national anthem isn't pop chart song, this isn't song at your request at the radio chanell.

#59, to all talkbackers who are so busy bashing Arab-Israelis ,please read talkback #59.

the definition of democrachy is rulling of the masses of people in which the majourity make the law, they can do what ever they want only if it doesn't hurt minoritys, like the law that make afrikan amerikan sit only in the back sit at busses, however some minorities tent to over-strech that consideration and abuse it for their privat needs, if the majority fall asleeping while guerd watching and let minority change constitution policy than the majourity can find itself in deep sh@#t. minority doesn't have to kill democracy, some live very well with democratic state laws. put limits to overzealous minority will protect democracy. But, the Arab citizen of Israel got nothing to do with minority rights and got more to do with Arab nationalism. just say no. like the nike add.

- in every matter from The Evil One !. The Jewish Peole should not give in any respect. Arn.Sweden.

BOOOORRRRIIINGGGG I also felt out when i was in school and the teacher sent me to the back of the class but what you know i still finished! come on people if you want your own anthem there is only one way to get it please either over -bread Israel with your nation of find a new country fact.

Because obviously you don't know nothing about the French Anthem. The French Anthem doesn't refer any moment to any ethnicity at all! Neither Francs, Gypsies, Christians or Jews... Our anthem has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity.

go back to school

Thank you for your observation Joe. Your suggestion, however, is malicious and irrelevant to the debate.

In French, our national anthem talks about Canada being the land of our forefathers, about how we are proud to carry the sword and the Cross, etc. When people go looking, they can always find something to make a big deal about.

#65, stay in the Uk with your allah u Akbar, we don't use it here. #67, also in England most of Europe and the USA do not mix religion with their national anthem ,all are citizens of their repective counties. You know ghostq I really would do what was suggested to you..

The arabs have been trying to chip away at the idea of a Jewish state for years. It starts with changing the national symbols then it goes onto the whole concept of a jewish state not representing everybody. Add to that Women of the Wall trying declaring a war on religion and wanting religion and state to be separate which plays into are hands. We need legislation saying israel is a jewish state not a half hearted vague homeland of the jewish people idea because this can be interpreted at a legal level as a place where jews have a right to live not rule as a jewish state. All it takes is for a pro arab leftist government to come to power thats willing to change things and everything can change overnight because there is no legislation protecting the idea of a jewsh state or the symbols. There is only assumption & ideal Israel is a jewish state but political ideals go through stages of fashion laws don't. Its especially important it we raise the electoral threshold little parties will merge with big ones to survive which will actually give them much more political power. Imagine if the arab parties merged with Labor, the party would become a very pro arab mainstream leftist party looking to pass pro arab legislation. Almost certainly if we do make peace with palestinians the next showdown will be with the arabs in Israel. Right now there are external issues with arabs but if they are gone the next battle will be with domestic arabs.

Loved your post, Yardena and I couldn't agree with you more...Our Nation fought long and very hard for every inch of our ancient Homeland... And just like any other Nation in the world, we have the right and the duty to honor & follow our Religion, keep our history and our unique culture alive and learn from it...Those who feel offended are always free to leave...All around Israel, there is an ocean of Muslim countries for them to consider for relocation...

It really does say something about the sub-par and boorish intellectual mentality of certain individuals on Ynet when even commenting on a basic article about discussing how Israel can become a more tolerant and inclusive country they have to descend into racist xenophobic tirades against Arabs and Muslims without focusing on the main point of the article. The article raises a valid point, Hatikvah does not necessarily represent everybody who lives in Israel, it does not mention Israel's Arab, Druze, Maronite and Circassian minorities and the anthem even excludes Ethiopian, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, just read the words; ''As long as in the heart, within, A Jewish soul still yearns, And onward, towards the east, An eye still gazes toward Zion''; As lovely as Hatikvah is, it is in its current state an exclusively Azkenazi anthem, perhaps the time has come to alter it slightly to be more inclusive of all Israelis regardless of ethnicity and religion, this is the basic point the article is making, there is no need for a basic discussion about the national anthem to descend into xenophobic and racist tirades about the minorities who live in Israel, who, contrary to the racist desires of some on Ynet to have an ethnically pure Jewish state, aren't going anywhere any time soon.

Arabs don't identify? So what? The British monarch (Queen) is designated the Supreme Governor of the Church of England (Anglican). England, despite it self-destructive adherence to multi-culturalism, is formally designated as a Christian country as are many other European countries. There many countries identified and accepted as Islamic states. The is only one Jewish state. Only the Jewish state is found offensive?

Its actually just the opposite. We have seen minority rights groups worldwide. There is also the fact that nobody ever voted for these things to be national symbols. Both the flag the anthem were dreamed up by by pre state to represent the zionist movement. The first government just decided to adopt them as national symbols but the fact they were the symbols of state was never made a legal issue probably because the first government was to busy celebrating to ever think anybody would ever challenge their legitimacy. What we need now is a basic law protecting the symbols of state & the concept of a Jewish state because once again thats more of an assumed idea rather than a legal one. We need all these things enshrined into Basic Law as there is no constitution to protect them What if a party like Labor became the party of choice for most arab voters? The biggest leftist party would then have to become very pro arab to keep its supporters and that means passing laws undermine the idea of a jewish state. If we make peace with palestinians, once that distraction is gone the next big conflict will be with arabs here wanting better representation and that means changing everything including the countries status and the arabs will probably even get backing of the US if the arabs got smart and tried to sell the idea as a minority rights idea. Without legislation now when the time is right and if they sell it right arabs would have the support of just about the whole world is against the Jewish state concept and with the Jews becoming increasingly secular arab culture will eventually rise up to become the dominant one. Don't underestimate the arabs, all it takes is for them to play smart politics rather than go on protest cruises and they could gain real power.

you can better be better "represented" & not feel "left out" in another nation such as: jeerdumb,sooody arabica,irun,soooria & any other arob nation. But if you rather go to europe nation, try britoon, frunce, germanica, hungry, norseway or any eropion will be glad to have you destroy it . . . Israel won't let you destroy it !

Even if you are Arab, or, for that matter, a Sephardic Jew, the modern State of Israel exists today because of the actions by the European Jews' work to fulfill the Zionistic dream. This is what the song is about, how the modern State was founded. There was no pre-existing anthem for "Palestine", when it was part of the mandate. You can disagree with the need/value of a Jewish state, but the facts simply are that that is the reason Israel was founded. Arabs can hate the Jewish state, wish it wasn't here, but the fact of the matter is that this is where they live. The anthem, like the U.S. national anthem is written because of a pivotal point in each nation's hisotry, not in order to represent every single minority who resides within.

If anyone, you should go back to school. First of all there's a difference between a national/loyal citizen or a person merely a citizen on paper and contributing nothing. In a democracy the minority doesn't get to dictate over the majority. And in this case we're talking about a minority with a majority of people who contribute nothing and is disloyal to the country. I don't know if you went to PC school, but that's th eonly explanation for your bs.

anthems and I would like to mentionScotlands anthem (apart from GSTQ) Flower of Scotland, isnt exactly kind to the English, mentioning routing King Edwards army and chucking them out of Scotland. Sadly they returned in later days as many Scots wanted them around. So all I can say is, honor the flag and anthem of the country you live in, or pack up and leave! Arab Knesset members, you can move and stand for a Pali flag!

There are many Israeli citizens with American background, and Africans and Germans etc. etc. Should every one of them demand that Hatikvah be changed to reflect their past nationalities also? This is such a stupid complaint by the arabs that I marvel that it made the news.

So, your an expert on democracy are you? I get sick and tired of all the world being an expert on democracy when none really exist. You are the one who needs to go to school and learn what a democracy is. Do you think the US is a democracy? Well, it isn't and never has been. It started out as a Constitutional Republic but has long since declined into a socialist mess. All the countries in the world, including Israel who call themselves democracies pattern themselves after the US and there is not a democracy in any of them.

banner and Hatikva, when visiting UK, yes I will honour their anthem if played. I am sure Jews in arabs countries also stand for the anthem, but that may be for a different reason?????

Jews pray facing East. It doesn't matter where they are in the World apart from within Israel they pray facing Jerusalem and within Jerusalem Jews pray facing the Kotel. This is what it means in Hatikva about facing East it has nothing to do with Ashkenazim or Sephardim yourpost shows a basic lack of knowledge about Israel and Jews in general. There are very few Ashkenazim or Sephardim we are all mixed. My father was from Aden my mother Poland my wife's family from Tripoli stop tryinf to rehash nonsense from the 60s it's not relevant. I served with a Non-Jewish unit in the IDF they best soldiers I have ever met but unfortunately the majority of Muslim Arabs in Israel despise the country and openly demand its destruction so this is a complex issue.

I suggest the following approach: 1. compose a 2nd anthem on the Arab tribal anarchy 2. make a Israel wide plebiscite to establish two national anthems. One about hope and one about Arab anarchy, barbarism and brutality.

You change Hatikva whats next? Hatikvah doesn't represent all Israelis so we change it. The flag and the presidential symbol don't represent arabs or secular Jews. So do we change all symbols to be more inclusive? Probably about 2 million+ citizens of the country are not Jewish and find the concept of a Jewish state to be racist and doesn't represent them so would the next stage be a religious neutral country? Fact is once you start it makes makes it much easier to go that little bit further next time and eventually you reach a point where you have given up everything you had. Look at how the peace process has developed once the very idea of giving up even an inch of Jerusalem was unthinkable then Barak went to Camp David and offered to divide Jerusalem and today the idea we will have to divide Jerusalem is mainstream thinking and most Israelis don't care about Jerusalem so they really don't care one way or another. Once you start it becomes hard to stop.

I think the anthem should be inclusive, and with small changes can be sung proudly by all our citizens. Rather than "Jews" it could say rather than nefesh yahudi (jewish soul) nefesh shelanu (our soul).

Israeli Arabs used to be content with life in Israel compared to their brethren in Pal Arab ruled territories. If they feel as second class citizens for one reason or another, I believe they are free to seek their happiness among their co-religionists in surrounding Hamas and PLO controlled areas. Funny enough, in all places where Arabs tend to stay (because their own places are fucked-up places) similar things happen. I admire Israel that she is that tolerable that these things can be discussed in Parliament! What about Jews in Samaria and Judea – could they be included in a future Pal Arab independent state with all what such a statehood signifies?

Democracy means that the minority has rights as well, and the majority cannot take those rights away. That's why african-americans no longer have to sit in the back of the bus. Ignoring minority rights results in anarchy. Which is what I hear you proposing.