ISRAEL

Washington Post: Israel Is Losing by Richard Cohen

I talked recently with an American who had just returned from more than
20 years in Israel. We did not talk for the record, so I will withhold his
name and what he does for a living. But I will say he is somewhat
well-known in Israel and that he loves it dearly but he has left,
probably permanently, because he cannot take life there any longer. He is a
nonstatistic -- a living victim of terrorism.

How many others there are like him I cannot say. He has the most
valuable of all commodities in this world, an American passport, and with much
regret and with questions about his courage, he used it to get out. His
business had gone to hell, his life was always in danger and he simply
could not take it any longer.
In the perpetual war against Israel, its enemies are winning. The
economy is awful. Parents do not want their children to go out. The beach is
presumed safe, but not a cafe or restaurant. A commute on a bus (I have
done it) is gut-wrenching. You watch everyone. What does a suicide
bomber look like? The last one, the one who blew up a Haifa restaurant, was a
29-year-old woman, a law school graduate. She killed Arab and Jew
alike. Even safe places are no longer safe. So I cannot blame Israel for
striking back. It assassinates Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and militants. It
razes the homes of suicide bombers. It has Yasser Arafat bottled up and
may deport or kill him. It has bombed purported terrorist camps in Syria.
But nothing Israel has done has brought it peace and security.
If you read the Israeli press, the despair is palpable. To some,
especially those on the left, Israel has become virtually a dysfunctional society.