President Shimon Peres, we all know, is a man of visions. Some have been better than others. The less successful ones, that translated into costly, failing and even dangerous policies, were those that denied reality.

What a tragedy that Theodor Herzl’s successors, especially Israel’s first president Chaim Weizmann and his socialist allies, deserted Herzl’s plan to build a Jewish national home in which a prosperous market economy would guarantee its social cohesion and political strength.

In seven years, the Herzliya Conference has expanded so widely that its focus is becoming blurred, its messages buried under an avalanche of sessions and speakers – not all useful.

The reservists’ protest against the Lebanon fiasco could contribute to a politically, economically and socially healthier Israel. If that happens Lebanon II will be remembered as our “second war of independence”, a true war of liberation from a corrupting system which threatens our future existence.