Israel Update 21.7.22

JERUSALEM ATTACK

A Palestinian who holds a permit to work in Israel, stabbed an Israeli man with a screwdriver on a bus in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Ynet news photographer Meshi Ben Ami, who was passing by, shot and wounded the attacker. Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, “I congratulate the Ynet photographer who happened to be at the scene and acted resolutely to neutralize the terrorist and prevent injury to other people.” Read more here

UK & ISRAEL

Britain has launched free trade talks with Israel, aimed at boosting services and tech sector ties as it seeks new trade deals after leaving the EU. “The UK and Israel are both modern, hi-tech services superpowers, but our current trading relationship is based on an agreement from 1995, before smartphones, the internet, and digitally delivered services transformed the global economy,” trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said adding “Combining the power of our economies in a revamped trade deal will boost trade, support jobs and help take our economic relationship to the next level.”Read more here

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia has announced that it would open its airspace to all air carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel. Israeli airlines flying to Thailand and India previously had to fly south over the Red Sea and around the Arabian Peninsula, which added two hours to every flight going east, as well as the unnecessary consumption of fuel. The Saudis will also permit direct charter flights from Israel for Muslims participating in the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Read more here

GAZA

Gazans launched four rockets at Israeli communities on Saturday. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system and three others fell in open areas. In response, Israeli planes hit a Hamas rocket manufacturing site and an underground facility where rocket material was being made, targeting “one of the largest and most important sites in the Strip for the production of base materials for rockets by terror groups.” according to an IDF military spokesperson. Read more here Read more here

BACK TO THE FUTURE?

Israel-based startup AIR which is developing a “flying” vehicle, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for individual consumers, said its prototype aircraft successfully completed a first hover test with regulators recently, setting the company on a path for further flight certification. The aircraft reportedly offers a range of 110 miles (177 km) on a single charge at speeds of up to 155 miles (250 km) per hour, with a flight time of one hour. It has collapsible wings for easy parking and the ability to take off from or land on any flat surface. Read more here

NATURAL GAS

Yigal Landau, CEO of Ratio Oil Exploration Ltd., which holds a 15% stake in Israel’s Leviathan gas field drilling rig, said in an interview, quoting Israel Energy Ministry experts: “Currently, Leviathan is producing gas at the rate of 11 BCM per year, within a maximum capacity of 12. Nearly 70% of this gas goes to Egypt and Jordan, and the rest to Israel.” Read more here (Hebrew )

VACCINE TRIAL

Sheba Medical Centre announced that it is taking part, along with other hospitals internationally, in the testing phase for Moderna’s new variant-busting coronavirus vaccine. Announcing the trial, Moderna noted that Sheba had pioneered research throughout the pandemic.Read more here

COVID-19 IN ISRAEL

The discovery of 3 new cases of the BA2.75 subvariant in Israel on Sunday did not prevent coronavirus czar Salman Zarka from maintaining a positive outlook, though he noted that any time a new variant arises there is “cause for concern.” New daily COVID-19 case numbers have continued to drop while the R number stood at 0.87, indicating that the current wave is in decline. Read more here

The first of its kind in the world, a groundbreaking study at Tel Aviv University has introduced a promising treatment for long-term COVID-19 symptoms based on advanced hyperbaric (high-pressure oxygen) therapy (HBOT). Patients showed a significant improvement in cognitive, neurological and psychiatric functions. Read more here

CLIMATE

The Israeli government approved spending NIS 20 million ($5.6 million) over the next five years on a supercomputer capable of creating sophisticated models and forecasts for the effects of climate change, with data made available to the entire region. The Middle East and North Africa are known as climate hotspots because temperatures are rising faster than the global average. Read more here

INCITEMENT

The Anata High School in East Jerusalem, staged a school play that had students dressed up as Arab gunmen pointing weapons at other students dressed up as religious Jews, blindfolded and on their knees according to a TV report. A video of the performance has gone viral. Read more here

UKRAINE

The Israel-based organization SmartAID uses technology to bring humanitarian aid to locations across the world. One of its recent campaigns in Ukraine “Light Up Health.” supports healthcare facilities by providing them with solar generators, emergency generators, LED spotlights for surgeons, large battery chargers, power banks to access the Internet, and solar lights for nurses and patients so they are not left in the dark when there is no electricity. Among the facilities benefiting from the initiative are Kyiv Ochmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, EmergeNYC Care Unit in Mykolaiv, and Uman General Hospital. Read more here

MOROCCO

IDF chief Kohavi landed in Morocco on Monday, becoming the first Israeli army head to visit as part of an official trip to meet senior defence officials. Read more here

THE EU

The foreign ministers of the EU member states agreed on Monday to renew the EU-Israel Association Council, an annual high-profile meeting between European foreign ministers and their Israeli counterpart to promote partnership on trade and foreign relations.
The meetings stopped in 2013 partly due to pressure from pro-Palestinian groups. Read more here

Nine European countries declared on July 12 that they would continue backing the Palestinian NGOs designated by Israel last year as terrorist organizations. Prof. Gerald Steinberg, founder of the NGO Monitor, said: ” When European officials say they see ‘no evidence’ of the terror links of their Palestinian NGO clients, they are ignoring numerous open-source verifiable examples.” Read more here

DEFENCE

Following a series of successful live-fire tests, the US Marine Corps is ready to procure the Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) prototype with components from Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system. Read more here

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Hebrew University researchers have developed a brain scan which could make early screening of Parkinson’s disease routine. Read more here

JELLYFISH

A giant swarm of jellyfish was spotted off the coast of Haifa

Most of the jellyfish that visit Israel are migratory, invasive species that originated in the Indian Ocean and are thought to reach the eastern Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. A Hebrew language website shows the jellyfish locations. Map here website here

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Parents will soon be able to track their baby’s activity 24/7 using an AI device from LittleOne.care that clips onto the child’s clothes and connects to a smartphone. It uses deep learning algorithms to learn each baby’s individual habits, noises, and daily routine . . . and to tell parents why their baby is crying. Is he or she hungry, in pain, or tired? The device can tell the difference. Read more here

Israeli-developed robot Cecilia.ai, is the first interactive bartender. At seven feet tall, with easy plug-and-play installation, she can readily be moved between hotels, universities, cruise ships, VIP lounges, and even company offices and can serve 120 cocktails an hour 24/7. Read more here

OTHER TECHNOLOGY

Amazon reportedly did a good deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue from the Graviton server chip which was developed by Annapurna Labs, purchased in 2015 by Amazon. Six AWS customers said that the cloud servers based on the chips developed in Israel consume less power and deliver higher speeds and improve computer costs by between 10% and 40% compared with rival chips from Intel and AMD. Read more here

Israeli startup FlightOps will provide operating systems for the fleet of drones, which will inaugurate food and grocery deliveries from US retail giant Walmart to American households, in the next six months. The project will involve Walmart branches in Arizona, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Read more here

TRAVEL

Israel’s Ramon Airport located near Eilat will begin operating regular flights to Cyprus and Georgia from next month. Read more here

SPORT

Israeli runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter claimed the bronze medal during the women’s marathon on Monday at the World Athletic Championships. Born in Kenya, she became an Israeli citizen in 2016. Read more here

Surf lifesaving competitions are being held for the first time at the Maccabiah Games in Israel. Surf lifesaving combines swimming, lifesaving techniques and general fitness. Read more here

Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi is set to arrive in Israel with French team Paris Saint-Germain for a match against Nantes at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv on 31 July. This is Israel’s second year hosting the Trophée des Champions, or the French Super Cup. Read more here

The San Francisco Giants All-Star outfielder Joc Pederson will officially rejoin Team Israel for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. read more here

COMMENT & OPINION

Jan Shure: There were 189 terror incidents against Israelis in June – more than six per day. These included 117 attacks with petrol bombs, 42 with pipe bombs, 16 arson attacks, 11 shootings and two stabbings. There was also a rocket attack directed at the city of Ashkelon.
The BBC failed to report almost any of these, though it was very quick to record injuries or fatalities which result from Israel’s counter-measures.
BBC News reported just 1% of the terror attacks against Israelis, but it reported 89% of the resulting actions by Israel…

That Israelis experienced more than six terror incidents per day in June is the kind of context that is vital to enable BBC viewers to make a fair judgement on Israeli actions. Its omission massively manipulates reality in favour of Israel’s enemies.Read more here

David Collier critiques a recent Jeremy Bowen report on BBC TV. (thanks to QFI for reference) Read more here