Israel

TRADE:
Israel has many trade partners. Many of its exports include refined petroleum (4.9%),
diamonds (4.9%), medicines (20.5%) and telephones (3%). It mainly exports to the US (23%),
UK (8.6%), Netherlands (6.5%), China (5.1%) and India (5.1%). Israel tends to import natural
resources such as crude petroleum (14%), coal (4%) and diamonds (3.8%) from places such
as China (9.1%), US (8.3%), Germany (7.3%) and Italy (4.6%). Israel has an economic
complexity index of 1.40398, which makes it the 15
th
most complex economy. Israel exports
1.7% ($712,600,000) to Australia, its 17
th
favourite trade partner. The currency of Israel, the
New Israeli Shekel (), is equal to 33 Australian cents.
HEALTH AND SECURITY:
Israel is not a very secure country as there have been many wars. In 1948 the UK took some
of the land from the Palestinians, who occupied what is now called Israel, and the Jews and
Palestinians fought over the land. Currently there is a war between Israel and the
Palestinian-occupied Gaza strip. It is very unsafe as they are firing missiles at each other.
Israel has a police force of 35,000, and a border patrol of about 8,000. Israel receives aid
from the US because of the war.
Israel is a relatively healthy country, as the most common causes of death are the same as
most rich countries. Some of the common causes of death in Israel include cancer, with
10,000 deaths per year, heart disease, with 6,700 deaths, and diabetes, with 2,500 deaths.
The average life span of Israel is 82, and the infant mortality per 1000 is 3.9. Israel has a
force of 32,000 physicians, 9,000 dentists and 6,000 pharmacists.
Recently Israel has had many wars, both within and outside the country, including the 6 day
war, 1948 Palestine war and the Suez Crisis. There is currently a war going on between Israel
and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
TOURISM:
Israels economy relies a lot on tourism, mainly as Jews, Christians and Muslims visit Israel
on pilgrimages. Many of their tourists come from countries with strong religious beliefs. The
places these people tend to visit are Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Bethlehem and Nazareth. There
are many benefits of tourism in Israel, including jobs, money, and worldwide recognition. A
lot of Australians go, mainly including priests and religious figures. In 2012, Israel received
30,000 Australian tourists, making up 1% of all tourists visiting Israel.