♪ ashlee: one of the basic truths of the human condition is that people look to float. and there's no better place to float than here at the dead sea in israel, where large mammals -- where, without any effort at all large mammals can achieve , buoyancy. there is a ritual to doing it the right way.

you need to fall into some mud, lather up, and then relax with a good read. sorry to do that to your white shirt, jack, you handsome devil. israel has many wonderful sides , and this is one of its finest. arabs, jews, tourists, and tv hosts all come here, and can't help to float together and laugh. it is unfettered or at least a less-fettered, joy. ♪ it would be nice if this story could remain simple, but it can't. to come to israel is to witness the fears and tensions that loom over the country firsthand.

spy balloons floating by highways, areas walled off and fenced in arab cities, due to the standings and random-access of violence that has become so prevalent over the past two years. on this episode of "hello world," i'll dig into how the constant threat of war gave birth to the israeli technology industry. and how israel evolved into a technology giant, one with thousands upon thousands of cutting-edge startups. our journey will find me in jerusalem controlling an ipad with my eyes, and to the gaza strip checking out iron dome up close. colonel cohen: everything can be moved out in a matter of hours.

ashley and in nazareth i will : meet with a man who wants to make sure nobody gets left behind in israel's race to innovate. silicon valley may be home to some of the biggest tech giants but it is being challenged like never before. crazy tech geniuses have popped up all over the planet making things that will blow your mind. my name is ashlee vance. i am an author, a journalist and , i am on a quest to find the most innovative tech creations and meet the beautiful freaks behind them. announcer: "hello world." ashlee: the israeli military dominates much of the country's culture. at 18 years of age, men and women head off for two to three

years of required service. the kids who would be trying to locate the best kegger or sleeping through class in the united states find themselves here dealing with the most intense of situations. these young soldiers in the israeli defense forces, or idf, also learn to use some of the most advanced military technology around. to see how the idf has given them the edge, i decided to check it out up close. to see the iron dome. i have traveled to a coastal city just south of tel aviv that nudges up against the gaza strip. lieutenant colonel cohen: what you are seeing here now is the launcher. this launcher has 20 missiles on it. you can see the red light flashing which means armed and ready.

ashlee: here one of the dozen or , so batteries sits at the ready to intercept missiles and , provide israel with a shield from aerial attacks. lieutenant colonel cohen overseas operations. is this as close as we get? lieutenant colonel cohen: this is as close as we get. ashlee: it took three years to develop this defense system. it relies on a radar that instantly detects when a missile has been fired, algorithms quickly try to determine what type of projectile is in the air and whether it is heading for , populated, or strategic area. if so, iron dome launches a missile of its own. dome hasd that iron taken down over 1000 missiles since it turned on in 2011 with a 90% success rate.

some people question the accuracy of these figures. what is clear, though, is that the algorithms capable of directing projectiles while performing a cost benefit analysis on human life are among , the most advanced in the world. this network of launchers is highly mobile and constantly on the move. this site, like many, is temporary. lieutenant colonel cohen: everything here can be moved out in a matter of hours, and we move around a lot to make sure no knows where we are all the time. ashlee: unless you live here, it is difficult to imagine just how much this technology has transformed the lives of ordinary israelis. lieutenant colonel cohen: i can tell you from my own experience sitting in my own house, operating this incredible system, with the iron dome when you see your house that you are

protecting and your family and , your friends and your soldiers, it is a sense of pride. ashlee: for many palestinians, the iron dome means something else. it is just the most visible part of an extensive israeli security -- of an expensive israeli security apparatus that includes drones, checkpoints, and espionage technology. those tools have been put to immediate use in the west bank, gaza, and throughout israel. terrorist bombings have declined. missiles have met their match. but lower tech forms of protest like stabbings are on the rise. what's been remarkable is the speed at which young israelis take to these high-tech tools. and then privatize them once

they leave the army. be it peacetime or war, israeli innovations pop-up throughout the world. coming up next on "hello world," we'll check out and idf-inspired startup that wants to send laboratories to space. why do people want to do experiments in space? >> everyday, our life is dominated by this lens, gravity. if we remove that men's of gravity we learn something new. , ♪

♪ ashlee: for district malls and -- forget strip malls and office parks. startups in tel aviv come to life here in the city's vibrant neighborhoods. the feed of the city's energy and the employees have a chance to escape their cubicles. i came here to me one of the -- i came here to meet one of the people that shaped the israeli start-up lifestyle. shlomo kramer's company checkpoint invented the freaking firewall. shlomo: we always talk about the stuff we will do afterward. it was always startups. ashlee: like a lot of israeli

tech elites, shlomo got his start with unit 8200, the top branch of the idf. group 8200, right it is the , famous part of idf that is equivalent to nsa. shlomo: it was 22 and 23-year-olds, i was the head of the unit. 20 people, very high responsibility. you know, i was making decisions in millions of ashlee: the idf dollars. functions like a never-ending networking event. the first question at a cocktail party is, what unit were you? -- what unit you served in? these ties have led to is really dominating the market. what makes israel so well-suited to startups and technology? shlomo: there is always an infusion of new talent from the

idf, and with the infusion of talent, you have people who can create a startup nation. ashlee: shlomo has invested in dozens of israeli companies. to see the extreme end of what the idf can inspire, i have gone to a small beach town and tech of that brushes up against tel aviv. it is here that space pharma has set out to make some interstellar drugs. >> if humanity would like to move out of earth, they must learn the microgravity conditions in order to survive on their way to mars and to other places. ashlee: the ceo used to head the idf satellite program. then he and his comrades hit on a big, possibly profitable idea. they assembled some space software and science experts and set to work trying to make life easier on astronauts.

>> we are the middlemen. the astronaut is not the scientist. he needs to survive, eat, pray, sleep. he cannot do too much science. ashlee: space pharma has built a shoebox-sized laboratory that will hitch rides into orbit on rockets from companies like spacex with the goal of shirking -- the goal is to shrink down state-of-the-art scientific equipment and automating how it runs experiment. -- experiments. this would allow a great deal of science to take place on the international space station. >> so we are going to go in a laboratory here. it is a pretty small laboratory but the equipment is big. , and this you can't bring to space. what we are try to do and what we are looking at is how we take this equipment and bring it down to a small scale. ashlee: a typical laboratory has refrigerator, sized machines,

-- refrigerator-sized machines, microscopes, pipettes, liquids, and chemicals. it is a very messy process that is tough enough to pull off on earth. >> we just looked at all the large equipment, this is will be fit it in. ashlee: research has only led to the development of new drugs and insights about organisms, molecules floating about freely in solutions can behave more naturally than when they are smeared flat on a petri dish. >> everyday our life is dominated by this lens, gravity. what goes up must come down. we remove that lens of gravity and we learn something new. ashlee: they want to use these machines to see what space can teach us. to pull myself out of the clouds and learn more about israel startup culture, i went for a walk on the beach back in tel aviv with another local tech legend. [laughter] >> welcome to israel. ashlee: armed with a law degree,

adi soffer-teeni heads a number of young companies. an expert on israel's technology economy. now she runs facebook's israel operations. adi: today we have something like 5300 startups. by the way there is no one , country in a world that has that amount of startup success. 1400 startups in 2015. 1400 new startups. ashlee: women must serve alongside men in the military here. adi once hoped to fly jets, but because of the gender restriction at the time, she ended up evaluating who could become a pilot. she sees her time in the air force as crucial to her career. what is the uniqueness of the female experience in israel because of the military service? it must have some long-term effects.

adi: i absolutely think women in israel probably start their career life with more confidence, with a feeling that they also can, but in terms of women taking part, no, we are not -- i think that in israel we are probably because of the military, because of the culture i think that we are probably , closer to achieve that the we are definitely seeing it. ashlee: after our chat, adi insisted that i go revel in tel aviv's famous nightlife. tel aviv stands out as one of the great surprises of my travels. people head out late, often starting dinner at 9:00. -- at 9:00 p.m. the bartenders look for any excuse to do shots with the

patrons and their patrons, or at least this patron, look for any excuse to oblige. the beach, the old city, the boardwalk joyrides, this is a wonderous place that feels at times as if it exists within its own bubble, separate from the rest of the country. next up, i travel to jerusalem and visit a startup that puts a new twist on peering into the future. announcer: "hello world" is supported by ca technologies, powering opportunity in the application economy. explore more at ca.com. ♪

♪ ashlee: from the cosmopolitan coast, i climb the winding mountain road to jerusalem. tel aviv maybe the beating heart of the israeli tech world, but most jews consider jerusalem to be the country's soul. and you know what they say about the soul? yitzi: if you think about it, the most basic thing of human communication is eye contact. by the device seeing you, you get a whole 'nother world of interaction. ashlee: the window to the soul

-- yitzi: exactly, or the window to the brain and look around, look to the right, look to the left. ashlee: yiti kacynski is the cofounder and eeo of umoove. the company has developed a way to replace eye tracking gear they usually cost thousands of dollars, with algorithms that can run on an ipad or smartphone. it is a little disorienting at first to play a videogame just by moving your head. so you see head movement, eye movement, iris movement, blinks, and then -- yitzi: and then analysis of that. ashlee: yitzi hopes the technology will give us rapid insights into conditions like concussions. this is like when they shine the white light that you have to follow. you have seen doctors doing that, right? yitzi: exactly. and then based on the score, we can tell if i have a concussion. ashlee: you don't have a concussion.

yitzi: i don't have a concussion. ashlee: kaczynski thinks that these hard science applications with real world uses distinguish israel's tech scene, especially for jerusalem startups. yitzi: people are looking for real, deep tech. you can't say you're making an app to take pictures of food. you have to give a real explanation to your jewish grandmother about, what is that for? ashlee: this is the damascus gate. it is not that far at all from where we were earlier today. and there is a sniper up in the window who is guarding against a lot of the recent stabbings that have been going on. jerusalem is trying to turn into a technology city and this is the reality of how these businesses have to come to life, in this type of environment.

the moment you step into jerusalem, it is clear that the city carries with it, the weight of thousands of years of history. everyone in the middle east, and by extension the world, has their eyes fixed here, on the mosque, on the wailing wall, on the spot where it is believed jesus was crucified. this is a small spot of land with outsized global importance under heavy guard, carved into minute slices, and fortified with walls. those barriers went up to curb violence based on ancient disputes. seen another way, they become blockades that hold back modern opportunity.

i traveled north from jerusalem to nazareth. the largest arab enclave in israel, a place with a laid-back vibe, and if every specific flavor. fadi: we have plenty of places just for shawarma. that's why i call this shawarma valley. you have silicon valley, we have shawarma valley. [laughter] ashlee: that is fadi swidan has opened israel's first arab technology accelerator and he knows everybody in town. arabs do not have to serve in the military and back the connectionsthe tech supplied by the idf. he is working to try to fix this and to help arab engineers benefit from israel's tech boom.

in a controversial move, he is linking them up with tech moguls who have come out from a spooky tech firm known for security and espionage. fadi: anyone is going out of 8200, they are thinking about this. they want to graduate to a special ngo to help them. our community is not so popular to have a start up because it is a new industry. it is fairly risky. -- it is very risky. ashlee: he is a rebel, he was the only arab in the tech field in his class at an elite, technical university. inside of this building, he shepherded dozens of like-minded engineers. they are building software, consumer services, and hardware in an effort to make sure that , the arab-speaking world has the latest and greatest technology. fadi: i think if we can be part of that ecosystem we can create

, a standard of life in our community. ashlee: because israel is known as this startup nation but it , has left out a big chunk of people neglect. fadi: exactly. there is to committees, arab and jewish orthodox, the government now is putting some money to engage them with a start of -- startup nation. because it is believed that we are not part of that, that started nation will be somehow slowed here and we cannot continue to be the second place after the silicon valley. ashlee: a handful of his companies have already taken off and made headway in billion-dollar industries, but it has proven tough for them to find investment dollars. there is a clear bias against arab companies and many of their , backers have opted to remain funnel their investments through offshore accounts. but he remains optimistic. fadi: in the coming years, we will maybe have big success stories.

the first unicorn startup. this maybe can attract more and more entrepreneurs to be part of that. ashlee: on that hopeful note, my time in israel came to an end. it is understandable that tourists have made fewer visits here in recent months, that the markets have grown quieter, and the food industry, more tense. mood has grown more tense. this place can seem daunting from afar. to visit israel, though, is to experience the extraordinary. so many parts of our nature, joy, conflict, conformity, and imagination swirl around together in confounding and inspiring ways.

i am not sure that anyone will really ever make sense of all of this. but it's spectacular to witness and feel, even if just for a short while. as for my next stop, well, that would be iceland, home of alien landscapes, an astonishing amount of fish, and glacial -- in space warlords. announcer: "hello world" is supported by ca technologies, powering opportunity in the application economy. explore more at ca.com. ♪

narrator: the challenges facing our world are growing all the time. how do we build stronger economies with equal opportunities for all? how do we build a sustainable world for generations to come? how do we protect our cities and harness the power of technology for our common benefit? humanity has always been good at forward thinking. in this series, using the latest bloomberg research and analysis, we will make sense of the problems of tomorrow.