Does the world need Israel? - opinion

In Israel, such incidents are not rare. We find them in our political parties, our trades unions and NGO, where a few misguided left-wing activists are trying to poison and brainwash the large majority of working men and women into believing that the scourge of Muslim extremism and terrorism can be eradicated by solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that if yet another Arab state is brought into existence, then the Islamic steamroller will run out of steam.

Among the self-hating Jews are members of our armed forces, organized as “Breaking the Silence,” who spread falsehoods about IDF activities against Arabs, like poisoning or closing their water sources or wells. I heard them on one of their field trips.

Yet dozens of sick Arabs from the terrorist Gaza Strip are being cured in Israel. Even the niece of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh was treated in an Israeli hospital during the recent 11-day war.

In the UK, the National Union of Journalists, the Transport and General Workers Union and the University and College Union in Britain believe that by a campaign to boycott Israel and goods produced there will bring about change in the Middle East; that if Israel will be isolated and considered a pariah state, she will suffer economically, as was the case in South Africa. Interestingly, their comments on Zimbabwe – where as a result of the dispossession of the white farmers, the country is now on the verge of total economic collapse – pale into insignificance compared with their condemnation of Israel, which is among the technologically most advanced nations in the world, and a leader in IT technology, competing with Silicon Valley.

Then there is our new “government of change,” whose leaders were so keen to attain power, they enticed the Arab Ra’am Party to join them to make up the 61 Knesset members required for a majority, even at a disproportionate cost. As one of my radio listeners commented: “There is an Arabic proverb which says, ‘My brother and I against my cousin; my cousin and I are against the stranger, which means blood is thicker than water.” Therefore, Ra’am Party leader Mansour Abbas’s familial bonds will always be stronger than bonds of expediency. He has already stated, “We are part of the Palestinian people,” making him an overt Trojan horse.

If successful, the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions movement advocated by the Israel-haters, or more correctly the antisemites, would bring with it unimaginable damage to their own countries’ economy and health services. Let’s consider just some of the consequences.

Israel, the 100th smallest country with less than 1/1000th of the world’s population, can lay claim to an astounding number of advances in almost every field. (WorldNetDaily contributed to the next four paragraphs).

Without Israel, you would have to throw away most of your laptops, PCs and mobile phones, because Intel’s new multi-core processor was completely developed at facilities in Israel. And our ubiquitous mobile phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its largest development center in that little land. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology was also pioneered in Israel.

In a rare public comment on the value of Israel’s work in helping make Microsoft what it is, Bill Gates said that Israeli developments in tech areas like analytics and security were “improving the world.” And he called Israel “a major player in the hi-tech world.” Several Windows operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel; the Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel; both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel; and, with more than 3,000 hi-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world outside Silicon Valley.

In 2019, more than 8.2% of Israel’s workers were employed in technical professions. In 2016, the latest year for which Occupational Employment Statistics survey data are available in the USA, 4.9% of workers were employed in science and technology. So Israel occupies first place in this category, as well.

AirTrain – the 8.1-mile light rail labyrinth that connects JFK Airport to New York City’s mass transit – is protected by the Israeli-developed Nextiva surveillance system. Israel’s expertise in anti-terrorist security is sought after in many parts of the world.

ISRAELI RESEARCHERS have also accomplished the following:

 

• Designed the first flight system to protect passenger and freighter aircraft against missile attack. 

• Developed the Ex-Press shunt to provide relief for glaucoma sufferers.

• Unveiled a blood test that diagnoses heart attacks – by telephone!

• Found a combination of electrical stimulation and chemotherapy that makes cancerous metastases disappear – and developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

• Developed the first ingestible video camera – so small it fits inside a pill – used to view the small intestine from the inside, enabling doctors to diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

• Perfected a new device that directly helps the heart to pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with congestive heart failure, synchronizing the heart’s mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

• Discovered the molecular trigger that causes psoriasis. And lots more.

Of course, those boycott calls are not only an anti-Israel campaign, but, by their very nature, are antisemitic.

The much-respected, late Ann Landers, who for 45 years wrote a syndicated column in many newspapers across America, once reminded her readers that it’s a free world and you don’t have to like Jews if you don’t want to, but if you are going to be an antisemite, you should be consistent and turn your back on the medical advances that Jews have made possible. So, go ahead and boycott all medicines that were researched and developed by Jews. Let me just list a few:

 

• The vaccine for hepatitis, discovered by Baruch Bloomberg

• Bela Schick developed the first diagnostic test for diphtheria;

• The Wasserman test for syphilis, developed by August von Wasserman, and the first effective drug to fight that decease, developed by Paul Ehrlich;

• Insulin would not have been discovered if Oskar Minskowski had not demonstrated the link between diabetes and the pancreas.

• It was Burril Crohn who identified the disease that bears his name;

• Alfred Hess discovered that vitamin C could cure scurvy;

• Casimir Funk was the first to use vitamin B to treat beriberi, an inflammation of the nerves that can cause heart failure; and

• Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine, and later, Albert Sabin perfected an oral version.

And these are only some of the medicines developed by Jews. Humanitarianism requires us to offer these gifts to all peoples of the world, regardless of race, color or creed. Antisemites who want to boycott these gifts can go ahead and turn them down, but I suspect that when it comes to their own health and survival, their principles fly out the window.

So, what’s the point of all this?

Simply that the very idea of eradicating or even displacing Israel from its historic home is suicidal to the rest of the world, not just her Arab neighbors.

US trade unions, including the American Postal Workers and Teamsters have attacked their British counterparts for planning to boycott Israel. In a strongly worded statement, they wrote, “Imagine a world today that never knew Israel.” Signed by over 20 representatives from trade unions, it said in part, “Rather than divestment from Israel, we believe that investment of time, energy and material aid is the best means to alleviate the ongoing suffering of Palestinians and Israelis.” 

They further slammed plans for any academic boycott, stating, “Rather than limiting interactions with Israeli educators, academics and educational institutions, we see the importance of maximizing, rather than proscribing, the free flow of ideas and academic interaction between peoples, cultures, religions and countries.”

Now stop just for a second and imagine a world today that never knew Israel. And then go further and imagine what our world would be like if Israel’s enemies held sway. Would you rather live in Iran, Iraq, Syria or Hamastan, or in Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East?

That is emphasized by the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations representing more than 12.5 million working people, the largest federation of trades unions in the United States. It is made up of 55 national and international unions.

Its president, Richard Trumka, said about Israel, “So long as I’m president, you will never have a stronger ally than the AFL-CIO!”

Who needs Israel? Let’s be honest. Everyone does.