1AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 70, ISRAEL’S ECONOMY KEEPS SURGING / 2018 APRIL

AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 70, ISRAEL’S ECONOMY

KEEPS SURGINGWRITTEN BY ROBERT KNIGHT

CHERYL MUMBERT / Caesarea Maritima, an ancient Roman city along the Mediterranean coast of Israel / March 20, 2017

2 AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 70, ISRAEL’S ECONOMY KEEPS SURGING / 2018 APRIL

CHERYL MUMBERT / Plaque fragment written in Latin - Pontius Pilatus... / Caesarea Maritima, Israel

Just as America’s economy has been surging of late, Israel’s GDP grew by 3.4 percent last year, according to the latest annual report issued by the Bank of Isra-el in March.1

On April 18, the nation of

Israel will turn 70 years

of age.

That’s if you take into account

only its history since modern Is-

rael’s founding 1948. A fuller per-

spective would include its previ-

ous, 2,000-year history before the

Roman sacking of Jerusalem in 70

A.D. and the subsequent diaspora

of the Jewish people.

Modern Israel has been in the

news lately because of the Trump

administration’s stunning an-

nouncement that the United

States will recognize Jerusalem as

Israel’s capital and that the Amer-

ican Embassy will be relocated

there from Tel Aviv. It was a pow-

erful reiteration of America’s spe-

cial relationship with its premier

ally in the Middle East.

Just as America’s economy has

been surging of late, Israel’s GDP

grew by 3.4 percent last year, ac-

cording to the latest annual report

issued by the Bank of Israel in

March.1

The growth rate in 2017 was sim-

ilar to that of the previous year,

and “higher than the potential

growth rate (about 3 percent),” the

Bank reported.

Overall, the Israeli economy re-

flects a steady growth in invest-

ment and tourism, plus a micro-

scopic inflation rate.

3AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 70, ISRAEL’S ECONOMY KEEPS SURGING / 2018 APRIL

THE AMERICAN-ISRAELI PARTNERSHIP

Israel ranks 22nd in the world

in trade with the United States.

In 2017, Israel exported $22 bil-

lion worth of products to the U.S.

while importing $12.5 billion.2 In

addition, the U.S. is committed to

providing $3.8 billion annually

to Israel’s defense over the next

decade, more than to any other

nation.3 Since 1948, the U.S. has

given Israel nearly $135 billion in

direct aid, according to the Con-

gressional Research Service.4

U.S. companies account for two-

thirds of the more than 300

foreign-invested research and

development centers in Israel. Is-

raeli-owned companies are the

second-largest source of foreign

listings on the NASDAQ after Chi-

na – more than Indian, Japanese

and South Korean firms combined.5

The U.S.-Israeli economic and

commercial relationship includes

“IT, bio-tech, life sciences, health

care solutions, energy, pharma-

ceuticals, food and beverage, de-

fense industries, cyber-security,

and aviation, to name just a few

sectors,”6 according to the U.S. Em-

bassy in Israel.

Critical components of leading

American high-tech products are

invented and designed in Israel,

making these American companies

more competitive and more profit-

able globally. Cisco, Intel, Motoro-

la, Applied Materials, and HP are

some of the companies involved.

Israel is home to over 2,500 U.S.

firms employing some 72,000 Is-

raelis, according to the U.S. Cham-

ber of Commerce. Thousands more

jobs are supported indirectly.7

A NATION OF FIRSTS

Israel has just under 9 million peo-

ple, or a mere 2% of the population

of the entire Middle East. And yet

this tiny nation leads the world in

many categories that contribute to

its vibrant economy.

Israel has the highest ratio of uni-

versity degrees and PhDs per cap-

ita in the world.8

It has the highest concentration of

engineers and the most scientists

and technicians per capita than

any other developed country. Isra-

el produces more scientific papers

per capita than any other nation,

and by a large margin.

“MY SON (OR DAUGHTER) THE DOCTOR”

Israel has the highest number of

physicians per capita in the world.

Its medical device industry is sec-

ond to none, with the most medi-

cal device patents per capita in the

world and second-most in Europe

for bio-pharma patents.9 Of 1,000

Israeli companies in the health-

care or life-science industry, 700

produce medical devices.10

Some recent innovations include

a robotic exoskeleton that has al-

lowed paraplegic runners to com-

pete in marathons in London and

Tel Aviv; a disposable colorectal

cancer screening device; a breast

cancer therapy in which a 10-min-

ute ultrasound-guided procedure

penetrates tumors and engulfs

them with ice; an MRI-guided fo-

cused ultrasound that destroys

tumors and uterine fibroid cysts

CHERYL MUM

BERT / Garden Tomb | Jerusalem

/ March 27, 2017

4 AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 70, ISRAEL’S ECONOMY KEEPS SURGING / 2018 APRIL

without surgery; a bio-retina im-

plant device that turns into an arti-

ficial retina that melds to the neu-

rons in the eye, and many more.11

Another thing that sets Israel apart

is that it administers the Holy

Land, where Christians and oth-

ers can visit Biblical sites in safety

and freedom, unlike in other near-

by nations. The largest number

of visitors come from the United

States – an estimated 700,000 in

2017. 12 The next top four countries

of origin for tourists to Israel were

Russia, France, Germany and the

UK. About 54% of incoming tour-

ists were Christian.13

Finally, women in Israel – as op-

posed to those in the rest of the

Middle East – enjoy full political

rights.”14

It’s no wonder that the United

States and Israel have a special

bond that has been reinforced by

every U.S. president since Harry

Truman on up through Donald

Trump.

At 70 years old, Israel is just hitting

its stride as one of the most import-

ant outposts of Western Civiliza-

tion, Western science and technol-

ogy, and Western investments.

In an effort to support and stand

with Israel, Timothy Plan, a mutu-

al fund family that promotes Bibli-

cally Responsible Investing, intro-

duced the Israel Common Values

Fund in 2011, comprised entirely

of Israel-based companies.

Robert Knight is a writer for Tim-

othy Partners, Ltd. He is a regular

weekly columnist for The Wash-

ington Times and Townhall.com

and is frequently published by

AmericanThinker.com, DailyCall-

er.com, OneNewsNow.com, and

others.

CHERYL MUMBERT / Pool of Shiloam / City of David, Jerusalem / March 22, 2017

1 Bank of Israel Annual Report 2017 at: www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/RegularPublications/Research Department Publications/BankIsraelAnnu-alReport/Annual Report - 2017/chap-1.pdf

2 “Trade in Goods with Israel,” Foreign Trade Bal-ance, U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, at: www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5081.html#2018.

3 Peter Baker and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “U.S. Final-izes Deal to Give Israel $38 Million in Military Aid,” The New York Times, September 13, 2016, at: www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/middleeast/isra-el-benjamin-netanyahu-military-aid.html.

4 Jeremy M. Sharp, “U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel,” Con-gressional Research Service, February 26, 2018, at: fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf.

5 Fact Sheet, U.S.—Israel Economic Relationship, U.S. Embassy in Israel, at: il.usembassy.gov/our-relation-ship/fact-sheet-u-s-israel-economic-relationship/.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 United with Israel Fact Sheet, at: unitedwithis-rael.org/fact-israelis-comprise-2-percent-of-mid-dle-east-population/

9 “The Twelve Most Amazing Israeli Medi-cal Advances,” Israel21c, at: www.israel21c.org/the-top-12-most-amazing-israeli-medical-advances/.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Michal Raz-Chaimovich,”Record 3.6m tourists visit Israel in 2017,” Globes: Israel’s Business Arena, De-cember 27, 2017, at: www.globes.co.il/en/article-re-cord-36m-tourists-visit-israel-in-2017-1001217309.

13 Max Schindler, “More Tourists Visit Israel than Ever Before,” The Jerusalem Post, January 2, 2018, at: www.jpost.com/Israel-News/More-tourists-visit-Israel-in-2017-thaa-ever-before-522665.

14 United with Israel Fact Sheet.

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