Psalm25:22Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

The only reason is that is that israel is now percieved as being weak. no one likes weaklings. you want to be cool - sjhow some muscle in europe - do what the muslims do burn a few places in sweden. Blacks in America did not get respect by being nice guys they did it by torching cities. Nice guys (read that leftists) get nothing - except more anti-semitism - if they are jewish..

Dear Mr.Lapid,your arguments are at opposite extremes i.e. everybody (the world and his brother) admire and adore you Israelis,or the other extreme they are all against you.The truth,as ever,is in the middle.You are not the best nor the coolest,merely people like everybody else ,and why should that not be enough?? Try to grow up and be mature,why does the whole world have to love us?? one cannot please all of the people all of the time and it is a huge mistake to even try to.

To rune: It will take more than a bible verse to help Israel, I am afraid. One thing about this article, Israel HAS in deed lost it's credibility. In some circles it's legitimacy went by the wayside. Whether bombing half of Beirut or Cast Iron's destruction (all to defend itself) Israel is more than criticized, it is hated. But the real cause, in my opinion of Israel's downfall ( since the 67 War), is the world's forgetting WHY Israel was created to begin with and WHEN. The Holocaust did in fact push the UN into accepting 2 states. If no Holocaust..no IsraeL. But Ahmad is obviously trying to say the Holocaust never occurred. ( He should read the German's own accounts -they were precise and thorough). His goal..to tweak the noses of the Jews, maybe throw us off guard? Israel's image is also affected by 1.4m Muslims..against 5.5m Israeli Jews. US Jews, the peace now (war later) ain't helping. (See J Streets divisiveness).

There is no nation in history, no leader of people, that when trying to make a difference in the world has not been criticized and abhorred by some. But if we are to be the light to all nations we have to stay the course, be strong in our values and not be over concerned with the negative forces that will see us die (which by the way, wont change their stance, no matter how cool we are!) Ah, and no torching cities please.

Yair, you are a lame shadow of yourself from many years ago. Sadly, you didn't realize that the only thing you were good at, is being a cool talk show host, a joker, like Lior Shlain today - and nothing more. As soon as you started taking yourself more seriously, and made yourself into some current-affairs analyst - your great ignorance and simplemindedness destroyed any sort of credibility from your essays. And it shows in here too. Fact is, indeed most of the world media is heavily biased against us. If you have a problem with the word "antisemitic", call it simply Israel-hating. Fact is, me and most Israelis couldn't give a **** about Maggie from London or Julio from Madrid. If they hate us for protecting our country, well, then that's their problem, of being misinformed. However, fact is, that most Europeans are not like this Maggie or Julio, but are quite apathetic. And the most important fact is, that the British, the Germans, the Spaniards, the Americans and everybody else in the world, could hardly care about how 'cool' they are in foreign eyes - their first order of business is to do what's good for their country. And if their country goofs up a bit, say, kill a few dozens in Afghanistan by accident, or shoot an innocent Brazilian in the Underground - then it's unfortunate, but they certainly wouldn't feel personally accountable or ashamed of their own country, and worrying what the world would think of them - as you suggest we should be. The only people we should strive to please and convince, is ourselves.

saying, "Yiddische anti semite". As for the gaza strip, any other nation in the world would have left tenthousand or more dead after the first rocket or terrorist attack. We lost respect when we surrendered to the terrorists after oslo.

Yair. i thought that you were blinded zionist but after this article i see that you have wised up and opened your eyes. the worst enemies for israelis are themselves. Happy Eid

1948, '67, '73, extracting and hanging Eichman, Entebbe, Osirak, and the recent little foray into Syria were totally COOL. Not cool, at all, were all the "withdrawals," sitting there and letting asshats lob rockets at you for years without a response, and then calling it quits before Gaza was nothing but a heap of rubble on the way to the beach. Even less cool is trying to placate and explain yourself to every a--hole on the planet or even pretending that any of it means anything. There isn't a country on this earth that has the answers for whatever isn't right at home, yet, for some reason, they all have the answers for everything they think is wrong with Israel. Gimme a frigging break! Worst of all, Israel dignifies that garbage with responses, even if they're only diplomatic, nothing more than lip-service, don't mean diddlysquat and wouldn't solve s--t. If the last 61 years haven't shown that there is no dealing with some people without inviting one disaster after the other, what is it going to take?

...just return to those days when your existence was always in the balance and the Arabs had the capacity and the will to try and destroy every few years. Alternatively, just sit back, relax and let the Mullah's go nuclear. Jews in, or on the way to, incinerators are always the coolest!

israel is targeted by radical leftist groups operating worldwide, backed up by Islamic money and endorsed by self-hating Jews. so who wants to be cool

Ah George, yes of course, self respect through violence and terrorism. Genius idea. This is the respect of South Central LA, or dare I say Hamas, that you speak of. Israel, as a state, has indeed lost its way. Religious intolerance, corruption and downright apathy, both ethical and political have seeped into Israel's foundations, and she is crumbling. The ideals of the Kibbutzim and any trace of Socialism - real working class socialism - died amongst the hi-tech skyscrapers of Tel Aviv, whilst the in-fighting between left and right, religious and non, settlers and Peace Now, must have Hamas and Fatah laughing, or scratching their heads in bemusement. How we laugh when they start fighting between themselves when Israel is not the common enemy.... Capitalism (in all its forms, including criminal) and intolerance have diverted Israel from her path as a state with a sense of purpose and dignity. The world perception of Israel was never so bad, and for once I agree with Lapid, that the automatic cry of "anti Semite!" or more boring still "self hating Jew!" (wait and you'll see it in talk backs below) are no longer interesting, or relevant. Israel needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and put its own house in order. I think it's a bit more than not being cool. We've lost our self respect, and if you really think hard about it, there's not so much to be proud of these days. "Torching a few cities" is not the answer - having something worth fighting for is.

Ashkenazi Jews (not the Sephardic and not the post-communist Russian contingent of Jews) continue to be so ambivalent about their Jewish roots that they constantly seek the approval of the Goyim and, like you, Mr. Lapid, feel the incessant need to explain themselves. Being "cool" in the eyes of others is still a reaction and a dependency on the views of others (like many politicians or actors always on stage seeking approval) so when you lose that "cool" you become despondent. But we are who we are, Mr. Lapid, but you do not seem to have reached that monumental understanding yet. Your article is dangerous to the mature definition of identity of many Israelis who, like you, continue to define themselves by the reactions of others. Having said that, you also seem to write all about the negatives and none of the positives in terms of the real achievements of this nation and its people, at least in this article. This is a poor way to start the New Year, Mr. Lapid, and I wish you'd use the time to contemplate your own personal deficiencies and resolve some of them because, as a journalist, it leaks over into the public domain and you may be affecting Israelis and international Jewry as well (especially young adults) deleteriously. On a positive note, I have enjoyed reading your previous articles (four parts) which have appeared in YNet but strenuously object to this one. I think the current one also reveals a serious immaturity in your own character.

cold towards the native palestinian people that is...

dear Lapid i think you by your self do not know what do you want to say in this article ONCE you make Isarelis STUPID AND VANDALS than you expect the other's respect for you. firts try to change thouse from the HEAD=kneset , and blame them ,not the Israelis of beeing jews

Learn the jazz saxophone/trumpet and play New York jazz clubs whilst smoking and wearing dark glasses,alternatively put your head inside a Refridgerator for half an hour.But,if you REALLY want to be COOL then DO NOT "FREEZE" settlements.Understand??

Once there was this young fool,who wrote 'bout being cool,"we want to be loved"he said,but your enemies want you dead so get that into your head,there once was a cool man,his name was Moshe Dayan ,but old one-eyed mo liked to crawl with a Ho,life could be such a breeze if you avoid the big freeze ,so chill brother take a pill and chill don't make us ill.

COOL, simply buy a white T-shirt and a black Leather Jacket and sunglasses but you will never be as cool as me.By the way,kicking 8000 of your fellow Jews/'Israelis out of their homes in Gush Katif is uncool.

Canadians in Toronto are being fed a constant diet of "Muslim is the new cool...Jews and Israel are a liability" by the left wing media led by the Toronto Star, a troup of self hating left wing Jews, labour unions and the Liberal (big L) party. The shift in Canadian opinion from mild admiration of Israel and a neutral political policy toward Israel to "Israel Evil - Uncool, Jewish Supporters of Israel Lackeys of Israeli Propaganda" etc is mostly one of political expediency. Canadian immigration policy has shifted sources of immigrants from Europe and the Carribean to the ARAB and Persian Middle East, India and Pakistan. As such, the Liberal and NDP parties in Canada, the Toronto Star and the CBC know where there bread is buttered. Therefore, they appeal to a larger constituency by kissing up to Muslims than to Jews. The aforementioned agenda combines well with traditional anti-semitism from Candian groups such as the (now long established) Eastern Europeans, staunch Catholics in Quebec, arrogant WASPs (who resent all minorities). Many of us in the Toronto Jewish community are saddened most by the self hating Jews who are so blinded by their self perceived sense of superior intelect and left wing political agenda to realize that all those groups they believe admire them for their anti Israel views hate them as Jews.

Nothing like a little pain to wake you up though. Shana Tova

Cool is who you are and what you do. Cool is being a small country that has given the world more advances in hi-tech, medicine, science and academic research than most larger states. Cool is staying a hyperactive democracy despite being under constant attack. Cool is knowing your own worth despite what the small minds abroad think of you.

Let us look at this sentence because it sums the whole article up "Sadly, we've been giving Israel-haters plenty of material to work with". The above sentence shows the real trouble facing Israel for the last few decades which is "VICTIM MENTALITY". So according to this sentence, Israel has not done anything wrong and that the problem is not in Israel, the problem is in ISRAEL HATERS who are waiting out there to crticize Israel!!! Let us look at another sentence "there is no Israeli who does not cringe when we kill (by mistake, damnit, by mistake) children in Gaza, yet when someone writes about it in Newsweek we become deeply offended" I am wondering how the author knew how all Israelis feel??!!! and how can he be certain that all the killing was by mistake??!!! and most importantly, do the Israelis have the right to be offended when they get crticized for killing civilians??!!! Should the international community praise and commend Israel for all these crimes??!!! Please respect the minds of your readers and try to be neutral. If you really love your country then you better be brave enough and crticize it instead of burying your head in the sand and this pathetic victim mentality.

The fact that 'Maggie from London grabs her cocktail and walks away with her blond head up high to ensure you see her disgust' makes you - the Israeli in the corner stuck with Julio from Madrid's ridiculous posturing - all the more cool because you know what she doesn't: that she's ignorant and will never in a million years have to deal with what every Israeli deals with every single day - while still retaining more humanity and a desire for fairness, justice and democracy than the vacuous and easily indocrinated Maggie likely ever will. So, don't judge yourself by Maggie's double standards. Now is cool's finest hour - when the chips are down and no one else thinks you are - that's your time to stand up for yourself - show some spine - and shine.

Susy, you are right in the mark. It doesn't matter what might say, the truth is clear: Israel, is and has been a source of advancement to the world. As country and as individuals, it can not be denied. What can be said, is that public opinion is fleeting. Hopefully this administration will learn to be firm in decisions, and to spread the reason for doing it. I wish to see a clear speech explaining things to the world, but NOT asking apologies or permission; say the truths loud: Palestinian people are being raised in hate, their "leaders" just wish death and violence over every Jew in the world, the world see Israel mistakes (and is atrocious killing children, even by mistake) but never seem to think that what Arab leaders want is no less that the painful and slow death of every Jewish man, woman and children. Shall Israel lead his people towards a massacre? I can not forgive they kill innocent people of Israel, but can forgive even less that they make Israel kill innocent people of Palestine, or Lebanon. Shana Tova

"Julio from Madrid has a Keffiyeh wrapped around his neck because he identifies with all the miserable creatures in the world" you have no idea how racist you sound. Yes, YOU all make us cringe.

appologetic whiners, excuse me for living types like you are the reason! as #2 george said it, nobody likes a loser... someone throws a stone at you, throw a boulder back!!! understand? the world (specially the muslims) are laughing at israel because they know israel lost it's MOJO.. can not finish off a bunch of rag tag hamas thugs... this is the result. too bad BB become a "politician" after the election.

Survival doesn't have anything to do with being cool. Being cool is for idiots .....who during peacetime....get a narcissistic tendency thinking people like them. Like an actor at the academy awards. No one really knows them.....nobody really likes them....nobody really even has spoken to them. The people are in love with an idea which is false.....that the actors are the people they have portayed in the movie theater. None of us wake up to breakfast with them. So if you really assume everyone has to like you....you are high on drugs. All a group of people can come up with is propoganda, and a consensus, to hate or like something. With enough bad propoganda.....they will call for a groups extermination on mass media. There doesn't have to be a reason to kill these,( labeled), bad people. They will make up a reason... just to give them the satisfaction that it was done in a democratic way. The United Nations is a perfect example. Get enough people swayed into hating Jews...and whah- lah. The mass voting for extermination begins. Survival from democracies... making up reasons to kill you or exterminate you... should be your main worry. None of these jerkoffs knows you any better than the actor. But they are all followers of people who give them a scapegoat and someone to hate. Their lives are miserable you know. They need someone to kick when they are on the ground helpless to make them feel better about themselves. At least an animal is going to make a meal out of me when he kills me. Humans just kick and kill other humans for the hell of it. There are no friends out there....just survival.

It's always the case with the "enlightened" Jews to crave love and admiration from non-Jews. We should set our own moral standards and adhere to them. What the rest of the world says it doesn't matter, considering all the false accusations we were persecuted for throughout the history.

Many of the internal problems in Israeli society are no different than those here in Australia. Israel is no worse than most countries in the west, so why are these internal problems any reason to hold Israel to a higher standard?

i agree with your foundation. Israel has lost its soul, no matter how long it stay. American will not support a state that, since its inception, has been to its neck in palestinian blood of children, elderly, and women. Read the books written by the new historian. how it was established on deceipt and lies, and theft of other peopls lands. it was created as a spring head in the midst of arabs with no culture or language connection. you wants to know why we are no loger cool, this is why, the world now see the real nature of the poor, little, state called israel.