The Magic Touch



There are occasions when I think that the international media must possess a device comparable to Harry Potter’s “cloak of invisibility”. It hides Israel’s achievements so skillfully that most of the inhabitants of this planet must be under the illusion that some unseen magician is responsible for half of the world’s innovations. Well the aim of my blogs is to expose the media’s sorcery and reveal what’s really going on.

Israeli doctors definitely have a magic touch.  How else can they perform such delicate operations?  Like the two three-hour operations reconstructing the faces of twin 14-year-old Muslim boys at Haifa’s Ramban hospital. A genetic defect caused their cleft palate and nose, and fused fingers. Meanwhile, the Jewish State is the country of choice for Syrian doctors to send the wounded from their own civil war.  The latest Syrian casualties to be taken to Israeli hospitals included a 16-year-old boy suffering from gunshot wounds, a 13 year-old girl and two boys aged nine and fifteen. Even the normally anti-Israel Lebanese Daily Star is reporting the phenomena. In total, Israel has now treated over 100 Syrians.

There was a touching encounter recently when 10-year-old Yakub Ivachisad, the Palestinian Arab boy who received one of the kidneys from deceased Israeli boy Noam Naor, was visited in Schneider Children's hospital by Noam’s parents.  I was also particularly touched to read about a typical day for Israeli Diana Bletter, interacting with Muslims, Christians, Druze, Ethiopian Jews and a Baha'i woman.

I may now be touching a nerve with some people, by mentioning “dental implants”. Israel’s RegeneCure has developed a safe bone augmentation system using an innovative synthetic membrane. Alternative animal-tissue-derived products can be contaminated.  Additionally, RegeneCure’s membrane degrades slowly, giving the natural bone more time to regenerate.   The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is applying a lighter touch in its  medical research for children.  It will establish a center focusing on incurable genetic diseases, building new models for testing drugs for children and synthesizing new molecules suitable for them.

As I stated in my introduction, my aim is for the world to see Israel in a new light.  They would, if they have been touched by Eye from Zion, an Israeli organization that provides free ocular medical treatment to needy populations around the world. Photographer Vardi Kahana has documented some of those whose eyesight has been restored in a new photographic series entitled “Field of Vision”.  Another Israeli humanitarian organization is MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) which is working with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in South Sudan and alleviating the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. The Executive Director of WFP has just visited Israel for the first time, to touch base with MASHAV leaders.  In contrast, Arab leaders were completely out of touch when they failed in their bid to block Israel from leading the UN Entrepreneurship for Development Debate.  They couldn’t touch Israel as it showcased its agriculture, solar energy and medical equipment to developing countries.

I will now touch on a few of the latest Israeli innovations in the hi-tech arena.  When discussing a touchy medical subject with a new doctor, you no longer need to worry that he / she hasn’t got access to your records.  One touch of your smartphone and Israeli-developed Hello Doctor will retrieve everything you need.  Israeli startup Architip has an app that will touch up the image of any archaeological feature you are looking at.  Point your smartphone at the ruin and Architip will display how the site used to look.  It will come in handy when viewing the latest discoveries in Jerusalem that prove Jewish connections stretching back at least two millennia.  Finally, Israel’s N-trig has announced that its DuoSense touchpad controller provides a single sensor for both pen and touch to Sony’s VAIO® Duo 13 Ultrabook.


Israeli start-ups are a soft touch when it comes to good causes.  Israel’s OurCrowd is the first Venture Capital Funding Organization to insist that its portfolio companies donate a portion of equity to a charitable foundation.  Start-ups allocate shares to the non-profit Tmura.  If the start-up is taken-over, Tmura gives 90% of the share value to charitable projects.

We’ll be touching down this week with a few atmospheric news items. With tourist numbers touching record levels, Israeli Yaniv Emanuel, flew the world’s longest commercial plane – the new Boeing 747-8 into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.  One of Israel’s first-time visitors was Dr. Qanta Ahmed who saw the country ‘as God sees it.’ The Muslim physician, and daughter of Pakistani immigrants to the US, was smitten by its magical natural beauty, history and modern achievements that came into vivid focus on a helicopter tour of the Jewish State.

Finally, Israel’s newest pilots now include 21-year-old Lt B who made Aliya from New Jersey in 2009.  For many years the Jewish State has worked its magic on the high flier, who said, "I knew from a young age that Israel was an amazing country, and that I was destined to fall in love with it."

Magic!


Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Israelis Wanted



Every week that passes, Israel increases its reputation as a global provider of essential services.  While BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) crazies peddle only lies about the Jewish State, the Rest of the World enjoys the benefits of Israeli innovations and shows clearly that it wants more.

30,000 of Israel’s 3.5 million visitors in 2012 came solely to receive treatment in Israeli medical centers. In addition, Israeli hospitals opened their doors to a further 210,469 Palestinian Arabs.  Medical tourists seek Israel’s world-renowned expertise and value for money treatments in numerous areas, including curing brain diseases, laser surgery, heart bypasses and fertility treatment. One visitor was Dr. Jason Bodzin of West Bloomfield, who had stem cell treatment for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Ironically, this is the same condition suffered by Professor Stephen Hawking, who fell into a BDS black hole rather than attend Israel’s Presidential Conference that focused on making a better tomorrow.

Israel’s medical innovations are highly sought internationally. Brazil’s government was “honored” that Israel’s Protalix Biotherapeutics will be supplying and producing its Uplyso Gaucher’s disease treatment to Brazilians. Over in the USA, many thousands of women will want to take advantage of the fact that medical insurance now covers IceSense3 from Israel’s IceCure Medical. The unique minimally invasive cryo-ablation (freezing) system removes breast fibroids and tumors.


We remain overseas where Israeli skills and hi-tech are much in demand.  India has requested help from Israel’s MASHAV agency for International Development Cooperation to set up 28 technology centers in 10 Indian states to diversify its fruit and vegetable crops and raise yields.  In Nigeria, Israel’s Solel Boneh has been contracted to re-build and widen an 84km section of the Ibadan-Lagos highway in southwest Nigeria. And children at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village near Kigali literally sang the praises of Jerusalem-based Energiya Global, which is building Rwanda’s first solar field.


Billions of mobile phone users may want to download the software developed by Israeli start-up VascoDe. In countries where smartphones don’t work, VascoDe upgrades simple 2G phones so that they can access email, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia etc over standard cellular networks.  The airways were also filled with airline executives heading to the Paris Air Show, eager to see Israel’s Elbit demonstrate how its Clear Vision system helps pilots to land planes in any weather conditions.

The world cannot get enough of Israeli start-ups and their skilled staff.  Following Waze’s billion-dollar takeover by Google, Fastcompany.com listed its “6 Israeli Startups To Watch”.  Wix, Wibbitz, Powermat, Bizzabo, Roomer and Parko can certainly expect much more interest in their products.  $10.95 million from the latest round of funding from the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation will encourage fourteen new joint US-Israeli ventures.  And you may want to watch this new video from Israel’s Technion Institute that highlights the possible rewards from this kind of funding.


Increasingly, multinationals are eager to invest their own money in order to attract Israeli skills.  Deutsche Telekom, for example is growing its own Israeli start-ups by establishing a new incubator. Cisco, on the other hand is recruiting up to 100 local staff directly for its new Israeli development center.  The technology giant already employs 2000 staff in Israel.

UEFA president Michel Platini was overjoyed with Israel’s recent successful sporting event - the U21 Euro soccer tournament. "The stadiums were wonderful and well-organized, the pitches excellent and the atmosphere in the stadiums was great with many families with young children attending.”  After the tournament, many visitors stayed on to enjoy Tel Aviv’s beach – included by National Geographic Traveler in its top ten choices for the best beaches in the world.

Israelis have also been recognized for their quality products.  Exports of Israeli foods and beverages to the United States reached a record $224 million in 2012 – an increase of 50% in five years. 

So it is not surprising that many Israeli-Arabs relish the opportunity to support the Jewish State.  Despite constant incitement by Arab politicians, Israeli National service by Arabs increased by 76 percent last year.  As Arab Muslim graduate Boshra Khalaila states, “I am a liberal free woman, with all the rights that I could enjoy.  I compare myself to other women my age in Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, any Arab country.  They don’t have the rights that I have.”

Finally, you may recall that in 1998, Miss Israel - Linor Abargil from Netanya - became Miss World.  But not so many will know that seven weeks prior to winning the title Linor was brutally assaulted.  A new documentary film has just been produced telling Linor’s story.  Following the contest, she went around the world, speaking out about her ordeal, meeting with other women who had also been attacked, working with survivors and those who help survivors.

Whatever the circumstances, Israelis are not found wanting.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

And the Winner is?



Some of Israel’s neighbors resemble contestants in a fanatical "competition" to see who can cause as much mayhem and destruction as possible.  The Jewish State, however, is competing in an entirely different kind of race.

In the fight against cancer, there have been two recent Israeli successes.  The ImMucin cancer vaccine developed by Israel’s Vaxil Bio produced strong immune and antibody responses in Phase I/II trial patients.  Vaxil even taxied one cancer patient from Gaza to Jerusalem and back for his regular injections.  Meanwhile the 500,000 Russians that contract cancer every year will cheer the plans that Africa Israel announced to develop oncology centers in Moscow, where there is a severe shortage of specialist facilities.

43 million Chinese sufferers of the debilitating Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) will be celebrating the news that Israel’s BioLineRx has licensed its oral HCV treatment to China.  And asthmatic children everywhere can breathe a little easier now that Inspiro Medical’s smart dry-powder inhaler breezed through a critical clinical trial at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah. 


Other recent Israeli medical achievements include:

-         The discovery of a new protein that treats pain and fertility problems in women suffering from angiogenesis of the uterus.  It can also cure life-threatening side effects of IVF treatment.
-         Europe’s approval of the non-invasive glucose monitor from Israel’s Integrity Applications.
-         Israel’s fledgling start-up Eon Surgical and its scar-less surgery technology received a huge boost when it was taken-over by US giant Teleflex before it had even made its first sale.
-         And even caesarian sections shouldn’t leave a scar once hospitals start using the cold plasma BioWeld1 from Israel’s IonMed for closure of surgical incisions.

Two of the most startling medical stories:

-         Hadassah Medical Center doctors who labored for four hours in order to deliver the conjoined (“Siamese”) twins of a Palestinian Arab woman. 
-         One of the two latest Syrians to be airlifted to an Israeli hospital from next door’s civil war arrived with a note from his Syrian doctor containing details of his injuries.

Some Israelis recently received formal recognition for their technical endeavors:

-         Marganit Cohen-Avrahami won a Kaye Award from the Hebrew University for her skin-permeable nano protein gels that treat illnesses via the skin, thus avoiding the side effects of oral medications.
-         Professor Ilan Sela won his Kaye Award for discovering the virus responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in bees and then for his work developing its treatment.
-         Gadi Mazor of Israel’s OurCrowd won the Blackberry Achievement Award for Entrepreneur of the Year.  Gadi’s Nobex Radio for BlackBerry has played to over 12 million users.


Israelis have also done quite well collectively:
-         Israel is now ranked as the world’s leader in cyber security – up from 19th place in 2012.  The news came as Tel Aviv University was hosting the Third International Cyber Security conference.
-         Israel’s RAD Data Communications won one of the 2013 NetEvents Technology Innovation awards for its MiNID device that configures almost every piece of telecom equipment just by plugging it in.

Some of Israel’s winning agro-technology innovations made progress last week:

-         The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture approved the use of Israel’s non-toxic "Tamar Tech" pesticide based on edible oils. It protects leaves, stems and fruits from attacks by insects, spider-mites and fungi.
-         Israel’s Evogene is working with Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group (DBN) to increase fertilizer uptake and drought tolerance in rice.  Evogene has several candidate genes to improve this vital crop.


Cyclists keen on winning road races would be wise to invest some funds in the world’s first spray device for cyclists, Q-Fog provides 400 sprays of cooling water that evaporates from your body.  Enjoying slightly faster speeds, Jerusalem’s streets were filled last week with 160,000 spectators (including Muslims, Christians and Orthodox Jews) cheering on Formula 1’s winning Ferrari racecars. 


One person who really deserves an award is Governor of the Bank of Israel, Professor Stanley Fischer who has begun his final lap before retirement.  He will be happy to hear that exports from Israel to the UK increased by over 50 percent in the first quarter of 2013.  On the subject of successful exits, I must include a mention of Google’s takeover of Waze – the Israeli social traffic application with almost 50 million global users.  At over $1 billion, it is one of the largest purchases of a start-up in Israel’s history.

Finally, one of UK Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ winning activities before his retirement was to give an inspiring speech to thousands at the “Closer to Israel” event in London.  He spoke of Israel’s innovations and humanitarian activities as well as the success that Arabs enjoy in the Jewish State.  And in a wider context, “Israel is a blessing not just to its citizens but to the world.”

There’s the answer then.

Everyone’s the winner. 

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

No Better Place



My sadness at the collapse of Better Place - Israel’s all-electric car infrastructure company – was somewhat compensated by the knowledge that failure in the Start-up Nation is not the same as failure elsewhere in the world.  Some of Israel’s more radical innovations don’t succeed, but the entrepreneurs (and employees) usually get back on their feet quickly with another venture – all the better from having learned from their previous mistakes.  As a former director said, “The dream is not over. It’s only the beginning.”

Whereas Israelis are prepared to see the demise of an ailing business, they will move heaven and earth to make the life of a sick person better. The parents of young Noam Naor, who died in a tragic accident, donated one of his kidneys to save the life of a 10-year-old Palestinian Arab boy at Schneider’s children hospital.  And at Rambam hospital in Haifa, Israeli-Arab Mohammed Eckert received a kidney from the son of Israeli-Jew David Ben-Yair, whilst simultaneously David received a kidney from Mohammed’s wife.  David said, "Here, in our country, and in the world at large, we have to realize that we have the power to save people, all people."

I read a staggering statistic last week that over a fifth of the world’s biotechnology originated in Israel.  This was based on the biotech industry’s annual turnover of $120 billion.  But in Israel, commercial interests don’t drive all medical research and treatments.  Insurance companies were not prepared to cover expensive insulin pumps. So Israeli biotech Valeritas has developed a cheap, reliable, disposable mechanical pump for delivering insulin to type 2 diabetes patients.  And financial factors were hardly the main issue when an Israeli-led international research team discovered a rare genetic disease affecting in-bred Arab families.  Five Palestinian Arabs at Sheba Hospital and two Moroccan Arabs in Munich are suffering from a bone marrow mutation, called congenital neutrophil defect syndrome.  Now Israeli doctors are working on a potential treatment.

The lives of the victims of the Oklahoma tornado will be a little better thanks to specialist trauma counseling from Israeli humanitarian organization IsraAID.  And whilst helping friends is non-negotiable, does the world know that every week Israel delivers tens of thousands of tons of goods into the terrorist-run Gaza mini-state?

Israel’s technological innovations frequently make life better for the less fortunate. Israeli start-up OrCam has developed a camera-based system that will “read” to the visually impaired whilst on the move.  So the partially sighted can read a newspaper or a menu, cross the road safely or simply pick up a can of vegetables in a grocery store and read its label. 


Israeli children get better educational opportunities, thanks to the proliferation of technology in the Jewish State.  Israel’s “Computer for Every Child” project is designed to close the digital gap and allow Israeli boys and girls from families with reduced means to receive the latest technology, such as computer tablets.  Over 55,000 computers have been distributed to all sectors of Israeli society: Ultra-orthodox, Arab, Bedouin, Druze, new immigrants, special needs children, etc.  Meanwhile, teenagers from the WIZO Nachlat Yehuda School and Youth Village in Rishon Lezion, an agricultural high school that specializes in life sciences, took their agriculture matriculation exam last week.  The curriculum covers animal care and dairy cow production.  And now Apple Inc. is launching the first entrepreneurship development center of its kind at the Amal High School in Hadera. Sixty students will develop iOS-based apps for iPads and iPhones.

I often report news that proves that Israel’s minorities have a better life in the Jewish State than anywhere else in the Middle East.  This week it’s the turn of the Druze of the Golan, who are too afraid of Syrian dictator Assad to become Israeli citizens.  However, a recent biased article in an anti-Israel UK newspaper led me to discover that the Mayor of the Druze town of Majdal Shams says that living in the State of Israel “is a privilege”. And that Shefaa Abu Jabal is the first Syrian Druze woman resident of Israel to graduate from an Israeli university.

The future looks better in the Jewish State than in most countries.  In recent news, Israel’s growth exceeds most of the other OECD countries and unemployment is one of the lowest at 6.9 percent. Despite having one of the lowest mortality rates and highest life expectancies, Israel spent the fifth least on health (7.7% of GDP).  And then there’s the gas… The skies are now open and Ryanair plans to bring 4-5 million tourists to Israel. As Daniel Pipes writes, John Kerry’s statement that Israelis have “a sense of accomplishment and of prosperity” indicates, “Israel’s enemies should give up and find some other country to torment”.

Finally, as Israel’s Mapal bubbles make wastewater clean across the world, I even found a positive news story from the BBC that mentioned that Israel’s work to re-flood the Hula valley had made life better for an endangered indigenous Israeli species – the Hula Painted Frog. 

“The dream is just beginning”

You’d better believe it!

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Three weeks? Yes just Three weeks



During the last three weeks, I published three blogs (here, here and here) that rubbished the Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) idiots who insist on shooting themselves in the foot by refusing any of Israel’s medical innovations.  I have just looked back at what Israelis have been working on in all areas over the last three weeks and I can hardly believe that so much has been achieved.  So let me bring you up to date on just the medical and clean technology advances.

In medical news, we heard that the technique treating cancer conceived 30 years ago by Weizmann’s Zelig Eshhar is now curing patients across the USA.  Other related Israeli innovations include:
-         A medication to prevent women’s ovaries being damaged during chemotherapy.
-         A new probe with two cameras that can detect cancerous polyps in the colon.
-         A derivative of an Israeli mushroom that appears to be effective against pancreatic cancer.

Concerning the brain:
-         Tel Aviv University researchers have invented a gel and implant to repair damaged nerves
-         Ben Gurion University’s future CARES center will boost its top research into stress-related illness.
-         Israel’s Reuth Center is using a computerized shoe to teach people with brain damage how to walk again. 


Heart-warming news includes:
-         Discovery at Hadassah Medical Center of an area of the body that can grow new heart muscle tissue. 
-         An implant under development at Israel’s MitrAssist that will fix a leaky heart mitral valve.

Recent successful heart operations include:
-         Rebuilding the chest to protect the exposed heart of a baby born without a breastbone.
-         Performing a heart transplant on a 28-year-old Israeli-Arab – the oldest patient at a children’s hospital.
-         Save A Child’s Heart doctors saved the life of a 4-year-old Syrian girl born with only one ventricle.

In medical research:
-         Israeli biotech Cell Cure received a government grant to help develop its macular degeneration treatment.
-         Scientists at the Israel’s Technion have constructed an advanced biological computer.
-         Life Science guru Dr Ido Bachelet demonstrated what Israel’s microscopic robots can do.


In Agro-technology, Israel has been innovating in order to benefit the world
-         Israel’s Volcani Center has developed processes to keep fruit and vegetables fresh for months.
-         Israeli firm Indolive is helping farmers to grow olives in the deserts of western India.
-         Israeli start-up TIPA are expanding production of their environmentally-friendly food packaging.
-         And the Hebrew University’s ran an International Symposium on balancing technical progress with health.

In Water technology:
-         Israel’s Netafim, the pioneer of drip irrigation, won the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award.
-         UK’s Anglia Water has bought an advanced sewage treatment system from Israel’s Mapal
-         23 Israeli companies presented their innovative water products at “Wasser Berlin”
-         IBM Israel announced new software to interpret utility meter readings and sensors and detect water leaks.
-         And the Israeli water authority has opened the Degania Dam to replenish the flow of the Jordan River.

On the energy front:
-         The Israeli government is subsidizing the replacement of electric water heaters to solar powered systems.
-         1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas has been discovered at the Karish prospect in Israeli territorial waters.

In approximately three weeks time, we will enter a sad period of the Jewish calendar known as “the three weeks”. Jewish tradition says that the last day of the three weeks will one day turn into a festival of celebration and usher in a new age of prosperity and peace.

I can’t wait.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Israel Boycotters are in a World of their Own



Here is my third and final medical analysis of the pointlessness and futility of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) crazies who target Israeli goods and services.  (For those who wish to be reminded of parts one and two, they can be read here and here.)  Again, please remember that all my examples are taken from news items that were published only in the last 4.5 months.  If I included all the medical work that Israel was doing, this article would run to hundreds of thousands of words.

I proved previously that BDS-ers have no heart, brains or spine – otherwise why would they boycott the country that is developing treatments for those areas of the body.  Now I suggest that the whole BDS idea is not only wrong - it is nonsense.  There is no sense whatsoever in boycotting a country that is working on restoring the senses of millions of people. 
-         Have they not heard that Tel Aviv University Professor Karen Avraham has discovered the reason for genetic hearing loss?
-         Have they lost sight of the benefit of Israel Technion’s research into substituting damaged retinas with a new area of the eye that has been turned into photoreceptors? 
-         Did they not read that US President Obama’s step-grandmother underwent emergency eye treatment at an Israeli-run hospital in Equatorial Guinea?

Would-be boycotters:
-         Do not have the guts to admit that Israeli research into colon disease is the best in the world.  Israel’s BiolineRX’s BL-7040 oral treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could bring relief to 1.4 million individuals in the US alone. 
-         Obviously cannot stomach the fact that scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered at the cellular level how the gut’s immune system maintains a healthy balance.
-         Will be really “down in the mouth” when they realise their doctors cannot use the video and endoscope system from Israel’s Peer Medical.

I wish the BDS crowd would grow up:
-         But how can they if they boycott the human growth hormone developed by Israel’s Prolor Biotech? 

It is the end of the line for childless BDS-ers who boycott Israel’s innovative fertility treatments.
-         Cytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection (IMSI) developed in 2004 by Benjamin Bartoov of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University is at the core of the recently opened IVF centers in New Delhi. 
-         A research team from Israel’s Technion has produced human eggs using cells from the amniotic sac that surrounds a baby in the womb.  Experts believe that donation of the amniotic sac will be more acceptable than egg donation from fertile women – but not to BDS-ers.

Life is just too complicated for BDS-ers:
-         And they should end it all, now that they know three Israelis invented the science of Biogerontology (the study of longevity and the aging process) and that Israel recently hosted the eighth European Congress of Biogerontology.

The despicable BDS-ers cannot have any wish to save life. 
-         They would have added to the deaths of those murdered in the Boston Marathon bombings through refusing Israel’s help train Boston medical staff for a mass-casualty event.
-         They have no pity for the Boston children who would have been permanently scarred but for the post-trauma help from the Israel Trauma Coalition.
-         They would rather say “Roger and Out” to reducing emergency response times with the innovative call centre system from Israel’s NowForce, now operating in Missouri or to any training with Magen David Adom – Israel’s emergency first response service.
-         They would happily switch off Israel’s EarlySense “under the mattress” patient vital signs monitoring system currently being distributed to hospitals across the United States.
-         They would tell you to hand back your Oxitone wrist-worn blood-oxygen monitor that warns of any sudden deterioration in an “at risk” patient’s condition.
-         No sweat to them that more Africans have to die from tropical diseases rather than allow Ben Gurion University students to carry out an extensive educational medical and sanitation program in Ethiopia.

The warped world that the BDS-ers inhabit has no desire:
-         To cure measles; the US National Institutes of Health wants Ben-Gurion University to discover why the measles virus persists
-         To recognise Downs Syndrome; Israel and Singapore established World Down Syndrome Day in 2006 and over 400 participants attended this year’s event at Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem in April.
-         To cure autism; Osnat Zomer-Penn received the L’Oréal-UNESCO “Women in Science” prize for determining its genetic basis.
-         To treat osteo-arthritis; Moebius’s injectable solution was demonstrated at US road shows in February.

Finally, ALEH - Israel’s largest network of facilities for children with severe cognitive and physical disabilities - has pioneered a virtual reality (VR) facility to allow their residents to go on occasional field trips in simulated environments.  BDS-ers, however, live permanently in a Virtual world.  I advise them all to undergo cognative therapy until they can recognise the real world in which Israeli medical innovations are indispensable.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com