Every time the Arabs try to isolate Israel, it backfires.
The more they try to push the Jewish state out, the stronger it gets.
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According to a Monday report in The Jerusalem post, which cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel faces mounting isolation in the international arena.
Qatar is reportedly leading an effort to form a coalition of states to impose a blockade on Israel, hoping to squeeze the Jewish state diplomatically and economically.
Netanyahu responded with a message that is as much a warning to Israel’s enemies as it is a reassurance to Israelis themselves: In the coming years, Israel will rely more heavily on its own strength. That means strengthening its independent arms industries, expanding munitions production, and boosting industrial capacity.
To outsiders, the prospect of Israel standing alone may seem daunting. To Israelis, it is nothing new. Time and again, Jews in the Land of Israel have faced attempts at strangulation and sabotage. Time and again, they have turned adversity into ingenuity.
Consider the Ayalon Institute, one of the most remarkable stories from Israel’s pre-state years. In the 1940s, when British Mandate authorities forbade Jews from manufacturing weapons, the Haganah Jewish resistance movement built an underground bullet factory beneath a kibbutz in central Israel.
Above ground, it appeared to be a peaceful agricultural community with a laundry and bakery. Below ground, hidden under the noise of the washing machines, workers produced more than two million bullets for Sten submachine guns. This clandestine operation, disguised in plain sight, supplied the weapons that would help win the State of Israel’s War of Independence.
This was not an isolated case. Throughout its history, Israel has survived and thrived under siege. When Arab states imposed boycotts and blockades in the 1950s and 1960s, Israel built up its domestic industries. It developed a world-class agricultural sector, pioneering drip irrigation that is now used globally to conserve water. It turned desert soil into farmland and became a net exporter of produce. The same determination fueled its high-tech defense sector. Denied easy access to foreign arms, Israel created the Uzi submachine gun, the Merkava tank, and the Iron Dome missile defense system — each a symbol of self-reliance born out of necessity.
Attempts to isolate Israel have not been limited to the battlefield or the arms market. Arab states tried to choke off Israel economically with the Arab League boycott, which pressured international corporations not to trade with Israel. It failed. Today Israel is a hub of innovation, home to more startups per capita than any other country. Companies like Intel, Google, Apple, and Microsoft all have major research centers in Israel, despite decades of boycott efforts.
And even beyond technology, Israel has become a model of national self-reliance in ways that make a potential blockade look almost laughable. Once plagued by chronic water shortages, Israel is now water-independent thanks to desalination and water recycling technologies, with some of the largest desalination plants in the world. It is exporting its water expertise to parched regions on nearly every continent.
Once dependent on costly energy imports, Israel’s discovery of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields has turned it into a net exporter of energy, supplying its neighbors and building an energy corridor to Europe. In cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and biotech, Israel has positioned itself not as a supplicant to the world, but as an indispensable partner that others cannot afford to ignore.
History teaches that these efforts to strangle Israel are not new but simply another verse in an old song. The Jewish People have endured exiles, expulsions, pogroms, and centuries of oppression designed to break them. Babylon destroyed the First Temple, Rome destroyed the Second, Spain expelled its Jews in 1492, and Europe nearly annihilated them in the 20th century. Each time, Jews rebuilt. Each time, they carried their story forward. The State of Israel is the greatest testament to that resilience. Today’s threats of blockade echo the past, but the result will be the same.
And it must be said plainly: The current effort to isolate Israel is the modern equivalent of trying to push Jews out of society altogether. The rhetoric may be different, the methods more subtle, but the impulse is identical. For centuries, the world told Jews: “You do not belong.” Today, Israel is told: “You do not belong among nations.” We know where that story ends, and the Jewish People refuse to replay it.
The futility of such isolation was summed up best in a conversation I recently had with a teenage American Zionist. She asked me, “What should I do with friends who don’t want to associate with me anymore?” I told her the truth: “They can go f*ck themselves. It’s their loss, not yours.”
Jews are perfectly capable of fending for ourselves. We built our own universities, country clubs, hospitals, newspapers, banks, and neighborhoods when others slammed every other door in our faces. Whenever others tried to lock us out, we simply built our own front door — stronger, sturdier, and more enduring. Our attitude should be that our presence enriches any community or nation, and it is they who should seek our participation, not the other way around.
The same is true with Israel. No country in the world brings more value pound for pound to its relationships than Israelis. For another country to sever ties with Israel is not to punish Israel, but to deprive itself of one of the most dynamic sources of innovation, intelligence, and progress on the planet. To isolate Israel is not only immoral; it is a form of self-harm. It is to shoot yourself in the foot while pretending you’ve struck a blow at someone else.
There is also a deep irony in these blockades. Every time Israel’s enemies try to “cut it off,” they inadvertently accelerate Israel’s innovation. The Arab boycott in the mid-20th century produced drip irrigation and agricultural breakthroughs. The arms embargo forced the creation of Israel’s domestic weapons industry. Terrorism led to the Iron Dome. Each external attempt to deny Israel only compels Israelis to out-think, out-build, and outlast their adversaries.
Builders always outlast destroyers.
At the same time, Israel is not truly isolated, no matter what its detractors claim. While some nations posture against it, others are moving closer. India, Greece, Cyprus, parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, and even segments of Latin America are deepening ties with Israel in trade, energy, and security.
And Israel’s strength does not come from governments alone. The global Jewish diaspora has always been an engine of support, from philanthropy to investment to political advocacy. Even if governments waver, Jews worldwide step up. Israel may act independently, but it never stands alone.
The truth is that Israelis have never had the luxury of depending on the goodwill of others. From the moment our modern state was declared, survival depended on the willingness to innovate, adapt, and fight alone if necessary. The Ayalon Institute is just one example, but it represents a deeper truth about Israeli resilience: the ability to create life where others seek to impose death, to manufacture hope under the cover of despair, to build quietly while enemies conspire loudly.
The Arabs have tried invasion, terrorism, boycotts, propaganda wars, and now, a coordinated diplomatic blockade. Each time, they have failed. Each time, Israel has emerged stronger.
The late Abba Eban, Israel’s legendary diplomat, once quipped that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” His words echo just as loudly today. At a moment when Arab leaders could rise above Hamas, condemn its barbarity, and chart a path toward a better future for their people, they instead fall back on the same tired playbook: blaming and attacking Israel. Rather than breaking with terrorism, they align with it. Rather than seizing the chance to move the region forward, they double down on a strategy that has failed for nearly a century.
Instead of saying clearly that Hamas is the obstacle to Palestinian prosperity and regional peace, Arab states rally at the United Nations to isolate Israel, as if punishing the one country that has consistently built, innovated, and survived will bring stability.
This is the tragic irony Eban warned of. Every time Arabs have chosen rejection over reconciliation, they have condemned themselves to stagnation while Israel advanced. From 1947, when they rejected the UN partition plan, to 1967, when they declared “no peace, no recognition, no negotiations,” to today, when they refuse to confront Hamas but try to blockade Israel, the pattern is unchanged. And so, too, will be the outcome.
Meanwhile, if history is any guide, Israelis themselves will dismiss these latest threats with a Hebrew phrase that captures our national ethos: katan alecha — loosely translating to “no big deal.” It is the shrug of a people who have endured worse, overcome more, and outlasted all who swore they would vanish. That is how Israelis will view this effort to isolate them — not as an existential danger, but as a nuisance, one more obstacle that will be turned into another chapter of resilience.
Make no mistake: Israelis are pining to get back to producing our own weapons. Not because we seek war, but because necessity has always been the mother of our ingenuity. If other countries think a new blockade will weaken Israel, it misunderstands us entirely. Israelis embrace the challenge, because defeating those who declare themselves our enemies has become not just routine, but a national expectation.
Part of what makes Israelis so innovative is what they experience in the army. Service is mandatory, not because Israelis love the military, but because our enemies refuse to live in peace with us. Every young Israeli, whether in combat, intelligence, or technology units, learns to think creatively under pressure, to solve problems quickly, to innovate with limited resources, and to deal with highly complex real-world issues at such a young age. That culture of resilience and resourcefulness feeds directly into Israel’s economy, its universities, and its culture.
Mandatory service, born of necessity, has become one of Israel’s greatest advantages. It is no coincidence that Unit 8200 veterans lead some of the most important cybersecurity firms in the world, or that battlefield improvisation has given rise to medical devices, apps, and agricultural technologies now used globally.
What began as a survival mechanism has become a national engine of creativity. And the same will happen with this so-called “blockade.” What Israel’s adversaries intend as a constraint will end up generating the very innovations that make Israel stronger and more indispensable.
The coming years may indeed bring more isolation. But history has already written the answer. Israelis will be just fine on their own.
Brilliant article Joshua
We Brits don't do a lot of Nationalism - however at the last night of the Royal Albert Hall Proms we sing the National Anthem - a bit of pride.
The next day I see our King and Prince William meeting and shaking hands with Mahmood Abbas from the PA who still 'pay for slay'
Disgusted - doesn't do it justice - I felt ashamed.
How could our monarch shake hands with this completely corrupt 'leader' who is only a smidge not worse from Hamas.
For the families and friends of the Oct 7th pogrom - the hostages - and the brave soldiers of the IDF lost to jihadi evil I offer my heartfelt apology from the UK
"The late Abba Eban, Israel’s legendary diplomat, once quipped that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Truer words have never been spoken about Arab intransigence. Add to that a quote from Golda Meir "We will only have peace with [the Arabs] when they love their children more than they hate us"