In First, Tel Aviv University to Launch Research Satellite Into Space

(Photo By: Tel Aviv University)

By: NoCamels Team - November 5, 2020

Tel Aviv University (TAU) is set to launch its own satellite into space early next year to conduct a series of experiments while in orbit, the first such project undertaken by an Israeli academic institution.

The satellite, dubbed the TAU-SAT1, is a nanosatellite developed, assembled, and tested at the new Nanosatellite Center at TAU, an interdisciplinary endeavor of the Faculties of Engineering and Exact Sciences and the Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. It has been in development for two years.

The satellite is currently undergoing pre-flight testing at the Japanese space agency JAXA, after which it will be sent to the United States to hitch a ride sometime in early 2021 on a NASA and Northrop Grumman resupply spacecraft destined for the International Space Station, the university explained in a statement.

Read More: NoCamels

Israel gives Philippines 10,000 coronavirus test kits

(Photo By: Courtesy Philippines Embassy)

By: Omri Ron - November 6, 2020

Israel gave the Philippines' Department of National Defense (DND) 10,000 coronavirus testing kits to help with the country's COVID-19 response, Big News Network reported.

Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana headed the handover ceremony, along with Israel's ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Rafael Harpaz and Israel's Defense Ministry, represented by Mr. Raz Shabtay . The designated Philippine Ambassador to Israel General Macairog Alberto was also present at the ceremony.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

WATCH: Israel Antiquities Authority coin head displays treasures from the vault

(Photo By: Heidi Levine/POOL/AFP)

By: Amanda Borschel-Dan - November 5, 2020

There are some 750,000 coins stored in one room in a well-protected Israel Antiquities Authority vault and Donald T. Ariel, the head of the IAA’s Coin Department, stands watch over them all.

Ariel, who immigrated to Israel from the United States, has headed the department since 1991. He is the editor of the Israel Numismatic Research journal and serves as the coin expert on several ongoing excavations in the country. He took The Times of Israel Community on a virtual tour of the history of Holy Land coinage and pulled out some of the IAA’s treasures during a recent Behind the Headlines conversation.

The foundation of the coin collection is housed in mahogany wood boxes built by the British Mandate almost 100 years ago. The original boxes stand to one side, segregating the collection, which was amassed through purchases from coin dealers, versus the excavated coins the IAA holds in boxes made for buts and bolts that are made in the coastal Israeli city Holon.

Read More: Times Of Israel

Israel’s bobsled athletes aim to go where no Israeli has gone before

(Photo By: Source)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - November 4, 2020

Adam “AJ” Edelman’s first skeleton race representing the Israel Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation was a disaster.

The former ice-hockey goalie and speed skater was a novice at this winter sliding sport when he agreed to compete in the North American Cup in Park City, Utah, in November 2014. He’d only begun training on his 23rd birthday the previous March and the opportunity came up suddenly.

“I had no equipment, not even a jacket, so I went to Walmart and picked up a blue fleece and drew a Star of David on it with a Sharpie. It looked really bad and the race director said it was an embarrassment,” Edelman tells ISRAEL21c.

Read More: Israel21c

Malawi vows to open embassy in Jerusalem by next summer

(Photo By: Avo Ohayun/GPO)

By: Raphael Ahren - November 3, 2020

Malawi plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem by next summer, the southeast African country’s foreign minister, Eisenhower Mkaka, announced Tuesday during a visit to Israel.

It would be the third embassy in Jerusalem, after the United States and Guatemala, and the first of an African country.

Mkaka “reiterated the intent of the Republic of Malawi to open a fully-fledged Embassy in Jerusalem [by summer of 2021],” according to a joint statement issued by the two countries.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israel offers Turkey aid following deadly earthquake

(Photo By: VP Brothers via Shutterstock.com)

By: Naama Barak - November 2, 2020

Israel has offered Turkey its help following an earthquake that left almost 40 people dead in the coastal city of Izmir.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake erupted in the Aegean Sea on Friday, leading to devastation in Izmir and on the nearby Greek island of Samos.

In Izmir, multiple buildings collapsed following the quake, killing 64 people and wounding some 900 others. In Samos, two teens were killed when a wall collapsed on them and some 20 others were injured.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz offered Israel’s aid on Friday, tweeting that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare to provide emergency assistance to Turkey and that army officials had spoken with the Turkish military attaché in Israel.

Read More: Israel21c

Jerusalem geologist believes we have the nails used for crucifixion

(Photo By: Reuters)

By: Sarah Chemla - October 28, 2020

Fragments of nails believed to have been used in crucifixion have ancient wood and fragments of bone on them, according to a new study, The New York Post reported.

The fragments appeared for the first time after a 1990 excavation of a burial site of Caiaphas, the high priest who organized a plot to kill Jesus according to the New Testament.

Scholars at the time slammed the suggestion, denying the nails that Israeli filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici had found were the same ones from Caiaphas’s tomb.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

US hands out first Jerusalem, Israel passport to Menachem Zivotofsky

(Photo By: Ambassador David Friedman Twitter)

By: Tovah Lazaroff - October 30, 2020

After their son Menachem’s birth in 2002, Ari and Naomi Zivotofksy asked for a passport that recorded his birthplace as Jerusalem, Israel but they received the document only this Friday - some 18 years later.“

I am honored to receive this passport as a representative of the many American citizens who were born in Israel, who can now have their official government documents reflect the fact that they were born in Israel. I want to thank my parents who started this process, long before I understood anything,” Menachem said.

He spoke at a brief ceremony at the US embassy in Jerusalem, in which US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman officially handed him his passport, the first one ever to link Jerusalem with the State of Israel.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

2,000-year-old gem seal depicting Greek god Apollo found under City of David

(Photo By: Eliyahu Yanai/City of David)

By: Hannah Brown - October 29, 2020

Researchers discovered a gem seal featuring a portrait of Apollo in the drainage channel of the City of David late last month. It was found in archaeological soil that was removed from the foundations of the Western Wall during work on the Archaeological Sifting Project in Tzurim Valley National Park.The excavations were carried out under the auspices of the City of David and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

The gem features an engraved portrait of the god Apollo. According to researchers, this surprising and rare find is only the third secured gem sealing (intaglio) from the Second Temple period to have been discovered in Jerusalem.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

Cover Up: 10 Innovative Types of Face Masks Developed in Israel

(Photo BY: Courtesy)

By: NoCamels - October 22, 2020

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, donning a face mask in public felt unusual in certain regions of the world. Those days are long gone.

Israelis have been required to wear face coverings in public since April as part of a mandatory directive issued by the Health Ministry. And the government has recently ramped up its pubic campaign to drive home the importance of wearing face masks.

While the disposable kind is a choice for many, especially in Israel, others have opted for more stylish options or plainly professional, functional ones.

Read More: NoCamels

Israeli start-up makes vertical farms to grow crops in city parking lots

(Photo Credit: Vertical Field)

By: Aaron Reich - October 28, 2020

An Israeli agri-tech start-up has created vertical farms in urban environments, allowing for fresh produce to be grown in cities.

These vertical, sustainable farms were developed by Ra'anana-based Vertical Field through the use of geoponic technology, agricultural expertise and smart design. This is especially useful in "urban food deserts," which are often lacking in available space for crop cultivation.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Ancient church found where Jesus said to tell Peter to establish Christianity

(Photo By: Yaniv Cohen)

By: Amanda Borschel-Dan - October 28, 2020

One of the earliest churches in Israel has been unearthed at the foot of breathtaking waterfalls in the scenic Banias Nature Reserve in Israel’s north. The rare circa 400 CE Byzantine church was build on top of a Roman-era temple to Pan, the Greek god from whom the park takes its name.

The 4th-5th century Christian builders adapted the Roman pagan temple to fit the needs of the relatively new religion, said University of Haifa Prof. Adi Erlich in a brief Hebrew-language video announcing the find.

Erlich hypothesizes that the church was built to commemorate Jesus’s significant interactions with Peter — who recognized his teacher as the Messiah — that are documented to have taken place in the area, called “Caesarea of ​​Philip” during Jesus’ time.

Read More: Times of Israel

Interactive exhibition to bring Albert Einstein alive

(Photo By: The Albert Einstein Archives at Hebrew University)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - October 19, 2020

The great scientist Albert Einstein visited the Holy Land only once, on a 12-day stopover between Japan and his native Germany in February 1923. That was two years after he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

And yet Einstein’s legacy lives on quite literally in Israel. He was a founder of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and bequeathed it his personal and scientific writings — including his handwritten Theory of Relativity and E=mc2 formula.

To mark next year’s 100th anniversary of Einstein’s Nobel Prize, the university plans to unveil Einstein: Visualize the Impossible, an interactive online experience billed as “one of the most exciting immersive platforms of the decade.”

Read More: Israel21c

US holds conference on combating online antisemitism

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Tara Kavaler/The Media Line - October 26, 2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo kicked off the first-ever US government-sponsored conference on fighting online antisemitism this week by noting results from Israel’s tracking system: In the first eight months of 2020, 1.7 million messages on Twitter and YouTube were identified as promoting hatred toward Jews.

Pompeo said that 37,000 of these posts were related to a conspiracy theory that Jews were behind the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Trump Administration is combating Jew hatred wherever we find it,” the secretary said. “Nowadays, bigots everywhere can spread antisemitism anonymously online.”

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

Smart urban fabric provides shade and solar energy

(Photo By: Anai Green)

By: Dominik Doehler - October 22, 2020

“I am a product designer, but I have always been interested in improving the public environment,” says Anai Green, this year’s winner of the Women4Climate Tech Challenge.

Born and raised in Israel, Green has created a novel outdoor fabric called Lumiweave, combining the benefits of renewable off-the-grid solar energy with daytime shading in one material.

The idea for Lumiweave was born while Green and a landscaper were working on another project for Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv.

Read More: Israel21c

Ethiopian Jewry's biblical texts are disappearing. TAU is saving them.

(Photo By: Faitlovitch Collection At TAU/Diana Lipton)

By: Hannah Brown - October 20, 2020

Tel Aviv University has created a new MA program in the study and research of biblical texts of Ethiopian Jewry that are in danger of being lost in the hope of preserving them and expanding scholarship about them.

On Tuesday, the Department of Biblical Studies at Tel Aviv University’s Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology announced the launch of this program, which is the first of its kind in the world.

The program is attracting Israeli students of Ethiopian descent who are interested in studying the sacred texts of their families’ culture. These texts are written in Ge’ez (an ancient Ethiopian language) and called the Orit. The program is known as Orit Guardians. Administrators and professors hope to expand the program to include BA and PhD studies.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

Why Israel chose to aid an ailing enemy

(Photo By: Amir Levy/Flash90)

By: Jonathan Tobin - October 19, 2020

It’s the kind of story that drives a lot of friends of Israel nuts. One of its chief opponents, Palestinian Liberation Organization senior leader Saeb Erekat recently fell ill with COVID-19. Faced with the decision as to where to be treated, it was only natural that instead of going to a Palestinian hospital or even one in neighboring Jordan, he chose to go to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

This is, after all, the same person who spent his career lying about Israel, and smearing it as a nation of oppressors and war criminals. He’s part of a government that spends far more on paying salaries and pensions to terrorists and their families than on hospitals. Indeed, in March of this year, he actually went as far as to falsely allege that Israelis were spitting on Palestinian cars so as to spread the coronavirus to them. And though he has served as the P.A.’s chief peace negotiator, he’s spent his tenure in that position working to make peace negotiations impossible, swearing that he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and end the ongoing conflict.

Read More: JNS

University of Haifa, UC Davis profs. Recognized for 20-year grain study.

(Photo By: Raz Avni of Tau)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - October 21, 2020

Professors from the University of Haifa were recognized alongside colleagues from the University of California, Davis, by the US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) for their accomplishments in fighting food insecurity.

The recognition marks the “outstanding scientific achievement and excellence” achieved by Prof. Tzion Fahima, head of the Laboratory of Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance at the University of Haifa's Institute of Evolution and UC Davis’s Prof. Jorge Dubcovsky for their collaboration spanning two decades.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

Second Temple period jars and complete clay objects unearthed in Beit El

(Photo By: Cogat Spokesperson’s Office)

By: Tobias Siegal - October 21, 2020

Dozens of jars and complete clay objects from the Second Temple period have been discovered by the Civil Administration in archaeological digs at Beit El in the West Bank.

The ancient jars were discovered inside a water hole at the Khirbet Kafr Mer archaeological site at Beit El.

The exciting discovery was made as part of an ongoing large-scale excavation that the Civil Administration has been leading at the site for more than a decade. In August, a richly decorated stone table dating to the Second Temple era was discovered at the same site.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post

Israeli Embassy in Panama helps isolated border tribe

(Photo By: Israeli Embassy in Panama)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - October 19, 2020

The Israeli Embassy in Panama has provided hundreds of packages of food to isolated communities in Panama.

The aid, which was coordinated with the Panamanian Ministry of Youth, Women, Children and Family Affairs and the National Aeronaval Service of Panama, was given to the Ngäbe-Buglé tribe on the border with Costa Rica.

The National Aeronaval Service facilitated delivering it to remote mountainous areas.

Read More: The Jerusalem Post