'Investing in Israel was one of Google's best decisions'

Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt showered Israel with praise on Tuesday during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Schmidt told Netanyahu, "The decision to invest in Israel was one of the best that Google has ever made."

During the special meeting, Netanyahu gave Schmidt a doodle he had drawn based on suggestions he was sent from Israeli web surfers. According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the doodle shows an Israeli flag, a man sitting under an umbrella in the sun and the crystals discovered by Prof. Dan Shechtman, the Israeli who won year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The drawing is meant as a symbol, "of Israel's standing at the forefront of science and technology," the statement said.

Netanyahu told Schmidt, "This is Israel – science, sun and Google." Schmidt told Netanyahu that he is the first leader in the world to have drawn him a Google doodle.

In return, Schmidt gave Netanyahu a framed picture of the Isaiah Scroll, a symbol of the Dead Sea Scrolls project Google is spearheading together with the Israel Museum. The scrolls will be posted on the Internet as part of a Google project to promote historical preservation and heritage online.

Schmidt noted that even though this was his first visit to Israel, he views it as a start-up nation and believes the fact that Israeli citizens are drafted into the army gives them a great advantage as high-tech workers, the statement said.

The Google CEO said he views Israeli high-tech workers as, "more mature, independent and organized in comparison to other workers," and added that their ability to maneuver within a competitive environment has contributed to their many achievements.

"We appreciate that Israeli engineers, whose quality is very high, are developing things here that are being used all over the world," Schmidt told Netanyahu.

During the meeting, the two leaders also discussed cooperation between Israel and Google in the fields of medicine, science and defense against cyberattacks, as well as, "alternatives to oil that could render certain regimes less relevant," the official statement said, apparently hinting at the world's reliance on Iranian oil.

The prime minister concluded by telling Schmidt, "The more science penetrates to more places, the world will be a better place. We would like to see the Internet reaching places that restrict access and your contribution on this issue is phenomenal."

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