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Israel: Country Analysis#NewhouseIDSMBy Lisa Prywes

+Geography

Middle east region

262 miles long, 65 miles at the widest point

Bordering Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

North: Golan Heights (mountain regions) Mount Hermon (8900 ft)

South: Negev (desert) and the Dead Sea

East: Jordan Rift Valley

West: Mediterranean Sea

+Golan Heights: bordering Lebanon, Syria and Jordan

+History

Creation of the state on May 14th, 1948 Thousands of years of history to create the ‘Jewish State’

Zionist movement- headed by Theodore Herzl Balfour Declaration of 1917, which asserted the British

Government's support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

May 14th, 1948-Independence Day War

Constant struggle to keep the country and keep peace with other Arab nations

+Culture Work Days: Sunday-Thursday 8 AM-

5PM

Friendly atmosphere: Address people by their first names Very laid back style

Very casual dress code- Western European dress

Religious parts of Israel require more conservative attire

Most restaurants keep Kosher (even McDonalds)

At 18, men and women enter the armed force

+Jerusalem: capital city

+Tel Aviv: named second best high-tech center-- the country's industrial, commercial, financial and cultural life, founded (1909) as the first Jewish city in modern times

+Haifa: a major Mediterranean port and the industrial center of northern Israel

+Be’er Sheva: the largest population center of the south

+Infrastructure Modern, well-developed

housing developments

To cope with its growing population and to improve the functioning of the economy

making large investments to upgrade its infrastructure

Major project: the construction of a new

terminal at Ben Gurion International Airport

a tunnel through Mt. Carmel to provide a bypass route around Haifa

the Cross-Israel Highway, a major north-south artery

mass transit systems planned for Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, and the Tel Aviv region.

+Political System/Government

parliamentary democracy governmental system is based on several basic laws

enacted by its unicameral parliament, the Knesset The president (head of state) is elected by the Knesset for a

5-year term. Knesset-120 members voted by secret ballot for a 4-year

term (though Prime Minister has the ultimately authority)

The prime minister (head of government) exercises executive power and has in the past been selected by the president as the party leader most able to form a government.

+Economy

Advanced/diversified economy

Strong high-tech sector high-technology electronic biomedical equipment metal products processed foods chemicals transport equipment

Israel has 4,000 active tech start-ups. It has more of these firms than any other country outside of the U.S.

One of the world’s centers for diamond cutting and polishing

World leader of software development

Tourism (was higher pre-war in 2000)

+Economy

Israel has approximately the same number of companies listed on NASDAQ as Canada, Japan, and Ireland combined

Almost 45% of Israel's exports are high tech. Most leading players, include: Intel Motorola IBM Cisco

In 2012, Israel's population was approximately 7,590,758 with a count of approximately 9,200,000 cell phones!

Israel entered the global economic crisis in good shape, recovering by 2003

+Immigration

1989- Wave of Jewish immigration from former U.S.S.R countries Brought nearly one million new citizens Most were highly educated These Jewish immigrants account for 13% of Israel’s 7.5

million person population

Key factor is Israel’s high-tech development

+Social Media

Israelis use many of the same SM platforms as the U.S (some in English, some in Hebrew, and some in Arabic)

The IDF used Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, blogs to make the case for its campaign in Gaza, as well as, to issue a warning to Hamas. Used social media aggressively- hostile voice The Power of Social Media:

Ahmed Jabari’s death was announced first to the ‘twittersphere’

Many Israeli claims are discussed on Hamas’ (the armed branch of the Islamic Resistance Movement) social media (@AlqassamBrigade)

+Social Media- Twitter

+Social Media-Twitter

Twitter Keeps Israel and the

Diaspora involved with Israeli communication, updates (bombings, war, economy), breaking news, etc.

Many Israeli news platforms, including the IDF and government agencies, use Twitter accounts

+Social Media- YouTube

YouTube IDF uses YouTube to publicize military events

Combined YouTube with Twitter to publicize killing of Hamas military chief Ahmad Jabari

Video was entitled: "IDF Pinpoint Strike on Ahmed Jabari, Head of Hamas Military Wing”

Description of video read: "On Nov. 14, 2012, the IDF targeted Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing, in the Gaza Strip. Jaabri was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas' command and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against Israel in the past.”

+Social Media- Facebook

+Other Social Media-Facebook Brands

+Source List

https://globaledge.msu.edu/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkantrowitz/2012/11/18/israel-and-hamas-social-media-battle-goes-from-groundbreaking-to-bizarre/

http://rt.com/news/israel-gaza-war-hamas-825/

http://www.socialbakers.com/all-social-media-stats/facebook/country/israel/