There are some interesting politics lurking in the background of this, around what Europe is (ignoring the more specific politics of Israel itself). Until this decision, the two pending applications for membership from outside geographical Europe, Israel's and Turkey's, had been stalled for quite a while. Now that Israel is in, there is a question of, what about Turkey? But that one is tied up in EU expansion politics; Turkey is also an EU membership candidate, and anti-Turkish-membership politicians don't want it admitted to other European organizations like CERN, for fear of strengthening the Turkey-is-European view.
There is also a longer-term question of what CERN (or perhaps other "European" institutions) should cover geographically. Why are they "European", and what does that mean? Could Egypt join, for example? One might say it's less "culturally European" than Israel, but its scientific community is quite western-oriented, and it already participates in some CERN projects on a case-by-case basis.
Hold your horses and check your facts. CERN membership takes 5 years from becoming a candidate until acceptance. Israel was accepted as a Candidate for becoming a CERN member, same as Romania was in 2010, they are not members. Turkey is already in Talks for becoming a CERN membership candidate, they just started it later than Romania and Israel so they'll become a Candidate later: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-229986-turkey-accepted-as-ca... .
I'd just like to add, for the benefit of those who don't know, that Israel already takes part in many other European things, like sports (Euro Cup) and the European Song Contest (Eurovision).
They were accepted by European sport federations a long time ago, usually because Middle-Eastern federations refused to accept them either on ideological or security reasons. It's usually not a big deal, they're crap at everything except basketball, as far as I know.
Except for Hapoel Tel Aviv, which is my team! So treat with respect! :)
Seriously though, of the "Major Sports", Israel is only good at basketball with Macabi Tel Aviv. But there are other niche sports we're ok at, like Judo or others.
Both examples apply to Turkey also, sports and Eurovision. The problem is when we talk about EU membership. Turkey has some countries which are usually against them entering.
The problem is not so much geographical as it is economical (eastern European countries like Moldova, Kosovo, Albania or Bosnia are all 100% in Europe but will likely not enter the EU any time soon).
I was pointing out that all of these issues are not really about whether or not Turkey is geographically located in Europe, but about it not being a wealthy country.
Just like EU membership, as well as other institutes, do not include Moldova (and other poor countries) even tho it is entirely within the continent of Europe.
Of course, European civilization once extended across Asia Minor all the way to Persia. The invasion of the Turkmen and other central Asian nomadic tribes changed that.
There is also a longer-term question of what CERN (or perhaps other "European" institutions) should cover geographically. Why are they "European", and what does that mean? Could Egypt join, for example? One might say it's less "culturally European" than Israel, but its scientific community is quite western-oriented, and it already participates in some CERN projects on a case-by-case basis.