Not Intel; rather: Israel Inside*

Judging from world opinion vociferously protesting the Israeli so-called "occupation" and 'oppression of Palestinians' and 'apartheid' policy (and 'atrocities in Gaza,' and blah blah blah) one would think that little Israel (wasn't it the French ambassador who once called it "that shitty little country?") is not worth more than a passing thought, and a negative one at that.

However, everyone who really knows the country (and the people and the culture), including countless bloggers (yours truly among them), have often written about the seemingly miraculous birth of Israel and it's developing global greatness.

Enter George Gilder with a new future blockbuster book (you heard it here first...er...second: see Israel Matzav) entitled The Israel Test. In it he shines the light on Israel's emerging greatness as a world class player on the science, technology and economic global stage, (read Mr. Gilder's riveting essay in it's entirety on his Discovery Institute website), to wit (emphasis mine) :

Israel has become one of the most important economies in the world, and is second only to the United States in its pioneering of technologies benefiting human life, prosperity, and peace.

Like the Jews throughout history, Israel poses a test to the world. In particular, it is a test for any people that lusts for the fruits of capitalism without submitting to capitalism’s imperious moral code. Because capitalism, like the biblical faith from which it largely arises, remorselessly condemns to darkness and death those who resent the achievements of others.

At the heart of anti-Semitism is resentment of Jewish achievement. Today that achievement is concentrated in Israel. Obscured by the usual media coverage of the “war-torn” Middle East, Israel has become one of the most important economies in the world, second only to the United States in its pioneering of technologies benefitting human life, prosperity, and peace.

How many times have I previously written in this blog about how politically incorrect it is to support the Jews or Israel? About the illogicality and psychology of anti-Semitism? Let me count the ways: three cases in point, here, here and here, to name just a few. And now comes a renowned author and intellectual, who says this:



Talk about politically incorrect. But hey, let's face it--the Jewish People and their country the State of Israel are politically incorrect le-chatchila**. And I am damn proud to be counted amongst them.

Just tried to place a hold on The Israel Test at my local library, but they don't have it in their system: too new. So I'm going to read it right after I finish "The Late Great State of Israel by Aaron Klein." It all depends on what path Israel (and the rest of the world), will take.

*Israel Inside: from The American Spectator article about Mr. Gilder's book:

Israel has become such a huge driving force in computing and telecommunications that Gilder intellectually riffs off the "Intel Inside" logo that sits on the exterior case of countless millions of personal computers, and says that today's Internet and computers should be labeled "Israel Inside."

**le-chatchila (pronounced with a gutteral 'ch,' not as in English): 'from the beginning, or the outset.'