This Week’s Sanity Report from Israel Nov. 24, 2024
As the ICC equates democratic Israel with Hamas terrorists, Israel’s positive news includes vast numbers of articles to highlight Israel’s indispensability in combating the world’s greatest problems. It is quite incredible to see the contrast.
The photo (TY Sharon) is of the contrasting autumn (fall) colors in Jerusalem’s botanical gardens.
The highlights include:
- Ex-Gaza hostage Emily Hand had a surprise visit on her 10th birthday.
- An Israeli nasal spray protects against all Covid-19 variants.
- Two superb results for Israel’s multi-ethnic soccer team.
- Israel’s Innovation: Africa has saved its 1000th village from drought.
- Israeli innovations are literally “out of this world”.
- Major Israeli technology purchases by the US, UK, Europe and the Far East.
- Israel’s oldest citizen celebrates her 110th birthday.
POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
Rebuilding Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The Israeli government’s Tekuma Directorate has allocated NIS 180 million to restore Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which was devasted by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7 2023.
https://israfan.com/p/
Growing olive trees in challenging times. Videos from “Buy a Piece of Israel” gives readers an insight as to how farming life continues despite the threat of rocket fire and drones from Hezbollah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Replanting after rocket fire. Netiv Hasharaya is an agricultural village about 9 miles from the Lebanese border. When a Hezbollah rocket hit a house, it set fire to a row of newly-planted avocado trees. Residents rushed to put out the fire and then replanted the orchard. They are adamant that they are not evacuating.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Birthday present for Emily. Noa Argamani, 27, and Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, who were kidnaped and held hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7 2023, surprised Emily Hand at her home in honor of her 10th birthday. Noa was rescued from Gaza by IDF soldiers, and Hila was released in the same hostage deal as Emily.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
Israel’s birth rate soars during the war. (TY WIN) Israel’s birth rate, the highest among OECD countries at around 3 children per woman (see here previously), has not only defied the global trend of declining births but has also surged during the ongoing conflict, with hospitals reporting up to 40% more deliveries than usual.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Empowered women. (TY Hazel) Two groundbreaking events in the IDF to empower women. The first was the announcement of Israel’s first religious women-only combat unit, within the Combat Intelligence Corps. And on Nov 18, the Ayit Battalion launched the first IDF operational mission involving female combat soldiers.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/
Rebbe’s son enlists. (TY Yanky) Mendel Rata, son of the Rebbe of the Ashdod’s “Shomrei Emunim” hasidic court, is enlisting in the new haredi Hashmonaim Brigade, which held its initiation ceremony at the Kotel. Rata posted: “Instead of dragging out different excuses, my conscience tells me I must get up and take action.”
https://www.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough. Tel Aviv University scientists have developed a low-cost vaccine for all Covid-19 variants that is administered as a nasal spray and can be stored at room temperature. The absence of needles means less stress for patients – a previous TAU study showed high stress made vaccines less effective.
https://www.aftau.org/news_
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.
https://english.tau.ac.il/
Prostate cancer radiation halved. (TY WIN) Doctors at Israel’s Beilinson Hospital have demonstrated the effectiveness of treating prostate cancer with two doses of high-dose external beam radiation instead of the current five doses. Benefits include less physical and emotional toll, less side effects, and shorter wait times.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
Can you change your DNA? Dr. Idit Maya, Head of the Genomic School at Beilinson Hospital explains how the body need to use different proteins to perform different functions. These proteins can be generated by making changes at the cellular level. In the future, new skills can be taught with the help of biological tools.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
US clinics offer Israeli PTSD device. (TY ATS) the Prism electrodes-laden cap from Israel’s GrayMatters Health (see here previously) has been added to the PTSD treatments offered by two major US clinics – Home Base and Fermata. Prism helps patients control PTSD symptoms by displaying brain activity.
https://nocamels.com/2024/08/
Invisible eye surgery. Israel’s Beyeonics Vision (see here previously) has upgraded its “One” Augmented Reality digital visualization headset, with cutting-edge “invisible” infrared night-vision technology. It means that ophthalmic surgeons can now operate on patients’ eyes without causing discomfort to the patient.
https://www.prnewswire.com/
Smart software for medical imaging. (TY ATS) Israel’s DeepDense has developed Plug-AI – smart tools to enhance the digital images produced by other medical companies. DeepDense has teamed up with US firm Spectrum Dynamics Medical to improve the quality of cardiac and spinal images and reduce scan times.
https://nocamels.com/2024/08/
https://deepdense.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Revolutionizing women’s health. Israel’s OCON Therapeutics (see here previously) develops, manufactures and markets women’s health products based on its patented, non-invasive, intrauterine therapy delivery technology. 85% of OCON’s workforce are women. Pipeline treatments include fibroids & abnormal bleeding.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
Medical clowns help children with pneumonia. (TY Yanky & ATS) At last, a positive Israel story from the New Scientist. It is known that medical clown reduce stress and anxiety in hospitalized children. Now Israel’s Carmel Medical Center found that medical clowns shorten the time children with pneumonia spend in hospital.
https://www.newscientist.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Cycling for pediatrics. The first annual “Wheels of Love” charity bike ride since the start of the Gaza war attracted 330 riders who raised around $3 million for the ALYN pediatric rehabilitation center (see here). The event dedicated to a fallen soldier) was held in stages over 4 days and 62 miles from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Less food waste. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Knesset has approved legislation obliging the public sector to donate unused food that can be distributed to vulnerable populations. NGOs such as Leket will collect surplus food from places such as Government ministries, the IDF, prisons, municipalities, religious councils, and hospitals.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Druze on board of Jewish Agency. The Jewish Agency for Israel has elected a member of Israel’s Druze minority to its board of governors. Col. (res.) Mofid Marai, 65, is a former Knesset member and ex-commander of the IDF’s predominantly Druze Herev (“Sword”) Battalion.
https://www.jns.org/jewish-
Israel’s inclusive soccer team. (TY Hazel) This article emphasises the multi-cultural composition of Israel’s national soccer team. (See also the sports news below.)
https://www.thejc.com/news/
Fetterman fights for Israel. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) gave a rousing response to an interviewer from the New York Times who criticized Israel’s use of pagers to combat Hezbollah terrorists. And he continued to defend Israel as the interviewer threw more provocative questions his way.
https://www.jns.org/daddy-was-
The world’s best hotel breakfast. Luxury and lifestyle travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler ranked breakfast at the five-star David Kempinski Tel Aviv hotel among the world’s best in 2024. Breakfast items included distinctly Middle Eastern dishes, such as baba ghanoush and fresh honeycomb, while overlooking the beach.
https://www.israel21c.org/tel-
https://www.cntraveler.com/
Raising endangered sea turtles. (TY Yanky) Three “critically endangered” hawksbill sea turtles, born and raised for 25 years in Eilat’s underwater observatory, have been released into the wild. Israeli conservationists will monitor if and how Nova, Israel and Yael – turtles living for decades in captivity – will survive in the wild.
https://www.jpost.com/
1000 villages. Israeli NGO Innovation: Africa (see here previously) has implemented award-winning remote monitoring systems to identify how much water the NGO’s solar-powered pumps have supplied to the 1,000 rural African villages where its technology has been installed. The answer – 77 million gallons in one month.
https://innoafrica.org/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Defense Prizes. (TY Yanky) The 2024 Israel Defense Prize (announced in May) was awarded to the David’s Sling air defense system, the Namer armored personnel carrier, and the IDF’s technology-enhanced target bank project. Because of the secrecy of many projects, some winners in the photos had their back to the camera.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/
Cleaning with drones. Israel’s Bladeranger (see here previously) has completed a pilot to clean the glass roofs of railway stations in Germany. It hopes to clean the roofs of all 5,400 German railway stations. Bladeranger will also work with Israel’s Propellor Drones to clean the solar fields of Israel’s Electra.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://vimeo.com/1009781875 https://propeller-drones.
Disinfecting space. More on Israel’s Inhayle (see here previously) that won Israel’s Expand space accelerator program and is gearing up to deploy its multi-spectrum disinfection system on NASA’s deep-space exploration missions. The system emits ozone-free hydroxyl radicals to neutralize volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israeli cameras at edge of space. NASA is to integrate cameras from Israel’s Odysight.ai (see here previously) into its hypersonic aerospace vehicles. Odysight’s systems will monitor any damage to the aerospace vehicles parts during flight trials. E.g. the Mach 5 X-43A hypersonic research aircraft.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Mapping Israel’s mushrooms. 1,000+ species of fungi grow in Israel – many with medicinal properties – but there isn’t a comprehensive mapping of their DNA. For his PhD, Israeli mycology enthusiast Elad Gillon launched a science initiative, enlisting foragers to collect wild mushrooms. The project then “mushroomed”!
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Cybersecurity award winner. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Savvy.Security (see here previously) has been named a 2024 SINET16 Innovator Award Winner. Savvy Security was identified as one of the most innovative and compelling technologies for addressing cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities.
https://www.savvy.security/
https://www.security-
From cancer to vegan meat. It’s hard to keep up with Technion Professor Marcelle Machluf. Back in 2022 she was developing the NanoGhost anti-cancer therapy (see here previously). Now she has launched Meatafora – a startup that cultivates vegan meat from plant-based cells.
https://ats.org/our-impact/
https://meatafora.com/ https://www.youtube.com/
Diamonds – natural or synthetic. (TY WIN) Dr. Yossi Rabinovitch of Israel’s Ariel University has developed patented technology to help identify the origin of a diamond and help stabilize the gemstone industry. Using advanced spectroscopy and imaging, his method quickly analyzes fluorescence patterns under UV or laser light.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
Recycling synthetic fibers. The technology of Israel’s TextRe transforms mixed synthetic polymers (e.g. nylon and polyester) found in textile waste into ecofriendly recycled raw material that manufacturers can use to make high-value and cost-effective sustainable products. TextRe is representing Israel at COP29 Azerbaijan.
https://www.israel21c.org/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Growth “surprise”. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported a 0.9% rise in GDP in the 3rd Quarter of 2024 compared with the previous quarter, giving a 3.8% annualized growth figure. In addition, unemployment fell to a new low of 2.5% in October, down from 2.7% in September. 135,000 vacancies is the same as in Sept.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Miami conference confident in Israeli resilience. The Calcalist and Bank Leumi conference in Miami featured a panel of financial experts which expressed its confidence in Israel’s hi-tech resilience. If it survived the war and the pandemic, it can handle anything,” see videos of Rinat Zilberstein and Tom Nides.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
More Israeli airlines to fly to USA. Both Arkia and Israir have now decided to commence services from Tel Aviv to the USA. Subject to regulatory approval they will operate a total of 10 weekly direct flights, using aircraft leased from Europe and staffed by foreign crews. It would significantly lower fares for passengers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Domestic solar energy. Israel’s Enlight Renewable Energy (see here previously) has begun the full commercial operation of its renewable energy and storage cluster in Israel’s newly deregulated electricity industry. Enlight’s 12 facilities generate 254MW, supplying households, small businesses and industrial clients.
https://www.globenewswire.com/
Renewable energy storage for the UK. Israel’s Nofar Energy (see here previously) has secured funding of up to £152 million to help supply one of UK’s biggest energy storage facilities – the 624 MWh Cellarhead project being built near Stoke-on-Trent. Nofar recently completed the 60MWh Buxton project in the UK.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
European country’s $335 million order. Israel’s Elbit has received an order from an unnamed European country for $335 million worth of defense systems. The order includes Elbit’s Hermes™ 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The systems will be delivered over a three and a half year period.
https://www.
Communications devices for US Air Force. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Silynxcom (see here previously) has received a new order from the United States Air Force for its innovative tactical communication products. The equipment is based on a new system configuration, customized for the USAF.
https://www.silynxcom.com/
All-round vision for NY bus drivers. (TY Atid-EDI) The Smart Vision® CMS Advanced Driver Assistance System from Israel’s Gauzy (see here previously) has fully replaced traditional side mirrors on the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) of New York’s public buses. The camera system reduces blind spots.
https://investors.gauzy.com/
Stimulating brains in the Far East. (TY Atid-EDI) Mental Health centers in Taiwan and South Korea have bought 15 Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation systems from Israel’s BrainsWay (see here previously).
https://www.brainsway.com/
Learn to be a Venture Capitalist. To prepare the next generation of investors and entrepreneurs, Israel’s Reichman University has introduced a comprehensive Venture Capital Investments course for its students. It is led by Amit Pilowsky, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Key1 Capital, and previously at Goldman Sachs.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Exits, mergers & acquisitions – to 24/11/24: Israel’s Wiz has acquired Israel’s Dazz for $450 million. Israel’s Cyera has acquired Israel’s Trail Security for $162 million. (TY Yanky) Trail has only been in existence for a year and doesn’t even have a website. Israel’s Innovid has merged with Mediaocean and delisted at a value of $525 million.
Startup investment – to 24/11/24: Cyera raised $300 million; TailorMed raised $40 million; Prompt Security raised $18 million; Spines Publishing raised $16 million; CommBox raised $15 million; Twine security raised $12 million
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Sia honors survivors. (TY UWI) The ADL’s annual “In Concert Against Hate,” in Washington, DC included performances by Israeli singer Eden Golan of her original song “October Rain,” and by Australia’s Sia, of Titanium”. Sia dedicated her performance to the Nova festival survivors of the Oct 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
Cycling team is 11th best in the world. Professional cycling team Israel-Premier Tech has concluded its 10th and most successful season, ranked 11th worldwide. Co-owned by billionaire philanthropist Sylvan Adams, IPT competed in 88 races, securing 29 stage victories and 88 podiums and globally promoted the best face of Israel.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
Soccer success. (TY Nevet) Israel’s soccer team finished its UEFA Nations League campaign with a respectable 0-0 draw against France and a stunning 1-0 win against Belgium (world number 6). The goal was scored in the 86th minute by Yarden Shua (Israeli Jew) assisted by Dia Saba (Israeli Muslim).
https://www.jns.org/israel-
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
The mystery of Eitan Na’eh. In the global Simchat Torah project, 525 synagogues each selected the name of a fallen IDF soldier to be inscribed on a new Torah cover. Montreal’s Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem (TBDJ) was randomly given Eitan Na’eh. They couldn’t find anything about Eitan, until by chance his best friend walked in.
https://thecjn.ca/news/elkana-
Surprise for bride. (TY Yanky) A group of Golani soldiers on a training run stumbled upon a bride and groom on a photo shoot on their wedding day. To the amazement of the couple, the soldiers interrupted their run to fulfil the mitzvah of Keytzad Merakdim – dancing and singing before the groom and bride at a wedding.
https://www.instagram.com/
Israel’s oldest citizen is 110. The exceptional longevity of Israel’s citizens is often reported here, but this newsletter editor was especially pleased to read that the recent 110th birthday celebrations for Tzila Cohen took place less than a mile down the road at Netanya’s Laniado hospital. Luckily, no candles to blow out!
https://www.jns.org/israels-
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/
