It is well-known that Israel faces hostility and pressure from religious enemies on its borders. But in a new book, author George Gilder reveals that Israel has also become "the crucial battlefield for capitalism and freedom in our time." In Gilder's telling, Israel has emerged in the early twenty-first century as a bastion of technological progress and commercial and scientific advance. Israeli Jews have achieved enormous success in areas ranging from business to the arts. Gilder argues that "if we allow Israel to be quelled or destroyed, we will be succumbing to forces targeting capitalism and freedom everywhere."

Gilder will present arguments from his new book, The Israel Test, at a forum sponsored by American.com, AEI's online magazine of ideas. Joining Gilder will be AEI visiting fellow Jon Entine and W. H. Brady Scholar Charles Murray. Entine is the author of Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People. In April 2007, Murray published a much-discussed essay in Commentary magazine called "Jewish Genius," in which he documented "the extravagant overrepresentation of Jews, relative to their numbers, in the top ranks of the arts, sciences, law, medicine, finance, entrepreneurship, and the media." American.com editor Nick Schulz will moderate.