Good News, Israel

Compliments of Anglo Saxon Ra’anana

Israel has its fair share of generals most of them involved in the indispensable job of protecting the country, but one of the few that occupies itself with almost exclusively peaceful pastimes is General Electric that has seven R&D and healthcare centers employing 450 people engaged in a wide range of research. As a display of real confidence in the scientific workforce they’ve just inaugurated their eighth, a multidisciplinary center that will concentrate on research in medical devices, water, and clean energy and offhand we can’t think of any fields much more important than those.

We reported last week that a record number of 35 lifesaving organs were transplanted into 27 patients during the week prior to that and now the National Transplant and Organ Donations Center announced on Sunday that the first half of 2011 saw a 54% rise in organ donations, as well as setting a new record for actual transplant procedures. Between January and May of 2011, 105 lives were saved through organ donations and that represents 75% of all the transplants performed in 2010. We cannot overlook the fact that these life saving operations bring joy that has its source in great sadness and perhaps that increases the intensity of the GN.

And talking of records and despite what could be described as a degree of instability in the region – now there’s an understatement – our tourist industry seems to know no bounds. The month of May saw 308,000 visitors reaching our shores some 16,000 more than 2010 and that was a record breaker. Over a million passengers passed through Ben Gurion and 16,000 arrived in luxury cruise ships making a total of 70,000 passengers in the first four months with 50,000 expected in June. Some 170,000 tourists visited Israel in 2010 on cruise ships, 25 times more than in 2009. We’ve said this before and here it is again, with what Israel has to offer, uniquely, like no other tourist site in the world, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be matching Europe as a tourist destination.

Of course not all our visitors are pleasure bent and a delegation of mayors from cities in 23 countries was all business, well, almost. The 27th year that Israel has entertained the first citizens from towns in the US, Canada, Zimbabwe, the Philippines and South America they have spent their time here with colleagues, learning, teaching and getting to know the country. One of the highlights of a hectic itinerary was a visit to the Rogozin- Bialik School for refugee kids, known internationally because of an Oscar winning documentary, where they were visibly moved by what is being achieved. So much so that Mayor Joseph from Roseau in the Caribbean had this to say to the children; ‘You come from all over the world. You will enjoy the peace of Israel and you’ve taught us what love is.’ Nice.

Every time the question of arms sales comes up we tend to have to wrestle with our conscience; can the purveying of weapons ever be GN? We suppose that if the sale is tightly controlled and it is; if your selling to the good guys and we are and are lives actually being saved probably yes; then the overall answer would be positive, so, today Wednesday it was reported that total sales by Israeli defense companies in 2010 totaled $9.6 billion, 3% more than in 2009 with the big four having an aggregate orders backlog of $18.8 billion, 9% more than in 2009. Some 43 thousand people are directly employed by the industry with another 140 thousand people working in related activities and that certainly is GN

Israel has its first qualifying athlete for Olympics 2012, Sergy Rikhter, champion shooter has booked his berth for London.

Cinnamon may be the answer to preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Israeli scientists have discovered that a substance extracted from cinnamon sticks with a coffee grinder called CEppt inhibits the creation of amyloid molecules. They isolated the component and kept it in a solution at 4 degrees Celsius until use. They then mixed the extract with the drinking water of mice and flies – flies? Yes flies. Well, we thought we had to ask -. After four months the scientists found the disease’s development had slowed down and the animals’ longevity and activity resembled that of their healthy counterparts. They also found the extract helped in breaking up already formed amyloid fibers an indication that we’re looking at cure as well as prevention. Still a long way to go but it’s a promising start.

Archaeologists have unearthed a large Byzantine structure in the city of Acre. While the jury is still out on its true identity the size and the artifacts found inside have led the experts to believe that it was a church and that would give weight to the city’s importance as an early Christian Center borne out by written records of the time. The building contains a mosaic floor, pottery, coins and a courtyard with a well and terracotta pipes all in good condition. As to the shopping mall that’s about to be built on the site, that’s going to have to undergo a few design changes to accommodate the new find.

We have always liked Ormat Industries Ltd. because they harness clean, renewable thermal energy and turn it into electricity so we were pleased when they announced that they have won a $130 million order in New Zealand – the largest ever in the company’s history. Ormat signed a supply contract with Mighty River Power Ltd. for the first stage of the Ngatamariki geothermal project. Construction of the power plant is scheduled to take two years. The Company’s backlog at the beginning of the second quarter stands at a record high of over $230 million.

Everybody loves to be loved and that’s why a recent poll conducted by CNN in the US is GN indeed. It shows that 67% of Americans sympathize with Israel and 82% view Israel as a friendly nation or an ally. Why are we not surprised? The Turks on the other hand don’t particularly like us. But wait! The Kibbutz Industries Association’s exports to Turkey grew by 12% in the first quarter of 2011 – reaching $28 million, compared to $25 million last year. Is this a trend we hear you ask? Yes it is and it applies to our exports to Turkey generally. Oh well.

The ladies basketball side is on its way to Europe to compete in the Eurobasket tournament. The team is as prepared as it will ever be …except for one thing, Naama Shafir being a religious girl normally wears a T shirt under her club jersey but she has had her slightly modified uniform rejected by FIBA – the same happened to the Iranian ladies football side – so the team designed two special jerseys for her in the hope that they will be acceptable. In the meantime Naama is standing by her principles and we say, Good for her!