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

August 23, 2011

Arabs' inferiority complex leads to a denial of the success of Israel and the West. Finally, shockingly, two Saudi writers ask, why don't we emulate the Jews? (Duh!)

Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

A few weeks ago, the FLAME Hotline reviewed the astounding accomplishments of Israel in its short history. At the time, I remarked that it was perhaps just as amazing that the Arabs had not noticed Israel's economic, technological, and agricultural miracles and said to themselves, "We could learn something from these Jews."

Indeed, as Israel has flourished over the last 63 years and truly served as a light unto the world, most Arab nations, many of whom were born at about the same time, have foundered. In fact, without oil to buoy them, most Arab countries would have remained stuck in the third world. Even with Arab oil, the average per-capita GDP in Arab countries is $3,700, versus $18,000 for Israel. (What's not to like?) Ironically, Israel has achieved its economic status while enduring a 60-year economic boycott by most of its Arab neighbors.

This week, we discovered several articles that seem to mark a glimmer of Arab recognition that their diplomatic policies toward Israel and that their extreme, unrelenting anti-Semitism may be counterproductive. These articles were written and published in Saudi Arabian government-sanctioned publications, an extraordinary occurrence, since articles about Israel in nearly all Arab countries are unashamedly mocking, disparaging, accusatory . . . and based fully on lies.

I think you'll greatly enjoy these unusual articles---they are excerpted, so you'll get their unique flavor in fairly short order. You'll also pick up some important new facts about how Israel exemplifies excellence, especially compared with Arab nations.

We can only hope that other Arab intellectuals will soon be given the latitude to make such blinding-flash-of-the-obvious analyses as these. We don't ask that the Arabs come to love Jews---that might take decades, perhaps centuries---but if Arabs were simply to admit that Israel is a shining example of political and economic success, let alone a desirable trading partner, the whole "Middle East peace process" would take on a different tone and sense of urgency.

As it is, of course, last week Israel suffered a new terrorist attack in its southern-most city of Eilat, in which eight Israelis were murdered. The ensuing attempt to kill the evil-doers resulted in three Egyptian security personnel being killed in a crossfire (the terrorists fled across the border to Egypt), which has in turn led to heightened tensions between the two countries. Thus we can expect no embraces of appreciation for Israel's superior accomplishments any time soon from this Arab neighbor, a country with which (at least technically) Israel is still at peace.

Once again, I want to praise and thank you for your diligence in keeping up to date on current events in Israel and the facts about Israel's place in the Middle East and the world. But, as you know, it's just as important for others to stay abreast. For this reason, I urge you, using the Forward to a Friend button below, to pass along this week's FLAME Hotline to your friends, family, and colleagues.

Please remember that we are instrumental in helping Israel ascend from decades of attacks that continue to this day . . . so the Jewish nation is vindicated and triumphs in the court of public opinion. We are front-line activists in the public relations battle for the hearts and minds of the American people. Israel needs increasing numbers of us spreading the truth . . . today. Won't you spend just 5-10 minutes, as you're able, to support Israel again this week?

Best Regards,

Jim Sinkinson
Vice President, FLAME

P.S.

They say the best defense is a strong offense, and FLAME has begun to adopt that strategy. Instead of publishing only defensive position papers, which correct the frequent lies told about Israel, we've begun also to tell the truth about Israel's enemies: Most recently we're exposing the alarming, unlawful waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars in funding the Palestinian Authority and its new partner, Hamas. In the hope that you, too, believe we should take the offense against Israel's enemies, I recommend you review FLAME's latest position paper: "Why Should the U.S. Fund the Terror Group Hamas?" This piece is now appearing in magazines and newspapers, including college newspapers, with a combined readership of more than 10 million people. That's huge! 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 valuable, 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.
P.P.S.

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Saudi Writers: The Secret to Israel's Success
Translated, edited and published by the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), July 29, 2011

On June 7, 2011, two Saudi columnists – the liberal Khalaf Al-Harbi, of the Saudi daily 'Okaz, and Fawaz Al-'Ilmi, of the Saudi daily Al-Watan – published articles comparing Israel's situation to that of the Arab countries. Al-Harbi opined that the secret to Israel's success lay in its democratic regime and its respect for the human rights of its citizens, while Al-'Ilmi wrote that Israel's prosperity was due to its investment in education and science. It should be noted that these articles are a rare phenomenon in the Saudi government press. Following are excerpts of both articles:

Al-Harbi: "Do We Really Still Believe that Israel Is a Temporary Entity Bound to Disappear?"

Al-Harbi wrote: "When we were young, the teachers exhausted us by reiterating that Israel is, without question, a temporary and transient country. When we got old enough to read, newspapers and books filled our heads with reasons why Israel could not [continue to] exist in its Arab surroundings. For years, we waited for the moment when Israel would disappear, and here we are [today, witnessing] the moment when the Arab countries are beginning to topple, one after the other.

"A few days ago was the 44th anniversary of the naksa [i.e., the defeat in the 1967 war], when Israel swallowed up Arab lands... A week or more ago, [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu delivered a brilliant speech before the American Congress in which he emphasized that Israel would not return to the 1967 borders. This statement means that Israel has achieved such a degree of complacency and tranquility that it is no longer willing to negotiate even over those lands it has admitted to occupying [in 1967], much less... over the lands it occupied in 1948. Do we really still believe that Israel is a temporary entity bound to disappear?

"Perhaps Israel will disappear in another 100 or 200 years, as no one can foresee what will happen in the future. However, looking at the current state of its Arab neighbors, I see addled countries, political entities that lack the ability to maintain their national unity, and armies that are not trying to wipe out Israel so much as to wipe out their own peoples...

"The secret to Israel's survival, despite all the great challenges it has faced, lies in democracy and respect for the worth of the [Israeli] individual, regardless of [Israel's] racism and brutality vis-à-vis its Arab enemies. The secret to the collapse of the Arab countries, one after another, lies in dictatorship and in the oppression of the individual... It is impossible for an Arab country, a neighbor of Israel, to succeed in liberating Palestine while denying dignity to individuals [within its own borders].

"Israel won war after war, and scooped up Arab lands larger than [Israel itself] in both size and population. It then went on [to develop] manufacturing, industry, and invention. The [average] income there is double [the average income] in the neighboring Arab countries. [Israel] has rendered itself an inescapable fact. Throughout all stages [of its development], it drew its power from the honor it granted to its citizens, while its Arab neighbors trampled the [poor] creatures known as their citizens under military boots.

"If only we could get in touch with our teachers to let them know that Israel still exists, while the Arabs are headed for destruction. In order to know who will remain and who will perish, one must always check who has democracy, human rights, and social justice."[1]

Al-'Ilmi: Israel Is at the Pinnacle of Scientific Research, the Arabs at Its Nadir
Al-'Ilmi wrote: "...Tawasul[2] is the official website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and, unlike Arab websites, it updates its entries every 12 minutes around the clock and offers them in Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, English, French, and Russian. On January 20, the website published a report which revealed that the only registry in the world for Arab bone marrow donors is located in the Hadassah Medical Center, associated with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It should be noted that the Arabs living in Israel constitute no more than 1.2 million of the world's Arabs, who number upwards of 400 million.

"The report, prepared by Avigayil Kadesh, notes that Dr. Amal Bishara, who oversees organ donations at the Hadassah Medical Center – an Arab woman with a doctorate in life sciences and immunology – has single-mindedly visited more than 60 Arab villages and cities since the bone marrow registry was founded in 2008. [She did so] to further her own research and to supplement the Jewish registry, which has been active at the hospital for 22 years. Through lectures and social networking, the Arab doctor added 9,000 [Arab] donors, thereby enabling six [transplants] of donated bone marrow... It should be noted that 60% of Arabs [in need of such transplants] find donors within their families, and 90% of the requests for bone marrow transplants are for Arab children suffering from hereditary diseases due to consanguineous marriages.

"Before these Arab [donors] were registered, the Hadassah Medical Center largely failed to expand its donor registry, or to [arrange] donations from Jew to Arab or vice versa. But, thanks to the Arab doctor, perceptions have changed, and Arabs and Jews are willing to donate bone marrow [to one another] in order to save the life of someone they don't even know.

"This year, Israel published numerous scientific studies that put it in first place worldwide in terms of the number of studies [published] per capita – 12 studies to every 10,000 people. America is in second place, with 10 studies [to every 10,000 people], followed by Britain, with nine. As for the Arab countries, they are all at the bottom end of these statistics.

"Reports on the gaps in science and technology between the Arabs and Israel show that the annual education expenses of the [average] Arab citizen has dropped to $340, while in Israel it is more than $2,500. Indices... that measure income, education, and health levels place Israel at 23rd place worldwide, while Egypt has dropped to 199th place, Syria to 111th, Jordan to 99th, and Lebanon to 82nd. As for the number of scientists engaged in research per one million citizens, Israel has 1,395, versus 136 in the Arab world... UNESCO's statistics indicate that, on average, scientific research expenses in the Arab countries do not exceed 0.2% of the annual budget, whereas in Israel the figure is 4.7%, placing it in first place worldwide...

"For ten years now, Israel has been forming strategic ties with scientifically advanced countries in order to merge [its research] with their research centers, and in order to encourage its scientists to take part in international development programs. Today, there are 21 international science companies in Israel... It knows before everyone else the results of [these companies'] studies, reaping their fruits and using their scientific expertise to advance Israeli inventions.

"The Israeli strategy in science and technology is based on finding new approaches in scientific research and technological invention by training new generations of scientists – especially in physics, chemistry, and the natural and social sciences, as [Israel] is convinced that these sciences will allow it to control the world and direct its course.

"Since 1949, Israel has established marine geology and nuclear physics institutes, as well as [institutes] for the study of desert regions and information technology. Israel makes use of scientific research and technological development to secure its coasts and meet its [other] strategic defense and security needs, and in order to protect the environment, discover and develop natural resources and use them before others, produce electricity, communications, and information technology, and research [alternative] energy..."[3]
Endnotes:

[1] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), June 7, 2011.
[2] Altawasul.com
[3] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), June 7, 2011.

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