The Israel Test

The Israel Test: Why the World's Most Besieged State is a Beacon of Freedom and Hope for the World Economy by George Gilder, Richard Vigilante Books, 2009. 

Envy

Adolf Hitler envied the Jews of Vienna, because they were successful and he was not. When Austrian businesses were subjected to Aryanization after the 1938 Anschluss, they lost most of their value, because the creative talent had fled abroad (or were escorted into concentration camps).

Parasites

Hitler’s belief that the Jews contributed nothing to society but trickery and acquisitive intelligence was thus proved wrong, because they clearly had contributed productive intelligence.

Karl Marx

The belief of Karl Marx that capital, factories and equipment were the means of production was also proved wrong, because the Nazis now had the capital, factories, and equipment, but they were no longer productive. What Marxists have failed to grasp is that the actual means of production is the mind of the entrepreneur. 

Blood and Soil

In the minds of Hegel and Hitler, blood and soil were what was important, and the most important virtue was physical bravery. But in the new world of trade, victory often went to those without land or bravery, those who possessed only cunning. Traditionalists saw cunning as being cheating, and the Jews as being crooks. But the Jews did not win by tricking people, but rather by producing a better product or service at a cheaper price. The Jews were also seen as cowards, because they did not use violence. But how could the Jews use violence, when they were outnumbered, marginalized, and had no land to defend? 

Bell Curve

Gilder points out that the average Jew is not much brighter than the average gentile. What sets the Jews apart is that in the far, upper reaches of the bell curve, they are greatly over-represented. 

Loss of Talent

The Holocaust was more destructive than any other genocide, because of the tremendous loss of Jewish talent, which harmed not only the Jews, but the world at large. 

Russian Jews

Gilder attributes the recent explosion of Israeli entrepreneurship and technology largely to the many Russian, nominally Jewish, immigrants that Israel has absorbed from the Soviet Union.  

Economics

Gilder quotes statistics showing that the Palestinian economy in the West Bank improved greatly when control was transferred from Jordan to Israel following the Six-Day War in 1967. Conversely, when Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority took over control of the West Bank after the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian economy tanked.