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The Resilient Jewish State

(Middle East Quarterly) Efraim Inbar - Israel has faced existential threats from its neighbors since its inception. At the same time, Israel's foes in the Arab world are consumed with severe political, social, and economic crises and have little energy and resources to build mighty militaries to attack Israel. The rise in political Islam may bring about a growing motivation to destroy the Jewish state, but what counts in the final analysis is capability. The only grave national security challenge in the region is a nuclear Iran. While the world has become more attentive to Israel's perspective on this matter, the international community has failed so far to stop Tehran's nuclear buildup. It is quite possible that Israel might be left alone to deal with the ayatollahs, something that is not beyond its capabilities. During the 2009-12 global economic crisis, Israel experienced a 14.7% growth of GDP, the highest among OECD countries. Israel's 2012 GDP growth (3.3%) led the rest of the OECD, which averaged only 1.4%. Israel's foreign exchange reserves expanded from $25 billion in 2004 to $75 billion in 2012. The writer is professor of political studies and director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2013-09-13 00:00:00
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