With all due respect to the public censure of bungles and briberies, with all due respect to the pursuit of honesty, the eagerness to punish those who are guilty and the fiery rhetoric in the media, please, for God's sake, do us a favor: Don't cripple the country.

Okay, so we aren't solid gold. We have losers. We have leaders who screw up. Not everything ticks with clockwork precision. We need to fix what needs fixing through proper administration, and when the time comes, through general elections, which no one supports right now.

In its 60-odd years, Israel has had 31 governments. Soon we'll be beating the record of the French Fourth Republic. The current government has been in office for barely eight months. What good will it do us to have another government that can't cure our basic ills, which today range from arrogance to insensitivity?

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Yes, it's enough to make a person go ballistic to see Lebanon celebrating Dan Halutz's resignation with fireworks. And there's Nasrallah, bragging about his "victory" in a taped television interview. His swagger may impress his goons, but the fact is, he's the one who has been in hiding since his "great triumph."

All the talk about losing our deterrence capability in the eyes of the Arabs is hogwash. I wouldn't advise any of them to put us to the test. At the moment, the biggest enemy we face is ourselves: Israel versus Israel. Everyone is out to get the next person. Everyone is busy playing god.

The attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, for example, says he's considering curbing the powers of the prime minister lest a conflict of interest crop up between some specific action he takes and the investigation against him in the Bank Leumi affair.

Speaking at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya earlier this week, Prof. Amnon Rubinstein said that in making these remarks Mazuz is contributing to the image of politicians as a bunch of crooks. An elected representative is always dependent on the voter, said Rubinstein, but the actions of appointed officials are not always within our control.

Equally unacceptable is Mazuz's statement that Haim Ramon's acquittal does not guarantee his return to the Justice Ministry. Why the devil not? It's not enough for Mazuz that public figures are cleared of wrongdoing by a court? They have to prove they're angels from heaven?

We have thieves in Israel. We have hoodlums and even organized crime. But that doesn't mean the whole country is corrupt or that all the leaders are bumbling fools. At most, our government norms and political culture are wobbly.

It is not clear why Halutz secretly submitted his resignation to the prime minister instead of his direct boss, the defense minister, and why Olmert hid it from Amir Peretz for three days. What did he think? That Barak would take his place by then? And why would Olmert dawdle on the appointment of a new chief of staff? Because he didn't like Peretz's nominee, Gabi Ashkenazi? Because he was afraid there was no general, including the man he handpicked for the job, who was not involved in the army's lack of preparedness? According to that logic, the simplest thing would be to appoint a 19-year-old lieutenant without the slightest stain on his military record.

Whatever is going on, a government must be prepared to make intelligent decisions. Olmert should not be waiting around for the Labor primaries in the hope that Peretz is kicked out and the defense portfolio is freed up for Barak. Netanyahu should not be waiting around for Olmert to fall on his face in the Bank Leumi affair so that a Bibi-led Likud can take over without elections. And it goes without saying that defense decisions and political initiatives should not be put on hold until the Winograd Committee publishes its interim report.

This country can't afford to go limp because of political squabbling or an overly fussy attorney general. Corruption is being fought, thank God, no matter how high up on the ladder it is found. Even the president is not immune. The Winograds and the Lindenstrausses are evidence of a society that wants to reform itself. Going into a funk is a luxury we don't have. Israel has the energy and the emotional strength to make solid decisions and carry them out quickly. There is no excuse whatsoever for crippling the country.