This Week’s Sanity Report from Israel May 31, 2021
Israel goes way beyond what should be expected of any nation of comparable size and population. This week’s medical highlights include therapy for “incurable” wounds and diseases, life-saving discoveries, fast cancer diagnosis, organ donations and even the treatment of citizens of an enemy terror state. Israeli technology is literally “out of this world”; it is re-inventing the wheel and savng the planet from starvation. Israeli artists and athletes are smashing records, while Israeli organizations are ensuring that the Jewish State prospers financially and socially even in difficult times.
the highlights include:
- Israeli wound treatment uses patients’ own blood to save their lives.
- Israeli-invented pill camera to be given to 11,000 UK patients.
- Media reports of Israel’s civil war are fake news.
- Israeli technology is out of this world.
- 20 Israeli companies have partnered to make Israel’s roads safer.
- Almost every week there’s a new Israeli billion-dollar company.
- Israelis smash swimming and singing records at Euro events.
- Birthright has resumed free Israel tours for American Jews.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Blood clot treatment for chronic wounds. Israelis Dr Igal & Alon Kushnir founded RedDress Medical to develop ActiGraft – a revolutionary fast treatment that uses blood clots made from the patient’s own blood to heal chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers. It is saving lives in Israel, the US and 15 other countries.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://reddressmedical.com/
Early warning of dialysis problems. Israel’s PatenSee has developed an image system to detect deterioration of fistulas – the artery / vein connection from dialysis machines to patients. Over time these connections fail due to blockages (stenoses), risking blood clots and thromboses. The system is in trials at two Israeli hospitals.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.medxelerator.com/
Swiss partner to fight bowel disease. Israel’s CytoReason (see here previously) is partnering Swiss multinational Ferring to find new treatments for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CytoReason’s AI technology will enable the joint building of models of diseased cells on which therapies will be tested.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Clues to the origins of Parkinson’s. Researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Penn State College of Medicine have made an important discovery about the protein alpha-synuclein, associated with the development of Parkinson’s and dementia. It gives hope for new therapeutics to delay or halt their progression.
https://www.afhu.org/2021/05/
European certification for AI cancer detector. Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics (see here previously) has received Europe’s CE Mark for its Galen Breast image analysis solution to help pathologists detect various types of cancer. It follows successful trials in Israel and France.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
The easy road to recovery. Israeli founded Laguna Health aims to reduce costly hospital readmissions and shorten recovery times. Its app can provide patients in the US either with a fully digital and personalized recovery journey or enable interactions with live expert recovery coaches via text, telephone or video.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The inventor of the first ingestible camera. Technion UK’s webinar on 31st May features Israel’s Rafi Nave, senior researcher at Israel’s Technion. He headed the development of the PillCam, the world’s first ingestible camera for imaging the digestive tract. NHS UK is about to use PillCam for 11,000 patients across England.
https://technionuk.org/event/
Gazan children in Israeli hospital. Children from Gaza, being treated free of charge by doctors at Israel’s Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), normally go home after surgery. But due to Hamas rockets, 3 post-surgery Gazan kids had to stay in the SACH children’s house and six more in the hospital itself.
https://www.israel21c.org/
More supplies for the South. Israeli volunteer medical equipment organization Yad Sarah (see here previously) has sent hundreds of home hospital equipment, wheelchairs, crutches, respiratory aids etc. to reinforce its branches in the south of the country.
https://www.jns.org/yad-sarah-
Saving lives has no boundaries. Two real-life stories highlight the lengths that United Hatzalah volunteers will go to treat Israeli citizens of any religion, whose lives are in danger.
https://israelrescue.org/blog/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Coexistence Is real. Articles from executives including Intel Israel and SodaStream. Numerous Israeli startups (see here), multinationals and professions employ Israeli Arab Muslims working happily alongside Israeli Jews.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Working together. These articles are from some of the many groups dedicated to understanding and friendship between Israeli Jews and Arabs and residents of the Palestinian Authority-administered territories. The current situation is only inspiring them to work even harder.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.
Israeli Arab woman receives kidney from Jewish victim of Lod riot. One of the kidneys of Yigal Yehoshua, murdered in Lod, was donated to Randa, a female Arab resident of Jerusalem. She said, “I thank Yigal’s family, from heaven they will be comforted.” Five patients benefited from Yigal’s organs.
https://www.
Training for the underrepresented in Israeli hi-tech. Cybersecurity education platform Cybint and the 8200 Alumni Association are using myInterview (see here), to select candidates for a 3-month cybersecurity training course. The aim is to attract more women, haredim, Arabs and new immigrants to a career in cybersecurity.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
From the White House to VC founder. Israel’s Lee Moser describes her journey from chief of staff for the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. to become founder and managing partner of venture capital fund AnD Ventures. She realized that Israel’s strength was in technology and now controls a $30 million pre-seed tech fund.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
The Bright Initiative. Israel’s Bright Data has established The Bright Initiative to help work with British organizations to establish the UK’s National Data Strategy (NDS). During the consultancy stage, Bright Data highlighted the 3 key areas of the NDS – internet transparency, data skills, and the ethics of data collection.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Connecting the world with education. Israeli students joined thousands worldwide for the annual celebration of World ORT’s global education network. This year’s theme was “connection” with youngsters in Israel, Ukraine, Panama, Italy, Brazil, Russia and more participating in a digital postcard exchange and a live quiz.
https://www.jns.org/thousands-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Keeping satellites on track. (TY UWI) SatGuard from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI helps extend the life of orbiting satellites. SatGuard’s Earth-based AI system uses the satellite’s telemetry data to detect anomalies and faults at an early stage and alert the satellite operator to take appropriate action to prevent system failure.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
From Mars to Jupiter. The cryogenic cooler from Israel’s Ricor has been keeping the X-ray detector on the Mars Curiosity Rover operational on the surface of the planet Mars since 2012 (see here previously). Ricor now has 215 employees on Kibbutz Ein Harod and is participating in NASA’s mission to Jupiter’s Europa moon.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Israeli tech’s journey to the asteroids. Amongst recent news of Israel’s Ramon.Space (see here) is that some of its equipment still sits on the asteroid Ryugu, many millions of miles from Earth. It was used in the Japanese Space Agency’s 2014-2020 Hayabusa-2 mission. Hayabusa-2 will rendezvous with another asteroid in 2031.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Israel’s cloud. Google and Amazon Web Services have signed Israel’s $1 billion “Project Nimbus” contract to move the data of Israeli Government ministries and other public entities to “the cloud”. It will generate 3,000 jobs for local Israeli companies, which will build and operate Israel’s cloud-based data centers and services.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Reducing Europe’s wasted food. Israel’s Wasteless (see here previously) uses variable pricing to reduce the amount of supermarket food that is thrown away. Wasteless has just partnered Germany’s NX-Food, which operates the METRO stores chain. METRO’s first implementation will be at its Makro subsidiary in Poland.
https://jewishbusinessnews.
Toyota chooses Mobileye. Israel-based Mobileye (now part of Intel) and Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen AG are partnering to build advanced driver assistance and safety (ADAS) technology for Toyota. Mobileye’s EyeQ4 vision system, plus ZF’s Gen 21 radar, will interpret the environment around Toyota vehicles.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
The highway of tomorrow. 20 Israeli smart mobility companies have set up a consortium with Netivei Israel, aiming to reduce accidents and congestion on Israeli roads. Its core is the non-profit Israel Smart Mobility Living Lab (ISMLL) which is piloting a study along a 28km section of Coastal highway 2 south from Netanya.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Revolutionary new engine now runs on hydrogen. Israel’s Aquarius Engines (see here previously) has modified its innovative 10kg free-piston linear engine to use hydrogen fuel. The engine can greatly reduce global emissions and carbon footprint of automobiles and bring light to the developing nations (see video).
https://jewishbusinessnews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
AI processor of the year. Israel’s Hailo (see here previously) has won the 2021 Edge AI and Vision Product of the Year Awards for ‘Best Edge AI Processor’. The award recognized that Hailo’s AI chip transforms visual intelligence, enabling smart devices to run neural network-based applications more effectively at the edge.
https://www.edge-ai-vision.
Keep an eye on your potatoes. Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have developed a molecular bio sensor to detect early signs of plant stress, allowing farmers time to prevent crop failures. The sensor has been tested on potatoes – vital for world food security (and Israeli exports) but could be adapted to other key crops.
https://www.afhu.org/2021/05/
https://academic.oup.com/
https://www.tridge.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Unemployment falls again. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported the core unemployment rate fell from 7.9% to 5% in April. The broader measure of 10.6% includes those who should begin to return to work in June when Israel’s unpaid leave scheme ends.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Time for a career change. Covid is over, as far as Israel’s hi-tech jobs market is concerned, with Israeli companies fighting over available local resources. This is according to the OurCrowd High-Tech Jobs Index – a quarterly report tracks vacancies and hiring patterns of high-tech companies in Israel and abroad.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://blog.ourcrowd.com/
A conveyor belt of Unicorns. In 2020 16 Israeli companies became unicorns – private companies valued over $1 billion. This amounted to around 10% of new unicorns globally in 2020. 15 more Israeli companies have become unicorns already in 2021 – almost one a week. Israel is embracing a digital transformation boom.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://blogs.timesofisrael.
Sunbit becomes a Unicorn. With R&D centers in Tel Aviv and Binyamina, US-headquartered Sunbit has developed a payment method that allows US stores to offer their customers the option to buy now and pay later, in installments. Sunbit has just raised $130 million of funds, to reach a “Unicorn” valuation of $1.1 billion.
https://nocamels.com/2021/05/
Israeli cool startups. Four Israeli startups were listed in Garner’s 2021 Cool Vendors list. They are VOOM (Insurance), Run:AI (Enterprise AI Operationalization and Engineering), Lightrun (Monitoring, Observability and Cloud Operations) and Apiiro (DevSecOps). All have previously appeared in this newsletter.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
7 Israeli “disruptors” in top 50. CNBC’s 2021 Disruptor 50 list (of companies aligned with a rapid pace of technological change) contains seven Israelis (up from 5 in 2020). They are SentinelOne (at number 4), TytoCare (9), K Health (11), Snyk (15), Neteera (26), Sight Diagnostics (31) and Cybereason (32).
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Half a billion to invest. Israeli venture capital firm 83North has raised a new $550 million fund. This is the VCs sixth fund and will take its assets under management to $1.8 billion. 83North has invested in Israeli startups ironSource and Payoneer (who are about to go public) plus CYE, Trigo, Zerto, Via, and many others.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
BBC swaps one Israeli service for another. BBC Global News has replaced Outbrain (see here) – its Israeli provider of recommendations for the website BBC.com – with Israel’s Taboola (see here). Ironically, the Israeli firms recently cancelled a 2019 merger agreement (see here). (No change likely to BBC’s anti-Israeli reporting)
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Thousands of air passengers. On May 24th 18,000 passengers passed through Tel Aviv Ben Gurion’s airport with 134 flights taking off and landing. Many of the foreign airlines, who suspended flights during Operation Guardian of the Walls have now resumed Israel operations.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Promoting tourism in Dubai. Dubai’s Arabian Travel Market was billed as the first travel and tourism event to happen in person since the global coronavirus outbreak. Israeli booth marketed the country as the “Land of Creation”. Videos advertised Israel’s vegan food, its beaches and urged: “Book Your Trip Now” to Tel Aviv.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Wandera exits for $400 million. Israeli-founded, London based cybersecurity company Wandera, has been acquired by U.S. company Jamf for $400 million.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Investment in Israeli startups: Global-e Online raised $375 million; Forter raised $300 million; Sunbit raised $130 million; Wiz raised $120 million; Explorium raised $75 million; Salt Security raised $70 million; Snappy raised $70 million; Rapid Medical raised $50 million; AnyClip raised $47 million; Salto.io raised $42 million; Upstream Security raised $38.6 million; Thetaray raised $31 million; Cynerio raised $30 million; Twine Solutions raised $28 million; LightRun raised $23 million; Solidus Labs raised $20 million; Parametrix Insurance raised $17.5 million; Ramon.space raised $17.5 million; Promo.com raised $16 million; RightBound raised $12 million; Laguna Health raised $6.6 million; Kando raised $6 million; KAHR Medical raised $5 million; HopOn raised $4.5 million; Arugga raised $4 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Western Galilee Spring festival. The Western Galilee Now consortium of small businesses has just held its eight Spring Festival, supported by JNF-USA. Its 30 events highlighted the region’s variety of cultural, culinary, art, leisure and nature activities, as well as its geographical richness, history and multiculturalism.
https://www.jns.org/small-
Movie theaters (cinemas) to reopen. Israel’s Cinema City, YES Planet, Lev, and Hot Cinema chains are to resume operations for the first time since March 2020. Vaccinated citizens will be able to attend separate screenings to those for the general public, so that unvaccinated children can attend without Covid testing.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Eden shatters Eurovision record. Israel’s Eden Alene, whose parents made Aliya from Ethiopia, represented Israel in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. Although she didn’t win, her performance of “Set Me Free” included a glass-shattering B6 – the highest note ever sung in Eurovision history.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Euro swimming gold for Israeli teenager. Israeli Anastasia Gorbenko (17) took nearly 2 secs off the Israeli record in winning the women’s 200-meter individual medley final at the European Aquatics Championship in Budapest. She broke 4 more Israeli records at the event and now looks forward to the Tokyo Olympics.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
https://swimswam.com/17-year-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Para swimming medals. (TY UWI) Israel’s Ami Dadaon won 3 gold medals and set two new World records at the European Para Swimming Championships in Portugal. Israel’s Mark Maylar won 4 medals, including a gold while Iyad Shalabi won another gold and Yulia Gordiychuk won a bronze.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Chasing baseball gold in Tokyo. Israel’s baseball team, Team Israel is busy training and preparing for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. All 24 players have made Aliya and become Israeli citizens. JNF-USA is funding the team, plus the building of baseball fields in Israel to promote “Baseball for all” – Jews and Arabs.
https://apnews.com/article/
THE JEWISH STATE
IDF newlyweds donate their honeymoon. IDF Paratrooper Liron and his IDF bride Yarona decided to help Israel defend against Hamas rather than embark on their honeymoon. They decided to gift their honeymoon B&B break in Israel to a couple in the South allowing them to get respite from the thousands of Hamas rockets.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
From American youth to Israeli kids. Over 30 communities in the US have teamed up with Israel’s Colel Chabad to provide gift packages to young children in Yavne, Ashdod and Sderot. The age-appropriate gifts included books and hand-written notes to help the Israeli children through a scary, confusing time.
https://www.jns.org/youth-
First vaccinated Birthright tour arrives. After a gap of a year, the first Birthright Israel group has landed in Israel. The 10-day educational tour will take the vaccinated US students to Jerusalem, Masada, the Dead Sea, the Golan Heights, Safed, and Tel Aviv. Many more trips are planned from June to October.
https://www.jns.org/first-
10 years of English Teaching program. Masa Israel Teaching Fellows (MITF) is celebrating its 10-year milestone. MITF has brought some 1,700 college graduates from countries including the US, Canada and UK as volunteer English teachers at schools in 19 Israeli cities.
https://www.jns.org/masa-
A tale of two coins. Coins were minted by the Romans in CE 71 to celebrate their defeat of the Jews of Judea. Coins minted earlier by Jews were inscribed “For the freedom of Zion” (Jerusalem). Coins of both type were found in Jerusalem and in 1958 Israel minted a medallion depicting both coins to signify that Zion is again free.
https://www.israelunwired.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
