I got the following in an email. Anyone care to Snopes it out?
A @#%* LITTLE COUNTRY
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 date 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 Given 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 heart¹s 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.
. .. . . AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND SAYS :
"ISRAEL IS NOTHING BUT A @#%* LITTLE COUNTRY" |
