Sunday, December 30, 2007
In a little item at the Boston Globe entitled, The overlooked issues of 2007, columnist H.D.S. Greenway has a surprising entry -- surprising because the general twist of his views is rarely surprising at all, usually lining up with the Globe's left of center conventional take that most often includes a scowl and a wagging finger for the Jewish State:
We all know the Israel of wars, oppression, and precarious security, but what about Israel of the humming economy with 90 Israel-related companies on NASDAQ? What about Israeli films garnishing honors around the world: "Jellyfish" and "The Band's Visit" at Cannes, "Beaufort" in Berlin, "My Father My Lord" in Tribeca, "Sweet Mud" at Sundance, and "Aviva, My Love" in Shanghai?
What of Israeli solar power in California that has been saving 2 million barrels of oil annually for nearly 20 years? What of Arava Valley high-tech agriculture, with exports exceeding $100 million? Natafim, the drip irrigation system patented by Kibbutz Hatzerim, is now a multinational conglomerate selling millions of systems throughout the world. What of the Israel that is taking in Darfur refugees, and what of the first Israeli-initiated UN resolution, calling upon countries to share agricultural technology with developing countries, adopted overwhelmingly this month?
It's this other Israel that's underreported.
I fell out of my chair when reading this, too, Sol.
Quite frankly, I didn't even know that Israel had any kind of high-tech sector, let alone a distinguished one, until I learned about it on the Internet. I've always read The New York Times, as well as a fair number of political magazines (Economist, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, New Yorker), but I had never heard anything about Israel's achievements. Nothing.
See what a bit of mind control and a fat check could accomplish?
Joanne - expecting a compliment sent Israel's way from NYT is a verrrry long shot...
On seeing HDS Greenway's praise for Israel, I choked on my coffee, then checked the calendar. Did I really sleep through winter? Was it coming up on April 1 instead of January 1?
Reassured it was still 2007 and it wasn't an April Fool's prank, I figured it was a joke like the look back at 2008 sketch on the radio yesterday. (The big news story of 2008 Nappy remembers is the great bloviator Ted Kennedy's announcement that he gave up on writing his memoirs. "Heck. I can't even remember what I did last night, never mind 30 years ago," Kennedy said.)
The other Globe columnists gave straight answers; maybe Greenway didn't get the memo and gave a gag response -- which would be pretty fitting, as gagging is my usual response to his work.