Anti-Israel is meaningless

As for the first author, please refer to my previous postings (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20130604)(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20131209)(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20140604)(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20141004)(http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20141009).

1.Algemeiner（http://www.algemeiner.com）
Is Israel Ostracized?, 15 October 2014
by Yoram Ettinger
The elitist media outlets in Israel, Western Europe and the U.S. are wrong! Israel is increasingly appreciated and embraced — not ostracized — by the global community.
In defiance of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Britain, and despite the recent Gaza war, Israel’s exports to Britain and the Israel-Britain trade balance, surged by 38 percent and 28 percent respectively between January and August 2014 (as compared to the same period in 2013), expanding employment in both countries. In addition, there were 37 Israeli-British mergers, acquisitions and British stock market initial public offerings during the same period.
The swelling Israel-Britain trade balance highlights Israel’s special capabilities in the global market, generating cutting-edge technological and scientific developments which have given rise to unique medical, health care, agricultural, software and defense technologies and products. Moreover, most of Israel’s export is business-to-business based, supplying leading international businesses with critical components and technologies, which enhance the quality and reduces the cost of their own products, revolutionizing quality of life, in general, and commercial/defense performance, in particular. Israeli exports provide American, European, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, South Korean and additional global giants with a competitive edge in the global market.
Israel’s unique achievements in the area of health care were underscored in the Forbes June 2014 list of 10 health tech companies changing the world. Five of them were Israeli. “It’s amazing that Israel — a country of only 8 million people — produces so many leading health technology companies,” David E. Williams, president of the U.S.-based Health Business Group, told the Grapevine. According to Williams, “Israel’s highly educated technical and medical workers are reared in a society that prizes problem-solving and innovation, placing tremendous value on curing illness and saving lives.”
Israel bureau chief for the U.S. magazine Defense News, Barbara Opall-Rome, sheds light on the global added-value of Israel’s defense industries and Israel’s rising weapon exports, which have grown in recent years. The latest conflict in Gaza revealed Israel’s unique advantage, being the world’s largest and most advanced battle testing laboratory, especially in the area of shielding civilians from short-range missiles and defending tank crews against guided missiles.
According to Opall, “over the past five years, Israel has had military sales of around $7 billion annually, and it puts Israel in the top five of the world’s arms-exporting nations. … India is one of Israel’s biggest customers, buying everything from ship and air defense systems to anti-tank missiles and drones.”
After the latest Gaza operation, Bloomberg reported that Shiite Azerbaijan is the leading supplier of oil to Israel and a major buyer of advanced Israeli military systems, despite criticism from its neighbors, Iran and Turkey.
The California-based Entrepreneur magazine suggests that “one country that stands out from the rest when it comes to research and development is Israel. In fact, it ranks second only to Silicon Valley for startups. … The pool of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent in Israel is huge. There are 140 scientists, technicians and engineers for every 10,000 Israeli employees, compared to 85 per 10,000 in the USA. … Israel is flush with entrepreneurs, second in numbers only to Silicon Valley. The country is filled with people with courage, drive, creativity, boldness and tenacity, who will move mountains to achieve their goals and dreams.”
Israel’s educational standing in the world was noted by the recent OECD 2014 Education at a Glance study, published by Yahoo Finance in September: Israel ranks fourth in the world as far as post-high school educated population (46.4 percent of the population), trailing Japan (46.6 percent), Canada (52.6 percent) and Russia (53.5 percent), but ahead of the U.S., Korea, Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Ireland.
The respectable, growing slate of more than 250 high-tech global giants with R&D centers in Israel proves how integrated Israel is in the global economy. These companies include Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Motorola, Computer Associates, Qualcomm, HP, EMC, GE, AT&T, Xerox, Dell, AMD, Marvell, Cisco, GM, Google, Oracle, Paypal, McAfee, Polycom, Telefonica, Ebay, AOL, Yahoo, SanDisk, SAP, Siemens, Philips, Deutsche Telekom, Samsung, etc. A recent arrival in Israel is Russian Internet Security giant Kaspersky Labs, which will inaugurate its first Israeli R&D center in Jerusalem.
2014 is shaping up to be an Israeli record year for raising capital, with Israeli IPOs on Wall Street surpassing $3.5 billion. Two of the top 10 Wall Street IPOs were Israeli companies — Mobileye ($890 million) and Israel Chemicals ($507 million). Intercontinental Exchange, the global network of exchanges and clearing houses, acquired Israel’s SuperDerivatives for $350 million, as its R&D center. Pulse Secure acquired Israel’s cyber company, Mobile Spaces, for $100 million.
On September 22, despite the war in Gaza and because of Israel’s brain power and cutting edge and game-changing technologies, Intel announced an additional $6 billion investment in its existing Israeli arsenal (four R&D centers and two manufacturing plants), which will develop the next generation of Intel’s chips.
Intel’s substantial investment constitutes a resounding vote of confidence in the long-term, geo-strategic and economic viability of Israel, as confirmed by Moody’s credit rating, sustaining Israel’s investment grade at A1 — a low credit risk.
And where does that leave the anti-Israel BDS movement, the Gaza conflict and other conventional and terrorist threats? Based on Israel’s track record, they are bumps in the road of unprecedented growth and acceptance.
・This article was originally published by Israel Hayom.
2.Jerusalem Post（http://www.jpost.com）
by Mitchell Bard
Mｙths and Facts About American Campuses: #3 College students care about Middle East issues , 15 October 2014

Every summer, campus organizations steel themselves for what they expect to be a yearlong campaign by Israel deniers to condemn Israel for real and imagined faults, promote boycotts and divestment and spread propaganda. Each year the challenge is viewed a little differently, usually with the expectation the situation will be worse than the year before, but over the last several years, the reality has been that, with the exception of roughly two dozen campuses (usually the same ones each year), the campuses have been placid. This year the great fear was that the Gaza War would be an issue, but, to this point it has not.

One reason for the lack of activity thus far is the campus calendar, which usually mitigates against major anti-Israel campaigns before the winter. In the fall, students are just arriving at school; some are freshmen trying to find their way in a new world. Student organizations do not meet during the summer, and the membership changes each year as a result of graduation, attrition and changing student interests. Consequently, most of the organizations (including pro-Israel ones) spend the first weeks of school getting organized, holding introductory meetings, recruiting members and raising money.

Both Israel deniers and Israel’s supporters also face the challenge of arousing their politically apathetic classmates who comprise most of the student body. Arthur Levine, a former president of Teachers College at Columbia, who has written three books on different generations’ behaviors and beliefs, says that students today are pragmatic; most do not go to college to expand their horizons and learn more about the world. Their principal motivation is to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to get a job and earn money. Therefore, propaganda passes them by; they are more likely to keep their heads down and ignore the guerilla theater, rallies and walls Israel deniers place in their path and rush off to the library or class to ensure their grades will get them a good job or acceptance to graduate school.

When Harvard asked 18-29 year-olds what issue most concerned them, jobs and health care were their top choices (11%), followed by education (7%). Foreign affairs and budget/government spending were next on the list with only 6% identifying them as their main worry.

As the AICE/TIP poll of students and other surveys have documented, most students know very little about Middle East issues, and care even less. To the extent they express an opinion, they support Israel and have little sympathy for the Palestinians.

Beyond lack of interest, we have also seen a shift in emphasis by many chapters of the Muslim Student Association, which, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, was once the most virulently anti-Israel group on campus. In the last two years however, many MSAs have been preoccupied with religious observances of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. This is a continuation of a trend where Muslim student organizations engage in less political activism and focus more on their faith.

These factors have mitigated against a serious campaign based on the Gaza War. You can still find Facebook entries pointing to videos and articles criticizing Israel, but this propaganda effort has been directed primarily at fellow members of the anti-Israel choir rather than the campus at-large.

The Gaza War has also been a non-issue because it began and ended before school started. Students without a particular interest in the Middle East were working, playing, studying and paying little attention to the news. If the war was ongoing then the situation might be different because detractors could point to real-time issues, but now it is already ancient history.

Curiously, the detractors have also directed their energy in an entirely different direction, namely, Ferguson, Missouri. Many of the anti-Israel activists have been railing about the situation there and participating in protests in a transparent and futile effort to draw some analogy between the victimization of an African American and the Palestinians. They may also hope to form alliances with African American students angered by Ferguson, but such a temporary coalition will not necessarily translate into African American support for an anti-Israel agenda.

Students will get agitated about tuition increases, but are far less concerned with issues beyond the campus. They do want to make a difference in the world, but prefer to do it on a micro level, by getting their hands dirty and actively engaging in public service. They care less about issues beyond their control, such as the future of the Middle East. The bad news is that many Jewish students are also apathetic. The good news is the Israel deniers have a very small audience.

・Dr. Mitchell Bard is the author/editor of 24 books including After Anatevka: Tevye in Palestine and The Arab Lobby and Death to the Infidels: Radical Islam’s War Against the Jews.
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"Lily's Room"

This is an article collection between June 2007 and December 2018. Sometimes I add some recent articles too.

Anti-Israel is meaningless