Asia Times on Israel at 60

Asia Times Online is an English and Chinese online newspaper that look at the world form Asia, not the West. This week they have a very interesting piece on why Israel is such a successful place. A recommended antidote to the Guardian et.al, even if only for the few minutes it will take you to read it.

It is fashionable these days to speculate about the end of Israel, and Israel's strategic position presents scant cause for optimism, as I contended recently. Israel's future depends on the Israelis. During 2,000 years of exile, Jews remained Jews despite forceful and often violent efforts to make them into Christians or Muslims. One has to suppose that they did not abandon Judaism because they liked being Jewish. With utmost sincerity, the Jews prayed thrice daily, "It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to acclaim the greatness of the One who forms all creation, for God did not make us like the nations of other lands, and did not make us the same as other families of the Earth. God did not place us in the same situations as others, and our destiny is not the same as anyone else's."

If the Israelis are the happiest country on Earth, as the numbers indicate, it seems possible that they will do what is required to keep their country, despite the odds against them.

What a novel thought: the Israelis will not fail because they are determined not to fail. Who would have ever thought of such a thing.