Between being away, and the Marathon Bombing taking over our consciousness, I missed recognizing Yom HaAtzmaut. Of course, with the bombing suspects' Al Qaeda associations, the coincidence may not have been so coincidental....
Israel is now 65 years old. It has gone from underdog to a military and economic force to be reckoned with. It has gone from an agricultural, socialist backwaters of the receding British Empire to a thriving free market economy, at the forefront of high tech, medicine, culture and human rights.
I love Israel.
Happy Birthday!!!!
I was just reading about a four-year-old book, The Israel Test:
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The upshot seems to be this: if you value freedom, creativity, innovation, and individual achievement -- or any subset of these -- you should support Israel, for she has stood in the forefront of all these things. (And her sworn enemies have tried to block these things.)
Israel is unique in many ways. As you pointed out the other day, Israel is believed to be the ONLY country that was greener in 2000 than it was in 1900. Israel leads the world in patents and hi-tech industry and innovation, but is also at the top of the list in terms of world-class medical care and a low ratio of people to hospital beds.
If you visit Israel with your eyes open, you will find your own unique traits -- things that you wouldn't expect to find anywhere else. I remember being boggled when I visited the museum of Jerusalem, in the Old City, which had artifacts from pre-civilized cavemen, Canaanites and pre-Canaanites, all the way forward to the present day. That was amazing enough -- but all the artifacts were in their original locations.
Israel is a wonderful country. She is by no means perfect, but she stands head and shoulders above her critics, and always has.
Happy Birthday!
I just saw this!
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From the same blog: What's it actually like in Israel?
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