I can sign under every word in this article. Its truly disqusting, this blood business. Hirsh and our "distinguished generals" should take a good look in the mirror. And our government should stop this hypocrasy and ban its solders for making money on death.

SHUTTING his gab or THROWING away his pen. In fact, he seems PROUD to spew out HALF-TRUTHS.. Talk about a HYPOCRITE!

To live in the past is lovely as long as the illusion doesnt affect your present reality. You mention "exporter of oranges and roses, irrigation systems and peppers" How lovely it must have been to live in the age of "innocence" without Hamas, Fatah, Terror, 9/11 et al..... Bring your Sechel to the present day sir, and grow up it doesnt fit your stature to discuss nini stuff at this dangerous times

Dear Mr. Michael. People like you are writing this ignoring the big lesson Russia has thought the world. You are of course the same that thinks that we must talk and talk and talk with the arabs, while losing and losing and losing. Well, Russia showed to anybody who want's to see, that as it has always been, the dreams of peace and justice all over the world, are just that, dreams. Silly dreams I would say, proven ineffective and a lie time after time. The Russians, as well as the arabs, know very well that when in front of a "fait accompli" the western civilization trembles and accept defeat.

If we can "barely accept a flourishing arms trade" to pay the expenses of Israeli weapon development ...then Israelis are OBLIGED to "barely" accept the export of Israeli " professional " combat soldiers too : these people have served many years in IDF ...finally obtaining combat expertise ...but NOT expert in say architecture or some other peaceful enterprise. Israel has answered the Arab threat ...but such is the cost ! Moshe

Israel elite units and secret services soldiers, officers, Mossad agents and Shin Bet men learned assassinations, killing and dark skills on the blood of poor almost unarmed Palestinian, carrying the same ideology of Black water and other Security Agencies formed from previous American criminal haunting for big buck on the blood of Iraqi helpless .Israel succeeded targeting Palestinian after 60 year of occupation and infiltration with Palestinian being cornered with one option :collaboration money for family bread . Silencers and home demolitions wont work in Georgia that is why failure.

Israeli military industries and army representatives have been assisting foreign governments for decades. Sometimes our weapons make it into the hands of disreputable entities, including future enemies, and this is not a source of pride. But our expertise has also, on many an occassion, helped worthy recipients, among them burgeoning countries with immense security challenges not unlike our own. How can one be so quick to group the Georgians with the former, and not with the latter? The Georgians, facing difficult odds, are fighting to preserve the territorial integrity of their small republic against a country with no shortage of land or military might. Is this a situation that we can't relate to? Not to mention the fact that the Georgians have proven reliable allies of the United States since attaining their independence from the USSR, that they were one of the few consistent contributors of troops to the coalition forces in Iraq until just last week, that they occupy a strategic territorial position not far from Iran, that their president received an honorary doctorate from Haifa University four years ago... A shameful disgrace?

They should only be permitted to operate as an arm of Israeli Foreign policy (including covert services). Otherwise jail or strip them of citizenship. Thanks for the article. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

Any occasion is an opportunity to bash Israel one more time. Poor B. Michael, he must really be seriously myopic or more accurately, suffering from tunnel-vision. Here's what I think is wrong with his argument. If he identified himself as an ardent pacifist & condemned everyone equally, condemned all wars, all military sales world-wide, I would say that he's just an idealist, unrealistic perhaps, but an idealist nonetheless. But that's not what he does. He singles out only one culprit, his favourite & only culprit, Israel. So,, why do we sell arms & military expertise? Yes, of course, it's to make money. There is a lot of money to be made in arms. But is that the only reason? Obviously not. The main reason we sell arms is to achieve an economy of scale. We are a small country, too small to support the large scale investments necessary in R&D & economic production. We need the larger market. If we didn't export arms, we would have no arms industry. What do you think would be the consequences? Second, we gain a great deal of influence world-wide, far out of proportion to our small size. Trust me, that influence comes in handy, given our circumstances & the number of enemies we have. Third, we come back to the issue of money. For some rather impractical people, money is not a good reason. I hate to break it you, but in the real world, money counts. A country is just like an individual - you have to make a living. Our economic strength is as much a part of our defense as the IDF. Now let's come back to focusing only on Israel. The US, Russia, France, Britain, Brazil, & a host of other countries sell arms. It's so important that often their PM's twist arms to get a deal. But, of course, only we should refrain. Of course. Let's go down the tubes, happy in our own self-righteousness. Morality disconnected from reality is not morality. Sorry. It's just self-indulgence, holier-than-thou BS. The true morality is a careful balance between high ideals & the real world. It is about very difficult choices, priorities, & the greater good. B. Michael, life is not as simple as you would like it to be.

Mercenaries - There is no other title that befits the employees of a government agency who quit and keep doing the same job for more money elsewhere. So all those former soldiers from the intelligence and computer units who are at the forefront of the Israeli hi-tech community are nothing more than mere mercenaries? What total nonsense. Before making general sweeping statements, one would expect that a journalist who expects to be taken seriously has thought before putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). In this case, he obviously hasn't.

What a load of left-wing trash. So its ok for Russia to crush a budding democracy? What happened to supporting your allies? We should be selling Georgia every weapon they desire and providing them with satellite/human intel. If they want mercs and military training we should give them that also. Russia is an enemy of Israel and always has been. They sell all our Arab enemies weapons and are equipping Iran with Nuclear technology. People like Mr Michael B. should be exported to some place far from Israel - maybe Europe where they can be ashamed till they are crushed by the coming Muslim uprising.

Maybe this guy prefers that Israel and Jews in general export maps showing people how to walk to their deaths---that's what countless people on earth would prefer and expect from Jews. To hell with you and your way of thinking douchebag; time to take pride in strength and toughness to go along with brains. Ask the Russians how much they respect anything other than strength.

claiming he is an orthodox Jew , But can't gtive the name of a TRUE Orthodox Rabbinate who accepted his "conversion"

Not 100 % , 1000 %

Why don't you write about something I can agree with? There is no shortage of issues on which you could focus all your moral outrage. For example, you could write about Islamic extremism & the use of anti-Semitism. You could write about the abominable treatment of gays in the Muslim world, truely a scandal. Why not write about the inequality of women in Islam? Surely, you favour equality. How about writing about incitement against Jews in the PA-controled media? Hardly the behavior of people who seek peace, don't you think? Perhaps you would like to comment on the shameful behavior of the Israeli Arab MK's? You see, B. Michael, there are many topics of interest you could write about & I might, for once, agree with you.

I agree 100%

Mr Michaels we can thank the Arabs for this, which you blindly fail to mention. You want Israel not to sell items of such nature to Holland ? You do not talk of Russia selling arms to Iran Syria Egypt. You should / A very unbalanced critique therefore.

you can crawl back into your hole now, while the rest of us do the right thing.

What a wholesale dismantling of Michael B. There is nothing he could possibly say to recover from that rebuttal. Very, very well done. Get off talk back and get into the Knesset!

its people like you who are making thinking arabs think they can win . people like you are the shane of israel

The so called experts are a joke. You obviously know nothing about self promotion and BS. Jews invented Hollywood. Its all about pazazz. In fact Jerry Seinfeld made hundreds of millions selling the idea of "NOthing" Get a life better yet get yourself a job where you'll actually do some work, instead of writing drivel.

...thought that brings to nothing. Evidently mr. Michael did not learn that in ANY country the so called "mercenaries"are NOT a state aside the official one. The belgian mercenaries of the '60s were the longa manus of the belgian govt. in Congo, as nowadays the Blackwater contractors are an extension of the US govt. There is no way that guns and equip. can be supplyied to contractors WITHOUT any government greenlight. This said, I remind to mr. Michael a famous quote from Von Clausewitz: "War is an extension of diplomacy with different means". Any use of military knowledge is NOT only for mere profit, but to pursue political gains. In this the article completely fails to inquiry: just a bunch of pseudopacifist statements good for the planet of Mars

Israel supplies weapons to PA which are then used against innocent Israelis. The EU and USA send billions to Muslim Palestinians each year to support the Muslim fight against Jews. Yet TINY Israel has the BIGGEST experts. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD!

This article is unfair and inaccurate. Israel's training of Georgian forces is partly responsible for allowing Georgia some opportunity to fend off a far larger, more powerful Russia. You also forget that Israeli experts were deeply involved in helping to liberate Ingrid Betancourt from captivity by FARC in Colombia. It would be a wonderful world indeed if Israel only exported agricultural products, medical technologies, high tech and the like. The reality is that Israel can and does export military hardware and expertise.