Israel Update 22.9.22

Wishing those of my readers who are celebrating the Jewish New Year next week “Shanah Tovah U’Metukah”

There will be no Israel Update next week. HRG

TERRORIST ATTACKS CONTINUE

84-year-old Shulamit Rachel Ovadia was murdered in a Holon street on Tuesday in what police described as a terror attack. The Palestinian suspect was found hanged on Wednesday. Police believe he committed suicide. Read more here

An 18-year-old yeshiva student was moderately wounded in a shooting attack last Thursday night in Carmel.

Shots were fired at an Israeli targets on Monday, Tuesday and early Thursday morning.

Israeli troops have repeatedly come under gunfire during nightly arrest raids in the West Bank, during the prolonged effort against Palestinian terrorists. The military launched the operation after a series of deadly attacks that killed 19 people between mid-March and the beginning of May. Israeli security officials have warned in recent months that the Palestinian Authority is losing control of the northern West Bank.

COUNTER TERRORISM

The Israel Security Agency has apprehended seven Palestinians belonging to a Hamas terror cell in the West Bank who were planning bombing attacks against Israeli citizens and security forces. Weapons and materials to assemble explosives were found.Read more here

IDF troops arrested two Palestinian suspects at the West Bank security barrier on Monday, one of whom was armed with a submachine gun. Read more here

HIZBULLAH THREAT

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Lebanon war in 2006, called for “the establishment between the Blue Line [border] and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL [the UN Interim Force in Lebanon].”
Alarmingly, in recent months, Hizbullah appears to have moved UNIFIL away from the border and positioned itself directly facing Israel, building some 20 positions along the border manned by armed Hizbullah military operatives. Read more here

CO-EXISTENCE

A delegation of 12 Pakistani-American leaders arrived in Israel Sunday for a six-day visit designed to foster deeper ties between two countries that do not have diplomatic relations. The trip’s goal is “to allow the participants to see and explore Israel for themselves, and to transmit what they learn and experience to audiences in Pakistan…” In the wake of deadly floods in Pakistan, the delegation will place a particular emphasis on Israeli technologies regarding water and food security, and mitigating environmental disasters.Read more here

The 10 day residential ONE TEAM camp used sports as a platform to bring together diverse sectors in Israel while promoting a healthy shared society through women’s empowerment for leadership, coexistence, respect and friendship. 25 Bedouin girls and 18 Jewish girls from all over Israel participated.Read more here

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JUDGES

The 64th conference of the International Association of Judges stated in Tel Aviv on Sunday marking the largest global gathering of foreign officials in Israel since the funeral for former prime minister Rabin in 1995. With judges from 71 countries in attendance, the conference also was a strong, if indirect, statement of Israel’s standing as a respected member of the club of nations committed to the rule of law.Read more here

THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan was in Jerusalem for the first time last Thursday and visited Yad Vashem, as Israel and its regional allies marked two years since the signing of the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreement that normalized ties between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. Read more here

WATER

Israel gets nearly all of its tap water from desalination plants along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and a large part of its water for agriculture by purifying and re-using the nation’s sewage.
Israel charges the real price for water (though the cost is subsidized for those receiving social welfare). This means consumers, farmers and industry are always looking for ways to conserve water, or to use technology for the most efficient use possible. In most of the world, water is deeply subsidized, which leads to enormous wasting of water due to overuse. For Israel, it is cheaper to fix leaky pipes than to waste water, so Israel has an uncommonly low leak factor of 7-8%. Read more here

CORONAVIRUS

Israel’s coronavirus czar Prof. Salman Zarka said: “ Wearing a facemask is now recommended in all closed and crowded places, including synagogues, buses, trains, planes and more. We must celebrate holidays as we did before the pandemic, but we must protect ourselves and our relatives and friends.”Read more here

MEDICAL

Fixing weak electric currents in part of the brain may treat Parkinson’s Disease, according to Israeli scientists at the University of Haifa whose peer-reviewed research, could open up a new approach to fighting the disease and may enable detection when people are young. Read more here

ReGum, made by the Yokne’am-based company BioChange, is a protein-based foam designed to prompt gums to repair themselves. It is administered as a dental implant and has been successfully tested on dogs.Read more here

INNOVATION

Technology developed by Microsoft’s Israeli R&D team enables video streaming to millions of on-line participants without overloading a company’s network. The secure, easy to install technology was developed by Israel’s Peer5 which Microsoft acquired last year.(TY Michael)
Read more here
Read more here

BreezoMeter, an Israeli startup that monitors hyperlocal air quality, has just been bought by Google. The company combines data from government air monitoring stations with measurements from over 50,000 additional sources globally, including satellite, weather and traffic data, which enables hourly tracking of pollution levels street by street. Its new Cleanest Route feature suggests the least polluted route not only for walkers and cyclists but also for motorists, who can be exposed to higher levels of pollution as they sit behind the wheel. Read more here

New software developed by Israeli company Neolithics can analyze every aspect of fruit and vegetables before they reach supermarket shelves, including checking for internal rot and pesticide residues. Neolithics is currently working with some of the biggest retailers and packing houses in Israel to determine the best distribution schedule for dozens of fruits and vegetables. One retailer was able to cut its monthly quality control budget by more than 80 percent using the scanning technology at its warehouse. Read more here

When a large sinkhole suddenly opened on the busy Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv last Saturday, the highway authority called Exodigo to send a crew to the site to perform an underground scan. The team quickly identified potential areas of risk on the highway through its multi-sensing artificial intelligence platform which helped local authorities make informed decisions about corrective actions to reinforce the road against further sinkholes in that area. Read more here

Researchers at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University have unveiled a 3D printer “ink” capable of producing printed wooden materials. The technology takes organic “wood derivatives” and develops them into a paste, which is then used as ink by a 3D printer. As the paste dries, it warps into the desired shape. Read more here

FOOD INNOVATION

An Israeli family farm, Ben Dor Fruits and Nurseries, has spent decades developing hybrid fruits which it says offer unique flavours and added resilience against a changing climate. Among its offerings are sweet “pomegranate plums,” “watermelon plums” with red flesh and green skin, and the bright yellow “lamoon” plum, shaped like an inverted teardrop and with a slightly tart flavour.Read more here

ARCHAEOLOGY

A team of archaeologists was transported back in time when it entered an untouched 3,300-year-old cave at the Palmachim National Park, just south of Tel Aviv, last week. The vast array of discovered items date to the Late Bronze Age, close to or during the reign of the biblical Ramses II. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime find! It’s not every day that you walk onto an Indiana Jones set — a cave with tools on the floor that haven’t been touched in 3,300 years,” an IAA Bronze Age expert said. Read more here

Using crime-scene forensics techniques, a multi-discipline team of scientists and archaeologists has identified the earliest evidence of opium use in the ancient world. Through residue analysis of 14th century BCE vessels excavated in a burial pit at central Israel’s Tel Yehud, the team uncovered what is likely the first physical evidence in the world of the use of a psychoactive drug.Read more here

SPORT

Many of the world’s top tennis players will arrive in Israel for the ATP 250 Tel Aviv Watergen Open September 26-October 2, Jimmy Connors won his final career singles title at the Tel Aviv Open in 1989. But perhaps even more significant is a record broken at the tournament in 1983 when teenager Aaron Krickstein became the youngest person to ever win an ATP tennis event. Read more here

Novak Djokovic sent a message (initially in Hebrew) to retiring Israeli player Jonathan Erlich prior to the Tel Aviv tournament.View here

The number of golf courses in Israel will double in the coming years with a new course planned for the desert around southern resort town of Eilat. Currently Israel’s only 18-hole golf course is in Caesarea. Read more here

COMMENT & OPINION

Editorials from the Israeli press about the late Queen Elizabeth II

Times of Israel: Why we’ll all miss The Queen. She came to symbolise what was ultimately acceptable and what was not, at a time when that cardinal distinction is being challenged in democracies other than Britain as well. Read more here

Jerusalem Post: UK’s mourning for Queen Elizabeth an example to heed.

The discipline and respectfulness seen in the UK these past days could be a beacon to guide us (in Israel) forward in some aspects.

OTHER COMMENT & OPINION

Herb Keinon: Prime Minister Lapid has arrived in New York to take part in the UN General Assembly meeting, which he is expected to address on Thursday. He is also scheduled to meet a slew of world leaders

The number of terrorist attacks taking place now rivals the number of attacks and attempted attacks in March and April… Israelis who pay attention to the news know of these attacks because they are reported daily in the media. People abroad, however, may be unfamiliar with the current tense situation because these attacks do not make headlines… Over the last month, Israel has faced shooting attacks, stabbing attacks and attempts to infiltrate on almost a daily basis. It is going to have to react with a stronger hand. Lapid should be explaining that to the world now. Read more here