Gideon Levy

For far too long now Israel has been headed by heroes, the kind who don't hesitate to take the country on yet another dangerous, purposeless adventure. We must tell them now, loudly: We are a-f-r-ai-d.

A humanitarian crisis is underway in a park near you. The state must immediately send a rescue mission there, which it knows how to do when it wants to.

From making do with two annual visits to the school to attend parent-teacher meetings, parents have become the executive committee of the school system, and to a certain extent also the alternate commanders of the IDF.

I have no idea whether the newspaper is proud of me, but for the information of reader Netanyahu, I am so proud to write for Haaretz and so proud that Israel has Haaretz.

Israeli democracy has already cracked, the ship is on its side, water is flooding it and threatening to sink it - and the captains are 'coordinating.'

Long before the Citizenship Law, the rope was no more than a broken reed of support for the protection of human rights in Israel.

A new political species has arrived in Israel, the celebrity-politician, and this is bad news. It doesn't say much about them but it says a lot about us.

Instead of encouraging our young to volunteer and help society, we send them to the Border Police; it be better were they to stay at home.

Relations with Turkey, Israel's last refuge in the region, should not be placed in the treacherous hands of a small group of arrogant, domineering Israeli politicians.

Instead of encouraging moderation, whether genuine or imaginary, whether strategic or tactical, Israel is rushing to nip it in the bud.

The ultra-Orthodox are not the only enemies of enlightenment and freedom around, and it's doubtful they're the most dangerous. But they're a convenient and easy punching bag.

The new world will eventually tell Israel: Stay in the occupied territories, but give all its residents equal rights and justice. What will Israel say then? Interference in its internal affairs? Foreign intervention? You've got to be kidding.

We have to fight against Haredi attempts at domination, but the battle has to be proportionate, and it must include every injustice, according to its gravity.

Years of rioting against Palestinians, uprooting of trees, vandalism, arson, destruction, dispossession, theft, rocks and axes didn't cause a ripple, but one rock to the head of a deputy brigade commander made all the difference.

Now of all times, when the status of Israel's rich has been undermined and the dangers await not only them, but also the country's image, it's hard to understand their failure to act.

The right has been in power for a long time now, and now, in its 35th year in government, in the 64th year of the state, it has turned to the task of reshaping the country's character and faces almost no opposition.

The hope of peace has vanished from the sky of our lives and the Palestinians' lives, and Israel bears critical responsibility for this.

Israeli journalism's dereliction of duty began long before now, and before we declare war on those outside who would do us harm, we should first look deep within.

There are people who want us to be scared by the Iranian bomb rather than by the home-grown social-welfare bomb; there are people who gladly devote themselves to this act of whitewashing and denial.

The right-wing and the religious camps are making a racket in Israeli politics. These are allegedly the factions that are getting stronger in Israeli society, but they are actually two groups in a deep identity crisis.

Men - especially, but not only - still treat any female complainant with disbelief and any sexual offender of ex-President Katsav's type with understanding. The back-alley rapist is denounced in Israel these days, but not the bedroom rapist.

Netanyahu is liable to find himself very quickly in a situation in which he won't be able to stop the weakening of Israeli democracy.

The future is now. The revolution is in progress; just wait for what's to come.

Like Israel, Iran will apparently not heed the words of the world. But does Israel want in any way to resemble Iran?

The mens' men who are threatening Iran now are the real cowards' cowards. The brave ones are in fact those who are trying to thwart the insanity, from former Mossad chief Meir Dagan to Interior Minister Eli Yishai.