The Israel Test [Hardcover]

George Gilder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0980076358 | ISBN-13: 978-0980076356 | Edition: 1

Israel is the crucial battlefield for Capitalism and Freedom in our time.

George Gilder's global best-seller Wealth and Poverty made the moral case for capitalism. Now Gilder makes the case for Israel, portraying a conflict of barbarism and envy against civilization and creativity.

Gilder reveals Israel as a leader of human civilization, technological progress, and scientific advance. Tiny Israel stands behind only the United States in its contributions to the hi-tech economy. Israel has become the world's paramount example of the blessings of freedom.

Hatred of Israel, like anti-Semitism through history, arises from resentment of Jewish success. Rooted in a Marxist zero-sum-game theory of economics, this vision has fueled the anti-Semitic rantings of Hitler, Arafat, Osama, and history's other notorious haters.

Faced with a contest between murderous regimes sustained by envy and Nazi ideology, and a free, prosperous, and capitalist, Israel—whose side are you on?

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR THE ISRAEL TEST

The Israel Test spoke to me with unexpected power. Apart from being brilliantly, fiercely written, its merit lies in clarifying, in a totally new, secular, and intuitive way, why Israel matters.
– David Klinghoffer, The Jerusalem Post

Gilder's originality, plus the sheer force of his enthusiasm for the extraordinary virtues of the beleaguered Jewish state, sweep away the prevailing vitriol and make for a book that is nothing less than thrilling to read.
– Norman Podhoretz

PRAISE FOR GEORGE GILDER

Through the years, [Gilder] has been building his own version of a socioeconomic unified field theory, integrating politics, sex, economics, and technology, with a dose of religion thrown in.
– Katie Hafner, The New York Times

The man I feel is the only worthwhile technology guru, George Gilder.
–Shlomi Cohen, Globes (Israel)

It is no accident that Gilder–scourge of feminists, unrepentant supply-sider, and now…a technology prophet–was the living author Reagan most often quoted.
– Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker

My friends, it would behoove you to study everything you can get your hands on by George Gilder, a true American genius.
– Rush Limbaugh

One of the few technology writers to really do his homework.
– Po Bronson, Wired

Everyone talks about "free enterprise" but no one understands the entrepreneurial basis of economic growth better than George Gilder.
– Irving Kristol

PRAISE FOR WEALTH AND POVERTY

Exhilarating.
– Paul Johnson, The Wall Street Journal

A creed for capitalism worthy of intelligent people…witty, persuasive, eloquent.
– Roger Starr, The New York Times

The most eloquent and imaginative essay on economics in memory.
– --Washington Post

My friends, it would behoove you to study everything you can get your hands on by George Gilder, a true American genius. Rush Limbaugh --Rush Limbaugh

About the Author

George Gilder's bestselling books have sold more than two million copies worldwide. In Wealth and Poverty, one of the most influential books of our time, Gilder made the moral case for capitalist creativity. With The Spirit of Enterprise, Microcosm, Telecosm, and Life After Television, Gilder achieved renown as a stunningly accurate prophet of the direction of technology development and enterprise, including Israel's world˜beating contributions. A contributing editor to Forbes magazine, Gilder has produced the annual Gilder/Forbes Telecosm Conference since 1997, offering leading edge forecasts and analysis from the top technology firms and research centers around the world. Gilder also heads Gilder Technology Associates, a venture capital fund focusing on breakthrough technologies. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan presented Gilder the White House Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. Gilder is a contributing editor to Forbes and writes frequently for national publications including The Wall Street Journal, Wired, National Review, and The American Spectator.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Richard Vigilante Books; 1 edition (July 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980076358
• ISBN-13: 978-0980076356
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 6.1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

217 of 239 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars David Pryce Jones on The Israel Test July 24, 2009

By Richard Vigilante

Format:Hardcover

[...]

The Vitality of Israel

George Gilder was one of the speakers on the recent National Review cruise round the Mediterranean, and he gave me a copy of his new book The Israel Test -- there, I've declared an interest. He can be relied on to say striking and original things. At the moment, Israel is treated as a pariah among the nations, blamed for defending itself against the various Arab and Muslim states or terrorist groups trying to destroy it. To support the Arabs and Muslims in this endeavor has become a moral imperative for the Left everywhere. So figureheads like Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have revived and updated anti-Semitism: That is their contribution to the world we live in.

Nobody but Gilder could have written this book. Israel of course has its defenders, but they use arguments based on nationalism, territory, ethnicity, defence of minorities, rights, historicism, and so on. Gilder sees Jews since their emancipation as the vanguard of human achievement. They may be few in numbers, but their creativity has brought prosperity to themselves and those around them, and that prosperity in turn has brought freedom. Thus Jews spearhead capitalism and the democracy indispensable to its proper functioning. Marxists, Nazis, and now Muslims and their apologists envy Jews because they cannot emulate them, and so set out to destroy the success that shows up their failure. The attitude you take towards Israel and Jews decides whether you love or hate freedom, and beyond that, mankind -- that's the test he is proposing in the book's title. And just in case the reader risks failing this test by jumping to a false conclusion, Gilder has a portrait of his very non-Jewish ancestry, saying, "We were classic WASPS all...."

To go to Israel even for a brief visit is to be struck by the vitality of the country. Everyone seems to be in a whirl of fulfilment, grabbing life with both hands. The middle part of this book is an account of some prominent Israeli inventors in computer science and physics, fascinating personalities at least the equal of their great Jewish forebears like Heinrich Hertz, Robert Oppenheimer, or John von Neumann, the latter a particular hero of Gilder's. An essential aspect of the test he thinks we all face when it comes to taking a position about Israel and Jews is to value the exceptional individual because, as he puts it, "the good fortune of others is also one's own" -- simple, brilliant, and true! These rare people, he thinks, will see Israel safely through whatever trials lie ahead, and they are also benefactors of us all. An attack on Israel is a blow against the entire West. And alas for the Arabs and Muslims, stuck in their hate and envy when they are lucky enough to be so close to Israel that they could join in its success. By the time they get the point of this book a bright future may have passed them by. Read more ›

96 of 110 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellence versus Envy August 4, 2009

By Pieter Uys HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Gilder argues that the root cause of the Middle East conflict is not land or religion but essentially psychological, arising from resentment of success. Anti-Zionism is driven by the same phenomena that have always promoted antisemitism: ignorance of economics and envy. This emotion manifests in the hatred of traders, entrepreneurs, bankers and other wealth creators that exists wherever a minority economically distinguishes itself. One of many examples is the Chinese community in Southeast Asia. Helmut Schoeck's Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour provides an in-depth analysis. Ordinary people do not normally harbor this resentment; the intelligentsia does and often manages to spread it to society at large through the notions that poverty results from 'exploitation,' that resources are limited and that therefore the wealth of some is the cause of others' poverty.

That's why Israel divides the world. Its opponents in the West, concentrated at the UN, transnational bodies and the humanities departments of academia, are those who consider capitalism as a zero-sum game in which success is attained at the expense of the poor & the environment. On the other side are those who admire success and recognize that everyone benefits by the accomplishments of achievers. Antisemitism is similarly a zero-sum delusion. Collectivists and their apologists envy Jews since they're unable to emulate them; they therefore attempt to destroy that which accentuates their own failure.... The author shows how Jewish entrepreneurs and scientists like Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Heinrich Hertz, John von Neumann and Richard Feynman helped to bring about the IT-revolution that provides the matrix of our modern prosperity.

Gilder profiles contemporary Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs, especially those in physics and information technology. They are the minds behind Israel's gifts to the world, some of which are highlighted in the book Israel in the World: Changing Lives Through Innovation by Helen and Douglas Davis. Israel in fact leads the world in per-capita innovation as proved by a 2008 Deloitte & Touche survey indicating that the Jewish State outperformed all but the United States in software, telecoms, microchips, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and clean energy. The country's growth since the 1990s is primarily due to (a) immigration of freedom-loving people from the former Soviet Union (b) immigration from the USA of people with business acumen and entrepreneurial skills (c) economic reforms that reduced taxes, regulations and state ownership, for which Benjamin Netanyahu deserves much credit. The author holds the current prime minister in high esteem, viewing him as the right leader for our times.

After the 6-day war of 1967 Israelis started settling in the Territories, establishing an infrastructure of education, electricity, water & medical care. During Israeli rule, the economy in these areas surged by about 25% annually; growth surpassed that of Israel itself which was still shackled by statist thought. Palestinian life expectancy increased significantly as did their numbers, while the median income tripled. All of this came to a halt when the West and the United Nations forced the return of Arafat and his terrorists. The Palestinian Authority became the globe's prime per capita consumer of foreign aid as billions of dollars were squandered on maintaining a culture of corruption, blame, victimhood and dependency.

The reader is reminded that peace necessitates the imposition of penalties on aggression. Those who justify terrorism against a democracy that respects the rule of law and then condemn the inevitable retaliatory defense are supporters of barbarism and tyranny. There's a link between European antisemitism and Palestinianism as document by Chuck Morse and others. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, was an ally of the Nazis and a participant in the Shoah/Holocaust. Unsurprisingly, Arafat was an ardent promoter of Mein Kampf. In addition, antisemitic stereotypes disgrace the Arab media whilst the Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah openly proclaim their genocidal goals.

Gilder has identified the core issue and its consequences, revealing why Israel separates the free-market USA from statist Western Europe, individualists from collectivists and those who oppose high taxes from those in favor of big government. This line of demarcation broadly corresponds with the ideological divide between statism and classical liberalism. In psychological terms the book illuminates two opposing world-views, two incompatible mentalities -- the mind which considers resources as finite & limited, versus the mind that engages reality in an endless creative process. Meticulously researched and well-written, The Israel Test is a work of outstanding discernment and clarity. Read more ›

88 of 102 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome Addition To The Israel Debate July 27, 2009

By Allen Roth

Format:Hardcover

Leave it to George Gilder to take the debate over Israel to a whole new level. Gilder convincingly argues that every freedom loving people and every American should enthusiatically support the State of Israel. He deposits the criticisms of Israel into the trash heap of history. He piles on the evidence that the criticism of Israel is based on envy and anti-semitism. He marshals the facts that prove that Israel is the best thing that has happened to the Palestinians.

Throughout this book, Gilder's arguments, his prose,and his clarity are complimented by important but little known facts. His analysis of Hitler's Mein Kampf (where Hitler admits the Jewish people are superior to Aryans)is worth the price of this book, but there is much much more. Gilder's potrait of Prime Mininster Benjamin Netanyahu presents a picture of Israel's leader that is right on the mark.

Much of this book will be enlightening to people who care about the Israel conflict with the Plestinians and those interested in solving the problems. It will also interest people who want to learn about Jewish history and Jewish personalities that are largely forgotten. Gilder has a keen eye for the facts that tell the story.

This book has already started more than one controversy. It goes against the political correctness of Israeli doves, the Obama Administartion, the leaders of the European Union, and Israel's sworn enemies. You can listen to Gilder talk to bloggers about the book here [..]
I highly recommend The Israel Test for people who agree or disagree with Gilder's thesis. It is one of those rare books that will surprise and educadate the initiatied and the uninitiated. Bravo Mr. Gilder....

I hope The Israel Test will do for Israel what Gilder's Wealth and Poverty did for supply side economics. Read more ›