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WHO
NEEDS ISRAEL, ANYWAY?
Pat Boone
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The
above question, either in word or implication, is being voiced by way too
many these days, as people and governments cast about desperately for
lasting solutions in the Middle East.
Many Western and European political leaders – having heard the
deprecations and the determination to wipe Israel off the face of the
earth, from the likes of Palestinian Yasser Arafat, Saudi Arabian Osama
bin Laden, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and so many
other power brokers in the region – have come dangerously close to
deciding that little Israel is the "thorn in the side" of world order.
The next logical thought is: "Who needs Israel? Let her be erased, her
people dispersed (or whatever), and the Middle East can settle comfortably
into a harmonious Islamic community of states. Problem solved!"
What folly. What suicidal blindness.
I just returned from a momentous event in our nation's capital. An
organization called Christians United for Israel, or CUFI, convened 4,000
people from all 50 states in several days of briefings and strategy
sessions, culminating in an exhilarating, rousing rally in the D.C.
Convention Center featuring Jewish leaders and top Christian ministers
celebrating the things we hold in common and the spiritual bonds that
unite us. The next day, several thousand of the participants fanned out
over Washington and Capitol Hill, lobbying virtually every representative
and senator on behalf of Israel and its sovereignty.
Why? Couldn't we all see this is an exercise in futility, an unnecessary
bother … that we'd all be better off if Israel didn't exist?
No, we all see clearly that the world needs Israel. The whole world.
What do I mean? Consider:
Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's
population, can make claim to an astounding number of society's advances
in almost every direction!
Intel's new multi-core processor was completely developed at facilities in
Israel. And our ubiquitous cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola,
which has its largest development center in the little land.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology was pioneered in Israel.
AirTrain JFK – the 8.1-mile light rail labyrinth that connects JFK Airport
to NYC's mass transit – is protected by the Israeli-developed Nextiva
surveillance system.
Bill Gates calls Israel "a major player in the high-tech world"; most of
Windows NT operating system was 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 U.S. in Israel; and,
with more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the
highest concentration of high-tech companies in the world apart from the
Silicon Valley.
Get this: Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and
technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the
U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25 percent
of its workforce employed in technical professions, Israel places first in
this category as well!
It goes on and on.
The Weizmann Institute of Science has been voted "the best university in
the world for life scientists to conduct research." Israeli researchers
have:
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Discovered the molecular trigger
that causes psoriasis.
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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!
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Designed the first flight system
to protect passenger and freighter aircraft against missile attack.
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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!
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Perfected a new device that
directly helps the heart 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.
These are only a few of Israel's
recent contributions to the welfare of the world. There are just too many
to list here. Water shortage, global warming, space travel, anti-virus,
anti-smallpox, blood pressure, solar power, paralysis, diabetes, data
storage – these and hundreds more – are being addressed by Israel's
scientists. They're pioneering in DNA research, using tiny strands to
create human transistors that can literally build themselves – and playing
an important role in identifying a defective gene that causes a rare and
usually fatal disease in Arab infants!
WHO NEEDS ISRAEL? WHO DOESN'T?
Israel produces more scientific
papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin; it has the
largest number of startup companies globally, second only to the U.S.; it
is No. 2 in the world for venture capital funds, financing all these
advances; its $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate
neighbors combined; and Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle
East.
And while it maintains, by far, the highest average living standards and
per-capita income, exceeding even those of the UK, Israel is the largest
immigrant-absorbing nation on earth, relative to its population. It is
truly an unparalleled marvel of our time.
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
Arabic neighbors. Though there are ominous biblical consequences
pronounced on those who "curse Israel," there are also wonderful blessings
promised those who "bless" her – and we're seeing those real, practical,
humanitarian blessings proliferate around the world, blessing all
humanity.
Stop just for a second and imagine a world today that never knew Israel.
And then go further: Given their living standards, ideologies and
attitudes toward all who dare to disagree with them, imagine what our
world would be like if Israel's enemies held sway. Would you rather live
in an Iran, Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan? Or in Israel?
Who needs Israel? Let's be honest. We all do.
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Pat Boone was the second
most popular singer of the late '50s (second only to Elvis),
and is also a songwriter ("Exodus"), actor, believer in Yeshua and fervent supporter
of Israel.
This article was first posted as a
World Net Daily Exclusive Commentary
on July 21, 2007, and is reprinted by permission.
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