Necessity is the mother of invention.
Is it because Israel is a small country surrounded by hostile populations? or is it because refugees
came from all over the world with few resources except their ingenuity and passion for renewal?
Israel leads the world in innovation, it has the largest number of start up and high tech
companies after the USA; 25% of its workforce is employed in technical companies; and in
its short lifetime it boasts 13 Nobel prize winners, not confined to science but including
Daniel Kahneman, exponent of irrational human economic choice.
Which is precisely my theme today.
At the heart of this success lie Israel's universities, where Arab students make up
15% of undergrads.
5 of them are in the world's top 500 universities.
This is not dry stuff.
We are talking about the development of cherry tomatoes (HU), the USB flash drive (Technion),
the Argo Rewalk which has given the world uplifting pictures of tetraplegics able to
take some steps with this invention; Israel has produced a breath test for cancer diagnosis;
radiation free X-rays, new heart muscle from one's own blood supply to replace cardiac
tissue damaged by heart disease; a drug to slow down Parkinsons; and another for multiple
sclerosis; stem cell injections to reverse the progress of Lou Gehrig's disease, the
Intel processor in your computer; Pentium, which propelled the spread of laptops; potatoes
that can grow in the desert, the desalination of seawater; the development of the Amazon
Kindle; the StoreDot 5-minute electric car and cell phone charger; a watermelon-picking
robot; a smart phone for persons with visual disabilities; the successful use of in flight
cell phones; credit card security monitoring, and much more.
Some of the research was carried out in partnership with Israel's Palestinian and other Arab neighbours,
and has been put to use for their benefit, for example genetic counselling for the Beduin,
whose infant mortality has decreased by 40% as a consequence.
500 Beduin attend Ben Gurion University in the Negev desert.
In other words almost every aspect of your daily life has been touched, for the good,
by the wizardry of these Israeli scientists and their go-ahead universities.
Who could possibly object to that?
Well, the Israel-haters do.
There is a movement called Boycott Divestment and Sanctions.
It calls for the boycott of Israel because the objectors object not just to Israel's
politics but, it is suspected, to its very existence, and they want to see Israel weakened
to the point of non-viability.
They have no objection, mind you, to the petrol of Saudi Arabia, the world's worst oppressor
of women; nor to the oil of Iran, where executions are running at 3 per day; or trade with China,
the world's biggest executioner.
I could go on.
What do the boycotters do?
local authorities such as W Dumbartonshire, Leicester, Swansea and Gwynedd refused to
buy Israeli or settlement produce.
It is gratifying to note that the government has now made this illegal.
BDS interrupted the performance of The Merchant of Venice in Hebrew at the Globe Theatre,
the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Proms, the Jerusalem Quartet at the Wigmore Hall.
They call for the refusal of any academic or cultural cooperation with Israeli universities
- thus indirectly discriminating against Jewish scholars and students who would normally participate
in exchange programmes.
There are even lecturers at Queen Mary and Leeds who display academic boycott posters
with the effect of intimidating Jewish students who see them, and others who will not give
student references to Israeli universities, and try to wreck international cooperation
and research, contrary to the principle of the universality of science.
In brief, the boycott is illegal.
Imagine substituting the word "black" or "Muslim" for "Israel" and you will get it.
But, - the biggest hypocrisy of all is this - the Israel haters would never inconvenience
themselves by a boycott of Israeli technology.
Would they give up their computers, and cell phones to support the cause?
You bet not.
Throw away the credit card and abandon Facebook?
No way.
Would they give up using the best drugs to combat serious diseases?
Of course not.
Would they refuse emergency help when wounded?
Definitely not.
Even the Syrians and the Palestinians flock to Israeli hospitals when they need them.
It is the worst cant in the world.
All praise to Israel's miraculous scientific and humanist progress.
One day I believe the scales will fall from the eyes of the Israel haters, just as the
Left finally saw communism for what it was.
And that will come about because of the evidence, namely, the good that Israel does for the
world, now that for the first time in history her people have been given the chance.