The festival of Purim celebrates a series
of remarkable events over 2500 years ago when the exiled Jewish people were
delivered from annihilation. Having
returned home, the Jewish State is now delivering astonishing life-enhancing
treatments, products, services and technologies to far-flung regions of the
world.
Israel has recently been reaching out far
and wide to tackle some of the most devastating diseases affecting
mankind. We could soon see the end of malaria, thanks to
researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who have developed a method
for disrupting the defense mechanism of the parasite that killed over half a million people in
2013 - 90 percent in Africa. The
treatment of heart
disease could be revolutionized in a joint Israeli-UK project to use
pulsating light to regulate newly implanted heart tissue generated by stem
cells.
Brain
disease treatments will be advanced following
the international BrainTech
2015 conference in Tel Aviv.
Also by the 21 countries participating in the Human
Brain Project, co-directed by Professor Henry Markram, formerly of
Israel’s Weizmann Institute. And take a
look at this long-range system from
Israel’s LifeGraph to allow psychiatrists anywhere in the world to monitor the
mental illness of their patients by smartphone.
Israel’s far-sighted assistance has been
crucial in supporting international efforts to fight Islamist extremists as
testified by the Nigerian
Government, which thanked Israel for its provision of training and
support in tackling Boko Haram. Israeli
aid organization IsraAid has been helping Kurdish, Yazidi and Christian
refugees in northern
Iraq who have escaped Islamic State rule. Israeli doctors are also treating desperately sick Iraqi
Kurds and Christians who have made the long, dangerous journey to the
Jewish State.
Israel is bringing its technical expertise
to far-away countries that are currently undergoing upheaval. In Ukraine,
a new joint program, entitled “Israel-Ukraine Tech Bridge” aims to help the
troubled country become a “high-tech miracle” like Israel. Meanwhile, Kosovo’s former foreign minister
Enver Hoxhaj sees the rise of the State of Israel as a model for Kosovo
in its struggle for independence and expressed admiration for the achievements
of the Jewish state. And in the Muslim
state of Azerbaijan,
Israel is helping the government defend itself against a growing number of
cyber security attacks. Finally, the
East African nation of Rwanda
has selected Israel as its “country of choice” to strengthen business ties,
innovation and promote investment.
Moving on, we heard good news recently
about to some far-out Israeli innovations.
It can be difficult for the disabled to keep in touch over long
distances when they are unable to touch the buttons of their phone. But they can operate the Israeli-developed Sesame
Enable smartphone simply by moving their head. The Sesame Enable has just won a $1 million
Verizone Powerful Answers Award.
The appropriately named Israeli startup
Beyond Verbal has opened
new pathways to how humans interact with machines. Its new Empath app
recognizes human moods, attitudes and emotional characteristics from human
voice intonations in real-time.
And just look how far Israel’s IronSource
has come in its miraculous five-year journey to become a billion-dollar
company. Every day global
multinationals use IronSource’s software to install over 7 million applications
onto desktops and mobiles from
any location in the world.
Israel has been using its “magic touch”
internationally. Top U.S. Latino Media
and Entertainment leaders have come to Israel in order find out how to bring
the ‘magic
of the movies’ back to the Latino community. Meanwhile, 248 international chess stars from 33 countries were
treated to Israeli mind-reading
magic acts at “the best opening ever” of the 2015 European Chess
Championship in Jerusalem. Israel has
even worked its magic in persuading Jordan to sign a major water agreement that
may bring the Dead Sea
back to life.
Finally, you don’t have to go very far in
Israel to travel huge
distances in time. Standing at
the top of the new Kishle building exhibition, adjacent to Jerusalem’s Tower of
David, you can gaze down through 3000 years of history. Layer upon layer, back to the foundations of
the First Temple, built when Jews first came to the Land of Israel.
We’re back – and the miracles continue.
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
