The Israel Test: Why the World's Most Besieged State is a Beacon of Freedom and Hope for the World Economy

In this book, George Gilder asserts that widespread antagonism toward the current state of Israel springs from, like anti-Semitism everywhere, envy of superior accomplishment. Israels sudden rise as a world capitalist and technological power, he argues, stems in part from the Jewish culture of mind and in part from Judaism itself, which, perhaps more than any other religion, favors capitalist activity and provides a rigorous moral framework for it. Critics of Israelin the U.S., in the surrounding countries of the Middle East and in Western European nations that are facing socialist declinehave failed the Israel Test because they seek to tear down this countrys success rather than emulate it. Americas ability and desire to defend Israel will define our future survival as a nation: If Israel is destroyed, he says, capitalist Europe will likely die as well, and America, as the epitome of productive and creative capitalism spurred by Jews, will be in jeopardy.