Israel Update 3-16 September 2021

ISRAEL UPDATE 3-16 September

 

Chag Succot Sameach to all my readers.

 

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CO-OPERATION

 

 

Dr. Noor Ul Owase Jeelani, a pediatric neurosurgeon at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital has spoken of his pride and joy at helping successfully separate Israeli conjoined twins . He worked with staff at Soroka University Medical Centre in Beersheba .The babies are now likely to grow up to live normal lives. Dr Jeelani said that the fact that a Kashmir-born Muslim doctor scrubbed up alongside an Israeli team to help a Jewish family was a reminder of the universal nature of medicine. Read more here

 

 

 

GAZA

 

 

Night after night, Gazans approach the border fence with Israel, carrying stun grenades and firebombs to attack IDF soldiers.These so-called disruption operations include sending incendiary balloons into Israel, where they start fires in grasslands and on farms. Since the last war in May, Israel has eased restrictions on the entry of goods into Gaza, widened the permitted fishing zone, and approved a new system for distributing Qatari aid via the UN. Read more here

 

 

 

 

Gazan terrorists fired a rocket toward Israel late Sunday night and then a second hours later, both of which were intercepted. Sirens sounded in Israel. This was the third consecutive night of rocket fire from Gaza. Sirens sounded in Israel and 3 Israelis were injured as they scrambled for shelter. Another two Israelis were treated for acute anxiety attacks. Read more here

 

 

 

Hamas launched over a dozen incendiary balloons into Israel on Saturday 4 /9. Read more here

 

 

 

Incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip on Monday 6/9 sparked three fires in Israel. Read more here

 

 

 

 

 

 

TERRORIST ATTACKS

 

 

 

Israeli security forces foiled  a number of attacks including one major terrorist attack this past week. Read more here

 

 

A Palestinian assailant, who attempted to stab IDF soldiers on Monday, was shot and injured. Read more here

 

 

A terrorist stabbed two people outside the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem on Monday before being shot by a police officer. The two victims who were moderately injured had suffered stab wounds to their upper bodies and were taken to hospital.     Read more here

 

 

 

 

An assailant was shot as he attempted to stab police officers in Jerusalem’s Old City last Friday afternoon 10/9 Read more here

 

 

 

SYRIA

 

 

The Israeli Air Force destroyed a Russian-made S-200 missile system belonging to the Syrian Army after it launched a missile that exploded near central Israel early Friday morning 3^rd September. Missile fragments were later found in the Tel Aviv area. Read more here

 

 

 

 

IRAN

 

 

Israeli Defence Minister  Gantz said that Iran is training militias from Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria at  an airbase and is teaching them how to operate and manufacture advanced Iranian drones. In the coming years, hundreds of these UAVs will be in Syria and there are constant attempts to smuggle advanced UAVs to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Iran is also attempting to transfer the know-how for UAV production to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.  Read more here

 

 

 

 

CORONAVIRUS IN ISRAEL

 

 

(Figures from last Update on 2 September in brackets for comparison)

 

9,539 (11,187 ) new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Tuesday in Israel. 40% of newly confirmed cases were in children under the age of 11 – who are too young to receive the coronavirus vaccine, 14% were ages 12 to 18 and only 4% of the cases that were confirmed on Tuesday were among the over 60 population. There are currently 650 (666) people hospitalized in serious condition with complications of the virus, 172 (149) of them on ventilators. Since the start of the pandemic 7,444  (7,090) people have succumbed to the virus. Read more here

 

Dozens of pilgrims infected with coronavirus flew back to Israel from Uman in Ukraine last Thursday 9/9 using forged negative test results, as plans put in place to safeguard the annual pilgrimage appeared to fall into shambles. There were concerns that there could be hundreds more such cases.  Read more here

 

RESEARCH

 

 

A serological study conducted at Sheba Medical Centre has found that antibody levels in the body after the administration of a third COVID-19 vaccine dose were ten times higher than those detected after the second dose.The hospital told the network it was cautious over the results and would continue to observe the antibody levels over the coming months. Read more here

 

 

 

More than 2.9 million Israelis have elected to get a third shot of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. One health fund, Maccabi Health Services, has released a report of the side effects experienced, showing that while the majority of people experienced some side effects from the vaccine, none of them were life-threatening and they usually went away within 1 to 3 days. Read more here

 

 

 

A newly published Israeli study shows that elevated pre-infection blood sugar levels – even in those who do not suffer from diabetes – are correlated with a greater risk of severe COVID-19 cases. Read more here

 

 

 

Natural immunity from contracting coronavirus provided Israelis with longer-lasting protection against the Delta variant than two shots of the Pfizer vaccine given early this year. Read more here

 

 

TREATMENT

 

 

A team of Israeli scientists say that a drug previously used in an uncontrolled fashion to treat HIV has a direct antiviral effect against coronavirus, sending patients home virus-free within only a few days. Code Pharma, which is headquartered in the Netherlands but has its research and development office in Israel and an Israeli CEO, recently completed a Phase I trial of its drug Codivir for use against coronavirus. Read more here

 

 

 

THE EUROPEAN UNION & THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

 

 

Anti-Semitic and violent content in Palestinian textbooks were condemned in a meeting of the EU Parliament’s Working Group Against Anti-Semitism. Read more here

 

 

 

ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES (IAI)

 

 

 

IAI and Marlborough Communications Ltd (MCL) have been awarded a tender to provide the UK army with four remote platoon vehicles (RPVs). Read more here

 

 

 

IAI  has announced the resumption of production of F-16 wings for Lockheed Martin, using the assembly line established in the 1980s, following increased worldwide demand for the F-16. Read more here

 

 

 

IAI and Lockheed-Martin have signed a memorandum agreeing to cooperate on the development of the next-generation Arrow 4 air defence system, designed to counter new types of long-range missiles.
Read more here

 

 

IAI have developed a remote-controlled 4 wheel drive armed robot. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield. Read more here

 

 

 

 

MEDICAL RESEARCH

 

 

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed a process for reversing the precursors of the Alzheimer’s disease. Using hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), in which subjects breathe 100% oxygen in a special chamber of high atmospheric pressure, the researchers were able to reverse brain damages associated with the biological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s.Read more here

 

 

 

Researchers at Tel Aviv University discovered that a certain type of white blood cell can be utilized to fight cancer, opening up new possibilities for the development of cancer treatments. The study focused on eosinophils. Read more here

 

 

ISRAEL & THE GULF STATES

 

Emirates Food Industries (EFI) has enlisted the help of Israel’s largest food maker, Tnuva, to expand its range of dairy products, starting with a new facility to produce the popular Mediterranean cheese Labneh. Tnuva will help build a production line in Dubai in return for royalties. Read more here

 

 

 

Israeli women’s health startup Illumigyn recently signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver 2,500 high-tech speculums to the Gulf states.The Gynescope enables high-end imaging that can be uploaded to the cloud, allowing remote diagnosis and minimizing the need for multiple invasive procedures. Read more here

 

INNOVATION

 

 

StoreDot, an Israeli developer of extreme fast-charging (XFC) battery technology for electric vehicles, unveiled this month what it called the “world’s first” silicon-dominant battery prototype capable of recharging in just 10 minutes.  Read more here

 

 

Intel Corporation’s Mobileye, a Jerusalem-based maker of self-driving technologies, will roll out a pilot for autonomous taxis and ride-hailing services in Munich and Tel Aviv next year, pending regulatory approval. Read more here

 

 

Israeli-American company Eviation Aircraft has signed a deal with DHL to deliver 12 all-electric planes for cargo operations.     Read more here

 

 

 

MOROCCO

 

 

Israel intervened with Pfizer so that Morocco could receive a shipment of two million Covid-19 vaccination doses. Morocco recently normalised relations with Israel. Read more here

 

TOURISM

 

 

Israel will allow small foreign tour groups from selected countries to visit from Sept. 19 under a pilot programme to restore tourism, the government.Tour groups of 5-30 people will be allowed to enter the country provided all group members have been fully vaccinated. Read more here

 

 

Individuals vaccinated abroad can be released from isolation when they enter the country, provided that they meet the criteria set by the Health Ministry and they undergo a serological test in Israel,  according to Israel’s Health Ministry Director-General.  Incoming passengers who are a week after receiving a third shot, or have been vaccinated or recovered within the previous six months, or have recovered and also received one shot, can be exempt from full quarantine.

However, it is unclear when these new guidelines will take effect.   Read more here

 

PRISON ESCAPE

 

Five days after six Palestinian security prisoners escaped from a high-security jail in northern Israel, police captured two of the fugitives in Nazareth on Friday. Hours later, two others were apprehended in the town of Shibli-Umm al-Ghanam. In both cases, Arab Israelis reported the fugitives to authorities, aiding in their capture. The hunt continues for the remaining 2 convicts. Read more here

 

 

TEL AVIV

 

 

Tel Aviv came eighth in the 2021 edition of Time Out’s Best Cities in the World. For the second year in a row, Tel Aviv was voted the most fun city in the world and came in second in the “food and drink” category, behind Shanghai.Read more here

 

 

 

SPORT

 

 

Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine, who withdrew from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to avoid facing an Israeli opponent, and his coach Amar Benikhlef have been banned from the sport for 10 years by an International Judo Federation (IJF) disciplinary commission. Read more here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

 

Emily Schrader: Israel was shaken last week with the news of six Palestinian terrorists escaping from the high-security Gilboa prison. But potentially even more disturbing was the concerted effort by activists – and even the press in some cases – to whitewash their crimes and present the terrorists as heroes against oppression. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. The inability of some to differentiate between actual political prisoners, the likes of whom suffer every day in places like Evin prison in Iran, and convicted Palestinian terrorists serving a sentence for actions they took, is inexcusable. Read more here

 

 

 

Nir Hasson: Changes are taking place in relations between Jerusalem’s 360,000 Palestinian residents and the Israeli authorities. The penetration of Israeli government authorities into Palestinian neighbourhoods is having a powerful effect on daily life, and is altering the entrenched order and the worldviews of Jewish Israelis and Palestinians alike. Inter alia, new schools and a new public park have been builtand there has been an increase in the number of playgrounds in the eastern neighbourhoods. Read more here