Arkansas Jewish History
Trade & Population Statistics
Binational Foundation Grants
Bilateral Institutions
Fighting BDS
Cooperative Agreements
Government Missions to Israel
Partners for Change
Other Cooperative Programs
Sister Cities & State Contacts

<

Trade and Population Statistics

Exports to Israel (2024)	$150,892,962
Percentage Change (2023-2024)	179.74%
Total Exports to Israel (1996-Present)	$949,435,481
Israel’s Trade Partner Rank (2024)	8
Arkansas’s Rank as Exporter to Israel (2024)	23
Military Contracts with Israel (2015)	$127,512
Jewish Population (2024)	5,090
Jewish Percentage of Population	0.17%

Binational Foundation Grants Shared by Arkansas and Israel

Agricultural Research & Development (1979-Present)	$284,900
Science & Technology (1999-Present)	$149,134
Industrial Research & Development (1977-Present)	$0
Total Binational Grants	$434,034

Grant Recipients in Arkansas From U.S.-Israel Binational Foundations

Arkansas Children`s Research Institute
National Center for Toxicological Research
University of Arkansas

Bilateral Institutions

None. Please help us build this section. Email AICE with any updates, additions, corrections, or comments. We appreciate your support.

Fighting BDS

Governor William Hutchinson signed Act 710, a law that prohibits Arkansas agencies from investing in or contracting with companies that boycott Israel. The new act ensures that Arkansas taxpayer funds will not finance the anti-Semitic tactics of the BDS movement. Boycotts have “become a tool of economic warfare” in Arizona that “threatens the sovereignty and security of key allies and trade partners,” namely, the State of Israel. Act 710 maintains that the strategic refusal to engage in commercial relations with Israeli trade partners is discriminatory and unsound. The legislation guarantees state divestment of companies that “support or promote actions to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel.”

The law also requires state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel or reduce their fees by 20 percent if they don’t sign the pledge. In January 2019, a federal judge dismissed the Arkansas Times's lawsuit challenging the law.

Cooperative Agreements

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders visited Israel in August 2025 and signed an Arkansas-Israel Memorandum of Understanding. “Our goal with the MOU was to deepen the partnerships between Arkansas and Israel, especially in some of the areas that Israel is so advanced in: aerospace and defense, ag tech, energy, and manufacturing. Those are also spaces that our state is heavily leaning into,” Sanders told Jewish Insider.

“Agriculture is our number one industry, aerospace and defense are number one exports. Energy and manufacturing are key cornerstones in our state’s economy. So there’s a great synergy between our state and the State of Israel. Being able to collaborate further is good for both of us, and it will continue to facilitate the exchange of information and research between both sides and set the groundwork for a significant amount of future economic cooperation,” she added.

Israel and Arkansas signed an agreement in 2022 to share research and technology, especially for agriculture. This is a mutually beneficial partnership between two leaders in innovation, Governor Asa Hutchinson said. The agreement builds on the momentum we have created for the past eight years to develop a tech-based workforce that can meet the needs of a 21st-century economy. In addition, this agreement allows us to strengthen our relationship with a critical ally to the United States.

Arkansas Government Missions to Israel

August 2025 - Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders visited Israel in August 2025 and signed the Arkansas-Israel Memorandum of Understanding. Sanders met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed expanding the partnership to produce components of the Iron Dome, supporting both Arkansas’ economy and Israel’s national security. Sanders noted that her administration had “done a lot when it comes to public legislation to support and show our commitment, whether it was signing the Judea and Samaria Act, where we recognized the area west of the Jordan [River] as Judea and Samaria, the way that God intended it to be. We’ve also invested significantly in pension funds and Israeli bonds in our state and a number of other things.”

July 1999 - Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor joined eight other attorneys general on a trip to Israel to explore U.S.-Israel cooperation in legal affairs. The attorney generals also discussed issues including youth violence, the death penalty, and extradition laws.

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, including the environment, science, technology, 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 to realize significant benefits by seeking to increase trade with Israel. There are 33 states that have cooperative agreements with Israel.

In 2024, Arkansas exported more almost $151 million worth of manufacturing goods to Israel. Since 1996, Arkansas’s exports to Israel have totaled nearly $950 million, and Israel now ranks as Arkansas’s 8th leading trade partner. Arkansas ranks 23rd among all states in exports to Israel.

In addition, since 1996, Arkansas companies have received more than $40 million in foreign military financing (FMF) for contracts to provide materiel for the Israeli Defense Forces.

Israel is certainly a place where potential business and trade partners can be found. It can also be a source, however, for innovative programs and ideas for addressing problems facing the citizens of Arkansas.

Israel has developed a number of pioneering education programs. For example, AICE introduced an innovative Israeli peer tutoring program to North Carolina that educators adapted for use in the United States. Now known as Reading Together, the program is used in 28 states. The program is designed to help students achieve reading fluency and is mostly used for children in second grade. The hope is that with its implementation, increasing numbers of students will perform at grade level or above.

Arkansas has also received more than $430,000 worth of grants from binational U.S.-Israel foundations for joint research in science, agriculture, and the promotion of commercial ventures.

A range of other exciting approaches to social problems like unemployment, environmental protection, and drug abuse have been successfully implemented in Israel and could be imported for the benefit of Americans.

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

Arkansas Firms Profit From Business With Israel

As the only country with free trade agreements with both the United States and the European community, Israel 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, Intel, and McDonald’s, have found that it is indeed profitable to do business in Israel.

One good way to break into the Israeli market is through a joint venture with an Israeli company. Funding for such projects is available from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD). The United States and Israel established BIRD in 1977 to fund joint U.S.-Israeli teams in the development and subsequent commercialization of innovative, nondefense technological products from which both the Israeli and American companies can expect to derive benefits commensurate with the investments and risks. Most grant recipients are small businesses involved with software, instrumentation, communications, medical devices, and semiconductors.

Since 1977, the Foundation has approved investments of more than $125 million in more than 1,000 projects in 36 states and the District of Columbia. Hundreds of companies, including AOL, GE, BP Solar, Texas Instruments, and Johnson & Johnson, have benefited from BIRD grants.

Dr. Eli Opper, the former Israeli chair of BIRD, has said that BIRD is a strong pillar of U.S.-Israel industrial cooperation and that the extreme success of BIRD has led Israel to adopt similar models of R&D with other countries.

To date, no Arkansas companies have received a grant from BIRD.

Scientific Innovations

Arkansas researchers are making scientific breakthroughs and developing cutting-edge technologies in joint projects with Israeli scientists thanks to support from the Binational Science Foundation (BSF). BSF was established in 1972 to promote scientific relations and cooperation between scientists from the United States and Israel. The fund supports collaborative research projects in a wide area of basic and applied scientific fields for peaceful and non-profit purposes.

Since its inception, and in today’s value, BSF has awarded over $700 million to more than 5,000 research projects involving thousands of scientists from more than 400 U.S. institutions located in 46 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Many of these projects have led to important scientific, medical, and technological breakthroughs with wide-ranging practical applications.

BSF-sponsored studies are highly successful in achieving their two main goals: strengthening the US-Israel partnership through science and promoting world-class scientific research for the benefit of the two countries and all mankind. The BSF grants help extend research resources to achieve milestones that might not otherwise be attainable; introduce novel approaches and techniques to lead American researchers in new directions; confirm, clarify, and intensify research projects; and provide unmatched access to Israeli equipment, facilities and research results that help speed American scientific advances. BSF has documented no less than 75 new discoveries made possible by its research grants and counts 37 Nobel Prize, and 19 Lasker Medical Award laureates among its joint partners.

Arkansas researchers from the Arkansas Children`s Research Institute, the National Center for Toxicological Research, and the University of Arkansas have received $149,134 in BSF grants.

Agriculture Benefits

In 1978, the United States and Israel jointly created the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) to help fund programs between U.S. and Israeli scientists for mutually beneficial, mission-oriented, strategic and applied research into agricultural problems. Since its inception, BARD has awarded more than $130 million to U.S. institutions for 1,352 joint projects. A 40-year review in 2019 involving 20 case studies estimated the foundation’s contribution to the U.S. economy at $2.7 billion. BARD research has resulted in the adoption of approximately 200 new agricultural practices, around 40 commercial engagements, and approximately 100 patents and breeding rights licenses.

Most BARD projects focus on either increasing agricultural productivity, plant, and animal health, or food quality and safety and have been influential in creating new technologies in drip irrigation, pesticides, fish farming, livestock, poultry, disease control, and farm equipment. BARD funds projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia, and administers collaborative efforts between Australia, Canada, and Israel as well. 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.

The University of Arkansas has received two BARD grants worth $284,900 since 1979.

Other Cooperative Programs

None. Help us build this section. Email AICE with any updates, additions, corrections, or comments. We appreciate your support.

Sister Cities

None. Help us build this section. Email AICE with any updates, additions, corrections, or comments. We appreciate your support.

UJA Partnership 2000 Communities

None.

State Contacts

Hillel Campus Profiles

Jewish Federation Of Arkansas
Suzanne Berkovits, Executive Director
1501 N. Pierce Street, Suite 101
Little Rock, AR 72207
Email: Federation@jewisharkansas.org
Tel: 501-663-3571
Fax: 501-663-7286
Web: www.jewisharkansas.org

Directory of Arkansas Congregations (Jewish Federation)

Sources: World Institute for Strategic Economic Research.
Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD).
United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD).
United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF).
Elizabeth Troutman, Arkansas Forges Major Economic Pact With Israel, Washington Free Beacon, (June 15, 2022).
Emily Jacobs, “Sarah Huckabee Sanders completes first trip to Israel as Arkansas governor,” Jewish Insider, (August 13, 2025).

State-to-State Cooperation: Arkansas and Israel