The Jewish festival of Tu B’Shvat (New Year for Trees)
inspired me to look back over the year at the agricultural and environmental
benefits Israel and Israeli companies have provided internationally. But I was
only motivated to write this blog when I heard that my cousins in Cape Town, South
Africa have been ordered to ration their water usage and from April will
have their water cut off.
Why? Because South Africa has refused Israel’s
offers to help solve their water management problems. As the saying goes, “You can lead a horse to
water, but you can’t force it to drink.”
Down the
road from South Africa, Israeli experts in drip irrigation and crop management trained
nineteen educators in Swaziland,
which was almost crippled by drought last year. In the same continent, but at
the other end of the scale, Israeli NGO “Innovation:
Africa” has been providing clean water and aid to millions of Africans,
including tens of thousands of refugees living in the war-torn Central
African Republic. The NGO also saved the whole village of Akuyam in Karamoja, Uganda
where many hadn’t eaten for three days.
Ironically,
in late 2016 (before the South African boycott), Israel’s Fluence installed a potable desalination
system to solve dire drought conditions in KwaZulu-Natal
– a semi-autonomous region in South Africa. No wonder the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithinii, monarch of 12 million Zulus urged
(fruitlessly) the country’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) to
retain close ties with Israel.
On the other hand, those countries that have accepted Israel’s
help are reaping the benefits. Take water, for example. In India,
Israel’s WaterGen has launched a pilot with India’s Tata to generate
water out of thin air.
Israel’s water
systems are certainly appreciated by the US State of Wisconsin,
and by water professionals from Canada, China and the
Czech Republic. In Ghana,
Israel’s Yam Pro is using water to produce 150 megawatts of wave energy. Meanwhile, Israel’s TaKaDu
is preventing major water leakages from Australia
to Vietnam,
not forgetting Spain,
the UK
and the USA.
Appropriately,
for the Jewish New Year for Trees, here are just a few agricultural items. Israeli
charity KKL-JNF was asked by Kenya
to help turn its deserts into forests, using Israeli technology that can
conserve soil, capture rain runoff, monitor precipitation and promote conservation.
Then, just over a month ago the municipality of Jerusalem (Israel’s capital)
gave away free fir
trees to those Christian residents who wanted them. Finally, take a
look at the FarmZee app from Israeli startup Farmster, which is saving Tanzania’s crops from going to waste.by
providing farmers (without Internet access) with a special SMS link to buyers
for their crops.
There are
many South Africans
that speak the truth about Israel’s work to benefit humanity. They agree with
what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his recent speech to the
United Nations. “So many countries around the world have
woken up to what Israel can do for them.” “Israel is the place
for cutting-edge technology, in agriculture, in water… You name it, we’ve got
it”.
And it won’t cost the earth.
