As this report has argued, Israel's survival in the long term will depend on decisions taken in the near future, which will make the difference between growth and stagnation, harmony and social strife, intelligent self-defence and self-destructive belligerence.
As any cricketer will tell you, the leave – in its own way the most decisive of all the shots – is often the most aggressive, most intelligent form of defence.
At the heart of Steve Fuller's defence of intelligent design theory (ID) is a false analogy.
The youngster showed real maturity as he mixed stout defence with intelligent run-scoring - the Sheffield-born player looking strong on both sides of the wicket alongside Prior.
"I think no-one gave us a chance apart from ourselves and we've enjoyed that this week a little bit, coming away first up and we've shown the sort of rugby we can produce and backed that up with some intelligent play and good defence at the end".
When a player unlocks a defence with an intelligent pass or flick, it seems almost sinful.
But the ultimate winner was the intelligent pragmatism of the US defence secretary Robert Gates, who realised what the effects of an Israeli attack would be.
The Argentine tapped in from Kaka's cross from the left after the Brazilian had been picked out by Sami Khedira's intelligent ball over the CSKA defence.
His intelligent combination of attack and defence in perilous circumstances was deserving of a century but the 39-year-old, in his 118th ODI, was stranded four runs short when the giant Irfan lobbed a simple catch to short-leg.
