1st. Friedman is no Zionist. Just because he says he loves Israel and often speaks of his times on a Kibbutz as a youngster and later of his awe of Israel in 1967, he has been bashing Israel since the 80's. 2nd. Friedman in his best selling book Beruit to Jerusalem mocks Shamir's belief that the Soviet Jews would ever come in mass to Israel- He was obviously wrong. He mocks Sharon and the Religious Zionist movement for ever thinking there would be a real Jewish presence in the West Bank- Again VERY wrong! So why should we listen now? 3rd. Every single survey published in the US/ opinion poll suggest unwavering support for Israel from Congress right down to the general public. Even if J-Street convinces every Jew in America (6 Million) to give up on Israel, the Evangelical (80+ Million) Communities support is so steadfast there would be ZERO effect. During the peak of the financial crisis American Jewish Dollars declined in Israel donations, Evangelical dollars only increased!

Which sane person would read this article or any of his article form New York Slimes?

A great jewish tragedy. Wake up and see what is going on around you. The free ride is OVER.

Friedman makes his living bashing Israel. He used to say that the U.S. should just "knock heads together" to make peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict. He isn't paid to think - he's only paid to bash Israel when he writes about the Middle East - so he's allowed to assess the conflict on a completely superficial level. The people who claim to be the most interested in peace are keeping themselves busy openly hating Israel, as usual. When did peacemaking turn into hate-mongering? Thomas Friedman is an Israel hater. The American people are Israel-lovers, though. They are the real pro-Israel lobby in America.

simple entertainment for our simple minds. but tell me where else can you find people trying to make a serious, impassioned point by calling someone 'moran'? that's comedy gold in my book!

assessment of US- Israel ties. There is no great concern, because according to our great prophets, all has been spelled out. The problem, no one wishes to listen or take heed of their warning to "The End of Days" IT WILL HAPPEN and it is COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK. YES, even the USA will abandon Israel. The WHOLE WORLD will be against Israel, for our Final Salvation to begin. SEE-BELIEVE-SAY what you want. Israel, hasn't survive thousands of YEARS, by itself. There is a GOD in Heaven, whether you want to believe it or not. There is a Judgement Day.

one of the most left-wing papers in the country. He's only influencing those who think like him. The vast majority of Americans outside the coasts HATE the Times and their bias... Friedman should do America, Israel, and the world a favor and move to Gaza or Saudi Arabia ASAP.

Sharon was out of his mind to select this arrogant olmert clone, another lawyer to give him advice like unilateral gaza withdrawal with no control over the philadelphi route. He wants us to believe that tom friedman is some powerful guru in US who may persuade obama to disconnect the israel relationship and therefore how dare bibi say no to obama. first of all, friedman is jewish so he needs an independent strong israel behind him more than israel needs him. Secondly, there are times when israel has to say no to the US, most people except lawyers understand this like shamir told baker in the 90s. Thirdly,t he US derives a lot from its israeli relationship which cannot be obtained from any other country in the world. And israel has to go it alone, it will. No more gas chambers and if the world wants to do in the jews, israel will take the bloody world and the rotten regime of iran with it along with syria. In the meantime, dov weisglass is a despicable cowering jew who people, a man who would go into hitler's ovens with a wimper. Oslo doesn't work period today or ever as the PLo and hamas want israel gone.

Friedman is Obama's court Jew and his duty is to help Obama win the upcoming midterm elections by acceding to the wishes of the most hostile U.S. President Israel has ever faced. Obama is also, by the reckoning of an ever increasing number of Americans, one of the worst Presidents America has ever suffered. Israel must ignore Friedman. Friedman is a disgrace to journalism. His advice is intended to serve Obama and is disastrous for Israel in every way.

Turns out he's not Jewish (or only half-Jewish depending on your point of view..) Tom Friedman often has a cogent view of things, but he is VERY full of himself and thinks HE always knows what's best (especially when it comes to Israel). He's also completely obsessed with 'settlements' as The Issue. The chutzpah of his most recent article is in the fact that he said that 'Israel should just try for once' to give in to Obama's wishes. This is exactly what Bibi did 10 months ago with the settlement freeze which obviously, did not work. He's one of the top cheerleaders for the 'if only Israel would ____) club.

Friedman is fine. He tells us what his government wants him to tell us. The funny thing is: By making us responsible for the failure to make "peace", he unconsciously puts us in the position of power - and the US in the position of a child crying because it doesn't get what it wants.

Friedman is a true enemy of the state of Israel. Because he writes for the New York Times he has a lot of influence particularly with the haters of Israel and the haters of Jews. Tom will only be happy when Israel is destroyed.

He's telling you idiots to wake up and smell the coffee, but what do you do? Just insult him. What a crowd of simpletons. I, for one, am sick of my tax $$ going to Israel so you can spit in my country's face and insult me. And I'm an Orthodox Jew. Believe me, if you've lost people like me, you're in serious trouble. I'm sure you'll just say I'm a self-hater. And do you geniuses think that's going to help you more? Like a bunch of lemmings. It's very tragic.

Not. You'll find that out the hard way.

friedman is paid by the ny times...need one say more?

Friedman started out life in that venerable but defunct institution called United Press International. Friedman was with UPI in its heydey, and he did so well there that the NYT hired him away. However, the number one rule at UPI was "Get it first, but get it right." For the past few years Friedman has consistently been getting it not just wrong, but very wrong. One of the ugliest examples was his attempt to smear Israel by saying that we are now paying by "Hama Rules". What exactly are "Hama Rules"? Look it up, but Hama was a city in Syria that tried to rebel against the late dictator Assad. What did Assad do? He basically steamrolled Hama flat, killing 20,000 people in the process. Thus, "Hama Rules" mean that you can simply shut out the press then kill tens of thousands of people in order to keep yourself in power. Friedman now says that this is what Israel does. Most educated people who don't have an axe to grind, like Friedman does, see us for what we are: a stable albeit flawed democracy in a very nasty neighborhood. Friedman will be flapping his keyboard and jaws off for years to come. Too bad he forgot his roots and journalist integrity - to get it right.

and dispargingly called Qassams for "flying objects" He should be in jail as Sharon's accomplice in the "Greek Island " affair ,instead he found a new master to tout and to serve: Friedman and the Saudis.

That's what his President will do soon, cause he didn't receive the support he was expecting from Israel during the mid term elections. Wait and see, we'll look at the real Obama soon. So, I'm sorry Mr Friedman, as great and important as you are, Israel is a free nation with irs own will and we didn't choose a government to be the Obama's stooge. I'm sorry I don't give a cent of trust to this man, he'll stab us in our back soon. Remember that day and you'll see!

I don't really understand why we should listen to Mr. Friedman.We should invite him to come and be an Israeli citizen and then, maybe he can tell us what to do.

this liberalism without limits shows in the case of jews great fear of normal realist life which the repablican party offers. this blind lefties will not see that the democratic party is working against them and israel, and without GOD and israel we all know what a jew is worth??!! stop being such cowards!

He wants Israel to Disappear.... BiBi and the rest of the Right wing extremists know what is good.. You guys will bring a quick END to Israel..

The only thing is more stupid than Tom Friedman is this article and its author.

Your screaming and cursing won't silence those who got tired of you warmongers - Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” ,...

Perhaps you might consider that English is a 2nd language for a lot of Israelis. How well do you spell in Hebrew?

Israel should be paying close attention to what Friedman is saying as I believe that it accurately reflects the mood in the US. Economic times are difficult in the US and it is very hard to justify spending billions in Israel when American peace efforts are snubbed by rogue elements in Bibi's government.

It seems that any Jew who disagrees with the Israel policy is self-hating Jew and if that one is not Jew then he is anti-Semitic. I think I am self-hating Jew and my dad is anti-Semitic.

In hilchas Shabbos Chapter 369 it clearly states not to give an iota of land. "in a city next to borders you are mechalel Shabbat and take up arms even if they say they only want stubble" Learn the Shulchan Aruch. Even if you werent orthodox I would ask do you really think that the arabs want peace????

when you say that Friedman "possesses academic education supplemented by dozens of years of research, involvement, and in-depth journalistic observation of the region – both from near and from far. " I MUST remind you that others with similar and even better qualifications produced the Iraq and Afghanistan debacles. So much for a US education and experience.