This Week’s Sanity Report from Israel April 14, 2024
As you probably know, Israel and its allies have just defended the Jewish State from hundreds of drones and missiles launched by Iran. The good news is that there were no Israeli fatalities and almost all of the projectiles were intercepted. This newsletter was compiled before the news of that attack.
the highlights include:
- A music graduate from Oxford Uni is now an agronomist rebuilding Israeli farms.
- A revolutionary Israeli alternative to antibiotics has begun human trials.
- Jews hand out dates to Muslim worshippers at the end of Ramadan fasting.
- Israelis fly out to help victims of Taiwan’s earthquake.
- An invitation to see some “cool” Israeli climate technology.
- Commercial organizations can help make Aliyah much easier.
- Israeli sporting stars are truly flying the flag.
- Two current Jewish Presidents helped write a Torah scroll for Peace.
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Fallen soldier saves five lives. (TY Yanky) The family of fallen IDF soldier Sivan Weil donated his organs. His heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and pancreas saved five seriously ill patients at Israel’s Sheba, Hadassah, and Beilinson Medical Centers. https://www.jpost.com/israel-
https://www.timesofi srael.com/liveblog_entry/
Protection at sea. For the first time, Israel deployed the C-Dome naval point defense system on a recently commissioned Sa’ar 6-class corvette to intercept an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that had entered its airspace near the southern city of Eilat. Here is an article about the event and the timely implemented new system.
https://www.jns.org/in-first-
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Rebuilding the South. Israel’s Ben Gurion University has launched “Way Forward” – a campaign to raise $1 billion for rebuilding the Negev region devastated on Oct 7. It will fund capital projects ($500 million), student aid ($250 million), and research excellence ($250 million). Philanthropists have already donated $380 million.
https://www.jns.org/ben-
How life can change. Danielle graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Music. She started a bureaucratic job with the UK Government. Then she went to The UK Limmud Conference, and now she is executive director of Israel’s Volcani International Partnerships, repairing devastated farms in southern Israel.
https://www.israel21c.org/
A positive BBC interview of 3 Israeli students! Has the perpetually anti-Israel BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen finally seen the light? There was little to complain about his five-minute interview of three students from Israel’s Ben Gurion University who fought against Hamas in Gaza. Apart from some unsympathetic questions.
https://americansforbgu.org/
Why Israelis are happy despite the war. Historian Gil Troy wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that the essence of Israeli happiness lies not in the absence of conflict, but in the deep social cohesion, enduring family ties, and a rich tapestry of tradition and history that bind its people, especially evident after Oct 7.
https://israfan.com/2024/04/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
A nano-polymer to deliver chemo. Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have developed a nanometer size polymer containing a peptide for delivering chemotherapy. In lab tests, it was over 50% successful in destroying resistant liver metastases (secondary cancer) materialized from colorectal cancer.
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-
https://www.sciencedirect.com/
The arms race in the gut. Ben Gurion University scientists have just published the results of their work reported here in 2019. In trying to develop a biologic remedy to reduce the methane produced by cows, they have uncovered a war in the intestines between good and bad bacteria and a probiotic toxin that tries to mediate.
https://www.jpost.com/science/
Fast-tracking cure for hospital infections. The US FDA has granted Fast-Track Designation to the groundbreaking antimicrobial peptide OMN6 from Israel’s Omnix Medical (see here previously). OMN6 is commencing a Phase II trial in patients with two deadly hospital-acquired pneumonias – HABP and VABP.
https://omnixmedical.com/2024/
Confirming Deep TMS treats depression. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s BrainsWay’s has published another positive study of 247 depression patients receiving its Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation treatment. 60% went into remission and 80% had a positive response. The results confirmed a 2023 study of 1,350 patients.
https://www.brainsway.com/
Improving mental health in the Police force. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s XRHealth (see here previously) is to deploy its VR/AR solution in a specially equipped “quiet room” at every police station throughout Israel. It aims to promote mental health resilience, decrease stress, anxiety, and aggression, and improve performance.
https://finance.yahoo.com/
Israelis are living longer. The number of Israelis aged 75 and over is growing by about 9,000 individuals per year. Life expectancy in Israel is 85 years for women and 82 years for men and continues to increase. Currently some 346,000 people receive elderly care benefits (e.g. home caregiver) as compared to about 180,000 in 2018.
https://www.jns.org/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Dates for break-fast. (TY Nevet) Muslims on their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem at sunset at the conclusion of the fast on the last Friday of Ramadan, were greeted by a Jewish family handing out dates. Sky News Arabia made this clip public, and the tweet has been viewed over half a million times.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
https://twitter.com/
Gazan children in Israeli hospitals. Many patients at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center and hospitals in Jerusalem are children from Gaza. They, and their families, have been allowed to remain in Israel during the war. One mother gave birth at Sheba and the baby provided bone marrow to cure its leukemia-suffering sibling.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Healthcare cooperation agreement with Greece. (TY Nevet) Israel and Greece have signed a five-year agreement to cooperate on various aspects of healthcare. It covers emergency preparedness, mental health, stem cell therapy and genetics, nursing, health insurance, diseases, organ donations & transplants, and much more.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
Aid to Taiwan. Israel’s SmartAID has sent members to join its local team in Taiwan to provide power and communications following the 3rd of April’s 7.4 magnitude earthquake. It is helping restore vital electricity, phone, and internet connections. See here and here for previous Israeli aid for Taiwan.
https://www.israel21c.org/
An honor for Douglas. It seems that author and journalist Douglas Murray has appeared on every major TV channel in the world since Oct 7. He is such a great speaker on behalf of Israel, so it is fitting that he received a special award from Israeli President Isaac Herzog for his efforts to support Israel during war against Hamas.
https://www.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Can science save the planet? In an enlightening pre-Earth Day webinar, Technion scientists will share their insights and research on sustainable development, renewable energy solutions, sustainable material innovations, and eco-friendly alternatives for chemical processes. Apr 17 (9am PT, noon ET, 5pm BST, 7pm Israel).
https://ats.org/events/
Climatetech incubator. (TY Atid-EDI) Israeli VC Climate First invests in exceptional early stage climate tech startups across Europe and Israel. Its latest (Israeli) group pitched recently in the UK. SoCold, Carbon Blue, Chiral Energies, Climate Crop, First Airborne, Nitrofix, RepAir Carbon Capture, Xfloat, and Polymertal.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://climate-crop.com/ https://firstairborne.com/ https://polymertal.com/
Other new Israeli climatetech startups. Israeli VC Climate First’s original group includes Israeli startups not previously reported here. They are Gigaton (algae to remove CO2), Hydro X (safe Hydrogen storage), Momentick (greenhouse gas monitoring), and Nakai Robotics (autonomous cleaning of ship hulls).
https://climatelaunchpad.org/
https://www.nakairobotics.com/
Revolutionary new digital printing. Israel’s Velox has created a paradigm shift in the digital printing industry related to rigid packaging. Velox’s technology offers high-speed, direct-to-surface decoration of cylindrical containers such as beverage cans. One environmental benefit is that it will allow aluminum cans to be recycled.
https://velox-digital.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
AI to decipher ancient texts. Engineering students at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University are employing Mask Language Modeling to read and translate damaged, centuries-old Hebrew & Aramaic inscriptions. The AI technique enables damaged content to be reconstructed more efficiently. See findings of their Embible model.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
https://cris.bgu.ac.il/en/
https://aclanthology.org/2024.
Intelligent advertising. (TY OurCrowd) Israeli dynamic advertising startup Clinch, has won an Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award from the Business Intelligence Group, for the most innovative applications of Generative AI. Clinch created and markets the award-winning Flight Control campaign activation platform.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/
https://clinch.co/ https://clinch.co/2024-
https://clinch.co/clinch-
An app for parents of ADHD children. Several apps (e.g. here) diagnose or treat children with ADHD, but nothing helped their parents. Now Israel’s Pery gives those parents an AI ally. The app tracks achievements, connects with doctors and teachers, and provides personalized science-backed strategies and expert advice.
https://www.israel21c.org/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Help for war-affected startups. Another social impact fund has been established to assist startups struggling for cash because of the war. A joint venture between the Southern Israel Bridging Fund (SIBF), the Rashi Foundation, and ICA in Israel, will invest $4m in startups developing tech that benefits society.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Texas loves Israelis. Israelis received a warm welcome at the annual SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin Texas hosting a combination of movies, music, and business expo. Israeli startups included RetiSpec (see here previously), and Yofi which distinguishes genuine customers from bots and malicious abusers.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.yofi.ai/
A springboard for 2024? Two finance industry leaders are positive about Israel’s hi-tech prospects. Firstly, from Dell Technologies Capital, and secondly from lool Ventures.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Azerbaijan promotes tourism to Israelis. Last year, Azerbaijan made history by becoming the first Shi’ite Muslim country to open an embassy in Israel. Azerbaijan Airlines operates 9 weekly direct flights from Baku to Tel Aviv. Azerbaijan was one of 12 countries represented at the Tel Aviv Tourism Exhibition (Apr 3-4).
https://www.jns.org/
Airlines resume flights. Montreal-based Air Canada is restarting flights to Tel Aviv. It initially will have four nonstop return flights a week from Toronto, and then in May, replace one with a nonstop return flight from Montreal. Ryanair resumes flights to Israel on Jun 2, the day after Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 1 re-opens.
https://www.jns.org/air-
Sun shines on solar energy acquisition. Israel’s SolarEdge has acquired Israel’s Wevo Energy. Wevo manages and optimizes EV charging sites with large quantities of EV chargers such as apartment buildings, workplace car parks and public charging locations across North America, Europe and the Middle East.
https://wevo.energy/media/
8 multi-million-dollar orders. In the last two weeks, Israel’s Gilat Satellite Networks has won eight orders for its technology worth nearly $50 million. They include from the US Department of Defense, the US Army, and an order for a public WiFi service that will give Internet access to thousands of people in rural Latin America.
https://www.gilat.com/
A personal concierge service for new Olim. The startup Belong is a paid concierge service to help new Israeli immigrants assimilate. It acts as a private social service, supplementing the free services of the Jewish Agency and Nefesh b’Nefesh. Belong also plans to carry out an active campaign promoting Aliyah around the world.
https://www.jpost.com/aliyah/
https://belong.co.il/
Other Aliyah concierge services. These are just a few of several other free, “for profit”, or sponsored services to help new Olim. Check their fees with them and / or their commission arrangements.
https://aliyahadvisors.com/ (UK – previously promoted here)
https://aliyup.co.il/ https://easylandingil.com/ https://www.unlimitedvips.
Cyber exits hits record $7 billion. The total value of the exits of only 24 Israeli cyber companies in 2023 reached $7.1 billion – compared to $2.45 billion from 35 companies in 2022. There are 522 active cyber companies in Israel. https://www.calcalistech.com/
Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 14/4/24: Israel’s SolarEdge has acquired Israel’s Wevo Energy. Israel’s Nayax (global payments) has taken over Israel’s Roseman (fuel station & EV management systems). Israel’s Hub Cyber Security has acquired Israel’s Qpoint Technologies (IT solutions).
Startup investment – to 14/4/24: Cyera raised $300 million (new Unicorn); Guesty raised $130 million; Velox-digital raised $38 million; PVML raised $8 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Orfeo ed Euridice. The Tel Aviv Opera stages a mesmerizing rendition of “Orfeo ed Euridice,” on Apr 16 (eve) and Apr 19 (matinee). See events calendar for other performances including for children during Passover.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://www.israel-opera.co.
Music from the Movies. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra has many upcoming concerts. E.g., on Apr 16 an evening of well-loved tunes from movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, A Fistful of Dollars, Shaft, A Clockwork Orange, The Wizard of Oz and a medley from the James Bond films.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://www.jso.co.il/en/
Art on the street. Enjoy an exhibition of street art at the Berlin in Florentin, until Apr 17 (5pm – 10pm). Also book for behind-the-scenes street art & graffiti insider walks in Tel Aviv, led by the artists themselves. And on Apr 15, you can do your own painting at ESRA’s Paint Night event – 7pm at Tel Aviv Art Studio.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://streetartpartner.com/ https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
Jerusalem houses are open again. The Open House Jerusalem festival that was postponed from Oct, is now back on. 152 locations will open their doors to the public, including historical sites, private houses, bridges, & hospitals. Also, a theater, where the architects who participated in building the sites will interact with visitors.
https://www.jns.org/
Tel Aviv Wine Festival. For the 6th year in a row, in honor of the Pesach holiday, the Tel Aviv Wine Festival will feature 45 vineyards, a DJ and performances, and more! Thursday, April 18 from 18:00.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
Tel Aviv Papaya Night Run. Tel Aviv Papaya Night Run (Apr 17) supports the communities of Otef Israel, IDF soldiers, and all Security and Rescue Forces. Register to run or just go to watch.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
Boxing for Blue & White. Israel’s Nili Block (see here previously) just won her seventh martial arts World title (61kg Muay Thai and Kickboxing) in Paris. She entered the ring to the music “Am Yisrael Chai”. She took the gold medal, draped in the Israeli flag as images of the hostages held by Hamas flashed behind her.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.iskaworldhq.com/
Publicity on the podium. (TY Hazel) Israeli racing driver, Ariel Elkin, won 3rd place in the USF Formula 4 Championship in USA. When he got to the podium the commentator told him to put down his helmet and lift up his trophy, but he refused & instead he lifted his helmet covered with the photos of the hostages held by Hamas.
