SHITTY 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 heart's 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 SHITTY LITTLE COUNTRY"