Zach Banner, Alysha Clark, Josh Bell headline ‘Athletes against Anti-Semitism’

(AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)

By Ben Sales - February 15, 2021

JTA — Zach Banner, Alysha Clark and Josh Bell will be among the US professional athletes to headline an event Wednesday discussing activism against anti-Semitism and how athletes can contribute to the effort.

Banner, an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, spoke out against anti-Semitism following anti-Semitic social media posts by DeSean Jackson, a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Banner connected his concern to the 2018 shooting at Tree of Life, a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Read More: Times of Israel

Tel Aviv U. opens unique Center for Combating Pandemics

(Photo By: Martin Sanchez on Unslpash)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - February 11, 2021

Despite tens of millions of Covid-19 cases worldwide, much remains unknown about the origin and long-term effects of the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus.

One thing that scientists know without a doubt: We can expect more pandemics in the future.

That’s why Tel Aviv University recently launched the Center for Combating Pandemics, thought to be the first of its kind anywhere.

“In the past 15 years, the world has seen a string of viral pathogens infect large numbers of people, among them SARS, MERS, swine flu and avian flu. Clearly, we are not safe from dangerous emerging diseases,” says Center Head Prof. Itai Benhar of TAU’s Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research.

The center aims to improve frontline containment of infection; bolster biomedical knowledge for developing vaccines and treatments; and help nations strengthen their capacity to ensure social and economic resilience.

Read More: Israel21c

Pro-Zionist letter by ‘father of modern China’ Sun Yat-Sen resurfaces in Israel

(Photo By: Flickr/R. Barraez D’Lucca)

By: JNS - February 11, 2021

The original, signed copy of a letter written by Sun Yat-Sen—a statesman, physician and political philosopher considered to be one of the greatest leaders of modern China—expressing support for Zionism has been rediscovered in the archives of the National Library of Israel, the library announced on Wednesday.

The letter, dated April 24, 1920, was addressed to Nissim Elias Benjamin Ezra (N.E.B.) Ezra, and surfaced while the library was reviewing its archived items in preparation for a move to a new location. Ezra was an influential Jewish writer, scholar and publisher who was born in Lahore (now in Pakistan) and lived most of his life in Shanghai. He founded the Shanghai Zionist Association and its official newspaper, Israel’s Messenger.

Read More: JNS

Two Israeli technologies suit up healthcare and food-service workers without them having to touch a thing, reducing both infections and waste.

(Photo By: Harel Cohen)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - February 11, 2021

Even before Covid – remember those days? – gloves and clean uniforms were essential for employees in healthcare, food service and many industrial settings to keep the work environment as clean and germ-free as possible.

The coronavirus pandemic has only intensified the need for employers to provide personal protective equipment to workers 24/7.

Now two Israeli companies have developed innovative solutions for outfitting healthcare and other workers in gloves and uniforms in a more hygienic, controlled and convenient manner.

“The system we are launching is revolutionizing one of the most common parts of medical treatment — wearing sterile gloves,” says Orna Goldberg, CEO of Tel Aviv-based IGIN Tech, a subsidiary of AIDOR Group.

“Today, 5.8 billion sterile gloves are used every day around the world, so we are talking about a significant source of contamination.”

Read More: Israel21c

Former NBA Star Amare Stoudemire Talks to Yeshiva University Students About Judaism and Playing in Israel

(Photo By: Screenshot)

By: Shiryn Ghermezian - February 9, 2021

Veteran NBA player Amare Stoudemire talked to students of Yeshiva University in New York about his career, his life as an observant Jew, and maintaining a close connection to God.

Stoudemire, who is the assistant player development coach for the Brooklyn Nets, participated in a virtual Q&A event on Feb. 3 in which he began by discussing the start of his basketball career, and his experiences playing for both the NBA and the Israel Premier League.

The 38-year-old played for Hapoel Jerusalem (which he now co-owns) in 2016 and 2017, then returned for the 2018-19 season. He played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2020 and led both teams to victory in the Israeli basketball championships.

Read More: Algemeiner

1800-year-old coin found by soldier offers look at ancient life in Israel

(Photo By: Nir Distelfeld/Israel Antiquities Authority)

By: Rossella Tercatin - February 9, 2021

Some 1,800-years ago, a traveler was making his way through the Carmel area and a coin fell from his pocket. Almost two millennia later, the artifact was found by an Israeli soldier during a training exercise, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.

“This coin joins only eleven such coins from known locations in the National Treasures Department collection. All the coins were found in northern Israel, from Megiddo and Tzipori to Tiberias and Arbel,” Dr Donald Tzvi Ariel, head of the IAA’s Numismatics Department, said.

The artifact bears images and text that allowed researchers to precisely identify its origin and dating: One of its sides reads: “of the people of Geva Phillipi”, [civic] year 217 (158–159 CE) together with the image of the Syrian moon god, Men. The other face carries the portrait of Roman emperor Antonius Pius.

“The coin discovered is one of the municipal coins minted in the city of Geva Philippi, also known as Geva Parashim,” Dr Avner Ecker, lecturer in classical archaeology at Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, explained.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israeli hospital to use artificial skin-tech for burns, wounds

(Photo By: Miki and Gal Koren)

By: Zachary Keyser - February 7, 2021

The Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa will be introducing Nanomedic Technologies' Electrospun Healing Fiber (EHF™) products within its emergency care settings, Nanomedic announced on Tuesday.

The Nanomedic "Spincare System" fashions an artificial skin layer "using a smart and customized matrix made of nano polymers that adheres precisely to a wound or burn."

Rambam's trauma center - responsible for serving 2 million residents of northern Israel and treating thousands of burns each year - will use the new additions to enhance patient care and improve its ability to heal wounds and burns in the long run.

"Nanomedic’s Spincare System has many advantages, including protection against infection from contaminating bacteria and properties that allow it to optimally adhere to the injury in a way that regular dressings cannot," said Prof. Yehuda Ullmann, chair of the Surgical Department and director of the Plastic Surgery department at the Rambam Health Care Campus. "The biggest benefit for patients is the avoidance of the pain often incurred from changing bandages, especially when treating children."

Read More: Jerusalem Post

New Israeli drug cured 29 of 30 moderate/serious COVID cases in days — hospital

(Photo By: magicmine; iStock by Getty Images)

By: TOI Staff - February 5, 2021

A new coronavirus treatment being developed at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center has successfully completed phase 1 trials and appears to have helped numerous moderate-to-serious cases of COVID-19 quickly recover from the disease, the hospital said Friday.

Hailing a “huge breakthrough,” the hospital said Prof. Nadir Arber’s EXO-CD24 substance had been administered to 30 patients whose conditions were moderate or worse, and all 30 recovered — 29 of them within three to five days.

The medicine fights the cytokine storm — a potentially lethal immune overreaction to the coronavirus infection that is believed to be responsible for much of the deaths associated with the disease.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israeli Team Nabs Oscar For Film Tech Used Across Industry

(Photo By: Courtesy of Tel Aviv University)

By: NoCamels Team - February 4, 2021

And the Oscar goes to…a team of Israeli engineers who developed wireless video technology that has come to be widely used in the global film industry.

The American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science awarded a Scientific and Engineering Award this week to the team behind Israeli startup Aminon, founded in 2004 by Professor Meir Feder, Dr. Zvi Reznic (Feder’s former student) and Noam Geri. Amimon senior executives Guy Dorman and Ron Yogev were also included in the award.

Amimon designs and manufactures high-definition wireless video modules for real-time video for the medical, broadcasting, and unmanned aerial vehicle markets.

The company’s RF semiconductor video modem technology can be used as a video cable replacement in many situations. It combines the high-quality and low latency of true cable connectivity with the advantages of wireless applications enhanced by multicast and broadcast capabilities.

Read More: NoCamels

World’s hottest new math mind-teasers set by Israeli AI formula-finder

(Photo By: PhonlamaiPhoto via iStock by Getty Images)

By: Nathan Jeffay - Feb 4, 2021

Israel has a smart new mathematician, throwing out mind-teasing hypotheses for number-crunchers of the world to prove or disprove. The powers being displayed are, literally, superhuman, because it is a multi-tentacled computer program.

The Ramanujan Machine, an advanced artificial intelligence invention, works across ten regular computers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, churning through possibilities for new lines of mathematical research. And in the future, scientists hope it may use your phone’s processing power too.

For almost two years, Prof. Ido Kaminer, who built the device, has been gathering all the hypotheses it came up with, and on Wednesday he published the 19 hardest to prove or disprove in the influential peer-reviewed journal Nature, inviting experts all over the world to take to their whiteboards and have a try.

Read More: Times Of Israel

Israeli study shows close interaction with nature has more tangible benefits for lifting spirits”

(Photo By: Unsplash)

By: Naama Barak - February 3, 2021

If you too have been devoting recent lockdowns to home gardening to lift your spirits, you’ll be happy to hear that science is on your side: Recent research shows that for greenery to have tangible benefits for your mood, you need to closely interact with it.

In a study published in Conservation Biology, researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa showed that closeness to nature improves wellbeing more than passive exposure or simply looking at a green landscape.

The researchers surveyed 1,023 visitors at the lush Ramat Hanadiv Memorial Garden and Nature Park in northern Israel. Visitors who had a closer interaction with nature – for example by touching natural elements or smelling flowers – reported more of an enhanced positive effect than people who experienced nature from a greater distance, such as simply strolling the grounds.

The researchers then asked 303 Technion students to spend half an hour outdoors on campus. They were assigned to perform one of nine “cues” such as smelling flowers, taking photographs of nature or turning off their phones.

Read More: Israel 21c

Mayim Bialik, Gene Simmons, Jason Alexander Among 170 Entertainment Leaders Forming Black-Jewish Alliance to Fight Racism and Antisemitism

(Photo By: Screenshot)

By: Algemeiner Staff - February 1, 2021

A group of 170 Black and Jewish members of the entertainment industry announced the formation on Monday of the Black-Jewish Entertainment Alliance, designed to foster unity between the Black and Jewish communities in order to fight racism and antisemitism together.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the announcement was timed to coincide with the beginning of Black History Month, and was launched with a statement of unity signed by 170 industry figures, including Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik, acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua, Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., Motown Records president Ethiopia Habtemariam, legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander, former CEO of Paramount Pictures Sherry Lansing, and Israeli-born KISS musician Gene Simmons.

The statement reads, in part, “We acknowledge that the Black and Jewish communities have a shared history of subjugation and persecution.”

“We recognize that the Black community in America has faced a history of racism that continues to this day, while the Jewish community is currently encountering record levels of antisemitism, which affects both groups’ sense of fear, vulnerability, and self-worth,” it continues.

Read More: Algemeiner

Israeli company with military-grade surveillance aims to defend Jewish communities abroad

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Yaakov Lappin - February 1, 2021

Injecting the civilian world with military-based video surveillance techniques is a vision that Col. (res.) Oded Halevy, CEO of the Gotrack HLS company, has spent recent years turning into a reality in Israel. Now, concerned by the threat of anti-Semitism, he is seeking to make the same preventative security services available for Jewish communities abroad.

Halevy served for 26 years in the Israel Defense Forces, including in special units, as well as headed the military’s Combat Collection Doctrine Department in the Ground Forces. He served as commander of the Combat Collection School Brigade and is still on active reserve duty.

His approach to surveillance is playing an increasingly growing role in securing multiple sectors in Israel, from city councils to factories. He is now also determined to keep a watchful, remote eye over synagogues and Jewish community centers around the world as they face rising threats.

Read More: JNS

Jerusalem Technology College collaborates to reduce mental illness stigma

(Photo By: Pixabay)

By: Gadi Zaig - February 1, 2021

The staff, students and faculty of the Jerusalem College of Technology announced last week a partnership with Boston's McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School, in a collaborative initiative to reduce stigmatization of people with mental illness in Israel.

To do this, they will adapt McLean’s award-winning campaign – Deconstructing Stigma: Changing Attitudes About Mental Health.

This campaign uses a series of interviews and photographs in order to combat misconceptions about those who live with mental illness. It includes participating students navigating healthcare systems and researching complexities surrounding treatment.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israel builds houses for 39 families that lost homes in Guatemala volcano blast

(Photo by: Courtesy)

By: Lazar Berman - February 1, 2021

Israel’s embassy in Guatemala on Sunday finished its Guatelinda housing project in the town of Escuintla for families that lost homes in the 2018 Fuego volcano eruption.

The blast killed more than 190 people in the Central American country.

Matty Cohen, Israel’s ambassador to Guatemala and Honduras, personally handed over the deeds to all 39 families who received new homes.

“The State of Israel promised, and we are happy,” said Cohen. “Israel will always continue to assist our friend and ally Guatemala.”

Read More: Times of Israel

Kosovo says it will formally establish diplomatic ties with Israel on Feb. 1

(Photo By: Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

By: AP and TOI Staff - January 29, 2021

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister on Friday said a formal ceremony will be held next week to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, a “historic moment” in the Balkan country’s history.

Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla said she and her Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi would hold a virtual ceremony on Feb. 1.

“Recognition by Israel is one of the greatest achievements for Kosovo, coming at a key moment for us, thanks to the United States of America, our common and eternal ally,” she said.

The decision on mutual recognition between Muslim-majority Kosovo and Israel was achieved last September at a summit of Kosovo-Serbia leaders at the White House in the presence of then-President Donald Trump.

Read More: Times Of Israel

Israeli firm providing mobile ventilators to California

(Photo By: Inovytec)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - January 29, 2021

Israeli medical device firm Inovytec has signed a deal to deliver 1,500 advanced portable ventilators to Global Medical Supply, a distributor that works with the state of California.

The Ventway Sparrow breathing machines will be used to aid patients with respiratory illnesses during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.

“When looking for a partner that could quickly supply us with the quality ventilators we needed, Inovytec answered the call. Its lightweight and durable ventilators give patients the flexibility needed to be transported between wards or hospitals seamlessly,” said Edward Kim, a partner at Global Medical Supply.

Read More: Israel21c

In a first, Arab-initiated event commemorates the Holocaust in wake of Abraham Accords

(Photo By: Screenshot)

By: Eliana Rudee - January 27, 2021

In the wake of the Abraham Accords and in honor of International Holocaust Memorial Day on Jan. 27, individuals from the group Sharaka held an event to memorialize victims of the Holocaust and to promote an action plan for Holocaust awareness and combating anti-Semitism.

According to Sharaka (“partnership” in Arabic), this week’s event was the first-ever initiative to commemorate the Holocaust, bringing together Arab leaders in the Middle East.

Participants from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia—some of whom participated in Sharaka’s tour of Israel in December, which marked many of their first experiences learning about the Holocaust—were joined by viewers from North America, Europe and Israel.

Read More: JNS

Ancient cloth with Bible’s purple dye found in Israel, dated to King David’s era

(Photo By Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority)

By: Amanda Borschel-Dan - January 28, 2021

Israeli researchers have found three textile scraps near the southern tip of Israel colored with the biblically described “argaman” royal purple dye, and dated them to circa 1,000 BCE — the era of King David. The earliest ever such finds in this region, the vibrant cloths add tangible weight, in particular, to the Bible’s account of an Edomite kingdom in the area at that time.

Colored with the most precious dye of the ancient world, the textile scraps were excavated in the Timna Valley near Eilat, and offer startling new insight into an ancient elite class. The tiny, vibrantly colored Iron Age cloth pieces are the earliest evidence of this precious dye in the entire Southern Levant and shed new light on the early Edomite kingdom and Israelite kingdoms 3,000 years ago — a period when the Bible details the conquering of the Edomites by King David.

Read More: Times of Israel

Hand grenade from World War I unearthed in Jerusalem

(Photo By: Oscar Becherno/Israel Antiquities Authority)

By: Rosella Tercatin - January 25, 2021

Located in the heart of the city, Sacher Park is one of Jerusalemites’ most beloved locations, offering them the opportunity to stroll, jog, barbecue and play. However, a different kind of experience was awaiting the archaeologists working on a salvage excavation during renovations in the area: an encounter with a British hand grenade dating back to World War I.

The grenade was uncovered in an ancient cistern by Oscar Becherno, director of the archaeological excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“This is a Mills 23 hand grenade, which was used by the British army in World War I,” said Assaf Peretz, an IAA weapons expert. “It seems that the grenade had already been found in the past and was thrown by a passerby into a cistern to bury it and remove the danger from the area.”

Read More: Jerusalem Post