Sanusey, 4, is 4,000th kid helped by Save a Child’s Heart

(photo: Stella Shalhevet / Save a Child’s Heart)

By Times of Israel Staff - June 17, 2016

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel

Watch Israel Collective's short film about Save a Child's Heart here. 

Four-year-old Sanusey from Gambia became the 4,000th child to receive life-saving heart surgery through the Israeli charity Save A Child’s Heart, the organization announced Thursday.

Sanusey suffers from a congenital heart defect that could only be corrected through an operation not available in Gambia.

Sanusey has been in Israel for the past month, together with 12 other children from Tanzania and Gambia brought by the charity for heart surgery, it said in a statement.

After a successful hours-long operation at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon in mid-May, the boy was reported to be recovering quickly. Read More

Gifted With Blessings: 7 Israeli Arabs Who Make Israel a Better Place

(photo: ynetnews.com)

By World Jewish Congress - June 7, 2016

Originally appeared here in BuzzFeed

You’ve noticed it: your friends in Israel sending Ramadan Kareem greetings all around on Facebook. No, your friends are not exceptional: Arabs make up 20% of the country’s population and Arabic is an official language in Israel. In honor of Ramadan, the month-long fasting period marking the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, we present you with seven Israeli Arabs bringing positive change in their country and shattering stereotypes.

Sami Tamimi

Say thank you. Co-author of „Jerusalem”, practically a foodie Bible, Sami grew up in Jerusalem and later moved to London, where he struck a tight friendship with Jewish Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi. They share a city of birth and few successful restaurants with long wait lines. Zip the lip: when you are waiting in line for the best Middle Eastern food in the land of fish and chips, you know better than to complain. Read More

Arab Israeli Only Student This Year to Achieve Perfect Score on Jewish State’s SAT Equivalent

(Photo: Twitter)

By Shiryn Ghermezian - June 6, 2016

Originally appeared here in Algemeiner.com

An Arab Israeli was this year’s only student to achieve a perfect score on the psychometric exam required by college applicants, the news site Al–Monitor reported on Friday.

Mohammed Zeidan, from the Arab community of Kafr Manda in northern Israel, scored an 800 on the standardized (SAT equivalent) test, used to predict academic performance. Offered in six languages, it contains nine sections, relating to verbal and quantitative reasoning and English-language proficiency.

According to the report, it is unclear in which language Zeidan took the exam, but in the last five years, only two students who completed the test in Arabic scored a perfect 800. Both were from the Mar Elias high school, which Zeidan attends. Read More

Cache of Hasmonean-era silver coins uncovered in Modiin

(photo: YouTube screenshot) 

By Sue Surkes - June 7, 2016

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

A treasure trove of 2,150-year-old silver coins excavated in the central Israeli city of Modiin apparently belonged to a Jew who had to leave the nearby house but never managed to retrieve his hidden cache.

The 16 coins from the Hasmonean period (2nd-1st century BCE) were concealed in a rock crevice up against a wall of a large agricultural estate, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.

Excavation director Abraham Tendler said the shekels and half-shekels (tetradrachms and didrachms) were minted in the city of Tyre, now part of Lebanon, and bear the images of the king, Antiochus VII, and his brother Demetrius II.

The finds, discovered prior to the building of a new neighborhood in the city, will be displayed in an archaeological park in the heart of that neighborhood, the Antiquities Authority confirmed.

The discovery of the silver coins provided “compelling evidence that one of the members of the estate who had saved his income for months needed to leave the house for some unknown reason. He buried his money in the hope of coming back and collecting it, but was apparently unfortunate and never returned. It is exciting to think that the coin hoard was waiting here 2,140 years until we exposed it.” Read More

Black Christian leaders visit Israel in blooming of ‘natural’ partnership

(Photo: Olivier Fitoussi)

By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman - May 31, 2016

Originally appeared here in JNS.org

“Just being in Israel, in the Holy Land, and walking where Jesus walked, is incredibly inspiring,” says Barbara Wright, president of the Senior Women’s Missionary Union of the National Baptist Convention of America (NBCA). “We are all one in Christ.”

“My faith, as we interpret the scriptures, we identify with the people of Israel as God’s chosen people, and therefore we understand that those who bless Israel receive blessings and those who curse Israel are really fighting against our culture and faith,” says A.W. Mays, an African-American Christian leader from Austin, Texas.

Wright and Mays were two of the 26 African-American members of NBCA, a predominately black church, who were hand-picked to travel from the United States on a six-day educational mission to Israel from May 23-29. The International Fellowship of Christian of Jews (The Fellowship) sponsored the trip to help deepen Christian-Jewish ties and black leaders’ bonds with Israel.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, The Fellowship’s founder and president, has been working to build bridges between Christians and Jews—as well as Christians and Israel—for more than 35 years. Last year, The Fellowship raised $138 million in humanitarian aid for Jews in Israel and around the world, almost entirely from Christian donors. Read More

Martial Arts Friendship Training builds respect and trust

(Photo: Budo for Peace)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - May 30, 2016

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

In mid May, a small strip of the Mediterranean coast was transformed into an arena of coexistence and fun as the Israeli martial-arts nonprofit organization Budo for Peace hosted its second annual International Martial Arts Friendship Training.

Martial-arts experts from Jordan, Japan and Senegal joined the gathering of Israeli Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouins on the Herzliya beach.

Clubs run by, or affiliated with, Budo for Peace stress budo — universal martial-arts values of self-control, respect, harmony, responsibility, courtesy, integrity, humility, order and tolerance – while using martial arts training as a springboard for tolerance and friendship among children, youth and adults.

Twelve years after its founding, there are 20 Budo for Peace affiliated clubs throughout Israel as well as branches in Jordan and Turkey. Read More

ReWalk tech to help stroke, MS victims get moving

(photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO /FLASH90)

By Times of Israel Staff - May 23, 2016

Originally appeared here in The Times of Israel

The ReWalk system has done wonders for quadriplegics, providing them with a method of being able to walk again – or even run a marathon, as several paralyzed individuals have done while wearing the ReWalk exoskeleton suit. Now, a version of the system will be used to help a much larger cohort – individuals who have difficulty moving about due to stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), old age, or other reasons

“There is a great need in the health care system for lightweight, lower-cost wearable exoskeleton designs to support stroke patients, individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and senior citizens who require mechanical mobility assistance,” said Larry Jasinski, CEO of ReWalk. “This collaboration will help create the next generation of exoskeleton systems, making life-changing technology available to millions of consumers across a host of patient populations.” Read More

Ultra-Orthodox, Arab, Ethiopian, and settler youth unite under one roof

(photo: GPO)

By Ariel Ben Solomon - May 17, 2016

Originally appeared here in the Jerusalem Post

A new program aims to build tolerance in Israel by having youths from various sectors live together in ultra-Orthodox, Arab, Ethiopian and settler communities.

The program, called “Ahi Israeli” (My Israeli Brother), also includes new immigrants and secular Jews, as well as Muslims and Druse, said Yaron Kanner, CEO of the NGO Hinam, which is organizing the project.

“Short meetings with people from different parts of society don’t provide enough to overcome mutual fears of the other, so we decided to create a program where youths live for a month in each community,” he said. Read More

Israeli Startup Aqwise Provides Potable Water To Drought-Stricken India

By David Shamah, The Times of Israel - April 25, 2016

Originally appeared here in NoCamels via Times of Israel

India has been in a chronic water shortage for years, but this year things seem worse. Drought, a failing water infrastructure, and even politics are contributing to what many experts are calling the country’s worst water crisis in decades.

More than ever, India is turning to Israel for assistance in dealing with its water issues. Earlier this month, a dozen companies and as many Israeli officials were in India for its annual Water Week, where agreements were signed on water research and implementations of solutions between Israel and India, including several deals with the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana.

Leading the list of Israeli companies at Water Week was Aqwise, an Israeli water tech firm that has already had significant experience in India. In fact, it’s because of Aqwise that visitors to the Taj Mahal – located in Agra, a city with about 2 million people – have potable water, said Elad Frankel, CEO of Aqwise. Read More

Israeli terror victim to UNSC: Spread faith, tolerance and love

(photo: UN)

By Tovah Lazaroff - April 19, 2016

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post

Terror victim Natan Meir, whose wife Dafna, 38, was stabbed to death in their home by a Palestinian teenager, urged the United Nations Security Council in New York on Monday to take steps for peace.

“I ask you leaders of the world to spread faith, tolerance and love. These are the fertilizers needed to grow the flower of peace,” Natan said.

He read from a prepared statement in English as he spoke into a microphone set up for a press conferences in front of the UNSC. His words were broadcast by the UN, which posted a video of his statement on its web page.

The father of six described how he had met his wife Dafna on this day, exactly 19 years ago.

“Three months ago, on Sunday, January 17, a 15 year old Palestinian came into my home and stabbed my dear wife to death in front of our children with a knife. In my life I always try to find ways to sanctify life and to practice faith, tolerance and love. Read More

High-tech elites to nurture Arab-Israeli startups

By Abigail Klein Leichman - April 17, 2016

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

There’s something very unusual about Hybrid, the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry’s new accelerator for startups in the Arab sector, recently launched at the Nazareth Business Incubator Center (NBIC).

The unusual aspect is that it leverages the expertise and connections of Israeli military veterans. Specifically, Hybrid teams up early-stage Arab-Israeli entrepreneurs with members of the 8200 Alumni Association.

This elite group of veterans of the IDF Intelligence Corps’ Unit 8200, which specializes in signal intelligence and code decryption, has spawned some of Israel’s most successful high-tech executives.

“We know that 70 percent of successful Israeli startups are led by 8200 graduates,” says NBIC Director Fadi Swidan, who co-directs Hybrid with Eitan Sella, a former entrepreneur and 8200 alumnus. Read More

Israeli Arab Named Israel's Deputy Police Commissioner

(Photo: AP / Sebastian Scheiner)

The Associated Press - April 13, 2016

Originally appeared here in Haaretz

Israel has promoted an Israeli Arab police officer to deputy commissioner, making him the highest-ranking Muslim to serve in the force.

Gamal Hakroosh is being promoted at a time when Israel is battling a seven month-long wave of Palestinian attacks, though that violence has ebbed in recent weeks. It has nevertheless strained already tense relations between Jews and Israel's Arab minority.

The 59-year-old Hakroosh will oversee the policing of Arab communities, where residents view the Israeli police with suspicion. Read More

New look at ancient shards suggests Bible even older than thought

(Tel Aviv University/Michael Kordonsky, Israel Antiquities Authority)

By Tamar Pileggi and AP - April 12, 2016

Originally appeared here in The Times of Israel

High-tech handwriting analysis of First Temple period writings inscribed on pottery shards indicates the Bible may have been written earlier than some scholars believe, Tel Aviv University researchers have found.

Most scholars agree that key biblical texts were written in the 6th century BCE, during the Babylonian exile after the destruction of the First Temple.

But a collection of military orders written in ancient Hebrew dated to the end of the First Temple period uncovered in the Negev Desert is shedding new light on the age of the oldest biblical texts.

With the help of sophisticated imaging tools and complex software, Tel Aviv University researchers determined the series of 2,600-year-old inscriptions were written by at least six different authors, indicating that literacy in the Kingdom of Judah may have been far more widespread than commonly believed. Read More

Israeli author creates Hebrew-Arabic-English arts center

Photo by Micha Fallenberg

By Abigail Klein Leichman - March 31, 2016

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

The timeworn stone house was dilapidated and neglected. Yet when award-winning Israeli novelist and translator Evan Fallenberg saw photos of the structure two years ago on an Israeli real-estate website, he went to visit and decided to purchase and restore it.

Now, that centuries-old Ottoman building in the historic Old City of Acre (Akko) on Israel’s northern seacoast is embarking on a second life as Arabesque: An Arts and Residency Center.

Fallenberg will have plenty of company in the 300-square-meter renovated house. It includes three residential units that can be rented by short- or long-term vacationers, and a great room intended for literary, artistic, musical and culinary events in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

One of the reasons he chose the name “Arabesque,” after months of deliberation, is that it works in all three languages. Read More

Israeli doctors rally to save 5-year-old Syrian girl

By Times of Israel Staff - April 7, 2016

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Almost from the start of the bloody conflict raging in Syria, Israel has agreed to treat in its hospitals any wounded Syrians who reached its border seeking help.

But one five-year-old girl from the war-torn land has led doctors, as well as Israel’s security services, to take unprecedented steps to try to save her life.

The girl arrived at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa in recent weeks with very serious wounds that she received after finding herself caught in a firefight between rival militias, according to an exclusive report Wednesday night on Channel 10.

Some two weeks after she arrived at the hospital, after her wounds had nearly healed, Rambam doctors discovered the young girl had cancer. Read More

Israeli Researchers Find Key To Long-Term Preservation Of Organs For Transplant

By Yonatan Sredni - March 24, 2016

Originally appeared here in NoCamels

When transplanting donated organs, time is of the essence. Transplantation stands the best chance to succeed when performed as quickly as possible after the donor surgery. A heart or lung is kept viable for transplantation for only six hours before deterioration begins. A pancreas or liver go to waste after 12 hours in storage, and a kidney can be kept outside the body for less than 30 hours.

Keep cool, not frozen

One of the main problems standing in the way of storing organs for more than a few hours is ice growth. When organs are frozen, expanding ice crystals damage the cells in a way that they cannot be revived.  Therefore, organs which are removed from a donor are kept cooled but not frozen.

A Hebrew University team led by Prof. Ido Braslavsky is now contributing significantly to the effort to perfect the process of preserving cells, tissues and organs in sub-zero temperatures. This would enable long-term banking of tissues and organs and efficient matching between donor and patient, eventually saving the lives of millions of people around the world. Read More

UN turns to Israel for advice on inclusion of disabled

(photo: REUTERS)

By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich - March 28, 2016

Originally appeared here on Jpost.com 

Seeking insights on inclusion, the UN has turned to Beit Issie Shapiro, a leading Israeli facility in Ra’anana that was awarded “special consultative status" to the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2012.

Benjy Maor, the organization’s global resource development director, addressed a UN conference a week ago on World Down Syndrome Day on the topic of “Changing Attitudes as Leverage for Social Inclusion,” reviewing Beit Issie Shapiro’s extensive research on attitude change and the different innovations created by the organization to promote inclusion within all age groups.

One of these is Friendship Park – Israel’s first inclusive and accessible playground for children with and without disabilities, which serves as a model for similar projects worldwide and was established with the support of Let All the Children Play, an organization that also presented at the conference. Read More

Wounded Syrians Treated in Israel ‘Overwhelmed With Gratitude’

(Photo: Our Soldiers Speak video/Screenshot)

By Ruthie Blum - March 8, 2016

Originally appeared here in Algemeiner.com 

“At first, they were afraid to be treated by Israelis, whom they were taught their whole lives are their worst enemies,” the deputy surgeon general of the IDF Medical Corps told The Algemeiner this week. “But once they began to accept our medical help, they became overwhelmed with gratitude and their entire attitude towards us changed.”

Col. Dr. Tarif Bader was referring to the many wounded Syrians who have crossed the border into Israel from their war-torn country to receive top-tier care, both at the IDF field hospital set up along the border and at official medical centers in the north of the country.

Since 2013, Bader said, the IDF has been administering the same advanced care to Syrians injured in the fighting between President Assad’s forces (backed by Russia and Iran) and rebel groups as it does to Israeli civilians and soldiers. This, emphasized Bader, is “without selection or prying into their ethnic background or side in the conflict” that has led to the death of an estimated 200,000 combatants and civilians over the past five years.

“But this is in keeping with what we teach our teams in the military medical academy: that their job is to treat all injured people, regardless of who they are, and the only thing they have to do in primary triage is to treat those with the most serious injuries first, including if they are terrorists,” he said. Read More

Syrian refugee creates website to thank Israelis

(Image via Facebook)

By Viva Sarah Press - February 21, 2016

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Aboud Dandachi, a Sunni Muslim from the city of Homs now living in Istanbul, has created a website dedicated to the Israeli and Jewish organizations and people helping Syrian refugees.

The website, Thank You Am Israel, highlights the humanitarian aid being given to displaced Syrians and also refutes any reasons why Israelis and Syrians should be enemies.

“As a Syrian, I am morally obligated to ensure that the goodwill that Israelis and Jews have displayed towards my people will not be overlooked nor forgotten. The day will come when the conflict in Syria will come to an end, as all things come to an end. On that day, it is imperative that Syrians reciprocate the enormous goodwill shown towards us by Israelis and the Jewish people. Whatever supposed reasons we may have had to be adversaries is dwarfed by the compassion shown to us during our darkest days, a time when we have nothing to give back except our gratitude,” writes Dandachi in a January opinion article on his site. Read More

IsraAID sends team to help Taiwan’s earthquake victims

By ISRAEL21c Staff - February 10, 2016

Originally appeared here in Israel21c   

With the death toll still rising in the wake of a 6.4-magnitude earthquake, Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID has sent a team of three experts to Taiwan to assess needs in the country, and offer psychosocial support to quake victims still looking for family members.

The earthquake struck Taiwan on Saturday, killing an estimated 41 people and injuring over 500. Worst hit was the city of Tainan, where a high-rise apartment block built using shoddy materials including tin cans, collapsed with hundreds of people inside it. One hundred people are still thought to be trapped in the rubble.

After carrying out a rapid needs assessment in Tainan, IsraAID has “joined Taiwanese professionals and assisted them in their relief efforts to support the families affected by the quake,” says IsraAID Director Shachar Zahavi.

“IsraAID’s psychosocial team met with the families of those who are still unaccounted for as they struggle between hope and despair, all the while the death toll continues to rise.” Read More