Last week, I wrote how GE is upping its involvement in the Israeli economy. To paraphrase the words of William Ruh, vice president of the company’s software and  analytics centre, the conglomerate cannot afford to miss out on Israel’s technological capabilities.

OK. Very complimentary. However, GE is not alone, according to the group Israel Advanced Technologies Industries, GE is just one of 260 overseas centres operating in Israel, employing around 20,000 people and who-knows-how-many others indirectly. For example, Microsoft announced just today that it is looking to Israel as a junior ‘Silicon Valley’ that will help it to boost future revenues. Over the past 15 years, the gates team have made at least 11 key strategic decisions regarding its position in Israel.

Who else? Well, here is part of a list that I saw printed in the newspaper recently:

Apple: 3 centres, 500 employees. Software for iPhones and iPads are is developed in the Holy Land

Intel: 5 centres with 8,500 employees. Previous, current and next generation of chips have started out in the labs of Jerusalem and its surroundings

GM: 60 workers in Herzylia. They are working on a design for a car without a driver and also converting side car windows into inter active computer screens.

Samsung: 250 employees in north Tel Aviv are producing technology for the camera on the Galaxy phones.

And the list goes on.

This week, Israel is celebrating its 65th anniversary since it was founded in 1948. Readers of this blog have the option of supporting the enemies of the one democratic country in the Middle East and boycott these amazing technologies and capabilities, or they can go out and celebrate the freedom and pluralism that they represent.