Jerusalem, Israel’s undivided Capital is Israel’s largest city (and it also happens to be our personal favorite), with probably its most diverse population make-up.
- There are 35,000 businesses active in the city.
- Its hotel sector is the biggest and fastest developing in the country with the highest number of foreign tourist overnight stays.
- The Har Hozvim Industrial Park has 150 hi-tech companies employing 9,000 people.
- Jerusalem exports a higher percentage of what it produces than any other Israeli city.
- The business sector is scheduled to grow by 10% in 2007.
- An interesting point is that the citizens of the capital actually visit the city’s tourist sites, with a massive 99.5% of the Jewish inhabitants having been to the Western Wall (What do you suppose happened to the other 0.5%?).
And now a team led by the inimitable Mr Lev Leviev-who better? - has undertaken to boost economic development in the city way beyond expectations, and that’s GN!!
- For a mere NIS 550m (approx $137.5m) you can build yourself a water filtration system that will deliver sparkling, clear, clean drinking water. In fact it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it ‘the champagne of water’. And that is exactly what Israel has done. It’s the largest facility of its kind in the world and will deliver 1.7 million cubic meters which is about half of Israel’s needs. If further proof of Israel’s place at the forefront of water technology were needed-and we don’t think it is- this is it.
- Israel chalked up yet another success at the film festivals of the world, with a first prize for the documentary film Nine-Star Hotel at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival. Israel’s film industry is more than coming into its own.
- Figures just released indicate that Israel’s trade with ten Eastern European countries in the three years since they joined the EU has almost doubled, while business with the 15 established EU members rose to $22.6bn in 2006.
- Shahar Pe’er Israel’s lady tennis player made short work of Japan’s Al Sugiyama in straight sets at the Italian Open in Rome. This means that Israel’s star joins the final sixteen in the third round. Shahar seems to enjoy playing on clay.
- One of the embassies in Jerusalem, not affiliated to a specific country is the International Christian Embassy. Because of their beliefs and ideologies they are unabashedly pro-Israel and therefore had no qualms about participating whole heartedly in the celebrations to honor the 40th anniversary of Jerusalem’s re-unification. These true friends are really GN.
- We’ve written about the Save a Child’s Heart team from the Schneider Children’s Hospital that performs life-saving cardiac surgery on children from all over the world – all expenses paid. And now five children from Iraq are here in Israel with a variety of life threatening problems and they will be attended to at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa. The country moved into top gear to get these little ones into surgery as soon as possible. This is what Israel is all about and that is GN.
- The TASE – which by the way continues to go through the roof - has not been known for distributing dividends, until 2006 that is. In figures just released the market paid out NIS 20bn ($5bn approx.) to its shareholders giving an average yield of 3.6% which is higher than most exchanges around the world. GN for all those who have invested.
- And while we’re talking about really big money, Israeli property tycoon Yitzhak Tshuva has just acquired a 150 dunam (38 acres approx) plot on Las Vegas’ famed Strip for $1.2bn. Now that’s a really Vegas sized deal. But that’s not all, because Mr. Tshuva intends to invest a further $3.5bn in building a huge complex which will include a casino, a 3,500-room hotel, apartments and much else.
- Israeli models (the young lady variety that is) are in greater and greater demand overseas for advertising campaigns for some of the biggest fashion and cosmetic houses. With their exotic, natural looks, the Israeli girls seem to be designed for the world of advertising and glamour.
- We wrote last week about four Israeli scientists who are in the news and we really feel that they are deserving of more space in GN, so here goes. Dr Shulamit Levenberg of the Technion in Haifa has been chosen by ‘Scientific American’ as one of the worlds fifty leading scientists. In brief she has produced muscle tissue in the laboratory that, when implanted in the body is not rejected which is a huge step forward in effectively replacing damaged or injured tissue.
- And it’s not only our scientists who are making a splash. For the first time in UN history, an Israeli official has been chosen to head one of its committees, the prestigious Committee for Program and Co-ordination, which as its name indicates co-ordinates the work of all the different branches of the organization.
- Israelis are great doers but there’s no question that they are great talkers too and the latest financial reports of our largest cell phone provider are proof positive that this is the case. Cellcom registered a net profit of NIS208m ($54m approx) on total revenues of NIS1.44bn ($360m approx). Now that represents a whole lot of verbal communication. What did we do before the invention of the mobile phone!?
- One of the problems that comes with aging in women is the weakening and ultimate prolapse of the pelvic organs. Treatment involves radical surgery and it is estimated that 70 million women in the US and Western Europe require intervention but only about 1.5% of that number actually get it. Israeli startup Endogun has devised a medical-grade stainless steel fastener that will make the procedure simpler for the surgeon and much less stressful for the patient. GN indeed.
- Probably Israel’s best known cosmetics company, Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics presented their products at Cosmoprof the largest and most prestigious annual beauty event in the world, which was held in Shanghai. As a result they have found a Chinese company that will distribute their brand. With a potential market of 500 million ladies all looking for beauty care, can they go wrong?
- We’ve written about Israeli experts in all fields of agriculture who have traveled worldwide to advise and to assist even the poorest countries, however we never thought that Israel would export an expert on camels, but it’s happened and our local fundi is working now with the Ethiopian government on the border with Somalia to maximize milk production from the thousands of camels that exist there. In a country where nutritious food is at a premium – this could be a life saver.
- Really GN to end with. The Business Risk Index improved by 2.9% in April. So the number of businesses at risk of closing down has dropped since March, another sign of the health of the economy .
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