Overview

This book is about the most elite unit in the Israeli army, Talpiot. Instead of only being trained to fight the soldiers brought into this unit are taught how to think. The book details how this unit which specialises in teaching young cadets the military applications for computer science, physics and maths (properties needed for research and development) was conceived and developed in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, how the program came of age and how it surpassed even air force pilot training in terms of priority for the IDF. Instead of signing up for three years like most Israeli soldiers, if you are selected for Talpiot you must sign up for ten years. Graduates of this tiny unit, sometimes as few as 20 people a year are invited to enlist, have had a huge influence on the weapons Israel has developed through research and development and through the businesses they have founded after leaving the army, often using many of the technologies they developed in the IDF. The book contains dozens of interviews with Talpiot graduates and some of the early founders of the program. It explains Talpiot's ultra-successful methods of recruiting and it explains many of the secrets of the program's success. The book also profiles some of the most successful businesses founded by Talpiot graduates including Compugen, CheckPoint Software, Anobit which was recently bought by Apple and XIV recently bought by IBM. The soldiers of this unit are truly unsung heroes. No other military unit has had more of an impact on the State of Israel.

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9789652297136

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Israels Edge, sheds light on the strategically vital and secretive Talpiot IDF program, which trains select groups of soldiers in how to conduct cutting edge defense research and development. Asked why he (Jason Gewirtz) chose to write about this particular topic, the CNBC executive said, There is no other program like Talpiot in the world and it has had an enormous impact on Israel. It is also benefiting the world in a very positive way. I was first attracted to the program after seeing an article in the Hebrew media many years ago. I then started asking around an ulpan teacher who had a friend who had graduated from an early class. While he could not talk to me on the record, he led me to another graduate who could. That one led me to two more, and so on. By the time my interviewing was finished, I had interviewed almost 10 percent of the graduates of this program, which began in 1979. Every story was fascinating. While I could not use every story, for various reasons I wish I could have. Not all but almost every graduate was extremely modest. Talpiot can make a one percent difference in a conflict or battle. They do it through technology, of course, but it is that technological advantage that gives Israel the edge it needs. Gewirtz stressed that program graduates have gone on to advance international causes, too. There is a group of graduates now at the Weizmann Center developing ways for crops in poorer countries to grow faster these guys arent just defending Israel on the battlefield, in the air, at sea and in cyberspace...theyre literally helping to feed the world. What other group of military graduates from any program in the world is doing something like this? Nobody, he said. - Yaakov Lappin , Jerusalem Post March 2016

Israels Edge, sheds light on the strategically vital and secretive Talpiot IDF program, which trains select groups of soldiers in how to conduct cutting edge defense research and development. Asked why he (Jason Gewirtz) chose to write about this particular topic, the CNBC executive said, There is no other program like Talpiot in the world and it has had an enormous impact on Israel. It is also benefiting the world in a very positive way. I was first attracted to the program after seeing an article in the Hebrew media many years ago. I then started asking around an ulpan teacher who had a friend who had graduated from an early class. While he could not talk to me on the record, he led me to another graduate who could. That one led me to two more, and so on. By the time my interviewing was finished, I had interviewed almost 10 percent of the graduates of this program, which began in 1979. Every story was fascinating. While I could not use every story, for various reasons I wish I could have. Not all but almost every graduate was extremely modest. Talpiot can make a one percent difference in a conflict or battle. They do it through technology, of course, but it is that technological advantage that gives Israel the edge it needs. Gewirtz stressed that program graduates have gone on to advance international causes, too. There is a group of graduates now at the Weizmann Center developing ways for crops in poorer countries to grow faster these guys arent just defending Israel on the battlefield, in the air, at sea and in cyberspace...theyre literally helping to feed the world. What other group of military graduates from any program in the world is doing something like this? Nobody, he said. - Yaakov Lappin , Jerusalem Post March 2016

Author Information

Jason Gewirtz is an executive producer for the business network CNBC. He has worked as a producer at the network since 2001. Jason has covered Israel and Israeli business extensively for CNBC. He worked for the network from northern Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. He followed Warren Buffett to the town of Tefen, also in northern Israel when the billionaire investor bought the metal working company ISCAR from the Wertheimer family. Jason has also covered the attacks from Gaza on southern Israeli towns like Sderot and examined the economic impact. He produced Beyond the Barrel: The Race to Fuel the Future which was shot on five continents and was largely focused on several Israeli born energy technologies. He currently produces Power Lunch which is broadcast live each day jointly from CNBC's Global Headquarters and the New York Stock Exchange and can be seen all over the world. Before starting at CNBC Jason was a producer for WABC-TV in New York, the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC WUSA-TV, as well as the CBS affiliates in Cleveland, Albany, NY and the NBC affiliate in Traverse City, Michigan. Jason graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a master's degree from Syracuse University. Jason has also worked extensively as a volunteer in Israel.

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