Whereas the deep bond between the United States and Israel is exemplified by its many facets, including the robust economic and commercial relationship; Whereas, on April 22, 2017, the United States will celebrate the 32nd anniversary of its free trade agreement with Israel, which was the first free trade agreement entered into by the United States; Whereas the United States-Israel Free Trade Agreement established the Joint Committee to facilitate the agreement and collaborate on efforts to increase bilateral cooperation and investment; Whereas since the signing of this agreement, two-way trade has multiplied tenfold to over $40,000,000,000 annually; Whereas Israel is the third largest importer of United States goods in the Middle East and North Africa region after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, despite representing only 2 percent of the region’s population; Whereas nearly 40 percent of all investment in the United States from the Middle East and North Africa region comes from Israel; Whereas Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange than any other country except for the United States and China; Whereas in 1956, the United States-Israel Education Foundation was established to administer the Fulbright Program in Israel, and has facilitated the exchange of nearly 3,300 students between the United States and Israel since its inception; Whereas, in 1972, the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation was established to promote scientific relations between the United States and Israel by supporting collaborative research projects in basic and applied scientific fields, and has generated investments of over $480,000,000 to over 4,000 projects since its inception; Whereas Binational Science Foundation grant recipients have included 45 Nobel Laureates, 19 winners of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award, and 38 recipients of the Wolf Prize