A Little Country
Here is a capsule of accomplishments you may not be fully aware of.
>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.
>According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline
industry's most impenetrable flight security. U. S. officials now look
to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
>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.
>Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees compared to the
rest of the world's population. 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 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 except for 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.
>Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews
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.
>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, the camera helps doctors diagnose 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
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 ClearLight 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
country on earth.
>AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND SAYS ISRAEL IS
"NOTHING BUT A ?#*% LITTLE COUNTRY "!!!
