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| Tel Aviv. Tel Tech. |
While Bibi sticks his foot in it, kicks an own goal — calling Israel "for Jews only", a gift to Jew-haters everywhere — Israel continues to lead the world in high tech.
A staggering fact: Israel has the most number of companies listed on the NASDAQ, second only to the number of US-based companies.
Four main reasons are identified in this article in yesterday's SCMP:
1. Conscription: everyone has to do time in the Israel Defence Force. That makes for young people used to taking risks.
2.Turning lemons into lemonade: turn adversity to advantage. No water? No problem: develop world-beating desalination technology.
3. Research: spend 4.3% of GNP in basic research. That's the highest on the world. China's is high, but just 2.3%.
4. Academia: world class universities, a culture of learning and drawing on the Jewish diaspora.
The Palestinians could have chosen this path. The Singapore option. They chose instead the Afghanistan option. Their leaders did, for it's down to Palestinian leadership, from Arafat on, who have always snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Count me amongst the philo-semites of the world.
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In a nutshell, the risk-taking culture (from being in a tough neighbourhood) that underpins Israel's start-up scene is hard to replicate. But the right government support, encouraging global talent, having strong universities that work closely with industry and government to advance research and development goals – that is doable in many countries.
