Israel

Most Israelis live in the Tel Aviv or Jerusalem metropolitan areas.

The population is 8,146,000 (in 2014).
Israel has the highest standard of living in the Middle East.
It has one of the highest life-expectancies in the world.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees per capita 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.
The 2013 "Freedom in the World" annual survey, ranked Israel as the Middle East and North Africa's only free country.
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system gained worldwide acclaim after intercepting hundreds of rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip.
Israel one of seven countries capable of launching satellites.
Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in Southwest Asia in economic and industrial development. It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States), and the largest number of Nasdaq-listed companies outside North America. The Israeli economy was ranked as the world's most durable economy in the face of crises, and was also ranked first in the rate of research and development investments.
Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds, right behind the US.
Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in Ethiopia to safety in Israel.
Israel was ranked as the worldwide leader in its supply of skilled manpower.
Israel's leading exports include electronics, software, computerized systems, communications technology, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, fruits, chemicals, military technology, and cut diamonds.
Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
Israel has one of the lowest external debts in the developed world.
Israel is one of the world's leaders in solar energy industry and in water technology. In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturalists developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used to grow crops.
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees.
Israel has led the world in stem-cell research papers per capita since 2000.
Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.
About one million Israelis speak Russian, 700,000 speak French, and most can communicate reasonably well in English.
Literacy in Israel is over 97%.
An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment.
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.
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 congestive heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.
Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
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., about 70 in Japan, and 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well.
The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.
Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
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 AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
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 surroundings 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.

Right after the Ascension of Christ in 29 AD. The Apostles would have carried the message far and wide and start 1st century churches.

The first Christian communities outside of Jerusalem appeared in Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and the political center of Rome. The original church communities were founded by apostles and numerous other Christians, soldiers, merchants, and preachers in northern Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia, Greece, and other places. Over 40 churches were established by 100, many in Asia Minor.Paul was responsible for bringing the Christianity to new parts of the world such as Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica. By the end of the 1st century, Christianity had already spread to Rome and to various cities in Greece, Asia Minor and Syria. Major cities such as Rome, Ephesus, Antioch and Corinth served as foundations for the expansive spread of Christianity in the post-apostolic period. Christianity spread quickly throughout Asia Minor.

It depends on how you define your terms.

Most people use the term "First World Country" to refer to a country that has a modern economy and is developed (as opposed to developing). Israel is one of the few post-colonial countries that has become a developed country. South Korea is another. As a result, these places are called First World Countries.

However, during the Cold War, the terms First World, Second World, and Third World applied to distinct parts of the globe. First World referred to Anglo-America and Western Europe, the NATO countries. Second World referred to the Soviet Union and its allies. The Third World referred to most of the countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, which served as the proxy war battlegrounds. According to this definition, Israel is a Third World Country since it lies in the Third World region.

Ancient Israel was a theocratic kingdom and so the predominant religion and the religion of the state was the religion of the Israelites. It is often considered to be Judaism although modern Orthodox Judaism is different from this religion because the debates and discussions of the Talmud and subsequent works had not yet been written.

There were probably minorities of Canaanite Polytheists, Egyptian Polytheists, and Hellenic Polytheists in and around the Ancient Kingdoms of Israel.

Not exactly.

The entire region was called Israel up until the year 70 CE. From 70 CE to 1948 CE, it was called Palestine, named by the Romans, after Israel's enemy (the Phillistines).

After 1948, it was partitioned into two separate countries, called Israel and Palestine; however, the people who today are called "Palestinians" did not accept the partition, and two wars later, Israel had control of the areas that were designated "Palestine".

The tribe of Judah are represented through the modern Jewish people of today to some extent but not entirely as people of other tribes & nations have married and converted into the religion since the diaspora.

10 tribes were taken as slaves by some King from the east and since that time the knowledge of their existence and whereabouts has all but been forgotten. Some theories suggest that the Pashtun/Pathan ethnic group of Pakistan & Afghanistan are the lost tribes of Israel, others have suggested the slavs of eastern Europe and even some of the Native Americans. But nothing's ever been proven without a doubt.

Answer The Twelve Tribes of Israel sect was founded in 1968 by Dr. Vernon "Prophet Gad" Carrington. It is the most liberal of the Rastafarian orders and members are free to worship in a church of their choosing. Each member of this sect belongs to one of the 12 Tribes (or Houses), which is determined by birth month and is represented by a color. The Standard Israelite calendar begins in April. Bob Marley was from the tribe of Joseph. HAILE SELLASSIE from the tribe of Judah.

Answer According to Josephus"...the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers." -Antiquities of the Jews (Book XI Chapter 5 Section 2)

Note that when Josephus mentioned "Asia", he was referring to Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey. In general, he made a semi-veiled reference to the Ten Tribes of Israel being located in Parthian territory, Rome's arch rival across the Euphrates River, the de facto border between the two empires. He did not need to say "Parthia". Everyone during his time knew what he was referring to in the same way people living in California today would not need a description of what is "east of the Mississippi River" or what is "south of the Rio Grande". Yet, for those who understand the extreme fluidity of the Middle East and Central Asia, it begs the question: "Who are the Parthians today?" ...or rather: "Where did the descendants of Parthia and related Saka-Scythian peoples go in later centuries?"

The tribes of Israel can be located today through the old testament. Deuteronomy 28 gives a list of 53 curses that explain the events that would befall the Israelites (only) in time. Of the events described in the bible we would have to look at two possible nations of people in the world today who's history fits the description given in Deuteronomy 28, The Native Americans and the Africans, as they are the only two cultures in the world who fit the following curses on a biblical scale (i.e. millions upon millions of their people were affected for an extended period of time):

Deut 28:37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.

Deut 28: 38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.

Deut 28:48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he have destroyed thee.

Deut 28:49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

Deut 28:64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

Deut 28:68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

The Native American population only fits so many of the curses listed in Deuteronomy and the book of Leviticus 26. The African population fits every one of the 53 curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28 and all curses listed in Leviticus 26. The estimated time of the African diaspora began with the year 70 A.D. and continued for 1,810 years until the close of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the year 1888.

The exact whereabouts of all 12 tribes are unknown, the most that can be known at this time is that all 12 tribes are scattered throughout the world. Due to a bible prophecy in Genesis 49:19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. The only two possibilities in terms of identifying the tribe of Gad in modern times are the populations of South Africa (Aparteid), and Haiti (Haitian revolution). The tribe of Judah is believed by some to be the African American population amongst other slave descendants scattered throughout the Americas. Levi as is known is scattered among the other 11 tribes. Ephraim is believed to be in the regions of Morocco and Nigeria. The 12 tribes of Israel are black African people who were brought into slavery world wide.

Answer:

The above answer is an example of sheer speculation, and is laughable from a Jewish point of view. While a relatively small number of African tribes may be descended from Israelites, in the absence of a Jewish tradition to that effect the matter becomes moot and a mere curiosity. But the vast majority of Africans, and also the entirety of the Native American population, are unquestionably not from the Ten Tribes. The lack of a connection between them and the Jewish people has been shown through DNA analyses.

The bulk of the descendants of the Ten Tribes are either as yet unidentified, or scattered in places such as Afghanistan.

The Tribes of Israel which are known today are the Jewish people. The great majority of Jews today, some 80% or so, are descended from the tribe of Judah (plus converts and descendents of converts). The remaining 20% include Levites (from the tribe of Levi), Cohanim (also a part of the Levites), and a small percentage from every one of the remaining tribes. (When the Ten Tribes were carried off into Assyria and didn't return, a few of them had already mixed into the tribe of Judah before that, through marriage. See for example the Talmud, Pesachim 4a.)

As to the identity of the exiled Ten Tribes themselves, for the most part (because of lack of a continuous tradition in this matter) we can only speculate, and usually we don't spend time on it.

In Israel, typically, a municipal township will gain the formal title of a "city" if it has at least 20,000 residents.

Out of the approximately 194 municipal townships in Israel (as of several years ago...), only 57 are considered "cities" by the governmental authorities.

Important to keep in mind, though, if comparing to the situation in other countries. Each country defines the "city" standard based on a different number of residents..So, for example, in Switzerland, a municipality would need to have at least 10,000 residents to be deemed a city.

The Arabs in general were greatly saddened by the creation of the State of Israel, because they believed that the land that had physically belonged to the Palestinian Arabs for as long as they could remember and should have been theirs for inheritance. In their minds, it did not make sense that a group of German, Polish, French, English, and Russian speaking people should claim land that their ancestors had not even visited for centuries. Even by the time of Israel's Declaration of Statehood, less than half of the land within the UN proscribed borders of Resolution 181 was owned by Jews. Therefore, the idea of Jewish State being even more physically expansive than the land already taken was alarming.

The Assyrian Empire never captured Jerusalem; King Hezekiah of Judah was able to defend the city. This was an anomaly since most parts of Judah, including the #2 city of Lachish, were razed to the ground. The Bible credits Hezekiah's success to a Divine plague which decimated the Assyrian troops gathered outside of Jerusalem. King Sennacherib of Assyria's own documents argue that Jerusalem was allowed to be independent in order to taunt Hezekiah and force him to pay Sennacherib an exorbitant tribute. The Assyrian description makes far less sense since the Assyrians believed in expansionist foreign policy instead of simply reinstating enemy city states.

If you want the name of the Assyrian Leader who led the assault on Jerusalem and the rest of the Kingdom of Judah, that was KING SENNACHERIB.

For most of the Twentieth Century (since 1948), the Jewish areas were called Israel and The Muslim areas were called "the Occupied Territories" or the "Palestinian Territories.

The original plan was for the Palestinian territories to be called "Palestine" and be set up as in independent country, but the Palestinians rejected this plan.

Prior to 1948, the entire area was called Palestine, though it was never under Palestinian rule. In 1948, the Palestinians almost had the chance for self-determination for the first time ever.

No.

This would misconstrue the authority of the United Nations Resolution 181. Most people incorrectly believe that the UN Resolution "created" a Jewish State (Israel) and an Arab State (Palestine) on the map. This is not the case. What the UN Resolution does provide for is the permission for the different ethno-religious groups in Mandatory Palestine to declare a state. In the case of most mandates, the understanding was that the mandate would eventually become independent as one new state, like Iraq or Syria had. The case of Palestine was therefore unique and needed the permission to deviate from the traditional path of independence. Because of there being two states, provisional borders had to be provided, which is why a map was used, but those borders would only come into play if both sides decided to remain at peace.

The Jews acted on the permission granted to them by UN Resolution 181 by declaring independence on May 14, 1948 (nearly six months after the Resolution was passed) and therefore creating the State of Israel.

The United Nations approved Resolution 181 which provided for the creation of a Jewish State in the British Mandate of Palestine. The actual creation of that state was undertaken by prominent Zionists in the British Mandate.

Plenty of non-Jews live there too, so the answer is No. 25% of the country is non-Jewish, which includes Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouins and others. All Israeli citizens have equal rights under the law regardless if you are a Jew or non-Jew. However, only Jews are required to serve in the military.

Additionally, Israel is probably the least homogenous nation-state in the world. Some other nation states include: Israel - 75% Jewish, Germany 81% German, Vietnam - 87% Kinh, Egypt - 94% Egyptian, Cambodia - 96% Khmer, Armenia - 97% Armenian, Greece - 98% Greek, Korea - 99% Korean, etc.

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Couple of comments:

First ... it's a lot more than just who LIVES there. The more important fact is that there is no religious (or gender) test for CITIZENSHIP in Israel, which includes the vote and, as noted above, equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunity under the law. I can't resist inviting you to look at a map and find the nearest country outside of Israel where the same is true.

Also ... I believe ALL Israeli citizens except ethnic Palestinian Arabs have a uniform military obligation. Druze and Circassians, who are non-Jewish Israelis have mandatory conscription in the Israeli Army (by the choice of their elders) and the Bedouins volunteer for the Israeli Army in quite large numbers.

My personal understanding of the exemption for Arab citizens is as a tacit logical expectation of the most likely source of military threats, and the most likely identity of who the Israeli soldier will have to face in hand-to-hand combat. But that's just my opinion.

Idontknow

Israel does not have the most Jews, it has a lot of them, though. Israel is a country founded by Jews on the ancient land promised to the Jewish people by God. Israel is the only country on earth with a Jewish majority and the country of Israel provides a safe home for Jews and the promise that the country will protect them from harm.

Bethelem is southern lobe of the West Bank, very close to Jerusalem.

The Sea of Galilee is 690 feet below sea level.

The first full prime minister to be born in the region of Israel was Yitzhak Rabin (born 1 March 1922 in Jerusalem); Yigal Allon, who served as acting prime minister for less than a month in 1969, was born in 1918 in Kfar Tavor.

However, Benjamin Netanyahu, the current prime minister, is the first and only native-born prime minister who was born after 1948, when Israel declared independence from British rule; he was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, and spent a few years in the United States, where he gained an upper education and an Americanized accent of English.

There are no major mountain ranges in Israel proper. There are numerous hills and lowland areas in Israel, but no mountain ranges.

In the West Bank, there are the Judean and Samarian Hill-Country which rise up from the coastal lowlands, but these are both not in Israel nor are they typically considered tall enough to be mountains. There are also the Anti-Lebanon mountains that run along much of the Syrian-Lebanese border. These just extend to the Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights, which results in Israel having some mountainous terrain in the northeasternmost corner of the area.

The information I have is both dated and unofficial - but since no one else has answered this question, I will share what I know.

In the summer of 2001, I was studying in Israel for the summer. My friend and I spent a few days at the beautiful five star resort, the Taba Hilton in Taba, Egypt - just 1km or so from the border with Eilat, Israel.

Using my U.S. passport, I had no trouble entering Egypt. I also met Israeli citizens in the Taba hotel, as well as British citizens and (obviously) Egyptians.

I asked a few of the hotel staff if they ever get a chance to visit Eilat (again, it's only about 1km away!)

They said that the Israeli border patrol was suspicious of Egyptian citizens who wanted to cross the land border, and that it was too much of a hassle for them just to see the neighboring city of Eilat, Israel.

So I think the answer is technically yes - Egyptians CAN get a visa to Israel - but some advance planning and a detailed explanation as to the reason of the visit will be needed.

Citizens of the following countries will be issued tourist visas free of charge at every port or entrance terminal to Israel (including when entering from Egypt to Israel):

Europe -- Austria, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium, Britain, Gibraltar, Germany (people born after 1.1.1928), Denmark, Holland, Hungary, Greece, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Monaco, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, San Marino, Spain, Portugal, Finland, France, Cyprus, Sweden, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia.

Asia and Oceania -- Australia, the Fiji Islands, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, New Zealand, Micronesia, Singapore, Mongolia, Vanuatu.

Africa -- Lesotho, Mauritius, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, the Central African Republic.

America -- Uruguay, the Bahamas, El Salvador, Ecuador, Argentina, the United States, Bolivia, Barbados, Brazil, Guatemala, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Surinam, Nevis and Saint Kitts, Panama, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Canada, St. Lucia.

Twelve.

Hezbollah wants Israel to stop existing. In the ideal Hezbollah world-vision, all of the Israeli soldiers would put down their weapons and the "righteous" Hezbollah jihadists would massacre and brutalize the Israelis as they proceeded to "liberate" the land. It is unclear whether they would also murder the Jewish civilian population or if they would "only" resort to humiliating them as second-class citizens quarantined in ghettos.