Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative"
"Israel Hayom," October 15, 2014, http://bit.ly/1sH9rUi
The elitist
media outlets of Israel, Western Europe and the USA are
wrong! Israel is increasingly appreciated and embraced -
not ostracized – by the global community.
In defiance
of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement
in Britain, and despite the Gaza War, Israel's exports
to Britain, and the Israel-Britain trade balance, surged by 38% and 28% respectively
from January-August, 2014, compared to the same period
in 2013, expanding employment in both countries. In
addition, 37 Israeli-British mergers & acquisitions
and British stock market IPOs occurred during the same
period.
The
swelling Israel-Britain trade balance highlights
Israel's special capabilities in the global market,
generating cutting-edge technological and scientific
developments which have given rise to unique medical,
healthcare, agricultural, software and defense
technologies and products. Moreover, most of Israel's
export is business-to-business-based, supplying leading
international businesses with critical components and
technologies, which enhance the quality and reduces the
cost of their own products, revolutionizing quality of
life, in general, and commercial/defense performance, in
particular. The Israeli exports provide American,
European, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, South
Korean and additional global giants with a competitive
edge in the global competition.
Israel's
unique niches in the area of healthcare were underlined
in the June 2014 Forbes' list of ten
health companies changing the world, five of them were
Israeli. "It's amazing that Israel – a country of only
eight million people – produces so many leading health
technology companies," David E. Williams, president of
the US-based Health Business Group, told the Grapevine. According to Williams,
"Israel's highly educated technical and medical workers
are reared in a society that prizes problem-solving and
innovation, placing tremendous value on curing illness
and saving lives."
Barbara Opall-Rome, the Israel
Bureau Chief of Defense News, sheds light
on the global added-value of Israel's defense industries
and Israel's rising weapon exports, which have grown
since the Gaza War. The war revealed the potency of
Israel – the world's largest and most advanced
battle tested laboratory - especially in the area
of shielding civilians from the wrath of short-range
missiles and defending tank crews against guided
missiles. According to Opall, "over the past five years,
Israel has had military sales of around $7bn annually,
and it puts Israel in the top five of the world's
arms-exporting nations.... India is one of Israel's
biggest
customers, buying everything from ship and air defense
systems to anti-tank missiles and drones."
Bloomberg News reported, following
the Gaza War, that Shite Azerbaijan is the leading
supplier of oil to Israel and a major buyer of advanced
Israeli military systems, in spite of criticism from its
neighbors, Iran and Turkey.
The
California-based Entrepreneur suggests that "One
country that stands out from the rest of the rest when
it comes to research and development (R & D) is
Israel. In fact, it ranks second only to Silicon Valley
for startups…. The pool of STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics) talent in Israel is huge.
There are 140 scientists, technicians and engineers for
every 10,000 Israeli employees, compared to 85 per
10,000 in the USA.... Israel is flush with
entrepreneurs, second in numbers only to Silicon
Valley. The country is filled with people with courage,
drive, creativity, boldness and tenacity, who will move
mountains to achieve their goals and dreams…."
Israel's
educational standing in the world was noted by the
recent OECD's 2014 Education at a Glance
study, published by Yahoo Finance on September
11, 2014: Israel ranks fourth in the world as far as
post-high school educated population (46.4% of the
population), trailing Japan (46.6%), Canada (52.6%) and
Russia (53.5%), ahead of the USA, Korea, Australia,
Britain, New Zealand and Ireland.
The
respectable, growing slate of more than 250 high-tech
global giants, with R & D centers in Israel,
clarifies how integrated Israel is in the global
economy: Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Motorola,
Computer Associates, Qualcomm, HP, EMC, GE, AT&T,
Xerox, Dell, AMD, Marvell, Cisco, GM, Google, Oracle,
Paypal, McAfee, Polycom, Telefonica, Ebay, AOL, Yahoo,
SanDisk, SAP, Siemens, Philips, Deutsche Telekom,
Samsung, etc. A recent arrival in Israel is the Russian
Internet Security giant, Kaspersky Labs, which will
inaugurate its first Israeli R & D center in
Jerusalem.
2014 is
shaping up to be an Israeli record year for raising
capital, with Israeli IPOs on Wall Street
surpassing $3.5bn. Two of the top ten Wall Street IPOs
were Israeli companies, Mobileye ($890mn) and Israel
Chemicals ($507mn). Intercontinental Exchange, the
global network of exchanges and clearing houses,
acquired Israel's SuperDerivatives for $350mn, as its R
& D center. Pulse Secure acquired Israel's
cyber company, Mobile Spaces, for $100mn.
On September 22, despite the Gaza
War and because of Israel's brain power and cutting edge
and game-changing technologies, Intel announced an
additional $6bn investment in its existing Israeli
arsenal (four R & D centers and two manufacturing
plants), which will develop the next generation of
Intel's chips.
Intel's
substantial investment constitutes a resounding vote of
confidence in the long-term, geo-strategic and economic
viability of Israel, as confirmed by Moody's credit rating, sustaining
Israel's investment grade at A1 – a low credit risk.
And where
does that leave the anti-Israel DBS movement, the Gaza
War and other conventional and terrorist threats? Based
on Israel's track record, they are bumps on the road of
unprecedented growth and acceptability.
Wishing
you a Happy Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and a Happy
New Year,Yoram Ettinger, Jerusalem, "Second Thought: A US-Israel Initiative"
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