I write this after hearing two BBC
presenters express horror that a Moslem family strapped a suicide belt onto
their 9-year-old daughter and attempted to educate her to blow herself up at a
checkpoint. Before you congratulate the
BBC on learning the facts of life about Islamic terrorism, I have to point out
that this was a report
from Afghanistan. The BBC
unfortunately cannot make the educational leap in connecting this to the evil
of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas constantly teaching their children to
hate Israelis.
In contrast to the schooling of that Moslem
girl, “education” in the Jewish State has completely the opposite purpose. Take for instance the life-saving advances
in medicine over the past few weeks. After
two years’ training Israeli surgeons at Israel’s Rabin Medical
Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva performed the first-ever successful
transplant in Israel of a small intestine.
The donor was an
11-year-old Israeli girl whose other organs saved the lives of four
children. In medical research,
neuroscientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have
uncovered defects in the brain’s basic biochemical transport mechanism
that can cause diseases such as Parkinson’s and Huntingdon’s. The discovery
opens up exciting new areas to develop potential treatments. Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry for the
Development of the Negev and the Galilee has allocated NIS 2.5 million for eighteen
new biomedical research projects to be conducted at hospitals in
northern Israel.
Here is some recent news of three
innovative educating devices that Israelis have developed to address different
medical problems. To help patients learn
to recover from the shoulder injury known as Rotator Cuff, Israel’s
OrthoSpace has developed the InSpace Balloon, which is implanted in a minimally
invasive procedure. To relax
their youngest patients prior to surgery, staff at Schneider Children’s
Medical Center push them into the operating room in toy pedal cars. But the
third device literally opens
up a whole new world for autistic children or anyone with severely
impaired speaking or writing ability.
Ola Mundo (“Hello World ” in Spanish) is a simple but effective mobile
app that transmits instant messages using symbols.
Graduating from the field of medicine, here
are some Israeli applications and devices with an educational theme that have
been receiving a good deal of attention recently. You will soon “know the score”
when you use the new version of the Tonara iPad
electronic sheet music application. Learn the lessons
of high-rise disasters
by installing the Israeli-developed Skysaver escape harness. And it’s a
whole new ball game now that tennis players can train using Israel’s
SmartCourt
Israel is working to ensure that every
citizen gets the educational opportunities they require:
-
Kol Israel Haverim, is promoting the
Israeli program that supports
high school girls in science, technology, engineering and math.
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Pupils from two Israeli schools received a
boost when their scientific experiments were launched to the
International Space Station where astronauts will perform them in zero gravity.
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And the new Adelson
School of Entrepreneurship at the IDC Herzliya is set to change the
status quo by providing students with the knowledge and tools to realize their entrepreneurial
ambitions.
At Israel’s Technion, young people are
empowered with the educational tools to make a real difference in the
world. They can change the
lives of women in Nepal by building sustainable biomass reactors that
generate clean energy from recycled waste. Or
they can develop
a fuel cell powered by Aluminum and water.
It is encouraging that many non-Israelis
are learning about the positive side of the Jewish State. They include
-
Five international art bloggers with
millions of avid readers who visited the country’s museums and met its
top artists as guests of the Kinetis nonprofit educational organization.
-
Overseas delegates attending the
European Supercomputing
Winter School in Tel Aviv.
-
Turkish
medics who purchased a Renaissance surgical
robotic system from Israel’s Mazor Robotics for a major hospital in Istanbul.
-
Residents
of PA village Wadi Nis who receive free weekly
personal house calls from Dr. Yitz Glick, an orthodox Jew from Efrat in Judea. Dr Glick also founded the Efrat Emergency
Medical Center in 2000, which treats both Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.
-
The
United Nations, which is being advised by
Israel’s Moti Cohen on how to build aquaponic farms that provide people with
both fish and plants to eat.
I return to Israel’s Technion for this
final item in which 20 students have
been training 20 Labrador guide dogs whilst they are studying for their
degrees. Students have the lifestyle
that can train guide dogs to behave well in all situations. But the real reason why the project is so
successful is because the students love their dogs and the dogs love their
students.
It’s a lesson we can all learn.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
