There’s a conversation happening in the world right now about Israel, and most of it misses something rather important. Because while the arguments rage, billions of people are quietly benefiting from Israeli innovation every single day, often without even knowing it. So let’s take a moment to do something the world doesn’t do nearly enough.
Thank You, Israel – The Innovations you use everyday without knowing it.
Your Phone
Apple’s Israeli engineering teams in Herzliya and Haifa have played a significant role in developing generations of Apple Silicon processors, the chips powering the iPhone you may be reading this on right now.
Face ID incorporates technology developed by Israeli startup PrimeSense, acquired by Apple in 2013. Google operates one of its largest engineering centres outside the United States in Israel. The dual-lens camera technology in most smartphones was pioneered by Israeli startup Corephotonics, later acquired by Samsung.
And Israeli company M-Systems pioneered the USB flash drive, the little device that changed how the world stores and transfers data. Your phone, and much of the technology around it carries Israeli DNA.
Your Computer
Intel’s Israeli teams have played major roles in developing many generations of processors, including the Pentium MMX, Centrino, and Core architectures. These are the engines that powered the personal computing revolution. The first commercial firewall was developed by Israeli company Check Point Software in 1993, helping lay the foundation for much of today’s internet security.
Your AI
If you’re using any form of artificial intelligence — and in 2026, you almost certainly are — there’s a very good chance it’s running on Nvidia chips. Nvidia recently tripled its presence in Israel, and Israeli AI and machine learning research is embedded throughout the global tech ecosystem.
Microsoft has had a major R&D presence in Israel since the 1990s, with thousands of employees working across Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Nazareth on AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. Meta too has offices throughout Israel. The AI revolution you’re living through has Israeli fingerprints all over it.
Your Navigation
Waze was born in Tel Aviv, acquired by Google in 2013 for over a billion dollars. Its logic now powers the navigation of hundreds of millions of people daily. Israeli company VocalTec launched the world’s first commercial VoIP software in 1995, helping pave the way for modern messaging platforms.
ICQ, the world’s first widely adopted instant messaging platform, launched in 1996 – also Israeli. You’ve been using Israeli communication technology for decades.
Your Food
Israeli scientists helped develop the modern commercial cherry tomato — the bite-sized variety now found in every supermarket and lunchbox around the world.
Drip irrigation — the technology that has literally helped feed the world by making agriculture possible in arid regions — was invented by Israeli engineer Simcha Blass and developed by Netafim in the 1960s. It delivers water directly to plant roots, using a fraction of what conventional irrigation requires, and has since been adopted across Africa, India, the Americas, and beyond, helping feed populations in water-scarce regions that would otherwise face agricultural collapse. In a world increasingly anxious about food and water security, Israel got there decades early.
Your Water
Israeli company Watergen has developed technology that produces clean drinking water directly from air — drawing in humidity, purifying it, and delivering drinkable water without any external water source. In regions where clean water is a matter of survival, this is not a gadget — it’s a lifeline.
Your Solar Energy
In the 1950s, during a fuel shortage, Israeli scientist Dr. Harry Zvi Tabor developed a highly efficient solar water heater. Locally called the “Dud Shemesh”, that is now found on almost every rooftop in Israel. This was decades before the global green energy movement caught up. Israel was doing sustainable energy before it was fashionable, before it was trendy, and before the rest of the world realised it was necessary.
Your Health
The PillCam, a tiny swallowable camera that allows doctors to examine the digestive tract without invasive surgery, was invented by scientist Gavriel Iddan of Given Imaging, now Medtronic. It is FDA-approved and used across the globe to diagnose infections, intestinal disorders, and cancers in parts of the digestive system that conventional procedures cannot reach. If someone you love has had one, there’s an Israeli engineer somewhere who deserves a thank you.
Your Heart
If someone you love has had a cardiac stent procedure — and millions of people have — Israeli innovation very likely played a role. Israeli company Medinol became one of the world’s leading innovators in coronary stent technology, helping make cardiac procedures safer and less invasive for millions of patients worldwide. And for MS patients, Copaxone, which is most widely prescribed treatments for multiple sclerosis, was developed by Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva.
Your Ability to Walk Again
Dr. Amit Goffer was paralysed in a tragic ATV accident in 1997. Instead of accepting it, he invented the ReWalk — a wearable robotic exoskeleton that allows paraplegics to stand upright, walk, turn, and climb stairs. It was the first exoskeleton to receive FDA clearance for personal use in the United States. Thousands of people around the world have walked again because of it. Dr. Goffer built the thing he needed most, and gave it to the world.
Your Games
Rummikub, the beloved tile game played in families across the world, was invented by Ephraim Hertzano. Israeli inventor Benny Landa pioneered the modern digital printing industry in 1993, revolutionising the entire publishing industry. He’s widely recongized as the “father of commercial digital printing.” And if your website runs on Wix, that’s an Israeli company too.
This is a nation of about ten million people, smaller than many of the world’s major cities. And yet it has given the world technologies, medicines, agricultural solutions, and innovations that billions of people depend on daily. A nation that has survived every attempt to destroy it, that has turned desert into farmland, that has built one of the most innovative economies on earth while simultaneously defending itself from enemies on multiple fronts.
The Bible says in Genesis 12:3 that through Abraham, “all peoples on earth will be blessed.” You don’t have to be a person of faith to look at that list above and recognize that it’s already happening, has been happening for a long time, and shows no sign of stopping.
Thank you, Israel. 🇮🇱
Other Posts To Read:
- What is Zionism?
- Books about Israel that will help you understand
- Why Christians should support Israel?
- What does the Bible say about replacement theology?
- Want to volunteer in Israel? Check this list!
Heya, I’m Abby! I’m a Gourmand Award-winning cookbook author and East Indian from Bombay, India. This blog is all about faith, food, and culture – from East Indian recipes to home, DIY, and spending time in the Word. Find out more about me here!