This Week’s Sanity Report from Israel Nov. 10, 2024
Like our ancestor Abraham, Israelis use the lessons of the past and a positive outlook, to go forward and build a better future for the Jewish State and for the whole of humanity.
The highlights include:
- At least five news articles featuring Israelis bravely responding to adversity.
- A major Israeli medical discovery, trials and a new treatment for cancer.
- Israel organizes vaccinations for over a million Gazan children.
- 9% of Time Magazine’s “Best inventions of 2024” are Israeli.
- Israeli innovations are globally preventing accidents and catching criminals.
- Thousands of Bedouin Arabs watch Israel’s first state-approved camel race.
- Two vital new resources for teaching children about Israeli history.
POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
Standing tall again. (TY Hazel) Nati Ganon was seriously injured by Hamas terrorists at the Nova party on Oct 7 2023. After enduring nearly 400 grueling days of treatments and rehabilitation, Nati stands tall again and able to continue to raise his three children. See him dance with Israeli-Arab Zionist Yoseph Haddad (2nd link).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Proud sisters. (TY Hazel) Despite losing their elder siblings at the hands of Hamas terrorists, Yael Eshel, sister of Sgt Roni Eshel, and Yuval Marciano, sister of Cpl Noa Marciano, have just begun their IDF service on the same day. Their sisters were serving together on Oct 7 at the IDF’s Nahal Oz base near the Gaza border.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
From Sderot to the Technion, with nothing. Hila was planning to study at Israel’s Technion Institute on Oct 10, 2023. When Hamas attacked Sderot on Oct. 7, Hila had to evacuate her home, arriving at the Technion without any belongings. The Technion, however, made sure she had everything she needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Farming under fire. Moshav Liman, just 1.3 miles from Lebanon, had a population of 850 before Oct 7. Now, some 125 hardened Israelis continue to cultivate their small family farms. They include Kfir and Clarise who lived through bombardments in 1978, and the Lebanon wars of 1982 and 2006. They stayed then, as well.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Turning shelters into schoolrooms. (TY WIN) Kibbutz Yehiam near the Lebanese border, has converted its bomb shelters and protected rooms into classrooms. Now, over 110 students can locally learn instead of being driven on school buses to schools some half-an-hour away. When safe, children join from outside the kibbutz.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
“Heros of Life”. Israeli emergency NGO United Hatzalah honored Oct 7 volunteers and victims at a “Heroes of Life” Memorial Ceremony in Jerusalem. The ceremony also paid tribute to United Hatzalah’s volunteers who played a pivotal role on Oct 7, and in the ensuing months, transporting wounded to hospitals while under fire.
https://israelrescue.org/en_
Homeward bound. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Tekuma Administration – the government’s arm for rehabilitating the Gaza periphery – reveals that 87% (50,000 out of 64,000) of Gaza border residents have returned to their homes. 244 projects, totaling $1.7 billion, have been initiated, to rehabilitate the region.
https://www.israelhayom.com/
The first Haredi IDF combat brigade. The Tavetz training base in the Jordan Valley will serve as the training ground for the first cohort of ultra-Orthodox soldiers who will form part of a standard infantry brigade called “Hashmonayim”. It is also the first entirely new regular infantry brigade since the 1980s.
https://www.jns.org/idf-
https://www.jpost.com/
Spurs fans sing for hostage. 70 fans of UK soccer team Tottenham Hotspur (“Spurs”) sang before their team’s match against Aston Villa, to publicize the plight of one of their own fans, Emily Damari. Emily was abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct 7 2023. She holds both British and Israeli citizenship.
https://www.jns.org/tottenham-
US Jews support Israeli businesses. Since Oct 7 2023, American Jews have increased their purchases of Israeli Judaica by 134%. The study, conducted by business management students at the Jerusalem College of Technology, demonstrates American Jews’ solidarity with war-impacted Israeli businesses.
https://www.jns.org/study-u-s-
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Another antibody to combat cancer. Following last week’s Israeli cancer breakthrough (see here), now Weizmann Institute researchers have found an antibody (against CD84) that prevents tumors building molecular bridges from suppressing the immune system. Lab tests were successful at treating triple-negative breast cancer.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
https://wis-wander.weizmann.
https://www.cell.com/cell-
Treatment for Esophageal cancer. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s BeiGene has received Israeli Ministry of Health approval for its TEVIMBRA® to treat Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) after chemotherapy. It has also gone on sale in the USA. https://ir.beigene.com/news/
https://ir.beigene.com/news/
Treatment for knee osteoarthritis. Denmark’s Medicines Agency has approved Allocetra cell therapy from Israel’s Enlivex (see here previously) for Phase II clinical trials on patients with osteoarthritis in the knee. 40% of men and 47% of women develop knee osteoarthritis in their lifetimes. Allocetra also treats Covid and cancer.
https://enlivex.com/investors/
$17 million for autism research. (TY Yanky) Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Prof Haitham Amal (see here previously) is the only non-USA member of a new consortium focused on pioneering autism research. It has just been awarded a research grant of $17 million by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
https://international.huji.ac.
Front-line soldier saves 3-year-old. (TY UWI) A three-year-old boy hospitalized in Jerusalem with a severe blood cancer got a new lease on life thanks to the selflessness of Matan Amir, a 21-year-old IDF soldier fighting in Gaza who was identified as a suitable bone marrow donor for the toddler.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
Low blood sugar and green Med diet. An international study led by Israel’s Ben-Gurion University scientists showed controlling blood sugar levels is a significant key mechanism linking diet to slower brain aging. The 300-participant study was one of the longest and largest brain MRI trials in the world.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/
Nobel prize winners’ Israel connection. The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA. Both men were awarded Israel’s Wolf Prize in 2014. Ruvkun, who is Jewish, won the Dan David Prize, headquartered at Tel Aviv University, in 2011.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Scientist, dancer, teacher and mother. Dr. Anastasia Braginsky, PhD graduate of Israel’s Technion Institute, teaches computer systems at the Technion, is a professional dancer, a ballroom dance instructor, and a mother of two. She also works full-time in Israeli hi-tech, now at Red Hat, having been previously at IBM and Yahoo!
https://ats.org/our-impact/dr-
Global entrepreneurial university. Tel Aviv University (TAU) has maintained its global position as the seventh highest institution for producing entrepreneurs – graduates who founded companies and raised capital. TAU is also the highest ranked non-USA institution. (See here for previous years’ rankings)
https://english.tau.ac.il/
1.1 million Gazan children vaccinated. The latest polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has been completed, with some 1.1 million vaccines administered and a vaccination rate among children of over 90 percent. 211,170 children were vaccinated in northern Gaza; 379,361 in central Gaza; and 517,070 in southern Gaza.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Hundreds of sick Gazans evacuated. In one day, 231 patients and caregivers left Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing and Ramon Airport to receive medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates and Romania. It was just one of several humanitarian initiatives led by Israel in collaboration with the UAE, Romania and the EU.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
4 female navigators in Israeli attack against Iran. Four women combat navigators flew in F-16 fighter jets as part of the successful Oct 26 Israeli response to Iran’s missile attacks.
https://www.
They get it. Straightforward message from beautiful, intelligent, Sarah Idan – ex-Miss Iraq. Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of the founder of Hamas also understands. But is the rest of the world listening?
https://www.jns.org/former-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
A much bigger campus. Ben Gurion University’s new North Campus in Beer-Sheva will include a 1,000-student village, plus Glazer Foundation Future Technologies, Helmsely Computer Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Drahi Innovation and Entrepreneurship buildings. Plus a culture center.
https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/
Israel: The making of a Global Cyber Power. (TY Laura). Two reports (one in detail) of Israel, a country with the population the size of New York City, that is one of the world’s top cyber powers. (Just as well as Israel’s enemies have attacked almost all of the country’s major computer systems – many times.)
https://besacenter.org/wp-
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Bees need a balanced diet too. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that a balanced diet is essential for honeybees’ optimal health and task performance. A diet with a high omega-6:3 ratio (5:1) significantly affects bees’ ability to nurse larvae, both in delay and frequency.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/
Let’s build drones. Too many Israel Defense Forces drones are fragile, and rely on China-based production. However, drones are essential for protecting Israel soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon. STEM-up Israel, together with other nonprofit groups, use high-school students to procure, build, and maintain drones for the IDF.
https://www.jns.org/hero-
1 million speech-enabled devices. Israel’s Kardome (see here previously) has now implemented its AI-based voice-recognition software into more than a million devices. Kardome’s Spatial Hearing software enables devices to truly understand the context of speech, whether in a busy car or a bustling street.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://vimeo.com/701285868 https://vimeo.com/820558294
Best inventions 2024. Time Magazine’s 100 Best inventions of 2024 include 9 Israeli products. Nuvo, Aporia’s Guardrails, OrCam’s Hear, UVeye, BeeHero, InnerPlant’s CropVoice, Emulait, BelongAI’s Dave, and D-ID’s avitars. Only Emulait has not appeared before in this newsletter. (See here for previous years’ Israeli mentions.)
https://www.israel21c.org/8-
https://www.israel21c.org/how-
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Startup investment up 32%. Israeli tech firms have raised about $7.22 billion from investors, an increase of 32% compared with the same period last year.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israel-Vietnam free trade agreement implemented. The free-trade agreement between Israel and Vietnam signed in 2023 (see here) took effect has just gone into operation. Israel’s Economy and Industry Ministry anticipates a major boost in bilateral trade, which reached $1.3 billion in 2023.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Gas royalties up 12.5%. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Revenue from natural gas royalties in the first half of 2024 was NIS 1.133 billion, up 12.5% from the first half of 2023. Further state revenue comes from taxes on profits of the oil companies. About half the revenue was due to gas produced from the Leviathan reservoir.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Hungarian prize. Jon Medved, founder and CEO of Israel’s OurCrowd, received the John Harsányi Prize, the Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s award to an individual or an organization recognized for exceptional contribution to the development of entrepreneurial processes worldwide,
https://www.linkedin.com/
Safer bus passengers. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s SaverOne (see here previously) has launched four pilot projects with customers of Volvo Buses Mexico. It follows the OEM agreement signed with Volvo Group to install the innovative software that prevents drivers from using distracting applications that could cause accidents.
https://finance.yahoo.com/
A safer world. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Corsight (see here previously) is helping catch criminals and terrorists globally. Essex police (UK) used its Live Facial Recognition technology to catch 5 criminals in August. Corsight has been implemented in Santa Rosa, a safe city in the Philippines.
https://www.sourcesecurity.
Preventing stock manipulation. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s KOIOS analyzes conversations about publicly traded companies on social media sites and blogs, and alerts the companies to possible price manipulation. The AI-based platform provides real-time, alerts, allowing companies to foil attacks and stay ahead of the curve.
https://www.globenewswire.com/
Israeli whisky evaporates and refills. Henry Jeffries reviewed several world whiskies for The UK Guardian. But the (frequently anti-Israel) paper omitted his glowing approval of Israel’s unique M&H distillery. However, after protest, the reference to M&H was reinstated (online edition) with an acknowledgement of the correction.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/
https://amp.theguardian.com/
Correction! (TY Barton) In the last newsletter, I stated that Israel had 47,000+ tech workers. There are in fact almost 400,000 workers employed in the Israeli high-tech industry. The article quoted 47,000 in the 50 companies that were ranked by Dun & Bradstreet Israel as the best places in Israel to work. My apologies.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Exits, mergers & acquisitions – to 10/11/24: Israeli software developer Incredibuild acquired German’s open source tools startup Garden for $65 million; US cybersecurity Crowdstrike is acquiring Israeli cyber startup Adaptive Shield for an estimated $300 million.
Startup investment – to 10/11/24: Kardome raised $10 million; KOIOS raised $5 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
The people of the book. 169 books and publications have been printed about the war since Oct 7. The most topics are research studies (42 books); testimonies and stories of heroism (29); the effects of attacks, the hostages, the IDF & politics (30); religious (18), poetry (14); art (11); prose (9); and for children’s (3).
https://www.jns.org/national-
Back in time in Jerusalem. (TY Sharon) As Israel turned its clocks back, Jerusalem’s events included an academic symposium at the Bible Lands Museum; the closing of the Kuma art exhibition, the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem Academic Symposium, and the first award ceremony for Civilian Heroes of Oct 7 2023.
https://rjstreets.com/2024/11/
United for Life. A short video showing highlights of United With Israel’s “United for Life” Jerusalem concert during the festival of Sukkot. It featured Israeli stars Ishay Ribo, Gad Elbaz, and Shmuel, and 3,000 attendees, raising vital funds for protective gear for first responders. Book now for the Dec 19 Miami gala.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://israelrescue.org/
Eden volunteers for IDF. (TY Yanky) Israel’s Eurovision singer Eden Golan was called up for IDF service (see here previously) but was rejected on medical grounds. Despite this, she has requested to serve in the military on a voluntary basis and is expected to continue her enlistment process soon.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Judoka silver. (TY Nevet) Israeli female judoka Yuli Alma Mishiner (age 19) won the silver medal at the Zagreb Grand Prix (13 Sep 2024). https://www.ijf.org/judoka/
https://www.ijf.org/judoka/
Israel’s first legal camel race. Thousands of spectators watched Israel’s first-ever state-sanctioned camel race. The event, held near Ashalim some 22 miles south of Beersheva, was organized by the Bedouin community, in conjunction with the ministries of the Diaspora, Agriculture, and the Development of the Negev and the Galilee.
https://www.jns.org/thousands-
Solidarity at NYC marathon. 150+ runners in the New York City Marathon dedicated their race to raising awareness for the 101 Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Dubbed the “Run for their Lives” team, the runners wore t-shirts depicting the five hostages who were avid marathon and triathlon competitors.
https://israfan.com/p/nyc-
THE JEWISH STATE
Online courses in Israeli history. Please look at the courses from innovative educational platform OFEK to inspire children and build a deep connection to their heritage. Students learn the history of Israel and the Jewish people, from the first days Israel was established, featuring Jewish heroes and all significant events.
https://ofekhub.org/israeli-
New curriculum for teaching Israeli history. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) has released a new “teacher-friendly curriculum”, for middle and high schools, that addresses “the history of the Jewish people in the land of Israel from ancient to modern times.”
https://www.jns.org/
Israel’s vehicle rescue service. (TY Yanky) Israel’s car rescue service Yedidim (see here previously) now has 65,000 members. Call 1230 from your mobile phone and someone will arrive to help stranded motorists change a tyre, or fix a problem with the car. Yedidim answers up to 3,000 calls every day. Only in Israel.
https://yedidim-il.org/
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/
