Jerusalem’s archeological tunneling efforts win top award

(Photo By: Hadas Parush/Flash90)

By: Naama Barak - December 14, 2020

Jerusalem’s world-famous Old City can now add another feather to its cap: The archeological tunneling to explore and excavate its history have just won international recognition by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association.

Coming in at first place in the “Oddities of the Underground” category in the ITA’s sixth annual contest, the Old City digs were noted as “Tunnelling in the service of archaeology,” and beat Norway’s Spiral Tunnel (Drammen) to the top spot.

“The sensitive environment demands great dexterity and flexibility. Unexpected finds can lead to sudden changes in the direction of excavation, often accompanied by low overburden heights and difficult ground conditions,” the ITA says of the Jerusalem digs.

Read More: Israel21c

Israel inks deal establishing diplomatic relations with Bhutan

(Photo By: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

By: TOI Staff - December 12, 2020

Israel has established full diplomatic ties with Bhutan, a small, majority-Buddhist landlocked kingdom in the Himalayas neighboring India and China.

The agreement was signed on Saturday at a ceremony held at the residence of Israel’s Ambassador to India Ron Malka, with the ambassador of Bhutan to India Major General Vetsop Namgyel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the development, calling it an “additional fruit of the peace agreements.”

Read More: Times of Israel

Morocco’s FM on normalization: Relations with Israel were ‘already normal’

(Photo By: AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

By: Agencies - December 13, 2020

Morocco’s relations with Israel are unique in the Arab world and bilateral ties were “already normal” before a normalization deal was announced, Morocco’s foreign minister told Israeli media Sunday.

Morocco on Thursday announced a “resumption of relations” with Israel, shortly after US President Donald Trump tweeted that Rabat and the Jewish state had “agreed to full diplomatic relations.”

Israel and Morocco established low-level diplomatic relations during the 1990s following a thawing of ties between Israel and the Palestinians. Those contacts, however, were suspended in 2002 in response to the Second Intifada. Since then, however, the relationship has continued informally, with tens of thousands of Israelis traveling to Morocco every year.

Read More: Times of Israel

First Tel Aviv Jewish Film Festival goes online

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Hannah Brown - December 14, 2020

The first Tel Aviv Jewish Film Festival is being held through Tuesday online, as part of the Hanukkah season, as an initiative of the Brodt Center for Jewish Culture of the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo in cooperation with Makor Rishon, with the aim of presenting Jewish cinema from a different perspective.

It features premieres of films, full-length features, documentaries and short films, from Israel and abroad. It will be held online and will be broadcast via the Global Press system.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Ancient oil-lamp workshop sheds light on Roman-era Jews and Christians

(Photo By: Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority)

By: Hannah Brown - December 14, 2020

An ancient ceramic oil-lamp workshop — one of the largest ever found — has been discovered in excavations by the Antiquities Authority in the “Hey” neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh. Hundreds of ceramic oil lamps, two bearing symbols of the menorah, and stone lamp molds for their production were found along with terracotta figurines from about 1600-1700 years ago. In the past few months, the Antiquities Authority excavators have been joined by dozens of pre-military program students.

The large-scale archaeological excavations are being carried out by the Construction and Housing Ministry prior to the establishment of a new neighborhood.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Preparing for a post-coronavirus global arena at the DiploTech Conference

(Photo By: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - December 10, 2020

How can the new world cope best with the greatest global challenges and proactively prepare for the post-coronavirus era? These questions and more will be answered by world leaders, heads of state, foreign ministers, policymakers, diplomats, investors and entrepreneurs, as part of the DiploTech World Conference 2020 set to be broadcast from Tel Aviv (12/16 at 6:00 PM Israel 12:00 PM).

The conference will be held in collaboration with The Jerusalem Post Group, at the initiative of former ambassador Danny Danon, Israel’s 17th permanent representative to the UN and Israel’s former science and technology minister, and led by Yossi Sagol, the developer and chairman of Sagol Holdings…

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Sonovia antimicrobial fabrics will be going into new cars

(Photo By: Shutterstock)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - December 8, 2020

The pandemic has many people wary of riding in a car in close quarters with others’ germs. Soon, many makes of automobiles will be furnished with antimicrobial textiles from Israel’s Sonovia Tech.

During a recent visit to Israel, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi de Mayo announced that the Adler Group, a tier 1 producer of components for the automotive industry, signed an agreement with Sonovia to develop textiles for cars.

These fabrics for carpeting and other interior features will have the same antiviral, antibacterial properties as Sonovia’s made-in-Israel SonoMask washable facemasks, which are proven at least 99 percent effective against coronaviruses and other viruses.

Read More: Israel21c

World Leaders Send Well-Wishes to Jewish People Ahead of Hanukkah

(Photo By: Reuters/Christopher Pike)

By: Algemeiner Staff - December 10, 2020

Leaders across the globe issued well-wishes to the Jewish people on Thursday ahead of the start of Hanukkah.

US President Donald Trump stated, “During this holiday season, the First Lady and I send our warmest greetings to the millions of Jewish people in the United States and around the world as they begin the celebration of Hanukkah and the miracle that kept the flames of the menorah burning in the Second Temple for eight nights.”

Read More: Algemeiner

‘Israel Is Going Back to the Moon,’ Announces Israeli Space Startup Co-Founder

(Photo By: Courtesy of Space IL)

By: Yafit Ovadia/CTech - December 9, 2020

CTech – After the crash-landing of the Beresheet spacecraft two years ago, the Israeli space startup SpaceIL announced Israel’s next Moon mission on Wednesday.

“Israel is going back to the Moon,” said SpaceIL co-founder Kfir Damari during a live-streamed announcement from the Israeli President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

Under the new plan, Israel will launch a spacecraft named Beresheet 2 — the Hebrew title of the book of Genesis — in 2024. It will be sent into space from the American launch base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, like its predecessor. The spacecraft will be composed of three parts: an orbiter and two lunar landers which will descend on different parts on the Moon. One will remain on the Moon and feature an ongoing interactive program for Israeli schoolchildren, while routinely collecting data and conducting scientific experiments; while the orbiter will stay in space circling the moon for years, conducting experiments and collecting data.

Read More: Algemeiner

Israeli EdTech Firm Helps Universities Worldwide Adopt Remote Leaning Solutions

(Photo By: Vlada Kapovich from Pexels)

By: Simona Shemer - December 3, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for more innovative and consistent distance learning methods in schools and universities. As education facilities across the world shuttered due to the global crisis, teachers and staff were forced to scramble together online learning resources and figure out ways to teach differently.

These changes were deeply felt in higher education as a new “hybrid” era of traditional teaching, online learning, and knowledge-sharing methods was conceived. While the idea of virtual education isn’t new — the first university to launch fully online degrees did so in 1989 — this mixture of in-person and remote education also demanded a “digital transformation.”

One organization that understood the need to embrace technologies to operate better long before the pandemic is Ex Libris, an Israeli company whose cloud-based solutions help institutions around the world improve their library management systems, research outcomes, and student engagement.

Read More: NoCamels

Israeli and Arab Women Diplomats Discuss Growing Role in International Diplomacy

(Photo: Screenshot of the event)

By: Algemeiner Staff - December 3, 2020

One Israeli and two Arab diplomats, all of them women, came together on Thursday for an unprecedented panel discussion on the growing role played by women in international forums.

The virtual event — organized by Israel’s UN Mission in recognition of the 20th anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on the disproportionate impact of armed conflict on women and girls — brought together Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, permanent representative of Israel to the UN in Geneva, with Ambassador Houda Nonoo of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain and Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, permanent representative of the United Arab Emirates to the UN in New York.

The three ambassadors highlighted a number of challenging issues facing women diplomats in today’s Middle East. The panelists emphasized the importance of the active inclusion of women at the highest levels of decision-making in their three respective countries and discussed their own visions for how gender must play a role in the newfound peace between their countries.

Read More: Algemeiner

Israel wins international tunneling award for archaeology

(Photo By: Israel Antiquities Authority)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - December 6, 2020

The Israel's underground project won international recognition at the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association (ITA) Awards, specifically taking hope top prize in the Oddities of the Underground category, due to its creativity and innovation in archaeology.

The awards, given out virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, were focused on various innovations and accomplishments in the field of tunneling. Awards are not purely archaeological in nature, and in fact most of the eight categories were given to projects related to railroads and construction.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Droning the Drove: Israeli Cow-Herders Turn to Flying Tech

(Photo By: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun)

By: Reuters and Algemeiner Staff - December 2, 2020

The buzz of tiny rotors has replaced dog barks and bullwhips on this Israeli ranch, where drones are being used to herd and observe cattle.

The remote-controlled quadcopters hover near the cows, which move along in response while live video is relayed back to the farmers.

“Using a drone, instead of cowboys and dogs, creates a much less stressful environment for the animals, and an animal that is less stressful is a lot healthier and more productive,” said Noam Azran, CEO of BeeFree Agro, the firm developing the method.

Read More: Algemeiner

The surprising US city where Israeli tech is heading next

(Photo: Courtesy of VisitTulsa)

By: Jonathan Frenkel - December 2, 2020

For Israeli companies considering US market entry, the United States they believe existed pre-Covid is a far different place than the country they wish to access now.

While the pandemic has caused a lot of pain and suffering, opportunities have also arisen. And Israeli entrepreneurs are good at spotting opportunities in chaotic situations.

One of those opportunities is the rise of US cities with newly robust tech ecosystems fueled by the work-from-home (WFH) trend and the exodus of highly skilled professionals from densely populated urban areas such as New York and the Bay Area.

Now is the time for US cities between the coasts to cement their status as tech centers. Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of those cities.

Read More: Israel21c

Kissing the ground, hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants welcomed to Israel

(Photo By: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

By: Stuart Winer and TOI Staff - December 3, 2020

Waving Israeli flags as they came down the steps of the aircraft, over 300 members of Ethiopia’s Jewish community arrived in Israel on Thursday in a special airlift from Gondar headed by Absorption and Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata.

The celebratory arrival, attended by several of Israel’s leaders, marked the opening phase of a plan to bring some 2,000 members of the community to Israel from Ethiopia in what has been dubbed Operation Tzur Israel.

Critics have urged the government to speed the arrival of all 2,000, as well as thousands more community members estimated to be waiting to emigrate from the war-torn country.

The first of the 316 immigrants to emerge from the Ethiopian Airlines jet led a young girl with one hand and with his other blew a ram’s horn, or shofar, that in Jewish tradition is used to signal a moment of redemption

Read More: Times of Israel

How Beersheva plans to be the world hub of desert technology

(Photo Courtesy: DeserTech)

By: Brian Blum - December 1, 2020

Israel’s Negev desert has long attracted scientists, environmentalists and solar energy-tech enthusiasts seeking Israel’s know-how on combatting desertification.

A new initiative, DeserTech, aims to transform that activity into an active networking community.

DeserTech is intended to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, academics, students and government institutions in the city of Beersheva, at the northern tip of the Negev.

Beersheva has the world’s only Innovation Center for Climate Change, specializing in desert technology.

Read More: Israel21c

Saudi Arabia officially approves Israeli flights over its airspace

(Photo By: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

By: Tobias Siegal - December 1, 2020

Saudi Arabia announced on Monday evening that it has officially given approval for Israeli airlines to fly over the country’s airspace, dramatically shortening flights to the east and finally allowing the airlines to offer direct flights to Dubai, Israeli media reported.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement meant that an Israir flight between Tel Aviv and Dubai planned for Tuesday, departed Ben-Gurion Airport as originally planned, marking the first direct Israeli flight from Tel Aviv to Dubai.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev congratulated the Saudis on their announcement. “I’m glad to see that after several long, tense hours of waiting and receiving many inquiries from concerned passengers and airline companies, the Saudis just gave their approval for the first Israeli commercial flight to depart tomorrow as planned,” Regev wrote on Facebook on Monday. “I wish all passengers a safe trip and a safe return.”

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Ethical hackers help secure companies' clouds from security breaches

(Photo By: Reuters)

By: Tobias Siegal - November 25, 2020

As cloud storage technologies evolve at a staggering pace, more companies and organizations find themselves vulnerable to hacking attempts. Now, an Israeli security start-up, founded by former ethical hackers, offers companies the opportunity to proactively map their full cloud system and detect potential critical threats before malicious hackers get the chance to exploit them.

Lightspin announced its official launch on Tuesday after closing a $4 million seed funding round to help organizations protect cloud infrastructure and advance digital transformation.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

3000-year-old temple-era gold bead found by 9-year-old Jerusalem boy

(Photo By: Temple Mount Sifting Project)

By: Idan Zonshine - November 29, 2020

The first ever First Temple-era gold granule bead was discovered during wet sifting of earth from the Temple Mount by a nine-year-old boy, the Temple Mount Sifting Project (TMSP) announced earlier this week.

While sifting through the dirt with his family in August, Jerusalem resident Binyamin Milt uncovered a perfectly preserved small, flower-shaped cylinder, created by four layers of tiny gold balls, unaware that the artifact he was holding was likely forged around 3,000 years ago.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israeli supermarket employs vertical farm start-up for selling produce

(Photo By: Vertical Field)

By: Idan Zoshine - November 24, 2020

Rami Levy, one of Israel's largest supermarket chains, has been cooperating with two Israeli agri-tech start-ups to erect large containers to grow fruit and vegetables, which will be sold in the chain's stores.

Vertical Field, a Ra'anana based agri-tech start-up which creates vertical, urban farms using geoponic technology, agricultural expertise and smart design, teamed up with BIOLED, a Tzuba-based eco-lighting start-up that uses LED lights to create more sustainable, profitable crops in order to erect the growing containers.

Read More: Jerusalem Post