In the 1st Dec 2013 edition
of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
·
An Israeli non-invasive treatment was
used to cure a Jerusalem shopkeeper of essential tremor.
·
Special Israeli shoes will straighten
infants’ deformed feet in six weeks.
·
Following the typhoon, Israeli medics
treated over 2600 injured Filipinos and delivered 36 babies.
·
An Israeli company won an
international prize for saving drinking water in the Philippines.
·
Israel has many job opportunities for
unemployed US citizens.
·
A Jewish altar has been discovered in
Shiloh that predates King Solomon’s Temple.
·
Last week’s JPost Israel Good News
descriptive summary
Click here for “Israel
is Weird and Wonderful” (fast-loading, text-only version, no adverts).
·
Click here to see the newsletter on JewishBusiness News.
Page Down for more details on these and
other good news stories from Israel.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Israeli cured of
essential tremor.
At Haifa’s Rambam hospital, the first Israeli has been cured of
essential tremor using ExAblate Neuro – the non-invasive focused ultrasound
treatment from Israel’s InSightec. Also
a recent BBC program featuring the treatment, but no mention of the name of the
equipment, or that it is Israeli.
Doctors seeking doctors. Israeli start-up Qure has
developed a smartphone app that allows doctors worldwide to locate and
communicate with their fellow professionals.
Qure maps physicians globally with a navigation tool to find a
particular expert. It then provides a
closed network for private communications.
Intensive Care Unit on a motorcycle. Israel’s emergency service
Magen David Adom in Jerusalem has introduced unique ICU motorcycles. These are
fully equipped with rescue and ICU capabilities so that MDA paramedics can get
to patients faster and stabilize them until ambulances arrive to evacuate them
to hospital.
$1 million to research brain disorders. Researchers from Ben-Gurion
University, plus the University of Heidelberg and Charité-Universitätsmedizin
Berlin are investigating the impact of mitochondria on memory and brain
disorders. The team has been awarded a $1 million German-Israel
Project-Cooperation Grant.
Cannabis cures Crohn’s? Israel is a pioneer of the
medical properties of cannabis / marijuana. A study by scientists at Tel Aviv
University and Kfar Saba’s Meir Hospital has shown it to give Crohns’ disease
sufferers significant relief from their symptoms. Some of them said the disease
went into remission. An estimated 0.3 percent
of the general population suffers from Crohn's disease.
Straightening babies’
feet. Another Israeli medical products mentioned
last week is the UNFO foot brace. The device is worn below the ankle and
rectifies infant foot deformities (metatarsus adductus or metatarsus varus)
within six weeks. It is far superior,
safer, and less stressful than a cast or full leg braces.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Ikea Israel helps toddlers with
disabilities.
Ikea in Israel has raised funds to help two Israeli charities (Akim and
Chimes) renovate an educational and therapeutic center for toddlers with
disabilities in Jaffa.
Israeli technology treats PA sewage. Israeli water treatment
company Mapal Green Energy is building a a sewage water reclamation system for
the Palestinian Arab village of Uja, near Jericho. It will recycle domestic
sewage and water for use in agriculture.
Saving lives in Israel and the world. Good summary in the UK
Sunday Telegraph of the work of Israel’s emergency service Magen David Adom
both nationally and globally.
Syrians treated in Israel: IsraAid has provided almost
$100,000 in nutritional
and hygienic assistance to displaced Syrians. Plus, some
aid examples and of the wounded
Syrians treated in Israeli hospitals.
Then watch a two-minute BBC program on the Syrians being treated at
Israel’s Ziff Hospital in Tsfat.
Israel in the
Philippines
Israeli doctors treated 300
Philippine injured per day and delivered three-dozen babies. The team also rebuilt
a school enabling 350 children to restart classes and their parents to
return to work. The 148-member team has now handed over to a EU delegation
having treated over 2600 patients.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The Technion: The Engine of a Young
Nation.
Richard Baehr, Chief Political Correspondent of American Thinker, was most
impressed with his visit to Israel’s Institute of Technology.
Where to stick your phone? If your mobile phone keeps
sliding around the inside of your car, then you need an Israeli “Sticko”. The gadget will stick your phone to your
dashboard, windshield or any window.
You can also stick other items – like a shower gel bottle to the wall of
the shower. See the video.
Protection against multiple threats. (Thanks to Nevet www.BroaderView.org) Israel’s RADA has
developed a tactical Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar (MHR) to detect UAVs,
mortars, and rockets. Boeing is
currently evaluating the system.
Recycling US vehicles for peace. (Thanks to Nevet www.BroaderView.org) Elbit Systems of
America, a subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems, refurbishes hundreds of
obsolete military vehicles at its Land Vehicle Center. 60-year-old vehicles have been put into
world peacekeeping roles at a fraction of the cost of new ones.
Before the typhoon. Israel’s water management
company Miya won the Drinking Water Supply – Software category in this year’s
IWA Project Innovation Awards for its work reducing water leakage in Manila,
Philippines. Water lost through faulty
systems was reduced from 67% to 38% - saving 700 million liters a day.
Israeli cooking app goes global. Israeli startup Kinetic Art
is producing a vegetarian cooking application of 20 of America's leading chefs
in association with the James Beard Foundation culinary organization. The application, called “The Best of the
Best”, will be available for iPad, iPhone and Android devices.
The best start-up at IDCEE 2013. Israeli company Ubertesters
won the best startup award, and a prize of about $20,000 in the IDCEE 2013
international technology conference held in Kiev, Ukraine. Ubertesters presented its cloud-based
platform for the crowdsourced testing of mobile applications.
Database of Israeli companies fighting
climate change.
The Ministry of Economy presented a database of the Israeli companies
that offer Adaptation technologies at the Warsaw Climate Change Conference. The
companies address climate, waste, green building materials, agriculture and
crisis management.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Agritech - Israel’s commercial future. Israel has become a world
leader in advanced precision farming techniques, water optimization, robotics,
sensor driven technology and environmentally friendly agrochemicals. All will be on display at the 2nd annual
Agrivest Conference on Dec 3 at the Eretz Israel Museum, Tel-Aviv.
The best in business. Top speakers at Globes
Israel Business Conference include OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría,
Professor Stanley Fischer and Dr. Fatih Biron, one of the most influential
experts in the energy industry. The
event takes place at the Dan Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv on Dec 8-9.
Don’t suffer
unemployment – come to Israel. (Thanks to Nevet – www.BroaderView.org) Interesting article
that suggests Americans should consider working in Israel after college. Between 4.8 and 14.7 per cent of US
graduates cannot find jobs locally.
Many American companies have specific jobs pages for their Israel sites.
Global and dynamic. Israel has been ranked
second in the Global Dynamism Index science and technology sector of worldwide
accountancy firm Grant Thornton International.
Only South Korea was higher.
Israel was eighth in the overall Global Dynamism Index rankings.
Engineering Israeli-UK projects. British engineering firm
Arup is working with Israel’s national water carrier Mekorot and several
Israeli start-ups, both globally and also to bring their technologies to
Britain. Arup is supported by the UK Israel Tech Hub at the British Embassy in
Tel Aviv.
Paraguay offers a springboard to Israeli
trade.
Paraguay’s visiting Trade and Investment Minister Gustavo Leite said
that an Israeli-Paraguayan partnership would bring Israel’s hi-tech and
technology to Paraguay whilst Israel would acquire an instant ability to expand
its markets throughout South America.
Israel’s Spice Girls. (Thanks to Charlie)
“Tavlinim” (Hebrew for “spices”) is a group of women in Netivot who formed a
cooperative in order to cater at events on a commercial basis. The group is supported by Philadelphia’s
Partnership2Gether. Most of the women
originated from Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia. http://blog.ifcj.org/post/israels-spice-girls
Scramble for Israeli technology firms. CNN records the growing
success of Israeli hi-tech start-ups that has attracted the interest of major
global giants.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Heritage coin wins international prize. The NIS 2 Silver Proof
commemorative coin in the UNESCO “World Heritage Sites” series issued by the
Bank of Israel and dedicated to the water supply system at Tel Megiddo has won
a prize at the tenth annual Vicenza Numismatica International Competition held
in the city of Vicenza, Italy. It was chosen as the “Most Beautiful
Architectural Representation on a Coin Minted in 2012”.
The Beatles as never seen before. Another unique performance
from Rabbis Arie and Gil Gat.
“Everything is wonderful here”. Please take a look at the
redeveloped Independence Square in my hometown of Netanya. (Turn down the
speakers if the music isn’t as attractive as the visuals.)
THE JEWISH STATE
“And you shall choose life.” This article explains the
simple reason why Israel has been sending rescue missions and humanitarian aid
across the world for the past 60 years.
It gives examples from the Greek earthquake of 1953 to the Philippines
in 2013.
New Orleans supports Israel. Chloe Valdary has made
this powerful and inspiring video about the Jewish State. Chloe is a black American woman who is
organizing the second annual pro-Israel Festival in New Orleans next year. Please support her project.
Majorca’s master chef returns to the
Jewish people.
For centuries the family of Tony Pina practiced Judaism secretly in
Majorca. Now, 500 years after forced
conversion to Christianity, Tony has returned to his roots in Jerusalem,
defying history, logic and the impossible.
Biblical altar
discovered at Shiloh. Archeologists have found the first physical evidence that the
ancient city of Shiloh (in Judea and Samaria) was a religious center before the
First Temple was built in Jerusalem. An
Iron Age stone altar was accidentally exposed during a recent archeological
dig.
