Israel Update 17.7.19

ISRAELI NGO “SAVE A CHILD’S HEART” HELPS RWANDAN CHILD HEART DISEASE PATIENTS

 

Eight children diagnosed with cardiac disease travelled to Israel recently to receive life-saving heart treatment at Wolfson Medical Centre, thanks to “Save a Child’s Heart” (SACH), an Israeli organization working to save children from developing countries.An earlier group of eight children have all recovered and are back with their families in Rwanda.SACH’s long-term goal is to facilitate the creation of a paediatric cardiac centre in Kigali to serve the local population Read more here

 

IRAN

 

UN inspectors have reportedly found evidence of illicit nuclear activity in an Iranian warehouse which the Israeli P.M claimed in an address to the UN last September was used to store nuclear equipment and material. The Iranians claimed the warehouse was a carpet factory.Storing nuclear materials secretly without reporting it to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a violation of the nuclear proliferation treaty to which Iran is a party. Read more here

 

CHECKPOINT

 

Palestinians crossing a border checkpoint into Jerusalem are now able to go through the new Qalandiya station – an upgraded, high-tech passage point intended to cut out the long lines that plagued the old one. The improved station includes bio-metric identification systems making checks easier and quicker. Most of the 4,000 who cross daily make it through in 5 to 10 minutes. Read more here

 

GAZA  STATISTICS

 

In 1967, when Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza began, life expectancy stood at 48. By 2000, it had leapt to 72, higher not only than in most Arab countries, but higher than in South America and some EU countries. In 1967, infant mortality among Palestinians was 157 per thousand births. In 2006 it was 21, significantly lower than in neighbouring Arab and North African countries. Palestinian infant mortality rates are now better than in Turkey and Bulgaria. Read more here

 

HAMAS

 

Two weeks ago, on July 3, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades launched 10 missiles of different ranges from northern and southern Gaza into the sea, the largest such test in recent months. Read more here

 

Fathi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ politburo, said Friday at a protest at the Gaza border: “Our brothers [in the diaspora]…are warming up….All of you 7 million Palestinians abroad, enough of the warming up. You have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing.” Read more here

 

Israel’s security forces have foiled a Hamas terror financing scheme involving funds transferred between the Gaza Strip and West Bank under the guise of civilian firms. Read more here

 

SOUTHERN ISRAEL ON  THE GAZA PERIPHERY

 

The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), which has been planting trees in Israel since 1901, reports that incendiary balloon arson attacks from Gaza between April and July 5, 2019, set 138 fires over an area of 180 acres in the region of Israel bordering Gaza. Read more here

 

Israel plans to plant trees around homes in Gaza border communities to obscure potential targets for anti-tank missiles fired by terror groups. Moshe Feder, 68, was killed in May when a Kornet anti-tank guided missile, fired by Hamas, slammed into his car as he was driving along Route 34, close to the border with Gaza.Read more here

 

CO-OPERATION WITH HAMAS?

 

Israel has reportedly coordinated with Hamas to increase the number of entry permits granted to Gazans…The additional 2,000 permits and another few thousand that Israel will hand out in the coming months are part of a pilot programme being tested by security authorities. The head of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce said that “trader” permits were being given to labourers who leave Gaza every morning to work on Israeli farms, returning at the end of the day. Paradoxically, these labourers from Gaza may now be employed to rehabilitate the damage caused by the (Hamas & Islamic Jihad) incendiary balloons. Read more here

 

However, the Israel Security Agency (ISA) believes that the plan should be conditioned on a positive response from Hamas, such as a pledge to abandon the war against Israel. The ISA is convinced that Hamas will exploit the entry of a large number of workers to push some of them to carry out operations against Israel. Therefore, the ISA requires a commitment from Hamas not to do so, and to stop the “return” marches at the border as proof of goodwill.  The IDF has drawn up a plan under the title, “Trying to restore calm for years to come”, which provides for the gradual entry of 20,000 Gazan workers into Israel…An Israeli military official described the potential huge purchasing power that would “seriously contribute to the recovery of the Gazan economy, greatly improve the daily life of the Gazans, and calm the arena in terms of security.” Read more here

WATER

The Israeli water company Mekorot has started construction to extend a water pipeline from Israel to Gaza with Qatari funding.The pipeline aims to increase water sales to the PA by 20-30 million cubic metres per year. Read more here

 

A HEARTWARMING STORY

 

Muawiya Kabha, a Muslim paramedic in United Hatzalah, made a special appearance at the recent wedding of Shahar Kugelmas and Nir David. In April 2009, he had arrived at the scene of a car crash where Shahar was a passenger. He recalled “When I got to Shahar, she was in cardiac arrest… But what I felt from above is that I still need to try and save her.”Kabha continued CPR on Shahar for 40 minutes while she was still stuck in the car. “We continued CPR on the way to the hospital and at the entrance to the hospital she had a heartbeat….In the end, I must have done what I needed to do, because look, Shahar is with us.” Read more here

 

NEW HEAD OF HADASSA HOSPITAL E.R.

 

Dr. Shaden Salameh of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, the mother of three young children, is the first Arab-Israeli woman to head a hospital emergency room in Israel. Read more here

 

ENVIRONMENT

 

At the recent twelfth international environment conference in Cuba, Cubambiente 2019, Keren Kayemet L’Israel-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) participated alongside over 1,400 delegates from over thirty countries around the world, marking the first time an Israeli scientist has presented at an international conference in Cuba. The Israeli delegation hosted a presentation led by Dr. Doron Markel, KKL-JNF Chief Scientist, on sustainable developments in forestation and large-scale water projects tools to adapt to the effects of climate change in Israel and the Middle East. Read more here

ATTACK THWARTED

 

Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian woman in Hebron on Monday after finding a knife in her purse. Read more here

 

INDIA

 

In two years’ time, the Indian Air Force’s frontline Sukhoi-30 fighters may be re-armed with Israeli Derby air-to-air missiles after the jet’s Russian-made R-77 missiles were found wanting in air combat operations against Pakistan on Feb. 27.  Read more here

 

THE EU

 

The European Commission will invest up to 15 million euros in Israeli companies for commercialization purposes such as sales and marketing of a finished product, in exchange for shares. The finance will be granted under a new pilot program within the Horizon 2020 research and development funding framework. Read more here

 

TECHNOLOGY

 

Israeli start-up Twine’s new Digital Thread Dyeing System allows clothing manufacturers to colour plain white thread by feeding the raw materials into a textile-specific digital printer only as needed. The resulting digitally dyed threads can be used in sewing, knitting and embroidery. Dyeing thread the traditional way uses a huge amount of water and the run-off from the dyeing process is filled with toxic chemicals. Read more here

 

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

 

Israeli start-up Nurami Medical has developed a patch made of synthetic, biodegradable nanofibers meant to be affixed to the dura mater – the protective membrane underneath the skull that keeps the brain and spinal cord safe – after cranial neurosurgery. As Nurami’s patches arebiodegradable, they don’t need to be removed from the brain. They simply dissolve into the body when the tissue has healed. Read more here

 

Israel’s Solio has developed Alpha Plus – the world’s first US FDA and European CE approved radio frequency (RF) topical pain relief device. It combines bipolar RF to increase blood circulation, infrared to heat and ease pain and stiffness, and low-level laser to relieve the skin. Read more here

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

 

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a 9,000-year-old settlement from the Neolithic period located 3 miles west of Jerusalem.Thousands of pieces of tools, jewellery, figurines, seeds and other objects have been found at the site that may have once housed 3,000 residents. Photos. Read more here

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

Khaled Abu Toameh: On July 12, the weekly Gazan protests along the Gaza-Israel border were held under the banner of “No to negotiations [with Israel], no to reconciliation and no to recognizing the [Israeli] entity.” By choosing this banner, the organizers of the “Great March of Return” have again proven that the demonstrations are not about improving Palestinian living conditions or easing restrictions on Gaza. Instead, the message is: “We don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist and therefore we will never negotiate or make peace with it.” Read more here

 

Jonathan S. Tobin: As far as the Palestinian Authority’s official media and education system are concerned, Tel Aviv and Haifa, let alone Jerusalem, are every bit as “occupied” by the Jews as the most remote hilltop settlement in the West Bank…The reason why a Palestinian state in the West Bank doesn’t already exist is because the PA has repeatedly rejected Israeli offers that would have given them one. These refusals centreed on the Palestinian leadership’s fear of being branded as traitors for agreeing to any pact that would recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state within any borders.The same is true for complaints about the checkpoints and the security fence that Palestinians say make their lives miserable. They only exist because of the carnage that the Palestinians unleashed on Israelis during the Second Intifada, in which they answered a peace offer with a terrorist war of attrition.    Read more here

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Like Ilhan Omar, (the Democrat congresswoman)  I was born in Somalia and exposed at an early age to Muslim anti-I eventually unlearned my hatred of Jews, Zionists and Israel. I am living proof that one can be born a Somali, raised as an anti-Semite, indoctrinated as an anti-Zionist – and still overcome all this to appreciate the unique culture of Judaism and the extraordinary achievement of the State of Israel. Read more here