then 1000s of Arabs fromSudan and other countries wouldn't come to work in Tel Aviv. Strange problem.

blow Gaza to dust... Ramallah too

This is not about plans or stratergy this is about Leadership. Please dont insult our inteligence and tell us plans dont exist - will you then tell us this came as a complete surprise and that the IDF are again left footed? If the IDF are without plans the the country is finished if the IDF has plans and the leadership does not have the ability to enforce the plans then that is another matter. That BB has not got a clue is not a surprise and that Barak will be busy "mulling" over his response will not be a surprise either that Hamas has the initiative to attack does not surprise and will this lack of action not go unnoticed by their associates in Hezbollah who must be grinning at our actions or lack of them. Where is our deterence and where is our will to win if we cant restrain Hamas we will never restrain Hezbollah moshe

Wouldn't it be nice if YNET would publish the track record of the author's of op-ed articles? I judge Mr Barnea like I would judge a stock analyst. How often has he been right? Did he make the right call? So, Mr Barnea was in favour of Oslo, he was in favour of the Gaza Disengagement, he's in favour of negotiations with the PA, I'm pretty sure he was in favour of pulling out of S. Lebanon ..... I'd better not go on - so far, I wouldn't want to invest much on Mr Barnea's say-so. He's not exactly the Warren Buffet of strategy, is he? More like Bernie Madoff. Want to buy some Enron stock real cheap?

the lubvitchers rebbe warned against the treaty,but to no avail. he said we'd have to do the whole job over again and i'm afraid he was correct.

Barnea, Ron Ben Yishai, these guys and others like them have no idea what is going on. Their analysis is shoddy and second rate. I hope our leaders are smarter.

The strategy should be clear and simple: hit the terrorists so hard they will think twice before launching another attack.

the greatest Rabbi of our generation,for strategy,and Israel won the most difficult wars.

The author's title says " Israel has no strategy." Yet, he doesn't speak about strategy in the article nor does he propose a strategy for Israel. And, most of what he is writing about is foreign policy, not strategy. Gotta love opinion editorials. Remember, true experts don't write for newspapers.

has found you. You must decide, it's either you or them. There is no middle ground!

saw prophecy in the flight of birds and in the entrails of sheep and goats.

That is true, no strategy, no courage, no leadership. On the other hand the israeli public and the jews around the world need more than assessments, especially not from a leftist columnist.

Oh... and all of you, in those "talkbacks", expecting force without thinking, are so so so so smart ! Please, can't you try to THINK ? Force without thinking is the most stupid thing... You should hear Nahum Barnea with respect because smartness is on his side, not yours.

It is easy to carp and complain and criticize, something Nahum Barnea is certainly good at it. But what does he suggest? We are in an extremely difficult and sensitive position. We don't want, as Barnea rightly says, to give a pretext to Egypt to turn even more hostile. But can we allow their actually enabling Terrorism? How can we preserve ties with them when almost any action we take against those who target us will lead to their protest and objection? As to the deterrence and the rockets. We do not have a way of stopping every rocket unless we take over in Gaza completely. We certainly don't want that. Yet we cannot leave attacks on us unreplied to. Whatever answer we give now is a partial and unsatisfactory one. It takes a lot of wisdom and practical savvy to do the right thing here. And whatever is mostly right will be wrong some what. So perhaps a certain degree of support should be given to those actually doing the job.

Israel is controlled by the USA. All of Israel's military defenses have to be with the concent of the American administration. This is why Israel bombs empty buildings, etc and not the terrorists themselves. The Arabs want Israel dead right now and Muslim Obama want Israel to die a slow one.

Give me a little room David. My compliments. I'm standing next to you. With you. Your strat is the shortest, clearest, smartest plan I have heard in a while. A very LONG while. Terry in Eilat? Are you down with Davis's strategy/

If they are killed, they do not think at all. Not once. Not twice. NOT......

Again Israeli pundits infer that the Israel can actually do something to prevent anti-Israel actions from Egypt, Turkey etc. Israel can't! There is nothing Israel can do re Islamization of the region.

ed out of lebanon ? do you really think your situation would be better... ? how many people (soldiers etc) do you estimate, would have died in the meantime in south lebanon ? do you think nasrallah would be dead ? what do you think, just estimate, how many people had died when not disengaged from gaza in the meantime, due to terrorist attacks ? do you think,israel would be more peaceful, more calm WITH gaza settlements and WITH south lebanon war ? you are mostly so dead wrong, terry...

Israel cant control everything: Egypt is looking for an excuse to break relations with Israel. So is Turkey. What can Israel do if Egypt doesnt control its borders? and what can Israel do to 'manage' its relationship with Turkey, if that country like Egypt is looking for an excuse to break off relations with Israel?

Rather then make all of Israel look bad in the eyes of the world, why doesn't Mr. Barnea direct his comments to the powers that be. I think his comments are long on criticism, but short on solutions. Eveyone's a critic, but very few do something about problems.

"Real leaders" like Sharon? The supposedly ultra right wing bulldozer who abandoned Gaza to Hamas? If not for his lapsing into a coma, the "Palestinians" would already have their state. Another phony Likudnik talking tough, as the rockets fall and no one can stop them.

you who shouldknow better helped whitewash olmert to become PM covering up his terrible resume of cowardice. So you went with your guy and israel was humilitated in lebanon, but also sat there taking it for 4 years and begging the US and EU. So your credibility is zero, zero. Ehud barak is holding back a proper response cause bibi is unduly swayed by him. Yaalon is 10 X the general that barak is. Most israelis don't know this but while barak was a good commando, he is a terrible land general given to uncertainty and ignorance about proper land strategy to beat a land army like egypt and jordan. sharon and orr and eitam know how to do this. Barak does not know how and that is why he ran from lebanon, and was awol at chinese farm and yacoub in lebanon. He is like olmert in uniform.

Israel's strategy needs to be the survival, prosperity and defensibility of the Jewish state of Israel. As a small people, we will NEVER win the support of most of the world, who wince at the sheer number of muslim's in their midst, and feel that by showing support for the palestinians, they will forego issues of multiculturalism, or easy and cheap access to oil. Israel has to go back to its roots of remembering that the world is mostly against us, and to show the world that WE DON'T CARE what you think mentality. Israel also needs to make a decision vis a vis the territories. This status quo cannot continue. For those that argue that Irsrael needs the territorial depth, do what UAE and Singapore have done. Land reclamation can be the new mantra, like making the desert bloom was in the 50's and 60's. And by introducing a loyalty oath with national or military service as a pre-requisite for voting citizenship, Israeli citizenship can again be a priviledge to be earned, and not just an automatic right. Continue to be on the cutting edge of green energy, making Israel, and then the free world energy self sufficient. When Israel starts to use our greatest gift, our Sekel, then we will not only survive, but thrive.

though there is not enough evidence to establish the point that the attacks could have been averted, it might be true. or, it might not be true. barnea makes a number of assertions about the disposition of the terrorists that run gaza. those assertion may or may not be true. finally and most importantly, barnea was not able to present a strategy that would be congenial to Israeli interests than the present approach.

Never dawns on this guy that the strategy is simple: We win, they lose.