Even supporters don’t realize Israel’s progress
The news about Israel is routinely bad. The UN, always hostile, continues to pass Israel- bashing resolutions. Terrorists recently set wildfires — “The Forest Jihad” — that forced 70,000 Israelis from their homes. The BDS movement in our universities maligns the Jewish state while trying to cripple its economy. After absorbing these daily bulletins, supporters of Israel have trouble fending off depression.
But there’s another way of looking at it. In fact, the current status of Israel actually encourages guarded optimism. There are so many encouraging signs that an American historian has written a 6,000-word essay on the current success of Israel as a nation. He’s published it in Mosaic, an online magazine about Jewish affairs.
The historian is Arthur Herman, author of seven books, including a Douglas MacArthur biography and a best- seller, How the Scots Invented the Modern World. He’s not known for writing about Israel, so he brings fresh eyes to the subject, assessing aspects of current reality that others may ignore. He makes so many points in his essay that he could have developed it as a book, which he may well do in the future.
He’s most persuasive when discussing the new status of Israel in the Middle East. Ever since it was founded, Israel has been treated as a pariah by the Arab nations surrounding it. But that’s changed, partly through the theory that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend.”
It seems clear now that Iran has set out to become the great power in the Middle East and that its dreams of hegemony rest on eventually acquiring nuclear arms. This is not a pleasing thought to Saudi Arabia. A few years ago it was a leading Israel- hater, when Saudi TV broadcast prayers such as “O God, help our weak brothers in Palestine score victory over the usurper Jews.”
But now the Saudis view Israel as a potential ally, so much so that the two countries exchange security information. Anti-Jewish rhetoric has faded from the broadcasting and print media in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
All of the Middle East knows that Iran is a now a terrifying force, but it’s much less terrifying if Israel — the leading military power in the region — is on your side. Herman says this strategic change has registered among Israelis but has so far been largely ignored by Western media.
Another influential role has emerged for Israel: after a slow start, offshore gas deposits will soon make Israel a seller rather than a buyer of energy. Last month Israel’s energy minister, Yuval Steinitz, said he expects gas sales to go in three directions: north to Turkey, south to Egypt and west to Italy. A contract has already been signed to sell gas to Jordan, east of Israel. Turkey is now re- establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, a move that was barely conceivable a couple of years ago.
Herman notes that beyond the Middle East there are nations eager to trade with Israel — countries as distant as China, Japan and the nations of Eastern Europe.
“Their attitudes,” he says, “are based on a major reevaluation of what Israel as a nation represents, and what its existence and survival signify for the future prospects of other nations and regions.”
For years now, Israel has been building its high- tech industry. Quietly, as if report- ing a minor event, business news outlets have noted that Israel has achieved a remarkable position for a country with 8.5 million citizens. Last year Israel ranked number five in the world on the Bloomberg Innovation Index, an annual rating of countries according to research and development budgets, patents, and the percentage of the labour force with advanced degrees and the number of research professionals per million population. Israel came out ahead of France, Singapore and the U. K. The U. S. came in sixth overall. Ahead of Israel were South Korea, Japan, Germany and Finland.
China has been attracted by Israel’s high- tech sector. In early 2010 Yifang Digital bought up Pegasus Technologies, the developer of a digital pen for computers. Meanwhile, major Chinese corporations are searching for Israeli startups to help them compete with U. S. counterparts like Google and Apple. Israeli and Chinese universities are working as partners on joint projects.
Japan is also working toward collaboration. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been urging Japan’s industrialists to copy Israel when learning how to be major innovators. Last year, when Abe brought Japanese executives to the Israel Innovation Forum, he said: “Israel is a country where hundreds of new corporations start up their business every year in information and communications technology, medical services, and agriculture, and also produce innovative technologies. And for Japan, innovation is the engine of our economy. Taking both into account, there is every reason for Japan to co-operate with this great nation.”
Although not all of its supporters understand what’s happening, that’s Israel now: mature nation, self-confident and influential, the product of its own people’s energy and opportunities and history. Despite all its travails ( not ended yet, of course), that’s where it has always wanted to be.
ISRAEL NOW: MATURE, SELFCONFIDENT, INFLUENTIAL.