Okay, once again -- there is no difference between Am Israel and Eretz Israel. Am Israel is the Jewish people and Eeretz Israel is the Jewish land. No matter. The two are inextricable. Want to do your Nobel Laureate count again? Might want to take a look at populations -- you know, how many Germans in the world as opposed to how many Jews in the world -- It should be enlightening -- even to idiots in the "wesht" of Ireland. Although your focus on sports as a measure of achievement does not come as a surprise. The Irish, who constitute the second largest immigrant group to the United States, account for the least successful. Police, firemen, sanitation workers -- civil servants in the lower echelons of civil service. And it took you eight generations to get there. But you have built a great many pubs in New York. That says something, in and of itself. Nothing good, but it does speak. Did you think the term "drunken Irish" was mere slander? It isn't. Check out the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York, some day. Appalling, really, this excuse for widespread public drunkeness at 10:00 in the morning. Pubs are where the Irish in New York celebrate mass on St. Patrick's Day. Disgusting and disgraceful. Congratulations on the five medals, by the way. Nice going. Planning on translating that into fixing Ireland's impending bankruptcy?

There have been more. Lots more. Do your homework.

You are the biggest loser of all, Harold the Barrel.

I have to admit that sometimes you are good entertainment value, giving rise to much merriment. And, on occasions, you express your foolishnes in such an erudite manner that it helps to sharpen my own arguments, although I have hesitated to waste them on you. Mostly, however, you utterances are so banal as to not merit a second thought.

If the Iranians the Syrians the Lebanese and the Saudis can put people into the Olympics so should we and we have more than enough money in our wealthy little country to provide optimal training and support to those carrying our nation's flag into this important international arena. Why must we leave it to a teenage American girl athlete to remind the world of our 11 Olympic athletes murdered at Munich? Wouldn't a more fitting memorial to them be that our Olympic team wins medals? And wouldn't they have a better chance at that if they didn't have to pay for the privilege of flying our flag themselves?? Why are we allowing ourselves to become so small minded? Why are we listening to the voices of paranoia? Either we are strong enough to be proud in the world outside our borders or we are weak and frightened? You can't be both Shaked!

Missed the 'r' from 'your' in the final sentence. Apologies.

I think it is shame that Israel did not manage to get any medals, while countries like Iran did. The sad story is that in a country, where everyone serves in the army, sport is not considered as important. You have to stop using the army, etc. as an excuse for not giving it a much higher priority.

Do you realize that you are as racist and intolerant as many of the people you complain about? "Pubs are where the Irish in NY celebrate Mass on St. Patrick's Day?" How can you say that and try to be taken seriously? Oh yeah Sarah, the actions of people on St. Patrick's day is really indicative of Irish-Americans, just like how the actions of HAMAS are representative of all Palestinians. Keep saying "ersatz Palestinians," it really makes you sound so intelligent and witty. It's people like you that should just keep quiet. The world has enough people like you. And what is the deal with your U.S.A./Israel location? Where exactly are you? Frequent visits to Israel do not make you an Israeli, and being the most well-known talkback voice does not make you the voice of Israel. It's people like you that are dragging Israel down. We have no need for more ignorant, racist immigrants We already have enough problems. You can talk when you've made aliyah, done national service, and actually had substantive communication with these "ersatz" people. When you do have something along the lines of a point, you sabotage your arguments with ridiculous insults and name calling. It is known that there is life beyond the Ynet comment section. I suggest you embrace it.

Small countries are only ever going to have a few stars that are real medal prospects. There is always the chance that they'll all underperform at a particularly Olympics and the country as a whole draws a blank in the medals. This happened for Ireland as recently as 2004.

Ah, the world according to Bertram. How -- yawn -- interesting. Let's see -- last week I had to explain to you why the ersatz "Palestinians" are indeed ersatz. Do you require any basic enlightenment of the obvious this week, Bertie boy?

I guess that means that John F. Kennedy was nothing but a "drunken Irishman." P.S. I hate to mention this but could you name all the Jewish Presidents of the United States?

Who stole the shoes of the Israeli sprinter? Does anyone know? + 2 moments of glory for us Gymnast Aly Fraiman dedicated her medal to The killed Athletes And The French Swimmer with a Hebrew tatoo a lot of Pride was shown for the Jewish people, Better than Medals

Yes, your 'explanation' is a bit like someone forcefully and fluently 'explaining' why Santa Claus exists. It's an interesting ploy but it doesn't 'explain' why you failed to respond to my talkback elsewhere which stated: "Under the 1922 Legislative Election Order the number of Ottoman citizens resident in Palestine on the date of the order who became Palestinian citizens was nearly 730,000. At the time, the number of Jewish residents of Palestine comprised less than 250,000. That would mean that the non-existent, non-Jewish Palestinians acquired some kind of identity as ....... Palestinians." Ah well, you mustn't let the facts spoil a good story, Sarah my love.

1. Why is stating the truth necessarily "racist?" 2. The only true Palestinians are the Jewish people. The Arabs co-opted that identity, and that makes them "ersatz." Whether you like it or not. 3. I made aliyah quite some time ago. I also served in the IDF. Did you? 4. Udi, stop projecting your shortcomings upon me. If you feel that poorly about yourself, find a therapist. Perhaps that will help.

The olympics are show cases for failed countries who have nothing for their people but sports and other feel good crap. Russia, China even America are failed societies, so they glorify the olympics. A country needs food, health care education and security. The Olympics are government sponsored distractions. They do precious little for the people. I have never heard of a sports team running a hospital, school or farm.

No jewish US president indeed, but Rodrigo de Triana the spanish jew, who saw first America was the president of all americans, for at least 30 seconds, 12. october 1492. After him came the second president Christofer Colombus.

Too bad there's no schnorring competition ,...

Name one of 'yours' born/educated or for his/her work in Israel ,...

Of course we could invest more for sport, but after all, I feel we should not send anyone to the Olympic games. We all know who Rogge is as well as the judges; I saw the artistic gymnastic and found that the israeli women were wonderful. I agree that they have to be better to win a medal, but the points they received are the points given to israelis. They should have received more.I remember the israeli couple skating who never won a medal ; the reporter once said: they never will reach the podium and we knew very well why, because we knew that the reporter loved them.

1) "Why is stating the truth necessarily 'racist?'" That's precious, it really is. Your ignorance is astounding 2) This statement shows what little grasp you have on the history and anthropology of the region. There has always been a non-Jewish presence in the land of Israel, always. There were Jews who became Christians and Muslims. These people have always lived in this land, and have as much right to it as us Jews. That being said, Jordan is not Palestine, and any thinking to that degree is a complete misreading of history that can be easily refuted. Remember that, after the fall of the Jewish kingdoms, the land was called Palestine for almost two thousand years. Even early Jewish settlers, such as Chaim Wiezmann, referred to themselves as Palestinian. But this really is such a non-argument. We are Israelis, we including many different types of peoples. The Palestinians are who they claim to be. 3) Did you now? Well refer back to my original post where I state that we have no need for the likes of you, even if it is as a jobnik. I served in Lebanon and Gaza, did you? In a little thing we in the business like to call combat. If you're in America, I say submit to a test: come back and have actual interactions with the Palestinians. It's what MLK, Jr would have suggested. Just about no one in Israel accepts the old Likud talking points anymore. If bibi does, he doesn't say it out loud. Take your "ersatz," your "Jordan is Palestine," your obliteration of other lands and other peoples and shove it. Prove your better than the people we fight and take the high road.

Lame posts put everyone to sleep.

Those big, bad, smart, good looking Israelis won't hurt you. If an Iranian athlete lost to an Israeli athlete would Iran just fall apart? Is the regime ego so fragile? Poor widdle Arash. As for Iran winning medals, good for them. It's about time they excelled in something other than terror.

Olymics are global events watched by hundreds of millions. Whether we like it or not winning medals do make an impression on large numbers of people.it does have a PR value. This time Israel missed an opportunity to make a favorable impression.

Whether it's win, lose, or draw, Israel should always have a team at the Olympics. Anything else is cowardly and defeatist.

They're so proud of what they are and what they've done...They should be proud of what they've done, what they are..and what the only democracy in the Middle East looks like... TATA ....

1. The truth is usually just the truth. If it reflects poorly on an identifiable group, so be it. It doesn't make it any less true. Denying it makes you a slave to being politically correct; something which I am not inclined to do. You are free to say whatever you like, no matter how ridiculous and ignorant. You have, after all, been doing it all along. 2. The overwhelming majority of the ersatz "Palestinians" are not indigenous to the region. If you know history and demographics as well as you claim, I suggest you go back to the part where the British carved out the overwhelming majority of the Palestine Mandate which had been promised to the Jewish people and created the "Kingdom of the Transjordan." Why did they do that? Because they had just made a Mesopotamian sheikh named Feisal "king" of newly created "Iraq," and Feisal's baby brother, Abdullah, stamped his foot and said that he wanted to be a king, too. Hence the Kingdom of the Transjordan, present-day Jordan. The British, whose sole motive was to protect the vast newly-discovered petroleum resources in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq -- not for the natives, mind you; for the British. They shoved some of the bigger troublemaking tribes -- mostly from the Hejaz in the Western Arabian desert -- westward into Palestine. By that time, the Jews from the First and Second Aliyot had actually began to build something in the barren and desolate region that became the State of Israel; there were all manner of settlements to plunder (which the newly arrived marauding Arabs did, with stunning alacrity and frequency). The rest, as they say, is history. But now, the descendants of those marauders and plunderers have invented a fictitious presence in the land (you bought their story; you must be extremely gullible, or not as knowledgeable of history as you seem to believe you are, or both). And they stole the identity of the Jews -- who have always been the true Palestinians (as I said in an earlier post, Arabs were always identified as Arab or Bedouin, but never, ever as "Palestinian") -- and you can go back and check the original Ottoman census records, and the subsequent British census records to see this borne out. 3. No, I never saw combat. But I did serve. For five years. And I was not a "jobnik." My husband is a surgeon, and has seen more wars and lost more family to them than you can imagine. The only reason I haven't is because my entire family was destroyed in the Holocaust. We have every intention of coming to Israel (next week, actually), but I have absolutely no intention of interacting with people who celebrate the deaths of innocent Jews by passing out sweets, sent suicide bombers to kill innocent people and rejoiced wildly in the aftermath of September 11. I have no desire, too either -- if I want to see jackals and hyenas, I'll go on safari. I could care less what Dr. King would have suggested. 4. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, least of all you. I am sick to death of people who believe the ersatz "Palestinians" when they claim all they want is peace -- they could have had it any time they wanted since 1947, and have rejected a two-state solution on no fewer than three occasions including, most recently, one which would have awarded them 95% of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a capital. They chose to start the second intifada instead. You are a gullible fool who is prepared to mortgage the Jewish people and the State of Israel to a wink and a promise. If that is your idea of the "high road," keep it. I'll take reality over false promises any day.

What gives honor to a country if it has the best ping pong player or the closest man to being a cheeta or nearest to the strength of a gorila? Why is everyone so dissapointed? Even though the whole world decided that this honor's a country isn't there anybody brave enough to say the king is naked?

Well said, Ehud. Couldn't have said it better myself :)

I just want you to know that I am a Jewish Catholic and I do respect all religions. Spelling mistakes happens a lot so don't be so excited.

Fine posts, well done.