Israel Update 5.11.20

CORONAVIRUS IN ISRAEL

 

(Last Thursday’s figures in brackets for comparison)

 

There were 754  (688) new virus cases diagnosed in 24 hours, according to Health Ministry figures released Thursday morning. Of the 9,406 (11,914) active virus patients, 353 (464) are in serious condition, with 154  (199) on ventilators. The death toll is 2,597 (2,494).On Wednesday ministers voted to allow street front stores to reopen  on Sunday, despite the objections of health officials who have urged a slow and gradual reopening of the economy.Read more here

 

VACCINE UPDATE

 

Human trials began Sunday for an Israeli COVID-19 vaccine candidate, as the first two volunteers were inoculated. Read more here

 

NEW TEST

 

A new Israeli PCR testing system will reduce the wait time for coronavirus test results from eight hours to four. The new testing kits are entirely Israeli-made, as is the software for displaying the results. Read more here

 

DISINFECTING WASTEWATER

 

Israeli researchers have issued a call for sewage plants worldwide to disinfect wastewater as pumping it into natural water sources might lead to infections among animals & humans. Disinfection can eliminate remaining coronavirus RNA. Thames Water, which controls 68,000 miles of sewers and 5,235 pumping stations to process the sewage of 15 million Londoners doesn’t chlorinate its wastewater. Read more here

 

CO-OPERATION

 

The chief medical officer of the Jordanian military reportedly arrived by helicopter for treatment at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem on Wednesday after being diagnosed with coronavirus. Read more here

 

THE UN

 

139 UN countries approved a resolution on Wednesday that referred to the Temple Mount solely as an Islamic holy site called al-Haram al-Sharif. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN said the resolution “completely ignores any link between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount – our holiest site…” 9 countries voted against: Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and the U.S. Another 16 abstained. European countries supporting the resolution included Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.  (Israel’s new “normalisation friends” the UAE, Bahrain & Sudan also supported the resolution.) Read more here

 

SUDAN

Discussing Sudan’s normalization with Israel, a senior government official in Khartoum reportedly said: “The Middle East is changing, and Sudan wants to be part of the process. We have a unique opportunity to rehabilitate our society and our economy.” “The Palestinians are angry? They’re angry with us, when any Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon is in better shape than Sudan? The days when the Palestinian problem was dumped on Sudan are over. We are working for the future of Sudan and our children and grandchildren.” Read more here

 

AUTO-TECH

 

The Italian Foreign Minister announced during his recent visit to Israel the business partnership agreement that was signed between “Adler, a giant producer of components for the automotive industry with a yearly turnover of 1.5 billion euros, and “Sonovia Ltd.”. Sonovia is developing for Adler anti-viral / anti-bacterial textiles for the automotive industry which will be incorporated into Adler’s European production lines. Read more here

 

Israel’s Silentium has announced that customers of Jaguar and Land Rover will be able to enjoy Silentium’s Active Road Noise Cancellation (ARNC) system in the Jaguar F-PACE, Jaguar XF and Range Rover Velar. (TY Michael) Read more here

 

 CYBERSECURITY

 

Cyberreason, an Israeli cybersecurity company, announced Monday that it had identified new North Korean spyware attacking a wide array of victims, in the U.S., Europe, Japan, South Korea and even Russia, including pharmaceutical and research companies working on COVID-19 therapies, government and defence organizations, journalists and various human rights groups. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL AID

 

Israel has donated three respirators to a Yangon medical centre established to help battle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Myanmar has recently experienced a sharp spike in the number of cases. Israel has dispatched various forms of aid to over 15 countries, including Guatemala, India, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Nepal in an effort to assist the global battle against the spread of coronavirus. Read more here

 

Israel sent a delegation to assist with a COVID-19 outbreak in Brno, after receipt of  a request from the Czech Republic and the World Health Organization. Read more here

 

Israel offered to send an IDF search and rescue team to Turkey on Friday, after a deadly earthquake in Izmir. Israel’s Magen David Adom also contacted the Red Crescent in Turkey and the Red Cross in Greece offering assistance. Israel has sent rescue missions to Turkey in the past after the devastating 1999 earthquake. Israel’s once-close relations with Turkey have deteriorated in recent years amid tensions with Islamist President Erdogan. (It is not known whether the aid was accepted)  Read more here

 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

 

Israel will begin to export fruit and vegetables to the UAE this month following coordination between Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the UAE Ministry for Climate Change and the Environment.  Read more here

 

From last week, wines from the  Golan Heights Winery will be stocked in UAE stores. Read more here

 

Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries will display their wares at the upcoming International Defence Exhibition and Conference set to take place in Abu Dhabi in February. Read more here

 

The UAE’s state-owned flydubai airline announced that it would begin to offer flights to Tel Aviv from the end of the month, offering a twice-daily route between Tel Aviv and Dubai. Read more here

 

Israel’s Bank Hapoalim Ltd. and the Israel Export Institute will lead a business delegation to the UAE in December, consisting of 200 Israeli entrepreneurs, scientists and businesspeople, for four days of meetings with local investors, financial and government institutions, and tech firms. Read more here

 

MALAWI

 

Malawi plans to open an embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, making it the first African state to do so.Read more here

 

AGRI-TECH

 

10% of fruit grown worldwide ends up rotting on the trees. Now, Tevel Aerobotics Technologies, an Israeli start-up has developed an autonomous driving platform with several tethered robots that fly up and pluck fruit from the trees. Instant artificial intelligence-based analysis of video of the trees allows the robots to pick only the fruit that is ripe.  Read more here

 

MEDICAL INNOVATION

 

Israel’s OrCam, a maker of devices  to assist the blind and visually impaired, is joining forces with US hearing-aid firm Starkey  to integrate their technologies and help those suffering from both hearing and vision loss. Read more here

 

The US based National Sleep Foundation  named Itamar Medical winner of the 2020 SleepTech Award recognizing the year’s most innovative achievement in sleep technology. Itamar Medical makes non-invasive devices and solutions to aid diagnosis of respiratory sleep disorders including WatchPAT ONE described as “the first and only disposable home sleep apnea test that connects to a smartphone app and easily transmits sleep data for review.” Read more here

 

ECO-HANGERS

 

Israeli startup UBQ Materials has patented a process that converts household trash, organic, paper and plastic — such as banana peels, dirty nappies, yogurt containers and cardboard — into a bio-based thermoplastic, to replace oil-based plastic, wood and concrete in the manufacture of everyday products. Now the firm is teaming up with Mainetti Group, a maker of clothes hangers for retail chains globally, to use UBQ’s bio-based products to make eco-friendly hangers.Read more here

 

FOOD TOURISM

 

British celebrity chef & TV presenter Paul Hollywood has visited Jerusalem (before the pandemic). 47 minutes  View here

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

Haviv Rettig Gur: While Israel seeks “normalization” with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, all of which are 1,000 miles from Israel, a “normalization” process is already well underway closer to home. MK Mansour Abbas of the Ra’am faction of the Arab Joint List party wrote Saturday on Facebook that Israel’s Arabs were ill-served by the belief that their political role was limited to being the “reserve force” propping up the Israeli left. “I’m not afraid to say I’m introducing a pragmatic new political style.” The post received over 4,300 “likes” and 700 comments, nearly all positive… As the Palestinian cause fades throughout the Arab world, it fades among Israeli Arabs as well. And the demand to integrate, to gain acceptance, to have a say in the affairs of a country they have come to accept as their own, has overwhelmed the old ideologies. Read more here