"The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke
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Did You Know?
Israel engineers are behind the development of the largest communications router in the world, launched by Cisco.
For Gadi Yarkoni, dogs are more than just “man’s best friend,” they are also life saving companions. Fifteen years ago, Gadi thought he had lost everything when a bullet took his eyesight in Lebanon. Then, the first of three seeing eye dogs entered his life. His current guide dog, Timmy, is a black lab as smart as he is beautiful (pictured above). Aided by his new companion, Gadi’s freedom was restored. Thanks to a remarkable animal and friend, he had his life back.
On Sunday, November 7th, Gadi did what he never thought possible, he ran New York’s infamous 26-mile marathon, raising money for Israel’s Guide Dog Center for the Blind, the nonprofit organization that introduced him to the benefits of service dogs.
The Guide Dog Center for the Blind was founded in 1991 by Noach Braun, who completed this year’s marathon alongside Gadi. Before 1991, Israelis who required the aid of service dogs had few domestic options, and would need to travel to the United States. For almost two decades, Noach and his wife Orna have been providing furry companions at no charge to hundreds of people in need. The dogs, fluent in Hebrew (don’t try asking them to “sit” in English), take two years to fully train, at a cost of $25,000 to the Center.
This year, over 45,000 runners took part in the New York Marathon. Gadi came in at the 8,235th place overall and 1,411th in his age group at a time of 3:44:05. Considering the traffic in New York (not to mention the state of the subway on Sundays), that’s a pretty decent commute time for 26 miles (40km).
Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, Head of the Foreign Press Division, addresses the planned flotilla which overtly declares its intention to sail to the Gaza Strip, governed by the Hamas terrorist organization.
Lt. Col. Leibovich explains that due to a vast history of smuggling weapons via the sea to terror sources who target Israeli civilians, the IDF must reserve the right to inspect every ship intending to reach the region. Failure to do so will result in the arming of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations in Gaza. The recent interception of the Victoria ship by the IDF last March shows the attempt by Iran to arm these groups with highly sophisticated weaponry to be used against Israeli civilians.
Israelis are calling for the release of one of their soldiers held captive in Gaza for the past five years. The soldier's freedom has become an urgent public cause in the Jewish state.
Israelis are rallying around the country to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit. He was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid in 2006, and has been held by the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza ever since.
Many Israelis visited the Shalit family at their protest tent outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem.
Noam Shalit, the captured soldier's father, says the family has wide support from the public, but the Israeli government has not done enough to free his son.
Israel has offered to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit's freedom. But a deal has been elusive, because Israel refuses to release top militants responsible for some of the deadliest suicide bombings.
Hamas says the ball is in Israel's court. In a video posted on its web site, Hamas showed an image of the captive soldier - alive, but in chains. The narrator said Shalit will not be released until all the demands of Hamas are met and Palestinian prisoners go free.
It is a divisive issue among Israelis. While Israel has carried out lopsided prisoner swaps in the past, critics say that policy has led to more terrorism and cost many Israeli lives. Others say it is part of the national ethos to bring captive soldiers home at any price.
Stars stump for abducted Israeli soldier
Israeli celebrities spend time in mock prison to shine the spotlight on a soldier abducted by Hamas five years ago.
'Start-Up Nation' co-author Saul Singer says maintaining comparative advantage in innovation is key to Israel’s success.
Rather than worry about establishing big companies, the key to the future of Israel’s economic success lies in safeguarding its comparative advantage in start-ups and innovation, Start-Up Nation coauthor Saul Singer said at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
“Israelis sometimes underestimate or misunderstand their own comparative advantage in the world,” he said. “And they have a tendency to ask, ‘Where’s our Nokia, where are our big companies?’” After finding that business people in Finland looked to Israel for examples on how to innovate, Singer said he quickly realized “that while Israelis have Nokia envy, in Finland they have start-up envy. And it turns out that in Korea, in Singapore and all around the world, people are trying to figure out how to do start-ups, and they have been traveling here to find out.”
Singer, whose 2009 book is seen as the leading guide on Israel’s hi-tech miracle, was speaking on a panel entitled “The Israeli economy – a small leading market?” He said the Israeli economy would benefit by focusing on what it does best – innovation and start-ups – while synergizing those talents with the management and long-term planning skills of companies from abroad.
“Our competitive advantage is this start-up phase… the premium on innovation is going up and the need for big companies to innovate is going up,” Singer said. “And big companies have their separate problem: They know how to scale things up but don’t know how to innovate,” he said, noting that Apple was the one exception.
“The who’s who of technology – IBM, Cisco, Motorola, you name it – they’re here in a very big way, and what they’re doing here is effectively injecting themselves with innovation by buying up,” he said.
But in Israel “there tends to be not enough emphasis on what the potential is, which is huge and multifaceted.
“I think we have to very careful about not losing our cutting edge…we can’t take for granted start-ups, because if we lose them, we have a problem.”
Finance Ministry director general Haim Shani said government policy was formed upon similar beliefs, with a focus on two major areas: “strengthening the hi-tech and advanced industry sectors.”
“We have launched a program we have branded under the name of competitive advantage, which understands there is no silver bullet for the single success of the hi-tech industry,” he said. “But there are major areas in which the government cannot plan the market but can lay down the tracks for success.”
Shani said as hi-tech constitutes 12 percent of GDP, it is extremely important for Israel’s future, which was one of the reasons the government had invested $500 million in four “excellence centers” that are currently in the works.
Bank Hapoalim chairman Yair Seroussi said the key to the Israeli economy staying relevant was to “keep the strategy we used to have,” which is to focus on development work in Asia, Africa and developing markets.
“Bank Hapoalim [recently] came out with the statement that technology is the way to keep us relevant in the future economy, the creation of know-how and [a presence] in growing emerging markets,” he said.
The six panelists were asked which area of hi-tech held the biggest potential for the future of Israel’s economy.
New York University Prof. Ari Ginsberg and Chief Scientist Avi Hasson said medical devices were one area for huge growth. Jerusalem Global Ventures founder Shlomo Kalish stressed the importance of new media and clean-tech. Most of the panelists agreed that the market will decide the direction and that Israel must
Those who cast doubt on Bob Dylan's ability to perform were forced to eat their words after his excellent performance on Monday night.
What hasn't been said about the old-timer's performance skills? They said that he was tired, they warned that his voice has gone, they predicted a catastrophe similar to his 1987 performance, but all their warnings were unfounded.
It was not a perfect performance, but it exceeded the expectations of the most optimistic of Dylan's fans.
The first positive surprise was Dylan's voice: Hoarse and rusty, but in the best sense of the words. He sang powerfully, potently, relatively clearly and above all, there was a real vitality in his singing, one may even say joy.
Taskforce to develop Israel's defense capabilities against cyber terrorism and "will place Israel at the forefront of the cyber world."
A national cyber defense taskforce will be set up to defend Israel’s vital infrastructure from Internet-based terror attacks, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
The announcement was made hours before Lebanese and Syrian hackers attacked the Facebook page of the Haifa Municipality.
“Haifa belongs to Palestine,” the hackers wrote. “We're coming. The end of the Zionists is near,” the message read, alongside an image of Syrian President Basher Assad.
The National Internet Defense Taskforce is being established in accordance with recommendations by the Higher Committee for Science and Technology, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday.
“The main responsibility of the taskforce will be to expand the state’s ability to defend vital infrastructure networks against cybernetic terrorist attacks perpetrated by foreign countries and terrorist elements,” the statement said.
In recent years, online attacks of infrastructure have become more destructive. The Prime Mininister's Office said hackers were able to disrupt Brazil's electric grid, and attack Estonia's banking system.
“Israeli electronic networks are also under permanent threat,” the Prime Minister’s Office said, citing in 2008 when the Bank of Israel’s website was shut down, and last June following the Turkish flotilla incident when hackers attacked many Israeli Internet sites, including that of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality.
The taskforce will also encourage the hi-tech sector to work with the government to develop Internet defenses for domestic use and export.
During a conference held at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism in November 2010, experts said the government’s Internet portals are the most targeted networks in the world, coming under relentless attacks by cyber-jihadis and hostile “hacktivisits.”
While the majority of attacks do not penetrate defenses, a special team works 24-hours-a-day to ensure the attacks that do succeed are quickly neutralized, the experts said.
Jerusalem's Festival of Lights, now in its third year, illuminates an area known more for religious friction and clashing political claims than for art or nightlife.
But for seven nights, until June 22, a shining 3-meter-tall puppet named Meir —entertains visitors with antics like trying to scale the wall of the moat at the Tower of David, used by conquerors across the millennia as a fortress, barracks and gun emplacement.
American Jewish comedian and actress Sarah Silverman performs stand-up comedy show in Tel Aviv; jokes about making love with Shimon Peres.
Jewish comedian and actress Sarah Silverman performed a stand-up comedy show in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening during which she stated that she would vote for U.S. President Barack Obama again, saying that she has a feeling that he has a plan.
During the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Silverman released a video calling on American Jews to persuade their grandparents in Florida to vote for Obama.
When some audience members booed a question about Obama's attitude towards Israel, Silverman said that she understood that some people in Israel don't support Obama and that such feelings were legitimate.
Silverman also joked about making love with President Shimon Peres and complained about the smell in the lobby of her Tel Aviv hotel.
"I f*cked Shimon Peres," she said, eliciting laughter from the audience. "Yes, yes, we made love."
Silverman has three sisters, one of whom is a Reform rabbi living in Jerusalem.
This was Silverman's first visit to Israel even though her sister moved here five years ago.
Silverman said that she hadn't wanted to visit at first because she "didn't want to get blown up."
But she later changed her mind when her sister sent her a message asking if she was ok following the Virginia Tech shootings.
Silverman's comedy has become increasingly popular in the U.S., where she wrote the 2005 film Jesus is Magic.
Her successful television show, The Sarah Silverman Show, ran for three seasons and received consistently high ratings.
Stas, left, is reunited with his brother Danny, brought to Israel by CCOC last year.
Saving Chernobyl’s children
Israel is the only country that permanently opens its arms to children sick from radiation caused by the Ukrainian nuclear disaster 25 years ago.
On its 93rd rescue mission, the New York-based charity Chabad's Children of Chernobyl (CCOC) brought another 25 children to safety in Israel at the end of April.
The plane touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport almost 25 years to the day since a combination of engineering deficiencies and human error caused one of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant's reactors to release massive amounts of radioactive materials into the environment -- many times more than at Hiroshima during World War II.
The fallout directly led to the deaths of about 100,000 people, sickened countless others and continues to pose grave health risks -- particularly to children there, who have a high rate of thyroid disease, birth defects, heart conditions and compromised immunity as a result of exposure to lingering radiation in the air, water and soil.
In 1990, the worldwide Chabad organization, a branch of the Lubavitch Hasidic sect, started flying out affected Jewish kids ages eight to 15 to resettle in Israel. The number of rescued youngsters now stands at 2,755.
"Israel is the only country that will accept the children on a permanent basis, and we are the only organization in the world that takes them out permanently," explains Rachel Fertel, special events coordinator for CCOC. "Others take them out of Chernobyl [for treatment] but bring them back after a few weeks. We don't want them back in contaminated areas ever again."
Once the rescued children stop breathing contaminated air and eating contaminated food, their health improves, according to CCOC International director Yossi Swerdlov.
Reunited with relatives
Fertel tells ISRAEL21c that the Chernobyl kids are accommodated in youth villages at Kfar Chabad, an Israeli Lubavitch town, where they receive free medical, psychological and dental care as well as schooling for several years.
"We make sure they have the tools they need to survive. Many have gone on to the army or jobs, and stay connected with us as adults."
Some later move to the United States or elsewhere, she added. About half of them choose to become Israeli citizens, and about 80 percent are reunited with their families at some point -- either their parents join them in Israel or they move in with relatives.
The April 28 flight included 15 girls and 10 boys. It also included a man whose nephew, Pavlov, was brought by CCOC 18 months ago. The uncle had raised Pavlov after his father died and his mother became very sick due to the radiation, so CCOC arranged for him to be on the flight to visit the boy, who suffers from radiation-related heart problems.
Another new arrival, Stas, was reunited with his brother Danny, who was brought to Israel by CCOC last year. The boys' mother is still in Ukraine with another brother, and CCOC reports that it intends to bring the entire family back together.
"The children are chosen on an application basis," says Fertel. "A lot of times the parents send the applications, or sometimes community leaders or relatives apply, if the parents have passed away. They know that in order for the children to survive and have a healthy lifestyle, they need to get them out because children are most susceptible to radiation. The half-lives of the isotopes go on for hundreds of thousands of years."
An expensive proposition
Rescuing, housing, feeding and caring for the Chernobyl children takes huge sums of donated money. The main source of funds is CCOC's annual benefit dinner, Children at Heart, which attracts many celebrities among hundreds of guests.
"It costs us $18,000 per year per child," says Fertel. "A flight full of kids costs $360,000. It is a huge expense, and that's why we work our hardest to do this." The organization also sends medical supplies to Ukraine to help the many remaining children and adults.
Last year, an MTV producer made a promotional video for the organization, "Let Dreams Take Flight,", which interviews several "alumni" of Chabad's Children of Chernobyl. The actor Michael Douglas narrated an earlier video about the disaster and the organization, "The Cry is Answered."
The Cry is Answered
Click To View Video
"With 25 children on board, this flight was extremely meaningful and sends a powerful message to the world: To this day, a quarter of a century after the disaster occurred, there is still a need to permanently evacuate the children from the contaminated zones," says Fertel.
Israeli artists have developed new bus stop libraries available free of charge to commuters and travelers across the country.
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Did You Know?
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
Children injured in the school siege in Beslan, Russia in 2004 were able to convalesce at an Israeli coastal resort in Ashkelon – at the invitation of that city’s mayor.
LUSH Cosmetics has quietly closed its Beverly Hills, California location several months after a group known as “Join the Boycott LA” (www.JTBLA.com) organized a protest outside the store to expose the company’s support of PLO extremism. LUSH, with headquarters in the UK and stores in over 40 countries around the world, is using its customers’ money to support the PLO’s extremist “One World Campaign”. This virulently anti-Israel organization portrays Israel as an “illegal” occupier committing crimes against “Palestine” and grossly exaggerates the suffering in Gaza, placing responsibility solely on the Israelis.
There is much more work to be done. We urge you to ACT NOW FOR ISRAEL by sending an email to customercare@lush.co.uk to protest their anti-Israel extremism.
It has come to our attention that LUSH, a leading luxury handmade cosmetics company, gives a percentage of its profits to an anti-Israel organization called “OneWorld”. Upon visiting the OneWorld website (http://freedomoneworld.org/), it is very clear that they are supported by extreme anti-Israel groups that are sympathetic to terrorist activity against the State of Israel. For example, one of the supporting groups is called “Friends of al-Aqsa”. Visiting their website speaks for itself: http://www.foa.org.uk/.
Did You Know?
Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
Did You Know?
An Israeli-initiated project is drastically lowering the mortality rate of Ethiopian children infected with the AIDS/HIV virus.
