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With Iran and Israel very much back in the news, a different look at the massive crisis in which the Ayatollahs find themselves. Their economy has collapsed and people cannot afford to live, but to make matters worse, in cities like Teheran, there is hardly any water. The country has largely dried up.

What many of us never knew or have forgotten is that this is largely a crisis of their own making, a result of their own ideologically rooted hate. Israel, it turns out, built Iran a very sophisticated water system back in the days of the Shah. But the system was tainted by its “Israeliness.” The mullahs wanted nothing to do with Israeli engineers or even Iranian engineers who had been trained by Israel—and ultimately left themselves with no know-how, and now, no water.

It’s a sad but telling part of the story of Iran’s demise, one with an ironic Israeli side to it. We learn about it from Seth Siegel, author of the best-selling Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World.

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Seth M. Siegel is an American businessman, writer, and activist. He is the author of the 2015 New York Times Best Seller, Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved World. He has also founded or co-founded several companies including, The Beanstalk Group and Sixpoint Partners. Additionally, Siegel has produced shows for Broadway and television, and his essays and articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and others.

He attended Cornell University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1974. After graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Siegel returned to New York where he earned a Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School.

In 2015, St. Martin’s Press published Siegel’s book, Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World, which detailed the ways in which Israel successfully implemented water management and conservation policies despite its arid climate. Let There Be Water became a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post best seller and has appeared in multiple foreign-language editions.

During the weeks of January 25th and February 1st, I will be out of the country, and for most of that time, in an area with literally zero connectivity. We will, of course, continue to provide our podcasts for paid subscribers and previews of those podcasts for free subscribers, but there will be fewer other posts.

In the event that there is a dramatic development in Israel (Iran, Gaza or anything else) and we do not post about it, it’s because we may well not even know about it, and even if news does each us, we will definitely not have the connectivity needed to post.

We’ll return to a normal pace and schedule the week of February 8th.

With prayers for quiet and good news ….

For our paid subscribers

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.