Tech Check

When the prime sinister addressed Congress recently he referenced - as you knew he would - the alleged symbiotic relationship between America and Israel with America providing the money and Israel the high technology, thus endeavoring to propagate the myth of Israel technological prowess. In reality, comparing American technology to Israeli is like comparing Michael Jordan's ability in basketball to mine. Israel is not actually a leader in technology. The technology is not non-existent, but it's not that wonderful really. It ranks behind many countries of a smaller size it its innovation index. 

Many an aliyah salesman tries to push the myth of Israeli technological wonderfulness. You'll hear endlessly of its drip irrigation. Very nice. But that's one little thing that was developed decades ago. Or another aliyah salesman boasted to me of the desalination, how water goes from the Mediterranean to the kitchen sink in a hour or something like that. Very nice. I don't know if Israel invented it, but it's a nice technology. Meanwhile, Israel imports most of its technology, including those military jets which are American made.

When I made my pilot trip, the aliyah salesman that I visited proudly pointed out to me that the buses utilize some kind of satellite technology that allows bus signs to tell you when the next bus is coming. I don't know if it's actual satellite technology or some kind of radio thing, but it doesn't work much of the time. You see buses perpetually announced to arrive and then dropping off the sign without arriving. Even when it works, it's one little thing that many countries have.

How about that Israel bus information web site? Have fun getting that to operate. Allow me to click on destination to get the list of cities.

What's that box about Google ads? Where's the list. After many tries, I got the city by typing in its name a few times. Here's the list.

Great, let's try the 426. Click.

Line not found? What do you mean. It was the 426. Welcome to Israeli technology. This website hasn't worked for years!

I used to work with a salesman in America that sold all kinds of software that his company actually hadn't built yet. Then he'd put it on the tech. guys in his division to rapidly concoct something under enormous stress. I asked him how he managed to convince these clients to buy what didn't exist. He said, "We show them what we want to show them." (The man was a narcissist by the way.) 

That's what aliyah salesmen do. They tell you about what they want to tell you about. They create myth. They are not objective, not fact based. They spin tales. And they justify it in their minds somehow. I don't know what they are thinking really, that Jews are so wonderful at everything we do that it must be true or more likely that Israel is deity so it must be true. 

The same applies to its alleged economic strength. Elhanan Helpman in his book Israeli Economic Growth: An International Comparison argues that Israel’s economic growth rates over the period 1960-1992 exceeded the global average but were not exceptional in comparison to developed countries. He says furthermore that most of Israel’s growth was due to increased work hours. That is not the same thing as prosperity. In a 2000 study, Ben David compared Israel’s growth rate to sixteen OECD countries such as Japan, Spain, Italy, Germany, South Korea, and Denmark. The study shows that Israel enjoyed one of the highest growth rates prior to 1973 but the lowest growth rate among the group following its peak. Its performance was particularly bad in comparison to Asian countries. Between 1972 and 2003, Israel’s per capita GDP fell from 56.3% of the USA to 52.1%.

Israel lags in other categories as well. Its rate of international trade relative to GDP dropped 23% in the decade prior to 2019 while Ireland’s grew by 70%. Productivity is lower than in other developed countries except in the areas of research, computers, and advertising. Math and computer skills are particularly low in Israel. All in all, the image of a booming economy via technological innovation is a myth. As Haaretz reports, the Israeli economy suffers from numerous problems including, “the high cost of living; the high rate of poverty; the sluggish rise in wages; deficiencies in the realm of construction; the shortage of housing; the overly concentrated economy and lack of competition; the oppressive bureaucracy; the amateurishness of skilled workers; and the poor level of services.”