D.F. in droves.

National Service will only benefit the young Arab Israelis. It will teach them to give back to their communities. The argument should not be to volunteer or not to volunteer but which activities should be chosen. The idea of helping poor Arab communities must be frightening for the affluent Arab MK maybe their constituents will not be so needy and thus they will get less votes. Helping in hospitals, Madah, tutoring children in poor communities. Maybe eliminating illiteracy and poverty is what the elitists of BALAD are against and not national service?!!!??

How can Israel get a Muslim Arab general if no Muslim Arabs are willing to join the army? If Arabs volunteer or get drafted like pretty much everyone else in the country, those with skill can in fact rise to the rank of general if they prove their loyalty and tact. On top of that they will receive veteran's benefits that will give them a much more equal footing with Jewish Israelis which will help them have more oppurtunity and equality than they do now.

This is exactly what I thought right away. Despite all the tensions, it's the Blacks and the Hispanics who are fighting in Iraq for American freedoms, of which they only receive a limited amount. This is their struggle for being legitimized in a complex and conflicted society. They have years of Black Panthers behind them, which was necessary at the time, but ultimately these revolutionary forces are not capable of governing a peaceful entity/nation. The Arab MK's priority should be piecing it all together, educating Israelis about the minorities and about tolerance to them, while teaching their constituents to respect the mainstream society and to succeed in it. Instead, they are lining their pockets with the help of Israeli tax-payers, while signaling to Hamas and other extremists that they will be ready for them when they come. They are crowd pleasers, but they definitely are NOT serving the interests of the Israeli Arabs.

if Israel wants to exclude arabs, Israel is damned..and when they want to include, she's damned. classic arab maneuver.

The turkish army drafted armenian soldiers: this did'nt prevent the Turks to qualify the Armenians a 5th column and exterminate them. Refusing to take part to the state's defense equals accepting a second rate citizen status: how else could arab citizens qualify for veteran benefits?

Im really proud of israel being a true democracy, a man like Jamal Zahalka has the oportunity to talk as an enemy of the state, and he is a MK. Imagine a jewish in an muslim country saying the things this terrorist says.

You will do your National Service in Jordan. And you will have only yourselves to blame - this will be the consequence of a road you freely chose.

It is clear that arabs in Israel don't want Israel, they want to be part of palestine. So, the time has come to consider transfering all of them who don't want to do israeli service out. In the meantime, Olmert should stop catering to every whim of Abbas and come to his senses. His track record is poor-mayor of Jerusalem, Lebanon war, appointing a novice defense minister. Finally, the Annapolis conference is likely to be a trap where US forces Israel to give up E Jerusalem, all of W Bank and a route in Israel to Gaza. Olmert is responsible for allowing Israel to get sucked into this conference.

anywhere else in the world of a parliamentarian who talks that way--we're not part of the country, don't make us serve it in any way. Pack up and leave. I normally don't have such sentiments or express them; I believe in being civilized. But there's a limit. Yes, Zahalka, even we Israelis can be pushed too far. I remember what your Arab brethren did to Jews living in Morocco and Egypt and Yemen and Iraq after '48.

JORDANIFY yourselves anytime you wish. This I say because you do not want to be part of this country called Israel and this country will remain Israel forever so the sooner you make your choice the better for all concerned. The sooner you stop believing that through our democracy and our humane attitude you will be able to demographically change things here the easier it will be for you and us.

In this time of globalization, why would a young soldier care about being "thrown up" from Arab society. The soldier is defending the nation he lives in, not joining a club. In this age, if one group rejects us we simply live to ourselves or move into another informal group. Being accepted in a group does not make sense to an American. We are rejected by all groups and accepted by all individuals. We have a very light sense of community, to put it into sociological terms.

there are over 20 Muslim countries in the Middle East they can move to. They shouldn't let the door hit them on the way out!

You don't realize that the southern tongue, honeys and yalls come with a little something we call here stupiduty! Believe me, you don't understand what's going on in Israel. I recommend your racist ass to just stick with Atlanta and the south.. Israel problems are far too complicated for "ya'll".

...Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco etc etc etc are Jews then Israel will have Arab muslims as generals!! Good Plan(!) Idiot!

along with the rest of those that knowingly want Israels destruction, and try and use its political structure and media against it

"stupiduty" - learn to spell, imbecile. Accusing someone from the south as being stupid simply because he is from the south and then calling him a racist. Kind of ironic for someone named yasir, no?