Isreal is all of what American conservatives dispise, and only   
    one thing conservatives like.   
      
    Isreal is a religious state, which conservatives like, but the   
    wrong religion for American conservatives. Many on the religious   
    right in this country support Israel because they believe the   
    support of Isreal will lead to the end of the Jewish faith.   
      
    In the end times, which the religious right is hoping for, and   
    the re-establishment if Israel is supposed to preceed, the Jew   
    are supposed to convert or die.   
      
    Nice when your supporters are hoping for the end of what you   
    believe in, isn't it?   
      
    Israel is also heavily socialist, involved in social   
    engineering, and universal health care. Isreal is also very   
    multicultural. All of which the right in America dispises. Oh,   
    and they are big on immigration, but the right accepts that   
    since they are trying to consolidate all the world's Jews in one   
    place.   
      
    Israel is also a democracy, but that is in the balance in the   
    current events. How democratic a nation is when the military is   
    embedded in almost all of national life is arguable. How long it   
    can continue as a democracy when the press is allegedly free,   
    but subject to military censorship, is truely questionable.   
      
    Which leads to the title question, is Israel becomming a failed   
    state, and if so, just why and what are the indicators.   
      
    What are the indicators of a failed state? Dependence on   
    international aid? Expansion of poverty? Widespread crime,   
    extending into the government? Oppressive government?   
      
    Those who pay attention to Israeli news, from Israeli sources,   
    may be aware that poverty is a problem in Israel. Now that is   
    not supposed to be, as Israel offers so much to immigrants.   
    However, having listened to The Voice of Israel (Kol Israel) for   
    years, and reading online Israeli newspapers, it comes out that   
    poverty is a continuing problem in Israel. Which is not really   
    suprising in a country that has focused on it's military for all   
    of it's existance.   
      
    Clearly Israel is dependent on foreign assistance for it's very   
    survival. The US provides Israel with more foreign aid than it   
    does to any other country. Much of that is military aid, if not   
    most. However, if the US did not provide that aid then Israel   
    would have to divert more of it's economy to make that up.   
      
    To those who pay attention crime in Israel is pretty well known,   
    but even a short search turns up more than I knew before.   
    Organized crime in Israel is well established, but has grown   
    drastically since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the last   
    decade such crime has reached to the level of cabinet ministers,   
    and assignation attempts between gangs. At least one bombing in   
    Isreal was originally believed to be of Palestinian origin, but   
    proved out to be an attempt to kill a gang leader by a rival   
    gang. The attacks have included anti-tank rockets and bombs.   
      
    Israeli organized crime is inherently international, due to the   
    ease of travel. The surge of immigration from Eastern Europe   
    after the fall of the Soviet Union included many criminals, and   
    world wide immigration to Israel opens up outward travel by   
    those holding passports from other countries. Israeli crime   
    families have tentacles into Eastern and Western Europe, and the   
    United States.   
      
    International criminal activity by Israeli mobs include drug   
    dealing especially, but also money laundering, gambling,   
    trafficing in women, and murder which goes with all the above.   
      
    One possible reason for the extent of Israeli infiltration of   
    international organized crime is the restrictive Israeli   
    extradition laws. While Israel can extradite Jews to other   
    countries for trial, that is only allowed if the accused will be   
    sent to Israel to serve any sentence. Israeli prisons are more   
    'humane', or soft if you prefer, than many other countries,   
    including the US. One of the Israeli organized crime figures   
    murdered in the feuds had escaped from prison by the simple   
    expedient of walking away from a weekend pass, and moving to   
    England, where he was killed.   
      
    In January of this year Israel shipped 5 accused crime figures   
    to the US for trial, but, if convicted, they will be sent back   
    to Israel to serve their sentences. Those men, described by an   
    Israeli police spokesman as the "Lords of Organized Crime", were   
    wanted for murder, drug dealing, money laundering and possible   
    RICO prosecution.   
      
    Yet all of this, while indicating a breakdown in Israeli   
    society, do not necessarily indicate a failing state. What may,   
    though, it how many citizens want to, or are preparing to, leave   
    the country.   
      
    Recently I discovered that emigration is a problem for Israel,   
    but the potential for more immigration is huge. Aproximately 50%   
    of Israeli youth said they would rather live somewhere else if   
    it were possible, in a survey on the subject. Over 60% of   
    Israelis either already hold foreign passports, or have applied   
    for them, and indicated they are considering leaving. Around   
    3/4 million Israelis either have US passports or have applied   
    for them.   
      
    There has long been a worry that Islamic reproduction exceeds   
    Jewish reproduction to such an extent that Israel may no longer   
    be a Jewish state. An unmentioned addition to this concern is   
    the emigration/immigration imbalance in Israel. Israelis who   
    leave the country typically do not return. They are twice as   
    likely to be college educated as the average Israeli, and, more   
    important, they are young.   
      
    The immigrants to Israel tend to be older, the emmegrants tend   
    to be younger. The immigrants are much less likely to have   
    children than the emmigrants. That too will add to the   
    reproduction imbalance.   
      
    All in all, if over half the population of a country are   
    considering leaving, and half the youth have said they would   
    prefer to leave, that just might suggest the nation is on it's   
    way to being a failed state.   
      
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.   
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