Israeli startup takes 3D printing out of the workshop and into the factory

(Phot By: Nexa 3D)

By: Sara Toth Stub - March 4, 2021

3D printing is set to change the way we make everything – from residential homes to artificial bone implants. No longer reserved for prototypes and models, 3D printing – technically known as additive manufacturing – is now precise enough for dentistry, durable enough for car parts, and on course to disrupt the entire manufacturing industry.

In America, where dentists are turning to digital technology to provide better services for patients, refrigerator-sized machines created by Israeli startup Nexa3D print dental retainers, night guards and other accessories that used to require multiple molds of patients’ teeth and hours of lab work. The new method is faster and often results in better-fitting products.

Nexa3D’s NXE400 ultra-fast printer increases productivity by 20 times compared to competitors and is set to transform 3D printing from a tool for prototype designers to a fully-fledged industrial machine operating at production scale. The step change promises to transform the 3D printing industry in the same way broadband internet replaced dial-up.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israeli Pilot Program Successfully Boosts High-Tech Jobs for Ultra-Orthodox Women

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Simona Shemer - March 8, 2021

The ultra-Orthodox community has long been severely underrepresented in Israel’s innovation ecosystem. A joint survey compiled by the Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI) with Haredi employment NGO KamaTech last year, showed that in 2018, ultra-Orthodox workers made up only about three percent of Israel’s entire tech workforce, though significant strides have been made in the past six years.

According to the report, ultra-Orthodox Jews working in the country’s tech sector had jumped 52 percent in the years 2014 to 2018, with women leading the way. Of the 9,700 Haredi tech workers that made up the industry, 6,900 of them were women.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to suffer from a chronic deficit of high-tech workers. Seeking to build on the soaring figures of ultra-Orthodox women entering the tech workforce, while addressing the high-tech industry’s human capital challenges, Start-Up Nation Central affiliate Scale-Up Velocity created Adva, a pilot program that trains female students enrolled in religious seminaries to become practical software engineers and high-tech developers.

Read More: NoCamels

Peres Center Honors 11 Women with Inaugural “Medal of Distinction”

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: NoCamels Team - March 8, 2021

The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation honored 11 women from across Israeli society and industry with an inaugural Medal of Distinction ahead of the annual International Women’s Day, marked on March 8.

The Medal of Distinction recognizes women from a diverse range of backgrounds and communities who are leaders in their fields and serve as role models for women and girls everywhere. The award will be granted annually on International Women’s Day to honor outstanding women making significant contributions in their fields, the Peres Center said.

At a ceremony held last week, diamond-shaped medals were presented to the 11 recipients bearing the words of the late Israeli president Shimon Peres, “You are as great as the cause you serve.”

Read More: NoCamels

Visiting Israel, leaders of Denmark, Austria agree on joint vaccine development

(Photo By: Avigail Uzi/POOL)

By: TOI Staff - March 4, 2021

The leaders of Israel, Austria and Denmark announced Thursday an alliance for joint research and development of pandemic-beating drugs, as well as joint investment on coronavirus vaccine production.

The three countries will launch “a research and development fund” and begin “joint efforts for common production of future vaccines,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference in Jerusalem, alongside his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

“We don’t know how long… [current coronavirus] vaccines will hold up,” Netanyahu said. “Is it half a year, is it a year, is it two years, is it more, is it less? We don’t know. Therefore we have to protect our people against the reemergence of this pandemic, or mutations.”

Netanyahu said that “together we’re starting here something that I think will galvanize the imagination of the world… other countries have already called me and they’ve said, ‘We want to be part of this effort.’”

Read More: Times of Israel

Meet the Israeli women breaking barriers and harvesting the land

(Photo By: Nir Shmul)

By: Naama Barak - March 4, 2021

Have you ever wondered who produced your artisanal olive oil or your locally produced cheese and wine?

Chances are that you’re imagining gruff men toiling away in dusty groves or inspecting huge oak barrels. And while that may be the case many times, it most certainly hasn’t always been that way in Israel, for women were just as much pioneers as men in pre-state Israel and in its early days.

Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi, for example, was not only the wife of Israel’s second president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, but also an avid agronomist who taught Jerusalem women how to grow vegetables, milk cows and make cheese. Hana Meisel, meanwhile, was Israel’s first female agronomist and a renowned feminist who established an agricultural school for women in the country’s north. And throughout Israeli kibbutzim, women could be found working the land alongside their male counterparts.

Read More: Israel21c

Israeli rookie Deni Avdija selected to NBA Rising Stars World Team squad

(Photo By: Courtesy The Washington Wizards)

By: Israel Hayom - March 4th, 2021

Washington Wizards Israeli rookie forward Deni Avdija has been selected to the 2020-21 NBA Rising Stars World Team roster, the National Basketball Association announced on Wednesday. He will be joined by his teammate Rui Hachimura of Japan, who is in his second year in the league, said the NBA.

Avdija is averaging 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 29 games this season. He has posted four games of 10-plus points this season, including a season-high of 20 points versus Miami on Jan. 9.

The Israeli phenom has two games of 10 rebounds and ranks seventh among all rookies in rebounds per game.

Read More: JNS

Israeli startup creates revolutionary spray-on skin is better than a bandage for wounds

(Photo By: Nanomedic)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - March 2, 2021

Electrospinning may sound like something to do with disco music, workouts or pop art. Actually, it’s an electrostatically charged method to produce nanofibers for items such as layered filters.

The Israeli startup Nanomedic is using this technology to revolutionize wound care.

Nanomedic’s Spincare device – resembling a large staple gun – charges up a proprietary polymer from a disposable ampule and sprays it directly on the wound as a protective, flexible second skin.

“Wherever the patient is, we can print our electrospun healing fiber matrix directly on the wound. That has a lot of advantages to enhance the healing process,” says Nanomedic CEO Chen Barak, who has a PhD in biomedical engineering and years of experience in electrospinning technology.

Read More: Israel21c

Israel performs first heart accessory implant surgery in Israel

(Photo Credit: Courtesy)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - March 2, 2021

The first cardiac accessory implant surgery in Israel was performed Monday at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, highlighting a major medical technological advancement in the field of cardiac healthcare.

In this case, a patient required a cardiac aid, but this time, rather than being implanted using open heart surgery as is usually the case, the implant was simply inserted beneath the skin.

The 65-year-old patient had entered surgery to replace a faulty and infected valve when she had suffered heart failure.

Emergency intervention was needed to save her life.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Iranian chess players join global competitors in Israeli-led virtual tournament

(Photo By: Monster Ztudio/Shutterstock)

By: JNS - February 26, 2021

Iranian chess players participated for the first time in a virtual tournament on Monday that was part of an Israeli solidary initiative.

From beginners to grandmasters, a total of 438 chess players from more than 40 countries, including Ecuador, Chile, Indonesia, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen, took part in the Chess4Solidarity project sponsored by the Abu Gosh council, the Chess4All organization, the French city of Sarcelles and the Beit Esther association.

The event promoted the alliance of sister cities Sarcelles and Abu Gosh.

The Chess4Solidarity initiative aims to strengthen ties between people, countries and nations.

Read More: JNS

Israel-based company makes new package to save your veggies

(Photo By: StePac)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - February 25, 2021

Anyone who’s confronted a wilted stalk of celery or moldy cucumber in the veggie bin will appreciate a new package from Israel-based StePac.

It’s designed to lengthen the shelf life of fresh produce significantly and reduce waste in the supply chain and in consumers’ homes.

The innovative packaging solution is a resealable standing pouch made with the company’s proprietary Xgo modified atmosphere and humidity technology that slows aging and ripening.

Divine Flavor, a San Diego-based grower-owned distributor of fruits and vegetables and part of Grupo Alta, tested and adopted StePac’s new standing pouches to provide field-to-home refrigerator packaging of Persian cucumbers for the US market.

Read More: Israel21c

55 years after execution in Syria, Israeli spy Eli Cohen makes headlines

(Photo Credit: Reuters)

By: Daniel Sonnenfeld/The Media Line - February 26, 2021

Russian news giant RT recently released a video it says shows Eli Cohen, the famous Israeli spy, walking in a Damascus street. The video, unclear and no more than a few seconds in length, has generated headlines throughout the region, both in Arabic and in Hebrew. Experts attribute the interest to Cohen’s legendary status and recent Russian efforts to try and facilitate a normalization agreement between the two enemy countries.

This story is one that could easily have found its way to the pages of a thriller novel. An Israeli agent, born and raised in Egypt, infiltrates the highest strata of Syrian political and military leadership at the height of animosity between the countries. Using his connections, he visits military bases and outposts, gathering information that former Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol later said “saved Israel many brigades” during the 1967 war, and brought victory to the small country.

While it may seem beyond the limits of imagination, this is exactly the story of Eli Cohen, an Israeli intelligence agent who was later caught, tried and hanged in a Damascus square. And despite the decades that have passed, his memory continues to be strongly present in the region.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

McDonald’s introduces trays made of Israeli thermoplastic

(Photo By: Courtesy of UBQ Materials)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - February 24, 2021

McDonald’s restaurants in Brazil are serving up orders on new trays manufactured with a composite thermoplastic material made by Israeli company UBQ Materials from household trash.

This is the first product to come out of a partnership announced in 2019 between Israeli company UBQ and Arcos Dorados Holdings, the largest independent McDonald’s franchise in the world with over 2,200 restaurants in Latin America and the Caribbean.

UBQ breaks down unsorted household waste into its basic natural components (lignin, cellulose, sugar, fiber) and creates a new composite through a process that does not use water or emit harmful fumes. The thermoplastic material can be made into things like bricks, shopping carts, pipes, trash cans and automotive parts.

Read More: Israel21c

Israeli Health Minister Rebukes NBC Over ‘Dangerous and False’ Vaccine Segment on ‘SNL’

(Photo By: Twitter)

By: Algemeiner Staff - February 22, 2021

Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein joined those condemning NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” for cast member Michael Che’s comments suggesting that Israel had only vaccinated the “Jewish half” of its population against COVID-19, as the network has remained silent.

“I inform you that anti-Semitism is not funny. It is dangerous and false,” wrote Edelstein on Twitter Monday, in Hebrew.

“In Israel, we have vaccinated more Arabs than most countries in the world. Satire is meant to be entertaining, not shocking. Your ‘joke’ is an anti-Semitic lie that can have dangerous consequences in a country where two and a half years ago 11 Jewish worshipers were murdered, just because they were Jews,” he continued.

Read More: Algemeiner

Mayim Bialik breaks down Purim, explains why it is 'lit'

(Photo By: Header Image Design By Grace Yagel; Photo By: Storm Santos; Original Illustration By: Mchlskhrv/Getty)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - February 23, 2021

In her latest episode of the Youtube show You Know How I Know on the Jewish Learning channel, Mayim Bialik breaks down the Jewish holiday of Purim, explaining the story of the holiday and mentioning its traditions, which she refers to as "lit."

"Drinking, cross-dressing, partying all night, letting it all hang out – oh yes friends, it is Purim," says Bialik, explaining why she is excited about the upcoming Jewish celebration.

Bialik poked fun at US public perception of many Jewish holidays, saying that people's reactions to her videos about Jewish holidays often sound something like: "I don't think fasting all day and sitting on the floor and crying sounds fun," but explaining that Purim is very different.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israel’s National Library gains gift of rare 15th-century Scroll of Esther

(Photo Credit: National Library of Israel)

By: JNS - February 22, 2021

One of the world’s oldest scrolls of Esther was recently gifted to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, the library’s blog announced on Monday.

The scroll, dating from medieval times, was a gift from long-standing supporters of the library Michael Jesselson and his family.

Scholars have determined that the scroll, known as Megillat Esther in Hebrew, was written by a scribe on the Iberian Peninsula around1465, prior to the Spanish and Portuguese expulsions that happened at the end of the 15th century. Their estimation was based on both stylistic and scientific evidence, including Carbon-14 dating.

Read More: JNS

Israel’s first university-made nanosatellite launches into space

(Photo By: NASA)

By: Mayan Jaffe-Hoffman - February 20, 2021

Israel’s first nanosatellite to be completely designed, developed, assembled and tested by an Israeli university launched into space on Saturday night, Tel Aviv University shared.

TAU-SAT1 took off right on time at 7:36 p.m. Israel time from the NASA launch facility in Virginia.

“We have now joined the ‘Civil Space Revolution,’ called New Space, in which, unlike the Old Space, not only giant companies with huge budgets and large teams of engineers can build and launch satellites,” said Prof. Colin Price, head of the Porter Department of Environmental Studies at TAU. “We were able to prove that with the right planning, miniaturization and modulation of many technologies, small satellites can be built and launched into space within two years by students, at a fraction of the budget needed in the Old Space.”

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Western Wall gets own health injections in latest preservation work

(Photo By: Yaniv Berman/Israel Antiquities Authority)

By: TOI Staff - February 22, 2021

Inspectors have carried out a biannual safety inspection and maintenance of the Western Wall, with rabbis overseeing the injection of preservation materials into the corroding stone, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

“We have an ‘identity card’ for each of the hundreds of stones in the plaza and monitor dozens of features,” said Yossi Vaknin, head conservator for the IAA at the Western Wall.

“We do not drill into the stone, but delicately inject dissolved stone into the gaps and fissures… It is the best possible method of ‘healing’ the stones and the ultimate defense against weathering for the most important stones in the world,” he said.

Vaknin added that the work was carefully done to ensure the preservation of the plants that have taken root in the stones of the wall, as well as the birds that nest in its boulders.

Read More: Times of Israel

Winning silver in Tel Aviv, Iranian judoka ‘will never forget Israeli kindness’

(JACK GUEZ / AFP)

By TOI Staff - February 19, 2021

In a historic achievement, Iranian dissident judoka Saeid Mollaei won a silver medal Friday at the Grand Slam international judo competition held in Tel Aviv.

Mollaei took second place in the under-81kg category after losing to Uzbekistan’s Sahrofiddin Boltaboev.

The Iranian competed under the Mongolian flag after becoming a citizen of the Asian nation.

He fled his home country after being forced to lose a match on purpose to avoid facing Israel’s Sagi Muki in 2019.

Read More: Times of Israel

Snow-covered Jerusalem, north face day of disruptions on roads and in schools

(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

By TOI Staff - February 18, 2021

Residents of Jerusalem and the surrounding area as well as parts of the north of the country woke up to a winter wonderland on Thursday morning, as snowfall brought disruption to the traffic and education systems.

The south of the country also saw plunging temperatures and there was even a light dusting overnight in Mizpe Ramon in the Negev Desert in the south of the country.

Read More: Times of Israel

In Iran, I was taught to hate Israel and Jews. Then I watched Schindler’s List.

By Omid Safari - February 12, 2021

I am an Iranian, born in Iran one year after the Islamic Revolution in 1980. I spent my entire childhood there and was schooled in its educational system, which is designed by an extremist Islamic cult known as the Islamic Republic of Iran. Throughout those years and up until today, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel dogma pervaded the society and was taught in all school and university textbooks. During the four decades of the Islamic regime in Iran, the term “occupier” has always been used as a synonym for Israel in television, radio, press and even movie channels. For decades, the idea of destroying Israel has been presented as a religious-national duty for all Iranians.

I come from a country where many streets are named after terrorists who have killed Israelis. Electronic signs counting down the days to Israel’s extermination have been erected in its streets. Government officials regularly set Israeli flags on fire, alongside the American flag, at public events and ceremonies. At the entrances to universities and government offices, the Israeli flag is painted on the asphalt so that people can step on it. Billions of dollars are spent annually on regime propaganda against Israel and support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Most importantly, in government propaganda, the Holocaust has always been portrayed as a historical lie.

Read More: Times of Israel