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Originally Posted by ZFBoxcar
The first assumption is that prior to any new Holocaust, Jews would be able to escape to Israel. The second assumption is that any nation planning on wiping out all the Jews does not have the ability to harm Israel. The first assumption is probably correct, the second one might not be.
While I agree that he is certainly overstating the point, and that Israel is certainly not the third strongest country in the world and is also not a "must have" for the world, Israel has been a pioneer in agricultural and water use technology, nano/computer technology, pharmaceuticals, electronics, software, and is the 14th largest nation in terms of how many patents it's citizens have produced (while being the 97th largest nation in terms of population).
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ZF,
Thanks. The number of patents is certainly impressive. I'd be curious to see how many of those were military, although I doubt that it would be more than 1/4 to 1/3.
As far as the genocide argument, I don't buy the assumptions. If Russia decided to start killing those who didn't emigrate already, there's nothing that Israel or the UN could do to stop it. I think that the examples of Rwanda and the Darfur illustrate that the UN isn't failsafe with regards to genocides, and while Israel has demonstrated its acumen on both the battlefield and with its spycraft, it wouldn't be up to the task of having to project power to end large scale killings. However, the point of Israel serving as a safeguard against extinction is taken, although I find such a scenario unrealistic given the current state of geopolitics.
Nonetheless, I get the impression that you don't buy whole heartedly into this argument, so I am not trying to shoot the messenger here
