Boycott Israel - Miss Out on Talent

The other day, an article posted by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) caught my eye even though it landed on my desk together with umpteen other articles. The SMDC article reported:

The Tactical High Energy Laser/Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator, or THEL/ACTD, the world’s first integrated laser weapon system, has been selected as the Grand Winner of the General Technology category for Popular Science magazine’s “Best of What’s New” awards for 2000. The award was given to TRW, Inc., the prime contractor on the program.

The U.S. Army THEL/ACTD is a joint program between the United States and Israel designed to negate the threat posed by Katyusha rockets to populated areas in Northern Israel.

This item got me thinking that in the many months in which I’ve been posting and reading blogs, I can’t remember an instance in which Israel’s achievements in science and technology (not to mention the arts) were mentioned. The sole focus seems to be on bloodshed and destruction.

In fact, the web has an extensive array of information on science in Israel. For example, while I was preparing this article, I received an Israeli e-news bulletin, Israel Line, which reported as follows:

Israel Takes Home Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals for Inventions

Israeli scientists and inventors, all of them new immigrants, won the gold, silver and bronze medals at the 54th International Inventions Exhibition held this year in Nuremberg, Germany, YEDIOT AHARONOT reported.

The exhibition displayed 680 entries from 40 different countries including Austria, Argentina, Portugal, Sweden and Russia. Dr. David Metrabli took first prize for his rescue helicopter named the "Eagle" that is designed to rescue people trapped in skyscrapers that have been hit by earthquakes, terrorist attacks or fire.

The silver medal went to a group of inventors for their program "Bashan," designed to encourage new technological initiatives from members of the former Soviet Union.

The bronze model was shared by Professor Faibal Rabinovitz for a new amnesia drug and engineers Anna Staphanova and Dr. Victor Levine who developed new welding technology.

A summary of science highlights was posted recently by the Canada-Israel Committee; using point-form, the summary notes:

- Israel has 135 engineers, scientists and physicians per capita per 10,000 population - more than any other country.

- Israel has a large knowledge base in math, physics, computing and electronics, aided by the influx of hundreds of thousands of highly educated immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

- Israel is one of only eight nations to have developed, produced and launched its own satellite, entering the space age in 1988 with the launch of the Ofek Satellite.

- Israel ranks second only to the U.S. on a per capita basis in generating new high-tech companies.

- Israel has the world's highest ratio of high-tech start-ups – nearly 5,000 in a country of six million people.

- Israel has more companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market than any country except Canada and the United States.

The Canadian media have reported on a surprising number of Israeli scientific advances and technological developments in the past few years.
To mention just three:

- In the summer of 2000, AP carried a story that had the ring of science fiction – an Israeli company (Given Imaging Ltd.) had developed a "swallowable video pill," a tiny video camera plus transmitter that fits inside a swallowable capsule which takes pictures at the rate of two images a second of the intestines.

- In a front-page story in the Globe and Mail(June 15/01), Krista Foss wrote about Israeli doctors who injected immune-system cells into the severed spinal cord of a paraplegic American teenager, restoring movement to her toes and legs.

- Bob Macdonald, CBC's award-winning science correspondent and host of CBC Radio's "Quirk and Quarks" described the Israeli step towards development of a molecular computer built from DNA in an interview with Peter Mansbridge on "The National" (Nov.22/01).

The growth of trade relations in high-tech with countries like China and India, and the concomitant development of collaborative enterprises with scientists around the world, also deserve coverage.

Of special note are the achievements of Israel in agronomy and related fields. A relevant article (which should be read in its entirety), reports:

Israel is a country that lies in a mostly semi-arid and arid region (only 20% of arable land) and in a land where water supplies are scarce, you often need to use each drop of water twice to make the desert bloom. The history of Israeli agriculture is a very short one, but in this time Israel's agricultural sector has become renowned for its great achievements. Through extensive R&D efforts and investments, Israel was able to be the first in the world in many innovations and new technologies. Both in agrotechnology and machinery, in increasing productivity and crop yields, all while utilizing their most scarce resources: water and fertile land. It is fair to say Israel holds a special place in the world of agriculture.

Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, agricultural output has increased twelve-fold, while water consumption per hectare has remained constant. Just as impressive is the fact that in the early 50's one full-time agricultural employee fed 17 people, and today one full-time employee feeds 90 people. These two statistics only serve to enhance Israel's reputation as an industry leader. With the worlds most educated workforce, Israel is using its human resources to move well beyond the limitations of natural resources.

Especially prominent are Israel's achievements in developing new agricultural and irrigation technologies. Israel was the pioneer of drip irrigation technology, and this has particular relevance to the Australian agricultural environment and there is much that the two countries can learn from each other.

The significance of agronomy stems from the fact that under different circumstances, the Palestinian Arabs could have been the prime beneficiaries of the Israeli advancements. The hostile, belligerent route chosen by the Palestinian Arabs is a classical example of “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face”. A similar statement also applies to the boycotts against Israeli academics that some Europeans have adopted. In fact, these boycotts are reminiscent of the Nazi boycott of “Jewish science” and Jewish scientists, a policy which in the end worked against the Axis in major ways. Hence the conclusion: Boycott Israel - Miss Out on Talent.

(To document the Europeans’ efforts to boycott Israeli academia, see, for example, AP article, via Washington Times, which starts with the statement,

Hundreds of European academics have called a boycott of Israeli universities to protest treatment of the Palestinians – a move that has led to the firing of two Israelis from British publications and prompted allegations of discrimination and intellectual censorship.

Also see the anti-Israel boycott site. Even though this boycott is well known, it is documented here for the record.)

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland. This piece is cross-posted on IsraPundit and Dawson Speaks.