It’s been ten years since I started collating
Good News articles about Israeli innovations, discoveries and achievements. At that
time, Israel was still suffering from severe drought, lack of natural resources,
major economic problems, global isolation and national despondency.
Just look at Israel ten years later – what an
amazing transformation. Per capita it leads the world in medical breakthroughs
and devices, water technology and recycling, agriculture technology, computer processors,
satellites, autonomous vehicles, security and defense systems. It enjoys phenomenal
economic growth, energy resources, currency strength, reserves and foreign
investment. It has matured from just being the Startup Nation to become a
powerhouse of hi-tech innovation. Meanwhile, whenever a global disaster occurs,
Israel is always the first to send skilled teams and supplies to
alleviate suffering.
2019 has been the pinnacle of Israeli
achievement. This article focuses on two
areas – Israel’s Medical achievements and its efforts to help its minorities and
the disadvantaged across the globe.
Almost every week Israeli researchers announce
another medical discovery that promises to eliminate cancer forever. Approved Israeli
treatments are already curing children with leukemia in the UK and melanoma
patients globally. Trials of new treatments are extending the lives of Stage 4 pancreatic
cancer patients. Israeli focused radiation is curing skin cancer tumors and new
Israeli treatments have saved many from liver cancer and myeloma. Some 30,000
foreign patients travel to Israel each year for private medical treatments.
Other Israeli drugs and therapies, approved
or being trialed, are successfully countering diseases such as Parkinson’s Alzheimer’s,
MS, ALS, malaria, diabetes, Age-related Macular Degeneration and many more –
especially Orphan diseases that no other country is willing to target. One
major global problem that Israel is solving is the resistance of bacteria to
antibiotics. It is also at the forefront of stem cell treatments and research
into aging – therefore contributing to increased longevity globally. Israel’s
importance can be seen by the fact that its treatments are dispensed in one eighth
of all US prescriptions and one sixth in the UK.
Israeli biotech companies invented and manufactured
innovative medical devices that revolutionize the operating theatre. They provide
surgeons with Virtual Reality to practice complex brain surgery and X-ray
surgical glasses to make accurate incisions. Their Artificially Intelligent
image analysis detects diseases early. Their exoskeletons allow paraplegics to
walk and even complete marathons. They grow bone in the lab and use 3D-printers
to print prosthetic limbs, bone implants and human tissue for the first
3D-printed heart!
During the last decade, Israeli society has
changed out of all recognition. Ethiopian Jewish immigrants have made the
successful leap from subsistence farming in Ethiopia to attaining top Israeli positions
and are an integral part of Israeli society. They are now judges, IDF generals,
Members of Knesset, Professors and pilots. One has won Israel’s X-factor and another Miss
Israel.
Turning to Israeli Arabs, which comprise 21%
of the population, Israel has a Muslim Chief of Police, an Arab chairman of Israel’s
Bank Leumi and an Arab Supreme Court judge. All over the country there are female
Muslim bus drivers and university professors. In 2017, 46% of Israeli pharmacists
were Arab-Israelis as were 23% of Israeli doctors. That same year, 16% of the
students in Israeli higher education were Arabs and Israel appointed its first
female Arab-Israel diplomat as first secretary to the Israeli embassy in Turkey.
There are training schemes and incubators for Arab-Israelis to participate in
Israel’s hi-tech success. For the entire decade, Israel has been firmly established
at the top of the Middle East Freedom list.
Relations with many
Arab countries have improved beyond recognition from a decade ago. Tourism from Arab countries have reached
record levels. In 2019, three Iraqi delegations visited Israel. Israel’s Culture
Minister (a woman) visited the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and Israeli delegates
attended an economic workshop and a security conference in Bahrain. Who would
have believed a decade ago that military jets from Israel and the UAE would fly
together in an exercise in Greece or that the Israeli National Anthem
(Hatikvah) would be played to celebrate Israeli sporting victories in Abu Dhabi
(twice), Qatar and (last year) in Morocco. In 2019, Israelis competed in the Robotics
Olympiad in Dubai and will be showcasing its innovation there at the World Expo
next year. Meanwhile, Israel continues
to rescue wounded Syrians and treat them in Israeli hospitals.
2019 was a bad
year for global disasters, but it didn’t deter Israelis from being the first to
arrive on the scene. Their early intervention and humanitarian aid were often critical
in saving lives. They responded to the Philippines tropical storm, Brazil’s dam
burst, fires in Ethiopia, Brazil and Paradise, Puerto Rica’s hurricane, measles
in Samoa, earthquake in Albania and terrorist-hit Chad. Throughout the decade, Israeli
aid has been sent to Mozambique, Venezuela, the Bahamas, Zambia, Papua New
Guinea, Guatemala, Indonesia, Pittsburgh, Florida, Nepal and Haiti. Volunteers
from Israeli NGO IsraAID have been at the forefront of many of those missions.
Aside from
disasters, Israelis are constantly busy bringing sick foreigners to Israel to
save their lives. The Israeli NGO Save a Child’s Heart and surgeons at Israel’s
top hospitals repair thousands of heart defects for children across the world –
including many from countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel has alleviated
drought and famine in many developing countries through organizations such as
Innovation: Africa and technology such as drip irrigation, desalination and the
water-from-air generators of Israel’s WaterGen.
Israeli is also concerned
with saving animals from extinction and providing sanctuary for wildlife. It
has conserved some of the world’s most endangered species, such as the white rhino,
green sea turtle, griffon vulture, the global bee population and iguanas in the
Galapagos islands. Israeli farmers feed
millions of birds on their migration route through Israel’s Hula valley and in
Eilat. Israeli organizations have bought land in the Brazilian rainforests and
elsewhere to protect the environment. It is also helping to protect coral reefs
from the global bleaching effect.
The next decade
looks promising thanks to Israeli medical technology. Israeli scientists will continue
to be instrumental in defeating many forms of cancer and curing brain diseases.
Israeli 3D technology will print replacement organs and Israeli robotic devices
will be used to transplant them. Israeli
treatments will target an individual’s genetic profile and microbiome. And Israeli
molecular research will ensure debilitating side-effects are a thing of the
past. Happy 2020.
The author writes
about positive news from Israel at www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
and maintains a searchable archive www.IsraelActive.com
