Ten Years

When I made Aliya from the UK 10 years ago, Israel was far different from where it is today.  It suffered from lack of water, few energy resources, a weak economy, high unemployment, low currency reserves, low tech and international isolation.

Now Israel has built desalination plants, recycles 90% of its wastewater and discovered huge natural gas deposits. It has become the Startup Nation, with the world’s 3rd most stable economy. It is at the forefront of medicine and cybersecurity. Together with its humanitarian activities and global development programs, Israel has now raised its profile on the World stage and is especially appreciated in the USA, Africa, India and China.

Just a few weeks into my eleventh year and this progress continues to amaze me.  Israeli ground-breaking medical research has just discovered a molecule that can restore damaged hearts and micro RNA that reduces susceptibility to epileptic seizures. Potentially life-saving treatments include an anti-rabies vaccination, transplants using lab-grown bone, and the curing and prevention of melanoma.

Dozens of innovative Israeli medical devices have been launched or announced recently, e.g. spectacles that read text to the visually impaired; a system that gives mute, “locked-in” patients the power of speech; a minimally invasive implant to treat congestive heart failure; a one-second per year treatment for glaucoma; hyper-MRI scanners to detect cancer; bandages that stop massive bleeding in 40 seconds; and a soft suit exoskeleton to allow stroke patients to walk again.

Recent Israeli global humanitarian activities include disaster relief for USA, the Caribbean and Mexico;  expanding the free treatment for wounded Syrians; aid for South Sudan and Sierra Leone; firefighting in Montenegro; free surgery for children in Ghana and Fiji; plus renewable electricity and clean water for Ugandan schoolchildren.

Latest technological breakthroughs include advanced systems for driverless cars and buses, wave energy systems for China, India, Chile, Gibraltar and now Mexico.  Israeli companies make water purification systems that utilize ultraviolet light and hybrid biofilters. Israelis developed hyperspectral imaging for amazingly detailed photos and video, including on a new Israeli satellite that monitors the environment. Israeli start-ups plant solar trees; use 3D printing for facial surgery and prosthetics; construct high-tech fish farms and produce smart pesticides to combat fruit fly and rootworm infestation.  

Israelis even beat their swords into ploughshares with unmanned drones delivering purchases to customers and military training systems being adapted for tennis, basketball and soccer.

Israel’s economy goes from strength to strength with international trade and exports on the rise.  Israel’s 300 cybersecurity companies exported $6.5 billion last year. Tourists visit Israel in record numbers and unemployment is at a record low. Massive foreign investment in Israeli start-ups means that they no longer have to make early exits, but grow to become Unicorns (over $1 billion in value).

Far from being isolated, Israel is the “go-to” place for international organizations, politicians, companies and celebrities.  The World Health Organization has just appointed the first Israeli for 21 years to its Executive Committee. Israel’s Prime Minister has been feted in Latin America. Visiting Prime Ministers include from Georgia and the Ukraine plus the first-ever visit from a Quebec Premier.   Recent delegations to Israel include business leaders from Iowa, Chicago and Australia; Massachusetts police, French doctors, Indonesian Muslim leaders and Jordanian Sheikhs.

Barely a week goes by without the announcement of another airline’s new service to Tel Aviv or Eilat. In the same week Air Canada and Air Transat began separate services from Montreal, Canada. China’s Hainan Airways has launched its direct flights to Shanghai.  El Al and Aerolíneas Argentinas are soon to begin scheduled flights from Buenos Aires and Ryanair will be flying in from Rome.

Israel’s OurCrowd has just launched OurNetwork to link at least 25 multinationals to Israeli start-ups.  Visa just became the 73rd international R&D center to open in Tel Aviv - nearly double the number five years ago.  Skoda is opening an Israeli technology office.  Intel are to open another microprocessor factory.  Many multinationals are promoting new Israeli startups by setting up incubators – the latest are Merck and Renault-Nissan.

Israeli technology is in much demand globally.  10,000 delegates attended Tel Aviv’s 5th annual DLD (Digital Life Design) Conference – Israel’s largest tech conference.  Israel’s Technion and Cornell Tech opened their joint New York campus. It’s a sign of the times that Israeli-made detection kits for explosives have been sold recently to the UK, the US and France.  And a dozen Israeli companies presented their solutions at a UK cybersecurity conference to counter the latest global cyber-attacks. Even UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited Israel and saw Israeli technology at first hand. 

Israel’s popularity is not always so serious.  London’s “foodies”, for example, have been flocking to Israeli restaurant The Barbary – number one on TimeOut’s list. And for the first time in its 101-year history, Italian cycle race Giro d'Italia will begin outside of Europe when it has its first 3 stages in Israel next year.  Meanwhile, celebrities visiting Israel this summer included Conan O’Brien, Britney Spears, Guns N’ Roses, Radiohead and the Pixies, with Cliff Richard lined up for October.

Finally, my Aliya came just at the time when Israel was beginning to benefit from the million Russian immigrants who kick-started the Start-up Nation.  Since then I’ve seen the arrival of more Ethiopian Jews, Ukrainian Jews, Bnei Menashe from India, thousands from Europe - especially from France, and a steady stream from the USA thanks to Nefesh b’Nefesh.  The latest wave is from Venezuela.  We look forward to welcoming many more Jews in the next ten years who decide to make Israel their home and join all those who are making the world a better place.

A Very Happy New Year from VeryGoodNewsIsrael.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com and a searchable archive www.IsraelActive.com

For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Israel Opens Doors

The modern Jewish state was established after the world closed its doors to European Jewry.  Today, Israeli innovations are opening doors to millions across the planet who had previously thought that their window of opportunity was firmly shut.

Many sufferers from strokes, dementia, fibromyalgia and burns could be released from their “locked-in” existence now that Israel’s Assaf Harofeh Medical Center has opened the world’s largest high-pressure oxygen chamber.  It has a capacity for 150 patients per day and can also treat victims of diving accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, radiation damage and bone infections.  Meanwhile, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, scientists have discovered that the visual cortexes of the blind from birth are similar to those of the fully sighted.  It has provided an open opportunity for the blind to be trained to “see” sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J9AGklNDUc

Open-minded Israeli doctors have known for some time that there is a genetic link between over eighty autoimmune diseases.  This has opened a new line of research leading to the discovery by scientists at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem that the rheumatoid arthritis medication Baricitinib is effective in the treatment of Alopecia Areata, whose symptoms are hair loss.  And research by Hebrew University of Jerusalem psychologist Professor Ariel Knafo has shown that children who mimic each other’s body language for mere minutes each day are more likely to open-up to others and share feelings of similarity and closeness.  The findings could open the way to new therapies for developing positive social behaviors in disruptive children.

Israel is open to sharing the credit for discoveries that can benefit humanity.  This has led to many joint research agreements between Israeli and international scientists, including recently with the UK’s Royal Society and also with France’s Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission.  Israel has also opened its doors to Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of India’s Maharashtra state who wants to replicate Israel’s agriculture technology in one of the most populous areas in the world.

Recent news is full of multinational companies wanting to open research and development centers in Israel.  German energy giant RWE AG is opening an Israeli innovation center in order to develop technology for a smart grid metering system that will keep track of how consumers use electricity.  Canadian handset maker Blackberry finally opened up in Israel by buying Israeli device security company WatchDox, whose 100 employees will form the core of Blackberry’s new Israeli R&D team.  And US video production giant Avid Technology’s purchase of Israel’s Orad Hi-Tec and its slick graphic technologies will result in the opening of Avid’s new Israeli R&D facility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyJ4TFMYAN4

Now that Israel has signed Europe’s “Open Skies” agreement, it has opened up the country to the likes of Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair, which is eager to open up new routes between Tel Aviv and Europe.  The airways are also buzzing with the news that a consortium of top Israeli companies and universities is studying 3D printing technologies that could open up a radical new way of designing and manufacturing aircraft components.

Israel has some beautiful geographic features, including its award-winning beaches, which are now open right through until October.  However, I admit that I was openly surprised to read that the usually anti-Israel UNESCO recently added Israel’s open cave system at Beit Guvrin to its list of World Heritage sites.  Unfortunately, not all openings in the ground are positive, as the recent earthquake in Nepal has proved.  But it again has highlighted the openhearted nature of Israel in sending rescuers and humanitarian aid to save human lives wherever and whenever it can.

In Israel, the door of opportunity is open to anyone who has the desire to succeed.  One such example is Ilit Geller, the female CEO of Israel’s TradAir, who operates in the traditionally “man’s world” of Foreign Exchange trading.  And please watch this video of young Aaron Shapso – a Circassian (Sunni Muslim) from the village of Kafr Kama.  Aaron is the captain of the youth soccer team Maccabi Haifa Nahalal, which is open to children of all religions and ethnic groups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15BIKfcb1eo

Finally, Avraham Nagusie epitomizes Israel’s open-door policy. Nagusie was a shepherd in Ethiopia before immigrating to Israel in 1985. He then graduated with degrees in Social work and Law and a PhD in Education. Now at 57, he has opened the door to Israel's parliament by becoming a lawmaker in Israel’s 20th Knesset.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fp6gaeUhE8 
  

Israel – it’s an open miracle. 

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Israel is Getting it Together

In this week’s blog, I will illustrate how the Hebrew word “beyachad” (together) typifies the Israeli approach to innovating a better world.

Israel and the US continue to move closer together economically. The Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation recently approved $8.3 million in new funding for 11 projects where US and Israeli companies are working together.  Next, the new Israeli branch of US technology innovator Bell Labs is promoting itself as a new avenue for Israeli PhD graduates to pursue research careers in Israel.  Then, American Internet and media giant AOL announced that it is investing $5million in a joint US-Israeli video research project at the Technion-Cornell Institute.  AOL already has an Israeli R&D center.  And finally, US camera-maker Kodak is looking to acquire Israeli tech startups to help rebuild the company as a leader in digital printing.

Many countries realize that they need to get together with Israel if they are to tackle water scarcity and wastewater problems.  The University of Chicago has sought out Israel's Ben-Gurion University to help develop radical new approaches that may one day rejuvenate the world's water-starved regions.  Scotland’s BDS idiots must be “drowning their sorrows” following the successful UK pilot project of the recycling technology from Israel’s Applied CleanTech for wastewater - at Scottish Water!

Israeli biotechs are developing treatments that work together with the body’s immune system in order to beat cancer.  Israel’s cCAM has just received US FDA approval to commence trials of its CM-24, which targets a protein that blocks the immune system’s ability to destroy cancer cells.  Israel’s Compugen has several candidate drugs that target these proteins and has enlisted John Hopkins University in the US to help assess them.  And Israel’s Vaxil Biotherapeutics has reported that its cancer vaccine, ImMucin (that boosts the immune system to prevent cancer returning) triggers an immune response in about 90 percent of all types of cancer.

Many Israeli innovations are successful due to the way they use a combination of technologies.  Take for example Israeli startup BrightWay Vision, which has developed “BrightEye” – a unique night-vision system that gives drivers a clear, panoramic view of the road, five times beyond the range of headlights.  The system sends out a pulse of light that is reflected back to a synchronized camera that only accepts images that the pulse generated. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dQ42UKfTs

The Israeli startup, SolView, works with solar panel installers to check instantly whether a particular roof could generate sufficient solar energy to justify installation.  SolView takes data from Google Earth to power its automated rooftop scanning technology.  Another Israeli startup HealthWatch Technologies connects your heart instantly to your cardiologist by means of a washable T-shirt with printed electrodes.  It can read a patient’s vital signs, which are then transmitted to the specialist – speed being the key to preventing heart attacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJvzTWNOlzk  

Despite what you hear from Israel’s enemies, Israeli society is increasingly “getting it together”.  In a recent survey, 65 percent of Arab citizens said they were either “quite” or “very” proud to be Israeli in 2014, up from 50 percent the previous year.  The majority had faith in the Supreme Court, Israeli police and in the IDF.  And we can all be proud of the IDF’s performance in humanitarian medical rescue missions – just watch this inspirational presentation by Brigadier General Professor Yitshak Kreiss describing the leadership, medicine and the personal dilemmas faced when putting back together the lives of those injured in overseas disasters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ismeUdKx6vw

There is no denying the togetherness that Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews share.  Unfortunately, these are troubled times for the Jews of Europe. 226 Ukrainian immigrants landed in Israel including dozens of families of refugees from eastern Ukraine. And as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to the youngsters at Taglit-Birthright Israel’s 15th anniversary event, “In Israel, every Jew can say, ‘I am a Jew, Je suis Juif,’ out loud and proudly, without fear. Come to Israel… This is your land.”  Israelis Michael (92) and Marion (90) Mittwoch know all about troubled times and are now experiencing the good times.  They have just celebrated the birth of a new great-grandchild – their 100th!  After escaping Nazi Germany, the Mittwochs immigrated to Israel where they got together to become the first couple to be married at Kibbutz Lavi.  All children and grandchildren live in Israel. 

I will conclude with two apparently inanimate examples of Israeli togetherness.  In the first, you can watch Tel Aviv and Jerusalem getting closer together (at least in travel time) by selecting full screen view to see an amazing video tour of the new road construction along the highway to Jerusalem, together with the Biblical locations along the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxo6NJ65Amc

And lastly, when filmmaker Micha Shagrir donated a 1667 Hebrew Bible to Haifa University, staff discovered that a Bible written by the same person was already on the library's shelves.  An Egyptian Armenian gave Shagrir his Bible in gratitude for his film about the Armenian genocide and Shagrir’s gift reunited the two holy books after 350 years.

Yes, in Israel, everything’s finally coming together.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com