Four years after the tsunami – a look at IsraAID’s work in Japan

By Abigail Klein Leichman - November 9, 2015 

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

When ISRAEL21c President Amy Friedkin was touring Japan recently, she met with representatives of IsraAID-The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid.

“I wanted to see for myself what they’re doing in Japan four years after the tsunami, and to learn from Yotam Polizer, IsraAID Global Emergencies Director, where else they are in the world right now,” Friedkin says.

She met with Polizer at the Japan International Center for Trauma and Emergency Relief and showed him the Israel Aid Map recently added to the ISRAEL21c home page.

Polizer explained to Friedkin that IsraAID is the only foreign organization still on the ground after arriving in March 2011 to provide assistance after the tsunami. This is in keeping with IsraAID’s policy of helping communities move from devastation to self-sustenance, he told her. Read More

WATCH: Ethiopian Jewish hip hop Jam in Jerusalem

(photo: YouTube screenshot)

October 4, 2015

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel

IndieCity is a project that brings musical performances to various Jerusalem (and Tel Aviv) neighborhoods, capturing the music with high quality video production and bringing a lively concert to diverse neighborhoods.

(Watch the video here) 

This performance, by Lucille Crew, took place in the neighborhood of Kiryat Menachem. Wikipedia’s description:

Kiryat Menachem and Ir Ganim are a single geographic unit with a population of about 15,000. The neighborhood’s population is quite heterogeneous, with veteran residents and new immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. Read More

6 made-in-Israel devices for disaster relief

(Photo: Shay Wagner/IDF Spokesperson/FLASH90)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 8, 2015

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

When disaster strikes anywhere in the world, Israelis are always among the first on the scene to offer search-and-rescue, first aid and secondary medical care.

Some of the most critical pieces of equipment they take with them to help victims of earthquakes, fires, typhoons, hurricanes and terror attacks are home-grown.

But these innovative devices are not just for Israeli aid workers. Here are six blue-and-white innovations that emergency responders in many countries keep at the ready in case of disasters. More are in development, to be discussed at today’s seminar on product innovation for first responders in Herzliya. Read More

Israel, India aim to step up bilateral ties during Mukherjee visit

(photo: wikimedia)

By Press Trust of India - October 4, 2015

Originally appeared here in Business Standard

India and Israel will aim to further step up bilateral engagement and are likely to sign three MoUs in water, energy and education sectors during President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the Jewish nation later this month, which will be first ever by an Indian Head of State. 

Noting that ties between the two countries are on an upswing, Israeli Ambassador Daniel Carmon said Mukherjee's visit will be a "landmark" one during which both sides will try to expand cooperation in a range of areas. 

"For many years, our relationship was held under the carpet. Now, they are more visible and open where each side brings to the table each other's advantages. We are so different, yet we are a combined force," the envoy told PTI. Read More

What Draws the Kardashians, Madonna, Ashton Kutcher and Mariah Carey to Israel?

(photo: Gil Eliyahu)

By JTA - October 2, 2015

Originally appeared here in Haaretz 

After Kanye West performed in Israel on Wednesday night, he presumably had to sleep in a bed that he didn’t own. The declared presidential candidate may not have to suffer that indignity on his next trip to the Holy Land.

The Kardashian family, into which he is married, is among a number of non-Jewish American celebrities reportedly shopping for real estate in the Holy Land. Others include Madonna, Ashton Kutcher and Mariah Carey.

What does Israel have to offer these stars? The answer, it seems, varies from spirituality to family and friendship to money-making opportunities.

The Kardashian sisters, of reality TV fame, reportedly entered talks in January to buy two apartments for $30 million in a beachfront building in Tel Aviv. A spokesman for Kim Kardashian denied that report, but entertainment news website E!Online later reported that Kourtney Kardashian’s husband Scott Disick was in fact ready to buy a $5-6 million penthouse in Tel Aviv as a real estate investment. Read More
 

The surgeon who gave Zion a pair of hands

(photo courtesy: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan 

Originally appeared here in The Times of Israel

An Israeli child runs to pick up a seemingly abandoned toy from the street. In a tragic flash, he discovers it is a bomb and with the loss of both his hands, child’s play is over.

Until now that boy would have never again been able to grasp his mother’s hand in his. But with a new groundbreaking procedure performed by a team led by Dr. L. Scott Levin in Philadelphia this July, there is renewed hope.

And the hope springs forth from Zion.

Today a bubbly, active and precocious eight year old, at age two Zion Harvey was struck by a sepsis infection that led to the amputation of his hands and feet. Barely hanging on two years later, he also underwent a kidney transplant through a donation from his mother, Pattie Ray.

This July, he underwent a further organ transplant — a pair of hands — made possible by an unknown boy of similar size and pigmentation whose life was severed too early. This groundbreaking bilateral pediatric hand transplant opens up a world of possibilities to Zion, as well as to a world of children who, through birth defects, infection, or injury, have lost their hands and who, until now, had no recourse to regain them. Read More

When Israeli volunteers help Syrian, Iraqi and Pakistani refugees

(photo: Boaz Arad/IsraAID)

By Gavin Rabinowitz - September 23, 2015

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

LESBOS, Greece (JTA) — As the small rubber dinghy crowded with Syrians and Afghans emerged from the midnight-black sea to land on a desolate pebble beach, the first people to greet the bewildered and frightened refugees were two Israelis.

“Does anyone need a doctor?” Majeda Kardosh, 27, a nurse from Nazareth, shouted repeatedly in Arabic as the asylum seekers scrambled ashore amid cries of celebration and tears of relief at surviving the short but perilous crossing from Turkey to this Greek island.

Her team partner, Tali Shaltiel, 31, a physician from Jerusalem, stood knee deep in the water, helping a shivering 4-year-old girl out of her wet clothes and a pair of inflatable armbands that would have provided little protection had the overloaded boat capsized at sea.

Kardosh and Shaltiel are part of a small advance group of volunteers from IsraAid, an Israeli non-governmental organization that is trying to provide some assistance to the hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants who are flowing into Europe. 

While IsraAID has plenty of experience in disaster relief and assistance in 31 countries — from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa — this mission presents a unique challenge: The beneficiaries come from countries that are traditionally hostile, or even officially still at war, with Israel. Read More

These Israeli Companies Fight World Hunger With Innovative Technologies

By Roseanne Tabachnik - September 21, 2015

Originally appeared here on NoCamels

The escalating global food crisis might soon mean that increasing yields and sowing more crops may simply no longer meet the demand for nourishment. By 2050, it is estimated that the world will need to produce at least 50 percent more food to feed its 9 billion people. However, due to global warming, crop yields could drop by 25 percent, according to the World Bank.

In the face of world hunger, some Israeli companies are working hard to put a halt to world hunger and agflation – the rising food prices caused by increased demand for agricultural commodities. Since the 1950s, Israelis have found innovative ways to feed the world and grow crops in their very own desert. NoCamels highlights five major Israeli technologies that could end world hunger.

Tal-Y: While water scarcity has plagued desert countries for decades, it is no longer an inevitable concern for Israel’s desert thanks to technologies like Tal-Ya Agriculture Solutions. The Israeli firm has developed technologies designed to grow more food with less water.

Among the company’s technologies are: Reusable plastic trays that capture dew from the air, reducing the water needed by crops by 50 percent. The square tray, which costs $3-$5 per piece, is made of recycled plastic. The innovative trays work by surrounding each plant, collecting dew as the weather changes overnight, and funneling it to plants and tree crops. The trays, which are supposed to last for 10 years, also block weeds that would otherwise compete with crops for water. Read More

From Barren Desert To Top Cyber Center, Beersheba Is Turning Into A High Tech Oasis

By Eunice Lim - September 9, 2015

Originally appeared here in NoCamels 

Just four decades ago, a visit to the southern desert city of Beersheba in Israel would have shown a barren landscape, with mostly sand and camels in sight. In recent years, however, the city has been undergoing a near-miraculous transformation and is now gaining a new reputation for itself.

Those looking for an explanation need look no further than the $1 billion Gav-Yam Negev Advanced Technologies Park (ATP) – a massive joint project to revitalize the Negev Desert by making it an major hot spot in the rise of the Startup Nation. The project is a joint effort by the State of Israel, the Beersheba municipality, Ben-Gurion University and KUD International, a consortium of US and Japanese investors.

This unique office park, currently occupied by top-tier cyber-security and communication companies, will include some 20 buildings upon completion, making it one of the largest startup ecosystems in the country.

It’s no wonder foreign investors are looking to Beersheba for exciting new opportunities. Earlier this year, T3 Advisors and Brandeis’ International School singled out Beersheba as one of the seven “cities of tomorrow” that global companies should consider when planning their global expansion. Read More

Israeli aid workers rescue drowning refugees

By Abigail Klein Leichman - September 16, 2015

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Volunteers from IsraAID: The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid spent the Jewish New Year in dramatic rescue and aid operations on behalf of refugees pouring into Europe from war-torn countries including Syria.

IsraAID Director Shachar Zahavi tells ISRAEL21c that on Sunday, September 13, volunteers from his non-profit NGO sprang into action when they saw a boatful of refugees nearing the Greek shore suddenly flip over as its engine exploded.

“Some of the women, children and babies didn’t know how to swim and our staff immediately jumped into the water to help them, preventing them from drowning,” says Zahavi. “After bringing everyone onto the shore safely, our medical team treated some of the sick and injured while our logistic team distributed food and water to the rest.”

On that same day – the eve of Rosh Hashana — another boatload of refugees capsized in high winds as it neared a Greek island. At least 34 people drowned, including 15 babies and children. In the wake of this tragedy, IsraAID received a request from the United Nations to provide the survivors with psycho-social treatment in a refugee camp set up on the island of Rhodes. Read More

High schooler saves American tourist's life at Yad VaShem

(Photo: Barel Efraim)

By Roi Yanovsky - September 10, 2015

Originally appeared here in Ynetnews

An Israeli teenager saved the life of an American tourist who suffered a cardiac arrest, while on a school trip to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

The American tourist was walking through the Yad Vashem museum, when suddenly he collapsed.
 
Luckily for him, a 17-year-old Isreali teenager who volunteers at Magen David Adom (Israeli first aid and paramedical service) was also touring the museum with his high school class, and quickly came to his aid.
 
Yam Carmel, a senior at the Ort Rabin high school in Gan Yavne, was in Yad Vashem ahead of his class trip to Poland, where Israeli students learn about the Holocaust by seeing the extermination camps and ghettos first hand.
 
Carmel noticed the man collapse, immediately ran to him, and started CPR. Read More

Iran's supreme leader: There will be no such thing as Israel in 25 years

(Photo: Twitter)

By Eliott C. McLaughlin - September 11, 2015

Originally appeared here on CNN

Israel will not exist in another quarter century, Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said during a speech this week in Tehran, state-run media report.

"I'd say (to Israel) that they will not see (the end) of these 25 years," the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khamenei as saying Wednesday at the Imam Khomeini Mosque.

Khamenei raised the issue while discussing the recent nuclear deal between Iran and the so-called P5+1 -- the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, China and Russia -- by which, among other things, Iran agreed to cut its uranium stockpiles and centrifuges and limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the West lifting sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Read More

IsraAID sends team to help refugees in Europe

(IsraAID relief volunteers distributing supplies in Iraq last month. Photo: courtesy)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - September 3, 2015 

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Streams of desperate refugees flooding Europe from the Middle East, Asia and Africa are getting a helping hand from IsraAID, a non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in Israel in 2001 to bring lifesaving disaster relief and long-term support wherever needed.

“We are running a campaign with the goal of inspiring the Jewish people and Israel to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees washed up on the shores of Europe,” says IsraAID Director Shachar Zahavi.

As of Tuesday evening, the NGO had raised enough money to send three professionals, who will land early Wednesday in Athens and then later proceed to Lesbos. Zahavi tells ISRAEL21c that he hopes to send additional volunteers to help manage the European migrant crisis currently overwhelming several countries. Read More

Egyptian Tel Aviv U. Student Praises Israel in Viral Speech

(screenshot via: tabletmag.com)

By Arutz Sheva Staff - August 24, 2015

Originally appeared here in Arutz Sheva 

Haisam Hassanein, an Egyptian student who this week completed his master's degree studies at Tel Aviv University, said at a graduation ceremony for foreign students that he almost didn't come to Israel – after nearly everyone he knew told him that traveling to Tel Aviv would be a bad idea.

Hassanein, who grew up in a rural area of Egypt, was fed a non-stop diet of anti-Israel stereotypes and propaganda, he said in his valedictorian speech at the graduation ceremony at Tel Aviv University last week, which has since gone viral. “Despite the fact that we have a peace treaty, I was always taught that Israel was the enemy,” he said.

Despite his fears, Hassanein decided he could not pass up the opportunity for an all-expenses paid master's degree program offered by Tel Aviv University – and decided to make the best of this “sentence” at an Israeli university. If you think you heard a million reasons why not to come to Israel, I heard a million and a half. Read More

Detroit African-American Churches Rally for Israel

By Jspace Staff - August 18, 2015

Originally appeared here in Jspace

Several major African-American churches rallied in Detroit, Michigan this week in support of Israel while evoking the historic black-Jewish alliance of the Civil Rights movement.

Reverend Dr. Edward L. Branch, a member of The Fellowship’s African American Advisory Council reminded his congregation of the rich history of the black-Jewish relationship during a rally.

Pastor Branch, who leads the mega-church Third New Hope Baptist Church in Detroit urged his congregation “to stand with Israel just as the Jewish community stood with us during the Civil Rights movement, as we seek peace for all people in the Middle East.” Read More

It's incredibly easy to be an American traveling alone in Israel

By Julie Bort - August 17, 2015

Originally appeared here in Business Insider 

Israel is literally in the center of the never-ending turmoil of the Middle East. 

So it may surprise you that it's extremely easy and safe to travel there and it's an extraordinarily fun place to visit, even if you're an American traveling alone who doesn't speak or read Hebrew.

I recently spent a week in Israel meeting with the country's super hot tech startup scene.

When not in meetings, I spent some hours wondering through two of Israel's main tourist cities alone, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

I felt as safe (or safer) as wandering around San Francisco by myself. Read More

Israel delivers emergency aid to Myanmar

(Photo: MFA)

By Viva Sarah Press - August 16, 2015

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

The Israeli Embassy in Myanmar has sent a truck load of food, medicines, mosquito nets and hygiene packs to flood-ravaged Myanmar, as monsoon rains and subsequent floods and landslides displace nearly 1.3 million people in the Southeast Asian nation.

Ambassador Daniel Zonshine headed the Israeli aid delegation to the Tharrawaddy area to assist victims of the severe flooding. The Israeli aid included a truckload of food, medicines, mosquito nets, water purification tablets, and hygiene packs. Read More

Israel Women's National Lacrosse Team Advances to European Championships Semis

(Photo: Josef Štěpán)

By Megan Meluskey - August 14, 2015

Originally appeared here in Haaretz

NYMBURK, Czech Republic — The Israel women’s national lacrosse team dispatched fourth-ranked Germany, 10-5, at Sportovní Centrum on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2015 European Championships.

The win was the first-ever in a quarterfinal playoff game for any Israeli lacrosse program; the blue-and-white failed to progress past the round-of-eight in the 2012 Men’s European Championships (Loss to Netherlands), the 2013 Women’s World Cup (Loss to Canada) and the 2014 Men’s World Championships (Loss to England).

Israel makes its first-ever semifinal appearance against No. 1-ranked England on Friday. Read More

Next stop Mars, with Israeli radiation protection

By David Shamah - August 3, 2015

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel

Israeli technology that can protect first responders from deadly gamma radiation – the kind of radiation emitted by nuclear bombs – may one day protect astronauts who explore deep space from the high levels of radiation they are likely to encounter.

Israel’s StemRad is working with US defense giant Lockheed-Martin to develop a version of its gamma-ray shielding vest for use in deep-space missions, the companies announced this week.

“We’re going to take our extensive knowledge of human spaceflight, apply our nano-materials engineering expertise, and working closely with StemRad, evaluate the viability for this type of radiation shielding in deep-space,” said Randy Sweet, Lockheed Martin business development director for the civil space line of business. “The Lockheed Martin team believes this could result in an innovative solution to enhance crew safety on the journey to Mars.” Read More

Arab-Israeli medic delivers baby of terror victims

(photo: MDA)

By Israel21c Staff - August 12, 2015

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

When Magen David Adom senior paramedic Ziad Dawiyat answered a call to assist a woman in advanced labor last Sunday in Jerusalem, the father who answered the door immediately recognized the number 12 on the ambulance Dawiyat had just parked in front of the apartment house.

It was in that ambulance that Dawiyat, an Arab-Israeli, had transported Chana and Shmuel Braun’s three-month-old infant Chaya Zissel after she was fatally injured last October when terrorist Abdel-Rahman Shaludeh plowed his car into her stroller on the platform of a Jerusalem light-rail station. Read More