This Week’s Sanity Report from Israel June 2, 2024
Israelis might not have the wisdom of King Solomon, but some of their inventions, innovations, and achievements are extremely clever.
Israeli electronic sensors can restore the sense of touch to damaged nerves. Doctors are 3D-printing prosthetics for amputees in Israeli hospitals. An Israeli smart catheter is the first device specifically designed to clear blocked veins. And Israeli long-distance tele-medicine is treating and caring for patients across Israel and in Africa.
Smart sensors make Israeli beehives 50% more productive. An Israeli innovation improves the health of cows and the quality of their milk. Israeli paint prevents diseases. The roads are less polluted thanks to Israeli electric mopeds, and the free world is safer thanks to Israeli hi-tech defense systems. Plus much more.
The photo is from a recent concert in Netanya by a popular band that very cleverly weaved together Israeli, Jewish and American folk music. Their name is appropriately, “The Solomon Brothers”.
the highlights include:
- Israeli doctors saved the Arab girl critically injured in Iran’s attack on Israel.
- An Israeli dedicated his Mount Everest climb to an Oct 7 victim.
- Israeli medical tech is in touch with patients physically and virtually.
- An Israeli device is the first to unblock veins to treat DVT.
- A kibbutz startup devastated on Oct 7 is eradicating diseases at an Israeli hospital.
- Israeli electric mopeds deliver the goods in Europe, the UAE & South Africa.
- Israel topped the medals table at the Jiu-Jitsu European Championships.
- Golden ring discovery makes a full-circle connection between Jews and Jerusalem.
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Bedouin girl saved. Israeli doctors have revived Amina al-Hassouni, the seven-year-old Israeli Bedouin Arab Muslim girl who was critically wounded in Iran’s massive missile and drone attack on Israel in April. She had been put into an induced coma whilst surgeons fought to save her life. She is conscious and speaking again.
https://www.
Kidney donor saves IDF commander. On Oct 7, a Hamas terrorist wounded company commander Avichai Moula, and a few days later his kidneys began to fail. Of 3,400 offers to donate a kidney, Eitan Aviner from the Samaria town of Yitzhar was found to be the best match. After the transplant, the families met and embraced.
https://www.
15 babies. (TY Yanky) 15 babies have been born since Oct 7 to members of Kibbutz Nir Am, which was attacked by Hamas on that fateful day. This photo encapsulates Israelis sense of hope, optimism and belief in a shared future. https://www.instagram.com/
Rebuilding Kibbutz Be’eri. The process of restoring communities devastated on Oct 7 is beginning. The first of approximately 250 mobile homes have arrived at Kibbutz Be’eri, to provide survivors with temporary accommodation while their homes are being rebuilt.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Cafes for Southern evacuees. Cafe Otef in Tel Aviv’s Sarona complex supports survivors from Gaza envelope communities. Seven of the hardest-hit communities will each have their own rent-free cafe run by their own residents, where they can gather, work, and chat with locals who come in to support them.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Project Heroes. Gilad Segev’s Project Heroes is an immersive multimedia show that weaves together recorded and live music, music videos and documentary scenes – in English or in Hebrew with English subtitles – to honor the unexpected heroes of Oct 7 and its aftermath. All profits go to those impacted by Oct 7 events.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israeli battery chargers for the IDF. The IDF has commissioned Israel’s Epsilor (see here previously) to develop multi-charger racks (MCRs) for batteries in the launchers of its Spike SR and LR precision missiles. Epsilor manufactures millions of batteries and chargers for scores of customers around the world.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
From the lowest to the highest. Israel’s Ran Kraus has climbed to the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. He dedicated the achievement to his friend Matan Mordechai Lior, an Oct 7 victim. Krauss has also successfully climbed Kilimanjaro (Africa), Elbrus (Russia), and Aconcagua (Argentina).
https://israfan.com/p/israeli-
Support for reservist engineering students. Afeka Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv (see here previously) has launched the “AsOne” student-support fund. It has allocated NIS 5 million and is raising another NIS 10 million to help the 42% of its students called to active military duty since Oct. 7.
https://www.jns.org/wire/4-
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Restoring the sense of touch. Nerve damage in the hand results in loss of both motor and sensory capability. Surgery can restore movement, but not sensation. Israel’s Tengable has developed tiny sensors that are implanted under the skin. On touching an object, an electrical charge is transmitted to a healthy nerve-ending.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
3D-printing body parts. Since Oct 7, Israel’s Synergy3d Med has progressed from 3D-printing prosthetics for animals (see here previously). Its Patient Specific Instruments (PSIs) create customized replacement limbs or implants of bones and joints for wounded Israelis, inside hospitals in a few hours. Also used in UK and Spain.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Caring for patients remotely. An updated article about Israel’s Laguna Health (see here previously) whose AI platform records and analyzes conversations during telehealth consultations for social, emotional, and cultural context. It highlights issues enabling care managers to treat their hundreds of patients as individuals.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
A virtual hospital. Israel’s Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva has launched a virtual medical center in line with a 25% increase in demand for telehealth services since Oct 7. The Beilinson NEXT service is available for no additional cost to all Israelis. They can be treated whilst in their kitchen or workplace.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Wearable devices can save lives. Dr. Shirit Kazum-Beiser is Head of the Sports Cardiology Clinic at Israel’s Beilinson Hospital. She said that smart technology accessories, such as smartwatches, provide data that cardiologists can use to advance research and development and, with new AI tools, can save many lives.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Transforming healthcare. The 150 innovative Israeli health-tech companies presenting at the 2024 BioMed Israel conference featured several new to this newsletter, including Epilog (companion app); Innoventric (valve replacement); Pangea Bio (AI oncology); and QRGenetics (AI therapy discovery).
https://www.israel21c.org/13-
https://epilog.world/ https://www.innoventric.com/ https://pangeabiomed.com/ https://qrgenetics.com/
Clearly the best way through. Israel’s Veinway has developed Traversa – a literally revolutionary device that removes blockages in narrow veins caused by disease, clots, scar tissue etc. It can treat many of the 900,000 US patients diagnosed with Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). Compassionate use trials have been very successful.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
One happy donkey. (TY Atid-EDI) Miri, a 7-year-old female 3-legged donkey with an abscess under its hoof was in so much pain, that euthanasia was the only option. But after one injection of liposomal-CBD from Israel’s Innocan (see here previously), Miri regained her mobility and the abscess healed.
https://finance.yahoo.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Woman at sea. Technion graduate Rafaella Waissertreiger is a natural gas engineer for Chevron on the Tamar gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea, some 50 miles from Haifa. As an offshore facility engineer, she is responsible for operations support and project management, working with 10 other Technion alumi.
https://ats.org/our-impact/
After-school tennis continues for Arab & Jewish kids. Despite Oct 7, the Freddie Krivine Initiative is still running four afterschool tennis and community clubs for Arab and Jewish youth.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
50% better beehives. To coincide with World Bee Day on May 20, Israel’s BeeHero (see here previously) has reported that its hives have, on average, close to 50% more bee frames (the structures holding honeycombs) per hive when compared to the industry norm. BeeHero is the world’s largest provider of pollination services.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Science agreement with Guatemala. Israel and Guatemala have reached an agreement to promote scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries, furthering bilateral relations. It includes exchanges of researchers in the fields of fields of agriculture, water and artificial intelligence.
https://www.jns.org/israel-
Fixing Rwanda children’s hearts. A team of 22 cardiologists, physicians, nurses and medical staff from Israel’s Save A Child’s Heart travelled to Kigali, Rwanda to treat young cardiac patients. Children will also be flown to Israel for surgery as part of a 5-year agreement. SACH has also trained two Rwandan doctors in Israel.
https://www.jns.org/medical-
Israeli medical tech in Ghana. The JDC(Joint), and the Ruderman Family Foundation have launched a new healthcare initiative, ImpactWell, which utilizes Israeli mobile and tele-medicine technologies in developing countries. Its one-year pilot has reduced illness and infant mortality and improved life expectancy in Ghana.
https://www.jns.org/wire/jdc-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Aid to Papua New Guinea. Israel’s Foreign Ministry is assessing what assistance Israel can provide to alleviate the suffering of the many thousands of victims of the Papua New Guinea landslide. PNG is a good friend to Israel and in Sept moved its embassy to Jerusalen.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Redefining the dairy industry. Israel’s Yotvata (see here previously) has partnered with Israel’s Mileutis (see here previously) to make the milk industry more sustainable. Yotvata’s Dairy Farm management system, plus Mileutis’ Imilac product creates healthier, happier cows that produce better quality milk without antibiotics.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Turning PVC waste into fuel in Thailand. Israel’s Plastic Back (see here previously) has teamed up with Thai petrochemicals company SCG Chemicals on a project to recycle polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste into naphtha fuel for industrial use in Thailand.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Getting into hot water. Israel’s Sowillo Energy (see here previously) has developed a system to use energy from the hot water wasted in showering or washing dishes or clothes. Instead of going down the drain, the system redirects the water to a tank where it heats a coil that generates hot water for others in the building.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Paint that kills pathogens. (TY Aubrey) Israel’s Nirlat’s Kibbutz Nir Oz paint factory was destroyed on Oct 7. But together with Israel’s Nanosono (see here previously) it created Aquanir Active Shield – an acrylic paint that eliminates almost all bacteria, viruses, and molds. It is already being used at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
The robot that picks and packs. More on the robotic technology from Israel’s 1MRobotics (see here previously). Select your goods and a robot will retrieve your purchased items in under 10 seconds. The first autonomous grocery store will be operated by a supermarket chain with 20 stores in New York.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-
From the patient’s perspective. Israel’s OtheReality has developed a virtual reality app that teaches medical staff to show more empathy with patients. The startup launched via a partnership between Bar-Ilan University and Sheba Medical Center’s ARC Innovation Center, and is being piloted at Sheba and other Israeli hospitals.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.othereality.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
See Israeli innovation in Washington DC. Israel Aerospace Industries has inaugurated its first visitor’s center in the US, in Washington, D.C. IAI says it reflects its strategy to work to deepen business and technological activities with its partners in the U.S. IAI also plans to launch an innovation center in DC at the end of July.
https://www.jns.org/israel-
Top-rated software again. (TY Atid-EDI) For the second year in a row, Israel’s Zesty (see here previously) has been named a Top Rated Software by FeaturedCustomers, the world’s only customer reference platform for B2B business software & services. Zesty optimizes the cloud computing usage of its 500+ customers.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
https://www.featuredcustomers.
Putting AI into Excel. Israel’s DataRails (see here previously) has developed FinanceOS, a financial planning and analysis (FP&A) platform that integrates artificial intelligence into the Excel program. It connects Excel securely to the company’s cloud systems and then automates the updating of spreadsheets with cloud data.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Tel Aviv startups lead the world. Despite the war, Tel Aviv continues to outperform other global tech hubs like San Francisco and New York. Almost one in every 20 of the city’s privately held startups (4.8%), backed by venture capital, has become a unicorn (valued over $1 billion) – the highest percentage in the world.
https://www.israel21c.org/tel-
3 huge new towers for Tel Aviv. (TY Yanky) In another sign of a vibrant, growing economy, in 2026 Carasso Group will start building 3 towers in Tel Aviv, each of 41-48-floors. The 410 housing units will include 144 affordable homes, as well as some 120,000 sq meters of office, commercial, hotel and public space.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
They all want Arrow 3. (TY UWI & ILTV News) One month after Iran’s missile assault on Israel, and Israel’s Arrow 3 defense system is now in very high demand. Many countries are negotiating with Israel’s Aerospace Industries. Germany (see here) recently bought the system for $3.5 million (see here previously).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
An electric delivery experience. Israel’s Blitz Motors (see here previously) replaces gasoline-fueled delivery motorbikes with cheaper, safer, and more sustainable electric mopeds. It says 400 mopeds save 29.000 trees a year. Companies use Blitz e-mopeds in Israel, the Netherlands, the UK, the UAE, Belgium, and South Africa.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Robots for the US Marines. Israel’s Roboteam (see here previously) has won another US order – this time to supply 200 Micro Tactical Ground Robots (MTGR) to the US Marine Corps. The MTGR is a lightweight tactical all-terrain robot equipped with 360-degree imaging cameras. The IDF use MTGRs in Gaza.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Google’s AI lifeline fund. (TY OurCrowd) Google’s AI Lifeline fund (see here previously) is supporting several cash-strapped Israeli startups. They include MagniLearn, NeuroBrave, and IXDen.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Can you trust an on-line company with your data? Israel’s Hoggo has created an AI-driven platform that combs through and assesses a company’s publicly available policies on consumer protection. It creates a privacy passport and grade that prospective online buyers and sellers can read to decide if they can trust them.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
https://hoggo.io/
Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 2/6/24: Israel’s CyberArk is acquiring US-headquartered Venafi for $1.54 billion.
Startup investment – to 2/6/24: Firefly.ai raised $23 million (co-founder murdered on Oct 7); Orca AI raised $23 million; Unlimited Robotics raised $5 million.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
So busy in Jerusalem. (TY Sharon) Recent and forthcoming Jerusalem events include Economy and Society Conference, Education Week, Writers Festival, “In-attention” new tech & design at Hansen House, Design Week, Jerusalem Street Orchestra concert, and the Lag B’Omer bonfire and dancing at the Kotel.
https://rjstreets.com/2024/05/
The Israeli Mind: The Story of Israeli Innovation. I have just been alerted to this book, by Galit Hemi, which was written in 2021. The Calcalistech article below features ICQ, and the four Israeli “nerds” who kick-started Israel’s Hi-tech Revolution. https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.amazon.com/
30 years of writers’ café. Tmol Shilshom, the literary (dairy kosher) coffee house in Jerusalem’s Nachalat Shiva neighborhood, is marking 30 years with a series of events in June.
https://www.timesofisrael.
https://www.tmol-shilshom.co.
Dig, Dive & Discover. The University of Haifa’s School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures (SAMC) has launched a new science-oriented international one-year master’s program in archaeological research. It brings underwater and coastal archaeology, geology, geoarchaeology, history, ecology, and lab work under one roof.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
A sure bet for success. Israeli actress Daniella Pick, wife of acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino, is to play the lead female role in a new American action thriller titled, “The Perfect Gamble”.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
Hiking the Holyland. (TY Laura) The next group hike organized by Hiking the Holyland is on Jun 9. Ben Zaltzman will guide the group along the 23rd segment of the Israel Trail, through Hadera Forest. 13.5 km of easy, flat walking from Hadera Stream to Turtle Bridge. Transport available from Tel Aviv.
https://hikingintheholyland.
Jiu-Jitsu team European gold & silver. (TY Hazel) At the 2024 Jiu-Jitsu European Championships, Israel topped the medals table. In the Team Competition, the Israeli B team won, and the A team were runners up. Sara Kovaliov, who is deaf, won the para gold and sang Hatikva in sign language. (see Facebook videos)
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.insidethegames.
https://www.sportdata.org/ju-
THE JEWISH STATE
2,300-year-old ring found in Jerusalem. (TY UWI) Archaeologists discovered a 2,300-year-old child’s ring at an excavation in Jerusalem’s City of David archaeological park. The gold and gemstone ring upgrades the previous historical view of the nature and stature of Jerusalem’s inhabitants in the Early Hellenistic Period.
https://www.
Israel’s largest mezuzah scroll. Rabbi Meir Peretz from Ashdod has written a 56 cm (22-inch) mezuzah – roughly a third of the size of an average person. Rabbi Peretz is a certified Sofer (scribe) of the Mishmeret Stam Institute, but admitted it was a very complex task. The mezuzah cost the customer NIS 1500 (approx. $400)
https://www.
Celebrate Jerusalem Day. Jacob Richman has updated his Jerusalem pages to include new links for Yom Yerushalayim on June 4th – the anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 during the 6-day war.
https://jr.co.il/hotsites/
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/
And many more charities here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
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/
