Cooperation Between Israel
and the State of North Carolina

Binational foundation grants shared by North Carolina institutions:

Recipients of grants from U.S.-Israel binational foundations:

Duke
Duke Medical School
Gaston County Dyeing Machine Co.
North Carolina State
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina Medical School
Wake Forest

North Carolina Honors Israel’s 60th

The North Carolina General Assembly expressed the state’s strong friendship with the State of Israel.  The House and Senate resolutions highlighted the state’s historical ties to the Jewish people, the state’s vibrant trading relationship with Israel, and called for North Carolinians to honor Israel’s 60th anniversary as a modern state. North Carolina and Israel share a robust friendship built on economic cooperation and common values. As the resolution states, “the people of Israel have established a vibrant, pluralistic, democratic political system, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion.” Israel is also one of North Carolina’s top trading partners. Since 1996, Israel has purchased over $1 billion in goods and services from the Tarheel State, including over $155 million in 2007 alone. The two have also shared millions of dollars in bi-national grants, supporting their respective universities as they strive to make new technological and medical advances. The joint resolution is the fifth piece of legislation honoring Israel passed in the Southeast. Resolutions honoring Israel and its 60th anniversary have been passed this year in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. 

Agreements with Israel

In 1994, Gov. Jim Hunt established an International Commission that includes task forces to stimulate trade and exchanges with Israel in business, academia, arts and culture, education and social services. The North Carolina-Israel Partnership (NCIP) was created in 1996 to manage the cooperative projects.

Partners For Change

The U.S.-Israel relationship is based on the twin pillars of shared values and mutual interests. Given this commonality of interests and beliefs, it should not be surprising that support for Israel is one of the most pronounced and consistent foreign policy values of the American people.

It is more difficult to devise programs that capitalize on the two nations’ shared values than their security interests; nevertheless, such programs do exist. In fact, these SHARED VALUE INITIATIVES cover a broad range of areas such as the environment, energy, education and health.

Today’s interdependent global economy requires that trade policy be developed at the national and state level. Many states have recognized the opportunity for realizing significant benefits by increasing trade with Israel. At least 22 states have cooperative arrangements with Israel.

In 1994, Gov. Jim Hunt established an International Commission that includes task forces to stimulate trade and exchanges with Israel in business, academia, arts and culture, education and social services.

Today, trade between the two nations is flourishing. North Carolina’s exports to Israel total over $1 billion since 1996. In 2007, exports exceeded $155 million making Israel the State’s 27th leading trade partner. In addition, North Carolina received $15,292,621 in foreign military financing (FMF) for US aid to Israel in 2006.

Israel is certainly a place where potential business and trade partners can be found. It can also be a source for innovative programs and ideas for addressing problems facing North Carolina’s citizens.

Israel, for example, has developed a number of pioneering education programs. One, a peer tutoring program called YACHAD, has been adapted by the University of North Carolina Greensboro and piloted in Guilford County schools as the Reading Together program.

A range of exciting approaches to social problems like unemployment, environmental protection and drug abuse have been successfully implemented in Israel and could also be imported for the benefit of Americans. North Carolina is involved in more than a dozen exchanges already in the arts, medicine, education and social services.

The potential for greater cooperation with Israel for the benefit of North Carolina is limited only by the imagination.

North Carolina Firms Profit From Business With Israel

Because of Israel’s unique status as the only country with free trade agreements with both the United States and the European Community, it can act as a bridge for international trade between the United States and Europe. Moreover, because of the deep pool of talent, particularly in high-technology areas, Israel provides excellent investment opportunities. Some of the nation’s largest companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, Motorola and Intel, as well as more than 80 North Carolina firms, have found that it is indeed profitable to do business in Israel.

Sara Lee of Winston-Salem has discovered the benefits of exporting to Israel as well as importing products. The company has a minority interest in Delta Galil Industries, an underwear and sock manufacturer in Tel Aviv, and now distributes its clothing around the United States. Terry Gill, Director of Global Sourcing for Sara Lee described the relationship as a good one with a company that makes a good product.

Another textile giant, Fieldcrest Cannon, recently signed a $26 million distribution agreement with Kitan to sell its bedding in the United States.

Gambit Computer Communications has a marketing agreement with the Raleigh-based networks group of Memorex Telex Corp. Gambit develops, manufactures and sells computer communications equipment for local and wide area networks. The strategic alliance is focusing on sales, support and marketing in the short-term, but Gambit’s North America Operations Manager, Ehud Katzir, says that a second phase might involve establishing a manufacturing facility in the U.S. that would create new jobs in North Carolina.

Mike White, Executive Manager for Protec, went on a trade mission to Israel and met with some of the leading Israeli telecommunications companies to discuss possible service agreements. Today, the Burlington-based company services ISDN equipment manufactured by Telrad. While in Israel, White discovered untapped business opportunities. “You could put the marketing genius available in North Carolina to work with Israeli companies to sell a variety of products in the United States,” he said.

North Carolina companies could also take advantage of the new Russian talent in Israel. Southern Optical, for example, is in the process of concluding a deal with a kibbutz factory to support an incubator in Jerusalem whose Russian engineers are producing a new product that could be beneficial to the optical industry. Southern Optical’s Tom Sloan praises the Israelis for their “low-cost, highly capable technological development.”

North Carolina companies, particularly in high-tech fields, could also benefit from alliances with Israeli companies. One way to reduce the risk and obtain funding for joint ventures is to apply for a grant from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD).

The United States and Israel established BIRD in 1977 to fund U.S.-Israeli teams in the development and subsequent commercialization of innovative, nondefense technological products. BIRD funds projects in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Since its inception, BIRD has funded more than 740 joint high-tech R&D projects that have generated sales of more than $5 billion, tax revenues of more than $700 million in both countries and created an estimated 20,000 American jobs.

In 1995, Gaston County Dyeing Machine Co. became the first North Carolina firm to receive a BIRD grant (to develop a monitoring sensor for the industry). Subsequently, two more Carolina firms have received grants.

Scientific Innovations

Institutions in North Carolina have shared with counterparts in Israel more than $1.8 million in grants awarded by the Binational Science Foundation (BSF) since 1987. BSF was established in 1972 to promote research cooperation between scientists from the United States and Israel. It has awarded more than 3,000 research grants, involving more than 2,000 scientists more than 400 institutions located in 44 states and the District of Columbia. The University of North Carolina, North Carolina State and Duke are among the grant recipients.

Tom Petes, a geneticist at UNC, is doing basic research to discern the rules of recombination. “By looking at the way a cell breaks down in a primitive organism like yeast,” he explained, “we hope to gain an understanding of what goes haywire in higher organisms and is thought to cause tumors.” Petes is working with a colleague who knows a lot about damage to DNA and DNA repair and finds the collaboration gives him ideas and new ways of thinking. “Without this type of collaboration,” says Petes, “you get inbred ideas. The BSF grant allows me to meet and work with other scientists.” This is especially important, he added, because money has become tight and it is difficult to go to as many conferences as he used to for such exchanges.

One of the keys to health care reform will be figuring out how to provide services to a population that lives longer than past generations. UNC sociologist Elizabeth Mutran is working on a study that could provide some answers by determining how the elderly feel about different aspects of health care and what they want at the end of their lives. Mutran is working with an Israeli colleague from Beersheva on a project that involves interviews with 1,000 Israelis who are over 70. The respondents will be requestioned over the next three years to see how life events affect their attitudes toward treatment.

Mutran said the population in North Carolina is too homogenous to examine many important variables. By doing the study in Israel it will be possible to look at the influence of such things as health care funding, family structures, the role of religion and attitudes toward death. The results could help determine the care older Americans will need and expect.

Richard Smith is a statistician at UNC conducting research on extreme values, which has the practical application of making possible predictions about extremes in sea level and climate. Smith cited the example of trying to determine the frequency and magnitude of floods to assist people in a place like Holland determine how high dikes should be built. The BSF grant allowed Smith to work closely with a colleague at the Technion in Haifa who also works in his specialized area of research. “Any collaboration is beneficial in research,” Smith said, “and BSF gave me an opportunity to work on an international basis.”

BSF documented 75 new discoveries that probably would not have been possible without foundation-supported collaboration. These advances included the development of new methods and techniques, the discovery of new phenomena and major theoretical breakthroughs.

A 1999 external economic review took an in depth look at 10 BSF projects. These 10 alone, produced aggregate benefits of $780 million, a figure four times the total expenditure of BARD since its inception (1978). The benefits accrue to the United States, to Israel and to both countries together.

Agriculture Benefits

The Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) was created in 1978 with equal contributions by the United States and Israel. BARD funds projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Since its inception, BARD has funded more than 800 projects that have led to new technologies in drip irrigation, pesticides, fish farming, livestock, poultry, disease control and farm equipment.

In 2003, 26 projects were funded at 21 U.S. institutions. North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina have received grants worth more than $5.8 million since 1987, with NC State receiving the lion’s share.

Most species of fish in warm, brackish seawater found in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Gulf of Mexico and areas of North Carolina are susceptible to a deadly parasite. Ed Noga, an immunologist at North Carolina State, has a BARD grant to study the immune response of fish. He and his Israeli collaborators are interested in understanding this response so they can develop ways to immunize them.

Noga finds the project beneficial because he has the opportunity to see how other scientists do research, some technology is transferred and he interacts with people who have different expertise and experiences. “It is a very productive, positive interaction.”

Jack Britt, an animal physiologist at North Carolina State, is interested in improving the fertility of dairy cattle. His colleagues in Israel have similar interests and work in a similar climate. The system they are developing appears to increase fertility in a cattle population with low fertility.

A geneticist at North Carolina State, Ben McDaniel, is also interested in cattle, but he is looking at how traits are passed on from one generation to the next. He went back to 1883 to trace the development of one breed.

The research indicates that it is important to look at the maternal lines of bulls, supporting the observations of Israeli breeders who said that certain traits were passed on better to daughters than sons.

The project also involves researchers at Iowa State and, McDaniel says, BARD helped combine the unique expertise of scientists in Israel, Iowa and North Carolina. In addition, Israel had a molecular genetics lab that State lacked. The collaboration has established strong links between McDaniel and his Israeli counterparts.

Some of the benefits to North Carolina from BARD research are more indirect. For example, BARD grantees have developed techniques to help preserve the color, taste and texture of apples, one of the State’s important crops. Other projects have developed strategies for breeding leaner poultry with no loss of other valuable characteristics, which can reduce costs for the state’s poultry industry.

It is difficult to break down the impact on a state-by-state basis, but, overall, BARD-sponsored research has generated sales of more than $500 million, tax revenues of more than $100 million and created more than 5,000 American jobs.

Other Cooperative Programs

The North Carolina-Israel Autism Project is intended to expand existing relationships and establish new ones through the systematic training of professionals and parents in Israel based on 1) the knowledge and technology of the North Carolina TEACCH program (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children), 2) the importance of diagnostic, assessment, treatment and education programs in Israel, and 3) the exchange of information and ideas between the Israeli and North Carolina parent organizations (ALUT-The National Association for Autistic Children in Israel and the Autism Society of North Carolina).

“Reading Together” is a peer tutoring program adopted from Hebrew University’s YACHAD program. The program involves fifth graders tutoring second graders who are slow readers. The pilot project is being run in Guilford County. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is being established as a national center for the training, development and dissemination of the program.

The Israel/North Carolina Cultural Exchange began in the fall of 1996 and included 11 exhibitions, film festivals, artist residencies and public programs designed to explore Israeli art and make it available throughout the State and Southeast.

The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and the Israel Arts and Science Academy signed an agreement to establish joint curricula and activities in the area of world leadership.

Duke University has developed the Duke Information System for Cardiovascular Care (DISCC), which allows analysis of epidemiological information, national health care profiles, clinical trials data, resource utilization, etc. The university is sharing its databank with the Israeli Ministry of Health.

The Guilford County School System has entered into an agreement with the Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) whereby students from Guilford schools can receive credit for participating in an eight-week program at AMHSI.

NCIP coordinated and presented a live teleconference linking cardiac care centers at Duke University Medical Center, The Rabin Medical Center, Baylor Children’s Hospital and the University of Milan to demonstrate the advances and uses of video-conferencing in diagnostic medicine in December 1996.

A teaching curriculum for dealing with stress in children who live in regions of war and terrorism is being jointly developed by Israeli and North Carolina researchers and will involve teachers and students at the Jordan Institute for Families at the University of North Carolina and Tel Hai College in the Upper Galilee.

North Carolina State and the Volcani Center of Agricultural Research signed a cooperation agreement for joint research.

The Jewish Community Day School Durham/Chapel Hill is electronically linked with elementary school students at the Beit H’Tfozut school for a program related to Jewish identity in the Diaspora.

Israel and North Carolina signed a technology cooperation agreement in which the Israel Center for Industrial R&D and the North Carolina Technology and Science Authority will set up a joint framework for fast Internet data transmission, GLOBES reported (4/9/98). This will include databases of high-tech companies in the two states and technological business cooperation opportunities. Seminars and meetings on cooperation will be held in North Carolina and Israel during the next two years, the first of which will occur during the Telecom ’98 Exhibition in Tel Aviv this November.

Hillel Campus Profiles

State Contacts

Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation
3700 Lyckan Pkwy., Suite B
Durham, NC 27707
Tel. 919-489-5335
Fax. 919-489-5788
Email. federation@shalomdch.org
website. shalomdch.org

Greensboro Jewish Federation
713-A North Green St.
Greensboro, NC 27401
Tel. 910-272-3189 (w)

Jewish Federation Of Greater Charlotte
5007 Providence Rd.
Charlotte, NC 27401
Tel. 910-272-3189

Jewish Federation Of Wake County
8210 Creedmoor Rd., #104
Raleigh, NC 27613
Tel. 919-676-2200

North Carolina-Israel Partnership
5509-C West Friendly Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27410
Tel. 336-218-0200
Fax. 336-218-1016
Email. ncip@bellsouth.net

North Carolina-Israel Partnership
11 Achimeier St., #3
Tel Aviv, Israel 69126
Tel. 3-643-1567
Fax. 3-643-0180
Email. meiriham@netvision.net.il

Dr. Hamutal Meiri, Director
North Carolina-Israel Partnership
Yaakov Weiss 4/34, Tel Aviv 69124
Tel. 03-642-8001, 643-1567
Fax. 03-643-0180
Office: Bilu 2, #301A, Municipal Building
POB 1200
Rehovot 76111
Tel. 08-939-2447
Fax. 08-939-0187
Email: ncip@netvision.net.il

North Carolina Partnership for Economic Development
Dept. of Commerce, 430 N. Salisbury St.
Raleigh, NC 27611
Tel. (919) 733-4962
Fax. 919-733-8356 (f)

Western North Carolina Jewish Federation
236 Charlotte St.
Asheville, NC 28801
Tel. 704-253-0701