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Monday, August 28, 2006

Israel's Contributions

So many seem to think of Israel as some evil zionist state, especially if they decide to sit there and listen to the media, and the nutjobs like Iran's president.

What alot of people do not realize is that Israel has contributed more than most realize.

Browse through or take a direct interest and look through each, visit the links provided and see more.


New Israeli treatment improves blood flow. Israeli doctors performed the first operation of its kind, injecting genes which stimulated the growth of new blood vessels into a cardiac patient, said a spokesman for Rabin Medical Center in Tel Aviv. This experiment marks a major breakthrough in the field of genetics and catheterization.

Mutant Protein Holds Promise For Cell Growth Control. A unique technique for neutralizing the action of the leptin protein in humans and animals – thereby providing a means for controlling and better understanding of leptin function, including its role in unwanted cell growth -- has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Leptin was discovered ten years ago and has attracted attention first because of its involvement in control of appetite and later by its effect on growth, puberty, digestion and immunological processes. Leptin can also have negative consequences, such as, for example, enhancing the spread of tumorous growths.

Israelis invent hydrogen car that uses just a tank of water. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, have devised a scheme that gets round the problem of dangerous and expensive hydrogen infrastructure, and makes possible 100% green cars that emit only water from their tailpipe. By reacting water with the element boron, their system produces hydrogen that can be burnt in an internal combustion engine or fed to a fuel cell to generate electricity. The only by-product is boron oxide, which can be removed from the car, turned back into boron, and used again. What's more, they plan to do this in a solar-powered plant that is completely emission-free.

Israeli chance discovery can stop cancer in its tracks. Work carried out at The Hebrew University has produced a new drug treatment for halting the growth and spread of cancer cells.

Israeli invention gives paralyzed a chance to walk. An Israeli-developed and manufactured wireless, computer-controlled device that enables safe walking for people with a foot paralyzed due to stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Visit the link provided, because there is so very much more than just this: Link


  • The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year. Israeli trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.

  • Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following:

  • The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel. Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

  • The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel. Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.

  • The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.

  • Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

  • Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.

  • The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

  • Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U. S, Russia and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.

  • According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. U. S. officials now look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.

  • Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

  • Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.

  • Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people -- as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.

  • In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the U. S. (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).

  • With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, U. S.

  • Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U. S.

  • Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

  • Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.

  • On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.

  • Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees -- ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland - and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the MiddleEast.

  • In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.

  • When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.

  • When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble.

  • Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

  • Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.

  • Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."

  • Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.

  • Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.

  • Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.

  • Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentationfor breast cancer.

  • An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

  • Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

  • Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

  • Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions.

  • Israel places first in this category as well. A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the ClearLight device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct -- all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.

  • An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert.

  • All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other country on earth.

  • Link


    Israel is constantly accused of misconduct and even ‘barbarian’ and ‘racist’ behaviour towards its Palestinian neighbours, especially at the United Nations where a disproportionate amount of time and energy of the world body is taken up on passing resolutions against Israel.

    Here are the facts:

    Israel was responsible for the welfare of the Palestinians during these years, 1967 – 1994, until the Palestinian Authority took over. During that period, Israel has presented annually dramatic documented achievements to the World Health Organisation (WHO) either by myself, as head of the Israeli delegation, or by the other Israeli officials of the Ministry of Health. This included the total eradication in the Palestinian population of poliomyelitis, neonatal-tetanus and measles. Also, Israel dramatically reduced the death rate of Palestinian newborns from over 60/1000 to 19/1000 within those 27 years of Israel’s presence.

    These achievements and others were accomplished by the directives of Israel’s Health Authority in planning, training and implementation of modern medicine. This included the introduction of new immunisation protocols (in coordination with UNICEF) as well as new technologies and new medicines.

    These programmes were performed either on site at Palestinian facilities, or in Israel’s hospitals and medical schools, where doctors, nurses, midwives, medical technicians etc were trained. These achievements resulted from the willingness of the local Palestinian population to be helped (almost free of charge) by Israel’s public health care system, and by the collaborative nature of Palestinian medical teams.

    Israel’s Ministry of Health’s most dramatic and challenging training projects for the Palestinian physicians was to keep secret the specialisation programmes in anaesthesiology, open heart and brain surgery, conducted in Israeli hospitals.

    No other nation on earth has ever voluntarily decided to show such a humane and forthcoming attitude towards people which could be characterised as ‘enemy’. Would the United States train Al-Qaeda physicians or Russia train such professionals of the ‘Chechnyan freedom fighters’ on their own people?

    Moreover, after successful completion of training, fully equipped Intensive Care, Open-Heart and Neuro-Surgery Units were opened for the first time in the Palestinian hospitals for the benefit of the Palestinians. Furthermore, the Israeli medical tutors continued to guide the newly established units, and if needed were available continuously to assist them on site.

    Since 1994, in spite of directives issued by the Palestinian Authority to stop the collaborative programmes with Israel and in spite of the ongoing hostilities, informal cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian medical teams continues, though of a lesser magnitude. Palestinian patients are referred daily to Israeli hospitals especially in the fields of oncology, organ transplantation and acute severe complications of trauma and pregnancy (11,000 were treated last year). Similarly, several training programmes are continuing in spite of difficulties.

    Israel unequivocally demonstrates to the world that it sanctifies life and not death – the lives of Palestinian children, adults and elderly, including those of wounded terrorists, are treated in Israeli hospitals with the same care and alongside Israeli patients. This approach is deeply rooted in our Jewish tradition that “whoever saves one life (and not necessarily the life of a Jew) has saved the whole world”.

    Ahmed Tibi, the outspoken Israeli-Arab Knesset Member, recently requested that his wounded Palestinian niece be transferred from a Palestinian hospital to an Israeli one. Tibi, who often accuses Israel of being ‘racist’, knew that his niece would receive the best medical treatment regardless of being a Palestinian, and indeed a full and speedy recovery resulted.

    Why is it then, that this unprecedented, outreaching and caring behaviour of Israel remains unknown and unreported to the general public, although documented and presented at official bodies of the international community?

    Is it that ‘good news is no news’ or is there a ‘hidden’ agenda of double standards and hypocrisy towards Israel (as addressed in Alan Dershowitz’s book A Case for Israel)? Or are we the people that the world loves to hate? There is a big and unanswered WHY that needs to be addressed.

    Link

    Additional Information: Area #2 and a MUST read Area #1.

    Why the Left hates Israel: Link

    50 Accusations against Israel and the responses to those Accusations: Read it!

    54 Ways you can Help Israel

    A few examples:


    Buy Israeli products and services.
    With the Israeli economy suffering, go out of your way to support Israel's export trade. www.shopinisrael.com, www.usaisrael.org, www.israeliwishes.com, and www.israeliproducts.com allow you to buy Israeli products directly. www.shorashim.net is an online tourist gift shop. When in the grocery store, look for brands like Elite, Telma, Osem, and Ahava beauty products -- even if you have to pay a few more dollars for Israeli products. Ask the supermarket manager to order these items specifically. Buy Israeli wine to bring as a gift when you visit friends. Home Depot and other stores have many made in Israel products -- especially plastics. www.israelexport.org lists the names of products sold in the USA.


    Get the facts.
    The Internet is a great resource for getting an accurate picture of what is really happening in the conflict. For daily news, visit the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com) and IMRA (http://www.imra.org.il). For crucial background information, read "Israel: A History" (by Martin Gilbert), "From Time Immemorial" (by Joan Peters), and "Myths and Facts" (by Mitchell G. Bard) -- online at http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mftoc.html.


    Pray.
    Pray to God to bring peace to the land. Pray for Israel's leaders who need wisdom. Pray that they continue to do what is best for Israel in spite of international pressure. Pray for the safety of Israeli civilians who are targeted by suicide bombers. Pray for the protection of IDF soldiers as they root out every last terrorist. Ask God to heal Israel's wounded soldiers and civilians and to thwart future terrorist attacks. And pray for the Arabs to realize the true nature of their leadership and doctrines that teach hate and murder. Regardless of your level of observance, you can add a request for Israel to your regular (or even irregular) prayer regimen. No prayer goes to waste. You can send prayers via the Western Wall at www.thewall.org. Cry out for God's compassion -- because the gates of tears are never closed. And remember: God is in ultimate control. He has done miracles before and will do them again.


    Protest bias in the media.
    The media has a powerful influence on public opinion and government policy. When you discover a piece of bias, immediately contact the news agency and complain. Keep your remarks respectful and stick to the facts. Build a list of e-mail addresses of friends and colleagues, so when you discover bias, you can alert others to also file a complaint. There is power in the number of responses, even if your specific letter is not printed. You can join a media watch email list at www.HonestReporting.com which gives guidelines for how to be effective in contacting the media, and has over 25,000 subscribers protesting biased news against Israel.


    Know your enemy.
    The Arab world tends to say one thing in English, but a very different message in Arabic. Blood libels and fabrications of Israeli-sponsored massacres are common. Memri (www.memri.org) provides important translations of the Arabic media. And the Center for Monitoring Impact Peace tracks Palestinian compliance with peace agreements (www.edume.org).


    These are just a few of the suggestions.

    How many that criticize, demean, castigate Israel actually know much history of Israel?

    Read the above links. Read the responses to the accusations leveled at Israel, on why the Left hates Israel, and all the various achievements and the numerous ways they have both helped humanity but also advanced it.