The Underreported Israel of 2007

From Backspin:

Monday, December 31 2007
The Underreported Israel

Boston Globe columnists penned a few paragraphs on 2007’s underreported stories. If you hold your nose for the first few words, H.D.S. Greenway is otherwise spot on.

We all know the Israel of wars, oppression, and precarious security, but what about Israel of the humming economy with 90 Israel-related companies on NASDAQ? What about Israeli films garnishing honors around the world: “Jellyfish” and “The Band’s Visit” at Cannes, “Beaufort” in Berlin, “My Father My Lord” in Tribeca, “Sweet Mud” at Sundance, and “Aviva, My Love” in Shanghai?

What of Israeli solar power in California that has been saving 2 million barrels of oil annually for nearly 20 years? What of Arava Valley high-tech agriculture, with exports exceeding $100 million? Natafim, the drip irrigation system patented by Kibbutz Hatzerim, is now a multinational conglomerate selling millions of systems throughout the world. What of the Israel that is taking in Darfur refugees, and what of the first Israeli-initiated UN resolution, calling upon countries to share agricultural technology with developing countries, adopted overwhelmingly this month?

It’s this other Israel that’s underreported.

Here’s the original

Healing Cancer in Light and Color

By: Dudi Goldman

The technique developed by Professors Avigdor Shurtz and Yoram Salomon utilizes photosynthesis to destroy cancer cells.

Professor Avigdor Schurtz of the Department of Plant Sceinces at the Weizmann Institute of Science has studied photosynthesis for years. As you learned in high school, that refers to the phenomenon by which nature converts solar energy to electrical and chemical energy.

The chlorophyll molecule is a dye molecule that drives the photosynthetic process in plants. It takes in solar energy, converts it to electrical energy, and this sets in motion a chain of biochemical processes that result in the production of sugars and oxygen in plants.

Cancer in a family member led Professor Schurtz to think of using chlorophyll molecules to treat cancerous tumors. As with all success stories, chance played its part when Schurtz met a friend and colleague, Professor Yoram Salomon, a biochemist, in the halls of Weizmann. The two decided to join forces to develop a novel approach to treating cancer.

“I researched how bacterial chlorophyll gather light energy and translate it into electrical energy and I thought it might be possible to use this to destroy cancerous tissues,” says Professor Schurtz. “There were already papers regarding this technique, called photodynamic therapy, but they did not produce good results and we thought we could improve upon them.”

Continue reading Healing Cancer in Light and Color…

Smallest Bible Ever

Definitely the coolest story of the week…

From the BBC:

Researchers in Israel say they have succeeded in putting a version of the Bible on a chip smaller than a pinhead.

Its 300,000 words in Hebrew were inscribed on a silicon surface at the Haifa Institute of Technology.

Scientists say the aim of the project is to increase young people’s interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The record for the smallest copy is held by a Bible measuring 2.8×3.4×1cm (1.1×1.3×0.4in), weighing 11.75g (0.4 ounces) and containing 1,514 pages.

The 0.5sq-mm (0.01sq-in) nano-Bible was written on a silicon surface covered with a thin layer of gold (20nanometres thick - 0.0002mm).

It was written using a device called Focused Ion Beam (Fib).

“When we send the particle beam toward a point on the surface, the gold atoms bounce off of this point, thus exposing the silicon layer underneath,” Ohad Zohar, one of the project’s managers at Technion, said.

“By sending a particle beam towards various points on the substrate, we can etch any pattern of points, especially one that represents text.”

The next step for Technion researchers is photographing the Bible and displaying it on a giant wall within the Faculty of Physics.

“In this picture, which will be 7m by 7m (23ft by 23ft), it will be possible to read the entire Bible with the naked eye (the height of each letter will be some 3mm - 0.1in),” Mr Zohar said.

“Near this picture, the original - the nano-Bible itself, which is the size a grain of sugar - will be displayed.”

Peres first leader interviewed by WikiNews

Apparently, Israelis’ embrace of technology extends to the highest levels of government, as seen in this piece translated from Yedioth Aharonoth.

We will post the full text of the interview when it becomes available.

WikiPeres

By Itamar Eichner, Yedioth Aharonoth 24 December 2007, p.12

A President with Value: Peres is the First Leader to Be Interviewed for Wikipedia’s News Site

The nation’s president proved again yesterday that despite his advanced age he has no need to be embarrassed facing politicians much younger than he. Shimon Peres is the first world leader to grant an interview to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

The interview with Peres will be published on the Wikipedia news site, Wikinews and his statements will be integrated into various articles throughout the encyclopedia.

For over an hour, Peres sat with one of the Wikipedia senior editors, David Shankbone. Shankbone, who came to Israel with a delegation of journalists, turned to the Israeli Consul for Media and Public Affairs in New York, David Saranga, and asked to schedule an interview with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Peres. To Shankbone’s surprise, it was Peres who decided to take up the gauntlet and grant an interview to the popular encyclopedia. Wikipedia is the eighth most-popular website in the world in terms of daily traffic.

At the outset of the interview, Shankbone told Peres, “We checked among Internet surfers under age 30 and we found that you are the most popular and most recognizable leader in the world.”

Peres used the interview for a bitter attack on Iran. “The Iranian economy cannot support the atomic program,” he said, “and the world must decide if it is ready for nuclear weapons to fall into terrorists’ hands.”

Peres was asked his opinion of the younger generation of Israelis. “The 14- 15- and 16-year-olds need to participate in determining the world’s future,” the President explained. “If it were up to adults, they would want kids to keep dancing the hora or singing Slavic songs, but youngsters don’t listen and should not have to. Young women today also wear more risqué clothing than they did in the past and there is no problem with that since they look nicer.” Consul Saranga said last night “It was important for the Foreign Ministry that part of the interview was dedicated to subjects other than the conflict [with the Palestinians].”

Finally Hollywood Delivers

this looks hilarious.

One for the Little Guy

For all of us who have ever complained of poor service on buses, trains, etc. JPost finally has an answer. If only other agencies could be held liable for their follies (MTA?):

Bus passenger wins suit for years of service disruptions

A court has awarded a bus passenger NIS 17,800 in damages in a precedent-setting lawsuit against the Egged bus company, court documents released Tuesday showed.

The claimant, Yitzhak Carmeli of Kiryat Ye’arim, sued the national bus company in Jerusalem’s small claims court following a decade of repeated service disruptions on the Egged bus line between his home and the capital, and after hundreds of complaints to the bus company and the Transportation Ministry went unheeded.

Judge Avraham Tenenbaum ruled on Sunday that the passenger, who rode the line four times a day, was right in all his complaints and fined the bus company the maximum amount allowed by law in such a case, adding that the claimant actually deserved to be awarded an even higher compensation.

The judge wrote in his ruling that buses that leave late or change their routes inevitably end up hurting all the passengers and not just the claimant, adding that he encouraged other passengers to “stand up for their rights” and file complaints with the bus company if they encounter such unacceptable and inexcusable service disruptions.

“The time of the public is not to be forfeited, not even one minute of its time,” Tenenbaum wrote in the ruling, adding that sometimes harsh punishment needed to be meted out.

A secondary lawsuit against the state for negligence was rejected.

“Hebrew University Ranked Among World’s Top”

Yesssss, the English think we’ve got the smarts.

Release from HU:

Jerusalem, Dec, 16, 2007 – As it has in past years, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has again been ranked among the world’s leading universities by the Times Higher Education Supplement of London.

In its latest listings, for 2007, the Hebrew University was ranked overall by The Time survey in 128th place among the top 200 universities in the world. In the arts and humanities, the university was ranked at 39th in the world.

Continue reading “Hebrew University Ranked Among World’s Top”…

We’re Now on Facebook

so please poke us here…

“The Secret Weapon of the Stars”

This story speaks for itself. From our friends at Israel21c:

The secret weapon of the stars - Israeli bodyguards

By Susan Karlin December 09, 2007

Lindsay Lohan totes one to dance class. Eva Longoria takes one shopping. Jennifer and Brad shared one before their divorce.

It’s the latest celebrity craze since adopting African babies - an Israeli bodyguard with training from the Israel Defense Forces.

Recently, Lohan unveiled her new bodyguard - an unnamed ex-Israeli Army specialist. Kevin Federline’s lawyer hired IDF-trained Aaron Cohen, founder of the Beverly Hills-based IMS Security, to serve Britney Spears’ camp with subpoenas for their custody battle. Even that dubious friend to the Jews, Mel Gibson, has relied on one to part the waters for him. For more than a decade, Avi Korein was Gibson’s personal bodyguard before he opened his own Beverly Hills security firm, Screen International Security Services.

So what’s the allure of these Israeli security mavens? According to industry experts, it’s a combination of discretion and training.

Continue reading “The Secret Weapon of the Stars”…

Gay Rights in Israel

Israel today is one of the world’s most progressive countries in terms of equality for sexual minorities. In recent years, Israel has produced more progressive legislation and court decisions in the areas of sexual orientation and gay and lesbian rights than many Western countries. Israel has an active gay community and it is by far the most tolerant Middle Eastern country towards homosexuals.

Politically, legally, and culturally, the gay and lesbian community has moved from life at the margins of Israeli society to visibility and growing acceptance. As is often the case with battles for social justice and equality, changes occur due to a combination of political, legal and social factors.

Significant dates and developments:

1988 - Knesset decriminalizes homosexuality
Historically, the Israeli criminal code proscribed homosexual intercourse between males and numerous other consensual sexual activities. In 1953 and later in 1972, however, the attorney generals of Israel issued instructions not to prosecute for the commission of offences under this section, instructions that were followed by the police. Several attempts to eliminate the section prohibiting homosexual intercourse altogether, or at least to reduce its punitive sanctions, failed under the strong pressure of the religious parties. It was finally eliminated in 1988.

1992 - Knesset prohibits sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace
In 1992 the Equal Employment Opportunity Act 1988 was revised to prohibit discrimination in employment relations on the basis of sexual orientation and marital status. Failure to comply with the Act incurs penal liability and the person discriminated against also has a right to seek civil remedies (which include punitive damages). This amendment is seen as a major step towards recognition of gays, lesbians and bisexuals as equal members of society.

Continue reading Gay Rights in Israel…