How Did Israel Become the Tech Capital of the World?

Israel's economy was once envisioned as a Socialist utopia, controlled by the socialist labor union Histadrut. However, in the 1990s, the government nationalized health insurance and eliminated Histadrut's control, transitioning to a market economy. Today, Israel is renowned as a fast-paced "start-up nation," where innovation plays a key role in its economic success.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:29 Socialist roots
02:45 The Histadrut
03:14 The Conflict
03:41 Demographic change
04:12 Near economic collapse / recovery
05:22 Economic damage from war
06:10 Soviet Jewish immigration
07:02 Health insurance nationalization
07:37 Market economy
09:02 Necessary Israeli innovation
10:11 Investment in hi-tech
10:34 Unequal distribution of wealth / cost of living
10:56 2011 Cottage cheese boycott / tent protests
12:47 Government reforms
12:59 Cost of living stats

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Let’s connect:

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Executive Producers:
— Debra Klein
— Avi Naider
— Jerry Ostrov
— Barry Skolnick

Gold Level:
— Blavatnik Family Foundation
— The Associated’s Insight Israel Forum
— The Crane Foundation
— Aimee & Jerry Ostrov
— Skolnick Family Charitable Trust

Silver Level:
— Sig and Miriam Feiger Family Foundation
— The Messinger Family Charitable Fund
— Rachie and Jon Teller

Bronze Level:
— The Bernstein Family Foundation
— Jewish Federation of Broward County
— Betsy and Philip Darivoff
— Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
— JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
— Marilyn and Neville Isaacson
— Corie and Michael Koss
— Steve Miller
— Pamela Rose
— Kim and Perry Shwachman
— Marci and Andrew Spitzer

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Image and footage credits:

Artgrid
Associated Press
BBC
Yossi Brauman
Carmel Newsreel
Channel 2, Israel
Ford
Fox
Gadfin Aero-Logistics Systems
German Federal Archive
Globes
HaAretz
Harold Lloyd Entertainment, Inc.
Hasbro
Histradrut
IDF and Defense Establishment Archives
IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Insider Inc.
International Film Foundation
Israel Film Archive - Jerusalem Cinematheque
Israeli Government Press Office: Teddy Brauner, Fritz Cohen, David Eldan, Zoltan Kluger, Moshe Pridan, Hans Pinn
Israel Hayom
Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
ITN
The Jerusalem Post
Jewish National Fund
Kan Archive
The Knesset Channel
Meta Platforms, Inc.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Morning Star
Dan Hadani Collection and Meitar Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel
An Israel Archives Network (IAN) project, accessible thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Arda Archives - the photography department at the Land of Israel Museum, the Oded Yarkoni Historical Archives-Petach Tikva, Yad Yitzchak ben Zvi, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the National Library of Israel.
Nadav Mann, BITMUNA_Gra collection from Dr. Shulamit Gera and Shmuel Dayan collection from Zohar Betzer. The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel
Janus Films
Liron Lahiani
Le Silla
The New York Times
Paramount
Percepto
Peretz Car Style
Pixabay
Roy Export S.A.S.
David Shankbone
SkyX Systems Corp
The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
Storyblocks
Tara
Tnuva
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Vice Media, Inc.
Warner Bros.
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About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated — yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.

About History of Israel Explained: This series casts a new perspective on the history of the modern State of Israel, both pre and post 1948. We explore the inspiring highs and heartbreaking lows, and the everyday struggles of ordinary people. Understand how the Jewish State came to be by meeting prominent Zionist figures and learning about key historical events. Explore aspects of Israeli society, from its famous military to the meaning of the national anthem, and more.

#israel #socialism #capitalism

[davidogundipe]

This breakdown of modern Israel is fascinating, good work unpacked.

[danmaeir]

By the way; a small correction; I lived in Israel from 1968 to 1974 and we had our health insurance through Macabbi, an non-histadrut health plan. All in all a very good video

[DanielS-zqrr]

the housing costs are by far the biggest economic issue in israel in my opinion. you can get by with food prices, most of the time you'd pay far more on housing

[jaydenchannak]

@unpacked please do a video on Israel’s healthcare system and please compare it to other healthcare systems

[wonhur]

Intriguing, i always knew there was more to life and i have also been looking for a way to find not only protection but a way to be influential to the human society.

[mpd]

"If there is one country, or people, to figure it out, my money is on the Israelis." Well said, Noam. It's interesting that the 2 nations with the highest rates of patent registration, the United States and Israel, also have the highest concentration of Jews. In the 1940s, it used to be Europe, until the Jews got expelled and expunged. Europe has since lagged far behind the US (and perhaps even little Israel) in innovation and hi-tech. If the holocaust had not occurred, Europe would be having the highest concentration of Jews within their ranks and would almost certainly be the world leader in hi-tech and innovation. I hear that there is growing antisemitic sentiment on American college campuses. I hope this is not allowed to fester and spread. According to the late Derek Prince, a historian and Bible teacher, history shows that nations that adopt antisemitism as an official policy tend to collapse within a 100 years. As a Bible believer myself, I believe what God told the patriarchs concerning their descendants, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and in your seed shall all the nations be blessed (paraphrase mine). Besides Israel, the United States is perhaps the one major nation where Jews have relatively enjoyed the greatest liberty and peace, and the United States is currently the world's most prosperous country. These days, Germany (and Europe) has become a second-rate power, and even seek to placate the Chinese.

[שמואלבןחורין-תכ]

I, m an Israeli citizen and i didn’t knew one third of that staff thank you

[strangetimes]

That's right, there are a lot of income inequality, but in Israel if you're smart, talent and willing to do the hard work there is no reason you won't be able to be accepted into the high tech world

[roniberahaquartet]

Well Yugoslav immigrants came 48, 52 and they were highly educated .But here weren't institutions for them where to work .

[Lagolop]

BTW, Israeli dairy products are the best in the world. In fact Israeli dairy cows produce more milk per cow, than in any other country. And I will add that the quality is second to none.

[ren]

I am an Israeli born man who moved to the West at the wave of the 2nd intifada. I must say every time I have gone back to visit my family in Israel (they all still live there), the country impresses me more and more. I think a lot of the issues Israel faces and faced have begun to afflict other Western nations as well, especially the cost of living and the rise of terrorism. It's hard get over the aspect that you're surrounded by countries who would be happy to wipe you off the face of the earth but Israel has a lot going it for it to point I will likely move back there especially with the wave of antisemitism in Canada, the US, the UK and France that we're seeing. At this point Israel is up there with most Western countries in terms of quality of life.

[fmtdion]

Thanks for these wonderful videos you are making in this channel .

[johnhern]

Very informative! A positive perspective from a great and prosperous nation.
God bless Israel and its people. ✝️🇮🇱

[hyperbaroque]

The light hearted joking makes this super-listenable. Which is importand because I probably have to listen a few times to get it all.

Edit: I LOVE cottage cheese. Why are you like this.

[Biglake]

Absolutely agree, it started with socialism, but evolved into the first class in the IT technology and defense industry in the world!! Capitalism at its best.

[miriamzajfman]

Good job Noah👍. I do love this podcast 😍

[giulianorivieri]

I agreee with one of the main arguments in the video. Difficulties help to find new solutions and at the end of the day if you want to build "muscles" you need a challenge. So there were 2 possibilities for Israel since it was born: die or become stronger and stronger. Because the enemies wanted to erase the new state since the beginning. New challenges means new (technological, military, strategic) solutions. And this is what Israel did and does. His strenght is due to the hate of his enemies. More hate more strenght. They don't undestand this...

[geoffreyworley]

The study of Torah over many centuries and the call to study which is a holy pursuit has produced many gifted people

[TommyJefferson]

Hey can you bring in Jewish legends to your channel and do a podcast with them. Some of them can be Ben Shapiro, Gal Gadot, Steven Spielberg etc. And also please explain the Contribution of Jewish Community to Sciences, Economics etc. And please don't delete this comment saying it's anti Semitic because I mean this in a positive way 🙂

[hfyaer]

Plot twist: the cheese company was making so much money by exporting abroad that they engineered the boycott to be able to meet demand