I gather that if only 1% of the people in Tel Aviv wanted coffee at the same time there would not be enough table space to accommodate them. Add that to the people waiting for traffic to clear up before leaving the table and there you have it.

Israel always seems to be filled with people chilling and having time off, but when you speak to Israelis they all claim to have 2-3 jobs just to get by..

.Tel Aviv has a 24/7 schedule. Non-Tel-Avivians , by their thousands, enter Tel Aviv daily and nightly. At the age of laptops and IPhones, transactions can me made while sipping your coffee. Sorry but this subject wasn`t worth filling your column.

Personally, I have always worked from either 10:00 to 19:00, or, now, from 9:00 to 17:30, during the years I spent in Israel so far. On the few rare days when I was outside on business days during these hours (for doctors visits, embassy things and the like), I was always shocked at the number of people outside. I work right opposite Malcha mall in Jerusalem, and I am simply amazed each time I walk over to get something for lunch during my lunch break. How can it be that there are always thousands of people shopping there, including working-age men, spending money even? Don't they have jobs? It just continues to amaze me. I don't know of any other country in the world where things are like this.

I went to the Malcha mall Monday at 11AM and it took me an hour to find a parking spot. The mall inside was packed. It was not a holiday (besides summer), and there were no special occasions. In the end, I parked outside the mall and walked to it. I was flabergasted because I thought to myself surely on Monday at 11AM the mall would be empty... I thought to myself, Do Israelis work?

that Haifa works, Tel Aviv plays and Jerusalem prays?

but of course they are working hard in the Palestinian West Bank !

The writer is confused and complaining about the traffic in Tel Aviv Ayalon at 3:30 PM. Yet he forgets he is part of that traffic, what is he doing there at 3:30 PM?. Why is he at a coffee shop at 11:00 AM and not working?

Have you seen the Israeli banking hours? Sunday to Friday from 10:30 am to 11:15am and sometimes in addition to this from 3:30pm to 3:50pm. But not on days beginning with shin like sheni (monday) Shlishi (Tueday) Shishi (Friday) Shabbat (Saturday)

They always seem to be on vacation, sick leave attending functions , demostrating and or going to the beach. If they worked like the yordim work when they go abroad they would all be very very wealthy. The bitch factor is very high and the 'poor me' one as well. Granted they suffer all kinds of ailments, what with the horrific heat, terror and simply putting up with eachother with that lousy in your face attitude. That alone would kill anyones incentive to do anything, even wipe ones one ass. The real answer is they dont have to work as millions of Africans, Asians etc are ready to do anything for pennies, while the average Israeli sits around collecting some kind of government welfare. My son was with me in Canada for several years. I told him that in Canada, a cold country with cold people you have to work. If you dont work you wont make it alive. He didnt like that so he hightailed it back to Israel where being a goofball is the way to go...Fast forward today he is in the IDF where being a goofall is called serving the country. The reason he is in the IDF is because that is his ticket to go onto other positions in life where being a goofball is not part of the job, it is the job. Welcome to Israel.

.. when I was there recently. But in Berlin there are at least three major universities (students often have more time or learn their stuff in the evening or in the café), and there are plenty of visitors and tourists. Nevertheless it's astonishing when cafés are packed with people at a time when the inhabitants usually should work. However, it gives the city a nice atmosphere...

"an important ingredient in enhancing future growth is raising the labor participation rate, which was on an increasing trajectory in recent years but is still low compared to OECD countries" http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/cr1023.pdf of course you can always dispute imf analysis but i would advise that successive israeli ministers of finance have not. as to why this is, has been reported severally, and soberly by the imf. on the other hand, those who hate israel/jews (and especially the marked economic success of israel), will exagerate and fabricate for political/ideological/hate reasons. one of their favourite ploys is israel as a colonising state, the only people doing work being the colonised (guess who). there is the, "i'm not a freier" aspect of the jewish-israeli soul, if this applies to employment, and i do not think it does in general, the irony is, it cuts both ways.

The real fools are your brothers who spend their days smoking Nargila and eating seeds (sunflower seeds). If you go to arab countries, there is no one who works,as an example in Yemen , men spend all day eating "Qat" , it's a kind of hallucinating grass, they eat it all day long like goats. The arab countries are so behind because they don't work!!

Israel is the fastest growing country leading in tech industries and online businesses. They are just to advanced for todays world to comprehend. chill at a caffe, and get a vibration on your cell phone when you have an item sold!

in a Jewish phenomenon known as "Luftgesheft". It is time consuming and demands that you have a car to dart around in all day long, at least two mobile phones, an insatiable appetite for coffee and that you "know" all the well heeled and famous of the country. These folk talk only in millions but the main gainers are the phone companies, gas stations, parking lots and endless number of coffee shops. They go home to their wives or partners in the evening with stories of pending success that never materialize. Life rolls on anyway.

referred to your people as "Palestinians" as if the quotes meant that they don't exist. You are a nasty and miserable poster but unpredictably so. Is it your womanly cycle which runs your mind? If so, don't worry, if you're lucky you'll outgrow it.

of the shtetl except that in those days not making a living from putting nothing together with nothing would have spelled disaster and sometimes did.

You guys are all really smart and know what is happening, and how Israelis don't work compared to everyone else. You are right that the labor participation and tax payments by Israeli Arabs is very low, but these are not the people drinking coffee in Tel Aviv (they hang out in Kefar Saba and Raanana). But you haven't explained why Israel is one of the few countries with an increasing GDP and with the greatest per capita number of high-tech startups. You haven't explained why Israel is able to afford good heath care for its citizens and even give it free to Arabs from Gaza, Judea and Samaria.

1. Traffic is related to the road congestion and poor public transit system. 2. Cafeterias in Israel are empty - come and see in Greece what is a packed cafeteria. 3. I dont like this column, insinuating that Israelis do not work. They' work as hell if compared to the western standards. We dont need to have them more "used" by the employers, thank you very much. Go, have a coffee and think about something wise to write about.

Israel is # 3 exporter in the world of hi tech sophisticated defense systems. It brings in billions and it will continue to do so because regimes will always find money for weapons as opposed to medicine and bread.

How hard and what long hours Hi-tech people work, which is a large part of the Israeli workforce, and I know of those that struggle financially. Quite insulting.

Why should they work when the US Taxpayers are paying them the money for having everything they wish to have.

And will continue to rise . Not so bad for "not working people" As for the quantity of people in the shoppingt malls now , don't forget that the schools are closed , that it's cooler there .

My bank is open 5 days from 8 AM to 12 or 13 . And four days in the afternoon too . What kind of bank do you have ?

Where do you get BS numbers of Israel in 3d place? Spain, UK, France and Germany export far more than Israel. And anyways, what is your point? Even if true, you are saying that Israelis work really hard making weapons to protect themselves from countries who try to murder them. So Noah Klieger is still wrong.

The country is SMALL the amount of cars on the road is BIG! Why don't you exercise some patience - you're not king of the road - we all want to get somewhere.

Yes the US taxpayer's money goes to Israel. You have not the slightest idea what America gets in return, it is not tenfold or even a hundredfold, it is immeasurable. Do you think that your leaders, Congress and Senate and Administration are stupid. Do you think that they have no reason other than altruism to give away your money. If that is what you think then you are very stupid indeed. Like all other aid it is well calculated and will only be given if it is in the interest of America. Try to understand geopolitics and try to understand that the free democratic world, led by America is engaged in a fight for survival against the forces of evil. It was at one time the Soviet Union and Communism and its satelites and right now it is Islam. Isms tend to spread very quickly amongst uneducated and poor people, especially when they are laced with a bit of religion. They are a threat to you and me and the free world. Wake up.

In your # 19 you asked two questions, paragraphs 3 & 4. I was giving you an answer. No, my numbers are not bs as you say.

Try to read correctly .