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Charles Abelsohn – Letter from Israel – Israel and Israelis Around the World

Hi again from Israel, I thought it might be a nice idea to look at what Israel as a country or Israelis as individuals have been doing around the world recently. Israel is geographically a small country with a relative smallish population. But acting on the world stage is a mindset, not a function of numbers. All the world is a stage, wrote Shakespeare. Due to the Covid 19 virus, we are mainly at home, many of us under lockdown.

Let`s take our seats as part of the audience as we zoom in on Israel and Israelis making their entrances around the world.

But before we start our tour of Israel around the world, I wish those who are celebrating Pesach, Chag pesach kasher ve`sameach and to those celebrating Easter, a happy Easter. May we all be safe, well and healthy. You are welcome to distribute this Letter from Israel to your family and friends. Warm regards from Israel, Charles Abelsohn. Truth be Told.

In historic first, Israel Air Force flies above Dachau concentration camp in Germany

A joint drill by the Israeli and German air forces in August 2020 included a historic flyover above the Dachau concentration camp in memory of the Holocaust and above Munich in memory of the victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

Two Israeli F-16s and two German Eurofighters escorted an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Gulfstream G-550 carrying the commanders of both air forces – Israel Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin and chief of the German air force Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz – over the camp memorial outside Munich.

The IAF Gulfstream was piloted by Lieutenant Colonel G, the first female squadron commander of the IAF. As the Israeli fighter jets approached the Dachau site, Norkin said: “From the past’s memory of darkness, we carry on our wings a future obligation, forever and ever.”

Then the flyover passed above the Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base where 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered during the 1972 Summer Olympics in a terrorist attack carried out by the Black September Palestinian terrorist group.

At the end of the aerial maneuver, a formal memorial service was conducted at the Dachau concentration camp, with German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Israeli Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff in attendance. Among the Israeli delegation members were descendants of Holocaust survivors, including one of the pilots Major Y, deputy commander of the IAF’s 109th Squadron, who is a grandson of a Holocaust survivor of Dachau. Abba Naor never imagined that he would live to see the Israeli Air Force fly by the concentration camp in which he was imprisoned 75 years ago. Abba, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor, was a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp.

During the Holocaust, he and millions of other Jews had no Jewish state to come to their rescue. Now his dream had turned into reality. He witnessed the Israeli Air Force and German Luftwaffe fly side-by-side, committing to a better future and together affirming: Never Again.

Naor`s story: https://www.youtube.com/embed/0MuIEmcGKwE https://youtu.be/0MuIEmcGKwE (If cannot open, please copy and paste into your URL. The video of Abba Naor`s story is 7 minutes) Taking place 75 years after the end of the Second World War, this historic event was the first joint exercise between the Israeli Air Force and German Air Force on German soil. Hermann Goring, the commander of Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe and one of Adolf Hitler’s chief lieutenants, must be turning in his well-deserved grave.

 

Dr Tal Zaks, Chief Medical Officer, Moderna.

A week after granting an emergency-use authorization for the country’s first COVID-19 vaccine, US regulators have followed with a second: another RNA vaccine, this one made by Moderna of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The leadership in Moderna’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was provided by an Israeli, Tal Zaks.

Dr. Tal Zaks family lives in Ra`anana, Israel. Dr Zaks received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Ben Gurion University in Israel and conducted post-doctoral research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Zaks then worked in the lab at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The NCI is regarded as the mecca of research in the field of tumor immunology.

Dr. Zaks began his industry career at GlaxoSmithKline in the genetics research group, where he built the oncology translational medicine team. In addition to his industry work, Dr. Zaks is associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and has served as a volunteer physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, treating patients with genitourinary cancers. As chief medical officer, Dr. Tal Zaks oversees preclinical development, clinical development and regulatory affairs across Moderna and its ventures including the development of the Covid[1]19 vaccine.

Through his leadership over the past year in Moderna’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tal`s contribution extended beyond Moderna to all of society. Dr Zaks: “I want my mother to get vaccinated and the rest of us to get vaccinated so life can return to normal,” he said. “I take this responsibility deeply and personally.” At the end of this Letter, please find Dr Zak`s description of the process, in his own words.

Israeli drone kept tabs on spread of fire in Washington state

This past summer saw serious fires raging from California to Washington State. Friends facing a difficult situation? Israel became involved. The raging fires covered a huge area but information was urgently needed.

How? A drone, named the Sparrow, developed by Israel’s Percepto, a maker of unmanned aerial vehicles, helped telecom conglomerate Verizon inspect critical communications infrastructure where rescue workers could not access the area in person. In addition, air quality was unsafe for humans, rendering manual inspections of communications infrastructure impossible To access the remote and inaccessible areas with one of its Percepto autonomous drones, Verizon’s drone subsidiary, Skyward, attained a special “beyond visual line of sight” (BVLOS) waiver from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The waiver enabled Skyward pilots to fly the drone missions from their homes, enabling 24/7 operations without any pilot or observer on site. How was the drone piloted? The flight operations team included an operations manager observing from Alaska, 1,600 miles from site; the director of aviation development centers, 25 miles from the site; a remote pilot 23 miles from the site; and a remote navigator 18 miles from the site, the company said in a statement.

The operators instructed the drone where to go and at what altitude to fly, and the drone provided real-time photos and videos that allowed rescue workers to monitor the situation and predict the spread and direction of the fire, analyze images and identify people in the area. Israel`s Sparrow is a world leading first step in turning drones into life savers, when used in difficult conditions of disasters, weather damage or security incidents.

California Governor Praises ‘Beautiful Example’ Set by Israeli Firefighters Who Came to Help in On going Wildfire Battle

In addition to the Sparrow drone, Israel also provided firefighters. California’s governor offered a fulsome tribute to the group of Israeli firefighters who rushed to the state to help their colleagues combat the nearly two dozen wildfires raging there.

The ten Israelis spent two weeks assisting the state’s emergency response to the blazes. California Governor Gavin Newsom said, “Mutual aid is a beautiful example of people from all backgrounds and communities coming together to help one another.” “Grateful for the strong partnership between California and Israel, and for this crew of Israeli firefighters who came to CA to help battle these historic fires,” he added.

The fires burnt more than 750,000 acres and forced hundreds of thousands of evacuations. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg tweeted on their arrival, “We welcome a delegation of firefighters from Israe.l As a Jewish mayor, I’m particularly proud and happy to see them come to our aid.”

 

Israeli firefighter Idan Braun, who had come halfway around the world to help fight Northern California’s wildfires, couldn’t believe his eyes. “The mind can’t understand the size of this fire,” he said, describing the monster blaze in Napa and Sonoma counties. “It’s huge, it’s huge.”

Prince Charles: Israeli genius is maintaining the NHS

This Letter is about Israel and Israelis around the world. So why mention Prince Charles`s visit to Israel?

 

The answer is simple. During his visit, Prince Charles brought to our attention the important contribution Israel makes to the UK, in the UK, particularly in the field of technology. After meeting people behind technological projects, he said “it seems to me like Israeli genius is maintaining the entire structure of the National Health Service (NHS), along with a great deal of other technology,” and spoke of “riveting developments and ingenious inventions.”

Now we know why I made mention of Prince Charles in Israel. It took a Prince Charles for us to become fully aware of Israel`s many contributions to the United Kingdom. Let`s look at two specific Israeli contributions to the UK. In 2018, the UK Northern Health Sciences Alliance (NHSA) signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel to bring health and medical technology innovations to the North of England. So far, the hub has closed about 175 partnerships in deals worth approximately £85 million.

Israel is well on the way to becoming one of the UK’s most prominent business partners in the medical technological industry. Another instance of Israeli technology saving British lives. Israel’s Ibex Medical is assisting the UK’s National Health System (NHS) diagnose cancer from biopsies. Ibex has teamed up with UK’s LDPath to provide pathology services in 24 different NHS trusts. Standing in front of a screen showing a Union Jack flag waving, Charles joked that when he sees Israel’s success, “certain things about the British Mandate weren’t so bad after all.”

Elbit Systems UK unit wins £123m Royal Navy contract

Let`s continue with Israel`s contribution to the UK. Since the days of Sir Francis Drake in the 16th century, we take it for granted that the Royal Navy (no need to even add which country) rules the waves. Israel also remembers less pleasant encounters with the Royal Navy in the years prior to Israel`s independence.

With this background, which is the best country to assist the Royal Navy with some of its training requirements? Sorry, wrong. Not the UK. Yes, correct if you said: Israel. Israel has been selected to supply shore-based training systems as part of the Royal Navy Future Naval Training Program. Elbit Systems UK Ltd. has been awarded a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence for the Royal Navy Future Naval Training Program.

The contract will be performed over a 12-year period. The program calls for the transformation and modernisation of the shore-based training of the Royal Navy, including the establishment of the Future Submarine School.

In summary, Israel, through Elbit, is assisting to modernize probably the most famous Navy in the world, the Royal Navy, by delivering next-generation training capabilities to the Royal Navy. No wonder Prince Charles is amazed by Israel`s technological contribution to the UK. While we are at it, let`s see who is protecting not only the UK but also Europe. In addition to its recent contract with the UK navy, Israel’s Elbit Systems also recently concluded important contracts with Greece, the Swiss Army, the Netherlands, Romania, the UK army, Germany and Spain. Reminder: Most of these countries refused to supply Israel with weapons over the years particularly during Israel`s hour of need.

A doctor without borders

Micka, 23, was the last person rescued from under the rubble of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake and brought to the Israel Defense Forces field hospital in Port-au-Prince. Though one leg had to be amputated, Micka survived. Ten years later, she had an emotional reunion in Haiti with her Israeli orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Elhanan Bar-On. “And just a few weeks ago, she sent a picture of her newborn baby girl,” he says.Bar-On says that he will never forget Micka, one of the countless people he has helped to heal in disaster zones.

 

Dr. Elhanan Bar-On, director of the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response at Sheba Medical Center, goes wherever he’s needed. Bar-On, 68, heads the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response, founded in 2017 at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. Bar-On says the Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response is unique because it is situated in a major hospital—the largest medical center in the Mideast.

“We have access to almost endless medical resources, staff and technology. We can mobilize teams within eight hours without paralyzing the hospital’s function.” He and his teams have deployed to disaster sites across the globe, including Zambia following a cholera outbreak, Guatemala after a volcano eruption, Mozambique following a cyclone and Samoa last year at the height of a measles epidemic. His involvement in disaster and humanitarian work goes back decades.

In addition to practicing as an orthopedic surgeon for over 20 years—he was chief of pediatric orthopedics at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah—he has a master’s degree in public health. “Alongside my work at Schneider, I was doing emergency medical response throughout the world,” says Bar-On. “I was head of orthopedics in the IDF field hospital on several missions, including Haiti.

“We have projects with the Democratic Republic of Congo and with the Dominican Republic, and our burn team went to Haiti last January right before COVID,” he adds. Recently the Israeli team went to Jericho to advise Palestinian medical staff on combating COVID-19 in the P.A.-administered territories and Gaza, as well as a video meeting with colleagues in Myanmar. Last year, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, an international team of burn surgeons led by experts from Bar[1]On’s center and the National Burn Center at Sheba flew to Haiti to set up the first pediatric laser unit to treat disfiguring burn scars in children.

Dr Bar-On: “Israel does have a heart for being active in humanitarian activities”.

 Israel-Dubai trade reaches $272M since normalization

Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed in August 2020 to normalize diplomatic relations, giving an immediate boost to a slew of business deals and agreements.

In just five months, trade between Dubai and Israel has reached $272 million. Dubai`s exports to Israel ($165 million) were almost twice as high as Israel`s exports to Dubai ($88 million). Transit flow of goods accounted for the balance of the total trade volume.

Trade between the United Arab Emirates and Israel is currently projected to grow to $4 billion in the coming years. This expansion of trade and investment between the two sides will benefit not only the business communities in the UAE and Israel, but also other business communities in the Middle East.

Israeli national rugby team competes against UAE in first ever historic UAE v Israel rugby match

It began with ping-pong diplomacy with a match of table tennis (ping-pong) between players of the United States (US) and People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1970s.

The warming relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have seen many historical collaborations in a variety of fields ever since the Abraham Accords were signed in August 2020.

Now, the sport field is headed not by ping pong but by rugby diplomacy as rugby joins the list of exciting new collaborations between Israelis and Emiratis – creating new opportunities for rugby fans in both countries.

On March 19, the teams met at Dubai’s Rugby Park in the city’s Sports City, for the first ever friendly match between Israeli and Emirati national teams in any sport, in a back-to-back seven-a-side clash with a twist.

The first match saw the UAE take on Israel in a match consisting of four seven-minute periods. Then, next, they shook things up as two mixed teams of both Israeli and Emirati players — Israel-UAE Blue and Israel-UAE White —locked horns over three periods.

UAE and Israel rugby players listen to the UAE and Israel national anthems which were played before the match. The match was played without an audience due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

In the game, Israel defeated UAE 33-0. Here are several pictures: https://www.khaleejtimes.com/photos/sports/photos-israel-uae[1]rugby-teams-face-off-after-new-ties#slide9

The coronavirus pandemic did not hinder the Israeli team’s efforts. According to a Rugby Israel statement, the team continued to train during the pandemic and was in top shape for its match in Dubai.

The unexpected collaboration between Israel and Dubai ahead of the upcoming European Rugby Championship Cup was made possible thanks to an agreement signed between Apollo Perelini, technical director of the UAE rugby team and Kevin Musikanth, technical director of Israel Rugby.

According to Musikanth, rugby has the power to bring people together from different cultural groups. “Rugby is a game born around discipline and comradery – the ability to work together for something greater than yourself,” he says, adding that he hopes the upcoming events will change the way Israelis view rugby.

“It’s a special moment. To play in this friendship match is truly amazing, and the most important thing is not about the result. It’s just the event and it’s really amazing to be part of it,” Perelini, the UAE head coach, told Khaleej Times. Who would have thought this picture and match possible even several months ago?

Israel’s national Olympic rugby team will remain in Dubai for a further joint training camp with the UAE’s national rugby team ahead of the European Rugby Championship Cup, starting June 19.

For those who may not be aware, Israel’s national team ranks 60th in the world and 17th in Europe.

During the 2021 European Rugby Championship Cup, Israel will compete with Romania, Ukraine, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Luxemburg, Denmark, Latvia, Hungary and Turkey.

Fruits of peace:

Israeli pomegranates on sale at the market in Dubai. The UAE not only sells Israeli products, but also displays them proudly with the Israeli flag.

Moderna`s Vaccine: We now return to Dr Tal Zaks and an Optional Reading: How one of the very first scientists responsible for the second successful Covid-19 vaccine described the process. The wording is that of Dr Zaks.

“All of our cells have the same DNA in them. That’s our nucleic acids. That’s our genes. But different cells have different functions, right? A skin cell is different than a cell in my eye. And what makes different cells unique, they all have the same genes, but it’s different parts of those genes that get translated into proteins.

And it’s the proteins that every cell makes that makes that cell unique. The way that we translate our genes into proteins is through an intermediary. Think of a carbon copy. It’s a temporary copy of a part of our genes that tells that cell to go make that kind of protein. And that temporary copy is the messenger. That’s called the “We make the messenger RNA that encodes just for that little snippet of the virus. … That’s our vaccine. … It teaches the immune system now to recognize the rest of the virus.”

Because every protein that’s made is made via a messenger RNA that tells the protein[1]making machinery what protein to make, if we could introduce our own sequence into that equation, if we could put our own messenger RNA, we could actually coax a cell to make a protein that is not necessarily in its genes, that it didn’t know it was supposed to make. And that’s the fundamental biological concept of messenger RNA.

So what do we do when we make an mRNA vaccine? We don’t teach the body to recognize a virus by giving the whole virus or making bits of the virus. We basically just take the information, the genetic code of the virus, and we go and we make the messenger RNA that encodes just for that little snippet of the virus, and that’s what we give the human body. That’s our vaccine. That’s what we inject into the muscle. Once it goes into the body, it goes into some cells and it actually then teaches those cells; those cells go off and make that protein.

Once the cells make the protein, that protein is displayed to the immune system, and it teaches the immune system now to recognize the rest of the virus. So that is the fundamental biology of all of our drugs and all of our vaccines. The reason that we can go so fast as you mentioned is because we’re starting from information. The Chinese published the sequence on January 11 of SARS-CoV-2. On January 13, we had all the information. We had decided this is going to be the sequence of the vaccine. On January 13, we started to manufacture our vaccine.