Over
the weekend I read Startup Nation, the new book about why Israel has
emerged as an unlikely global leader in high-tech. Even if its authors
Dan Senor and Saul Singer were not my friends and, in the case of Saul,
my editor at the post I would still say that it’s the best
advertisement for Israel to come out in recent memory. Foregoing the
usual discussion of Israel as an embattled nation whom everyone hates
and seeks to destroy, it focuses instead on the ingenuity and
invincibility of the Israeli people and their vast technological
contribution to the global economy. Where the Israeli army is discussed
its focus is not on soldiers chasing down terrorists but on how the
Israeli military serves as a future commercial networking tool for
soldiers who served in the same unit. You can see why the book both
informs and inspires.

Am I the only one is just plain tired of
only hearing bad news about Jews and Israel? Remember the old joke of
the Jewish guy who loves reading anti-Semitic magazines. When asked why
he says, “When I read Jewish newspapers all I come across is that we’re
hated and attacked. When I read the anti-Semitic alternatives they tell
me we run the world and have all the money.”

Israel is not a victim. Less so is it a tragic nation. Rather, as
Startup Nation makes clear Israel today is one of the most highly
educated and technologically-advanced nations on earth with one of its
fastest growing economies. And it’s time that Jewish newspapers and
periodicals stopped the sad, tired, worn story that Israel is about to
draw its last breath.

True, Israel has implacable, terrorist enemies that surround it, and
yes, Iran is building a bomb which is an existential threat to the
Jewish state. That’s all mighty serious stuff. These threats should and
must be discussed, confronted, and ultimately neutralized, by force if
necessary. But is that all there is to the modern Jewish story? Is
there not also a story of tremendous success? Just imagine what a
downer it is for the rest of the world to hear that the Jews only see
themselves as perennial victims who are about to be murdered. And
propagating only that bad news means that people learn to tune Israel
out. Whenever they see the country coming up on the news – which is all
the time – they naturally assume it’s some tragic, depressing story. So
they either turn the channel or worse, they watch it and conclude that
Israel is a place of guns, bombs, and bullets. If only they could hear
about Israeli universities ranking in the top ten worldwide, of the
growing number of Nobel Prize winners, of Andy Grove, Warren Buffet,
and Bill Gates rushing to invest in Israel, and how a crazy percentage
of all the world’s computer chips are manufactured in the Jewish state.

The time has come for world Jewry to no longer look at the Jewish
state only as the refuge for a persecuted people and instead focus on
Israel as the place where the limitless potential of the Jewish people
is finally being manifest. All we needed was for people to get out of
our way, to rid ourselves of countries that shoved us into ghettoes or
gave quotas as to how many Jews could attend University, and just look
at how much we now thrive. And we prosper not as a self-absorbed nation
but as a people who make vast contributions to the welfare of all
mankind.

It is time for Israel to begin seriously considering forgoing
American economic aid. I understand the military aid. Israel has an
insane number of crazies who wish to attack and destroy it. But the
economic aid creates an unnecessary dependency, undermines the
perception of Israel as a prosperous country, and gives the United
States undo influence over Israeli policy. And surely we all believe
that decisions governing Israel’s right to defend itself should be
taken by the Israeli Prime Minister rather than the American President.

There is more.

Many a Jew has wondered aloud why the Arabs got all the oil and
Israel got none. What could G-d have been thinking in making despots
and dictators like the Saudis and Kaddafi so insanely rich while Israel
has to struggle for every shekel it earns. Only now to do we see the
truth. Oil is the greatest curse ever to befall the Arabs. By digging a
hole and having money flow from the ground, the Arab states had little
incentive to build world-class Universities and a thriving high-tech
industry. And when the day finally comes – and it will come – when the
world is wise enough to finally find an alternative energy source to
oil, these despotic regimes will completely collapse.

This isn’t rocket science. All of us, I’m sure, know at least one
rich friend whose kids had to work for very little and who consequently
became spoiled and indolent. Israel has had to work for every thing it
has. No country in world history has ever been more unjustly reviled or
more ferociously and continuously attacked. Conversely, no country
better inspires the world to ponder the infinite capacity of humans to
rise from the ashes – and in the case of the holocaust, quite literally
- and build a shining state on a hill.

Israel still has a lot of problems and a lot of enemies who seek to
destroy it. It must be hyper vigilant and forever strong. But it is
time for the other side of the story to be highlighted as well. And I
hope that more books like Start Up Nation will begin to focus on
Israel’s colossal achievements rather than merely its insurmountable
threats.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of This World: The Values
Network, has just published ‘The Blessing of Enough’ and ‘The Michael
Jackson Tapes.’ http://www.shmuley.com.