English is no longer a foreign language in Israel. The process might already be under way. The number of native Hebrew speakers is estimated at some five million, more than any other period in history. The figure includes almost one million Arabs, who often speak the language of the Bible more fluently and eloquently than many Jewish Israelis. Take a walk down the street, and English signs are everywhere.
Similar ratios hold for restaurants and other entertainment venues.
In the academic world, Hebrew is on the verge of being abandoned altogether. Lecturers and doctoral candidates write largely in English, so that their work can be reviewed internationally. One establishment of higher education, the Weizmann Institute of Science's Feinberg Graduate School, even made English its formal language of instruction. A similar situation pervades in the local burgeoning hi-tech industry. Half of the country's start-ups now are incorporated abroad, and must therefore appeal to a global audience.