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Israel ranked in top 5 on Bloomberg innovation indexIsrael finds itself above the U.S. and Japan among others in innovation. By David Jablinowitz

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-ranked-in-top-5-on-bloomberg-innovation-index/

Israel has been catapulted to fifth place in the Bloomberg innovation index for 2019, climbing from 10th place last year and jumping ahead of the U.S., which has been ranked eighth, actually rising three spots.

Also behind Israel are Singapore in sixth place and Japan in the ninth position.

The annual index is being published for the seventh time. It analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development (R&D) spending, manufacturing capability, and concentration of high-tech public companies. The ranking comes as global leaders are gathering at this week’s annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Better patent registration is credited as a major reason for the Israeli improvement.

Bloomberg placed South Korea in first place on the index for the sixth time due to new investments in key technologies and a regulatory plan for encouraging startups. Germany advanced into second place due to investment in production and research by many of its industrial giants, such as Volkswagen, Daimler, and Bosch, in addition to education improvements, bringing Europe’s largest economy to near-parity with the top-ranking country.

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Pulling out of Judea and Samaria could pose ‘existential’ threat to Israel by David Jablinowitz,

By on January 23rd, 2019

https://worldisraelnews.com/pulling-out-of-judea-and-samaria-could-pose-existential-threat-to-israel

Research counters common view in the defense establishment supporting separating Israelis and Palestinians.

Even as anticipation grows of a U.S. plan for the Israelis and Palestinians formulated by the Trump administration, a new survey is raising alarm bells that an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria could pose an existential threat to the State of Israel.

The research was conducted by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen on behalf of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Hacohen served in the IDF for 42 years, commanding troops in battle on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts.

He is perhaps best known, however, for commanding the army’s 2005 Gaza withdrawal and overseeing the forced removal of the some 8,000 Israelis living in the Strip.

His current research accentuates the change in the military theater over the years from conventional battlefields to confrontations involving civilian populations.

In the research, Hacohen lays out possible scenarios which he says could materialize if Israel were to withdraw from Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria. ‘A’ is exclusively administered by Palestinian Authority control and ‘B’ is under joint Palestinian-Israel control under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990’s, though Israel bears ultimate security responsibility.

There is also an Area C, which is under full Israeli control.

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US Army Buys Israel’s Iron Dome for Tactical Missile Defense Shoshana Bryen and Stephen Bryen

By on January 23rd, 2019

http://www.atimes.com/article/us-army-buys-israels-iron-dome-for-tactical-missile-defense/
Iron Dome was developed by Israel, in partnership with US firm Raytheon, to deal with short-range rockets, mortars and artillery rounds.

f necessity is the mother of invention, Israel has come up with missile defense systems that meet its necessities and which others are now keen to deploy.

On Israel’s southeast, the Hamas arsenal includes mortars and rockets including the upgraded Qassam, Katyusha, GRAD and the new Iranian M-302, M-75 and Fajr-5. Two hundred rockets and mortars were fired on one day in July, and Israeli cities, including most recently parts of Tel Aviv, are within range.

Iranian-armed Hezbollah has more than 100,000 rockets and missilesin Southern Lebanon pointed at Israel, and increasingly, they are precision guided. Hezbollah also has an arsenal of Iranian-supplied drones.

In response, Israel has produced technologies long sought by the United States but generally not available to American troops. The “Not Invented Here” syndrome, with its accompanying desire to feed American defense contractors, has delayed serious American consideration of Israeli technology.

Until now.

Iron Dome was developed by Israel – with the American partnership of Raytheon for the Tamir interceptor missile that is part of the Iron Dome – and was introduced in March 2011 to deal with short-range rockets, mortars and artillery rounds. It has a sustained success intercept rate of more than 90%, achieved by its ability to select targets that are likely to hit populated areas or sensitive military or economic sites. Missiles on a trajectory to hit the sea or empty spaces are not targeted for interception.
Iron Dome impresses

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Syria’s UN envoy in veiled threat: We will attack Ben-Gurion Airport

By on January 23rd, 2019

http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/01/23/syrian-envoy-to-un-in-veiled-threat-we-will-attack-ben-gurion-airport/

If U.N. Security Council doesn’t adopt measures to stop Israel, “Syria would practice its legitimate right of self-defense and respond to the Israeli aggression on Damascus International Airport in the same way on Tel Aviv airport,” Bashar Jaafari warns.

Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari warned Tuesday that his country would attack Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv if the world body fails to stop Israeli strikes on his country, including on the international airport in Damascus.

Speaking before the U.N. Security Council after a series of IAF airstrikes on Sunday and Monday, Jaafari said Israel was only able to act freely in Syria because it had the backing of the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the Security Council.

If the Security Council didn’t adopt measures stop Israel, “Syria would practice its legitimate right of self-defense and respond to the Israeli aggression on Damascus International Airport in the same way on Tel Aviv airport,” Jaafari was quoted as saying by Syrian state media Sana.

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GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL: FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on January 20th, 2019

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Cleaning out the brain. Israel’s Microbot (see here) demonstrated a prototype of its self-cleaning shunt (SCS) at the International Society for Hydrocephalus and Cerebrospinal Fluid Disorders (ISHCFD) meeting in Italy. The SCS prevents obstruction in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) catheters of hydrocephalus patients.
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/01/17/1701297/0/en/Microbot-Medical-Showcases-a-Working-Prototype-of-its-Self-Cleaning-Shunt.html

White blood cells can “feel” when things are not right. Scientists at Ben Gurion University have discovered that the immune system’s Lymphocytes (white blood cells) physically “grab” sick cells in the body. They then excrete a toxic chemical to kill the damaged cells, which include viruses and tumors.
http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/pages/news/white_cells.aspxhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.201805954

Prescription charges fall. (TY Janglo) Israel’s Health Ministry has reduced the prices of prescription treatments with controlled patents by an average of 6.9%. The discount is due to a change in the pricing model to reduce costs plus favorable exchange rates. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/256967

Medical tourism. Around 30,000 foreign patients travel to Israel each year, eagerly seeking Israel’s top class, innovative medical treatments. This has major benefits for Israel’s economy, medical R&D and international esteem. The government has also stepped in to ensure that it does not delay treatments for Israeli citizens.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/how-has-israels-medical-industry-been-faring/

Lung cancer test for China. I’ve reported several times (see here) on Israeli life sciences company BioView and its innovative cancer detection technology. BioView has just signed an agreement with Shenzhen China’s Livzon to distribute BioView’s imaging systems in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3753638,00.html

Gluten-free food in Tel Aviv. Here is a helpful guide to being gluten-free in Tel Aviv perfect for any person with celiac disease or following a gluten-free diet.
https://www.touristisrael.com/gluten-free-in-tel-aviv/25100/

Drama at Tel Aviv railway station. One of the new defibrillators delivered to all Israeli railway stations has just saved the life of a woman who suffered a heart attack. Station staff at Tel Aviv Hashalom successfully jumpstarted the woman’s heart, after passengers, including a doctor and a paramedic, had administered CPR.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/257720

Medical staff dance to cheer up patients. Jewish and Arab doctors and nurses at Ziv Hospital in Northern Israel are a further example of co-existence as they dance together to cheer up patients in the dialysis ward.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/only-in-israel-jewish-and-arab-hospital-staff-dance-together/

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Palestinians’ Anti-Semitic Stereotyping of Jews by Bassam Tawil

By on January 19th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13572/palestinians-anti-semitic-stereotyping-of-jews

Abbas and the Palestinian leadership are clearly trying to drag Israel into a religious conflict with all Muslims, not only Palestinians. The Temple Mount has become their favorite platform for disseminating blood libels….

If anyone is defiling the sanctity of the holy site, it is Abbas and his representatives in the West Bank.

Were Israel to stop a Palestinian from entering a holy site because of his clothing, the foreign reporters based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv would have rushed to the scene to interview the man and tell the world that Israel is violating freedom of worship. This is yet another example of how the media gives the Palestinians a pass and allows them to continue their vicious incitement against Israel.

Palestinians are continuing to use the Temple Mount, in Arabic known as the Haram al-Sharif, in Jerusalem, as a platform for incitement against Israel in general and Jews in particular.

This incitement, which began after Jewish tourists were permitted to resume their visits to the holy site in 2014, has since taken various forms. The Jewish visits to the holy site had been suspended for several years during the Second Intifada uprising, which erupted in September 2000.

Since 2014, the Palestinian Authority leadership, including President Mahmoud Abbas, have been waging an unprecedented wave of incitement against Israel and Jews to protest visits to the Temple Mount.

In 2015, Abbas announced that the Palestinians “won’t allow Jews with their filthy feet to defile our Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

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Ruthie Blum Netanyahu’s welcome ‘ambiguity’ breach The battle against Iran is not merely military. It also involves no small amount of psychological warfare.

By on January 19th, 2019

https://www.jns.org/opinion/netanyahus-welcome-ambiguity-breach/

In a virtually unprecedented move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces has been “working with impressive success to block Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria.”

Breaking with Israel’s policy of operational “ambiguity,” Netanyahu not only stated generally that the Israeli military has struck Iranian and Hezbollah targets “hundreds of times” in recent years, but went into uncharacteristic detail about the latest strike. “Just in the last 36 hours, the air force attacked Iranian warehouses with Iranian weapons at the international airport in Damascus,” he said. “The accumulation of recent attacks proves that we are determined more than ever to take action against Iran in Syria, just as we promised.”

Netanyahu made these statements at his weekly cabinet meeting, exactly one week after U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton came to Jerusalem to reassure him that Washington would be “very supportive” of continued Israeli military action in Syria.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu’s so-called “breach” of ambiguity reportedly caused a stir among unnamed members of Israel’s defense establishment, who were horrified that the prime minister of all people would reveal such sensitive information to the enemy. You know, as though the world previously assumed that the attacks on Iranian and Hezbollah bases and weapons convoys had been carried out by, say, Norwegian forces.

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A Bloody Quarter-Century Later, the Jury Is In on the ‘Two-State Solution’ By David Levy

By on January 15th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/a-bloody-quarter-century-later-the-jury-is-in-on-the-two-state-solution/

Martin Sherman is the founder and CEO of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, and served for seven years in operational capacities in the Israeli defense establishment. He holds undergraduate degrees in physics and geology, an MBA, and a PhD in political science. Sherman’s publications include The Politics of Water in the Middle East (1999), Despots, Democrats and the Determinants of International Conflict (1998), as well as numerous essays.

Here is a December 25, 2018 quote from Israel’s Major General (res.) Gershon HaCohen, spoken just days after I conducted the interview with Martin Sherman that follows:

It is mind-boggling how proponents of West Bank withdrawal so cavalierly ignore the likely threats attending this move. So strong is their fixation on the necessity of withdrawal to the pre-June 1967 lines that it has made them totally oblivious to realities on the ground.

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David Levy: What is one to make of the so-called two-state solution? Makes little sense today. Did it ever make any sense? The Fatah and Hamas charters are and have always been very clear in their advocacy of a one-state solution: A Palestine from the river to the sea that would replace Israel. Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah never speak of two states.

How is it that there are, even now, prominent Israelis who see this mythical two-state solution as a resolution of the conflict?

Martin Sherman: I certainly identify with the skeptical tone of your question and I certainly have never been able to understand why people chose to go along that route. Apparently many were taken in by its seductive allure. I think in many ways Israeli political parties that opposed the two-state notion were at fault, because they did not offer a sufficiently persuasive case for the alternative view.

I think you are right about Fatah and Hamas. In fact, if you look at the Fatah constitution, if anything it is more explicit about eradicating the the “Zionist entity” than Hamas.

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Israel: America’s Ally by the Numbers Jonathan Honigman

By on January 14th, 2019

While the United States has long been willing and able to support its allies, with a massive debt and prosperous friends refusing to sufficiently fund their defense, the costs have become unreasonable. For many American partners, several generations without experiencing armed conflict has set a low standard as to what should be expected of them in both their own security and that of the broader Western world. Israel has been a bright spot in America’s pursuit of like-minded nations who pay their fair share and play a constructive military role in safeguarding mutual interests.
Discarded Priorities

Currently responsible for over one-third of the world’s military expenditures, Americans have grown restless with the financial outlays expected of them in maintaining global order. Though representing 35 percent of NATO’s population, and under half its GDP, the U.S. accounts for 70 percent of its defense spending. This has amounted to roughly 3.5 percent of GDP in America while other NATO members have collectively spent below 2 percent since 2000. This is to say nothing of the non-NATO European states that are granted de-facto protection given their location, or that several NATO allies still profit greatly from their arms industries (which for instance, together exported more equipment than the United States between 2007 and 2011). America is also treaty-bound to defend Japan – which is the world’s third-largest economy yet spends only 1 percent of its GDP on security.

Unlike so many other allies who have thrived under American patronage while refusing to adequately contribute to their defense, Israel has long sacrificed to ensure it can protect itself. Its military spending was 9 percent of GDP between 1957 and 1966, 21 percent between 1968 and 1972, and 26 percent between 1974 and 1981. Throughout the 1970s, its defense commitment was four times the rate NATO countries and five times that of Warsaw Pact countries. Though able to relax its spending since then, Israel’s 5.5 percent defense allocation is today still the highest in the Western world. While over one-fifth of all U.S. service personnel were stationed abroad between 1950 and 2014, and Israel was heavily outnumbered in all four of its major wars, its compulsory military service has ensured that no American soldier would ever be called upon to fight on its behalf.

Though a large beneficiary of American aid, Israel is not at all alone. Beginning with the Marshall Plan, which provided over $103 billion to Europe between 1948 and 1952, the United States has used aid as a strategic means to retain alliances. The United States has given more than $109 billion to Afghanistan and over $70 billion to Pakistan, while Arab countries combined received 50 percent more aid than Israel between 1946 and 2013. These figures do not include (and indeed pale in comparison to) the trillions spent all together on military operations within those countries. Further, with Israel’s aid from the United States between 1946 and 1966 representing one-fourth of Turkey’s, one-third of Pakistan’s, and less than either Egypt or Iran, substantial American support did not arrive until the late 1960s when Israel had proven itself to be the region’s focal anti-Soviet actor.

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GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL: FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on January 13th, 2019

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

If only one could make all these benefits unavailable to the amoral imbeciles who promote boycott of Israel….rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Removing damaged cells slows aging. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that senescent (damaged) cells promote inflammation, common in age-related diseases. Absence of the LMNA gene (that kills senescent cells) causes premature aging. Treatment to destroy these cells (e.g. boosting immunity), slows aging.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/immune-system%E2%80%99s-fountain-youth
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07825-3

US approves focused ultrasound for Parkinson’s. (TY Atid-EDI) I’ve reported (several times) on the success of Israel’s Insightec in treating patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and essential tremor. Insightec has just received FDA approval for the life-changing Exablate Neuro treatment to be used on US PD patients.
https://www.insightec.com/news-events/press-releases/2018/insightec-announces-fda-approval-of-exablate-neuro-for-the-treatment-of-tremor-dominant-parkinsons-disease-1

US approval for 3D heart imaging system. I reported previously (Oct 2017)on Israel’s CathWorks and its FFRangio real-time AI 3D imaging of the coronary tree to help surgeons perform heart catheterizations. The US FDA has just given approval for the unique visualization system, which already has European CE certification.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3752938,00.html

Keeping your sugar intake in check. I’ve reported previously (see here) on Israel’s Sweetch and its app to help pre-diabetics maintain a healthy lifestyle. This article describes how Sweetch is so personal, it can even detect the weather and suggest indoor activities on cold wintry days. See the Get.Up app on iOS or Android.
https://download.cnet.com/news/ai-powered-sweetch-wellness-app-helps-keep-users-healthy-over-the-holidays/

Lung function testing from home. (TY WIN) Asthma and COPD sufferers will pleased to hear that Israel’s NE Field diagnostics has a simple pulmonary (lung function) test for use at home. Breathe normally into the A-Spire device and a smartphone app checks the results, saving vast numbers of unnecessary hospital visits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRdTmucZjpI http://nefield.com/

An app to help communicate. When Ayelet Avraham saw a deaf person having problems buying a cell phone, she and another student at the Holon Institute of Technology developed DAS (Deaf Access Solution). DAS uses Google’s Speech Recognizer to translate speech into text and send it to the phone of the relevant nearby person.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/01/03/new-israeli-smartphone-app-may-revolutionize-communication-for-deaf-people/

Minimally invasive stitching combats obesity. A gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy are two radical procedures to reduce stomach volume and curb obesity. But now Israel’s Nitinotes is developing Endozip – a 30-minute gastrointestinal automated suturing system, inserted through the mouth with minimal anesthesia.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-rampant-obesity-israeli-startup-seeks-to-stitch-up-stomach-bulge/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlp5PYinWIw

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