NITTY GRITTY

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I’m With Israel and Against Critical Race Theory

In 1867, American writer Mark Twain visited the Holy Land. He recorded his impressions in a book titled “The Innocents Abroad.” Twain was appalled when seeing the abandoned and desolate land that was the home of the Bible.

“The further we went, the hotter the sun got and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary, the landscape became,” he wrote. “There was hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

Some 15 years later, Jews began a movement to return to and restore their ancient homeland.

They started rebuilding under horrendous and challenging conditions.

By November 1947, as Jews continued their process of building and Arabs continued their process of hate, the United Nations gave the green light to establish a Jewish state and an adjacent Arab state.

Jews accepted the U.N. partition of the region, declaring the new state of Israel in May 1948, but the Arabs rejected the plan and attacked the newly declared Jewish state. Israelis fought and miraculously prevailed in its War of Independence, and the project of rebuilding the ancient homeland moved forward. Now it is an officially recognized member of the community of nations.

Compared with the desolation continued from page

described by Mark Twain, Israel today is a modern miracle, with per capita GDP (gross domestic product) higher than that of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, according to the World Bank.

As of 2019, Israel had a per capita GDP of $43,589, much higher than that of its immediately adjacent neighbors: Jordan’s was $4,405, Egypt’s $3,019, Syria’s $2,037 (as of 2007), and Lebanon’s $7,584.

Per Statista, Israel has the highest per capita venture capital investment in the world.

During its short history, from its founding in 1948 with a population of 806,000 to today, with a population of 9,291,000 — slightly more than the population of New York City — Israel has produced 12 Nobel Prize winners.

All this while fighting three major wars and dealing with endless terrorism.

According to Freedom House in Washington, D.C., Israel is among the freest countries in the world by measurement of political and civil rights.

Commentary from America’s left and leftwing media says that