www.verygoodnewsisrael.
In the 10th May 20 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Two major Israeli antibody projects bring new hope to coronavirus patients.
- Israeli sniff test detects which comatose patients will recover.
- An Israeli aid organization is helping combat coronavirus in all 5 continents.
- Israeli VR technology is rehabilitating recovered coronavirus patients.
- Intel has acquired Israel’s Moovit for $900 million.
- Watch two hugely inspiring Israeli musical videos.
- The number of Aliya applications has surged during the pandemic.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Antibodies to attack coronavirus. The Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona has developed four antibodies that attack the coronavirus and neutralize it in the body of an infected person. It is described as Israel’s “Manhattan Project” to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic. Trials and production planning have begun.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
Major discovery about Israeli HIV treatment. (TY UWI) The Israeli-developed Gammora HIV treatment is being used to treat HIV patients at the Cliniquie La Source hospital in the Congo. Those also with coronavirus significantly improved from both infections. A subsequent WHO-supervised study has confirmed the findings.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
Plasma antibody injections to be scaled up. As reported here previously, seriously ill coronavirus patients have benefited from blood plasma containing antibodies from patients who themselves have recovered from the virus. Now the MDA blood service has enough plasma to produce multiple concentrated antibody injections.
Latest (TY Hazel) – up to 100,000 Israelis are to be imminently tested to check if they have the antibodies.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Micro-needles can deliver Corona vaccines more effectively. Over 4 years ago (see here), Israel’s NanoPass developed a microneedle system to deliver vaccines to cancer immunotherapy patients. Now the system is ready to deliver a future coronavirus vaccine. Its advantage is that less vaccine is required than using a regular needle.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Antiviral treatment starts Phase II trial. Israeli-founded SaNOtize, has been granted approval by Health Canada to conduct a Phase II trial for its antiviral early treatment against COVID-19. The Nitric Oxide Releasing Solution (NORS) was effective in the lab against influenza A, hCoV-OC43 and H1N1 (swine flu).
http://nocamels.com/2020/04/
Helmsley Trust’s $11 million to Israeli hospitals. The Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded $11 million of coronavirus grants to Israeli hospitals. It includes $5 million to eight Clalit Health Services hospitals. Another million dollars went to each of the hospitals of Poriya, Hadassah, Rambam, Shaare Zedek, Sheba and Sourasky.
https://helmsleytrust.org/
Medical clowns tackle coronavirus. Israel’s 600 medical clowns have been lifting the spirits of the elderly, medical staff and their children. Keeping 2 meters apart, they now use dramatic hand and body movements to communicate and decorate their face masks with stickers of crazy smiles, a mustache and silly expressions.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Coronavirus shutdown. Assuta hospital in Ashdod has closed its coronavirus ward, because all its patients have recovered. So did Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital, to the delight of its medical staff. Finally, Magen David Adom’s 24/7 coronavirus hotline has closed, transferring all calls to Israel’s healthcare companies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://worldisraelnews.com/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Antibiotic injection fights superbugs. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed an intravenous injection to fight hospital superbugs (bacteria resistant to most current antibiotics). They used nanotechnology to develop an injected form of mupirocin – which previously was just an antibiotic ointment.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
DIY glucose monitoring. Israel’s DarioHealth has just received US FDA approval for the use by patients of their Dario self-test glucose monitors in hospitals. The aim is to reduce exposure of healthcare workers to coronavirus infected patients.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
Test shows if hope for comatose patients. Israeli researchers have devised a sniff-test using shampoo and rotten fish, to determine if brain-injured patients have a chance of recovery. If the patient showed a predictable response, that person had a 100% chance of recovering consciousness and a 92% chance of surviving 3+ years.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.nature.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
From soccer to seniors. As soccer matches have been suspended, the players, managers and fans of Beitar Millennium Jerusalem Football Club are teaching digital skills to isolated seniors. It is one of the “Sympathy for Older Persons” projects of the National Digital Israel Initiative of the Ministry of Social Equality.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://israelbetweenthelines.
Ramadan in Israel. In the Jewish State, Muslims celebrate Ramadan freely. The initiative “Ramadan Nights from Jerusalem.” includes virtual events in Arabic, Hebrew and English. There is a Holy City virtual tour on the Tower of David Museum website and virtual lectures at Israel’s National Library and Museum of Islamic Art.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Israel to give $60 million to fight coronavirus. The EU hosted a conference of national leaders including Israel, the UK, Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UN. Their aim is to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Israeli PM Netanyahu made a speech, pledging $60 million to the initiative.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israelis raise money for US medical workers. An Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) virtual concert raised $325,000 for protective equipment (PPE) and food for health-care workers on the frontlines of the US COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured Israelis Idan Raichel, David Broza, Rotem Cohen, Shlomi Shabat, and others.
https://www.jns.org/iac-
Food and PPE for Ecuador. The Israeli Government has donated food for 1,000 families in Ecuador and personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical personnel faced with the health emergency of COVID-19 in public hospitals. https://www.
Aid for every continent. Israeli humanitarian aid nonprofits SmartAID and IsraAID work with local partners to supply Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to health centers in Puerto Rico and Haiti and to five hospitals in Sydney, Australia. They also sent aid to Iraq, Vanuatu, Guatemala, Mozambique, Germany and the Bahamas.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Helping pilots escape coronavirus. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) hosted a virtual forum for global air force commanders, on how to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees came from Italy, the United States, Belgium, the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, Norway, Spain, France, Cyprus and Croatia.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Global media goes into reverse. Israel’s Department of Public Diplomacy reports that coverage of Israel in the global media has recently undergone a transformation. Israel’s efforts to control coronavirus were initially criticized. Now, its virus control success, rescue of citizens and interfaith cooperation are being highly praised.
https://www.israelhayom.com/
Major honor for Israeli professor. University of Haifa linguistics Professor Wendy Sandler has become just the fifth Israeli woman to be accepted as a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the first Israeli in the humanities field to be inducted into the Academy since its founding in 1780.
https://www.israelhayom.com/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Jerusalem bio-techs tackle coronavirus. (TY Sharon) JLM-BioCity organized a Zoom session to share startup coronavirus technologies with global investors. New to this newsletter are Respinova (COPD device) EDAS Healthcare (remote diagnosis), One Cell Medical (antibodies), BioFence (anti-viral coating) and Academix.
https://www.respinova.com/ https://www.edashealthcare.
https://www.bio-fence.com/ https://academix.bio/ https://www.youtube.com/
A coronavirus mask for the hearing impaired. Carolina Tannenbaum-Baruchi of Ben Gurion University, whose parents are both deaf, teamed up with a high school robotics team from Dimona to develop the “Read My Lips” mask. Its clear “no vapors” plastic front does not fog up, allowing others to read the wearer’s lips.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Wake-up and smell the virus. Israel’s Nanoscent has developed a chip, software and sensors that recognize odor and unique disease patterns. It has started a trial at Israel’s Sheba hospital to identify people infected with the coronavirus via a simple 30-second nasal breath test. It could be used at stores, hospitals, and airports.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sterilization kits for hospitals. Israel’s Strauss Water, a subsidiary of Strauss Group, has developed a sterilization and disinfection device for personal equipment. The kit removes coronavirus from stethoscopes, keys, etc. – even cell phones. Strauss has donated 40 kits to Israeli hospitals and has pledged 60 more.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
VR rehabilitates patients. The Virtual Reality therapy from Israel’s XRHealth is already used at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center to rehabilitate patients, including those recovered from Covid-19. XRHealth has just received a $450,000 grant from the Israeli Innovation Authority to extend its VR technology to other Israeli hospitals.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
New fintech cybersecurity laboratory. Multinationals Mastercard and Enel X are to establish a new financial technology cybersecurity lab in Be’er Sheva. The lab joins six existing innovation labs and two cybersecurity labs in the final process of being established in Be’er Sheva, specializing in energy and smart transportation.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Ecological friendly companies. Israel21c recently featured 9 Israeli companies that focused on sustainability. Those not previously reported here include IMYIM (eco-fashion), Havie (recycled army clothing) and SG Tech (energy from farm waste). https://www.israel21c.org/9-
https://havie-mnfct.com/ https://sgtech.co.il/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Robotic beehive. More details on the revolutionary Beehome hive from Israel’s Beewise (reported here previously) that protects bee populations from colony collapse.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Group of seven. Israel is in a select club with Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece and New Zealand. In all 7 countries the numbers of new coronavirus infections have slowed substantially. Consequently, the Austrian Chancellor suggested establishing trade and tourism links between these nations.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://worldisraelnews.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israel raises $5 billion in Asian markets. Israel’s first-ever public issue bond on Asian markets raised $5 billion. The issue saw high demand from some 300 high-quality investors from over 30 countries. Israel’s Accountant General said it testified to the confidence in Israel’s economy and its response to the corona crisis.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Currency reserves at new record high. Following successful international borrowing, Israel’s reserves of foreign currency increased by nearly $7.6 billion in April to end the month at a new record of $133.5 billion.
https://www.news1.news/n1/
Schools, markets & malls re-open. Throughout Israel, students in grades 1 to 3, plus grades 11 and 12 have returned to classes. Shopping malls and Jerusalem’s famous open-air Mahane Yehuda shuk (market) have reopened after two months, signaling a major step in Israel’s gradual return (with precautions) to normal.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Latest update on anti-viral masks. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Sonovia began producing its anti-pathogen fabric face masks in March (reported here previously). It has now sold 30,000 of the masks, mainly in the United States. The impregnated zinc and copper oxide fabric, blocks viruses and protects even after high temperature washing.
https://www.jpost.com/health-
Make people better. Israeli innovation hub Welltech1 is calling for Wellness startups that make people happier and heathier to compete for an investment of up to $200,000. Wellness is defined as self-care as opposed to healthcare. The hub partners the Global Wellness Institute that aims to eradicate preventable, chronic diseases.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Intel moves in on Moovit. Intel has acquired Israel’s smart-transit startup Moovit for some $900 million to join up with Mobileye (acquired Apr 2017). Moovit (reported here previously) provides free real-time crowdsourced information about public transportation schedules. It is used by 800 million riders across 102 countries.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Unemployed Israelis volunteer on farms. Thousands of temporarily unemployed Israelis are volunteering on Israeli farms. Farmers have incurred severe labor shortages due to coronavirus restrictions on foreign workers entering Israel. Israelis use an app called SunDo from non-profit HaShomer HaChadash to find work.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Nomogoo buys Personali. Two Israeli startups have got together. Namogoo blocks unauthorized ads and distracting content that may disrupt customer experience and engagement, specifically content meant to hijack customers. It has taken over Personali, which develops AI-based tools for personalizing user incentives.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.namogoo.com/ https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.personali.com/
Drone delivery to North Dakota. (TY Hazel) Israeli founded Flytrex, (as reported here previously) delivers food and consumer goods by drones to Iceland and North Carolina. Flytrex has now launched a delivery service to “shelter-in-place” shoppers in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
http://nocamels.com/2020/04/
Tech startups pitch virtually to Arizona. Eight Israeli startups will be virtually attending the UNMET conference in Arizona in May. Their products range from chainless hydraulic bikes to smart-air quality platforms. The founders will pitch to more than 150 global institutions and VC investors.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Covid-19 startups pitch to California. Nine Israeli Covid-19 startups presented to the North California Israel Chamber of Commerce last week. They included Resmetrix, EchoCare (seniors monitor), CardiaCare, Serreno, Expain (cancer data), Grin (remote orthodontics), Sanolla, Gynisus (AI diagnosys) and Habitu (trials support).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/
http://www.echocare-tech.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://sanolla.com/ https://get-grin.com/ https://www.getexpain.com/ https://gynisus.com/
https://habitu.health/
Japan focuses on Israeli investment. Japan’s Sumitomo Corp has launched a $100 million Israel focused fund – IN Venture, to invest in smart cities, digitization, health care, cyber, IT, energy, and mobilization. Sumitomo Exec VP Toshikazu Nambu said of Israel, “Your way of life forces you to find solutions and that impressed us.”
https://www.calcalistech.com/
More funds for Israeli startups. This week, Otonomo raised $46 million; GigaSpaces raised $12 million, Pluristem is raising $15 million, Orca Security raised $20 million, Hargol raised $3 million, Hub Security raised $5 million and Ermetic raised $10 million.
https://orca.security/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://hubsecurity.io/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Movie awards for Asia. (TY Janglo) The Israeli movie “Asia” won three awards at the Tribeca Film Festival. Shira Haas won Best Actress in the International category. Director Ruthy Pribar won the Nora Ephron Award for excellence in storytelling by a female director. “Asia” also won Best (International) Cinematography.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
We can fix you. (TY UWI) Israeli NGO Koolulam organized over 5,000 People from 66 countries to record themselves singing “Fix You” by UK band Coldplay in 3-part harmony. The end-result was amazing and brings universal hope during the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Hallelujah. A Virtual Benefit, “Saving Lives Sunday” on May 3rd has raised $1 million for Israel’s United Hatzalah (UH) in its work saving COVID-19 patients. UH has released a stunning version of Leonard Cohen’s iconic song “Hallelujah.” The song is performed in English, Hebrew and Arabic – a poignant symbol of unity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.savinglivessunday.
Dolphins and sharks visit Israel. This video shows bottlenose dolphins, an endangered species, off the coast of Ashkelon. Plus, dozens of sandbar sharks off the nearby coast of Ashdod. Finally, a rare whale shark swam up the Gulf of Eilat – the same spot where 4 whale sharks were sighted last August (reported here previously).
https://worldisraelnews.com/
http://www.israelnationalnews.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
Returning lost property. An orthodox Jew from Jerusalem found a wallet with over 40,000 shekels ($11,000). He wouldn’t rest until he found the owner – a Palestinian Arab from Bethlehem – and returned the money to him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kotel opens for prayers. The Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza in Jerusalem has re-opened to worshippers living outside the Old City. Up to 300 worshippers are allowed to pray in the Plaza simultaneously All must wear masks and stay in marked areas to maintain social distances.
https://www.jns.org/western-
Sudanese refugee’s journey to Judaism. Micha’el Derek Tanju was born in Darfur. At the age of 3 his parents were murdered by terrorists. He escaped to Israel in 2008. After graduating and National Service, he converted to Judaism and is currently studying computer science at the Jerusalem College of Technology.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.
Surge in Aliya. Aliya organization Nefesh b’Nefesh received 455 Aliya applications from the US in April. Another 642 have downloaded and are working on their applications. Both numbers are 50% higher than in April 2019. Meanwhile, 18 American new Olim have just arrived in Israel, on a NbN group flight.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Thanks. I think they pull together all those pieces of info floating around the Internet into a coherent picture.
@ Reader: Hat tip to you, Reader. These two articles are indeed very illuminating.
Sweden’s medical inspector general has now admitted that their hospitals have denied care to critically ill elderly patients as part of a “triage” system, leading to unnecessary deaths during the coronavirus crisis. Also, that many elderly people living in nursing homes were not taken to hospitals even after they became severely ill with CV-2 or some other illness.
The lessons we can learn from this Swedish experience is that it ending the lockdowns in the U.S. and Israel, and allowing people to resume their normal lives is not likely to cause a a huge increase in deaths. What caused the Swedish disaster is their grossly mismanaged and underfunded healthcare system and nursing home system, not their decision to allow normal work and liesure activities for most citizens.
In Sweden, unlike Israel and the United States, it is extremely difficult to get an ambulence to take you to a hospital, even if you have suffered a life-threatening illness or accident. You must first persuade a “medical bureaucrat” on the phone on their emergency line that you are in desperate need of an ambulence, and that your need is greater than that of all other callers from your area. This call could take over ten minutes, in which you must give a detailed description of the illness and accident, and answer a whole long list of questions, some of them very technical and beyond a layman’s knowledge. This situation is not new, but goes back at least of 2012 if not earlier. These rules have led to deaths. Some of the deaths blamed on the coronavirus are likely to be based on these delays in getting patients to hospitals. See https://www.thelocal.se/20120503/40608 for the story of an American woman living in Sweden who had to go through this ordeal as her young son “writhed in agony” after suffering a fall and a badly broken arm.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Your comment was far too long to be detrashed.
An excellent article on COVID-19 lockdowns, etc. in 2 parts:
Part 1:
https://in-this-together.com/coronavirus-lockdown-and-what-you-are-not-being-told-part-1/
Part 2:
https://in-this-together.com/coronavirus-lockdown-and-what-you-are-not-being-told-part-2/
Ted, please detrash my most recent comment about healthcare horror stories from Sweden. I know its too long, but I tried to shorten it as much as I could. Its a goof]d thing for Israpunit readers to know what this country, which is always condemning Israel for “human rights violations” is really like.
While Israel has done a splendid job inmanaging the CV-2 crisis, and has made enormous strides to help cope with the disease and possible future epidemics, Sweden remains the “worst case scenario” of a rich country that badly managed the crisis. “Coronavirus: Sweden admits failure to protect elderly in care homes
“They didn’t have time to take care of my mother,” he told AFP.
Her coronavirus test came back negative two days after her death, but Branngard, who claims she died of neglect, says the nursing home staff lacked protective gear and were spreading the virus around the home.
Sweden, whose softer approach to the coronavirus has garnered international attention, admits it has failed to adequately protect the elderly, with around half of COVID-19 deaths occurring among nursing home residents.
Reports have flooded Swedish media in recent weeks of care home staff continuing to work despite a lack of protective gear.
Others have refused to work and workers are encouraged to stay home even with mild symptoms, leaving homes short-staffed.
Other personnel have admitted going to work despite exhibiting symptoms of the virus, potentially infecting residents, while some elderly have reportedly been infected while admitted to hospital for other treatments and then sent back to care homes where they unwittingly spread the disease.
Sweden has reported 3,220 deaths from the virus as of Saturday.
The country said early on that shielding those 70 and older was its top priority.
Yet 90 percent of those who had died as of April 28 were over the age of 70.
Half were nursing home residents, and another quarter were receiving care at home, statistics from the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare show.
“We failed to protect our elderly. That’s really serious, and a failure for society as a whole. We have to learn from this, we’re not done with this pandemic yet,”
Health and Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren told Swedish Television recently.
‘Staff spread the virus’
Unlike many European countries, Sweden has kept its primary schools open as well as bars and restaurants, while urging people to respect social distancing and hygiene recommendations.
It did, however, ban visits to care homes on March 31″ From The Local Sweden web site.
It turns out that Sweden has an extremely high rate of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease. It is the second leading cause of death in Sweden after heart disease. Worldlifeexpectancy.com gives Sweden a “good” rating for treating most diseases, but a “bad’ rating for its care of Alzheimer’s patients. Apparently neglect of the elderly is a Swedish practice that goes back before the CV-2 pandemic.
Indeed, very good news. Israeli work to both prevent coronavirus and cure patients is incredible.