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David M. Weinberg

              Israel

            Insight          Israel is Winning





                   cold strategic assessment leads   or Samaria? Palestinian leaders can bellow   sectors do lag behind). The country now
                   to the  conclusion that the State   away at the UN, but everybody knows   has natural gas and  desalinated   water
           A of Israel at 70 is  winning.        that   Palestinians and Israelis (and others)   riches, which should make Israel self-
                                                 are better off with the current situation   in     sufficient as well as a strategic player in the
             Statehood                           which Israel controls  Judea and Samaria.     regional resources market.

           Across Arab expanses, countries are
           crumbling,   borders are being erased, and   Diplomacy                       Aliyah
           societies are being  torn apart. In contrast,   North American public opinion remains   There are three million refugees on the
           the nation state of Israel is   resolute, its   staunchly pro-Israel – which means   roads and high seas, and another 30
           borders unyielding, its society robust.   Washington   and Ottawa can be expected   million  could yet   follow  –  all  fleeing
                                                 to stand by Israel’s side. Moreover, Israel’s   Africa and Arabia. Only Israel is attracting
             Security                            diplomatic horizons are   expanding to   immigration:  about  30,000  olim
           In the face of Iranian ambitions, Russian   include allies beyond North American and      (immigrants) a year. Most of them could go
           adventurism, and American retrenchment,   Europe. Trade and security delegations   elsewhere but they are choosing Israel!
           Israel   stands firm with the strongest   are   beating a path to Jerusalem seeking
           military in the Middle East, and with   opportunities to cooperate with Israel,   Identity
           steady, experienced hands at the   helm.   not isolate it. Behind the   scenes, Israel’s   One  of  the  strengths  of  Israeli  society  is
           Vigilance,  patience,  and  diplomatic  relations with Egypt and key Gulf states   attenuation of the religious-secular divide,
           nimbleness are seeing Israel through the   have never been better.           and  intensification of faith as an anchor in
           regional storms.                                                             the country’s oeuvre. Israel is increasingly
                                                 Strategy                               a nation of believers,  with a mass spiritual
             Territory                           Key  global  players  have  come  to  accept   searching underway. This too is ultimately

           Israel knows how to defend its borders,   Israel’s strategic platform, i.e. that main   a source of solidarity and strength.
           and hasn’t made any serious withdrawal   conflict is no   longer Israel versus the
           mistakes   lately. Can you imagine the   Palestinians or Israel  versus the Arabs.   Overall, Israel is stronger than any of its
           suffering Israelis would be experiencing
                                                 Instead, the main axis of diplomatic  activity
                                                                                        enemies. Neither the perpetual Palestinian
         "                                       between Israel and most of the Arabs   Israel, nor the unstable regional situation
                                                 in the Middle East is an unofficial alliance
           had we withdrawn from the Golan  Heights
                                                                                        conundrum, nor   the Iranian threat to
                                                                                        – dim my optimism. Israel is winning on
                                                 (together  with   Western  powers),  against
                                                                                          all fronts, even though there are inevitable
                                                 the  Iranians  and  the  jihadis.  The  forces
                                                                                        conflicts ahead.
                                                 of stability and moderation (with   Israel
                                                 leading) are arrayed against the forces
           Israel is
                                                                                        – adorned by sacrifice, commitment,
                                                 an Israeli “grand   strategy” of sorts, and
           winning on all                        of  radical  Islamic  revolution.  So  there  is   Furthermore, life in Israel is full of meaning
                                                                                        achievement and joy;  ingredients that make
                                                 it  has  largely  been  successful.  It  involves
           fronts, even                          being  both  flexible  and  firm.  It involves   life satisfying and exciting, particularly
                                                   positioning Israel as a regional anchor of
                                                                                        for Jews who have long awaited a  national
           though there                          sanity and a global source of ingenuity.   return to Zion. And this gives Israel
                                                                                        fortitude for the long haul ahead.
                                                   Economy
           are inevitable                        Israeli science and technology is in high   David M. Weinberg is the Vice-
           conflicts ahead                       demand. Israel’s foreign currency reserves   President of  the Jerusalem
                                                                                        Institute for Strategic  Studies
                                                 are deep,   its debt manageable, its banks
                                                 solvent, its public educated and productive   www.davidweinberg.com,
                                                 (although the ultra-Orthodox  and   Arab   www.jiss.org.il

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