Those American politicians who continually defend Israel as the "only" democratic state in the ME - thus their unequivocal support for all her policies and practices - need to brush-up on the definition of a democratic state.

Are you 6 years old?

There's a fight for the land going on, much of it, to the conventional mind, either illegal or immoral. Certainly, you don't think the Israeli government is unaware of your potential to cause embarrassment?

Do you think Israel is unique? This has played out all over the world at all times. The Kurds and the Arabs in Iraq, the Chinese and the Tibetans and Uighurs, the Russians and their "prison house of nations", the Americans and the Indians, the cowboys against the sheepmen, old Los Angelinos against newcomers.

Land is the basis of wealth and economic growth. Without economic growth no modern society can exist...and the pressures are growing as populations expand and resources shrink.

Grow up.

Apparently, or perhaps, the Israeli phone companies give the same cooperation to their government that our phone companies give to our government.

Outrageous? Sure.

Upsetting? Yup!

Illegal in Israel? don't know.

Illegal in the United States? Apparently not, particularly as a Democratic congress gives the phone companies a retroactive pass.

Do I wish that Israel didn't do it? Sure.

Do I wish that the US didn't do it? Obviously.

Surprising? Not in the least. If you say someting over the radio (or on a wired network for that matter), you should assume that "they" are listening. In the US, in Israel, or in any other country or non-country I can think of. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy (to put it into US legal language)

The concept of "privacy rights" in this 21st century universe is a joke. If you say it on a phone, expect to see it in the New York Times, some day. If you rely on any right to privacy, you really ought to grow up.

I cannot help but wonder if DanK, NewsNag, JohnW1141, and any other self-styled progressives in hardhats I might have missed, indulging their "divided loyalty" America First! jingoism, appreciate the irony that the author of this post and inspiration of this particular debate (such as it is) relates his account of an action that he believes is best for Israel (full disclaimer: I tend to agree) even as he enjoys the benefits of living in New Hampshire.

Well, I see the debate rages without one mention of why war and land grabs have become an integral aspect of Israeli foreign policy, bar the "everyone land grabs" argument. Israel's economy has moved away from an export of goods market(which peace with the Arab states would have increased) to an economy based on homeland security(which war benefits). This move has serious implications not only for the Middle East but for civil liberties globally. Shame the liberals and right wing libertarians can not seem to grasp this.

Israels policy has implications for us all.

This fella 'Ordinary' seems anything but. Projects himself as an embittered individual with a lulav up his arse and an etrog in his mouth with an urge to impose on us all a daily does of hasbara. Is there some way of filtering him out with some wire-wool and antiseptic?

Other than presenting the opportunity for the usual suspects to gather and shout at each other, the only substantive issue that this post raises is "were our efforts tapped, bugged or monitored" to which the response should be a resounding "duh."

The State of Israel as a whole is a military security zone, in and out of the West Bank. Israel puts the notion of total war in a perspective that goes far beyond the worse fears of what Bush created in the U.S., but it does so with considerably greater justification than Bush did too.

Of course they do a great job of knowing who is going where and why. Undoubtedly they have many methods.

"The second possibility ... is that some of Ta'ayush's leaders have their phones tapped, or that the intelligence services had our meeting place under observation, and the police were on the lookout for just our group."

I'm trying not to be sarcastic here.... Yes, I think that is a possibility, just a little.

How should you feel about that? Well security is security, Zionism is Zionism, settlement is settlement... all that security is keeping Jews from getting killed ( a good thing by any standard ) and enabling a vicious occupation to persist and expand ( a bad thing by any standard.)

"Ordinary democratic principles" is an idea that has very little meaning in Israel (and I say that as a supporter of Israeli democracy.... more an aspiration than a reality at this point.)

You were in a war zone in which every moving human being is a potential moving bomb, and in the middle of an occupying army. I think Americans are a bit naive sometimes about war.

Now carry on with the usual debate - Israel is bad! Israel is good!

Me, I favor an America that doesn't exist yet working to create an Israel and a Palestine that don't exist yet either.

Mr Avishai,

I was wondering if you have any details of companies who are benefiting, directly, from the construction of illegal settlements. The U.K Foreign and Commonwealth Office has recently terminated a contract to rent the U.K embassy in Tel Aviv from the company, Africa-Israel, owned by the Israeli businessman and settlement builder Lev Leviev.

Also, do you have information of companies building the apartheid wall which has been declared illegal under international law (2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice). If we can get these names into the public domain we can begin to boycott these companies in a similar manner to that of Apartheid South Africa.