Energy minister Yuval Steinitz made the headlines last week when he  was quoted as saying,"I eat hametz on Passover".

He had to keep a  low profile after that admission.

There  was  a time when this  was not a situation one had to wriggle out of  but a part pf the proud red socialist flag held high  by those who ruled Israel for fifty years, before and after the establishment of the state.

Today, soccer players are demanding their Sabbath observance not affect their chances of playing and they are being listened to.

The current controversy over the actions of sergeant Elor Azaria is another sign that times are changing.

As soon as he  finished off the wounded but potentially threatening (as he thought)  terrorist in Hevron, the  military and political establishment proclaimed  that a very serious infraction was committed and will be investigated and prosecuted rigorously.

The film taken by the EU funded. pro Palestinian NGO, B'tzelem, catapulted the establishment and media into the usual knee jerk frenzy of breast pounding and  self flagellation.

What will the world  say? How  do  we look in the eyes of such a caring, concerned world?

The Jewish public felt differently. Polls show that two thirds of the Israeli Jewish public supports the soldier - who was immediately arrested and put into chains.

PM  Netanyahu, like many politicians, knows how to gauge the direction of the political winds and in the wake of the immediate public fury promptly made a call to the soldier's father explaining that he too is the father of a soldier and understands....

He and minister of education Bennett later got into a sharp exchange over rumored plans to relinquish security control of parts of Arab controlled "area A" from where waves of terror had emanated before Israel went back in and allowed the IDF freedom to act there, while leaving all other aspects of government to the Palestinian Authority.. But Israel is toying with the idea of giving the PA another chance to be in charge of security, to please the caring  world

Opposition MK Lieberman too continues his attacks on the PM for his less than resolute actions vis a  vis the Hamas tunnel threat from Gaza.

It was not only the Right that was heard this week. Opposition leader Herzog said that the Labor party is seen by too many Israelis as 'Arab lovers"(true) and that "we must set the record straight  that we are not on our enemies' side."

This  was very interesting. The Labor party of Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, and Rabin, never openly sought Arab support. It was not what they were about then . However as the Right came to power they sought a wider base and began a continual slide away from their classic Zionist stand to a more "cosmopolitan", liberal" one. This did indeed attract Arab voters and MK's(one, MK Balul who said, as member of Knesset, that" the Arabs who attacked the soldiers in Hevron were not terrorists but were fighting an "illegal occupation").

The Jewish population  has progressively given up on Labor. "Left" is becoming a  nasty word in Israel (thanks to Oslo and  its consequences.)

Poor Herzog. He is under attack from his party Left stalwarts and still the Jewish majority just does not trust or like those "Arab lovers".

Polls taken this week indicate that two thirds of Israels support sergeant Elor Azaria and interestingly enough, another poll showed equal numbers of Jews who do not eat chametz on Pesach.

They are probably  one and the same. They are  the ones more likely to spend the holiday in Israel than abroad. The ones  seeking chametz abroad are mostly the 1.7 children and a dog population.

There is a palpable shift in the demographics of Israel.

 Now all we need is for our leader to channel this awakening of common sense and self respect towards a clear direction.

The writer is a popular English-speaking tour guide in Israel, who can be reached at www.shalompollacktours.co.il