And corruption was both rife and rampant - nepotism, cronyism, outright bribery. During the 70s, the recently appointed governor of the central bank was imprisoned and a minister committed suicide. Many more immolated themselves or ended serving long sentences in over-crowded jails. Massive scandals erupted daily. In the 80s, privatization turned into an orgy of privateering, spawning a class of robber barons.
Red tape is still a major problem - and a major source of employment.
And then there were the wars and armed conflicts and vendettas and retributions and mines and missiles and exploding buses and the gas masks. In its 52 years of independence the country has gone through 6 major official wars and more than 10 war-sized conflicts. Yet, despite all the above, Israel emerged as by far the most outstanding economic miracle. Its population was multiplied by 10 by surges of immigrants. The newcomers were all destitute, the refugees of the geopolitics of hate from both the Eastern block and from the Arab countries.