Israel (Hebrew:  מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info); Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrā'īl), officially the State of Israel, is a small country in Western Asia on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria and Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the south-west and has a population of over seven million people. The capital of Israel is Jerusalem.
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of Judaism in the 10th century BCE or earlier and of Christianity at the beginning of the 1st century CE. The modern State of Israel was founded in 1948 with a UN mandate. Today, Israel is the world's only Jewish state, although its population is incredibly diverse, including citizens from many ethnic and religious backgrounds. Israel is a parliamentary democracy with multi-party system and separation of powers, and is consistently rated as "Free" by Freedom House. In 2006 Reporters Without Borders ranked it 50th out of 168 countries in freedom of the press, the highest of any country in the Middle East. Israel has a technologically advanced economy as well as a vibrant cultural life. The country is widely regarded as the most open in the region. Israel was ranked 23rd out of 177 countries in the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index, the highest ranking in the Middle East and 3rd highest in all of Asia.
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El Al ( Hebrew: אל על, skyward) ( TASE: ELAL) is Israel's largest airline and flag carrier. It operates regular international passenger and cargo flights between its hub at Ben Gurion International Airport and destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, as well as domestic connections to Eilat.
Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948 the airline has grown to serve 48 destinations on four continents. As the former national carrier of Israel, El Al has played an important role in Israel's humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen, and other countries where their lives were at risk. The airline holds the world record for the most passengers on a commercial aircraft, a record set by Operation Solomon when Jewish refugees were transported from Ethiopia. El Al is widely acknowledged as the world's most secure airline, after foiling many attempted hijackings and terror attacks through its security protocols. (more...)
Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorism hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the night of July 3 and early morning of July 4, 1976. In the wake of the hijacking of Air France flight 139 and the hijackers' threats to kill the hostages if their prisoner release demands were not met, a plan was drawn up to airlift the hostages to safety. These plans took into account the likelihood of armed resistance from Ugandan military troops.
Originally codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (or Operation Thunderball) by the IDF, the operation was retroactively renamed Operation Yonatan in memory of the Sayeret Matkal commander Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu who was killed in action. Three hostages were killed and five Israeli commandos were wounded. A fourth hostage was murdered by Ugandan army officers at a nearby hospital. (more...)
Matza (also Matzah, Matzoh, or Matsah) Hebrew מַצָּה, in Ashkenazi matzo or matzoh, and, in Yiddish, matze) is a cracker-like flatbread made of white plain flour and water. The dough is pricked in several places and not allowed to rise before or during baking, thereby producing a hard, flat bread. It is similar in preparation to the Southwest Asian lavash and the Indian chapati[1].
Matza is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz—bread and leavened products—is forbidden. Eating matza on the night of the seder is considered a positive mitzvah, i.e., a commandment. In the context of the Passover Seder meal, certain restrictions additional to the chametz prohibitions are to be met for the matza to be considered "mitzva matza", that is, matza that meets the requirements of the positive commandment to eat matza at the seder. (more...)
- ...Israel is the only country in the world whose indigenous population returned to its native homeland after 2,000 years of forced exile.
- ...Israel has the 8th longest life expectancy in the world: 80.7 years. More than the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany.[2]
- ...That there are 26 official Muslim States, 18 official Christian States, but there is only 1 Jewish State-Israel.
- ...That relative to its size, Israel is the largest immigrant absorbing nation on Earth, it has absorbed 350% of its population in 60 years.[3]
- ...That Israel has more Nobel Prizes per capita than any other country. It has more laureates, in real numbers, than Spain, Mexico and China.[4]
- ...That Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain of trees, made more remarkable by the fact that it is 60% desert.[5]
- ...That 93% of Israeli homes use Solar energy for water heating, the highest percentage in the world.[6]
- ...That Israel scientific research institutions are ranked 3rd in the world.[7]
- ...That Israel is ranked 2nd in space sciences.[8]
- ...That Israel is one of the eight countries in the world capable of launching its own satellites.[9]
- ...That Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin.[10]
- ...That Israel has the 3rd highest rate of entrepreneurship amongst women in the world.[11]
- ...That Israel has attracted the most venture capital investment per capita in the world, 30 times more than Europe.[12]
- ...That Israel leads the world in patents for medical equipment.[13]
- ...That Israel has more NASDAQ listed companies than any other country, besides the US. More than all of Europe, India, China and Japan combined.[14]
- ...That in proportion to its population Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute numbers Israel has more startup companies than any other country bedsides the US.[15]
- ...Israel accounted for 1.28% of all scientific articles worldwide, while being only 0.11% of world population. The leading field in Israel was mathematics, in which Israel accounted for 2.74% of all articles, followed by computer science (2.22%) and physics (1.52%).
- ...The proportion of women among R&D workers in Israel is approximately 23.4%. This puts Israel in second place behind Denmark. Women earned 37% of all degrees granted in science and engineering in Israel, one of the highest proportions in the world. [15]
- ...In 2004, Israel ranked eighth in the world in exports per capita, which totaled $5,426.5.
- ...Israel was the number one exporter of certain goods, including fertilizers (57% share of total world exports), industrial lubricants (34% share) and polished diamonds (26%).
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