They will never get us

I am reading about the Israeli demographic miracle:   “The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied.” (Exodus 1:12)  It is a true miracle, a miracle of the human will. Yet no one seems to write about the Israeli economic miracle, which is no less miraculous. When I made aliyah to Israel, Israel had the image of a beggar and it was because it relied on annual assistance from the United States, reparation payments from Germany, and generous donations and remittances from American Jewry. Foreign exchange balance of Israel was permanently in deficit and respected experts advised us to pack and leave because the country was unsustainable. 

I had no interest in the macroeconomy and could not care less, but working closely with Benno Gitter, a very rich banker and President of Tel Aviv University, I realized he seriously worried about the unfeasibility of Israel's economy. This talented and good man sincerely dedicated his life to the economy of Israel. And he was not an optimist. Yet, miracles do happen in Israel, and now our GNP is at Europe's level or higher and the Bank of Israel is hoarding 100 billion dollar reserves. The country is growing at 5% per year, which ranks higher than all European countries and near the explosive Chinese phenomenon. 

The reason for the Israeli miracle, I think, is that each Israeli realizes that we have REAL enemies that are dreaming of cutting our necks, each one of us. This fact has a most sobering, disciplining effect on each Israeli and on the people as a collective. We do not have the luxury to build ideal net-zero water buildings, nor participate in self-harming suicidal protests like the yellow vests in Paris, or the MeToo in New York. We have experienced defeat and disaster, and we know that life is serious and the killer is really waiting for us around the corner.