A new Facebook application shows the location
of Israeli
Clean-tech projects and installations everywhere in the world. So this
week I thought that I would share with you some more of Israel’s news stories
where Israel appears on the global stage in a positive way.
The world will definitely benefit from two
pieces of news from Israel’s Technion Institute. Firstly, the eNose early diagnostic breath
test for lung cancer developed by Technion Professor Hossam Haick is to
go commercial. The Technion has
announced a joint venture with Alpha Szenszor Inc. to produce an economically
viable, non-invasive, digital screening tool.
The other item is good
news for infertile couples. A
Technion research team 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. No wonder that the goals of Israel’s Technion Rappaport Faculty
of Medicine are “To reduce suffering and save lives – for the sake of all
humanity.”
The map of the Middle East would appear far
less hostile if Israel’s Arab neighbors would appreciate Israel’s efforts to
reach out to them. Nature
certainly knows no borders and the Arava Institute for Environmental
Studies accepts equal numbers of students from Israeli Jews, Arabs from Israel,
the Palestinian territories, Jordan; and international applicants. And as the World
Health Organization’s 2012 report confirms, Israel approved 98.7
percent of Palestinian applications from Gaza to receive medical care in
Israeli hospitals. In total, Israel treated 210,469 Palestinian Arabs in 2012.
Two relatively positive articles about
Israel were published last week in London’s Arab
daily newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. They were written by Dr. Amal
al-Hazzani, an assistant professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. They attracted a flood of hate
mail, of course. And it was predictable
that two Iranian athletes decided to default rather than take the stage with
Israelis at the World Judo
Championships. It didn’t upset
the Israeli team, who celebrated with two gold medals and a bronze.
In contrast, Japan
has just inaugurated a statue honoring the assistance that Israel
provided following the 2011 tsunami in one of the hardest hit towns,
Yanmei-Sanriku. Meanwhile, seventy
public health professionals from over
20 countries in Africa and across the globe have come to participate in
the 2nd Pears International Master's in Public Health (IMPH) Alumni Reunion at
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
One of Israel’s best international
friends, Canada, sent a group of 11 business schools to Israel to learn
about innovation and how to start up new companies. And in a moving article, Ryan Bellerose – a native of the Métis colony in
Northern Alberta, Canada – wrote about Israel’s epic story and his hope
that the Metis keeps walking the same road as the Jewish people.
Israel is constantly seeking to improve
relations with other nations. But its
latest bridge-building
exercise is more literal. The
link from the Ariel Sharon Environment Park at Hiriya to the main thoroughfare
leading to Tel Aviv will be constructed from some of the 800,000 aging maritime
shipping containers that the world dumps each year. The bridge even has solar-powered lighting. Next, a by-product of Tawkon’s mobile phone
emissions warning system is that it can create a
map of network coverage. So
even if there is insufficient evidence of the dangers of radiation, it can
enable better reception and also increase your battery life.
International police forces will now be
able to produce a
map of crime hot spots, thanks to Professor David Weisburd of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Criminology. His 16-year study has
proved that 50% of city crime occurs in 5% of the streets. In related news, Israel Technion’s Kira
Radinsky and Microsoft’s Eric Horvitz have developed a program that can produce
a
world map of predicted disease and violence outbreaks with 70 to 90
percent accuracy.
You need to consult an atlas to see the
extent that Israeli companies are working across the globe. For example,
Israeli communications company Gilat has just won a contract with the
Mexican government to supply over 7,000 SkyEdge VSATs to schools and
government offices in order to provide thousands of rural classrooms and with
Internet connectivity. And if you were
watching the American
Super Bowl you cannot fail to have seen the huge TV screens featuring
Israeli drinks maker SodaStream.
Finally, Israeli wineries were again showing their world class in the
second annual Wine Seven Two kosher wine exhibition in Jerusalem. Israel was the center of wine
production in Biblical times and today it is becoming so once more.
To finish, the team behind SpaceIL is
confident that in 2015 the Israeli flag will be flying on
the surface of the Moon. And
Israel’s largest communications company, Bezeq has backed up that promise by
signing up as the project’s first corporate sponsor.
Israel’s achievements span the world –
and beyond.
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
