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Israel Update 8.12.22

PRESIDENT HERZOG’s VISIT TO BAHRAIN & the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.

In a State Welcoming Ceremony on Sunday, President Herzog was received by the King of Bahrain. The national anthems of Israel and Bahrain were played. In their meeting at the Palace, President Herzog and King Hamad discussed the importance that their countries attach to their bilateral relationship and the expansion of Israeli-Bahraini cooperation. Read more here

 

President Herzog met the UAE’s President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday. During his visit, along with India’s P.M. Modi, President Herzog attended the Abu Dhabi forum on space exploration. Read more here

 

 

UKRAINE

 

 

Israel’s Defence Ministry delivered an armoured ambulance to the Ukrainian rescue forces on Friday, the first of four such ambulances to be provided. Read more here

 

 

Former policeman Roman Bashenko was drafted into the Ukrainian army and severely wounded by a Russian missile attack. He is now receiving treatment in Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, paid for by his own savings plus financial help from family, friends and well-wishers. Read more here

 

 

 

HUWARA ATTACK

 

 

 

A Palestinian terrorist stabbed an Israeli Border Police officer in Huwara last Friday, before being shot dead by Israeli forces. Graphic footage posted to social media showed a Border Police officer trying to apprehend the suspect as two other Palestinians were trying to pull him free. The footage is partial and did not show the initial stabbing. The police said the incident started when the Palestinian tried to enter a vehicle with an Israeli couple inside. The attacker then ran at a nearby Border Police officer and stabbed him. Read more here

 

 

Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process tweeted that he was “ horrified by today’s killing of a Palestinian man…during a scuffle with an Israeli soldier near Huwara…” and sent “My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family” Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon slammed Wennesland’s statement, calling it a “total distortion of reality.” adding that “This is NOT a ‘scuffle’ — this is a terror attack!” Prime Minister Lapid said “Any attempt to distort reality and tell false stories to the world is simply a disgrace.” Read more hereRead more here

 

 

ATTACK NEAR RACHEL’S TOMB

 

 

Palestinians hurled a bomb at Israeli Border Police, injuring two, on Monday during a riot near Rachel’s Tomb.Read more here

 

 

COUNTER TERRORISM

 

 

Israeli security forces on Friday morning arrested a wanted Palestinian in Nablus who is a suspect in numerous shooting attacks in the area.    Read more here

 

 

Three Palestinian gunmen were killed during intense clashes in Jenin on Thursday when Israeli forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a terrorist. The IDF said “During the operation, suspects hurled explosives and fired accurate shots at the troops,” Read more here

 

 

A Palestinian terrorist shot from a passing vehicle at an IDF military post near Ofra, north of Jerusalem, on Wednesday before being chased, shot, and killed by Israeli security forces.Read more here

 

 

The IDF’s Intelligence Directorate is using AI technology to generate the same number of targets in a month that it once took a year to produce.  In Syria, such intelligence has been used to severely disrupt Iranian plans to build a war machine against Israel.
Read more here

 

 

GAZA

 

 

A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel on Saturday night, landing in a field.  Read more here

 

 

Israel carried out retaliatory airstrikes against Hamas early Sunday. A central rocket-making site used by Hamas was among the facilities targeted. Read more here

 

 

DEFENCE

 

 

US defence contractor Lockheed Martin on Monday signed an agreement with the Israeli Rafael weapons manufacturer to join the development of a high-powered laser interception system, dubbed Iron Beam. The Iron Beam is designed to work in tandem with systems like Iron Dome and shoot down smaller projectiles. Read more here

 

 

CO-OPERATION

 

 

Israeli and French aircraft held a joint aerial exercise this week over Israel’s skies simulating airstrikes and combating aerial threats. During the drill, dubbed “Eastern Breeze,” four French Navy Rafale fighter jets flew alongside IAF F-16i aircraft. Read more here

 

 

Experts from Israel and Arab countries met in Rabat, Morocco on Dec. 5-7 for a “Conference on Education and Coexistence,” to strengthen regional cooperation under the Abraham Accords.      Read more here

 

 

GREEN TECH

 

 

Brückner Textile Technologies supplies a quarter (5,000) of the world’s fabric finishing machines. The company has partnered with Israeli technology company Sonovia to develop a textile finishing machine that uses soundwaves to infuse desired properties into fabrics without polluting materials and adhesives. This technology uses much less water and energy than traditional processes, significantly reducing polluting emissions. Read more here

 

 

MED TECH

 

 

ChroniSense Medical, an Israeli medtech company, has developed a smartwatch that works as a wearable medical sensor. It can accurately monitor vital signs like blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate and respiration rate. The device, called Polso, is designed for both home and clinical settings, and comes with a mobile app for patients, and a cloud-based platform for clinicians. Read more here

 

 

INNOVATION

 

 

Israel’s AVATAR Consortium, a group of Israeli companies and researchers from Israeli institutions, is testing autonomous vehicle decision-making. The group is developing a framework for advanced technologies available only in Israel. Read more here

 

 

MUSIC

 

 

 

A joint venture recently signed by Sony Music Entertainment and the Canadian-Israeli musician management company and record label ONEWA marks Sony’s first venture into the Israeli music market. The project aims to develop artists from Israel with international appeal, allowing for more stars to spread their musical ideas throughout the global mainstream music scene.Read more here

 

 

 

SOLAR ENERGY

 

 

 

Marom Energy is going to build Israel’s first solar power plant on privately held land owned by several Bedouin families. Marom’s deputy CEO said “We specifically decided to support those Bedouins and make them direct stakeholders – actually almost direct partners – on their lands. They’re involved in the development, construction, and operation [of the project]. They’re also landlords so they’re receiving yearly rent.”Read more here

 

 

 

FOOD TECH

 

 

Local food tech startup Meat. The End (MTE) has announced a €1.5 million deal with a European machinery company to enhance R&D operations and increase the production capacity of plant-based meat alternatives, two months after signing a deal to develop plant-based Whoppers for Burger King Israel. The unnamed European company was described as a “world leader in industrial mechanization equipment.” Read more here

 

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

 

 

Archaeologists have uncovered part of an 1,800-year-old Roman road in northern Israel, built in the time of emperor Hadrian. The road section, measuring some 8 meters (26 feet) wide and 25 meters (82 feet) long, was found near the village of Rumat al-Heib, some 20 km (12 miles) west of Tiberias. Read more here

 

 

 

BASEBALL STARS VISIT ISRAEL

 

 

Nelson Cruz, Cesar Hernandez and Jeimer Candelario, Major League baseball players in the US recently visited Israel to promote Christian-Jewish relations.Read more here

 

 

 

SEASONAL

 

 

 

Promoting co-existence and breaking down religious and ethnic barriers, the Annual Holiday of Holidays festival in Haifa, which combines the festivities of Xmas & Chanukah is running from December 9th until 25t. Read more here

 

 

Former athlete Issa Kassissieh receives visitors of all faiths at his Jerusalem home, which he has turned into a festive grotto with sweets, mulled wine and a chance to meet Santa Claus.Read more here

 

 

Following tradition, KKL-JNF will sell Xmas trees to the public, to churches, to monasteries and to the foreign press in a special price of 80 ILS per tree. Read more here

 

 

TRAVEL

 

 

The Swiftest a US insurance comparison website published a list of “The 50 Most (and Least) Deadly Travel Destinations. Israel was ranked 5th safest after Singapore, Denmark, the Netherlands & Switzerland. Read more here

 

 

 

Over 2 million tourists visited Israel between January and October and the number is expected to rise to about 2.5 million by the end of 2022. The numbers are far below 2019’s figures when Israel welcomed some 4.5 million tourists but show promising signs of recovery for inbound tourism. Read more here

 

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

Akiva Van Koningsveld:
As Israel struggles to contain the deadliest surge in Palestinian terrorism since 2008, the media is resorting to the dubious practice of presenting Palestinian and Israeli casualty numbers like a sports scoreboard. Yet the raw numbers fail to acknowledge that while Israeli fatalities have largely been innocent civilians, the majority of Palestinians killed were engaged in acts of violence.
According to an HonestReporting count, 61.6% of the 143 Palestinians who died in the West Bank this year were shot while attacking Israeli civilians or security forces with guns, knives, explosives, firebombs, rocks, or cars. An additional 27.3% died during violent riots. Almost half were members of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
The moral high ground does not necessarily belong to the side that loses more people – particularly if those people are killed trying to slaughter innocent civilians. By uncritically echoing the Palestinian death tally, the media are making the latest Palestinian assault on Israelis look like a campaign of aggression by Israel.  Read more here