Social protest in Tel Aviv
צילום: ירון ברנר
We have the ability to change
Op-ed: Despite general atmosphere of despair, social protest and technological advancements prove Israel heading in the right direction
A few months ago a meeting took place between the heads of the aerospace industries of Italy and Israel. Representatives of some 30 Italian companies visited Israel to explore ways to cooperate. Such an event would have been considered impossible a year or two ago, and it is the direct result of the government's decision to fund a civilian space program.
The 3rd Annual International Cyber Security Conference of the Yuval Ne'eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security and the National Cyber Bureau is currently being held at Tel Aviv University, with the participation of leading cyber experts from around the world.
Over the past few years I've had the privilege of jumpstarting and heading two national programs that could poetically become key components of Israel's economy. The first is the space program, and the second is the national cyber initiative. From both projects we can draw a number of economic lessons: In both cases a national project was founded by a team consisting of experts from various fields, including the academia, industry, security establishment, government ministries and otherw; in both cases a comprehensive plan was formulated which took into consideration not only the technology, but also factors such as society, economy, education and higher education and more; in both cases the project heads' stated goal was to make Israel one of the five leading countries in these fields; and in both cases the government adopted the plan and supported the projects with a significant budget.
Both projects contradict the overall atmosphere within Israeli society and the disbelief in our ability to change. The Jewish nation invented criticism of the regime (the people of Israel complained when Moses disappeared for 40 days on Mount Sinai), and the nation in Israel perfected this criticism and turned it into an actual art form. Criticism is extremely important, as it is one of the truce sources of our power and is a prerequisite for improvement and progress. Without it, we would not know what needs improving. However, there is so much criticism that we tend to focus on the difficulties in our lives and exaggerate in our descriptions of the flaws we want fixed. Due to this, some of us have lost faith in our ability to change.
My life experience does not support this outlook: We are improving in almost every field. This improvement is accompanied by criticism, but as long as this criticism brings change, there is no place for the despair many of us are feeling. Take the social protest for example. Today it is clear that it has led to a real change in the distribution of political power in the country. Despite all the criticism we can level regarding the inexperience of the new Knesset members and the mistakes made by inexperienced ministers, we have to admit that in most cases they are better than their predecessors.
The aforementioned space program and national cyber initiative are not lone sparks in the dark. The technological advancement in Israel is not the only positive. The amazing change in the distribution of political power, which took place through exemplary democratic means, is not the only change we have witnessed. The winning of Nobel prizes every year or two is not luck. The list is long, and it serves as proof for what is right under our noses: Within us there is the wisdom, talent and strength to change our destiny and improve. Even more so, we have an open and dynamic society which allows the good in all of us to shine and allows us to constantly improve. It is up to us to take advantage of these qualities.
