Leah, thanks for your comment. I am sorry to hear of your experiences, and that the quality of your medical treatment in Israel did not live up to your expectation, nor to the standard that could be reasonably expected for somebody in your situation. I think it would be fair to say that all countries have their fair share of individual doctors who do not treat patients in a professional way. The number of malpractice suits in the US each year bears testament to this fact. The intention of my blog was to say how accessible and reasonably priced medical care in Israel is, relative to some other places around the world. Despite your story and bad experiences, I still feel that this is the case. I wish you a refuah shleima and a complete recovery.

Even though I know there was continuing trouble in Jerusalem yesterday, it was difficult to feel this when in the city. I went to Jerusalem for the traditional Sukkot priestly blessing which took place at the Western Wall - the Kotel. I estimate that I was one of approximately 50,000 who thronged to this event. Security was tight, police were in evidence throughout Jerusalem and armed soldiers were stationed around the entire Western Wall area. But I felt that my safety was only threatened by the possibility of being crushed by people pushing and shoving around me to get to where they wanted to go.

Jerusalem was filled to capacity wherever we went with people making their Sukkot pilgrimage from near and far. But never did we feel threatened by riots or unrest.

Hats off to the police and security teams for a job excellently done.

Thanks for your comment Elizabeth. I was wondering to myself whether I wanted to see the video or not. I wondered whether it would be good for it to be released to the media or not. Now that I have seen it, I am glad that I did. Like you, I cannot forget the sad eyes and the longing that I see in them for him to be home. Let us pray that this will be soon.

Andrew, I am not sure that we need to go as far back as 70 C.E. I do believe, however, that we need to go back sufficiently far to take into consideration matters that are relevant. There is no doubt in my mind that the only reason why Hamas continue to fire rockets indiscriminately into Israel is to pursue their agenda of destroying the Jewish state.

I think the point is that it was not a regular \"trade\" shipment with the full knowledge of the Russia government. It seems as though the Kremlin was not aware of it. Hence the roundabout routing. I agree that it is all very mysterious.

Well done on the new website Eric. It looks really great. Thanks for all the effort that you put in to ensuring that Israel gets a fair hearing out there. But what happened to the flag? It would be good to have one on the new site.

I am not familiar with France's threat to use nuclear weapons. Whilst terrorists have no specific countries, there are certain countries that are recognised as supporting terrorist groups and activities. Hence the war in Afghanistan. Iran is fairly universally recognised as being as supporter of terror and terrorist groups. This is clearly why there is so much focus on Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Like you, I would prefer for all countries to respect each other's right to exist and for there to be no need to have nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, there are still many Arab countries (including Iran) who deny Israel's right to exist. Surely this recognition is a basic requirement to create an environment of trust and mutual respect between nations? Not only do these Arab countries deny Israel's right to exist, they have in the past exercised this denial by attacking Israel with a view to destroying her. Under the circumstances, Israel has no choice but to be ready for military attack at all times, and to view all actions by these nations and the groups that they are linked to with suspicion and as a threat to Israel.

As soon as the Arab world is prepared to acknowledge Israel's right to exist, the environment to build trust and mutual respect will be progressed. As the famous saying goes "If the Arabs lay down their weapons, there will be no war. If Israel lays down her weapons, there will be no Israel."

Ahmed, whilst it may be true that Iran never had a DIRECT war with Israel, it is well known that Iran was involved indirectly in many previous wars with Israel which were fought on its behalf by others. This includes the current ongoing conflicts with Hezbollah and Hamas where it is no secret that Iran is arming and financing both organisations in their attempts to destroy Israel. In addition, Iran has threatened Israel via outbursts by President Ahmadinejad by stating that Israel does not have a right to exist. No sane person could ignore this. I cannot recall an occasion in Israel's history when the President has called for the destruction of another country, or questioned whether its existence is legitimate. Your argument is severely weakened by omitting these important points.

Eric, thanks for this pertinent article. I write this comment with about 15 minutes of the fast left in Israel. It has been hot and dry but many people in Israel have fasted today.

It is believed that the destruction of the temple was caused by the breakdown in the social fabric of society, by people not caring about and respecting one another. It would be interesting to analyse our current society against these standards to understand whether we are doing better or worse. To me, it is not clear. On the one hand I see so many positive things that are happening with people really caring for one another. On the other hand, there are many disappointing things to witness. I would be interested what other readers think on this subject.

One thing that sceptics like you and I need always to remember is that the land for peace arrangement did work with both Egypt and Jordan. We don't have a "warm" peace, but we have a peace that has lasted for many years and saved countless lives. Menachem Begin was regarded as crazy when he signed the peace with Egypt, but his risk-taking and foresight has borne amazing fruits. Whilst we have justification in being sceptical with the Palestinians for good reasons, this should not cause us to be sceptical to the point where no peace is possible.