This articles is a perfect summary of the situation.

You can only blame the man at the top! This article is trying to take the blame away from the politicians and put it on us!....RUBBISH! We have no say in what this corrupt government does! The only people to blame is Olmert, Livni and Barak, for their cowardly suicidal leftist agenda!

Simply put, we are rotting away from within. Sadly, this is the work of a very small but influential minority. If we don't reverse this unfortunate trend, we're not going to be around for long.

Bechor points out problems but offers no solutions. Perhaps he should comment on these: a. Find a new Attorney-General who can argue on the basis of International Law why Israel has a right to exist and is allowed to defend itself. b. Move the Supreme Court to an unfortified building in Sderot. All Supreme Court Judges and their families must live in Sderot to reduce unemployment and give Sderot a cash injection c. Give judges who rule on non-judicial issues (where security fences are built, whether a house can be destroyed, what targets to bomb, which murderers to release) financial liability for damage their decisions cause. Does Guy Bechor think that steps like these can help?

No, its not so much loss of killer instinct, its more labor's policy to wait and wait and wait until the last moment before taking up arms. Barak is following that model to the extreme. But the real problem is olmert who a) is deathly afraid of war b) has no idea of what to do c) lost to hezbollah and doesn't want another loss. This is the reason that he incredibly offers concession after concession without anything in return. The Syrians report that he never asked them to cut ties with hezbollah and iran. My friend marv says that israel gets leaders it deserves. Sharon was normal. The other thing-you don't need mazuz's approval for every idf action. The general outline is there. Face facts, olmert is a garbage leader who got there by a fluke and is the biggest coward ever. Israel reflects him. Barak for all his genius is following olmert and has done only harm to israel as he did while PM.Jews have a terrible guilt complex. Remember, arabs respect force and power. You want a truce. Smash them over and over and they'll stop.

Meretz destroyed the land.

In essence the nation state has been superseded by the individual, in all westernised countries.

The problem that the Israeli media, Supreme Court and "big business" have too much influence over Israeli society has been analyzed by "Bogey" Yaalon and Moshe Feiglin. They both believe that the country needs a leadership with authentic Jewish values to solve this problem.

To better understand Guy Bechor's thesis, I suggest to everyone who can read Hebrew to read Bogie Ya'aon's new book, "The Longer Shorter Way." In this book Ya'alon makes the following points. A long time ago the Left in Israel conquered the press, big business, and the IDF. Furthermore, the left promulated an apologetic stance for Zionism has succeeded in putting Israel into a barely defensive posture vis-a-vis our Palestinian adversaries. This adds to Bechor's explanation of what happened to Israel. But don't dispair! Over half of our population is sick and tired of this self-defeating situation, and seeks to change it through the electoral process.

very sad but true..why spend so much on this once proud army if you refuse tio use it

The army is the people and many people are ready to fight. But leftists and relativist politicians are holding them back again and again, causing greater pain again and again. "How runs from the battle has to fight another time..."

... this article is absolutely right. This is what Hamas and Hezbollah are exactly saying. Israel weakness is from the inside, not because Hezbollah or Hamas are strong or because IDF suffers of lack of equipment. I am 100% sure if there is no treatment to what was said in this article (which is 100% true), Israel is for sure doomed to "disappear" like Ahmadinajad keeps repeating every day.

Sharon was great ! today all politicians failled. Mofaz should be the one to reinstore our politic of disuasion. the one who touch a jew should know that the idf will be behind him all long hs life military must take the control now, the fire these bad politicians.

Survival is the ultimate goal of adaptation. Adapt or perish.

not the 'people' which support it on the whole but the elements described in this article who are not the'people' but pretend to speak for the public interest in the abscence of strong political leadership

The one thing this article missed was that this generation of soldiers is in the army because they have no choice. They are like young people everywhere - more concerned about jobs, paying rent, Facebook, traveling, iPods and so on. They know that they are up against a relentless, twisted enemy of death worshippers, driven by a poisoned doctrine which is completely at odds with that of Israel and the West. What Israel needs is a professional army to replace the kids that are expected to do what only real soldiers can effectively do and that is a much more difficult problem to deal with.

The current crop of leaders, Olmert, Barak, Livni, etc., were all for "disengagement" from Gaza. I'm not sure where the author stood. My guess is, he also supported disengagement. Militarily re-occupying Gaza admits failure. It admits failed strategy. Occupation would indicate all these wise-men and women were wrong. These people were all for forcibly uprooting thousands of peaceful, law-abiding Jewish citizens who were on the front lines, protecting and securing the southern coastal plain. This was Ariel Sharon's vision for settling these strategic areas in the 'West Bank' and Gaza. "Security." A vision, Ariel Sharon latter abandoned, to his discredit. Military occupation is the only way to secure Gaza; prolonged and indefinite. Gaza's settlements should be re-built. Such a badly-needed occupation of Gaza proves to the world, these brilliant strategists were all wrong.

The leftist government lost the will. Blame your Socialist friends, Mr. Bechor. Not the Army

there is reluctance to go to war for any reason. The Bible says, "Let the weak say, I am strong." The weakness is in faith, so ask God for the faith and strength to fight enemies that will be there even after the Messiah comes if you read Ezekiel chapters 37 to 39.

You are a military with the best training, the best weaponry and you defending a territory that you know well. You are fighting an enemy whose best weapons are hand-me-downs or improvised. You are fighting an enemy whose ammo is always in short supply, and who routinely appeals to the world for sympathy to help their cause, an unmistakable sign that they are weak. Prayer will help your cause immensely. G-d has not abandoned you. With G-d, all things are possible.

"When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: "Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."" (Deuteronomy 20:1-4)

The stupid muslim mothers brag ,and show on TV how they offer their liittle darlings to the gods of war, to be martyrs, to kill as many Jews and/or infidels as possible. The smart " jewish mama " is doing all she can to protect her offspring; to be sure that he doesn't hurt himself,no catching a cold, change socks every day,eat a good meal (chicken soup preferred),and sleep on a confortable mattress, and-and call every day mama on his cell phone getting her point of vue for the next day or night operation. God help the poor IDF officier who attempts to reverse this natural mother/son relationship. It would be considered very anti-jewish And that is why hamas & hezbollah are laughing all the way to their bunkers.

Finally an Israeli teling his people what war is all about!

The IDF Spokesperson fears the left wing media and journalists and hence constantly condemns its own soldiers for defensive legitimate actions. This is exactly the state that the IDF is in. It's disgusting and a shame. We have no defense from the government or the army.

many of the israili and sure the idf believe they do not fight ther life but hamass and palastinians believe they fight their rights . becouse of that the auther put the human rights in more than two points in this article