Does Jewish Survival / State of Israel prove Judaism is true?

One argument for Judaism that we all have grown up with is that Jewish Survival over 2,000 years of golus, leading up to the establishment of the State of Israel, is so amazingly unique (and predicted by the Torah), that it is in itself a very strong argument for Judaism being true.

This needs to be analyzed very carefully.

There are at least 3 seperate arguments here:

1) That the survival in itself is proof
2) That the prophecies coming true are proof
3) That the establishment of Israel is proof

Clearly 2 and 3 wouldn't work for Satmar as proof of anything, so I guess these arguments only work for MO and Zionistic Chareidim. Anyways, lets address each in turn, and we'll include 2 and 3 too for the benefit of my Zionistic readers (assuming I still have any left after my 'Gaza invasion is immoral' posts).

1. Survival.
It's true we survived. However our numbers are not too impressive. Remember that Christianity started with 1 inconsequential guy at the end of Bayis Sheni, and now they have 1 billion adherents. Meanwhile we're at 12 million (yes, of course I know the reasons for that), and of that the only people who are even practicing 'authentic' Judaism are about 1 million. So you'll say, 'Ho Gufoh!', the fact that we have been so persecuted, and so small, and so scattered, and yet STILL we survived reasonably intact proves something. But what does it prove? That religious fundamentalists are a very tenacious lot, who do a good job at brainwashing their kids? Hard to say it proves much more than that.

2. Prophecies
I'm quite impressed by some of the prophecies, especially the one in Dvarim which says we will be a 'wonder' or talking point across the nations of the world. Some prophecies seem to have come true, and even if the Churban Prophecies of the Neviim were actually written post-facto, you still have the general prophecy of Kibutz Goliyot (ingathering of the exiles) seemingly coming true with Israel. However, you could counter argue that it's a 'self fulfiling prophecy'. The Zionists who established Israel were motivated by the 2,000 year old dream. God had nothing to do with it. Also the UN were motivated by the tragedy of the Holocaust to vote for the state. See! says the believer, it's all part of 'THE PLAN'. Could be. And then again, it might not be.

3. Israel
The Messianic fervor which emanted from the 67 victory is entirely understandable. But things have faded since then. The situation in Israel is no better, and in fact may become worse. You need a lot of faith to think we are at 'reishis tzmichas geulosaynu'. By the way, one of my (MO) Rabbis always stresses the 'reishis' and 'tzmichas' i.e. we're nowhere near Moshiach yet, so don't go getting too crazy about it. (He's anti Lubavitch AND anti the crazy tzioni settler types). Fact is, Israel might become as much of a liability to the Jewish people as a safe haven. Nobody can pedict the future, and it's certainly no proof of anything. Except maybe that the Secular Zionists were the only people in the past 2,000 years who actually achieved anything worthwhile, and we should all become secular.

Bottom line: No proof, and probably not even a very strong argument.