Scripture for Today, 7-10-19: History & Israel

History: A PERSPECTIVE ON ISRAEL
From a relatively poor country to one of the 25 richest in the world - God protects Israel
 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

Isaiah 41:11-12; Lamentations 2:18; Zechariah 2:8; Numbers 24:9

7-8-19, * -- To many, Israel today is the Start Up nation, a wealthy and a militarily powerful state. It did not become that overnight. Some radical anti-Israel voices erroneously describe Israel as “white.” The facts however are different; as there are over one hundred thousand immigrants from Ethiopia, African economic migrants in the thousands, and Mizrahi Jews from the Arab Middle East, who comprise about half the population.
 
Israelis of all colors and creeds made the desert bloom, overcoming the hardships of wars, terror, and absorbing millions of Jewish refugees without any natural resources. Known today for its unique entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, the nation was reborn as an independent state in 1948. She was bereft of natural and financial resources, little economic infrastructure and few public services. In the 1950’s the government instituted rations; families were allocated monthly food stamps that allowed them to buy limited amounts of meat, sugar, flour, oil and eggs. As a small child I grew up with Holocaust survivors; their ordeals shaped the minds of children, including this reporter.
 
At that time Israel had a quasi-socialist economy, lacking major private ownership of economic entities.  Banks, the national airline - El Al, Israel’s shipping fleet - ZIM, were government owned and operated. And, what the government did not own, the trade unions or Histadrut owned. This was a critical period in the country’s history, that coincided with a massive inflow of immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, and the Maghreb (North Africa), who had to be housed, fed, clothed and employed. Given the shortage of capital, the burden of dealing with these problems fell upon the public sector. 
 
In Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, a full 1% of the Jewish population was killed and the country’s infrastructure was in disarray. The U.S. and Britain imposed an embargo on the sale of arms during the war and afterward, while Israel’s enemies, Egypt, Jordan, (which was commanded by a British officer named Glubb Pasha) Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria were already established states and could depend on their existing large arsenals. The decades of the 1950’s and 1960’s were anything but peaceful as follows:

• Fedayeen (Islamic terrorists) from Gaza crossed the Green Line into Israel with the aim to kill Israelis and destroy farmland and industrial facilities.
• Buses were attacked killing  many women and children.
• In 1956 the Sinai Campaign began when Israel defeated the Egyptian forces reaching the Suez Canal.
• In 1963 the Six Day War when Israel defeated three major Arab armies. Following the war, the country’s narrow borders were widened to provide more security; erasing the previous narrow waistline of only 9 miles between the border and the Mediterranean Sea, where its main population centers and international airport were located.
• In 1973 the Yom Kippur War when Israel was attacked on its holiest day of the year and again was victorious; but at a very high cost in lives and material.
• In 1979, the miracle of peace with Egypt occurred; and the arrival of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s terrorist regime.
• The 1980’s the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) that claimed the lives of over a million soldiers and civilians.
• In 1981, Israel eliminated Iraq’s dictator’s (Saddam Hussein) nuclear ambitions by destroying the Osirak nuclear reactor in an operation codenamed “Operation Opera.”
• In 1982 the Second Lebanon War when Israel removed the PLO menace from Lebanon.
• In July 1985 economic sphere, the Israeli government Stabilization Plan reduced the government involvement in the economy. U.S. loans to Israel for defense acquisitions were turned into grants. By the middle of 1986, inflation was brought down from three digits to double-digits of around 20%.
• In 1990’s:
  • the arrival of over a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, dramatically increased domestic demand.
  • accelerated economic growth and a sharp increase in investments.
  • In Sept 1993 the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, were signed on the US White House lawn. However, the peace was short lived as Yasser Arafat, the PLO chairman, incited Palestinian terror, which including homicide bombing.
  • In 1994 Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel.

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During 2000-2008 Israel struggled to have peace with the Islamic citizens  [aka Palestinians] while the economy boomed. Tyler Cowen, in a Bloomberg Opinion piece (June 6, 2019) wrote: “In the last half century or so, Israel went from being a relatively poor country to one of the 25 richest in the world, as measured by per capita income. Israel has done this largely by pursuing trade, integration into the global economy, liberalization of the economy and heavy investments in the tech sector and in startups, often with government support.” In 2018 Israel’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP] at $392 billion,and its growth rate was an astonishing 4.4%. The Jewish state has come a long way from exporting oranges and phosphates, to becoming a leading high-tech exporter, including water technology, medical devices and sophisticated military weapons. 
 
Israel’s infrastructure has undergone tremendous expansion, with four lane highways across the country and a comfortable rail service. Israel has not only become rich, it is a comfortable country to live in and visit. 
***
God said, "Behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.  And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink." Joel 3:1-3
​More Bible Verses God Protects Israel here
 
*Excerpted and adapted full report from Joseph Puder, Front Page More here