Why is our relationship with Israel so important? It seems like every time politicians talk about the Middle East, they mention how important our relationship with Israel is. I've done a little bit of research on Israel, and I really don't understand what is so great about the country. It doesn't seem to have any real natural resources, and although the economy seems to be good, it doesn't seem like we have much to gain by having them as a strong ally. Geographically, they don't seem to be in a very good location for any kind of strategic military actions in the Middle East (although I don't know a lot about military strategy, so I could be wrong). Israel is also a MAJOR hotzone because of religious tensions, and is constantly being fought for. So could somebody PLEASE explain why Israel is such an important ally to the United States? Also, after watching the Charlie Rose interview with Assad, I kind of understand why he has WMDs. If Israel has WMDs, then I feel that he has every reason to hold on to them (after all, if Mexico started making WMDs to defend themselves against us, there's no way in hell we would tell anybody about our weapons, or put them under international control...just saying). Not only that, but is it true that Syria proposed getting rid of WMDs in the middle east and the U.S. blocked it? Again, that wouldn't surprise me because of our major boner for Israel (excuse my language).
Israel ACHIEVEMENTS: The French Ambassador to England referred to Israel as a "Sh**ty little country" I wonder how much of this he knew: Here is a capsule of accomplishments you may not be fully aware of. I thought you might find these statistics interesting. Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following: 1. 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 trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder. 2. The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel. 3. Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel. 4. 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. 5. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. 6. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel. 7. The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis. 8. 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. 9. According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. U. S. officials now look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats. 10. Israel's $200 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined. 11. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita. 12. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. 13. 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. 14. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of start up 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). 15. 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. 16. Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U. S. 17. Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies. 18. 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. 19. On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups. 20. 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. 21. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. 22. In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at Risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel. 23. When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times. 24. 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. 25. Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 in the world. 26. Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. 27. Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free". 28. Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books. 29. 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. 30. Israel has more museums per capita than any other country. 31. Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer. 32. 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. 33. Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders. 34. 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 heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors. 35. 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. 36. A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the ClearLight 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. 37. 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. 38. 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 country on earth. 39. Israel has the most verifiably longest recorded history of any nation, and became the seat of the first advanced alphabetical writings with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2300 years), and the Dan Tel Monument (2900 years). The Scrolls established Israel's scriptural writings as the world's most undistorted document - by period of time, volume of works and cross-reference historical verification, and shattered the false Arab charges that the Jewish temple was a Zionist myth. Israel Develops Solar-Powered Unmanned Aircraft Ezra HaLevi - Feb 22, 2007 Arutz-7 (IsraelNN.com) Israel’s defense industry continues to develop innovative technologies in the fields of unmanned surveillance and anti-missile protection. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is unveiling several new technologies, eagerly sought and purchased by Western armies. The latest IAI innovation is a solar-powered UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), which it will unveil at an aeronautics show Friday. The UAV runs off solar power and stores the power to continue to operate during night-time operations as well. IAI has also developed a system called Computerized Fluid Dynamics (CFD) that helps determine the aerodynamics of a plane or UAV. British Need Israeli UAVs Globes reported Thursday that British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan may begin using UAVs produced by another Israeli company, Elbit. Elbit is reportedly negotiating with British Defense contractors for the leasing of Hermes 450 UAVs, for which the British Army units stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq have a great need. The deal is reportedly worth $100 million and is being expedited due to the failure of Britain's current UAVs to operate correctly under the desert conditions of the Middle East. US Wants Tank-Protection Replicated For Choppers According to Globes, US Army officials have approached Israel’s Rafael Armament Development Authority with the request that it develop a version of its Trophy Active Protection System for helicopters, in addition to tanks. The system has proven successful in detonating rockets and missiles shot at tanks before they can impact the vehicle. The US officials hope a version can be designed that would protect helicopters from similar weapons. Seven US Army helicopters in Iraq have been shot down in the last two months by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire from the ground. AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND SAYS ISRAEL IS NOTHING BUT "A (*)(*)(*)(*)TY LITTLE COUNTRY" !!! Israeli-made targeting pod used to kill al Zarqawi Rafael's Litening system marks the target, guides the ordinance with lasers, and evaluates damage. ~Amnon Barzilai GLOBES 18 Jun 06 10:37 www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000103136&fid=942 Abu Musab al Zarqawi, al-Qaida's top terrorist in Iraq, was killed with help of Israeli target acquisition technology fitted onto a US Air Force F-16. Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. supplies Litening advanced airborne infrared targeting and navigation pod to Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), which installs them on combat jets under a cooperation agreement. The Israel Air Force also uses the Litening. According to a report by senior US Air Force officers, a pair of USAF F-16s on a routine mission in central Iraq killed Al Zarqawi, when the decision to act was taken. USAF commander in Iraq, Lt.-Gen. Gary North said the fighters carried a variety of laser and GPS-guided ordinance and the Litening pod. The Litening pod has target-acquisition capability, laser spot detection and tracking and a video camera. For the Zarqawi strike, the pilot activated the system from 20,000 feet, guided a 250kg. Bomb to its target, and then used pod's video camera to examine the resulting damage. A second bomb was then dropped, which killed al Zarqawi. In a media briefing, senior USAF officers mentioned Litening's role in locating the target. "Aviation Week" said that the pod was Northrop Grumman's but did not mention that the technology was Israeli, developed at Rafael. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 18, 2006 -------------------------------------------- IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il Israel Set to Use New Missile Shield to Counter Scuds ~By MICHAEL R. GORDON PALMACHIM AIR FORCE BASE, Israel — Israel has deployed an operational missile defense and is ready to use it to protect Tel Aviv and other major population centers if they come under fire from Iraq's arsenal of Scud missiles. Known as the Arrow, the system is designed to avoid the pitfalls of the American Patriot system, which Israelis say had little success in stopping Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The program, which will cost more than $2 billion, is partly financed by the United States. One battery is already deployed here, and when the final interceptors and radars are installed about two years from now, Israel will be the first nation in the world to have a nationwide missile defense system. If the Bush administration follows through with its threats to attack Iraq, and Saddam Hussein lashes out at Israel, the Arrow could be put to the test in what would be an important trial of antimissile technology. "It would be the first time in history that an interceptor that was developed strictly to shoot down incoming missiles is used," a Pentagon official said. "The Patriot used in 1991 was designed to shoot down airplanes and modified to give it some kind of antimissile capability. But from the start, the Arrow was built to intercept ballistic missiles. The whole world will be watching to see what happens, and we will be watching." At the heavily guarded Palmachim air force base south of Tel Aviv, the Israeli military has been preparing for one of Israel's worst nightmares: a salvo of Al Hussein Scud missiles from Iraq, possibly carrying chemical or biological agents. The flight time for an Iraqi Scud to a target in Israel is only about six or seven minutes. Wearing gas masks and protective suits, Arrow crews practice reloading the Arrow missile launcher in an environment contaminated with chemical agents. In the fire control center, Israeli officers practice tracking and intercepting incoming Scud missiles under various attack scenarios. Unlike the Patriot system used in the gulf war, whose fire control system was essentially automated, the Israeli system allows military officers to decide when to fire the Arrow interceptor. At a firing site, huge launchers, each loaded with six Arrow interceptors, stand at the ready while Israel's Green Pine radar scans the skies. "We did a lot of testing, and most were successful," said Danny Peretz, the program manager for the Arrow at Israel Aircraft Industries, which makes the system. "But we know in our hearts and put it in the design that this weapon will be tested only in war." The Arrow has its origins in President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. After Mr. Reagan began his "Star Wars" program, Israel joined in the research and development effort. At first there was considerable debate in Israel as to whether it really needed a missile shield, a dispute that was essentially ended during the gulf war when 39 Iraqi Scud missiles struck Israeli territory. "There were lot of arguments that Israel was so powerful that nobody would launch a missile at us," Mr. Peretz said. "But that all changed in 1991. Would anybody dare launch a missile at Israel? Well, somebody did." After the conflict, the Israeli government decided that it needed its own antimissile system and that the system needed to do a better job of stopping Scuds than the Patriot did. The Arrow program moved into high gear. The Arrow is what military experts call a theater defense system, meaning it is designed to intercept medium- and short-range missiles, not ocean-spanning intercontinental missiles. But because Israel is such a small country, the three batteries it plans to deploy will be a true nationwide system, protecting all of Israel's territory. The primary threats are from the east and north, and they are growing. Iraq has a small covert force of Al Hussein Scuds, according to American and British intelligence. Iran is on the verge of fielding the Shahab-3, which will have the range to strike Israel. Syria is also building up its force of Scud missiles. Israel has used the Green Pine radar to monitor tests of Syria's Scud-D missile. If Libya improves its missiles, Israel will face a potential threat from the west as well. Operated by the Israeli Air Force, one Arrow battery has been operational here at the Palmachim base for two years. The deployment of the second battery in central Israel was delayed when people who lived nearby complained that the Green Pine radar might endanger their health. The Israelis are trying to make the second battery operational before any American attack on Iraq. As a stopgap, the Arrow missile launchers from the second battery can be linked to Palmachim battery to improve its effectiveness, an Israeli Defense Ministry official said. "We can cover the heart of the country and the largest population centers in central Israel and in the north," said Lt. Col. Shahar Shohat, who commands the Arrow battery here. The United States paid about half of the $1.6 billion cost of developing the Arrow system, a Pentagon official said, while Israel paid the entire several hundred million dollars needed to develop the Green Pine radar, which tracks incoming missiles and guides Arrow interceptors toward their targets. The Arrow differs from the Patriot in several important respects. During the gulf war, the Patriot intercepted Iraq's Scud missiles toward the end of their flight. By then, the missiles — purchased from the Soviet Union, modified by the Iraqis to extend their range and called Al Hussein — often fell apart in flight and broke into pieces. This confused the Patriot system, which fired lots of interceptors at the pieces or sometimes was unable to discern which was the warhead and fired no interceptors at all. So the Israelis did it differently. They designed a system that is intended to intercept the Scud at a higher altitude. Destroying the warhead sooner, and farther from Israeli territory, is also prudent if the missile is carrying a chemical or biological warhead. "The Iraqi Al Hussein missiles separated when they got inside the atmosphere," Colonel Shohat said, "So if we intercept at a higher altitude, we don't have to deal with separation." The Arrow is not what the Pentagon calls a "hit to kill" system, meaning it would not destroy the incoming missile by smashing into it. Instead, it would maneuver close enough to the incoming Scud to destroy it with an explosive charge. Israeli officials said the Arrow had been integrated into the nation's military planning. If Iraq staged an attack, the first warning would come from the Americans, whose spy satellites can detect the heat from rocket plumes as soon as they ignite. The information would be quickly transmitted to Israel. Soon after, Israel's Green Pine radar would begin to track the Scud, probably in the ascent phase. Using tracking data from Green Pine, Israeli officers would determine the probable launching point. That information could be immediately transmitted to the Israeli Air Force, which could carry out air strikes on the Iraqi Scud launchers, which are mobile, before they could move or shoot again. Data from the Green Pine system would also be used to estimate the point of impact. Based on this information, Israel's Home Front Command would sound an alert in the target area. Israeli citizens would have several minutes to go to their shelters and put on gas masks. Then the Arrow batteries would swing into action. Interceptors would be fired toward the incoming Scuds. The Arrows would be directed toward their target by Green Pine and would then close in using sensors that detect the Scud's heat. Then the Arrow's warhead would explode, destroying the Scud warhead. But the Israelis are still in a touchy situation. They have a limited supply of Arrows, which cost $3 million a missile. Boeing is teaming up with Israel to increase the production of interceptors. But the additional interceptors will not begin to become available for about two years, too late if war breaks out soon between the United States and Iraq but in time for possible new threats from Iran and Syria. So Israel must husband its inventory of Arrow interceptors. That is one reason why the Arrow, unlike the Patriot, does not rely exclusively on computers to make the decision to fire. An Israeli officer can override the computer and decide whether to fire and with how many interceptors. "The only sure thing in war is that the unexpected is going to happen," Mr. Peretz said. "You cannot build a weapon system that will rely on a computer only. You have to be able to work manually as well as fully automatic." Any Scud that eluded the Arrow could be attacked by Patriot systems, which work at lower altitudes and are also part of the Israeli arsenal. The United States is also likely to send additional Patriot batteries in the event of war. They will be under the command of Colonel Shohat, who was trained in air defense at the United States Army base at Fort Bliss, Tex. Thus, the Israelis now have a two-track capability: a high-altitude defense using the Arrow and a lower-tier Patriot. The initial Arrow test failed when there was a computer mishap and the range safety officer blew the interceptor up five seconds into the test. The two next tests also failed. But Israeli officials said eight of the last nine tests had been successful. Still, officials acknowledge, the real test will be in war. "If this war is going to emerge it, could be a test case of 14 years of development by a lot of people," Mr. Peretz said. ALSO… Joint U.S. Israel Nautilus Laser experiment successful ~Amir Buhbut Maariv 30 April 2004 maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=6738 The Defense Ministry and the United States army successfully carried out an experiment in the framework of the "Nautilus" project. The experiment took place yesterday on a field in White Sands, New Mexico. It's part of a series of experiments to test the abilities of a weapons system to defend against planes equipped with high-power lasers. The system performed perfectly with land-to-land rockets. ==== US, Israel to test Nautilus anti-rocket system PTI [ FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2004 11:27:40 AM ] timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/649997.cms JERUSALEM: US and Israel are to jointly test Nautilus anti-rocket system on Saturday as a means to defend the Jewish state against Katyushas rockets fired by Hizballah from Lebanon. The test to be conducted by Israel's Ministry of Defense and the US Army at the White Sands missile range, New Mexico, aims at dynamically following a rocket in flight. If successful, the Nautilus laser gun will attempt to intercept the rocket. The Nautilus program was launched in 1995 and the US company Northrop Grumman is the chief contractor with a host of Israeli companies acting as subcontractors, business daily 'Globes' has reported. In an earlier test on its target acquisition and monitoring capabilities, Nautilus shot down a Katyushas rocket in February 1996 prompting former US President Bill Clinton and then Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to decide to develop the Pillar of Fire mobile laser gun. Interceptions tests of the system began in June 2000 and in September that year it intercepted two Katyushas, leading to its further utilization. Subsequently, it is said to have shot down 28 Katyushas and five 152-mm artillery shells. The need for the Nautilus is being increasingly felt with Hizballah reportedly procuring 10,000 rockets with ranges of up to 70 km, capable of reaching all of northern Israel, including Haifa Bay. The Palestinians have also fired rockets and mortars against Israel during the ongoing conflict. And now the latest Gas and sweet crude oil findings in quantities comparable to Saudi Arabia and more, Israel becomes an oil exporting strategic land. -------------------------------------------- IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il "And I shall make you a wonder among the Nations"
