Response to: “Start-up Nation,’ Groans Under Strains of Growth and Neglect”- NYT, MARCH 1, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/middleeast/israel-election-issues.html

David Bedein
Director
Israel Resource News Agency at The Center for Near East Policy Research

As a native of Philadelphia, living in Israel for 50 years, working as a community organizer and as an investigative reporter , I can affirm the facts reported in the New York Times article on March 1, 2020, “Start-up Nation,’ Groans Under Strains of Growth and Neglect”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/middleeast/israel-election-issues.html

What was missing? Context. Israel has tripled in population over these 50 years, welcoming two million Jews, which places a burden on what the New York Times describes as Israel’s “challenges in health, education and transit…”

Indeed, the Times correctly reports that Israel’s hospitals are “overcrowded and understaffed”, with “patients often kept in the hallways…” – without reporting the current overhaul of Israel’s health system, as Israel launches new efforts to recruit more doctors, nurses and administrators.

It is vital to mention that life expectancy in Israel has increased from 74.4 to 82.1 in only 30 years

This places increased pressure on the health system to treat many more patients than ever expected .

Concerning the report of private vehicles congesting the roads in Israel, the New York Times could have interviewed more travelers fully dependent on Israel’s improved public transportation system,

Why not mention the new 28 minute train ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv? Before 1978, it took 90 minutes to get from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Not long ago, a bus ride from Jerusalem to Haifa took 3 and a half hours.Now, a Jerusalem to Haifa bus takes 90 minutes.

Full disclosure: I hold a valid Pennsylvania driver’s license for all these years, and have never driven for one minute in Israel, and am pleased to be dependent on public transport.

Concerning comments in the article about higher education, Israel’s student population has increased from 70,000 in 1988 to more than 300,000 at this time. While Israel hosted only 8 institutions of higher learning 50 years ago, there are now 75 Universities and colleges in Israel. That is a sign of a “start up nation”

Response to: “Start-up Nation,’ Groans Under Strains of Growth and Neglect”- NYT, MARCH 1, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/middleeast/israel-election-issues.html

David Bedein

Director

Israel Resource News Agency at The Center for Near East Policy Research

As a native of Philadelphian ,  living  in Israel for 50 years, working as a community organizer and as an investigative reporter ,  I can affirm the  facts reported in the New York Times article  on March 1, 2020,  “Start-up Nation,’ Groans Under Strains of Growth and Neglect”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/middleeast/israel-election-issues.html

What was missing? Context.  Israel has tripled in population over these 50 years, welcoming two million Jews, which places a burden on what the New York Times describes as Israel’s “challenges in health, education and transit…”

Indeed, the Times correctly reports that Israel’s hospitals are “overcrowded and understaffed”, with  “patients often kept in the hallways…” –  without reporting the current overhaul of Israel’s health system, as Israel launches new efforts to recruit more doctors, nurses and administrators.

It is vital to mention that life expectancy in Israel has increased from 74.4 to 82.1 in  only 30  years

This  places increased pressure on the  health system to treat many more patients than  ever expected .

Concerning the report of private vehicles congesting the roads in Israel, the New York Times could have interviewed more travelers fully dependent on Israel’s  improved public transportation system,

Why not mention the new 28 minute train ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv?  Before 1978, it took 90 minutes to get from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Not long ago, a bus ride from Jerusalem to Haifa took 3 and a half hours.Now, a Jerusalem to Haifa bus takes 90 minutes.

Full disclosure:  I  hold a valid Pennsylvania driver’s license for all these years, and have never driven for one minute in Israel, and am pleased to be dependent on public transport.

Concerning  comments in the article about  higher education, Israel’s student population has increased from 70,000 in 1988 to more than 300,000 at this  time. While Israel hosted only 8 institutions of higher learning 50 years ago, there are now  75 Universities and colleges in Israel. That is a sign of a “start up nation”

1 COMMENT

  1. Journalism or propagandists? The NY times wrote about public transportation problems, congested highways & city streets, education problems & medical backups. For a moment, I thought the journalist (ha ha) was talking about most cities in the US.

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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