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The advantage that Israel’s economy and its society gains from this equally dispersed national service experience was driven home to us by neither an Israeli nor an American—but rather by Gary Shainberg, an eighteen-year veteran of the British navy. Today, he is vice president for technology and innovation at British Telecom.
“There is something about the DNA of Israeli innovation that is unexplainable,” Shainberg said. But he did have the beginnings of a theory. “I think it comes down to maturity. That’s because nowhere else in the world where people work in a center of technology innovation do they also have to do national service.”
At the age of 18, Israelis go into the army for a minimum of two to three years. If they don’t reenlist, they typically enroll at a university. “There’s a massive percentage of Israelis who go to university out of the army compared to anywhere else in the world,” said Shainberg.
In fact, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 45 percent of Israelis are university-educated, which is among the highest percentages in the world. And according to a recent IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, Israel was ranked second among sixty developed nations on the criterion of whether “university education meets the needs of a competitive economy.”
By the time students finish college, they’re in their mid-twenties; some already have graduate degrees, and a large number are married. “All this changes the mental ability of the individual,” Shainberg reasoned. “They’re much more mature; they’ve got more life experience. Innovation is all about finding ideas.”
Innovation often depends on having a different perspective. Perspective comes from experience. Real experience also typically comes with age or maturity. But in Israel, you get experience, perspective, and maturity at a younger age, because the society jams so many transformative experiences into Israelis when they’re barely out of high school. By the time they get to college, their heads are in a different place than those of their American counterparts.
“You’ve got a whole different perspective on life. I think it’s that later education, the younger marriage, the military experience—and I spent eighteen years in the [British] navy, so I can sort of empathize with that sort of thing,” Shainberg went on. “In the military, you’re in an environment where you have to think on your feet. You have to make life-and-death decisions. You learn about discipline. You learn about training your mind to do things, especially if you’re frontline or you’re doing something operational. And that can only be good and useful in the business world.”
This maturity is especially powerful when mixed with an almost childish impatience.
Since their country’s founding, Israelis have been keenly aware that the future—both near and distant—is always in question. Every moment has strategic importance. As Mark Gerson, an American entrepreneur who has invested in several Israeli start-ups, described it, “When an Israeli man wants to date a woman, he asks her out that night. When an Israeli entrepreneur has a business idea, he will start it that week. The notion that one should accumulate credentials before launching a venture simply does not exist. This is actually good in business. Too much time can only teach you what can go wrong, not what could be transformative.”
The IDF also offers recruits another valuable experience: a unique space within Israeli society where young men and women work closely and intensely with peers from different cultural, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds. A young Jew from Russia, another from Ethiopia, a secular sabra (native-born Israeli) from a swanky Tel Aviv suburb, a yeshiva student from Jerusalem, and a kibbutznik from a farming family might all meet in the same unit. They’ll spend two to three years serving together full-time, and then spend another twenty-plus years of annual service in the reserves.
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Rebecca Dana is a culture correspondent for The Daily Beast. A former editor and reporter for the Wall Street Journal, she has also written for the New York Times, the New York Observer, Rolling Stone and Slate, among other publications.
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Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Conor Friedersdorf, a Daily Beast columnist, also writes for The American Scene and The Atlantic Online's ideas blog.
Propaganda much?
A good example for their neighbors. See what can happen when you put hate aside and stop blaming everyone else for your plight.
You do realize that they have taken their neighbors land, and that they use their military to dominate their nearest neighbor right? They may be prospering, but it is at the expense of their Palestinian neighbors. They are the single largest _cause_ of their neighbors plight.
You have no clue. First - study history and get your facts straight. The "Palestinians" are a modern day group, Name a leader prior top Yasser Arafat. You can't. The problem isn't what the Israelis conquered in 1967. The Arabs and the "Palestinians" did not accept Israel pre-1967. Israel is fighting 1948 war not 1967 war. Bret Stephens - former Wall Street Journal reporter said: "Do you think most Israeli would object to a Palestinian state if it were facsimile of Canada. Of course not, but it would be a facsimile of the Taliban. Israeli Arabs have a good life in Israel. They are in the malls, the parks, everywhere. The signs are even in Arabic,"
And why are the settlements so offensive - the thought of living with Jews?
Jews were oppressed,fled and were expelled from Arab lands. No one argues that. But they get on with life and do not play up the refugee claim. Maybe they should. If the Palestinians put there effort into making a productive society instead of trying to terrorize Israel and consistently distort the truth - they would be much better off.
1/ land has been bought ny the Keren Kayemet LeIsrael inbetween 1900 and 1945
2/ Arabs caused people to flee.
3/ At the same time 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries and their possessions [confiscated by Arab governements] represent a much larger surface than what you call Palestine!
Absolute bullshit Mr al-nafs! If the Palestinian people would stand up against their religiously fanatical leaders they would enjoy a prosperity they did not believe possible. It is in Israel's interest to promote the development of the Palestinians, but not when its leaders constantly and openly call for its destruction. The Palestinians are their own worst enemies. They need to take their heads out of their collective butts and start realizing that there is a lot to be gained by co-operation with Israel.
Something the article didn't address about how Israeli military experience relates to business is the idea of acceptable risk. It is part of any military operational decision. No business school can teach that as well as having to make life and death decisions that involve your closest friends.
Overstated disconnected drivel!
Do you think maybe Israel thrives cause it on the US titty? Their propaganda machine is quite good. Where would America be without Israel: better off.
A missing but relevant bit of information in this article: What percentage of new Israeli ventures are for military/defense products? I'm sure that silicon valley and other high tech sectors could do a much better job of recognizing the value of veterans. But how many of the Israeli vets have simply seen the financial bonanza in the military defense industry (well subsidized by the dollars of U.S. taxpayers) during their time in uniform? Lord knows it's virtually the only growth sector in manufacturing that the U.S. has left. Hooray for us.
I'm a retired "government" worker and true, we just don't give Israel hundrerds of million of $$ during the past 50 years, it's in the billions!!!!
So, what do we get back for that investment? Well, for starters, try some of the best intelligence information in the world. In fact, Shin-Bet, the MI arm of the Israeli Army, makes the KGB and CiIA look like the Boy Scouts. In my first year of gov't service, I learned that SB had enbedded more than 25 agents in the KGB going back to 1955. Most of that data went to the USA. Want more? How about Smart Weapons? Take a guess who developed most of them and where did they go? That's right--to the USA!! I can go on and on, but then, you seem to know it all. Right???
Nobody needs America to help herself waste billions!
America withdraws trillions from her own Federal Reserve! Stop complaining and do something to stop the haemorrhage that greed produced in this country!
Yes, some ventures involve military technologies. But others cover the gamut: medical, agricultural, energy, information, water, and much more. The OECD just named Israel a "patent center". There's more Israeli technology in your cell phone, computer and doctor's office than you realize. They're #1 in percentage of exports classified as "high tech". Check out http://israel21c.org for a sample of what they're cooking up.
Nothing against military/civil service, but I suspect that university is better at exposing young people to different cultures, background, religions, as well as different lifestyles and ideas.
Meanwhile, I think media4citizens has figured out the economic catch. I'd have to have more information, but my hypothesis is that learning to obey orders unquestioningly in a rigid command structure wouldn't necessarily translate to entrepreneurship.
Dan Senor has all along been a shill for the neo-con puppet masters of the Cheney/bush administration. Do it like Israel. Position yourself for perpetual, senseless war, cultivate an irrevocable bond with the world's largest sugar daddy, and let it rip. The Cheney/bush administration accomplished the first goal, but the only sugar daddy they could find was American taxpayers for generations ahead. What pure, unadulterated horse manure.
nothing against your personal opinion, but just curious - have you served in a military, or is this opinion based only on the one sided experience of being in a Uni? (assuming you went). The only reason I'm questioning is because I've been to both and disagree with you. At Uni, people can still choose who their friends are and who they listen to. The point made in this article is that young Israelis can not escape living with and co-operating with people from vastly different backgrounds. The military makes a point of arranging who they put together to serve together for this very reason. In Israel, the military is as much a social tool as a defense force. National service is a recognized social tool to produce healthy, mature and contributing adults in the Israeli society by the time they are finished with their National service.
Furthermore, normally I would agree with your second point - if we were discussing any other military than Israel's. The IDF's military discipline looks very different than most military's. Yes there are direct orders. But no one goes through their National service learning to blindly follow orders, forgetting how to think for themselves for 2-3yr. There is the constant pull between following orders for the safety the unity and fulfilling our role in conjunction with every other unit in the military, but on the same hand we are always questioning, always wieghing our own beliefs and rights against our role as a soldier. Soldiers are constantly exterting their unique independance in any area they can outside of disobeying direct orders. And this tension is eliviated by a unique IDF concept of 'distance' between enlisted and officers being limited to particular times and circumstances and lifted during 'off hours'. This is accepted as inevitable in the IDF because the IDF is made up of soldiers who did not volunteer and who are raised to be independent, opinionated and to fight for their rights - to not just assume their rights will be honored. These prized characteristics of Israeli youth are not suppressed by military discipline but somehow cultivated. It is a paradox that can not be understood but only experienced. And it is the very thing that does make the IDF the breeding grounds for Israeli entrepreneurship that this article discusses. Simply put, you have a point but it simply doesn't apply to the IDF. But this article does discuss, quite pointedly, how the IDF does contribute to our successful entrepreneurship.
Would Israel be able to offer these benefits to its citizens (and yes, believe it or not, mandatory conscription is a benefit for all the reason cited) were it not for the fact that the U.S. provides Israel more financial aid than any other individual country and basically unlimited, indirect military aid?
Israel has the 53rd largest GDP (~ $200 billion) in the world and it is 48th highest GDP per capita. Israel's per capita household income is on par with that of the UK and Australia. Yet the U.S. provides Israel $2.5 billion per year, almost 20% of its defense budget, in direct foreign aid.
OK, the US have given more money and aid to Iraq and Afghanistan in the past 8 years than it has given to Israel in Israel's modern existence since 1948, so enough with the lies. Second, over 75% of all aid to Israel actually goes directly to US government defense contractors and jobs in the US. Third, the protection aid that we have given to murderous regime in Saudi, and to Kuwait and to the UAE has a value of approximately 24 billion dollars per year, and for this they continue to rip us off and support terrorism and the murder of Americans and others. Really, the Jew haters never cease to amaze me with their stupidity and ignorance.
There you go, every time someone complains that the U.S. cares more about the citizens of Israel than it does about its own citizens the Israel Lobby screams ANTI-SEMITISISM!
The fact is that bin Laden would never have attacked the U.S. if it were not for the U.S. total support of Israel.
The fact is the U.S. would not need to have 3 or 4 carrier groups perpetually in the Middle East if it were not for the unlimited military support the U.S. gives Israel.
The fact is that the U.S. would probably not be in Afghanistan, or Iraq or Saudi Arabia if it were not for the unlimited military support the U.S. gives Israel.
The fact is that the U.S - Israel alliance is a strategic liability to the U.S. and if the roles were reversed Israel would drop the U.S. like a dead rat.
The fact is that the Israel Lobby will defeat any national candidate that does not kowtow to Israel's foreign policy.
The fact is that the U.S. is financially broke in large measure to our global protection of Israel and the Israel Lobby just wants more and more and more!
The fact is that Israel gives healthcare to all of its citizens but the U.S. can't afford to.
The fact is that I don't hate anyone but I do love my Country more than I love any other country. Can you say the same?
If I am a Jew hater then you must be ...an American hater.
Your math is off. I can't be bothered to adjust for inflation, but even without that, the last 14 years of aid to Israel = the aid to Iraq since invasion. Before 1995 Israel was still getting 1 to 3 billion a year.
Of course, that's not really that much money. Since the US spends so little on Foreign Aid (0.08% of Federal Budget), it's a bit silly to think that that could be the reason for Israel's economic success. About as silly as crediting mandatory military service (since plenty of less economically successful countries have the same -- Greece, Turkey, etc). I think some form of government service is a good idea, but I'd say a reduction of crime and increased sense of civic duty are more legitimate arguments for it.
Israel has gotten some $3 billion annually since the 1979 Camp David agreement. Egypt gets some $2.4 billion; Jordan and Lebanon a few hundred million each; the Palestinians a billion or so. So Israel's immediate neighbors combined get even more. What do they do for the US, and why don't you complain about *those* expenditures? Israel at least gives back and does a heck of a lot for the US.
You have to be kidding me with this bogus article.
Talk about low self esteem. The Israel is a sham goverment with a few money hungry Zionist calling the shots.
I wish they would fight a war without American support. But we all know that Americas pet project needs daddies help always.
Israeli women are HOT! George Patton
Dan Senor is an idiot. Always was and always will be.
Dan Senor works for Dick Cheney and he is married to CNN's Campbell Brown .... 'nuff said.
The problem with basing your economy on war is that eventually everyone is dead.
Hmm...funny Senor would say this even though he himself has never served in the military. This idea may have more credibility if it came from someone who actually experienced it.
The problems with Americans is their refusal to learn from other cultures. Israeli culture is obsessed with technology, science, and entrepeneurship. They would be like this despite military service and despite American money. Its part of their cultural values. America should adopt that view point since it is science and technology that is going to save the economy and save the environment.
Countries from the the former Soviet Union, and from east asia are also very interested in math and science. These are good qualities that Americans need to adapt in order to survive in a globalized economy with a globalized workforce.
People should stop trying to stop trying to shoot people down for trying to help Americans by learning about other cultures. Its a good thing. In order to do better, we need to learn from people who are doing better than us in certain domains, not shoot the messenger. You don't have to support Israel to recognize that it has some things to offer. China has a horrible human rights record, that doesn't mean we can't learn something about chinese discipline and education.
Though the Isreali economy may have faltered less, it's still pretty crappy with a GDP/capita sub Western standards - and that's saying nothing of the social issues regarding getting all of our kids geared into fascist training camps at age 12 to kill our religious enemies from a safe distance with weapons. Oh - wait a minute, isn't that terrorism?
Thank you.
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