The eighteenth anniversary of Israel was celebrated here yesterday with a special program at the Herzl Institute at which Dr. Emanuel Neumann, chairman of the Herzl Institute, evaluated Israel’s achievement.
“In the eighteen years since Israel was born there has been steady year by year progress in the development of the Jewish State, ” Dr. Neumann said. “In each year, tens of thousands of Jews have settled in Israel until today there are more than a million newcomers, an average aliyah of over 50, 000 a year, which happily is still continuing. Each year has seen new industry and business, which has contributed to the economic growth of Israel. Each year the country has grown stronger, and though there is the continued threat of Arab hostility, the military security of Israel is greater then ever before.
“But the miracle of Israel, as we look back, is not the continued year to year progress of the Jewish State. That is the result of hard work. The real miracle was that day eighteen years ago when the State of Israel was proclaimed, the act of proclamation itself. From zero to one is the greatest progress that can be achieved mathematically. It far surpasses the progress from one to two, two to three, seventeen to eighteen, or any mathematical combination of numbers. For the movement from zero to one is creation. And thus, as we celebrate Israel’s eighteenth anniversary, we must pay tribute once again to those intrepid Zionists, in Israel and throughout the world, who took the steps that made creation possible.”
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