We should all move to Israel, the world’s mirage
Israel today has what most of Western countries don’t have in terms of economic growth, security, internal dynamism and optimism.
The State of Israel is silently rewriting the map of friends and enemies, adding more and more to the first category. There are the improved ties with economic powerhouses such as Japan, China, Russia, South Korea, Singapore and India. There is the increasing cooperation with Greece and Cyprus. There is the new normalization with Turkey. There is the new liason with dozens of African nations: Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Guinea, Chad, South Sudan, Zambia and Ivory Coast.
Only five countries are still identified as Israel’s enemies: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea. And of these, only the first can really threaten the security of the Jewish State.
Only five countries are still identified as Israel’s enemies: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea.
Israel, one of the most successful economic stabilization case of modern history, is recognized as an entrepreneurship paradise, second only to the Silicon Valley. A paradise also for water desalination and medical-scientific innovations. It is amazing that since May 15, 1948, a land encircled by absurd borders and surrounded by hostile nations, reclaimed the Negev, built industries, set up scientific laboratories and modernized the desert.
Israel has been the only example of socialist success, since the Israeli collective farm, the kibbutz, was born long before the Soviet collective farms and has been the backbone of Israeli society. From a socialist country, Israel has become a Westernized one and most Israeli citizens nowadays live a relatively wealthy lifestyle. Most international economic indices of wealth show Israel in the top 10 percent of countries worldwide.
Israel is a military powerhouse able to protect its own citizens like no European nations is able to do today. Think about the last “Third Intifada”: it has been stopped in a very efficient way. Think about Gaza’s wars. Think about the calm on the Israeli northern border since 2006.
Israel is a world model for immigration: Jews came to Israel from Eastern Europe, Soviet Union and Islamic countries where democracy and rule of law never existed, yet Israel has been able to establish a glorious democracy. Israel reconciled a German Jew, soaked in secular and positivist philosophy, with a Moroccan illiterate Jew.
Israel has the highest birth rate in the industrialized world. And the Jewish birth rate is now rising steadily, while the Arab birth rate is falling.
Israeli Arabs are 95 percent literate—the highest rate for Arabs anywhere in the Middle East.
Israel created a world’s unique culture, a mix of patriotism, humanism, cosmopolitanism, consumerism, religious passion, modernity, ancientry, individualism and collective memory. No other nation can claim today such a flourishing and mixed culture. Not the multicultural splintered Europe. Not the hedonistic US.
When Israel was born, nobody would have bet a penny on the future of this tiny endangered country. Today, the Jewish State is a mirage for other countries and a miracle for Jews.
Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author of the book “A New Shoah”, that researched the personal stories of Israel’s terror victims, published by Encounter and of “J’Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel” published by Mantua Books.. His writing has appeared in publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Frontpage and Commentary.
I am so proud of Israel, and amazed at her accomplishments.
In particular, coming up as she did after the horrible
persecution Jewish people suffered in the 2nd world war.
The memory that lingered with me most after visiting
Israel, was “a feeling of freedom out of ashes.”
Positive article pointing out what is good in Israel. This is as opposed to those writers or commentators whose writing reflect their negative perception of things.