Since its inception, Israel has been a country under
siege. When it’s not attacked by terrorist forces, it’s attacked by diplomatic
ones. Over the past few decades, it has been condemned mainly for its failure
to make peace with the Palestinians. This conflict has dominated global
consciousness like no other. Throughout the Middle East, it has been used by
dictators to divert attention away from the oppression of their people.
President Donald Trump’s eagerness to make the
“ultimate deal,” which he reiterated during his visit to Israel, only continues
the obsession with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Whether we like it or not,
it is the conflict, as much as anything, that has shaped Israel’s narrative
throughout much of the world.
And yet, despite all that, something is changing. New
winds are blowing. Slowly, quietly, a parallel narrative about Israel is
beginning to emerge. And since the conflict with the Palestinians is so
intractable, my sense is that this new narrative will play an increasingly
greater role in shaping Israel’s future.
In essence, more and more countries are looking at
Israel and saying: “Politics or no politics, these guys can help us. They’re
doing things no one else is doing. They seem to have a pulse on this crazy and
fast-changing new world we’re in.”
If your country, for example, has a problem with
cybersecurity that can endanger your infrastructure, and you hear that Israel
has unique technology that can fix the problem, are you going to pass on that
solution because the Palestinian conflict is unresolved?
Similarly, if your people are running out of drinking
water and you need Israel’s cutting-edge desalination technology, or if your
country is under threat from Islamic terrorists and you know that Israelis have
the most expertise in that area, will you let the Palestinian conflict get in
the way of your core interests?
Giant nations like India and China, as well as emerging
nations on the African continent, are not waiting for a peace breakthrough
before engaging with Israel. Why should they? Doing business with Israel is in
their interest. It boosts their economies. It strengthens their countries.
The same thing has been happening in Israel’s own
backyard. In a 2012 report titled, “The Badly Kept Secret of Israel’s Trade
Throughout the Muslim World,” Haaretz detailed Israel’s low-key but
growing engagement with its Arab and Muslim neighbors, including the
export of medical, agricultural and water technologies to the Gulf states.
In terms of security, Sunni-dominated countries like
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states need Israel’s military might to fend
off their sworn enemy, the predatory Iranian Shia regime. There’s a reason the
Gulf states compiled a proposal to take “unprecedented steps toward
normalization with Israel,” as reported last week in the Wall Street Journal.
They need Israel.
Sure, they had to throw in the obligatory statements
about Israel making gestures to the Palestinians. But don’t kid yourself–
these requests have softened with the years. They’re a sign of the
shifting tides. These Arab countries are feeling vulnerable and they need help,
even from Israel. Drumming up hatred for the Jewish state because of the
Palestinian problem is not as good for business as it used to be.
None of this means that Israel shouldn’t make every
effort to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians, regardless of the odds. A
solution is strongly in Israel’s interest. And in global diplomacy, optics
matter and effort counts, even if it ends in failure.
To its credit, though, Israel has never let the failure
of peace and the presence of war demoralize the nation. While much of the world
condemned the country, and hostile neighbors launched attacks, Israel kept
right on innovating to meet the challenges of the modern world. Instead of
being paralyzed by a siege mentality, the little Jewish state pushed
relentlessly to build a thriving nation, with all of its flaws and imperfections.
And now, suddenly it seems, this tiny nation is in big
demand. From medical breakthroughs to green technology to cybersecurity to
digital innovation to water conservation to food security, Israel is at the
forefront of creating solutions for the new century.
This is not Start-Up Nation as a tool for better hasbara,
or positive propaganda. This is Start-Up Nation as a tool to better the world.
It must make Palestinian leaders sick to see the hated
Zionist state start to thrive on a global scale. Maybe they were hoping that by
refusing all peace offers, glorifying terror and attacking Israel’s legitimacy,
they would make Israel implode. The opposite happened.
We can only hope that, one day, they too will realize
that building hatred for the Jewish state is bad for peace and bad for
business.
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