T H E A M E R I C A N I S R A E L P U B L I C A F F A I R S C O M M I T T E E

15 achievements from the past year

1. Lockheed Martin, IDF technology units, and other businesses turned David Ben Gurion’s dream of “making the desert bloom” into reality, by setting up shop in the Negev Desert region as part of the government’s “Move to the South” campaign.

2. A record 3.5 million tourists visited the Jewish state!

3. The Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty marked its 35th

anniversary, with cooperation between the IDF and Egypt’s military in the Sinai stronger than ever.

4. Israel conducted its third and final mission to bring Ethiopian Jews to their homeland, the Jewish state.

5. Israelis elected the first Ethiopian woman member of Knesset, Pnina Tamano-Shata.

6. Israeli high-tech companies raised $2.3 billion in 2013 from local and foreign investors—the highest amount in a decade!

7. In March 2014, Prime Minister Netanyahu and California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new agreement calling for increased partnerships in the high-tech, clean-tech, and cybersecurity industries.

8. IDF soldiers quietly transported injured Syrians across the border into Israel to receive life-saving treatments from Israeli medical centers.

9. Israel sent a 150-member rescue team to the Philippines after the 2013 typhoon, delivering 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies to victims of the natural disaster. Since then, the Israeli organization Mifalot expanded its at-risk youth soccer program to the Philippines, aiding in trauma recovery.

10. Israeli company Elbit Systems was chosen to produce the helmet that accompanies Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet—the most sophisticated military aviation system in the world.

11. U.S.-Israeli corporation BrightSource Energy continued construction on the world’s largest solar power station in California’s Mojave Desert.

12. Israel’s IDE Technologies developed a seawater desalina-tion plant north of San Diego that will be the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

13. The Miss Israel crown was awarded to Yityish Aynaw, the first Ethiopian immigrant to win the title!

14. The Rolling Stones scheduled a concert in Israel for summer 2014, joining the ranks of Madonna, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake and other major recording artists who rejected calls to boycott the Jewish state.

15. Israel’s population rose to a record 8.1 million people including Jews, Arabs, Druze, Bedouin, and many more!

YO M H A’AT Z M A U T M A R K S the day Israel

became an independent Jewish state. Israelis

celebrate the holiday on the 5th of Iyar, according

to the Hebrew calendar, and ring it in much like

Americans celebrate the 4th of July—fireworks,

parades and festivities.

Yom Ha’atzmaut is a celebration for Americans

to share in as well. Thanks to the strength of the

partnership between the United States and Israel,

the two nations can rejoice in each other’s

accomplishments. Read about some of Israel’s

most exciting advancements in the past year.