Once again Israel and the rest of the world are at each other's throats. This time, it is because the Netanyahu administration is planning to build more Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Even though these settlements waste huge amounts of resources, take more people to defend them than live in them, and contribute nothing of value to Israel, the rightist Netanyahu government is determined to proceed in the building of them in spite of almost universal international opposition.
Zionism began because of the persecution of Jewish people in Europe. That Jewish people should have their own country, is perfectly reasonable and right. What is neither right nor reasonable is the change of character that has taken place in the Israeli Jewry. From a nationality that held as its greatest value the contribution to humanity and the benefit of humanity, the Israeli Jewry became obsessed with the wrongdoings done by fascist types to the Jewish people to the point that it acquired many fascist tendencies in its own right and lost its best qualities.
Certainly Israel has the right to defend itself from people who hate it. But there is no merit or rightfulness in Israel itself practicing what amounts to colonialism. Israel is enough of a country that it does not need to send its people to live in West Bank or in Gaza. Not only does this rouse the ire of many reasonable people, but it also is economically, socially and politically a disastrous course.
How about remembering what Jewish people are best at and making it the national policy? How about shifting focus to benefiting humankind? If Israel were to take a portion of what it applies now to military and apply it instead to science, mathematics, technology, medicine, economics, education and artistic pursuits, it would become an international superpower. And it would also have more allies around the world than it has ever dreamed of having.
Jewish people in America and in Europe have won a vast number of Nobel prizes and are continuing to win a vast portion of Nobel prizes. Israel, having far more Jews than Europe and almost as many as the United States, should have a commensurate number of Nobel prize winners. It does not. The reason is not that the Jews in Israel are dumber than the Jews in America or Europe. They aren't. The reason is that Israel invests itself too much in fighting its neighbours and not enough in doing what Jewish people are truly good at doing and for what they are known around the world.
If Israel were to apply to policy the same intelligence that Jewish people around the world apply to science, mathematics, medicine and related endeavors, it would realize that putting focus into achievement in these areas would give Israel vast amounts of international respect and goodwill. This would result in many countries being willing to support Israel that are now either ambivalent about Israel or see it in negative light. Such a policy would not sway an Ahmadinejab or an Osama Bin Laden, but it can and it will make many people see Israel with respect and even gratitude. And then it will be a lot easier to protect Israel from its enemies, as it will have many more friends around the world than it does now.
I believe it is wrong that Israel does not have the world's foremost educational establishments, the world's most productive science, the world's richest economy, or the world's best medicine and technology. If Jews can achieve in these fields in America, Russia or Europe, then they can most certainly do the same in Israel. The focus of Israeli policy has been wrong, and it has also been dreadfully stupid. Actions such as those of the Netanyahu administration makes Israeli people look like bullies. If Israel instead invests more of its resources into work that benefits humanity, in fields in which Jewish people in other countries have been major contributors, then it will reap vast benefits for its efforts, and far more people will see Israel in a positive light and help it protect itself from Islamists and neo-Nazis. Who, with their message becoming less credible as Israel provides vast benefits for humanity and does less wrong to its neighbors, will lose much of their following and much of their power to threaten Israel and the rest of the world.
Israel needs a more intelligent policy. Jewish people make great scientists, mathematicians, inventors, engineers, doctors, financiers, filmmakers and innovators, and it is foolishness for Israel not to trade on that advantage. Ultimately the question becomes, What is the point of having your own nation if you have destroyed the best in your own character? The more Israel invests in work that benefits the world, and the less into building economically, socially and politically nonviable monstrosities, the more the world will return of goodwill and the less the world will see Israel as a problem. And that will do far more to ensure the security of the nation of Israel than any number of raids into Gaza or West Bank.