600kilobear — As is clear from my previous posts I am in no way a Zionist. However some of your posts are over the top, in my opinion. It is absolutely true that the current “medina” is very secular, but your implication that the culture is not primarily Jewish is not accurate. In fact one of the main redeeming factors of the state of Israel as a “Jewish state” is the fact that even the secular Jews here are much closer to Torah and Mitzvos then in other places, partly as a result of the “Jewish” culture, much of which is due to the strong fighting done by the Yishuv Hayashan and its leaders in the early years.
Numerous studies have shown that the rate of non-religious Jews in Israel who fast on Yom Kippur, have a Pesach Seder, and light Shabbos candles far exceed the rates in the US. A secular Jew in Israel is more likely to keep some sort of Kosher, to avoid Chometz on Pesach, to celebrate Purim, and even to shake lulav and esrog. All of these activities may be “cultural” rather than completely religious, but obviously the Mitzvos have value, and these Jews are that much closer to eventually understanding their meaning.
Unfortunately time is chipping away at much of the status quo that was in favor of Yiddishkeit, but there still exists much to be thankful for. Shabbos is recognized (although this is an area that has gotten much worse in the past few decades), and one must go out of his way to find real treif food. I recently had to be in a mall and commented to my husband that despite the fact that 80% of the people around did not seem religious, all of the restaurants in the “food court” — about 12 — had some sort of Kahrus certificate. When taking a taxi a few weeks before Pesach, the clearly Chiloni driver began to tell me about how his Pesach cleaning was going — and he didn’t meant spring cleaning! He was discussing scrubbing down his oven and fridge to remove Chometz.
Again, this is a complex topic, and the bottom line is that I think we can all agree that the best solution to this discussion would be the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu and the geulah!