Israel's economy was "the best in the west" last year. All the more remarkable, considering the neighborhood.
Unrelated aside: The actual location of Israel, west Asia, is, apparently, now the "West." We wonder if Jordan, Syria and Iraq are also now "the West," or if the headline is implicitly racist insofar as it reinforces Arab claims that Israel is fundamentally colonialist. CWCID: Maggie's Farm.
From NPR yesterday:
ReplyDelete"More than 20 years have elapsed since the Soviet Union fell apart, prompting a tsunami of people, mostly with Jewish roots, to leave for Israel. They have changed the country's demographics, helped strengthen the economy and played a significant role in the general rightward shift of the Israeli electorate."
Link:
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/02/168457444/on-multiple-fronts-russian-jews-reshape-israel
- DEC (Jungle Trader)