History
As mentioned in the welcome thread, Israel was officially made a State/Country in May 1948; 61 years ago. As for today, there are MANY quite awesome little facts about a country that is barely the size of New Jersey (which is a tiny, overpopulated U.S. State for those who don't know
)
{Credit must be given to Taglit-Birthright for these facts}
1. Israel has the highest number of companies traded on Wall Street (after the U.S. and Canada).
2. 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 US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
3. Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds, right behind the U.S.
4. Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
5. On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups.
6. Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
7. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees per capita in the world.
8. 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.
9. Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees - ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland - and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.
10. Israel has
three official languages: Hebrew, English and Arabic.
11. Tel Aviv has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
12. The most popular product in Israel is the soup nut.
13. The Dead Sea in Israel is the lowest point on earth, at 1,315 feet below sea level at its lowest point.
14. Israel is smaller than the state of New Hampshire.
15. A team of Israeli and US researchers has designed a watermelon-picking robot endowed with artificial vision to do the job of harvesting.
16. Israel exports more than 1.5 billion flowers annually to the US and Europe.
17. Over the past 25 years, agricultural output has increased sevenfold with hardly any increase in the amount of water used.
18. Israel has helped farmers in Niger develop a horticultural production system called the African Market Garden (AMG).
19. An Israeli company - Evogene - is developing cotton plants that are resistant to adverse salinity conditions and drought.
20. Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in the number of trees.
21. An Israeli ornithologist is utilizing barn owls to rid large cities of rodent problems.
22. Israel is one of the leading countries in providing ornamental fish to aquariums around the world.
23. Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of thousands of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out into Asia.
24. Israel is the only country in the region that permits citizens of all faiths to worship freely and openly.
25. Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
26. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
27. Each of Israel's holy sites is administered by its own religious authority, while protection against desecration and trespassing as well as free access are guaranteed by law.
28. Israel has no constitution. The Knesset passed 11 basic laws. Of these 11 Basic Laws, 6 are related to politics and the way the government runs. The others have to do with the status of Jerusalem, the rights of people in Israel (2 Basic Laws), and the army.
29. When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
30. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was produced by Haim Saban, an Israeli whose family fled persecution in Egypt.
31. Israel receives more media coverage, per capita and per square foot, than any other nation on earth.
32. Israel has the world's second highest number of new books per capita.
33. Sesame Street in Israel has puppets that speak Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian. One character, Moshe Oofnik, is the cousin of Oscar the Grouch.
34. Israeli actress Hanna Laslo took home the "Best Actress" award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Amos Gitai's "Free Zone."
35. The Israeli film 'Sweet Mud' won the jury prize for world cinema at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
36. Israeli companies are going to require models in their advertisements to take tests to ensure that they have a normal BMI (Body mass index).
37. A new generation of "Sesame Street" programs aimed at teaching tolerance is being produced and broadcast in Israel, Jordan, and in the Palestinian Authority.
38. Israel has a higher life expectancy, lower average infant mortality rate and almost double the amount of doctors per patient ratio than the U.S.
39. Israel has more in-vitro fertilization per capita than anywhere in the world, and it is free.
40. Magen David Adom began in Tel-Aviv on June 7, 1930 by a group of seven Israeli doctors who started it as a one-room emergency service.
41. Israeli medical researchers have shown that lycopene - the red pigment found in tomatoes - lowers blood pressure.
42. Israeli stem-cell technology is being used in the U.S. to regenerate heart tissue.
43. A portable electrocardiograph machine developed by Israeli company SHL can transmit highly detailed data on heart activity to physicians by mobile phone.
44. Israeli startup Audiodent has developed an innovative hearing aid that clips easily inside the mouth, using the teeth and jawbone to transmit sound to the brain.
45. Israeli researchers are developing the second generation of drugs to treat diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.
46. Israeli company Ultrashape has developed a safe replacement for liposuction - a unique new body-contouring device that "blasts" unwanted fat from the body.
47. Israeli researchers have discovered the molecular trigger that causes psoriasis.
48. Israeli research has shown that dancers display consistent differences from the general population in two key genes.
49. An Israeli-initiated project is drastically lowering the mortality rate of Ethiopian children infected with the AIDS/HIV virus.
50. Israeli infectious disease experts have been recruited by the World Health Organization to help prevent the spread of avian flu.
51. Israeli scientists have found that a drug once used to treat vertigo can now help people lose weight.
52. An Israeli discovery of a gene that could cure a blinding eye disease has been licensed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
53. An Israeli computer program has been clinically proven to accurately provide a prognosis of how effective chemotherapy will be for breast cancer patients.
54. An Israeli study has shown that people who suffer from job burnout may be prone to developing type 2 diabetes.
55. An Israeli scientific team from the Technion has succeeded in creating beating heart tissue in a laboratory from human embryonic stem cells.
56. A team of Israeli genetic researchers has identified a genetic defect that causes a severe neurodegenerative disease in Bedouin children resulting in premature death.
57. Israeli researchers have discovered a new way to create effective substitutes for antibiotics based on a combination of amino acids and fatty acids.
60. An Israeli company has developed a device that helps nurses locate hard-to-find veins.
61. The success of GlaxoSmithKline's once-a-day breast cancer pill Tykerb - which has won approval by the FDA for use by women with metastatic or advanced breast cancer - is thanks in part to clinical trials conducted by Israeli researchers.
62. Israel, American and Canadian researchers are working together to develop nanotech-based solutions to the water shortage in the Middle East.
63. Between 150 to 200 multinational clinical trials are regularly taking place in Israel.
64. Israeli researchers have developed a 'bone glue' that respectively stimulate speedy bone and cartilage repair, and enable faster and improved healing of injuries.
65. Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
66. 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.
67. 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 surroundings skin or tissue.
68. Christopher Reeve called Israel the "world center" for research on paralysis treatment.
69. Israeli researchers are playing an important role in identifying a defective gene that causes a rare and usually fatal disease in Arab infants.
70. Israeli microbiologists have developed the first passive vaccine against the mosquito-borne West Nile virus.
71. Israeli research has found that citrus oils may hold the key for asthma treatment.
72. An Israeli study has shown that anger may trigger strokes.
73. An Israeli company has developed a simple blood test that distinguishes between mild and more severe cases of MS.
74. An Israeli-developed elderberry extract is one of America's best-selling flu prevention medicines.
75. Two Israelis won the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their groundbreaking work in cancer research.
76. An Israeli medical delegation from the 'Save a Child's Heart' project recently spent two weeks in China performing open heart surgery on children.
77. Israeli researchers have shown that a daily dosage of Vitamin E is effective in helping to regain hearing loss.
78. Israeli researchers have created a 'biological pacemaker' which corrects faulty heart rhythms when injected into the failing hearts of pigs.
79. An Israeli-developed device can painlessly administer medications through microscopic pores in the skin.
80. Israeli scientists have shown that hypnotism doubles the chances of success of in vitro fertilization.
81. A newly developed Israeli cooking oil is capable of breaking up blood fats such as cholesterol.
82. Israeli researchers are using video games to investigate future treatments for memory disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
83. Israeli researchers are successfully using magnets to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
84. Israeli scientists have created a DNA nano-computer that not only detects cancer, but also releases drugs to treat the disease.
85. Israeli scientists are developing a nose drop that will provide a five-year flu vaccine.
86. Israel has the largest fleet of aircraft outside of the U.S.
87. Over 20 Israeli companies provided security and services for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.
88. Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
89. Israel has its own festival of love, called Tu B'Av.
90. Israel has its own version of the Olympic games every four years in Israel. The Maccabiah Games are open to Jewish athletes from across the globe. At first the Maccabiah Games were used to promote immigration to Israel in the 1930's and have now turned into a major sporting event in Israel.
91. The glue on the back of Israeli stamps is kosher.
92. Many bus stops in busy areas have tzedaka boxes.
93. The two most common family names in Israel are Cohen and Levi.
94. Many visitors to the Kotel are so enamored with the wall that it gave rise to mental disorder called the Jerusalem Syndrome. These people with the disorder can be found at all hours of the night at the Kotel. What gave rise to this syndrome were people becoming overwhelmed with the spiritual aura of the Kotel and then they feel that they must take on the role of a biblical figure and undergo spiritual purification.
95. NASA is interested in knowing what Israeli researchers can learn about conditions on Mars by studying the Negev desert.
96. An Israeli company has developed the world's first jellyfish repellent.
97. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
98. An Israeli two-flush system can save Americans billions of gallons of water a year.
99. Israel engineers are behind the development of the largest communications router in the world, launched by Cisco.
100. Bill Gates called Israel a major player in the high-tech world.
ישראל - Israel 
x11 
x8
