A serial bungler or has he simply lost his marbles.Either way its a bit scary that this flawed personality continues as defence minister.

IT IS ALL BARAK DOING AND NO ONE NO ONE ELSE. DOWN WITH THIS MAN NOW DOWN DOWN DOWN.!!!

Gaby Ashkenazi should not be extended as defence minister: He should be appointed prime minister! In a country where serious leaders are now in very short supply, he is - and has proved throughout his career - that he is a man on a par with the giants who created Israel (no pun intended against the first among them) and the heroes who created Tsahal. Kol HaKavod leGaby!

Gabi Ashkenazi is not defence minister, he is the chief of the ISrael Defence Forces. (army)

The current world situation for Israel is just too dangerous for the horsing around that's happening on the appointment of the IDF Chief of Staff. Politics before survival seems to be too common in the Israeli political theater. Take immediate action because continuity and full attention are required.

Bibi and Barak want Galant the IDF want him the people of Israel want him, why should the will of the people be overriden by left wingers controlled by the puppetmasters abroad LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE TRUE DEMOCRACY

wont amount to a hill of beans. Egypt is going down as is Jordan. Gaza is Hamas. Lebanon is Hizzbolah. Iran is Iran and Israel is pissing in its own soup dillying and dallying. America is not a true friend and will drop you like a hot potatoe. Get it together, and get ready to rumble. Shore up the army and prepare for war.

Yeah right Avrom ,and you will agree to the seperation of religion from state as it should be in a real democracy.

We are so proud that we are the only democracy in middle east. Are we? The majority of public opinion is that the bad-omen Barak should disappear and Ashkenazi should continue as a chiff of idf. But we don't see that happeining. On the name of democrasy what we see is dictetership and Natenyahu following Barak's order and fulfilling his wish instead of the people of Israel.

We leave that to dictatorships in Muslim countries!

we are fed up with politics and the decisions of the leftists judges about everything ! The only question must be : is the new chief of staff can WIN wars ?! Is he a real strategist and a real fighter ?!

Netanyahu with is indecisiveness and Barak's ego turning into megalomania are not looking at the developing situation in Egypt which could spread to the entire Arab world. Netanyahu is only concerned with saving his inflated Government and is not running the country. We need a Chief of Staff who has the experience and the respect of the military establishment and the people of this country. Barak's sour face and ego do not come into the equation. He as destroyed the Labor Party and he must not be allowed to destroy the IDF! The only right and practical decision is to extend Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi's term for a further year or even two. This will show those who wish to harm us that they cannot take advantage of a command change clouded by controversy and a war of egos!

He is a very good general but is disliked by the religious and the right wing because of his part in the Gaza Withdrawal.

Ehud Barak can be given another post, something like Minister of Incompetence or Minister of Egotism. This is indeed a farce, plenty of blame to go around. Our politicians are total jerks, petty, egotistical, self-interested, self-serving, always ready to place narrow interests above the interests of the country. Ashkenazi is no saint either, he has political ambitions. Galant is not a saint either. And the media turned this into a bigger farce. You know the expression, ''Nero fiddled while Rome burned.'' Describes perfectly our political establishment including the military.

Tragedy, comedy and farce.

There is a very simple solution to this whole farce. Just get rid of barak and his cronies. Bibi does not need his party and we will all be better off without this clown

you are right david, but one thing worries me and that is the galant document. if askanazi was behind it, then this can be regarded as gross interference in the process of appointing a c.o.s. Virgin Atlantic are planning trips into space this year, maybe we should get Barak a one way ticket !

bibi, stop acting like a scared fool and get rid of barak. regardless of his exploits as a commando, he has been a disaster as defence minister bungling the marmora raid and not supporting the nuclear hit in syria. Ashkenazi has rebuilt the idf and I trust him more than barak who did nothing as PM to fight west bank terror. Mks of almost all stripes dislike him and more importantly, the israeli people voted against him massively. Nothing has changed. Yes, he can fix a watch and render an opinion on small commando training. But he cannot be in a ministerial position on anything. Game over. Kick him out. Even his 4 colleagues will not bicker when you get rid of him.

It is time to get rid of the current crop of leftist IDF generals. I once liked Ashkinazi until I discovered he wants to give away the Golan! Don't these people have any understanding of history? Land for peace is an Oslo farce. Barak is nearly the worst PM in history only because Olmert's give away proposals were not accepted. Barak betrayed with Lebanese Christian Army & leaders....so what is new huh? Now he is betrying the entire state of Israel with his self-absorbed incompetence.

no one forces you to eat kosher .keep sabbath and you drive on sabbath and no one polices your sex life the israeli legal system is based on the british and turkish system so mainly there is separation of religion and state of course you can find examples where religion is not separated from the state but is not the present balance in israel the result of the political system which is some form of democracy