Ok, I don't argue with (the fact) that Israelis don't know how to behave in a proper manner. Paying attention to that a lot of Americans are reacting to this - just to let you guys know: Many Europeans don't stand the way the Americans behave - loud, all-knowing, "bulldozing" and ignorant. For myself, I try to avoid Norwegians when travelling - they are sooo square, and when drunk - totally acting like arsim.

I take exception to the generalization of the article. I had two Israelis - a brother and sister, 22 and 33 years old -as guests in my home in October and they were the nicest, most courteous people I've met in a long time. Except for 2 year long email banter, they were total strangers whom I had never met until I picked them up at the airport. The young lady had been on a post-army trip to South America and the young man, now a student, is a front man for his bands. Although I expected and maybe would even have enjoyed a little more outlandish than normal behavior on his part, I was sorely disappointed. They didn’t smoke or drink, had little interest in carousing, but instead drove me crazy with all their “thank yous” for every little thing. Maybe these “kids” are exceptions, but I would have no compunction to turn my house and everything in it over to them while I go on vacation for a month. As a matter of fact, I’d probably get the place back in better shape than I left it. If my own kids ever jumped up from the table to immediately do the dishes as was the case with my guests, I’d either think I’m in the wrong house, we’re not related, or somebody has contracted a serious disease. If God would have spared a city for the sake of one or two just men, let’s don’t decry all Israeli young people as ill-mannered clods. I, for one, know they’re not.

the Israeli youngsters are unfortunately known of making mess in hotels they stop in, on their typical itinerary Warsaw-Krakow-Auschwitz-back. I dont know why it happens. Maybe you allow your kids too much by thinking that children of the survivors of Shoah should be raised stress-free. If so,then you just do them harm. My other explanation would be - maybe this stress-free upbringing is brought from contacts with US,where this is seen more often?Anyway,bad habits are bad habits-should be eliminated by parents.

I would expect no less from these men facing death for 3 years. Be it japanese men arab men rich white men black men. When there is a exploitation of women cheap they will take it. I blame it on society and only having one wife. The authors jewish mother probably made him write this. We must be a light to the other nations . Blah blah blah. To the daughters of sarah. Some israelis don't get daughters of sarah. So we need two women to equal one of you.

of what you protest. So, are you a regular muslim or, a convert oh, potty mouth? Your rhetoric is worse than any description of a rude Israeli. Perhaps when you learn some manners, you can instruct others?

Yes some are rude,but those that act rude abroad are usually the same way here.I do agree though when traveling abroad one should be on their best behaivor because they represent Israel to whereever they travel and interact with the citizens of that country. I also have seen American Teens on Spring Break in Ft Lauderdale, and they also are rowdy. It is the younger generation college age that are the most rowdy whether they be Israelis, Americans ,Brits etc. they need to be given a crash course in proper behaivor before they leave from their parents! If you are mature enough to travel without parents abroad then you are mature enough to behave as an adult at all times in a foreign country as well!

Just to be clear - I completely agree with the author of this article on his criticism toward the behavior of Israelis that he described. Often I find myself very much embarassed by how Israelis abroad give such a horrible reputation to my country. If half the things he said about Israelis abroad are true, then I'm truly shocked. However, this article fails to mention other important facts - for example, that rude tourists worldwide happen to be from all countries. How about the behavior of drunk English punks in soccer games? In the last World Cup in Germany, for example? Young Americans can get just as rowdy and loud as Israelis, also read NYC girl's post (#13). And just recently, we've heard of Russian tourist pinching the buttocks of an Israeli stewardess. And how about the countless Western sex-tourists in Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco and other third-world countries, who enjoy the company of 12-year old, or even 10-year old girls and boys? So far I'm glad to say that hardly any Israelis take part in this disgusting industry. And another important story that's missed here, is that while some Israelis are bad - many of them are good. Take a look at the Holzberg couple at the Chabad House in Mumbai for example. Or many other Israeli volunteers in distaster stricken areas. Or how Israel is the first to offer aid to countries struck by earthquakes, fires, or terrorist bombings. Or how we offer the best medical treatment even to citizens of enemy countries. And such one-sided, biased articles, while touching at painful places, yet without offering the complete picture - only serve to give ammunition to Israel-haters worldwide. The anonymous creature at #9 is a good example. All in all - we really are not that bad. We've got our bad apples, but they're not any worse than any other society's bad apples. And yes, we need to make a massive reform in our education of our youngsters, but publishing this biased article here in English for the entire world to get a twisted, incomplete image about us (often reinforcing their own myths about "the vulgar Israelis") - is certainly not helpful.

Actually "doing" somebody within the sexual context is an American-English slang, NOT an Israeli one. Among many good things we learn and adopt from Americans, we also adopt many bad ones. "Doing" sombody is one, together with the repetitive "like", "duh" and other useless utterances. So before displaying your ignorance and self-hate in public,and erroneously using them to promote stereotypes and petty racism, take a course or two in English, Mr. Nuriel(AND in Hebrew too).

Man-up (how is that for some American slang?) and take responsibility for your own bad, self-generated behavior & image. Trying to put the blame on the Yanks for your own garbage? You & your folk earned those dubious laurels based solely on your own efforts.

... go and take your three R's exam man and cool off. I was only pointing out the article's writer ignorance and his use of it for self-flagellation... nothing personal against Americans (not "Yanks") - on the contrary! ALL my experiences with Americans have been exceptionally good ones. Pity you made the unsuccessful effort of ruining that for yourself. It tells loads about which side of the fence you're coming from. Your reaction however shows that I might have hit a hidden nerve. If I did, I am happy. You are not one of the Americans I would want to talk to or even accidentally meet, so it's good you're fenced out somewhere. Fortunately I know first hand that as it happens with every society, there are many VERY good Americans out there, so no, I will not "judge" all Americans based on your rushed, imbecile, pathetic and malicious feedback.

Truly, one wearies of the endless handj*b critique of Americans by those who present a rather poor impression in terms of conduct, interaction, and manners. I have traveled outside the US any no. of times, and have been less than impressed with behavior I often observed in my host countries. Glad to hear of your positive encounters with Americans, but remember, we too, are always observing and making judgements about how you & yours carry yourselves in the world.

Would both of you please stop it. We have enough problems with other people hating us, that we don't need to fight within our own ranks. Cameron - take it easy please, I don't think he was blaming Americans for the bad behavior of Israelis... As I said in my earlier post, rowdy Israelis exist, and rowdy Americans exist, independently of each other. He only pointed out we adopted out a few linguistic flaws from Americans, that's all. I don't think this is a reason to get insulted. The Doc, you calm down too. Cameron probably interpreted what you've said in the wrong way, and gotten a bit ticked off, hence his response. Yet that doesn't put him on any wrong "side of the fence", that doesn't make him someone not worthy of meeting and talking, or his response "imbecile, pathetic and malicious". Your latest response is completely exaggerated and uncalled for. So you too need to cool off! Would both of you now, please make up?

Trying to equate the behavior of the young Israelis to similar behavior of the young of other countries is simply impossible. The behavior of my the young Israelis was far worse. I have experienced behavior that was so bad that there is no comparison with any other country whatsoever. In a campground in Northern italy, Young Israelis would defecate in the swimming pool in order to outrage the other campers. They also stole so many items from other campers that many people were afraid to leave their camp sites because they feared our youths would steal every thing they owned if they weren't around to protect it. Don't tell me that I am making this up. I often saw the Israelis immediately descend on camp sites if the occupiers were foolish enough to leave them unguarded. The Israeli would then take everything that wasn't nailed down. You would see them later in local town trying to sell the stolen items. It got to be so bad that we ended up pretending we were Romanians in order to avoid being shunned by the other campers.

If the Doc smoothes out, so will I. Respect is always a mutual, 2-way street.

You write :”.. and give them Israeli nick-names just for laughs.” Some Brits on holiday also give nicknames to the locals for fun, for having a good laugh ; some Frenchmen on holyday also give nicknames to the locals ; some Italians do that also ; some Spaniards also do that -- for fun, for having a good laugh. Nuriel, why is it that when some Israeli do that (i.e. giving nick-names) you consider it to be bad ? What happened to you ? You seem to have lost the sense of relativity of things. You have lost the ability to see the greater world in perspective. Nuriel, the point you are trying to make is baseless. It is easy to bash Israelis, don’t you think? You write :” He (i.e. the Israeli) takes over drug and women trafficking hubs just for the sense of power and bullying.” Nuriel, this is just NONSENSE you are writing. Are you saying that ALL the drugs sold in The Netherlands, in UK, in Germany, in France, in Sweden, in Italy, in Spain -- all is emanating from the Israelis ? Nuriel, where do you get your information from -- from news agencies from the Moon ?? (Moon is Luna. One who gets his news from the Moon is called a lunatic.) You write :” The Israeli, any Israeli, has become an icon of evilness, ugliness, corruption and exploitation.” Nuriel, you don’t mean it. IF you do mean it, especially stating “any Israeli” -- then no sane person the world over will consider you to be a sane person.

You say :”.. getting pushed onto the busses, cut in line, and ripped off everywhere I went ..”. When one goes to India, Turkey, Morocco, same abovementioned things happens also to visitors. The point you are trying to make about Israelis is NO point AT ALL. BTW if you can’t stomach the behaviour of others -- LEAVE that place, and go live somewhere else where you can live happily. IF you can’t find a place on planet Earth where you can live happily -- then probably something is WRONG with you personally.

You write :”.. and give them Israeli nick-names just for laughs.” Some Brits on holiday also give nicknames to the locals for fun, for having a good laugh ; some Frenchmen on holyday also give nicknames to the locals ; some Italians do that also ; some Spaniards also do that -- for fun, for having a good laugh. Nuriel, why is it that when some Israeli do that (i.e. giving nick-names) you consider it to be bad ? What happened to you ? You seem to have lost the sense of relativity of things. You have lost the ability to see the greater world in perspective. Nuriel, the point you are trying to make is baseless. It is easy to bash Israelis, don’t you think? You write :” He (i.e. the Israeli) takes over drug and women trafficking hubs just for the sense of power and bullying.” Nuriel, this is just NONSENSE you are writing. Are you saying that ALL the drugs sold in The Netherlands, in UK, in Germany, in France, in Sweden, in Italy, in Spain -- all is emanating from the Israelis ? Nuriel, where do you get your information from -- from news agencies from the Moon ?? (Moon is Luna. One who gets his news from the Moon is called a lunatic.) You write :” The Israeli, any Israeli, has become an icon of evilness, ugliness, corruption and exploitation.” Nuriel, you don’t mean it. IF you do mean it, especially stating “any Israeli” -- then no sane person the world over will consider you to be a sane person.

You say :”.. getting pushed onto the busses, cut in line, and ripped off everywhere I went ..”. When one goes to India, Turkey, Morocco, same abovementioned things happens also to visitors. The point you are trying to make about Israelis is NO point AT ALL. BTW if you can’t stomach the behaviour of others -- LEAVE that place, and go live somewhere else where you can live happily. IF you can’t find a place on planet Earth where you can live happily -- then probably something is WRONG with you personally.

I congratulate you for your beautiful TB. As always, I read them with gratitude. Thank you very much.

With regard to the final paragraph of Mr. Nuriel's post, these days more or less the same is true of American English.

Last summer I worked at a large engineering firm in Tel Aviv as part of a Jewish Agency program. My last week there, about 10 of us from the firm went out to lunch at a restaurant in TA. The service was very slow--what should have been a one-hour lunch turned into a two-hour ordeal because the place was packed. One of the Israelis in our group picked a fight with the admittedly not very polite waiter, and at the end, the 6 Israelis in our group left without paying the bill! They told the rest of us--myself, a South African, and 2 American olim--to come with them and not pay. But to people from other countries, not paying means STEALING FOOD, so we refused. Rather than pay their fair share, the Israelis left anyway and those of us from civilized cultures paid the entire bill. That's Israel. They were satisfied because they weren't "friarim" in the end; apparently only "friarim" would pay for food that didn't arrive in the desired timeframe. They didn't care at all that we ended up paying for their food (we are "friarim"). Nor did they care that they stole. And these weren't some dumb post-Army kids, either. They were in their 30s and 40s with university degrees in engineering! It's true that every culture has its bad applies, but Israelis are truly the worst I've ever seen. It's the only place I've ever been to where the bad applies were the norm, not the exception.

I don't see how Americans could possibly be any worse than the drug- and sex-obsessed Eurotrash rampaging around New York City, where I currently attend university. Frankly, as a Canadian national, back home in Toronto the Americans I exposed to were the most polite people I ever met. They over-tipped in restaurants, were respectful, and seemed to go out of their way to prevent people from thinking that Americans are who foreigners tend to think Americans are. (You know, "ignorant," despite the fact that America has the highest percentage of college-educated people on earth, and "rude," despite the fact that there are parts of this country where people are so nice to you it can make you sick.) Anyway, this as opposed to the rich Europeans you see here and in Canada who make fools of themselves being obnoxiously loud in bars and on public transportation.

... referring to the behaviour of the travellers (camp site in Italy, stealing in restaurants and hotels, molesting other people in airplanes, feelings of entitlement and grandiosity, problems to accept boundaries of behaviour, lying, destroying, lack of feelings of guilt, responsibility and respect) describe clearly, textbook-like, a syndrome of pathological narcissism... Is religion the solution? Probably not, as religion tends to foster exactly these developments. Remember, that a lot of religious people tend to see themselves as "Gods most loved and chosen darlings", what is an extremely narcissist phantasy. Imagine how many CRIMES are justified alledgedly "in the name of God". So values are necessary which teach respect towards other INDIVIDUALS and their basic rights – no matter from which country or colour of skin, if male or female etc. etc.

Pathological narcissism indentifies the Israeli personnae better than any other explanation. All young people from all nations act out in anti-social behavior to some degree. But if one is brought up to feel superior because from birth the child is taught that he or she is Chosen or superior then the level bad behavior towards people of other countries or cultures can reach staggering heights. Israelis in general need a sobering dose of reality. You are no better or worse than other nationalities, races, cultures and certainly people of other religions. You are not Chosen by G_d. Your G_d is not better than anyone else's G_d. And to be honest if there is a god he loves all living entities of the world (even universe) EQUALLY. To do anything less would be ungodly. The best thing for travelling Israels to do is clean up their acts. Being in the hotel business myself I could tell you stories of Israeli tourists. Some even or surpass the Italian defecating in the pool story told by one of the earlier posters. It has gotten so bad that if we find out a traveller has an Israeli passport we require immediate prepayment and the posting of a room damage bond. If they still sign in, we watch them like hawks. Even as rowdy as British football fans can be this is not a requirement of them. Needless to say, travelling Israelis are doing great harm to the image of Israel.

First of all, the vast majority of Israelis are NOT religious. Secondly, the concept of being "chosen" is nothing like what you describe. In fact, after the Inquisition, the pogroms and the Holocaust, I hope to hell the next time God choose somebody else.

Here.Warm ,generous and caring.They are not all rude or obnoxious ,although clearly many are.It could also be a cultural thing,what may be harmless banter may translate very poorly abroad,but brashness does seem rife .

There are many exceptions. I have Israeli friends who are perfectly delightful, well-mannerd folks, and they are mortified by the behaviour of their countrymen -- as I often am by Americans while traveling abroad. Yeah, travelers seem to forget their manners and I've seen porcine behaviours from all nationalities on the road, even shocked by Finns in Estonia, but I'm sorry... Israelis really stand out for loud arrogance, even among Germans and Americans. What seems to prove the point among these "feedbacks" is the lack of denying that this is the case, but more usually justifications for this bad behaviour. In an all too typical encounter some Israeli kid was yelling at his friends some dozens of meters away, but right through my face which was less than half a meter in front of him. When I asked him to stop yelling right into my ear, he self-righteously insisted on his "right" to do as he pleased. Returning the favor I yelled at the top of my voice right into his ear, "OK, but don't f---ing scream right in my f---ing ear like this!" Sadly, it took that to get the point across to him. I worked 6 years at a Jewish Community Center in the US and the Israelis who used our facilities had a horrible reputation for being rude, pushy, self-righteous, and arrogant. They were much indulged as front-line heroes by executives and donors eager to praise them, but those of us who worked the services and desks found them mostly very unpleasant. And that opinion was shared by some Israelis working at the center who said that was part of the reason they left Israel. Now when I see groups of Israeli tourists in my travels I go out of my way to avoid them.

This is a ridiculous article, and most of the talkbacks are way off (and probably authored by Arabs and Israel-haters masquerading as "polite" foreigners). I have spent many vacations in Israel, and found Israelis to be some of the most helpful, warm and welcoming people I have ever met. Honestly. With regrd to Israelis abroad, you are making a judgement about youngsters, comin straight off military service. Have you ever seen Swedes or Brits abroad? Many of them, but not all, are a pain in the neck: loud, drunk, obnoxious and piggish. This is unfortunately to be expected with youngsters, no matter their nationality. This article is a gross generalization, and laughable.

The term "chosen" is probably often misunderstood, probably also by myself. Nevertheless religions tend to bring a narcissist element through the backdoor – what can be seen on the social level ("holier than thou"-attitude, "the entire world shall be subjugated by islam" etc.). Happy to hear that the most Israelis are still seculars or moderate religious people. And of course you are right regarding the atrocities you mentioned. No human being deserves cruelties like these...

You say :”.. religion tends to foster exactly these developments (i.e. stealing, lying, lack of respect).” Dear Soeren, one of the Ten Commandments given by Moses the Law Giver is, “Thou shall not steal”. That means that the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims should NOT steal. IF a Jew steals -- he cannot be a Jew. IF a Christian steals -- he cannot be a Christian. IF a Muslim steals -- he cannot be a Muslim, although he may insist that he is a Muslim. So Soeren, NO religion teaches stealing. IT is those who pretend to be religious -- they are the one who are behaving obnoxiously. You can NOT blame religion for the behaviour of the pretender. You say :”.. a lot of religious people tend to see themselves as "Gods most loved and chosen darlings"..” Dear Soeren, does that include the (one billion) Muslims ? BTW real religion has NOTHING to do with buildings (one will call the building a Church, another will call it a Temple, a Synagogue, a Mosque). Real religion also has NOTHING to do with rituals. Real religion means to discover your real, eternal identity. IF one changes from this temporary identity to another temporary identity -- that means that that is NOT ones ETERNAL, real identity.