Portal:Israel

Wikipedia portals: Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Natural sciences People Philosophy Religion Society Technology edit   THE ISRAEL PORTAL Shortcuts: P:Israel P:ISR Israel (Hebrew:  מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info); Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل‎, Dawlat Isrā'īl), officially the State of Israel, is a small country in Western Asia on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria and Jordan to the east, and Egypt and the Palestinian Territories to the south-west and has a population of over seven million people. The capital of Israel is Jerusalem. The Land of Israel was the birthplace of Judaism in the 10th century BCE or earlier and of Christianity at the beginning of the 1st century CE. The modern State of Israel was founded in 1948 with a UN mandate. Today, Israel is the world's only Jewish state, although its population is incredibly diverse, including citizens from many ethnic and religious backgrounds. Israel is a parliamentary democracy with multi-party system and separation of powers, and is consistently rated as "Free" by Freedom House. In 2006 Reporters Without Borders ranked it 50th out of 168 countries in freedom of the press, but by 2010 increased restrictions meant that ranking had dropped to 93 out of 178 and Israel was no longer the highest-ranked of any country in the Middle East[1]. Israel has a technologically advanced economy as well as a vibrant cultural life. Israel was ranked 15rd out of 177 countries in the 2010 United Nations Human Development Index, the highest ranking in the Middle East and 3rd highest in all of Asia. More about Israel ... edit   Selected article El Al (Hebrew: אל על‎, skyward) (TASE: ELAL) is Israel's largest airline and flag carrier. It operates regular international passenger and cargo flights between its hub at Ben Gurion International Airport and destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, as well as domestic connections to Eilat. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948 the airline has grown to serve 48 destinations on four continents. As the former national carrier of Israel, El Al has played an important role in Israel's humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen, and other countries where their lives were at risk. The airline holds the world record for the most passengers on a commercial aircraft, a record set by Operation Solomon when Jewish refugees were transported from Ethiopia. El Al is widely acknowledged as the world's most secure airline, after foiling many attempted hijackings and terror attacks through its security protocols. (more...) Suggest article – Archive edit   History, people, places Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorism hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the night of July 3 and early morning of July 4, 1976. In the wake of the hijacking of Air France flight 139 and the hijackers' threats to kill the hostages if their prisoner release demands were not met, a plan was drawn up to airlift the hostages to safety. These plans took into account the likelihood of armed resistance from Ugandan military troops. Originally codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (or Operation Thunderball) by the IDF, the operation was retroactively renamed Operation Yonatan in memory of the Sayeret Matkal commander Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu who was killed in action. Three hostages were killed and five Israeli commandos were wounded. A fourth hostage was murdered by Ugandan army officers at a nearby hospital. (more...) Archive – More Israeli history edit   Culture, arts, cuisine Matza (also Matzah, Matzoh, or Matsah) Hebrew מַצָּה, in Ashkenazi matzo or matzoh, and, in Yiddish, matze) is a cracker-like flatbread made of white plain flour and water. The dough is pricked in several places and not allowed to rise before or during baking, thereby producing a hard, flat bread. It is similar in preparation to the Southwest Asian lavash and the Indian chapati Matza is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz—bread and leavened products—is forbidden. Eating matza on the night of the seder is considered a positive mitzvah, i.e., a commandment. In the context of the Passover Seder meal, certain restrictions additional to the chametz prohibitions are to be met for the matza to be considered "mitzva matza", that is, matza that meets the requirements of the positive commandment to eat matza at the seder. (more...) Archive – More Israeli culture edit   Selected quote “ "If you will, it will be no dream." ” —Theodor Herzl, "Altneuland," 1902 Archive edit   Categories Israel • History • Law • Military • Society • Culture • Education • Health • Media • Literature • Sports • Religion • Israelis • Fictional Israelis • Geography • Regions • Environment • Transport • Buildings and Structures • Politics • Government • Economy • Science and Technology • Tourism • Organizations • Communications • Lists • Category:Israel stubs edit   Selected picture Image Credit: User:Faigl.ladislav The Shephelah (Hebrew: הַשְּפֵלָה‎‎, "lowland"; also שפלת יהודה, Shephelat Yehuda, "Judean lowland") is a designation usually applied to the region in south-central Israel of 10-15 km of low hills between the central Mount Hebron and the coastal plains of Philistia within the area of the Judea, at an altitude of 120-450 metres above sea level. The area is fertile, and a temperate Mediterranean climate prevails there. Shephelah was one of the regions allotted to the biblical Tribe of Judah. (more...) Suggest picture – Archive edit   News Wikinews Israel portal November 2: UNESCO votes in favor of Palestine membership October 11: Gilad Shalit to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners September 5: Proms performance by Israel Philharmonic Orchestra disrupted August 21: Egypt recalls envoy in Israel July 24: Protests over housing costs sweep across Israel May 15: Azerbaijan win 2011 Eurovision Song Contest April 22: Netanyahu pushed previous prime minister Olmert to attack Iran, according to Wikileaks cables April 22: Schoolboy dies in Israel after bus hit by rocket from Gaza edit   Did you know? ...Israel has the 8th longest life expectancy in the world: 80.7 years. More than the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany ...That there are 26 official Muslim States, 18 official Christian States, but there is only 1 Jewish State-Israel. ...That relative to its size, Israel is the largest immigrant absorbing nation on Earth, it has absorbed 350% of its population in 60 years. ...That Israel has more Nobel Prizes per capita than any other country. It has more laureates, in real numbers, than Spain, Mexico and China.[2] ...That Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain of trees, made more remarkable by the fact that it is 60% desert.[2] ...That 93% of Israeli homes use Solar energy for water heating, the highest percentage in the world.[2] ...That Israel scientific research institutions are ranked 3rd in the world.[2] ...That Israel is ranked 2nd in space sciences.[2] ...That Israel is one of the eight countries in the world capable of launching its own satellites.[3] ...That Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin.[2] ...That Israel has the 3rd highest rate of entrepreneurship amongst women in the world.[2] ...That Israel has attracted the most venture capital investment per capita in the world, 30 times more than Europe.[2] ...That Israel leads the world in patents for medical equipment.[2] ...That Israel has more NASDAQ listed companies than any other country, besides the US. More than all of Europe, India, China and Japan combined.[2] ...That in proportion to its population Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute numbers Israel has more startup companies than any other country besides the US.[2] ...That Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.[4] ...The proportion of women among R&D workers in Israel is approximately 23.4%. This puts Israel in second place behind Denmark. Women earned 37% of all degrees granted in science and engineering in Israel, one of the highest proportions in the world.[5] Archived Did you know... edit   Related portals Religion: Judaism • Christianity • Islam • Bahá'í Faith Geography: Asia • Middle East • Europe • Palestine Events: Israel current events edit   Topics History Jewish history | Land of Israel | History of the Jews in the Land of Israel | History of Palestine Geography Cities | Districts | Rivers | National Parks | Lakes | Craters | Deserts | Forests | Mountains | Volcanoes Government Basic Laws | Knesset | Foreign relations | Military | Electoral system | Honours Politics Political parties (Labour | Kadima | Likud | Shas | Israel Beytenu | Elections Economy Companies | Communications | Transport | Bank of Israel | Stock Exchange Culture Jewish Culture | Arab Culture | Hebrew | Cinema | Cuisine | Education | Literature | Music | Holidays | Sport | Wine Society Demographics | Jewish Israelis | Arab Israelis | Health care edit   WikiProjects WikiProject Israel – WikiProject Jewish history – WikiProject Judaism – WikiProject Jewish culture – WikiProject Hebrew edit   Things you can do Here are some tasks you can do: Cleanup: One state solution Copyedit: Palestinian views of the peace process, Cinema of Israel Expand: Guy Bavli, Middle East economic integration, Category:Companies of Israel, Allon Plan, Cellcom, Bezeq, Diamond industry in Israel, Geneva Accord, Zman Tel-Aviv, Ovda International Airport, El Al Flight 426, 2009 Tel Aviv gay centre shooting spree, Standard of Living in Israel, Sephardic Haredim, Rami Kleinstein, Levin Kipnis, Edna Arbel, Ayala Procaccia (from Hebrew) NPOV: Israeli military action in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Six-Day War, Gaza War, 1948 Palestinian exodus Stubs: Israel stubs Update: Carmel City Other: Translate from Hebrew: Menahem Gnessin, Ohel theater Translate to Hebrew: Guy Bavli, Gemara, Chief Rabbi, David Gans, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, David Bar Hayim, Jacob of Lissa, Nosson Zvi Finkel, Bezalel Ashkenazi, Solomon Schechter, Av Beit Din, Howard Fast, Guardian of Zion Award, Martin Gilbert, Israeli wine, Uri Davis, Aaron Valero, Mordechai Weingarten Add geographic coordinates: to articles in Category:Israel articles missing geocoordinate data Add images: to articles in Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Israel (Partially) consolidate: Beit Guvrin National Park, Beit Guvrin, Israel, Bayt Jibrin, Eleutheropolis, Maresha. There is also a disambiguation page (Beit Guvrin) edit   Associated Wikimedia On Wikicommons On Wikinews On Wikiquote On Wikisource On Wikibooks On Wikiversity What are portals? · List of portals · Featured portals Purge server cache

1. ^ "World Report: Israel". Reporters without Borders. 2010. http://en.rsf.org/report-israel,154.html. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
2. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named IDao; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
3. ^ Ofek-9: Israel Launches New Spy Satellite
4. ^ Interesting Facts about Israel
5. ^ Israeli civilian R&D spending up 164% in 1990-2004