RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jns.org/opinion/defeating-the-danger-from-without/

 It is sound practice to examine one’s own behavior before casting aspersions on that of others. But self-reflection in the Jewish context is all too often an exercise in directing accountability inward, rather than where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of the people of Israel’s external enemies.

European Jews learned the hard way that their very existence—and the blood in their veins—was sufficient cause for all of them, from the visibly Orthodox to the utterly assimilated, to be systematically tortured and slaughtered. Tragically, it’s a lesson that American members of the tribe are now being forced to internalize and in which their counterparts in Paris, London and elsewhere on the Continent are being given a refresher course.

Anti-Semitism of the above type is foreign to native Israelis, especially the younger generation, despite contending daily with foes out to kill them for being Jews. In fact, even many Israelis whose families have been ripped apart by terrorist missiles, fire bombs, guns and machetes don’t recount having experienced anti-Semitism. Instead, they view themselves as victims of Arab/Palestinian terrorism; as though it were a separate phenomenon.

A minority of Israelis, some of whom have high positions in the government and an even higher number of whom hold seats in the Knesset, still cling to the notion that the cause of the hatred and ensuing violence is political. This bloc thus believes that the solution lies in diplomacy—Israeli territorial and other concessions whose ultimate goal is the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Since all such efforts on Israel’s part have belied this idea, the weary majority has come to realize that the hostility is deep-seated, religious, ideological and not going anywhere in the near future. The divide between the two perspectives is not new in Jewish history or the annals of the Jewish state.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Israelis were really flying with innovations and humanitarian activities this past week.  A Ukrainian girl was flown to Israel for heart surgery; blue-sky thinking unlocked more secrets of how the brain works; and Israeli scientists revealed the details of many of the medical experiments performed by Israel’s Eytan Stibbe during his 15 days in space. The first Israeli Druze pilot is now commander of IAF Southern Command Fire Center; over 100 Israeli Arabs flew to visit Auschwitz for Yom ha ‘Shoah, and Israel soared to the top of the list of the World’s most live kidney donors. New Israeli renewable energy innovations will help keep our skies blue and warn of solar storms. Israeli judokas have sent their international opponents flying and Aliyah numbers are sky high!  Michael Ordman

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Field hospital treated 6,000. Israel’s Kochav Meir (Shining Star) field hospital in Ukraine has closed after six weeks, having treated 6,000 patients. The hospital was originally planned to operate for one month. The initial 100 staff (80 doctors & nurses) were then replaced by new staff from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-shuts-ukraine-field-hospital-after-6-weeks-medical-team-returns-home/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326670
 
Life-saving heart treatment for Ukrainian girl. Israeli NGO Save A Child’s Heart brought 5-year-old Karina from Ukraine to Israel for surgery to fix her atrial septal (hole in the heart) defect. Following the catheterization operation, Karina is expected to enjoy a normal life.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-year-old-ukrainian-girl-receives-lifesaving-treatment-in-israel/
 
Gene in “junk” DNA protects against ALS. Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have found a gene in the non-coding (“junk”) part of the genome that reduces five-fold the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The gene IL18RAP can contain mutations that reduce inflammation in the brain.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/mutations-in-noncoding-dna-protect-the-brain-from-als/  
https://www.timesofisrael.com/identifying-als-preventing-mutation-israeli-researchers-hope-for-path-to-treatment/
 
Breakthrough brain research. Israeli scientists have published a peer-reviewed paper that identifies the dendrites in the brain’s neurons as the learning center of the brain, rather than currently regarded synapses. It could help develop new types of treatments for degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/bold-new-israeli-brain-theory-touted-as-breakthrough-for-medicine-computing/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10466-8
 
Phase 3 trial of oral insulin begins. Israel’s Oramed (see here previously) has completed enrollment of patients for the Phase 3 trial of its oral insulin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Topline results of the trial are expected early 2023.  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oramed-completes-patient-enrollment-in-pivotal-phase-3-oral-insulin-study-ora-d-013-1-301538222.html
 
The world’s most protected blood bank. (TY Sharon) After 4 years’ construction, Magen David Adom has opened its new $135 million Marcus National Blood Services Center (see here previously). The underground facility doubles current capacity and is shielded from terrorism, rocket attacks, earthquakes, and cyber-attack.
https://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=37&ARTICLE_ID=154008
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-opens-worlds-most-protected-blood-bank-rocket-proof-and-underground/
 
Israeli space medical experiments. Enlightening article about some of the ground-breaking medical experiments performed by Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe aboard the International Space Station. It features the miniaturized, remotely controlled lab on a chip developed by Israel’s SpacePharma (see here previously).
https://www.jpost.com/science/article-705829
 
Hear this. (TY JNS) Plastic surgeons at Israel’s Galilee Medical Center attached a 3D-printed prosthetic ear to a six-year-old boy, born with microtia, to correct his birth defect. Although the ear will never be functional, the landmark operation will reduce pain, prevent future complications and is socially, aesthetically important.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-surgeons-print-an-ear-to-correct-boys-deformity/
 
A happy return. When United Hatzalah paramedic Leah helped deliver a baby girl in Jerusalem, she remembered the address. Three years previously it had taken 40 minutes of CPR and several shocks from a defibrillator, to restore the pulse of the baby’s father after he had suffered cardiac arrest.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326507
 
 
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
 
Teddy bear treatment. Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine complex in Safed was transformed into a Teddy Bear Hospital when some 500 children brought their teddy bears and dolls in for “treatment”. The annual event included ER, surgery, pharmacy, cardiology, ENT, MDA, Israeli police, the IDF and more.  
https://www.jns.org/bar-ilan-university-medicine-complex-in-tzfat-transforms-into-teddy-bear-hospital/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326851
 
Joint feast to mark end of Passover and Ramadan. More than 300 Jews and Arabs in Beersheba celebrated at a joint Iftar and Mimouna feast to mark the end of the daily Ramadan fast and the traditional Moroccan Jewish celebration at the conclusion of Passover. It was organized by Beersheba’s Hagar Association.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-arab-feast-marks-coinciding-of-passover-and-ramadan/
 
Over 100 Israeli Arabs visit Auschwitz. 103 Arab-Israeli teenagers from across the country marched alongside Holocaust survivors and their progeny in the March of the Living. Before leaving Israel, they visited Yad Vashem and the Ghetto-fighters Museum, prior to flying to Poland and touring the Auschwitz site.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-705316
 
Druze commander of Israel’s Fire Control Center. Lt.-Col. A., the first Druze to complete the Israel Air Force flight school, now serves as commander of Israel’s Southern Command’s Fire Center. Ironically, his grandfather served in the Syrian Arab Army forces that invaded Israel in 1948, before switching sides.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-705814
 
The world’s top healing spot. (TY UWI) International travel magazine Travel + Leisure’s put the Dead Sea top of its 2022 list of 10 recommended global healing destinations. Benefits include as a remedy for asthma, arthritis, and osteoporosis; its mud alleviates psoriasis, and the UV-filtered sun as a safe source of vitamin D.
https://www.israel21c.org/travel-leisure-names-dead-sea-1-healing-spot-for-2022/
 
The world’s most live kidney donors. (TY Stuart Palmer) Israel is the country with the most living kidney donors worldwide per capita, according to a recent World Health Organization report of 2020 data. Israeli non-profit Matnat Chaim (see here) facilitated the donation of 1,170 kidneys – two thirds of all Israeli donations.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-694257
http://www.transplant-observatory.org/2020-international-activities-report/ (see yellow bar on page 13)
 
 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-705999

Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, is always marked by a mixture of joy and reflection. This year is no different, though a touch of malaise is putting a damper on the former, while taking the latter in the wrong direction.

Among the minority currently in power are members of the Left, who have always held Israel accountable for the plight of Palestinian Authority denizens and for international condemnation. This group still blames the entire Right for the 1995 murder of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Neither nationwide horror surrounding that unprecedented event, nor the fact that assassin Yigal Amir has been sitting in prison since then, has made a dent in the Left’s view that anti-Rabin incitement from the opposition — led at the time, as today, by Benjamin Netanyahu — was directly responsible.

That Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s family recently received threatening letters with live bullets in them has brought the old accusations to the fore, providing the “anybody but Bibi” crowd with proverbial ammunition.

The above camp’s go-to position whenever Arab terrorism spikes, as it is currently doing, is the one that was voiced ad nauseam by gung-ho supporters of the disastrous Oslo Accords: that we cannot allow the “enemies of peace” to win.

This bloc, which now has important ministerial portfolios, contains politicians who call for Israeli “soul-searching” at every opportunity, including during Holocaust Remembrance Day and Yom Hazikaron, our Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. Their message is that if Israel isn’t careful, it will become like Nazi Germany.

http://The Palestinian State Bill: Palestinians Ask That More Arab Repression Not Be Allowed by Khaled Abu Toameh

According to the new bill, foreign journalists who do not endorse the Palestinian narrative or who do not “respect the Palestinian identity and history” may soon be banned from operating in PA-controlled areas.

The same restriction applies to Palestinian media organizations and journalists seeking permits to operate in these territories.

The PA leadership apparently fears that stories about corruption, anti-Israel incitement and terrorism will prompt Western donors to halt their funding to the Palestinians.

Unlike other Arab regimes, however, the PA is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid from the US, the European Union and other international donors, who do not seem the least bit bothered by the Palestinian leadership’s measures to curb freedom of expression and deprive its people of an independent media.

In response, several Palestinian human rights and media organizations, including the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, expressed deep concern and disapproval of the PA leadership’s intention to hijack the media.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also warned that the draft bill, if approved, would have a negative impact on the international community’s support for the Palestinians and undermine Palestinians’ “dream of a modern Palestinian state that respects basic rights and freedoms.”

Sadly, the Palestinians harbor no hope that their current leaders will work towards establishing a state where public freedoms and human rights are valued and respected.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip are corrupt dictatorships that care only about their own interests.

What remains difficult for Palestinians to understand is the continuing silence of the international community and foreign media towards the human rights violations and restrictions on the institutions of democracy and freedom of speech perpetrated by the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

While the US administration and many countries seem enthusiastic about the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians themselves are worried that such a state would end up like most of the corrupt and authoritarian regimes in the Arab world.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/05/abbas-threatens-cut-ties-israel-no-one-cares-hugh-fitzgerald/

Is it every year, or every other year, that President-For-Life of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end all ties to Israel? Sometimes he says he’s done it, but nothing actually changes. Sometimes he says he’s going to do it, and then doesn’t. Sometimes he says he’s waiting for a meeting of the PA leadership to discuss it, then cancels the meeting. A report on the latest farcical threat by the angry rais in Ramallah is here: “Bennett: UN must stop serving terrorists’ agenda,” by Lahav Harkov and Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, April 22, 2022:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has again threatened to halt security coordination and suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel.

The latest threat was made during a meeting in Ramallah on Thursday night with US administration envoys Yael Lempert, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Hady Amr, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs….

Abbas usually makes this threat to cut ties with Israel when he feels the hot breath down his back of Hamas and other even more violent rivals; it’s a way of re-establishing his anti-Israel bonafides with the doubting thomases: he’s assuring them that he still knows how to be tough on Israel, and don’t anyone forget it.

Earlier this week, Abbas abruptly called off an emergency meeting of the Palestinian leadership that was scheduled to take place in Ramallah on Sunday night to discuss the implementation of a resolution by the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) to terminate all agreements with Israel, including the security coordination and Palestinian recognition of Israel.…

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18481/israel-needs-a-statesman

The years before 2021 had brought relative calm and improvements. The United States had cut much of its funding for the Palestinian Authority, which had been used for terrorism. As a result, terrorism had substantially decreased. When the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and drastically sanctioned Iran, the mullahs and their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had less money to finance and arm Hamas. ISIS was crushed. A rapprochement began between Israel and the Arab world and led to the Abraham Accords, signed between the United States, Israel, and five Muslim countries – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Kosovo and Sudan. For the first time in decades in the Middle East, “peace, security and prosperity” held sway.

The election of US President Joe Biden, however, quickly revealed that better lives for people in the region, including the Palestinians, were about to end. The Biden administration immediately returned to the policies of the Obama years. It restored the funding that Palestinian leaders use for terrorism, without first stipulating that the terrorism had to stop. The Biden administration resumed nuclear negotiations with Iran — through an intermediary from, of all places Russia. (Iran did not allow the US officials in the room.) The US government itself had named Iran “the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism;” now the Biden administration was again enabling the ruling mullahs — who call for “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” — soon to have an unlimited number of nuclear weapons, the intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver them, and billions of dollars for terrorism and resuming their efforts to take over the oil-rich Middle East. Meanwhile, America’s interlocutor, Russia, has been working with Iran on how it can evade US sanctions for invading Ukraine so that both countries may further enrich themselves by Iran selling Russia’s oil.

When “settlement expansion” is made to sound as grave a transgression as murder, terrorism will resume.

Since June 2021, for the first time in 12 years, Israel seems to have a weak prime minister, Naftali Bennett. He has evidently promised to work in “quiet coordination” with the Biden administration and never criticizes the administration’s anti-Israel policies.

The leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas see that an anti-Israel administration is in place in Washington and draw their own conclusions.

Sunni Arab leaders are currently “trying to decide whether to grovel to Iran, or stand with Israel… Israel has but one option – to become the strong tribe of the Middle East”. — Caroline Glick, Israel Hayom, March 25, 2022.

Israel needs its strong tribe status. Israel needs a statesman. Now.

Beersheba, Israel. March 22. Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan rams his car into a rabbi riding a bicycle, killing him, then drives to a gas station and stabs a woman to death there, and then drives to a shopping mall and stabs two more people to death. After fleeing the mall, he crashed his car into another vehicle and was finally shot and killed by armed civilians as he charged at one of them with a knife

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/05/hallelujah_un_official_tells_the_truth_about_palestinian_violence.html

God bless Tor Wennesland!

This Norwegian UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the truth.

This is a rare quality among UN officials when it comes to getting to the heart of why there is no progress to peace with the Palestinians: they always point the finger of blame at Israel, and never at the perpetrators of hate and violence.

Mr. Wennesland is a brave exception.

His report  identified what really happened on the Temple Mount during Ramadan and Passover and pointed to the real perpetrators.

“On 15 April, during the early morning hours, a large number of Palestinians gathered at the Al Aqsa compound. Some Palestinians threw stones, fireworks, and other heavy objects toward Israeli Security Forces. (snip)

Several dozen Palestinians entered a mosque in the compound, with some continuing to throw stones and fireworks toward Israeli security forces.”

Following a standoff with those inside, Israeli police entered the mosque and arrested those barricaded inside, but not without a fight.

“During the clashes,” he reported, “some damage was caused to the structure of the mosque.”

He went on to report that Israeli forces only entered the Al Aqsa Mosque after the rioting Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside.

And Tor Wennesland actually praised the Israeli police, who were only attempting to restore law and order so that thousands of Muslims could peacefully pray atop the Temple Mount as part of their Ramadan rituals, thus confirming what every Israeli watching TV news already knew, that Israeli officials had “reiterated their commitment to upholding the status quo and ensuring that only Muslims would be allowed to pray on the holy esplanade.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/05/jordan_is_palestine.html

Yes it is.

The Arab propaganda machine, aided and abetted by the UN, EU, US and most of the global media would have you believe otherwise.

They demand that the Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria and Gaza be granted statehood on all lands not controlled by Israel when the cease fire lines were agreed upon in 1949.  This is referred to as the “Two-State Solution.” This solution is at the heart of the Arab Peace Initiative that was agreed to in 2002 at the Beirut Summit which provided:

“(a) Complete withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the 4 June 1967 line and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon; (b) Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194. (c) Accept the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Like most peace plans since, it was based on a deliberate misreading of 1967.UN Security Council Resolution 242.  This resolution did not require Israel to withdraw from all lands “occupied in the ’67 War and it allowed Israel to remain in possession of said lands until she had “secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force”.

However, this resolution also included a preamble:  “Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security.”  

On top of this, the UN Charter provides for the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of land by war”, international law allowed for the retention of land acquired in a defensive war, which the ’67 War undoubtedly was.

But that is not the whole story…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/ramadan-goes-out-with-a-bang/

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities and villages on the last Friday of Ramadan to participate in the Islamic Republic’s annual Quds [Jerusalem] Day rallies.

After a two-year hiatus in the yearly hate-fest against Israel and America—due to the COVID-19 pandemic—attendees were especially itching to spew vitriol on the one hand and champion the Palestinians on the other.
“The [events] are a symbol of the unity of the Islamic ummah [nation], and God willing it will lead to the destruction of the Zionist regime,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in an interview with his state-run television station.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Salami expressed a similar sentiment about the fate of the State of Israel.

Orating at the main Quds Day happening in the capital, he pointed out that the Quds Force—the international arm of the IRCG—was established by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to “expand the Islamic revolution in other Islamic countries, with the aim of pressuring the Zionist regime … and in the near future, the regime’s elimination from the world’s political geography.”

The Palestinians and their Arab-Israeli brethren who’ve been rioting for the past month on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have the same goal in mind. Their lie about Israel trying to “storm” the Al-Aqsa mosque and take it over is simply an excuse to justify their rage at the existence of the Jewish state.

Waving Hamas flags and burning Israeli ones—when they should have been praying solemnly at their cherished house of worship—these angry activists hurled rocks at Jews peacefully gathered at the Western Wall below. If there was any doubt about their true intentions, it was dispelled on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day last week, when they chanted “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, jaish Muhammad, sa yahud.” (“Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”)

This is a reference to the Muslim slaughter in 628 C.E. of all the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia. After the massacre, Muhammad and others took surviving Jewish women as slave-wives. So much for the belief that a political gripe about a lack of independent statehood is behind Palestinian “disgruntlement.”

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

In the decolonization era commencing in 1945 three dozen new states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European colonial rulers. Among them, Israel declared its independence and sovereignty on May 4th, 1948. No other nation achieved what Israel did subsequently with its epic rescue of shattered survivors of the Holocaust; creation of a model democracy in spite of wars and daily threats of enemies within and without; outsize and dazzling contributions to medicine, technology, science and cultural and philanthropic institutions that enhance the lives of billions; the creation of a state-of-the-art military-drafting men and women to defend the state with advanced ordnance on land, air and sea. Michael Ordman catalogs it all.

The national anthem of Israel is Ha-Tikvah- the “Hope”. Israel is the answer and reality! May you grow and thrive in peace.  rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A good place. The latest Coronavirus wave is over as far as Israel is concerned. Experts say the reasons include immunity from the previous Omicron wave, plus behavioral factors such as protecting the elderly. If there are no significant variants on the horizon, Israel is in a good place (and is a good place to visit!)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wave-that-never-was-did-israelis-common-sense-help-stop-a-new-covid-spike/

Protection against Covid-19. Experts from Tel Aviv University have shown that common dietary supplements can help protect us against the Covid virus as well as several common winter illnesses. They include Zinc and Copper, combined with flavonoids – polyphenolic compounds found in vegetables such as pumpkins & peas.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/325628 https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/15/3/377/htm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-made-dietary-supplement-fights-off-viruses-in-lab-tests-scientists-say/

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/15/3/377/htm

Smart sensors to ensure vaccine safety. Tel Aviv University researchers used smart sensors from Israel’s BioBeat to measure physiological reactions of 160 subjects to the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. They showed that side effects increased over a 48-hour period, often contradicting reports of the patients themselves.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-703840

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-022-00090-y

Severed ear reconstructed. Doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center saved the severed ear of a carpenter who suffered a serious work accident. To prevent rejection, they used tissue from his scalp and leg to create an artificial cartilage mold of the severed part of the ear and grafted it onto the remaining part.

https://worldisraelnews.com/miracle-surgery-israeli-doctors-save-mans-severed-ear/

AI finds source of mystery heart problem. Israeli Meidan Schwartzman faced life-altering surgery to trace a mystery heart arrhythmia. Then he read about Dr. Itzik Biton, a senior cardiologist at Hadassah’s Heart Institute who subsequently used Artificial Intelligence to locate and fix the problem in the sinus area of Meidan’s heart.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/325140

Getting under the skin of an autoimmune disease. Researchers from Weizmann, Hadassah and Rambam medical centers have discovered a significant drop in a specific type of fibroblast (cell scaffold) occurs with the onset of scleroderma – a rare autoimmune disease. The research can shed light on the origin of other diseases.

https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/getting-under-the-skin-of-an-autoimmune-disorder/

Stethoscope detects sounds that no human can hear. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Sanolla (see here previously) has received US FDA approval for its VoqX, the first and only stethoscope that can listen to infrasound – acoustic sound waves (3 to 40 Hz) that aren’t detectable by the human ear but provide important diagnostic information.

https://nocamels.com/2022/04/sanolla-fda-infrasound-stethoscope/ https://sanolla.com/

US approval for steerable microcatheter. The Bendit21 microcatheter from Israel’s Bendit Technologies (see here previously) has just received US FDA approval. The device has already been used to save two lives in the US and is described as a game-changer in endovascular medicine.

https://nocamels.com/2022/04/bendit-microcatheter-fda/

No more blood shortages. Israel’s RedC Biotech is developing a process for mass-production of red blood cells for transfusions. Working with Accellta, a spin-off startup from Israel’s Technion Institute, they use stem cells from O-negative donors to mass-produce red blood cells for most humans, even without testing.

https://www.israel21c.org/the-startup-aiming-to-make-blood-donations-a-thing-of-the-past/

https://www.redcbiotech.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DChkGXSFVbA

Relief for swollen legs. The Robotic stocking from Israel’s ElastiMed (see here previously) for treating lymphatic and venous leg diseases is being tested in a clinical study at Sheba Medical Center. It already shows a 5-fold improvement in leg volume reduction, compared to the hospital’s standard compression bandages.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjjz4csec

Field hospital uses VR to treat refugees. Medics at Israel’s Kohav Meir field hospital brought Virtual Reality goggles and telehealth devices when they visited a refugee camp for Ukrainians. They used the VR goggles to diagnose patients remotely. And the goggles also provided relief for the trauma-affected refugee children.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/skbbgulnc

Physician cure thyself. Six years ago, Israel’s ex-Chief Scientist Dr. Orna Berry was diagnosed with cervical, ovarian, and thyroid cancer with six-months to live. Israeli startup Curesponse used genome sequencing to find her best treatment. Dr Berry is now cancer free and at the age of 72 is Google Cloud’s Director of Technology.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sk7fwvbv5 https://www.curesponse.com/

A very good spot. (TY UWI) 15-year-old MDA volunteer Ido spotted a bus strangely stopped in the middle of the road. He then noticed that the bus driver was clutching his chest. Ido immediately alerted his colleagues who spent 20 minutes administering CPR and 11 defibrillator shocks until the driver regained consciousness.

https://www.israel21c.org/teen-emts-quick-action-helps-save-tel-aviv-bus-driver/

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Upgrading properties to house refugees. The Israeli government is offering cities and regional councils grant money to upgrade housing projects for immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, and other countries in the region. Some 10,000 new immigrants have arrived in Israel in recent weeks, of which two-thirds are from Ukraine.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/cities-offered-money-for-renovating-buildings-to-house-ukrainian-migrants/

Israelis host Iftar meals for Muslim Arabs. (TY Hazel) Some 200 guests attended Israel’s President Herzog’s annual Iftar dinner, the traditional meal to break the Ramadan fast, at his official residence. And Yossi Dagan, Chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, hosted local Palestinian Arab leaders for the Iftar break-fast.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ramadan-meal-brings-together-unlikely-group-of-jewish-settlers-and-palestinians/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/politics-and-security-mar-the-festivities-at-herzogs-iftar-meal/

100,000+ Muslims pray on Temple Mount. (TY Hazel) Over 100,000 Muslim worshipers took part in mass prayers on the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif / Al-Aqsa complex) in Jerusalem on the night of Apr 27, for Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny) during Ramadan. https://www.timesofisrael.com/over-100000-muslim-worshippers-gather-on-temple-mount-for-nighttime-prayers/

Yoseph stuns Irish Parliament. Israeli Arab Yoseph Haddad made a brilliant speech to the Irish Parliament. Members of the Oireachtas were stunned by Haddad’s eloquence and rhetoric. His talk included his childhood, army service, freedom of religion and speech, Israeli Arab leaders, democracy, the judicial system, and the PA.

https://vinnews.com/2022/03/01/yoseph-haddads-brilliant-defense-of-israel-in-the-irish-parliament/

Abraham Accords brings global benefits. An international delegation visited the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel to see how the Abraham Accords model can spread economic benefits far and wide. They include new ties between the UAE and both Paraguay and Liberia. And between Bahrain and the Central African Republic.

https://www.jns.org/international-delegation-visits-israel-to-take-abraham-accords-to-next-level/

Mission to aid Ethiopia. (TY JNS) Most of the world has forgotten the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. Not Israel, though, which has sent a medical team to Gondar and Addis Ababa to create a program where Israeli hospitals will adopt, train, equip, and support hospitals near the 2-year ongoing Ethiopian civil war zone.

https://www.israel21c.org/israelis-fly-to-ethiopia-to-alleviate-humanitarian-crisis/

MDA responds. Israel’s Magen David Adom has responded to the Ukrainian crisis with six more ambulances to add to the four it had already donated (see here previously). MDA has also set up an emergency field clinic in Moldova. https://mdauk.org/mda-responds-to-humaintarian-crisis-in-ukraine/

Ukrainian boy brought to Israel to save his eyesight. Corridor – Israel Aid for Ukraine has brought 7-year-old Mykhailo from Ukraine to Sheba Medical Center, together with his mother and twin brother. Mykhailo suffers from an aggressive form of retinopathy and Israeli doctors will try to save his eyesight.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-evacuates-ukrainian-boy-for-eyesight-saving-treatment/

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Four medals at Math Olympiad. Israel’s four competitors in the 2022 European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) in Hungary won a gold medal and three bronze medals. Overall, the Israeli team came nineth out of 56 countries. Gold medalist Nogah Friedman is now ranked third in the world.

https://www.jns.org/israel-takes-home-four-medals-in-mathematics-competition/

Addionics wins ecology award. Israeli smart battery developer Addionics (see here previously) has won a BloombergNEF award (see here previously) for pioneering technology for a low carbon economy. Addionics was one of 12 winners from 270 applicants from 27 countries. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-maker-of-smart-3d-battery-tech-among-12-winners-of-bloombergnef-award/

Lightening up Tel Aviv. Visitors to Tel Aviv’s Atidim hi-tech park will benefit from the innovative Lumiweave fabric created by Israel’s Anai Green (see here previously). The environmentally friendly system will provide shade during the day and serve as a lighting installation once the sun sets.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-pilots-shade-giving-solar-powered-fabric-that-lights-up-at-night/

Saving the bee and its honey. Israel’s Bee-IO (see here previously) makes bee-free honey in the lab, removing the bee from industrialized honey production. The busy creatures can now focus on pollinating plants so that humans can continue to eat the real “fruits” of their labor. This Nas video has over 4.4 million Facebook views.

https://nocamels.com/2022/04/bee-honey-cultivated-startup/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6uC8pEQKag

Smart transportation. Interesting short video featuring some of the Israeli startups that are revolutionizing the transportation arena. Plus, the Navon railway station and the new Jerusalem to Modiin line have turned Jerusalem into a transportation hub that provides access to the whole country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzyr3WzUEbY

https://betelfriends.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-train-puts-jerusalem-in-center.html?m=1

A virtual model. Fashion designers work with Israel’s Styletech to showcase their designs using an AI virtual model. No need for stylist, makeup, hair, photographer, or location. Select from a database of 20,000+ AI models plus the appropriate gender, shape, age, height, weight, hair color, skin tone, and even expression.

https://nocamels.com/2022/04/alon-livne-virtual-model-fashion/ https://styletech.ai/

Speeding up blockchain transactions. Israel’s bloXroute increases the processing speed of blockchain transactions by a factor of one hundred. It solves the scalability issue that is preventing blockchain’s secure trading mechanism from being more widely adopted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEWU9CFv43E

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rkuvolvvq https://bloxroute.com/

The story of Ariel University. Israel’s 8th and latest University began as a college in 1982. Its school of Architecture opened in 1995; the Particle Accelerator Center (1999); Wine Research Center (2010); University status (2012); School of Medicine (2019); Autonomous Vehicle Lab (2020) and Satellites launched (2022).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM7xI8YG97s

The oldest star ever seen. Ben-Gurion University Professor Adi Zitrin was a key member of the US-Israeli team that identified Earendel – the most distant star ever seen. Light from Earendel has taken 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, via the Hubble space telescope.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-israeli-scientists-document-oldest-star-ever-seen-13-billion-light-years-away/

Splashdown! (TY JNS) Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe and his Ax-1 colleagues safely landed off the Florida coast after an extended 17-day mission, including 15 days on the International Space Station. Read also about some of the Israeli Rakia Mission’s experiments and activities that he conducted and managed.

https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-astronaut-splashes-down-safely-from-17-day-mission/

https://www.eng.rakiamission.co.il/all-in-space https://www.eng.rakiamission.co.il/blog

https://www.eng.rakiamission.co.il/post/zero-gravity-hovering-eytan-stibbe

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

$5.6 billion raised in first quarter. Israeli tech companies raised $5.6 billion in 212 deals in the first quarter of 2022 – slightly more than the $5.4 billion raised in the same quarter last year. There were also 39 exits (including 7 IPOs) that raised nearly $9 billion. https://nocamels.com/2022/04/quater-funding-first-startups/

The skies are open. Over 50 countries participated in Tel Aviv’s 28th International Mediterranean Tourism Market. At the expo, Israel’s President Herzog declared, “Israel offers a truly unmatched experience of ancient holy sites, cities that never sleep, exquisite natural beauty, a mosaic of cultures, and an innovative society.”

https://www.jns.org/at-tourism-fair-in-tel-aviv-israeli-minister-announces-skies-are-open/

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324831

Lab-grown meat industry partnership. Israeli-based Tnuva is investing $7.5 million in partnering Israeli biotech Pluristem Therapeutics. They have formed a joint company NewCo to create meat and dairy products from animal cells, using sustainable technology.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-companies-at-nasdaq-want-to-bring-lab-grown-meat-to-the-masses/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/tnuva-beefs-up-food-tech-operations-with-new-cultured-meat-venture/

Smart distribution partners. Israel’s largest supermarket chain Shufersal has partnered Israel’s Via to create an efficient digital distribution system. This is the first time that Via will move from smart (ridesharing) transportation into the logistics space. It will help Shufersal reduce cost, fuel use and air pollution.

https://nocamels.com/2022/04/via-supermarket-shufersal-distribution/

Amazon invests in Israeli robotic warehouse system. Israel’s BionicHIVE (see here previously) has received funding from the new Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, which invests in emerging technologies. Previously Elon Musk recommended BionicHIVE to his 42 million Twitter followers.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1qg2lkbq

General Atlantic to open in Israel. Leading US investment firm General Atlantic is opening a Tel Aviv office. General Atlantic manages some $84 billion of assets and has invested $750 million in eight Israeli tech companies since 2019. It says Israel “stands out as a hub of global entrepreneurship and digital transformation”.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/leading-us-investment-firm-general-atlantic-opens-tel-aviv-office/

New hotel in Tel Aviv. The David Kempinski luxury hotel has opened overlooking the beach on Hayarkon Street in Tel Aviv. It is the 80th hotel in the Kempinski European hotel group, with 34 floors and 250 rooms. It includes 43 suites, massive, floor-to-ceiling windows in every room, to bring in the sea air and views.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-welcomes-latest-luxury-hotel-david-kempinski/

More startups ignited. Intel has selected another 10 Israeli startups for its sixth Intel Ignite Tel Aviv acceleration program. Redefine.dev, Verobotics, Xyte, Senser, Predicta Med, Kahoona, Volumez, PxE, Dual Bird Technologies, and Oligo Security. This is the first mention in this newsletter for all these startups.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sygls4bhc

Takeovers and mergers. Israel’s OpenWeb acquired France’s ADYOULIKE for $100 million;

Investment in Israeli startups to 1/5/22: bloXroute raised $70 million; Silverfort raised $65 million; FundGuard raised $40 million; Riverside.fm raised $35 million; Demostack raised $34 million; ARMO raised $30 million; RiseUp raised $30 million; Source Defense raised $27 million; Sentra raised $23 million; TULU raised $20 million; The Cultivated Meat Consortium received $18 million from the Israel Innovation Authority; Noogata raised $16 million; Loris.ai raised $12 million; Copyleaks raised $6 million; ElastiMed raised 0.85 million;

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`

Art with Israel as a model. Chaya Esther Ort opened the Kiyor Studio in Nachlaot, Jerusalem in 2019 to spread the beauty and light of Israel’s land and spirit into the world. She uses the clay of the land so that her customers can have a beautiful, useable, and meaningful piece of Israel with them, materially and spiritually.

https://www.jns.org/the-art-of-making-art-using-israel-as-a-model/

Celebrate Israel’s birthday in London. If you are in the UK and unable to get to Israel for Yom Ha’atzmaut, you may wish to join the Technion UK’s lunch event on 5th May. Click below to register.

https://technionuk.org/event/israel74/

One million hours of football. Israel’s Pixellot (see here previously) celebrated the milestone of broadcasting one million live hours of AI-automated football. The event featured retired Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho. Pixellot broadcasts 150,000+ games a month from 67 countries, without camera operators or production crew.

https://nocamels.com/2022/04/pixellot-ronaldinho-sports-tech/

Israeli gymnast wins gold in Cairo. (TY Nevet) Israeli Olympic gold-medal gymnast Artem Dolgopyat took home the gold in the floor routine at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cairo. The win secures Dolgopyat’s place at October’s World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, England.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-gymnast-artem-dolgopyat-takes-gold-at-world-cup-in-cairo/

Israel’s team to the Deaflympics. Israel’s President Herzog hosted the Israeli delegation to the Deaflympics at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. The Deaflympics will take place in May in Brazil, with an Israeli delegation of deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes who have won medals in international sports tournaments.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/325354

THE JEWISH STATE

Luxury imports by the first Jewish kingdom. Israeli archeologists have discovered remnants of vanilla spice in wine jars bearing the symbol of trade from the Kingdom of Judah during the 7th century BCE first Temple period. The exotic spice originated in the far East and was unknown in the West until the time of Columbus.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/6th-century-bce-jerusalemite-oenophiles-had-a-taste-for-exotic-vanilla-spice-wine/ https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324890

The Haredi team protecting Iron Dome. (TY Algemeiner) Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has a special cyber division in Jerusalem that includes 55 ultra-Orthodox employees, some former yeshiva students, that help make sure no one penetrates the air defense system. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rylojgre9

Adelsons sponsor 500 Ukrainian refugees. Members of the Adelson family, children of Dr. Miriam Adelson and the late Sheldon Adelson, recently sponsored flights for more than 500 Jewish Ukrainian refugees to find sanctuary in Israel. The flights were part of United Hatzalah’s Operation Orange Wings.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/325350

Coming home. Four years ago, Eliyahu emigrated from Ukraine to Israel, leaving his parents behind. Thanks to Chabad of Kyiv the family had a long-awaited, tearful reunion at Ben Gurion Airport. Also, just before Yom HaShoah, 21 Holocaust survivors were rescued from Ukraine and flown to Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/fleeing-a-war-yet-again-9-holocaust-survivors-touch-down-in-israel-on-rescue-flight/ https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326540 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-703448

Can you light Shabbat candles in space? Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe gave fourth graders a lesson called “Lighting Shabbat Candles in Space – the Halacha and Science Challenge.” Scientists are still learning how fire behaves in zero-gravity and may use the knowledge to develop more efficient combustion engines.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-kids-test-shabbat-in-space-with-candle-experiment/

Freedom in Free-fall. Eytan Stibbe, the first Jew to celebrate Passover in space, reveals how he relates to children the meaning of the Exodus story in the current technological age.

https://www.eng.rakiamission.co.il/post/the-first-passover-in-space-eytan-stibbe.

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