Nevada Jewish History
Trade & Population Statistics
Binational Foundation Grants
Bilateral Institutions
Anti-Boycott Law
Cooperative Agreements
Government Missions to Israel
Partners for Change
Other Cooperative Programs
Sister Cities & State Contacts

Trade and Population Statistics

Exports to Israel (2024)	$33,813,388
Percentage Change (2023-2024)	-39.78%
Total Exports to Israel (1996-Present)	$1,991,031,051
Israel’s Trade Partner Rank (2024)	31
Nevada’s Rank as Exporter to Israel (2024)	37
Military Contracts with Israel (2015)	$92,130
Jewish Population (2024)	85,330
Jewish Percentage of Population	2.67%

Binational Foundation Grants

Agricultural Research & Development (1979-Present)	$476,000
Science & Technology (1999-Present)	$88,616
Industrial Research & Development (1977-Present)	$729,046
Total Binational Grants	$1,293,662

Grant Recipients in Nevada from U.S.-Israel Binational Foundations

AviSight
Desert Research Institute
University of Nevada

Bilateral Institutions

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Anti-Boycott Law

After it unanimously passed the Nevada State Legislature a week earlier and the State Senate the month before, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed Nevada’s anti-BDS legislation on June 2, 2017, prohibiting state institutions and government bodies from doing business with those who unfairly boycott Israel.

Cooperative Agreements

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Nevada Government Missions to Israel

2013 - Governor Brian Sandoval traveled to Israel to drum up more business for a state climbing out of economic doldrums. Gov. Sandoval, who canceled a trade trip to Israel in May 2012 to deal with economic issues in Nevada, said that Israel is seeking business ties in Nevada to expand its information technology sector, and both states have a common interest in seeking potential business partnerships focused on ways to use water more efficiently in an arid environment.

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. States can benefit from Israeli innovations in these areas as well as through collaboration.

In addition, 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. Nevada is one of 33 states that have cooperative agreements with Israel.

In 2024, Nevada exported nearly $34 million worth of manufacturing goods to Israel. Since 1996, Nevada’s exports to Israel have totaled almost $2 billion, and Israel now ranks as Nevada’s 31st leading trade partner. Nevada ranks 37th among all states in exports to Israel.

Additionally, in 2015, Nevada companies received more than $92,000 in foreign military financing (FMF) to provide materiel for the Israeli Defense Forces. Since 1996, Nevada companies have received nearly $274 million in FMF. These include Aldec, Inc. in Henderson and Ormat Nevada, Inc. in Reno.

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 Nevada.

Israel has developed several 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.

Nevada has also received nearly $1.3 million worth of grants from binational U.S.-Israel foundations for joint research in science, agriculture, and the promotion of commercial ventures.

A variety 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 Nevada is limited only by the imagination.

Nevada 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.

Manam Applications of Caesarea and AviSight of Las Vegas received a BIRD grant to develop the technology for unmanned aerial systems bridge survey and remote analysis.

Scientific Innovations

Nevada 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 U.S.-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.

The Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada have received nearly $90,000 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 Nevada has received BARD grants worth more than $470,000.

Grant Cramer, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Nevada, received a 3-year BARD grant in 2010 to collaborate with scientists at Ben-Gurion University as well as at the Israel Ministry of Agriculture to research ways of protecting grape vines from periods of prolonged drought. Grapevine, grown extensively throughout California, Nevada, and the Mediterranean coast, is the most valuable horticultural crop worldwide but it is currently very susceptible to abiotic stresses, such as drought and global warming, that can reduce its yield by up to 50%.

Supported by BARD, Professor Cramer and his colleagues have begun researching the regulatory mechanisms that modulate grape metabolism with the hope of reaching an understanding of the regulators that control plant performance, metabolism, and biosynthesis in response to drought conditions. The research is only at the beginning stages as 2011 started, but Professor Cramer was sure that the project would go a long way in helping to improve the quality and yield of the grape crop worldwide.

Other Cooperative Programs

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Sister Cities

None to date.

UJA Partnership 2000 Communities

NEVADA	ISRAEL
Las Vegas	Kiryat Malachi - Hof Ashkelon

State Contacts

Hillel Campus Profiles

Jewish Federation Of Las Vegas
3909 S Maryland Pkwy #-400
Las Vegas, NV 89119-7520
Tel. 702-732-0556

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).

State-to-State Cooperation: Nevada and Israel