Israel is neither poor nor desperate. Yes, the economy is just coming out of recession. People are unemployed. (Do you think I chose to work in America because things were brilliant back in Israel?) However, the sort of blatant exaggeration and misrepresentation in the letter is nothing short of amazing.
I'm all for buying Israeli. By all means, do so. There are truly fantastic Israeli products so there is no need to choose unappetizing ones or overpriced ones. I just hate to see the sort of lies spread about Israel in the original letter, and it bothers me that the letter got published so widely.