A. Italy
B. Sweden
C. Israel
D. India

You may not have guessd it, but Newsweek confirms that the winner is Israel! I’m not sure the last time I saw a Swedish-based show, so it may not have been a very tough competition. Regardless, Israel is starting to appear in Hollywood headlines by contributing shows such as “B’tipul (In Treatment)” and “The Ex List”. Apparently “too dark” for Americans, these shows are being adapted to American tastes and then produced.

“In Treatment” is a drama about a “therapist and his demanding clientele” , and was adapted by HBO. CBS will be premiering “The Ex List”,  “a romantic comedy about a woman who learns from a psychic that she has already dated—and broken up with—her soulmate, and if she can’t narrow him down from her lengthy roster of suitors, she’ll spend life as a spinster.”

Other shows that are in the works are “A touch away” based on “Merhak Negia”, “a story of forbidden love between an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Russian immigrant” and “Loaded,” a ‘comedy about a quartet of dotcom millionaires”.

Not only are Hollywood studios impressed with Israel’s clever screenwriting, but they are truly blown away by our budgeting skills, claiming that Israelis make TV shows on less than a shoestring budget. Now that is something I can vouch for  - just watch me in the Jerusalem Shuk(outdoor market). Give me 10 shekels, and I’ll come back with 3 bags of fruits and veggies. Hey, I think I’m on to some promising new titles, “America’ Next Top Bargainer”  “Pimp my Agala”  (Agala  = granny shopping cart), the list goes on. HBO, if you’re reading this, remember who thought of it first.

A Jewish man was sitting in Starbucks reading an Arab newspaper. A friend of his, who happened to come in the same store, noticed this strange phenomenon.

Very upset, he approached him and said: “Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading an Arab newspaper?”

Moshe replied, “I used to read the Jewish newspapers, but what did I find? Jews being persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through assimilation and intermarriage, Jews living in poverty.

So I switched to the Arab newspaper. Now what do I find? Jews own all the banks, Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, Jews rule the world.

The news is so much better!”

Here’s a short video that hopefully can give you a better idea of what twitter is all about:

Anyways, included in the 125 people that I follow on twitter is Guy Kawasaki, who writes the excellent How to Change the World blog, and founded and manages Alltop.com, a very useful site that collects content from around the web on various topics. (He also does tons of other stuff including venture capital, authoring books, etc.)

ANYWAY, I logged in to twitter and saw that Guy had just created a new Alltop page for Israel. I wrote to him on twitter and asked him if he could add israelplug…and he did! So now we are featured on the Israel Alltop page. Assuming that a lot of people visit the Alltop site, that means good traffic and links for israelplug. Hurray!

On another topic, but an important one for hockey fans, Guy also mentioned that he played hockey with an Israeli, and even has an Israeli hockey jersey! Well, who ever heard of an Israeli hockey jersey, so I asked him to see a picture of it.  Here it is:

And now, since every thing must have a lesson or a purpose, here are some action items for you readers:

1. Check out http://israel.alltop.com.
2. Come meet me on twitter: http://twitter.com/miriamschwab.

Despite its kind nature, the Hoopoe apparently has some disgusting habits, and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report had a lot to say about it. He suggested that Israel adopt the Hoopoe’s defense tactics on the Golan Heights: squirting fecal matter at intruders. He also congratulated the Jews on a new addition to the kosher menu: giraffe. Yum yum.

What do America’s premier investor, Warren Buffett, and Iran’s toxic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have in common? Answer: They’ve both made a bet about Israel’s future.

Yet again, Ahmadinejad announced that Israel would be wiped off the map. Friedman says that ironically, he heard this declaration while exiting Iscar’s headquarters in northern Israel - Iscar being Warren Buffett’s first and largest international investment.

The deal to buy 80% of Iscar closed a few days before Hezbollah started bombing northern Israel in July 2006, putting the company at serious risk. Friedman asked Iscar’s chairman, Eitan Wertheimer, what Buffett’s reaction was to the rockets landing in the vicinity of his new investment.

Buffett just brushed it off with a wave, recalled Wertheimer: “He said, ‘I’m not interested in the next quarter. I’m interested in the next 20 years.’ ”

Why is Buffett betting on Israel? Friedman lists some impressive details about Israel’s economy, including the fact that tiny Israel attracts the third-highest amount of venture capital after the US, coming in after China and before India. On the other hand, Friedman says that Iran has invented nothing of importance since the Islamic Revolution.

So who should you bet on? Friedman says he’d long Iran, and short Israel, since Iran’s might depends solely on dwindling sources of fossil fuels, while Israel’s strength is entirely dependent on a sustainable, endlessly renewable resource: its people’s brains.

So who do you bet on?

“I’m with Buffett,” Friedman ends off, “I’ll bet on the people who bet on their people - not the people who bet on dead dinosaurs.”

[Via Israel Newsletter]

“We still haven’t lost our hope, the hope of 2000 years…to be a free nation in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

(sniff)

Anyways, apparently I’m not the only one who gets emotional. Treppenwitz says he does too, and he has posted a video of a new version of Hatikva created by a French singer called Francky Perez, a wedding singer (one of my favorite movies), and a backup band called Broadway. It combines soul, rap, and more to create a truly moving and exciting version of our decades old anthem.

So bring out the tissues (or just laugh and point at me), and click play:

Sabra Tech also features flying robotic ambulances (too cool for words) and dogs that are trained to patrol and guard jails. Wired gets a big high five for reporting on Israeli technology for avid robotic fans and Israel fans alike.

But the Ministry of Tourism has set its goals much, much higher, hoping to bring 5 million tourists in 2012. The Director of Tourism Shaul Tzemach is already nervous about a room shortage. As they say, that should be our worst problem! Anyone want to rent out their apartment for a few days? I volunteer. Tourists usually mean m-o-n-e-y. I say, bring it.

You know what this major increase in tourism will mean for Israel, don’t you? More hotels which means more construction! And Israelis just love construction and detours. There are 90 million shekels going towards encouraging tourism and millions more for the construction of more hotels in Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee area, Acre, Ashdod, Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee. That brings the total cost to 1 billion shekels. The number feels too big to comprehend and reminds me of Austin Powers’ Dr. Evil suggesting the largest amount he could fathom “1 milllliion dollars”.

Well, apparently Canada’s now got a Prime Minister with guts. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not afraid to laud Israel’s achievements, and provide unconditional support for Israel’s security and right to exist - a move that he admits is unpopular, but he stands behind nonetheless.

And he can even speak French. Although it’s Canadian French, so I’m not sure if it counts.

Here’s his speech at an event in honor of Israel’s 60th anniversary:

Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the UK, currently on a quest for peace

Tony Blair opened up with a discussion on peace and democracy. He basically said that democracy, equality and justice are the solutions to all the world’s problems, and that we should be “open in hope, not closed in fear.” There was one problem with what he said: he said that no two democracies have ever attacked each other. My wise husband pointed out that Germany was a democracy, whether we like it or not, and they certainly attacked a few democracies, Britain included. Oh well, it was a nice thought.

Bamir Topi, President of Albania

He said that during the Holocaust, Albania didn’t hand over any Jews to the Nazis, and they even allowed Jews entry into their country. That is impressive.

Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso

Mr. Compaore said that our struggle is their struggle, and that the Jewish people deserve a state. That is a pretty strong statement, considering the current climate where Israel’s right to exist is up for debate.

Dr. Valdis Zatlers, President of Latvia

Dr. Zatlers is a big fan of Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat,” and he quoted it quite a bit. He said the world can learn three things from the Israelis:

1. Stay in touch with your past. (This is in opposition to Shimon Peres’ repeated message that we should not dwell on the past.)
2. Stay in touch with the future.
3. Stay close together. He is so right about that one. Israelis want to stay in touch with each other in every possible way. That is why we are among the highest users in the world of cellphones and facebook. Jewish mothers are in heaven with all this technology.

Dr. Zatlers reviewed some of the great Jews that emerged from Latvia, but what was particularly interesting is that he mentioned Rabbi Kook, who he describes as the father of religious Zionism! This mention was particularly significant in light of the fact that a recent terrible terror attack took place at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which was founded, and is named after, Rabbi Kook.

Tommy E. Remengesau, President of Palau

I never even knew Palau existed before I heard this speech. It is apparently one of the world’s youngest and smallest nations, with a population of 21,000! As a small island, Palau is concerned by the rising water levels that are submerging other islands and forcing the populations to evacuate. He said that the environment should be viewed as a security issue. He also said that, as a Christian, visiting Israel is like a pilgrimage for him.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of Uganda

Mr. Museveni said that globalization is not new, and proof of that is that there are black people in America. Good point. He said that the question is whether globalization will be parasitic, like in the past, or symbiotic.

He said that Africa does not have a lot of bigotry, and he explains that Uganda encourages their citizens to live and let live, and let everyone practice their own religious beliefs. He gives an example of a particular religious group that wanted to take some sort of violent action against others because they were eating pork (I wonder which religious group that could be, and no, it’s not the Jews), and how they told them not to since they weren’t putting the pork in their own stomach. He says that the Rwandan genocide was actually a European import.

It’s a nice idea, but I’d have to question his assertion that there is no bigotry in Africa in light of the events taking place in South Africa that have actually been titled “Xenophobia.”

Mr. Museveni goes on to say that Africa is the origin of man and civilization, and that it is commendable that Africa was part of this event and was able to give input, since that usually doesn’t happen.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last head of state of the USSR

Blair mentioned how he can Gorbachev met for the first time at the conference! Gorbachev said he traveled across Israel from the south to the North, and he was amazed at how the desert has blossomed. He said it’s a sign. He criticized Europe for applauding while Russia lay in ruins, and for supporting Yeltsin, and now that Russia has finally found its feet, they don’t support the current rulers. I wonder why.

Jacques Atalli, former advisor to advisor to French President François Mitterand

Mr. Atalli was the last speaker and spoke so forcefully about the importance of Israel, and Israel’s contribution to the world.

Mr. Attali quoted King Solomon about the importance of prosperity for peace. He said that our region holds all the opportunities, as well as all of the threats. This region could be the model for the rest of the world.

He said that the Israeli model is interesting:

• It stresses the importance of knowledge - we’re obsessed with learning.
• Democratic.
• Social Justice/Tzedaka is a strong principle, where we must care for ourselves and for our brothers.
• The wish to survive and live - that we are not afraid of our enemy, but learn to cope.
• Israel needs others too, since it is not yet complete.
• The world needs Israel - for technology, philosophy, culture. The world without Israel would be a world without significance. Without Israel this region would go back to barbarism.
• Jerusalem is the future of the world, and is a symbol of utopia.

He finished off by saying “Next Year in Jerusalem.”