A number of years ago, my wife and I visited Israel. We had hired a car and had been driving for a number of hours in northern Israel along the border with Lebanon then through the Golan Heights stopping at a number of Druze villages along the way.
As it was getting late in the afternoon, we thought we’d seek accommodation at the next town which was called Safed (or Zfat in Hebrew).
As we entered this small town, an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquillity came over us and we both commented on what a nice feel the place had.
‘Let’s stop here for a day,’ we said.
We checked a few places along the main road but there was no accommodation anywhere.
We then pulled into a place called The Rimon Inn but alas, it too was fully booked.
We were in Israel, we’d been travelling all day, my wife happened to be pregnant at the time, and there was no room at the inn. It wasn’t Bethlehem and she wasn’t due yet, but something was starting to sound familiar …
Getting desperate, I pleaded with the young lady at the desk saying, ‘We’re really tired, my wife is pregnant, do you have anything at all?’
Feeling a bit sorry for us, she said ‘Well there is an old stone building out the back’.
Smiling, I said ‘It isn’t a stable, is it?’
Understandably, she didn’t get the joke, so I simply said, ‘That will be just fine, thank you’.
And it was, as was the town itself. A delightful village built on the side of a hill. Steps everywhere.
We found out later that Zfat was where the ancient Hebrew prophets gathered. It was the ‘closest place on earth to God’ they said.
In the 77 years since Israel’s independence, the Jewish people have created a State that has become a global technological and entrepreneurial powerhouse.
With a population of barely more than 9 million – by comparison, its neighbour Egypt has 115 million, Iran has 90 million, Iraq 45 million and Saudi Arabia 33 million – Israel has become the Middle East’s superpower.
How did that happen?
First, immediately after leaving high school, all Israelis take part in compulsory military service.
After military service, they take their experiences with them into the private sector – first with their university studies, and then into business. Many highly successful start-up companies in Israel are founded by those who served together in the military. Brilliant.
Warren Buffett, one of the world’s biggest investors, has only ever invested in one country outside of the United States, and that is Israel. When announcing that his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, had paid $2 billion for a 20 per cent stake in Israeli toolmaker Iscar, Buffet said, “Israel reminds me of the United States after its birth. The determination, motivation, intelligence and initiative of its people are extraordinary.”
All of this has been achieved with no natural resources and being surrounded by hostile countries openly committed to wiping it off the map!
Compare that with Australia which has a population of 27 million, bountiful resources and the natural defences of an island continent.
The Australian’s Greg Sheridan says, ‘Australia is a nation in decline. Across every indicator you can imagine – economy, living standards, social cohesion, crime, health, military capability, the creativity and virtuosity of the arts – we’re in serious decline.’
In comparing the two countries, three key factors stand out – defence, the economy and family formation.
On DEFENCE, Australia spends 2 per cent of its GDP, Israel 9 per cent.
On the ECONOMY, Australia forecasts 1.7 per cent growth for 2025, rising to 2.2 per cent in 2026. Israel projects 3.4 per cent growth in 2025, rising to 5.5 per cent.
On FAMILY formation, Australia’s birth rate is 1.5 compared to Israel’s 2.9.
First, defence. It is a given that the first duty of any government must be the defence of the nation.
As has been widely admitted, Australia is currently defenceless. We rely totally on the United States.
And yet Australia has three times Israel’s population, 400 times its landmass and a GDP ($1,800 billion) three times the size of Israel’s ($600 billion).
Resource-hungry China, with its regional aggression and military build-up – particularly its naval force which is now the largest in the world – should send an ominous warning to resource-rich countries like Australia.
As mentioned previously, Israel is its region’s superpower. It knows what it needs and is confident in its ability to meet any challenge – with or without outside help – in one of the toughest neighbourhoods in the world.
Or compare the Middle East to the Far East.
Israel is half the size of Taiwan and has less than half its population but if it was Israel that was located off the coast of China does anyone think for one moment that China would threaten it?
A former chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee reported that the volume of intelligence that the U.S. receives from Israel is greater than that which it receives from all NATO countries combined.
General George Keegan, the former head of U.S. Air Force Intelligence, said “If we had to gather the intelligence ourselves that Israel gives us, we would have to establish five CIAs!”
Israel’s success lies not in what is beneath the ground but in what is between the ears – and within its heart.
Former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke once said that Israel was ‘… an inspiration, a small, lone democracy in the Middle East’.
Its birth rate, which is double that of Australia, signals a strong belief in its future – and in its past.
The late Jonathan Sacks said, “To defend a country you need an army. But to defend a free society you need families, schools and an educational system in which ideals are passed on from one generation to the next, and never lost, or despaired of, or obscured.”
Israel defends its culture and its way of life.
Having said all that, and notwithstanding these stark contrasts, Australia and Israel have a lot in common, harking back more than a hundred years.
October 31st, 1917, for example, was a pivotal moment in the Middle East Campaign of World War I, where the Australian Light Horse Brigade captured the heavily fortified Ottoman stronghold of Beersheba.
The capture of Beersheba sounded the death knell for the Ottoman Empire’s 400-year occupation of Jerusalem and surrounding territory.
As a result, Beersheba formed a significant historical link between Australia and Israel.
Israel is currently fighting a war defending Western Civilization – which Australia is very much a part of – against an enemy that wants to destroy our civilization.
As always, and against all odds, Israel will win.
As discussed in previous posts here, here and here, Australia – and South Australia in particular, given its similar climate and topography to Israel – would benefit enormously from a much closer relationship with Israel.
South Australia is currently experiencing an ecological disaster caused by a massive outbreak of toxic algae, and neither the State nor the Federal Government seems to have a clue what to do about it.
Israel currently operates five desalination plants along the same length of coastline as the Adelaide side of Gulf St Vincent. Its marine biologists are the smartest in the world. They would have had this problem solved long ago.
But there’s something even more we have in common.
Australia’s Constitution begins with the phrase ‘Humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God’ – yes, that’s the God of Israel.
Once again, it is good to be reminded of what Judeo-Christian values have brought to the world – the establishment of schools, universities, hospitals, aged care organisations and welfare agencies. The elevation of women, as well as the abolition of slavery, cannibalism, child sacrifice and widow burning.
It’s been said that one has to go through the wilderness to get to the promised land.
Australia has problems it urgently needs to solve and goals it needs to achieve.
We have spent long enough in the wilderness. It is time to enter the promised land.
On defence, the economy and the family, I stand with Israel.
Accordingly, the Australian Family Party will henceforth be:
BOB DAY’S AUSTRALIA ISRAEL FAMILY PARTY
If you would like to join me and thousands of other like-minded Australians, please JOIN us.
Thank you.