This is new: Israel stole `Araq: have you ever heard of Israeli `Araq? Is there anything that this terrorist state does not steal? What a failed nation-state that has nothing to offer except war crimes, theft, and lies

The Swollen Envy of a Pygmie Mind

(Previous 'Swollens' here)

The Prof. is upset again, as you can see from another one of his daily habitual verbal farts  here:

This is new: Israel stole `Araq: have you ever heard of Israeli `Araq? Is there anything that this terrorist state does not steal? What a failed nation-state that has nothing to offer except war crimes, theft, and lies 

The news article that launched this anguished cri de coeur is this:

Turkish raki, Greek and Cypriot ouzo are variations on a theme with Lebanese and Israeli arak. It is also not dissimilar to French Pastis and Pernod, and the Italian liqueur Sambucca. The word arak means “sweat.” The drops of condensed alcohol are said represent perspiration! The world’s finest arak comes from Lebanon. There, they treat their finest araks with total reverence. Arak is known there as “lion’s milk.”

Up to recently, the finest bars in Israel would stock Yeni Raki from Turkey, Haddad Arak from Jordan or Touma Arak from Lebanon. The only ever-present Israeli alternative was the Elite or Aluf Arak.

However, in Israel there has been a revival of quality araks in the last two years.

The finest newcomers have been Kawar and El Namroud.

Kawar comes from Jordanian roots, and El Namroud is produced in the Galilee by a refugee of the South Lebanese Army, now resident in Israel.

 I would like to try and answer Abukhalil's fulmination, but it would take too much effort and time to  point out all that is wrong, twisted, paranoiac, slanderous, fiercely frustrated and pathologically envious in this statement:

What a failed nation-state that has nothing to offer except war crimes, theft, and lies

But we can look at what someone else recently said about Israel by way of rejoinder:

 After a long trip through the Asian trouble spots, Israel felt very peaceful, and very much like Silicon Valley. I won't comment on the history, conflict or opposing views in the region which are well understood, or at least well covered if poorly understood.  To see the tiny Old City of Jerusalem, crucially important to three world religions, is to understand why people have fought over centuries for this land (1)

Israel has few natural resources and has about half of its GDP tied up in export oriented businesses.  The country is simply too small and with little opportunity to cooperate in traditional business with its neighbors, Israel has become a high tech hub.  Google has a large engineering and sales operation in Israel, whose achievements are definitely world-class.  

In our meetings four things became clear about Israel as a high tech, innovation engine [--]