Israel’s triumphs: The secrets behind its global leadership - opinion

Based on the disproportionate level of criticism Israel faces there, one would never know that it is one of the most successful nations in the world and the envy of its fellow UN members. In less than eighty years, the Jewish state has risen to the top of many of the world’s most important fields. Here are seven examples:

• Israel pioneered drip irrigation, enabling efficient farming in arid regions. This technology, used worldwide, has boosted crop yields by up to 40% while reducing water usage, a critical advancement for global food security.

• Facing water scarcity, Israel recycles over 90% of its wastewater, the highest rate globally, and desalinates seawater to meet 70% of its drinking water needs, serving as a model for sustainable water systems.

• Israel’s defense innovations, such as the Iron Dome missile defense system, have achieved a 90% interception rate against rockets, protecting civilian lives and influencing global defense strategies.

• Israeli scientists contribute disproportionately to global research, with institutions like the Weizmann Institute and the Technion producing breakthroughs in fields like nanotechnology and cancer research. Israel ranks among the top 10 countries for scientific publications per capita.

All this exceptional success begs the question – what has led to Israel’s success? Here are 13 of the reasons.

ISRAELIS LOVE their country and want it to be the best in the world. Israel is a nation of people who faced enemies as small as malaria-infested mosquitoes and as large as ballistic missile-firing Iran, and has defeated them all. Israelis love strength and they love winning. The Israeli drive to win has given it an automatic advantage.

• Israelis have come to believe in meritocracy. Israelis do not believe in socialism. They believed in the failed doctrines of communism and socialism but recognized its failures.

• The Israeli desire to raise the poor to equal standards with everyone else first led them to believe philosophies promising that economic equality would lead to an even distribution of prosperity. But they quickly realized that only capitalism could truly provide opportunity for prosperity. They don’t care about the super-rich being super rich because they know that they live in a country where being super rich is available to anyone with the talent and drive to make it. They don’t resent success; they celebrate it.

• Israelis are the most pro-immigration people in the world. They love immigrant success stories. Unlike the US and other nations that forbid immigrant leaders, half of Israeli prime ministers have been immigrants. Israelis want more talented immigrants to come to Israel. While they believe in having a border and keeping security threats from entering, Israel has gone to greater lengths than any other country in the world to welcome immigrants.

• Some of Israel’s greatest military and espionage successes haven’t been in efforts to defend Israel from enemies but facilitating the covert exodus and resettlement of oppressed individuals to Israel. Like America’s original success having been led by immigrants, Israel’s immigrants have brought it extraordinary achievements.

• Israelis have become sensitive about racial issues and their country’s imperfect history. They believe that those who are disadvantaged by the circumstances of their birth should be given the opportunity to succeed. Israel has striven to enable its minority communities, including Arabs, Mizrahi Jews, and Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews to enjoy the success other Israelis take for granted.

ISRAEL HAS been careful to reject the absurdities seen in other nations of addressing the errors of the past by committing new ones. The programs Israel has put into place to improve the lives of its disadvantaged have been carefully crafted to succeed, not just assuage feelings of disparity.

• Israelis are the most security- and defense-centered nation on earth. The Simchat Torah massacre of October 7, 2023, taught Israelis a harsh lesson about their jihadi enemy’s almost primitive need to destroy them. The vicious attack that included burning babies, sexual violence, and psychological torture demonstrated the need for Israel to not only manage its enemies but eliminate them. This new focus has galvanized the nation to even stronger commitments to national service, uniting a previously divided nation. Israel’s success has been enhanced by its new unity.

• Israelis are extremely practical people. They care about what works, not what sounds good. In addition to a focus on intellectual growth like academia, Israel produces great engineers, businesspeople, and investors. Because of this, they care less about rhetoric and more about successful policies.

• In line with Israelis’ pragmatic approach, they are also deeply optimistic people. They hate negativity. The woke view of national history as being a series of evils for which a people must eternally apologize is utterly abhorrent to Israelis. They believe in moving forward together, not endlessly obsessing about the past.

• Israel is a country whose founding story is one of resistance to colonial overreach. Israelis have been subjected to colonial control of their land going back to as far as the Romans and suffer through nation after nation demanding that they conform to foreign policies and principles over their own self-interest.

• Israelis loathe foreign control and, like America, fought the British for their independence. Israelis understand that freedom comes with the price of self-reliance, and pay it gladly.

• Israel’s achievements have come as a direct result of its values. Nations with fickle values have ever-changing policies that lead to failure. Israel’s staying power comes from a commitment to values that are thousands of years old and were given by God. It is with God’s blessings that they have succeeded.