Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Facebook.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded proudly to Israel’s being ranked this week by a prominent US bimonthly magazine as among the world’s eight great powers of 2017.

“In order to ensure Israel’s future, I am working all the time to strengthen [its] military, economic and diplomatic power,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook on Thursday, noting the Jewish state’s placement by The American Interest as number eight on the list “exactly for these reasons.”

Quoting the article, which invoked the Jewish state’s first prime minister, Netanyahu said, “David Ben-Gurion would be astounded by the progress his poor and embattled nation has made.” Adding his own comment to that, Netanyahu wrote: “And it will continue to get stronger!”

The American Interest described Israel — which came in behind the US, China and Japan (tied for second and third place), Russia, Germany, India and Iran — as a “small country in a chaotic part of the world [that] is a rising power with a growing impact on world affairs.”

Despite “the passage of yet another condemnation of Israel at the United Nations,” the magazine wrote, in reference to Security Council Resolution 2334, “overall the Jewish state continues to develop diplomatic, economic and military power and to insert itself into the heart of regional politics.”

The piece went on to explain the country’s ranking:

Israel’s newfound clout on the world stage comes from the rise of industrial sectors and technologies that good Israeli schools, smart Israeli policies and talented Israeli thinkers and entrepreneurs have built up over many years. In particular, Israel’s decision to support the rise of a domestic cybersecurity and infotech economy has put Israel at the center of the ongoing revolution in military power based on the importance of information control and management to 21st century states. It is not just that private investors all over the world look to invest in Israel’s tech startups; access to Israeli technology (like the technology behind the Iron Dome missile system) matters to more and more countries. It’s not just America; India, China and Russia all want a piece of Israeli tech wizardry.

Other, less glamorous Israeli industries, like the irrigation, desalinization and dry land farming tech that water poor Israel has developed over the decades play their part. Israel’s diplomatic outreach to Africa and its deepening (and increasingly public) relationship with India benefit from Israel’s ability to deliver what people in other countries and governments want.