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An e-newsletter delivering updates and analysis on current issues about Israel and the Middle East conflict

October 25, 2011

Time Is Running in Israel's Favor

Dear Friend of FLAME:

As this week's FLAME Hotline article definitively proves, Israel is absolutely a miracle of the modern world. From a standing start, almost continuously being assailed by wars and suicide fanatics and despite having successfully absorbed millions of immigrants from all corners of the world and having successfully integrated and assimilated them, Israel is today an economic, technical and scientific powerhouse.

Look at the numbers---the gross domestic product (GDP), the very small deficit of payments, the small unemployment figures, the very large exports---even with Turkey, which, most deplorably, has morphed from a close ally to almost an enemy. You and I and all of us can be enormously proud of what the Jewish people have accomplished.

Virtually all American high-tech companies have research and production facilities in Israel. Such an astute financier as Warren Buffet has invested billions of dollars in Israeli industry. There is not a single country in that vast area of the world that can even remotely compare with Israel's accomplishments.

And the best is yet to come. Huge gas fields have been found in the Israeli zone of the Mediterranean. There seems to be little question that in not too many years, Israel will become a major exporter of natural gas. It will lift Israel's economy to a still higher level and will, hopefully, break the hold that OPEC members (mostly Saudi Arabia) have on the destinies of our country and the rest of the world.

The author of this week's Hotline article is Yoram Ettinger, a retired Israeli ambassador to several nations and consul general in Houston for many years. Ettinger's fields of expertise are demographics and in economics. As to the former, he has in previous articles (published on our Hotline) analyzed the notion that the famous "Arab womb" is in steady overdrive and that in the course of time there will inevitably be an Arab majority in Israel or in the entire area west of the Jordan river. He has proven this with hard numbers and facts to be nonsense. At this point, Jewish women in Israel are having more babies than their Arab counterparts.

As this article shows, time is indeed running in Israel's favor. If, you, like we at FLAME, take pride in Israel's amazing accomplishments, I encourage you to pass this piece along to friends and colleagues.

Best regards,

Gerardo Joffe, President
FLAME

P.S.

As you know, Israel fights a constant battle to get its story told in the media, and we pro-Israel advocates too often find ourselves on the defensive. But FLAME has begun to take a different tack in its hasbarah (clarifying) messages: Most recently we're calling on the U.S. to withdraw some $825 million in funding for the Palestinian Authority. If you, too, believe we should seize the offense against Israel's enemies, I recommend you review FLAME's position paper: "Why Should the U.S. Fund the Palestinian Authority? The Palestinians spurn U.S. diplomatic requests and snub U.S. financial aid. Should we be sending them nearly a billion dollars a year?" This piece is just now appearing in magazines and newspapers, including college newspapers, with a combined readership of about 10 million people. In addition, it is being sent to every member of the U.S. Congress. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel's behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. Remember: FLAME's powerful ability to influence public opinion comes from individuals like you, one by one. I hope you'll consider giving a donation now, as you're able---with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to http://www.factsandlogic.org/make_a_donation.html. Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that Israel gets the support it needs---from the U.S. Congress, from President Obama, and from the American people.

Time Is Running in Israel's Favor
by Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, The Ettinger Report, IsraelHayom.com, October 2, 2011

Time is running in Israel's favor, in contrast with conventional wisdom, as evidenced by the "global economic walk" and irrespective of the "global political talk."

At the outset of the Jewish New Year, 5772, Israel's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $240BN – with 3% deficit, 5.7% unemployment, 3% interest rate and 3% inflation - compared with $38BN GDP in 1990 and 1BN in 1949. Israel's credit rating has been recently upgraded by Standard & Poor, ranking it among the top OECD economies.

In 1948 Israel had no significant export, compared with $6.7BN current account (mostly trade balance) surplus in 2010, featuring the US, Europe and India as the chief trading partners. Notwithstanding disturbing Turkish statements, Israel-Turkey trade volume has surged 140% since the Islamic party, AKP, assumed power in 2002: $3.45BN in 2010 compared with $1.4BN in 2002. Irrespective of political tension, the first quarter of 2011 features a 40% increase in the mutually-beneficial Israel-Turkey trade over the first quarter of 2010.

In 2011, Israel takes pride in robust exports despite the global economic meltdown, due to its highly specialized lines of exports, which correspond to vital global needs in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biomed, agriculture, water technologies, energy alternatives, software, laptop computers, telecommunications and defense industries. The latter features Israel as the fifth largest global defense exporter. The NY-based "Trading Economics" reported a $1BN Israeli current account surplus in the first quarter of 2011.

Recently, the Houston-based Noble Energy discovered proven offshore natural gas reserves, which will transform Israel – by 2014 - from nearly total reliance on imported energy, to a major exporter of natural gas.

The Jewish New Year, 5772, highlights the Jewish State as "a shining high tech city upon a hill," attracting leading global companies, venture capitalists and investment banks, which seek unique manpower and cutting-edge innovative technologies. The European Community appoints Israelis to head its high-technology commissions. Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, calls Microsoft as much an Israeli company as an American company, because of the importance of its Israeli technologies, such as Kinect gaming motion-sensor interface, the fastest rising consumer electronic product in history. The same applies, increasingly, to Google, Cisco and eBay and Apple's memory systems for its iPhones, iPods and iPads. According to Intel's CEO, Intel would have been devastated by the competition, if not for its four research and development centers and two manufacturing plants in Israel, which developed its most advanced microprocessors, Pentium, Sandbridge, Atom and Centrino. Leading American venture capital funds, Sequoia, Greylock, Accel and Orbimed have become frequent investors in Israel, and some 400 global high tech companies have established research and manufacturing presence in Israel. IBM and Computers Associates (CA) just made their ninth and tenth acquisitions of Israeli companies respectively. Overseas investments in Israel's high-tech exceed any single European country and France and Germany combined.

The American defense industry has been a major beneficiary of Israel's unique technological and battle capabilities. Thus, the current generation of the F-16 features over 600 modifications, introduced by Israel, making it a global success and enhancing the American employment, research and development and export infrastructures. Northrop Grumman's robotics division cooperation with – and sales to – Israel have dramatically upgraded the quality of its products, as has been the case with hundreds of US defense systems employed by Israel.

In retrospect, Arab wars and terrorism, geo-political constraints and limited natural resources have been nothing but bumps on the path of an unprecedented Israeli economic, technological, educational and defense surge, which has benefitted humanity at-large.

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