The governing council of CERN -- the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which is the world's top particle-physics lab -- unanimously voted Thursday to accept Israel as a full member. Israel is the first non-European country to achieve such status.
The CERN said Israel will be admitted as a full member once it formally notifies UNESCO that it has ratified the CERN Convention.
CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer said in a statement that Israel, which obtained observer status in 1991 and then became an associate member in 2011, will become the 21st member nation to join as a full member.
"The Israeli scientific community has brought a great deal to CERN over the years," Heuer said. "I am looking forward to welcoming Israel as our 21st Member State and to intensifying our collaboration."
"As a member of the fact-finding mission that assessed Israel's readiness for CERN membership, I was extremely impressed with the quality of Israeli research and researchers," CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci said.
Located in Geneva, the CERN operates the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider, which creates high-energy collisions of subatomic particles, making it the largest research center of its kind in the world.
Since joining the organization in 1991, dozens of Israeli scientists have participated in various CERN projects, including the 2012 discovery of the Higgs particle -- more commonly known as the "God particle."
Israel pays the CERN $14 million a year in membership dues. The funds are allocated from the Prime Minister's Office and the Finance, Foreign Affairs, and Science and Technology ministries' budgets.
Beyond the prestige Israel will garner from its upgraded status, becoming a full-fledged CERN member will allow Israel's sci-tech industry to become part of various tenders related to the particle accelerator project and Israeli scientists and students will become eligible for CERN grants.
Some 40 Israeli scientists currently work at the organization, including Professor Giora Mikenberg and Professor Eilam Gross of the Weizmann Institute, Professor Eliezer Rabinovici of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor Shlomit Tarem of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
Four Israeli doctoral candidates and 22 Israeli research fellows currently participate in various CERN projects as well.
"Israel is proud to become a full member of CERN, a flagship of European scientific research. We look forward to contributing to the further development of our relationship for the benefit of science, development and education," Israeli envoy to the U.N. in Geneva Eviatar Manor said.
"This is a very special moment for Israeli Science and Israel," Rabinovici, who serves as the chairman of the Israeli Academy of Science's National Committee for High Energy Physics, said. "It reflects decades in which many Israeli scientists, technicians and Israeli industry have contributed significantly to the European scientific effort at CERN. It also has a sense of return. We are becoming full members of the crew at a most exciting period in which CERN is about to scan new horizons."
Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri said in a statement: "Israeli science has proven once more that it can bridge our political differences with Europe. This is both a scientific and diplomatic achievement."
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "This is a proud day for Israeli science."
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