Unfortunately, I'm sure the difference is the $99 a person that the attendees are paying in the United States. It is unfortunate that they did not have the same offer at the Israeli DevDays, however. I will pass your feedback on to the folks that are responsible for your subsidiary.
I think MS Israel prefer to concentrate on the major events such as TechEd Israel - I missed the last one (as you know) but in 2002 they brought in David Chappel for the keynote and a few additional experts from Europe for the sessions... It rocked. DevDays is pocket change compared to that :)