This Week’s Sanity Report from Israel July 7, 2024
There are many signs that Israelis are continuing with their work to make a better world, despite the continuing war on many fronts. The wounded returning to work, Oct 7 victims opening cafes, new innovative medical devices and procedures.
The economy expands with increasing gas exports, private and government support for startups, funding, and partnerships, plus a huge demand for Israeli defense technology. Israel is the new powerhouse in Artificial Intelligence systems that will improve our lives, while Israeli sustainable innovations guarantee to safeguard our planet and feed a hungry world.
You can see all these signs on Israel’s streets and in the positivity shown by Israeli youth and in the excitement of the participants of youth groups visiting Israel.
The photo (TY Sharon) is one of many of the signs that Israeli couples are determined not to let the war postpone their plans to build a future in the Jewish State.
the highlights include:
- Israeli doctors “think outside the box” to save lives.
- Good support for Israel from Germany, Taiwan, India and Argentina.
- Seven Israeli AI products that benefit society.
- Google has signed Israel’s largest office rental agreement.
- An Israeli dancing dog astounds the judges on America’s Got Talent.
POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
Wounded ICU doctor vows to work again. Dr Yoav Bichovsky, of the intensive care unit at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, was wounded beyond recognition by Hamas in Gaza. He is now regaining his speech and motor skills at the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Center in Ra’anana and is resolved to return to treating patients.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Family reunions, in Gaza. Several videos are circulating showing brothers in the IDF meeting up unexpectedly in Gaza. Here is one where a father is reunited with his son.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Pittsburgh paramedic is back in Gaza. A video of Isaac Nadoff, a paramedic from Pittsburgh, is circulating currently where he explains his 2.5-week holiday in Israel on Oct 7 became 4.5 months including 50 days in Gaza. He returned to Pittsburgh for 3 months and now he’s “back in Israel for round two”. Kol Hakavod!
https://www.everand.com/
Donating shares to Oct 7 children. The fund, Valoo for the Kids, has so far raised around $20 million in stock donations to help support Israeli child victims of Oct 7. Founders, angel investors, and employees donate shares in tech companies. As the company’s value grows, so does the value of their donation.
https://nocamels.com/2024/07/
https://forkids.valoo.io/
Outfitting IDF soldiers. (TY Yanky) Cousins Yael and Terri are known by IDF soldiers as “Terri’s Angels.” Since Oct 7 they have distributed hundreds of bags of gear to thousands of IDF reservists requesting gloves, tents, sleeping bags, scissors, medical kits, and more, supplied by donors and brought to Israel by volunteers.
https://forward.com/news/
Second Café Otef opens. Following the successful launch of Café Otef in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market (see here previously), Cafe Otef – Re’im has opened in Tel Aviv’s Florentin neighborhood. It will sell Dvir Chocolates, the line of confections created by Re’im resident Dvir Karp, murdered on Oct 7.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Removing shrapnel with a metal detector. Removing metal fragments from the neck and head is complex. At the Galilee Medical Center, they use a small metal detector, purchased on-line from AliExpress, to locate the exact position of bullets or fragments of shrapnel, which are then removed without damage to vital tissues.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Doctor saves life on the way to work. Dr. Amir Orlev, director of the cardiology department at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, was on the way to work when he noticed a man lying on the side of the road. He diagnosed that he was suffering from a massive blood clot in the lung, catheterized him, and saved his life.
https://www.jpost.com/health-
Laser treatment saves leg amputation. Doctors at Netanya’s Laniado Medical Center have for the first time in Israel used an AURYON laser device from Eximo Medical (see here previously) to remove an arterial blockage in a patient’s leg and avoid amputation. Israel’s Eximo was acquired by US-based AngioDynamics in 2019.
https://www.jpost.com/health-
Faster, clearer CT bone scans. The Veriton SPECT/CT system from Israel’s Spectrum Dynamics performs a bone scan in 12 mins instead of the usual 45. Image quality is also far better, thanks to its camera with 12 heads, each with a novel digital radiation detector that gets near to the patient. Used at Schneider hospital and globally.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://spectrum-dynamics.com/
https://spectrum-dynamics.com/
A hormone-free birth-control pill. Rachel Teitelbaum moved to Israel from the USA in 2003 and founded Hervana Bio in 2008. It has developed a safe contraceptive tablet containing the bacteria lactobacilli found in yoghurt but enhanced to produce antibodies that bind to sperm, removing them from the fertilization process.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
https://hervana-bio.com/
76 new ambucycles. United Hatzalah has inaugurated 76 new ambucycles (emergency motorcycles) – one for each of modern Israel’s 76 years. The vehicles were paid for in a matching partnership with philanthropist Dr. Miriam Adelson and will be deployed all over Israel. Several were dedicated to the memory of fallen medics.
https://www.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
A combat unit for religious women. The IDF is creating a new all-female combat unit for religious women soldiers. The unit will be part of the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps and the women enrolled will receive spiritual support and guidance. Rabbi Ohad Teharlev, head of Midreshet Lindenbaum, will supervise the unit.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
A pro-Israel village in Norway. (TY UWI) Sokndal, Norway (not to be confused with Sogndal) is possibly the most pro-Israel village in the world. The residents, primarily Christian, express their solidarity with Israel through an array of flags and symbols, reflecting a profound bond rooted in faith and shared values.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Expanding gas exports. Israel’s influence in the oil & gas market is set to improve following the preliminary green light from Israel’s Energy Ministry to more than double exports of natural gas from the Leviathan field. Customers in Europe and the Far East prefer to import gas from Israel, rather than from Russia.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Germany’s new citizenship law. The country’s new citizenship law goes into effect, requiring those applying for a passport to affirm they believe that Israel has a right to exist. It is part of an overhaul to emphasize German values and protect Jewish life in the country.
https://www.jns.org/new-
Taiwan steps up for Israel. (TY Rhoda) Since Oct 7, relations between Israel and Taiwan have been growing fonder and stronger. The Taipei government has donated many thousands of dollars to Israeli causes, condemned Hamas and declared solidarity with Israel. Officials have even picked fruit on Israeli farms.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Indians stand with Israel. (TY UWI) Israelis and other Jews enjoy traveling to India. Hindus and Jews are both ancient civilizations facing the threat of Islamic terrorism. Hear some Indians in Israel talk about common interests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Argentinian ambassador is a Rabbi. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz welcomed Argentina’s incoming ambassador, Rabbi Shimon “Axel” Wahnish, to Jerusalem. He noted that under the leadership of Argentina’s President Javier Milei, the relationship between the two nations will reach new heights.
https://www.jns.org/katz-
Israeli universities receive redirected $5 million donation. US donor David Magerman is giving $1 million to five Israeli institutions, including Israel’s Technion Institute, Bar-Ilan University, and the Jerusalem College of Technology. He halted his donations to the University of Pennsylvania due to its handling of antisemitism.
https://www.jns.org/american-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The best speech to text. Israel’s aiOla (see here previously) won the “Best Speech to Text Solution” award at the annual AI Breakthrough Awards. aiOla’s Natural Language Processing and Automatic Speech Recognition accurately interprets complex jargon, acronyms and accents in 100 languages, regardless of background noise.
https://nocamels.com/2024/06/
https://aiola.com/blog/ai-
https://aibreakthroughawards.
Replacing the court stenographer. Israel’s Verbit (see here previously) provides automated captioning and transcription services to over 2,000 businesses worldwide. It is now launching Legal Real-Time, providing reliable real-time transcriptions for legal proceedings at a fraction of the cost of traditional stenography.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
A video-based lie-detector. Israel’s Revealense Technology has unveiled illuminator – an AI platform to identify the behavioral DNA of individuals using video analysis. It could transform decision-making processes for managers, investigators, psychologists, researchers, and more. Useful for recruitment, banking, doctors, etc.
https://revealense.com/
AI to check AI fraud. Israel’s Corsound (a subsidiary of Israel’s Cortica – see here previously) has developed AI technology to detect a cloned voice – if a recording of your voice was digitally manipulated to impersonate you. It can also check that a voice matches a photo of the speaker. Voted FinovateEurope 2024’s Best of Show.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-
https://www.corsound.ai/ https://finovate.com/videos/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Detecting fakes from true content. Israel’s TrueMedia.org helps people discern real from fake content. TrueMedia has developed about 15 models to identify AI-created audio, video, and images, achieving around 90% accuracy. https://www.calcalistech.com/
Using AI to monitor legal compliance. Israel’s Shield has developed a generative AI (GenAI) platform to help financial services companies maintain legal compliance and avoid issues such as misconduct and market manipulation by their employees. Shield analyzes communications from emails, messages and voice calls.
https://nocamels.com/2024/06/
AI to protect the vulnerable. Israel’s EyeKnow.AI has developed a safety platform with cameras and artificial intelligence to predict hazardous and violent incidents such as falls, slips and physical violence, in hospitals and care facilities. It can raise an alert before a situation spirals into a full crisis involving patients or staff.
https://nocamels.com/2024/06/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
An AI matchmaker. Israel’s Heyoosh is the world’s first AI-based personal matchmaker. The founders’ main goal was to make the digital dating environment safer. Currently only available on iPhone, it allows users to get to know each other’s personalities, rather than appearance. Images are not shared and privacy is a priority.
https://www.israel21c.org/bye-
https://www.heyoosh.com/ https://www.instagram.com/
Light years ahead of time. Israel’s CogniFiber is developing DeepLight photonic processors that utilize multi-core optical fibers to process data at the speed of light. It means processing speeds can increase up to 1,000 times, while using only 1% of the energy. https://www.cognifiber.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
DeserTech Innovation Center. The DeserTech Innovation Center in Beer Sheva is part of the World Zionist Village, which aims to create a Living Lab for research, education and development of startups. It will be a hub for DeserTech, ClimaTech, AgTech, FoodTech, clean energy, conservation, and more.
https://zionistvillage.jnf.
https://zionistvillage.jnf.
A sustainable solution to weed control. One of the Israeli startups on show at Israel’s 2024 PlaneTech conference in Tel Aviv was AgriPass. Its (proof of concept) tool mimics a human laborer with modern tech. AI-powered sensors identify the weeds, map the terrain, and instruct the tilling heads to pull out the weeds.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Turning wastewater into protein. Although Israel’s Fabumin was included here previously I forgot to mention its sustainable benefit. Fabumin purifies the wastewater discharged from the vegetable processing industry, extracting the “mud” to make “aquafaba” – an egg substitute. Clean water and “no-chicken” eggs.
https://nocamels.com/2024/06/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Best funding quarter in two years. Israeli startups raised $1.9 billion in funding in the second quarter of 2024 – its best quarter since Q4 2022. A further $1 billion was raised by Wiz – the highest raised in one round in Israeli history. https://www.calcalistech.com/
$80 million Korean fund. (TY OurCrowd) The South Korean NHOC Global Open Innovation fund will invest in DeepTech (engineering and scientific innovation) startups in Israel & South Korea. It will be one of the largest international investment funds, aiming to invest $80 million in some 30 startups from both countries,
https://nocamels.com/2024/07/
Israel’s largest rental deal. Google is to lease some 60,000 square meters in Tel Aviv’s ToHa2 Tower at an annual rental of NIS 115 million. The tower is still under construction – due to be completed in early 2027. It will be the largest office rental deal in Israel’s history, both in terms of space and rental value.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
3-week response. eHealth Ventures specializes in early-stage health tech startups. It operates a fast-track investment program that promises a response to all investment requests within three weeks. A positive response guarantees an investment of NIS 3 – 3.5 million within three months and acceptance into its incubator.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Driving economic recovery in the North. Startup Nation Central is partnering with Tzafon Medical Center near Tiberias to help drive economic recovery in northern Israel. Startup Nation Central will help Tzafon train medical staff, create global partnerships, and connect to the local and global health tech innovation ecosystem.
https://www.jns.org/startup-
Big demand for counter-drone defense. Israel’s D-Fend Solutions (see here previously) is expanding its US presence due to growing demand. D-Fend’s anti-drone systems have been installed worldwide by militaries, law enforcement and homeland security agencies, and even major international airports.
https://nocamels.com/2024/06/
Partnership to secure smart cars. Israel’s Argus (part of Germany’s Continental AG) has partnered with Microsoft to develop a next generation, end-to-end platform for automotive and mobility security. The Argus Vehicle Security Platform, plus Microsoft’s software and GenAI, secure software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
https://nocamels.com/2024/06/
https://argus-sec.com/company/
Startup investment – to 7/7/24: Sendblocks raised $8.2 million; CogniFiber raised $5 million.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Cyber security and art exhibition. The exhibition “Protecting the World: Israeli CyberSecurity Technologies” at the CyberWeek conference in Tel Aviv, featured 25 Israeli cyber technologies, each represented by a rare lock, some are over 2,000 years old. Cyberweek was attended by 9,000 attendees from more than 80 countries.
https://www.gov.il/en/pages/
Shira Haas wins at Monte Carlo festival. Israeli actress Shira Haas received the Jury Prize for her role in the TV drama “Night Therapy” at the 63rd Monte Carlo International Television Festival.
https://www.israel21c.org/
All on me. Israel’s 2018 Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai has released her debut Hebrew album “It’s All on Me”. The video features the title track – set in an Israeli outdoor market.
https://www.jns.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israeli dancing dog has got talent. (TY Nevet) Israeli dog trainer Roni Sagi and her dog Rhythm won a standing ovation for their two-minute dance routine on America’s Got Talent. Unbelievable! 1.1 million views.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Signs of the times on Israel’s streets. (TY Sharon) There were many positive signs on the streets of Jerusalem last week. See Sharon’s photos of the parade lion, the welcome sign at Navon station, the new Nano Science building, new displays and events at the ANU, ads for summer events, graduations, weddings, and music.
https://rjstreets.com/2024/06/
Israeli hits home run in US debut. Israel’s Assaf Lowengart smacked a three-run home run in his first baseball match for New York Boulders at their home stadium. He helped his team to an 11-1 win against the New Jersey Jackals. After Oct 7, Assaf worked as a volunteer agricultural laborer on a kibbutz.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Israel at the Tour de France. The Israel PremierTech cycling team has made a reasonable start to the 2024 Tour de France race. Hugo Houle was ninth on Stage 2 and Pascal Ackermann sprinted to sixth on Stage 5. The IPT team is in 14th place overall. Derek Gee is the highest IPT individual at 21st of the 174 riders.
https://israelpremiertech.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
Torah study in Gaza. An IDF unit in Gaza has completed the study of the Talmud tractate Bava Metzia during pauses in their battles with Hamas terrorists. These soldiers exemplify resilience and commitment to their faith during these tumultuous times.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
How did Jews get to Ethiopia? There are some 15,000 Israelis of Ethiopian decent living in Beer Sheva, including Naftali Aklum, whose brother was key to the mass Ethiopian Aliya. Naftali relates two of the legends as to the Jewish origins of today’s Ethiopian Israelis. https://www.youtube.com/
Bob Marley’s grandson’s Bar Mitzvah. Reggae icon Bob Marley’s son Ziggy is married to an Israeli, Orly – of Jewish, Iranian descent. Ziggy posted a photo of himself with his son Abraham at “his celebration of becoming a man according to the ancient tradition he has reached that age of responsibility and change.”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
2,000 attend Birthright mega event. More than 2,000 participants on Birthright Israel programs gathered for the Mega Event at Mini Israel Park in Latrun – the highlight of the organization’s summer trips to Israel. Israel’s 2024 Eurovision singer Eden Golan and others gave performances in solidarity with the IDF.
https://www.jns.org/
The secret to success in the IDF. IDF Brig Gen (res) Amir Avivi, founder of the IDSF (Israel’s Defense Security Forum) explains how he managed to motivate the 800 soldiers under his command. And the important message that this sends to all supporters of Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
How to help Israel. Here are some sites where newsletter readers can donate to Israeli organizations that provide vital help to Israelis at this difficult time. Many thanks to those who have already contributed and to those who are helping by donating their own valuable time and resources.
Friends of the IDF (US donors): https://www.fidf.org/
or IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel: https://www.ufis.org.il/en/
American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/
or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/
Zaka (US donors): https://donate.zakatelaviv.
or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/
United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/
Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/
JNF USA – https://my.jnf.org/gaza-
Orthodox Union – https://www.charidy.com/
Schneider Children’s Hospital: https://www.fos.org.il/en/
https://system.smartgiving.
https://chaischneider.org/
Rambam Medical Center (Haifa) https://aforam.org/ways-to-
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/
Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/
Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/
Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B)
https://www.
USA – https://www.israelbonds.com/
Europe – https://israelbondsintl.com/
Canada – https://www.israelbonds.ca/
