(JNS) In a preposterous article in The Jerusalem Report, the Israel Democracy Institute’s Daphna Aviram-Nitzan extrapolates Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s view that Israel needs to become self-sufficient in arms into a claim involving economy-wide self-sufficiency.
“Behind the prime minister’s insinuation that Israel might have to supply all its needs domestically lies the assumption that Israeli industry will be completely self-reliant and meet every need as a substitute for imports,” she writes.
Aviram-Nitzan alludes to a litany of ills that will befall Israel should Netanyahu fully pursue autarky—a closed economy—including credit rating downgrades, stock market setbacks and reduced living standards.
The loss of the defense export sector alone would be economically catastrophic, she writes: “The potential damage from halting defense exports is therefore enormous—in terms of economic growth from exports and of employment, since the defense industries employ tens of thousands of workers directly and indirectly.”
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