Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative"
"Israel Hayom", February 13, 2015, http://bit.ly/1KSVW9h
In defiance of the anti-Israel BDS movement (Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions), diplomatic pressure, regional and
global geo-political instability, continued global economic
uncertainties and the overall anti-Israel talk brouhaha,
Israel demonstrates a robust walk, as evidenced (and impacted)
by an expanding net-immigration and a faster-than-expected economic
recovery from the 2014 war on Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
According to the February 3, 2015, Economist
Intelligence Unit, "the July-August war in Gaza
appears to have had only a transient effect on the economy…. Private
sector job creation has played a more significant role with
strong expansion. Employment in this relatively well-paid
category rose by 5.2% year on year…. The fall in the
unemployment rate comes despite a rise in the participation
rate among the core 25-64 year age group from 75.1% in the
third quarter of 2013 to 75.8% in the final quarter of 2014,
and a modest increase in the share of full time employed
persons…. The unemployment rate averaged 5.9% in 2014,
compared with 6.3% in 2013, having
fallen to a record low of 5.7% in the final quarter of 2014….
The unemployment rate in Israel compares well with the 7.2%
among OECD member states…."
Israel is highlighted as the second most
innovative country in the world following the USA, attracting
an increasing number of global companies and investors. For
instance, the most authoritative source on Israel's high tech
industries, IVC-KPMG, reported that in
2014, Israeli startups raised an all-time record of $3.4bn, compared with $2.3bn
in 2013. Israeli startups raised $1.1bn during the last
quarter of 2014 – a 58% rise over the third quarter of 2014,
the most raised in one quarter since 1999. Moreover, in 2014,
ten Israeli bio-med companies went public on NASDAQ. According to
The Economist, Israel has the highest density
of startups in the world, ranking second to the Silicon Valley
in term of absolute number of startups.
In fact, Young Sohn, the President and Chief Strategy
officer of the South Korean electronics giant, Samsung,
opined: "Israel is second only to Silicon Valley in total
investment by Samsung." During 2014, Samsung invested heavily
in Israeli startups, since "Israel is one of the global
centers of entrepreneurship and innovations, a base for future
technologies that can influence the lives of millions." For
example, Samsung invested in Israel's StoreDot's technology
which
charges smartphones in two minutes, RePlay's development of a
three dimensional 360 degrees video, EarlySense's
smartphone-related hardware which monitors a patient's vital
signs without attaching any device to the body.
On December 30, 2014, China (Israel's
leading Asian trade partner) and Israel launched a free-trade
initiative. China has
been aware of the Israel's long term economic viability, expanding
bilateral
trade from $50mn in 1992 – when diplomatic ties were
established – to $10bn in 2014, aiming at $20bn in a few
years. Bloomberg News suggests that the China-Israel
synergy is a derivative of "Israel's leading research and
development intensity and China's manufacturing leadership."
Thus, China considers Israel a prime source of agricultural
and irrigation technologies (e.g., a recent $300mn Israeli
export of water technologies), required to sustain its urban
and economic developments. In May, 2014, China's Vice Premier,
Liu Yandong, visited Israel with some 400 business and
government officials. China's Internet giants, Renre and
Tencent led a $102mn investment in Israel's SingulariTeam
Fund; China's giant, Guangxi Wuzhou Pharmaceutical, invested $3mn in the
Hebrew University's technology transfer company, Integra;
Baidu, "China's Google," invested $3mn in Israel's Pixellot;
and, the electronic trade global giant, Alibaba, led a $5mn
round of private placement by Israel's Visualead.
Microsoft has expanded
its reliance on Israel's brainpower, beyond its two major
research and development centers, which have enhanced its
global competitiveness, increased its exports and expanded its
employment base. In January,
2015,
Microsoft acquired Israel's Equivio for $200mn, following its
November, 2014 acquisition of Israel's Aorato for $200mn.
Currently, it negotiates the acquisition of Israel's N-trig.
During
the first month of 2015, eight Israeli companies were
acquired by global companies for $900mn: Amazon - Annapurna
Labs ($360mn), Harman – Red Bend ($200mn), Dropbox – CloudOn
($100mn), Microsoft – Equivio ($200mn), etc.
Google
Chairman, Eric Schmidt's, private Innovation Endeavors
Fund, co-led an $18mn round of private placement in Israel's
Team8 Incubator of cyber security technologies, along with Cisco
Investment, France's Alcatel-Lucent, Bessemer Venture
Partners and Marker Financial Advisors.
The American Treetop Realty is following in
the footsteps of nine US real estate companies and funds – led by
Extell ($1bn) and Lightstone ($480mn) - with bonds traded on
the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, leveraging the growing capital
market in Israel.
Notwithstanding Turkey's Erdogan's
visceral, anti-Israel policy, Israel-Turkey
trade balance has surged from $2.6bn in 2009 to $5.6bn
in 2014.
Brazil
has
been a constant critic of Israel in the international arena,
but Israel's Elbit just
won a $106mn bid to upgrade Brazil's naval aircraft,
which will be carried out by the San Antonio, Texas-based
Elbit's US subsidiary.
Despite Britain's prominence in the anti-Israel
BDS movement, Britain's top betting site, William Hill
negotiates the acquisition
of Israel's 888 for some $1bn.
Irrespective of the BDS original meaning, Israel's BDS
features a Bouncing, Developing and Surging
technology and economy, reflecting the brainpower and tenacity
of the Jewish State, which has benefitted the world at-large
and the USA in particular.
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