A recent survey of the Hagal Hakhadash Institute / Israel Hayom based on interviews with Jewish high school students in the 11th and 12th grades, revealed that close to 60% of the respondents define their views as rightwing, 23% are at the center and only 13% identify with the left side of the political map in Israel.

The youths were asked questions about every facet of their lives, starting with their views on current events, general knowledge, and their leisure habits.

The survey found Israel’s youth to be very patriotic: 85% said they love their country, and 89% see their future in Israel. 88% plan to enlist in the IDF, more than half believe there is no more moral army than the IDF in the world, and 65% endorse the adage, “It’s good to die for our country,” which is attributed to Yosef Trumpeldor, a Zionist pioneer, leader and warrior who said it—or a statement in that spirit, according to several testimonies, just before dying in defense of Tel Hai in Upper Galilee, on March 1, 1920.

Israel’s youth feel that the best thing about Israel is the familial atmosphere and the people’s tendency to unite during times of trouble. The central problem is Israel’s security situation.

Israeli young people are involved in the world, have solid views, and 78% of them say they are interested in the news. Regarding the most recent security-related saga of the Hebron soldier who shot an Arab terrorist on the ground, 60% of the respondents felt he shouldn’t be court martialed, as opposed to 30% who believe he should be.

Regarding the scandalous behavior of Arab MKs who showed up to honor the families of killed terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands, close to half the Jewish youths — a whopping 48% — believe Israeli Arabs should not benefit from representation in the Knesset, and 52% still believe Israeli Arabs should have the right to vote and be elected.

As to the chance for a peaceful solution of the Israeli-Arab conflict, as many as 82% of respondents said there was no chance at all, or only a very faint chance for such a thing to happen.

The survey holds an unexpected surprise for anyone who comes in regular contact with youth anywhere in the world — 75% of respondents said they appreciate their teachers, even admire them.

A Jerusalem court handed down a sentence of six months of community service, without a jail sentence, to a policeman convicted of a brutal beating of a protester during the expulsion of residents of Amona in 2006.

Even the judge, Moti Polik, criticized the prosecution for not demanding a harsher sentence for the policemen Moti Mahagar.

IT took nine years before Israel’s screwy judicial system finally handed down the sentence, a year after the conviction and nine years after the crime.

Mahagar would not have been indicted if it weren’t for a video that showed him relentlessly using a club to beat victims entrenched in buildings during the expulsion in Samaria.

Oh yes, Mahagar also was scalped with a fine, a grand total of $7819.53 (30,000 shekels), according to today’s official exchange rate.

Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations and director of a right-wing think tank in Jerusalem, was appointed as director of the Foreign Ministry Monday by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday afternoon.

He replaces Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, who was named to the post two years ago by then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.

Gold was born in the United States, grew up in Connecticut and earned undergraduate and doctorate degrees at Colombia University. He was an adviser to Netanyahu in his first term as Prime Minister in 1996.

The appointment of Gold follows the naming of another strong nationalist, Tzipi Hotovely, as Deputy Foreign Minister but who in effect is subordinate only to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who retains the title of Foreign Minister.

With Gold heading the ministry, Netanyahu retains more control.

Both Gold and Hotovely are religious, which rounds out the Foreign Ministry as solid national-religious domain, one which will be a lot more uncomfortable for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

A powerhouse like Gold takes some of the limelight away from Hotovely, but it also will take some of the heat off her.

No less important is the fact the Gold, a native American and former U.N. ambassador, knows how to talk to the Americans in their language

When asked by CNN earlier this month how he can explain Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements that “there will not be a Palestinian stage on my watch” and that he still supports a “sustainable two-state solution,” Gold passed the test remarkably.

He said that there will no Palestinian Authority state for the time being because Mahmoud Abbas refuse conditions for Israel to remain secure. He pointed out that Abbas last year rejected the framework agreement worked out with Israel, to leave Israel in a defensible position

He explained that peace must be preceded with the adjectives “safe and secure.”

De facto  Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told Israeli diplomats Thursday that her policy is to deliver  a message to the world that “this land is ours” because God gave it to the Jews.

Hotovely official is Deputy Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu officially has the title of Foreign Minister. In practice, he has placed his trust in her to deal with foreign diplomats.

An Orthodox woman and mother to a baby girl, Hotovely somewhat shocked several Israeli diplomats with a “Dvar Torah,” Hebrew for a short lesson from the Torah. She quoted in brief the Torah commentator Rashi, who cited the interpretation of the  first word of the Torah:

Rashi wrote:

Said Rabbi Isaac: It was not necessary to begin the Torah except from ‘This month is to you, (Exod. 12:2) which is the first commandment that the Israelites were commanded. Now for what reason did He commence with ‘In the beginning?’

Because of [the verse] ‘The strength of His works He related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations.’ (Psalms 111:6). For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan],’ they will reply, ‘The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it (this we learn from the story of the Creation) and gave it to whomever He deemed proper When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us.’

Hotovely added, “We need to return to the basic truth of our rights to this country,” she said. “This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologize for that.”

Her comment that no apologizes are necessary is right out of election campaign of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) and its chairman Naftali Bennett.

Hotovely also quoted Rabbi Yehuda Ashkenazi:

If Jews will convince themselves when facing the world that they are right in their ways, they will get along fine.

Haaretz reported that one diplomat said, “This the first time we have been asked to deliver a Dvar Torah to explain Israel to the world.”

It’s about time.

Her speech to the diplomats represents a radical change – a real revolution – in the Israeli government.

Hotovely, a darling of the national religious movement, has shown herself to be a brilliant politician, and she has won the full trust of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which is not easy.

One of the main reasons Netanyahu named her as Deputy Foreign Minister is because Hotovely never has lashed out at the Prime Minister like other Likud politicians.

She and Moshe Feiglin, whom Netanyahu maneuvered out of the Knesset, believe that the national religious movement is better off working through the Likud party instead of a smaller and ideologically defined faction, such as the old National Religious Party (Mafdal).

Hotovely has succeeded where Feiglin failed. He tried to go one-on-one against Netanyahu. Hotovely plays the game the way politicians are supposed to play it.

Even when the government carries out expulsions of Jews from the homes in Judea and Samaria, she politely disagrees but carries on with the attitude, “He is the Prime Minister, and I respect that,”

Netanyahu can trust Hotovely, who speaks excellent English, to represent the e the government, and she has stated that she will do so even if she personally disagrees.

Foreign media are aghast that Israel has a de facto Foreign Minister who is against the two-state illusion but Netanyahu has brilliantly made Silvan Shalom responsible for the non-existence “peace process” that Israel has to pretend is alive.

A personal armed guard now is escorting Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) Knesset Member Ayelet Shaked following death threats.

Shaked is slated to be the Justice Minister, an appointment that has riled up the left-wing, which usually goes to bat for women but not if they are on the “wrong side” of the road.

The decision to escort Shaked with a guard was made by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein.

Arab Knesset Members have announced they will join Ethiopians on Sunday in another protest against police violence and alleged racism.

A peaceful march last week turned violent when nearly 1,000 angry Ethiopians surfed towards the official residence of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu near downtown Jerusalem. Police at the scene used stun guns and water cannons to disperse the crowd after the demonstrators refused to retreat. The demonstrators pelted police with bottles and rocks.

The Ethiopian community is enraged over the exposure last week of two policemen in Holon, adjacent to Tel Aviv, beating an Ethiopian soldier, who was wearing a kippa, for no apparent reason.

Police arrested the soldier for supposedly having attacked them, but the video forced law enforcement officials to drop the charge and apologize. They also said that the two policemen, one of them a volunteer, have been suspended and that their actions do not reflect the values of the police.

The Ethiopian community is not buying the mea culpa and plans to protest today near Tel Aviv’s Azriella Towers, home of the fanciest malls in Israel.

At least two Arab Knesset Members, Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, have called on Arabs, who claim that police discriminate against them, to join the demonstration.

The Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party has not commented, despite thousands of incidents of police violence exercised against innocent settlers.

Nor have the bleeding heart left-wingers, who usually never miss the opportunity to show their support for minorities, uttered a word.

Hareidi leaders also have remained silent although they have plenty of reasons to complain about excess police violence.

Ethiopian leaders allege that police discriminate against them, but the silence from mainstream Israel indicates that the bias may be a lot deeper.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to accept an opportunity to address a massive right-wing rally in Tel Aviv tonight, but opponents have appealed to the Elections Committee to prohibit political speeches at the event.

The rally is expected to draw far more than the 35,000 people who attended a left-wing rally last week.

His speech will win him automatic coverage in Israeli media, although it is almost certain that the media that support the “anyone but Bibi” campaign will try to cast him in a negative light.

Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) Naftali Bennett, Likud Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and Likud Knesset Member Miri Regev also are scheduled to speak at the rally.

The leftist parties are in a panic. Backed by most establishment media, the campaign for the Herzog-Livni duo may have been peaked two days too soon.

Peace Now complained Saturday night that the planned rally is illegal because regional councils in Judea and Samaria are providing free buses to take residents to the rally. The Elections Committee will decide later today if tax money is being used for political purposes.

The left-wing Meretz party has demanded that Netanyahu and other politicians be barred from making any political speeches at the rally because of the sponsorship by regional councils that are not allowed to finance campaigns.

It would be interesting to know who paid for buses to bring people to the left-wing rally last week.

Israel’s leftist establishment does not seem so concerned about strong suspicions of far graver violations –  that the Obama administration is funding activists trying to defeat Netanyahu.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Congressman Lee Zeldin have asked the IRS for information on the possibility that American taxpayers’ money is being used illegally to finance the “anyone but Bibi” campaign.