Thanks to our friends at Israel’s Good News . Israel’s newest university has invented a breakthrough low-wavelength radiation therapy for cancer Israeli Air Force pilots have inspired development of a medical simulator for surgeons. An Arab-Israeli company uses gold nano-particles in its radiation therapy system. Israel is to host the 2015 International Space Conference. Hadassah culminates its 100th anniversary with celebrations at its Medical Centre in Jerusalem Indigenous fish have returned to the once polluted, now clean waters of the Yarkon river.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
New cancer radiation treatment. At Israel’s recently upgraded Ariel University, experiments with sub-millimetre band radiation have proved effective at destroying the DNA of targeted lung cancer tumours. Lung cancer is extremely resistant to chemotherapy and aggressive radiation therapy would damage healthy cells.
Good news for psoriasis patients. Israel’s Can-Fite BioPharma announced positive interim results of its Phase II/III clinical trial of CF101 for the treatment of psoriasis, and is continuing to enrol patients in the study.
Vietnam veteran walks again. Sgt Theresa Hannigan (retired) became a paraplegic whilst serving in the US Army. Today she walks again thanks to her ReWalk exoskeleton from Israel’s Argo Medical. Argo announced at the AdvaMed 2012 conference in Boston that they are setting up their US HQ in Marlboro Massachusetts.
OECD praise Israeli healthcare system. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has stated in a preliminary report that Israel’s healthcare system is one of the best in the world. One of the highlights is the early diagnosis of chronic diseases, which reduces complications and prevents hospitalisation.
Surgical simulator, thanks to the IDF. Dr Warren Selman overheard a discussion on flight simulation between two Israeli pilots and then invented the Selman Surgical Rehearsal Platform (SRP). IDF support means it is already used to educate surgeons and once FDA approved it will be used with real patients.
Nobel Prize for Medicine. Read last week’s newsletter to see the connection between Israel and the Japanese scientist who just won the Nobel Prize for his experiment that turned mature adult cells into stem cells.
You read it here first. There has been quite a bit of recent media interest in the vaccine being developed by Israel’s Vaxil to prevent cancer re-occurring. (MFA report was in the good news newsletter of 6th Nov 2011.)
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Israeli-Arab Technion graduates go for gold. (Thanks to Israel21c) Metallo Therapy is developing a cancer treatment using gold nanoparticles that are injected into tumours to improve the effect of radiation therapy. Metallo comprises three Arab-Israeli employees – two of them Technion graduates and two of them women.
The Israel benefit Arab neighbours don’t talk about. Both Jordan and Egypt owe much of their exports to the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) set-up as part of their peace agreements with Israel. Products originate in Israel and are finished in the Arab countries before being exported to the USA. As this recent article explains.
“It is time to stop the hatred”. (Thanks to Adrienne) Abdulateef Al-Mulhim published this article in Saudi Arabia’s Arab News. “Life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers.” Also on BBC World.
Israel gives humanitarian aid, just for its own sake. Israel gave development aid to 110 countries in 2011. Most of those countries hold almost no international, economic or political power. They included Haiti, Nepal, El Salvador, Malawi, Chad and East Timor. Please read how Israel is currently helping Haiti.
Israel helps Kenya remove Al-Qaeda from Somalia. The Kenyan army has captured Somalia’s Indian Ocean port of Kismayo, driving Al Qaeda’s Somali terrorist franchise Al Shabaab out of its last strategic stronghold. Israeli support included planning and intelligence advice, unmanned drones and counter-terrorism training.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Israel to host International Space Conference. Israel’s meteoric rise to become one of the world’s aeronautic space powers has been rewarded by being named as the venue for the International Astronautical Federation’s Conference in 2015. Over 3000 scientists attend this annual event.
Where inventors met investors. The Israeli Patents Exhibition in September was the ideal place for creative minds to market their innovative ideas and get their products off the drawing board and into production. Israel Solodoch, founder of Nufar Natural Products (and a renowned inventor himself) described the event.
Waze’s new water feature. (Thanks to NoCamels) The popular Israeli social smartphone navigation application Waze now has a new feature. As you pass near a lake or river, it tells you if the water is fit for swimming in. If not, it even tells you who is responsible for the pollution.
Hi-tech in Herzliya. 170 TechAviv members met-up at Herzliya’s Inter Disciplinary Centre last week. They were treated to a talk by Israeli entrepreneur superstar Jon Medved and demos of two website to mobile transfer platforms UppSite and Folloyu. Plus a film and free pizza. That’s how to inspire Israeli hi-tech innovators.
Israel’s largest biogas facility. The recently inaugurated Be’er Tuviya biogas plant owned by Israel’s Eco-Energy will scoop up the waste of 14,000 cows and in total roughly 15% of all chicken and dairy farms in the country. All that manure will then be used to generate 4MW of electricity for powering around 6,000 homes.
Israel and USA boost eco-friendly ties. Israel and the USA have expanded their 21-year-old environmental Memorandum of Understanding to include research development, information sharing, green technology development, water sources management, land rehabilitation, air quality and ecological economy ventures.
Energize in Eilat. Eilat is hosting the ENERGYVEST Summit in November. Israel’s renewable energy conference will showcase many of the new technological breakthroughs that the Israeli energy innovation industry has to offer.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Maryland’s alliance with Israel. The Maryland-Israel Exchange agreement is unique in that it proactively finds partners for Israeli companies, and provides a mechanism for both inspiring start-up investment and collecting venture capital resources that will enable the overseas collaboration. Here is how it works today.
Another Israeli company becomes American. Israelis Doron Harlev and Leon Amariglio founded the Rhythmia Medical in 2004 and built it into a leading manufacturer of cardiac electrophysiology devices. Boston Scientific has just bought it for a “hearty” $265 million.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
A late birthday present. For those that missed King David’s 3052nd birthday in June, I’m forwarding his request to publicise the video of his Tel Aviv street party – in the spirit the recent festive Simchat Torah celebrations. Thanks to the King David Museum.
10,000 puppet fans. The Jerusalem Puppet Festival in August was the largest ever held in Israel. The Train Theatre venue hosted over 100 shows in six days. For those who missed it, there is still a chance to catch the train.
There’s still time to party. Temperatures in Tel Aviv are currently in the upper twenties (centigrade) so there is still time to enjoy the top beaches in the world. Gordon beach features at number 4 on this travel site’s list.
Environmental award for cycle trail. The 42 km bike trail around the Israeli city of Be’er-Sheva has won a special prize in the annual ECO-Awards run by the European Ramblers’ Association.
Tel Aviv joins Charter of Brussels. Not to be outdone, the White City has officially joined the European Cyclists’ Federation cycling promotion program, also known as the Charter of Brussels. Over 60 major cities in Europe, all have pledged to promote cycling both through legislating and by creating the proper infrastructure.
Israel qualifies for lacrosse world championships. (Thanks to Israel21c) Israel assembled a lacrosse team just two weeks before the European championships. Israel’s eighth position earned it membership in the Federation of International Lacrosse — and a place in the 2014 World Lacrosse Championship, in Denver.
Six-nil. Israel had its first win in the 2014 World Cup soccer qualifying competition. Tomer Hemed scored a hat-trick in an emphatic 6-0 victory over Luxembourg, which may signify a turnaround in the team’s fortunes.
THE JEWISH STATE
Hadassah – a century of achievement. Hadassah, the voluntary Women’s Zionist Organization of America, has been working for the land and people of Israel for 100 years. The celebrations culminate in October at the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem – where medical care and research benefits people worldwide.
From lost tribe to Rabbi. (Thanks to 12Tribe Films and ShaveilIsrael) Yehuda Gin, from the Bnei Menashe tribe of Jews living in India, made Aliya in 1992. He eventually became a Rabbi and now teaches Jews from China about Judaism.
On the wings of eagles. In 1991 I watched from the runway of Ben Gurion Airport as IAF C4 Hercules planes flew more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews into Israel during Operation Solomon. 21 years later, Ethiopian Airlines chose to make Ben Gurion the first stop for their new Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft.
Life begins at eighty. It did for octogenarians Yakov (85) and Moshet Pedagog (82) who immigrated to Modi’in, Israel with Nefesh b’Nefesh in August. After long careers in education, they do not plan to relax.
Or maybe 112. Zechariya Brashi was born in Kurdistan in 1900 and came to pre-state Israel in 1936. He spends his days studying Torah and writes books about the Jewish mystical text, the Zohar. His secret to long life – don’t overeat!
Spain backs the Jewish State. Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez, in her speech in the UN General Assembly, declared Israel to be “The embodiment of the project to create a homeland for the Jewish people”. She rejected PA Chairman Abbas’s “right of return,” demand for the mass immigration of Arabs to Israel.
Prime Minister studies Torah. PM Netanyahu returned from the Negev to attend his second study session to honour of his father-in-law who died last year. The PM said he came from the biblical desert landscape back to Jerusalem to “connect to the foundations of our existence, and there is no firmer a foundation than the Bible.”
Kinneret is at highest Oct level for six years. The height of Israel’s vital natural reservoir is 1.2 meters above that at this time last year. As Jews worldwide began their annual prayers for winter rains, Israeli skies opened up and the level of the Kinneret rose for the first time in five months.
Rare Tapir born at Ramat Gan Safari. The baby is the first male Tapir to be born at the Israeli zoo and was born just 15 months after his sister. His mother was also born at the zoo – very rare events for the endangered South American species.
Yarkon fish returns after 50 years. The freshwater Yarkon Bleak fish (known in Hebrew as the Lebanon fish) hasn’t been seen in the mid-stretches of the Yarkon River for several decades. But thanks to a substantial improvement in water quality, Acanthobrama telavivensis have returned to inhabit their ancient waters.
