Israel facts...spread the word

Posted: 12/3/04 at 1:08pm

I don't normally pass these things along, but in this time of growing anti-Semitism almost any good press can help.

Here is a capsule of accomplishments of which most people are not be fully aware:

The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year.

Israeli trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.

Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following:

The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.

Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.

Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.

The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.

Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.

The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.

Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.

Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. US officials now look (finally) to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.

Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.

Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people --as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.

In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the U.S. (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).

With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, U. S.

Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U. S.

Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East.

The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.

On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.

Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.

Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.

In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at Risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.

When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.

When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble.

Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. (Hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union)

Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."

Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.

Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.

Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.

Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.

Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the camera helps doctors diagnose heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as
well.

A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clear Light device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct -- all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.

An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert.

All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other county on earth.

Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL .. .continues to EXCEL !

AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND SAYS "ISRAEL IS NOTHING BUT A SH*TTY LITTLE COUNTRY"

[ckeaton]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 1:15pm

Damn Jews.

(Just kidding. )

[sabrelady]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 5:12pm

As a "tribe" member- I am proud. We are all citizens of Eretz Yisroel.

[UptownGirl]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 5:13pm

I'm going to Israel for five weeks this summer! I'm so excited.

Posted: 12/3/04 at 8:31pm

Ooo that is soo cool Uptowngirl. Are you going there for any particular reason? Family? School? Vacation?

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 8:43pm

At a time of increased homophobia, I feel I have to contribute this anecdote.

My best friend recently went to Israel as part of a long contrinental trip. In his words:

"I am a gay Jew.
I felt more welcome and accepted in Berlin than I did in all of Israel."

Ok, flame way!

Updated On: 12/3/04 at 08:43 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 11:57pm

All of Israel? I guess he didn't go to the right places. If you're in religious areas- and yeah, they're everywhere- you're obviously not going to be that accepted as a gay person. But there's plenty of people around my age who would be perfectly accepting. Maybe your friend didn't meet too many people my age since they're in the army. One anecdote does not a pattern make.

[BwayLover]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 4:04am

I guess he really didn't visit ALL of Israel... Tel-Aviv is very gay-friendly. My three best friends happen to be gay, and they all feel accepted and loved and in fact, they have more hangout places in Tel-Aviv than I do!

And RoseActress - thanks for the facts. :) When are you coming?

[broadway_star_tomorrow]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 4:18am

thank you for that Rose.

I spent a lot of time in Israel growing up, and it saddens me to see how little people in the US really know about it.

Posted: 12/4/04 at 10:49am

You're all welcome. This was just something that was emailed to me from my dad. I found it very interesting and thought I would pass it on to all of you.

BwayLover- I'm going there Jan2-Jan13 and I can't wait! I just got my Itinerary and it looks amazing I'm sooo excited, we are doing soooo much!

[BwayLover]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 11:11am

RoseActress, If you have a free night in Tel-Aviv and you wanna hang out with the natives.. I'd love to take you out. PM me. :)

[magruder]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 11:17am

Yeah, Israel is actually quite gay-friendly. Your friend must have been hanging out with Hasids, who hate everybody, including their fellow Jews. Next time, he should go to Tel Aviv, or certainly Eilat.

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 11:49am

RoseActresss, you are on the mark. As an American citizen who has lived more than half acentury in ISrael, I ma very proud of its achievements. I am not a gay person, but there are many places where a gay man or woman would be welcomed.

Miriam

[MaTakeALookAtMe]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 11:52am

Israel is a great place... they consume more turkey per capita than any other country in the world.

Pigs feel relatively safe,there, however...

[BroadwayGal3]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 3:24pm

To add to the achievements...

GOOGLE!!!

The most popular search engine on the web was invented by two Israelis from the technion.

Thanks for posting, RoseActress.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:31pm

Actually, my friend Barry DID go to Tel-Aviv. And ya know...he didn't like it there either! And while I'm sure there are places where Barry would have felt more welcome, he did not find them.
Israel has a lot to be justifiably proud about, but it's important to realize that even in a progressive society as Israel, there is still a considerable amount of Biblically sanctioned homophobia.

A brilliant recent documentary by Sandi Simcha Dubowski, TREMBLING BEFORE G-D, examines the struggle of gay Orthodox Jews to fit in to society as Jews and as Gay people both in Israel and elsewhere. Barry and I saw this recently and reccommend it highly. Alternately we hissed and cheered, and thought the people profiled were exemplars of faith and courage. We fell in love with HIV+ "Mark" and cutie Rabbi Steve Greenberg! (http://www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com/subjects/index.html)
Trembling Before G-D

Updated On: 12/4/04 at 07:31 PM

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:43pm

proud to be an Israeli.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/5/04 at 1:03am

Jesus was Jewish?!?!?!?!
pflhahahahahahaha


sorry
I was in Fiddler on the roof
does that make me an honorary jew?

[InTheMoney]

Posted: 12/5/04 at 8:57am

"Jesus was Jewish?!?!?!?!"

See, I think this is an issue for serious theological debate. Generally, the major difference between Christians & Jews would appear to be that we believe Christ was the Son of God, whilst Jews don't.

But Jesus believed he was the Son of God. So doesn't that make him Christian?

Can the essential "founding member" of the religion not subscribe to that religion himself?

*has confused self & needs a lie down*

[ckeaton]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 4:12pm

*bump*

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 4:26pm

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Israel provides legal recognition to same-sex couples

Israel's attorney general has granted legal recognition to same-sex couples in financial and other business matters, his office said Wednesday, prompting an outcry from some ultra-Orthodox Jews, who consider the decision sacrilegious. Atty. Gen. Meni Mazuz said the couples will be treated the same as common-law spouses, recognizing them as legal units for tax, real estate, and financial purposes.

Mazuz made his decision by refusing to appeal a district court ruling in an inheritance case that recognized the legality of a same-sex union, his office said in a statement. Mazuz did differentiate, however, between recognizing same-sex unions for financial and practical purposes, as he did, and changing the law to officially sanction the unions, which would be a matter for parliament, according to the statement.

Gay rights activists cheered the decision. "This is very dramatic," said Irit Rosenblum, director of the New Family Organization, which advocates legal recognition of gay partners. "Practically, this is a declaration recognizing the family with same-sex parents. People won't sweep this under the table anymore and say it doesn't exist."

David Batzri, a prominent rabbi, lashed out at the ruling, saying it endorsed homosexuality and will bring God's vengeance and possibly even another great flood upon Israel. "There were such laws in Sodom," his son, Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri, told Army Radio. "The Torah, our book of laws, says that such things are sacrilegious," he said. "To make this permissible and positive...is very grave. Instead we need to help these people to come out of this."
Israel provides legal recognition to same-sex couples

Posted: 12/10/04 at 4:30pm

YAY!!!!! Well I know the Reform Rabbis support same sex marraiges here in the US.

[Plum]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 4:41pm

Have hope, everyone. If Israel can do it, the U.S. can, too.

Sersiously, you haven't seen religious kooks until you've seen some of the nastier Hasids. Scary stuff.