culture, should have ceased to exist long time ago. Still, it is begining to do so only now...and for very different reasons( I'd postulate) Kaniuk's aversity to the State of Israel is well documented, his political Useful Leanings do not allow him to experience reality through full-vision binoculars. While this subject is worthy of commenting on & painful soul searching, Mr.Kaniuk should just hold his peace & stick to writing his admittingly talented, Leftist-Utopian-Self hating propaganda prose.

I believe the system will work and the attackers will be punished. I believe that older people in this country get better treatment now than ever before. I believe that the Knesset works, and that if enough people take up the torch of pensioners rights then even more and better changes will come. The state has compassion. It may need more, but that task is our hands - Kaniuk's as well.

We are all horrified by senseless violence but why blame the State? --"no proper education in Israel" --"rabbis try not to discuss moral questions" --"A country which permits beating up Arab kids will change nothing" --"Jews and a state – it won't work" Why not blame first and foremost the parents who are morally responsible for the behavior of their children?

beating up senior citizens? It is interesting that the left loves to equate defending a country with outright violence. The problem with this country is not that there are no laws, we have enough laws to last a lifetime. The problems is our liberal courts and do nothing police! We need a real police department that handles police matters! We have security and army to handle the terrorists, we need a police force that walks a beat, goes around in their cars, makes underage types adhere to the curfews and most of all DOS NOT LET VIOLENT CRIMINALS OUT OF JAIL! A responsible court system with responsible judges combined with a real police department will make a difference. Parents educate, hold them responsible!

These coward incidents occur world wide but I'm unsure if in ultra religious Neigbourhoods like Bnai Brak.

slowly but surely, israel is becoming just an other (barbaric) middle eastern country. sleeping with dogs, you get flees.

Or the rocket and missile attacks or the bombings or the lynchings........

Once upon a time, the children and the public as a whole in Israel were educated to help the elderly to cross safely a street or a road ...This was an attitude ! I don't know what happened, and why !

I am not entirely certain that the author is correct. Of course you are going to have miscreants in any society who think that they are the be-all and end-all. However -- I have seen many Israeli kids helping elderly on and off buses. I have seen them offer to carry shopping packages home for the elderly. I have seen much that is good and positive among young Israelis. If there are the uncaring, and the criminal -- well, that is something that exists in all societies. But it is not representative of the society as a whole. I'm in my forties, and I have had Israeli youths jump out of their seats to offer me a seat on a bus. (By the way, should anyone wonder, my response is generally to thank them, inform them that I think their mothers raised a wonderful, thoughtful child -- and then to get back down in their seats straightaway. I'm not that old.) In my experiences in Israel, the truly thoughtless are the rich, privileged kids from North Tel Aviv, or its suburbs. The ones who are imbued with leftist politics and rhetoric. The ones who grew up in HaTikva in Tel Aviv, or Jesse Cohen in Holon, or the unprivileged areas of any metropolis in Israel are the ones who get up in buses, and help you home with your packages. The privileged kids think you're just in their way, and how dare you do that? And that, folks, is just a fact. When the police do a round-up of underage drinkers in Israel, guess where they come from? North Tel Aviv. Herzliyah Pituach. Kfar Shmariyahu. Even my town, Saviyyon. The "privileged." The "liberal." The over-indulged, and the depraved.

are daily attacked and murdered by gypsies. Neo nazis' popularity can be explained from this fact.

You are very bad people. Very disgusting and badly raised. Forget arabs. You will all be your own demise. You have no culture. You act like gross Middle Easterners. Holocaust destroyed, elegant ,brilliant Jewish people.

You see a criminal act in process, do not intervene. You are not physically able to confront the young. What I do suggest is to use your cellphones, smartphones, etc. - take pictures, call police and stay on the side, out of the way.

Kaniuk is a bitter twisted individual whose popularity within Israel can only be seen as tolerance for bigotry.

I notice you don't tell us what rock you crawled out from under. Your country is probably breathing a sigh of relief.

The world has become more violent, not only towards the elderly, but against everybody. It's not only the 'privilege of the young, because middle aged and even elderly people beat up, scold or even kill each other to......without any reason. In comparison to other countries Israel is a paradise, where people (old, young, handicapped, black, white, Jew, Arab e.o) can walk the streets safely, even at night! So, Yoram, there is no state controlled anarchy, there is a lot of compassion and Jews and their own State are a great combination. Is everything 100%? Of course not!

This article is ridiculous.. This country is plagued by disrespectful people, whether they are religious or not. The violence has little to do with religion and everything to do with the fact that parents don't do their job of enforcing rules and boundaries. Children need limits, and when they grow up with none, they usually grow up to be out of control, obnoxious and arrogant adults who believe that their every whim should be fulfilled even at the expense of others, or sometimes, happily at others' expense. This is what we have in Israel...most people here don't think of anyone but themselves. You can see it through conversation, on the roads, and in daily life in general. This violence that we are seeing is unfortunately only natural when you consider the environments in which the children are being raised. When I lived in tel aviv, my apartment was directly above a gan. Everyday, I witness a violence between the children that to me, a non-Israeli was shocking. I'd hear constant screaming and whining, but that's a separate issue. The real problem was that these children were hitting each other with whatever objects they could find, usually some toy, and regularly pushing each other off of the play cars, and other objects so that they could themselves have control of the coveted plaything. You would think that the teachers would intervene, but aside from some mild scolding, like, "that's not nice Ori," they never ever made an effort to actually get up from their chairs and discipline, even when the other child was mildly hurt or upset. The children are effectively taught that violence is okay from a young age. Oh and one thing that never ceases to shock me is the amount of times that I've seen young children raise their hands to their relatives, whether they be their parents, grandparents, etc. I often see children trying to hit and claw at their their parents. I have even seen older children bite them. The parents never seem to react as they should. More times than not, I've seen the parents brush it off as if it was nothing. I've seen parents who embrace their children soon after the incident, or reward them in some way, such as by giving them a food that they had been crying for. This just positively reinforces their bad behavior. Even the small, feeble hits should be taken seriously. Until some drastic changes are made across the board, beginning at home, it is improbable that this trend of violence will abate in the future. Looking at today's youth, I can only say that it will most probably take a turn for the worse.

Violence should never happen to anyone but to paint the picture so black is so wrong. There are also wonderful youth here in Israel who volunteer in any organizations, and show that there is a bright future. Why ignore them? Put their stories in the news! Show how teenagers go around bomb shelters and entertain younger children. Show teenagers who go shopping for the elderly or who ride as trained first aid givers on ambulances all around the country in their free time. There are those who volunteer with challenged kids and make their lives better. The good list is long.

Dragging in the Holocaust is not appropriate and not a nice & sensitive thing to do. It leaves the impression that you are not a descendant of those elegant & brilliant people, even if you live in trendy New York, where things like that of course never happen.

The good news is: Yoram's anger is right. What he criticizes is a reality which is not alien to even as civilized states as Israel. Lend him your ears. The second good news is: Yoram is dreaming of a better Israel/world like the prophets of old. He is right to do so. Do not blame him. I support his dream as one of the elderly persons like him. But I know: nobody has promised us a rosegarden. So I know that Yoram and others (including me) are dreaming. That's the bad news. The header "Lawless anarchy in Israel" is to be read from the inner-Israeli perspective of an angry old man. Do not blame him even if there are people who misuse it. My greetings from an elderly person to an elderly person. We are, as Yoram cited in starting his comment: "transparent", not insidious.

i have to agree with your post times have changed in the past 20 years so much i don't recognize anything anymore,including the states which i visit every 3 years.society have become hard and dangerous. i try to stay invisible!!!

Lawless anarchy is there a Lawful anarchy? with all due respect anarchy means lawless so you don't put the two together unless you enjoy emphasizing meaningless emptiness.

Israel has excellent laws to protect everyone but the problem is that there is NO law enforcement. Further, when the police actually do do something, the courts go and screw things up because our judges are "too busy" to try cases and the State Prosecution Service is in the pockets of the high ranking members of the Israel Bar Association who maintain that even the most obvious perpetrator of a crime is a "normative person"! The result is a plea bargain like the case of the young girl run down and is in a vegagtive state but the hit and run driver was fined NIS1000 and a couple of months of "Community Service". The family have to pay the bills with very little assistance. This is justice? This is what we elect MK's to do? As for Law Enforcement, the cops beat up Israeli Citizens, steal from Eritreans (MK Miri Regev must be happy) and can't identify the assailants of an Ethiopian Soldier in the IDF because of the color of their skins! Pensioners in Bibi's Israel have but one right: The right to die without making a fuss!

Just ask teachers, doctors, nurses and senior citizens tell kids no to damage municipal property! Maybe this is leftist propaganda too? Then we remember the Late Mr. Vichtman, stabbed in the cheast with a broken bottle because he asked the kids to stop making a noise in the middle of the night. Now the killer appears in court with a kippah on his head, no doubt provided by his lawyer, as his parents say he is a wonderful boy! Two days ago an elderly man was beaten up by two 25 year olds for driving too slowly. He had a heart attack but at least his attackers called an ambulance! Great! And if he doesn't make it, they two will be good boys!

So many of the comments from people who don't live in Israel, who have never lived close enough, or long enough, to experience the flip side of coin: children brought up with no concept of respect for anyone but themselves. Israeli youths have a most unfortunate reputation worldwide for alarmingly bad behavior. Those parents who failed to educate and discipline their spoilt offspring are now the pensioners being bashed up. Sadly, you reap what you sow.

Wrong! It lacks the Spirit of God! As the scriptures say: all nations that forget God are turned into Hell! Like here in the US, these little, godless heathens' care for nothing...or, respect anything! That's what happens when God is taken out of a society! May God have mercy on us all!!!!!!

problem immediately, and it must be addressed immediately, is to put the offenders in JAIL for 2 years and fine them 25,000 nis. There should be no discretion on the part of the court system, as they are incapable of making real decisions. Only with a real punishment, not the threat of one, but a real carried out immediately punishment will the population think twice before doing it. Then you start with educating the children. But first our society demands we be punished. Without the direct immediate punishment we just think it is ok. Consider getting a speeding warning. What do most if not all the speeder immediately do? They start to speed! But they would think twice if they had to pay a 5,000 nis fine and pay it immediately! I promise you it will work, but our courts are so incompetent at best and corrupt at worst, it is hard to think they can actually do what is in the best interests of the country rather than their own personal leftist agenda.