THE WORLD NEEDS MORE ISRAEL

They are booing Israelis at the Olympics.

There are campaigns to to exclude Israel from major international sports and culture platforms.

Amnesty International, recognizing that they have successfully resolved all the world's other human rights abuses, is now devoting itself to getting Israeli footballers booted out of FIFA.

The UN General Assembly, Security Council, and Human Rights Council have pushed pretty much everything else off their desks in order to carp fulltime about Israel.

South Africa is wasting the time of the International Court of Justice with a vexatious, frivolous lawsuit against Israel. South Africa is a country that breaks world records for violent crimes, especially murder, rape and other gendered violence. You might think they'd spend a little more time worrying about their own citizens before condemning Israel for a make-believe "genocide." But deflecting from one's own problems by waving fingers at Jews (and, since 1948, waving fingers at Israel) has always been the refuge of scoundrels.

In the 21st-century revamp of book-burning, academic boycotts seek to ban Israeli ideas. This is a strategy that probably owes as much to that old antisemitic fallback envy as it does Palestinian rights. Second-rate professors would love to eliminate Israeli ideas from the competitive marketplace of ideas so their own dollar store dissertations shine brighter.

Countries are isolating Israel, including restricting arms sales, so that the next time an October 7 happens the rapists, kidnappers, immolaters, beheaders and mass murderers will at least have a sporting chance.

Recently, I wrote that the world could give itself a nice black eye by boycotting Israel, considering all the lifesaving and world-advancing contributions coming out of the tiny, heroic Jewish state.

I'm taking that a step further. What is the opposite of a boycott?

The world is in tough shape right now. The inmates seem in charge of the asylum.

The one place the world should be looking for answers if we want to make a better world is the very place they seek to isolate, vilify and eliminate.

The effort to eradicate the Jewish state is not just an attack on Israel and Jews.

It is as close as we can get to a guarantee that human civilization is heading for a cliff.

Decent people need to plant our flag. We must stand proudly and shout from the mountaintops that most of the answers to humankind's challenges and crises can be found in the example of Israel and its people.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike: The world needs more Israel.

I could write a book about this, an encyclopedia maybe, but let me just reel off a few examples of the lessons Israel offers for humanity.

Resilience

The world is old and tired. So are the Jews. But Israeli society provides history's most inspiring examples of resilience. Built in the aftermath of the most systematic attempt to erase the Jewish presence from the world, and in the face of endless existential threats, Israelis have developed an almost reflexive capacity to absorb hardship and keep moving forward. The national muscle memory is not just survival. It is thrival™ (I just TMd this word to describe a people who don't just survive but thrive resplendently). Israelis demonstrate an entrenched confidence that setbacks are temporary, that rebuilding is possible, and that success demands hope and rededication, not despair and resignation. That's something we could all do well to learn, individually and collectively.

Successful decolonialization

There are a lot of rhetorical diced carrots barfed out these days about decolonizing this and redressing that. Rote, insincere land acknowledgement mantras are mumbled. But the greatest example of an indigenous people reclaiming their ancestral title and engaging in probably the supreme example of conscious state-building in human history is Israel. Yet this is the very success story these same soundbitey voices censure. If we believe in decolonization, reconciliation and self-determination, we need to champion Zionism with our every nerve and sinew.

Collective Memory

Collective memory in Israel is active, present-tense and foundational. Jewish and world history is not abstract. It is embedded in holidays. It is exemplified in the language, once dead as a vernacular now very much alive. It surrounds Israelis in the geography and architecture of the place. Memory is civic infrastructure. Collective memory produces vigilance, but also gratitude and purpose. Israelis understand themselves as a link in a long chain, responsible both to ancestors and descendants. George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Jews and Israelis remember history. That guides pretty much everything they do. Much of the world seems determined to ignore the lessons of the past. That seems to guide everything they do.

Improvisation, Innovation, Adaptability

Scarcity and urgency have trained Israelis to improvise with speed and confidence. From early agricultural settlements to cybersecurity labs, the national instinct is to solve problems quickly and creatively. Plans are useful, but adaptability is sacrosanct. When circumstances shift — as they often do — Israelis pivot. Innovation in Israel is less about polished perfection and more about agile iteration. Resourcefulness is cultural currency: you build with what you have, adjust in real time, and treat constraints as catalysts. I shouldn't need to point out that this is probably the ultimate key to human success. We could improve ourselves and the world if we would learn from Israelis. Instead, we seek to boycott them. This doesn't seem to hurt Israelis a whit. But it holds the seeds of our own destruction.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Israel's entrepreneurial culture is fueled by a comfort with risk and failure. Starting over is normalized. Failure is treated as tuition, not stigma. A small domestic market pushed Israelis outward from the beginning, creating founders who think globally from day one. The willingness to try, fail, and try again — combined with tight networks and informal collaboration — has made innovation and entrepreneurship not just an economic engine but a social mindset. Why doesn't the world learn from this? Because a lot of Israel's enemies detest success and venerate failure.

Disregard for Rigid Hierarchy

Israel's social fabric resists hierarchy and rigidity. It is common for junior staff to challenge senior leaders, for soldiers to question commanders, for citizens to confront politicians. This encourages people to act rather than wait for permission, and it makes leadership more accessible and accountable. On the other hand, Israel's enemies generally share one characteristic: They are authoritarian. Whether it is the terrorists who constitute Palestinian "governments," the tyrants who lead every Arab and Muslim country, or the "progressive" activists around the world who shout down and beat up anyone they disagree with, authoritarianism is the common thread. They hate Israeli individualism, freedom and chaotic anti-hierarchical norms. If we want a stronger, better, freer society, we should be emulating Israelis, not isolating them.

Solidarity in Crisis

Social division is the crisis facing almost all Western societies right now. (Division threatens other societies less because … see above: authoritarianism.) In moments of crisis, Israeli society contracts into extraordinary cohesion. Political divides recede. Volunteers mobilize instantly. Homes open to strangers. The instinct is collective responsibility. Emergencies activate a deep, familial sense of shared fate. Disagreement may resume later, but in crisis, solidarity is reflexive. America and Europe could learn from this approach. Will we? No, we're too busy condemning everything that comes out of Israel as toxic.

Argumentative Culture

Debate is the most popular Israeli sport. Israelis argue constantly — and productively. From Talmudic study to parliamentary sessions to café conversations, disagreement is a form of engagement. This robust self-criticism strengthens institutions by stress-testing ideas in public. Everything is open to challenge. The result is a society that refines itself through friction. Nothing improves ideas or society more than this sort of challenge. The world needs more questioning, less certitude. We need more Israel.

Multicultural might

I'm Canadian. We view multiculturalism as our greatest natural resource. Diversity is our secret weapon, linking us to the world and enriching our own country. But if Canada is a prototype for successful multiculturalism and diversity, Israel is the archetype.

Israel is a mosaic of diasporas redeemed — European, Middle Eastern, North African, Indian, Ethiopian, Yemenite, Russian, American and others. This multicultural hybridity generates cultural creativity and global fluency. Israelis often speak multiple languages, maintain transnational networks and feel connected beyond their borders. The country is small, but its social imagination is global. That is something we could all learn from them — even Canadians.

I could go on and on. There is so much that the world could and should learn from Israel. In the interest of getting on with our week, I will end with this …

Optimism, Happiness, Forward-thinking

Despite its pressures, Israel consistently ranks high in measures of happiness and life satisfaction. There is a pronounced forward-looking orientation: families are large, public spaces are full of children. Optimism is not naïveté; it is determination. The national mood leans toward building, planning, improving. The future is not feared — it is to be shaped.

Compare this with its neighbors (and with other societies that are unsuccessful and failing further): they are pessimistic, miserable, backward-looking, grievance-based, scapegoating.

In Western civilization, happiness is the ultimate goal. Despite all they face, Israelis have learned this and they live this.

When the destructive idiots of the world boycott Israel, we need to do the opposite.

We need to champion Israel, embrace its chutzpah, celebrate its resilience, amplify its entrepreneurial spirit, emulate its rejection of hierarchy, elevate argumentative intellectual trial and error, and strive for the happiness that Israelis enjoy despite all their challenges.

The worst people in the world boycott Israel.

People who seek a better need to chant this loudly and proudly ….

The world needs more Israel.

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