Israeli doctors save Syrian lives

In critical condition with severe shrapnel injuries to their torso and limbs, bullet wounds from head to toe and open fractures — this is how Syrian patients arrive at Israeli hospitals in the north of the country. And they are all treated like any other patient.

“It’s our duty as a regional hospital, where we are located along the Lebanese border on one side and the Syrian border on the other side,” Dr. Amram Hadary, director of the trauma unit at Ziv Medical Center in Safed (Tsfat), says. “We cannot ignore that the Syrian conflict is happening behind our door. We cannot close our eyes, ears and hearts to what is happening there. It’s a catastrophe.”

The Israeli medical staff has no idea who the Syrian patients are. They could be civilians caught in cross-fire, part of the military or members of the rebel forces.

Hadary says: “We don’t know who we’re treating, armed or not armed, wearing uniform or not wearing uniform. Because of the critical condition in which many of them arrive, we don’t question who they are. It is irrelevant. They are patients and are treated with the best measures we have in the hospital. Everyone gets the same treatment.”

Shortly after the Syrian civil war erupted, the Israeli army set up a field hospital on the border to treat victims. The IDF grants special permission of entry to Israel for the critically injured, and escorts them to and from the hospital.

“Our policy is to help in humanitarian cases, and to that end we are operating a field hospital along the Syrian border,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in June. “In cases where there are badly wounded, we transfer them to Israeli hospitals.”

Whether the cooperation between the medical communities will influence the political situation remains to be seen.

“We’re saving lives, not with expectations for the future. We’re doing it because it’s our job,” says Hadary. “Let’s hope for peace and be realistic at the same time.”

For the full story please click here

Tel Aviv ranks among world’s top 10 beach spots by National Geographic

Gordon Beach, Tel-Aviv

The White City joins Rio de Janiero, Honolulu and Sydney in National Geographic’s ranking.
Call it Miami Beach on the Med. Tel Aviv is the Dionysian counterpart to religious Jerusalem. In the “bubble,” as it’s known for its inhabitants’ tendency to tune out regional skirmishes, some restaurants, discos, and clubs are open until dawn. By day, the scene shifts to the city’s promenade and eight miles (13 kilometers) of beach literally steps from town. Head to wide and sandy Gordon Beach to sit in a seaside café or take a dip in the saltwater pool.

Israel 6th Healthiest Country in the World

A typical Israeli breakfast

Israeli breakfasts – eggs, salad, cheeses, juice – are known for their freshness and nutrition. According to a new report, it would seem that by starting the day on a healthy kick, Israelis tend to veer toward a strong lifestyle.

 To identify the healthiest countries in the world, Bloomberg Rankings created health scores and health-risk scores for countries with populations of at least one million.

 Israel ranked sixth with a health grade of 85.97 percent; a total health score of 91.97% and a health risk penalty of 6.00%.

 Compare that to the US, which scored 33rd overall with a health grade of 66.84%; a total health score of 72.96% and a health risk penalty of 6.12%.

 The world’s healthiest country, according to the report, is Singapore followed by Italy, Australia, Switzerland, Japan and then Israel.

 To calculate the rankings, Bloomberg subtracted the risk score from the health score to determine the country’s rank.

Source

Official poster of Israel’s Holocaust Rememberance Day (Yom Hashoah) 2012

“The Nicest New Venue in All of Israel”

Photo by Amit Giron

The opening of the new Herta and Paul Amir Building has recently put the Tel Aviv Museum of Art  front and center as a must-see destination for art lovers from across the globe.

“Since we opened, the amount of tourists coming here is something that the museum never knew before,” says Shuli Kislev, acting director of the museum. “You can hear a lot of English here,” she adds with a laugh.

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is focused solely on Israeli art, and the new space allows for more exhibit possibilities than ever for the museum’s collections.

One New York visitor calls the Amir Building “the nicest new venue in all of Israel.”

Please enjoy the video

Thank you Israel21C for the story

Israel 2nd Most Educated Country

Israel is the second most educated country in the world, according to a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Known around the world for its technological innovations and brainpower, Israel placed second in terms of the number of  its academics. Canada, with a population of 34 million people, placed first in the survey.

The OECD ‘Education at a Glance’ report shows that 45 percent of the Israeli population has a post-secondary education. Canada boasts a 50% rating in the same category.

The report shows that the 10 most educated countries in the world are: Canada, Israel, Japan, US, New Zealand, South Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom, Australia and Finland.

Source

Israeli Game Night?

Ephraim Hertzano invented Rummikub in the early 1930’s and hand-made the first sets with his family in the backyard of his home in Israel. He designed the game to combine elements of rummy, dominoes, mah-jongg, and chess. Hertzano’s family sold the first sets door-to-door and on a consignment basis at small local shops. The game soon took off, and the family began licensing it to other countries over the years. As a result, it became Israel’s #1 export game. Rummikub made it to American shores in 1964 thanks to the efforts of Pressman Toys. In 1977, it became the best-selling game in the U.S.

Today, Rummikub is licensed internationally by Lemada Light Industries, a company formed in Israel by Hertzano’s children. They have turned the game into a powerhouse phenomenon that is sold in 48 countries and has been translated into 24 languages. Through their efforts, it has become the third best selling game in the world. As a result of this popularity, Rummikub clubs have been formed all over the world, and a World Rummikub Championship has been held every year since 1991. The enduring popularity that Rummikub enjoys is proof that this game has an appeal that is truly universal.

Sources: skooldays.com and wikipadia.org

Did You Know?…

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As a country, Israel is defined by its collective successes and what follows is but a small sampling of that:

• Ten Israelis have won the Nobel Prize so far.

• Israel is a leader in quality of life. In a comparison conducted by the UN regarding quality of life in 182 countries, Israel ranked 27th, only slightly lower than the UK.

• Israel’s healthcare system is one of the most advanced in the world.

• Israel is a leader in biotechnology development.

• Israeli medical developments are used in the best operating rooms across the world.

• Israeli cows produce the largest amount and highest quality of milk in the world.

• Israel is the only country that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees.

• Israel is one of the world’s top leaders in agricultural development and fruit cloning.

• A quarter of the population holds a degree – ranking third in the world.

• Israel produces more scientific papers and more patents per capita than any other country.

• Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant- absorbing nation, has more museums per capita and receives more media coverage than any other country in the world.

• Israel has sent emergency delegations around the world to assist foreign governments in times of major disaster including but not limited to Cambodia, Rwanda, Turkey, Argentina, Armenia, Russia, Kenya, New Orleans, Haiti, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand.

• The IDF was the first major medical team to set up camp immediately following the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

• The World Economic Forum has recognized Israel as one of the leading countries in the world in technological innovation.

• The cell phone, disk on key, instant messenger chat, voicemail technology and PillCam were all developed in Israel. The Pentium4 processor was designed and developed in Israel as well.

• Microsoft and Cisco built their largest R&D centers in Israel.

• Apple chose Israel as its first and only R&D center outside the US.

• Israel has the world’s highest percentage of engineers and scientists.

• Israel is a leader in genetics and preventive medicine.

• Israel sends hundreds of missions to developing countries worldwide.

• Israeli agricultural experts introduced drip-irrigation technology, saving water in arid regions.

• An Israeli company recently discovered a way to eradicate the use of pesticides for pest control by using edible oil instead.

• A simple, inexpensive Israeli solution for storing staples is helping Africans, South Americans and Asians survive food shortages.

• Except for the US and Canada, Israel has the most traded companies on Wall Street than any other country.

• Israel is a leader in coexistence programs that bring together Arabs and Jews.

• Israel has an incredible array of institutions that focus on charitable outreach and offering help to the needy.

• Israel is unique in terms of its size, location and diversity of climate and wildlife.

• Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo is involved in worldwide breeding efforts and to reintroduce animals to their natural habitats.

• Israel is the only place where biblical history really comes alive.

• While far from perfect, the Knesset is an anomaly in the Middle East. Its makeup of Arabs and Jews, Secular and Orthodox and men and women makes Israel a unique liberal democracy – in fact the only one in the Middle East.

• Israel’s military prowess and might is world renowned. It is a leading force in battlefield technology, counterterrorism, combat skills, intelligence gathering and air superiority. The Mossad is likely the world’s top intelligence agency, unsurpassed in its ability to gather information from around the globe.

For all these reasons and more, it is important to recognize and appreciate that with all its problems, Israel is a great country.

Thank you Jpost for the article.

Bus-Stop Books – Israel’s Newest Public Library

No fines, no rules, no shushing

Imagine a library where there are no due dates and no librarians telling you to be quiet. Israeli artists have developed a new model for the urban library: a free bus-stop library for commuters and travelers of all ages.

Daniel Shoshan, an installation artist and lecturer at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, along with Technion graduate Amit Matalon, started this new public library concept figuring that people sometimes have long wait times for buses.

Their motto: You may take, you may return, you may add.

The duo built a series of bookshelves at bus stops throughout Israeli cities. The idea is that anyone may take a book from the shelf, read it at the station or take it on the bus and return it when done.

No due dates, no late fees, no rules.

Wait in line at the bus stop, shuffle through a few books, and take one with you on the commute? The idea could not only increase literacy rates in communities, but also serve as a new way of connecting people.

“Citizens in the city are now creating new ways of sharing,” says Shoshan. “In Kfar Saba, Hadar Yossef and Haifa, people started to exchange books among themselves without any rules in place. You can put your books on the shelf, and others will add or take from it. It’s just the citizens and neighborhood monitoring it by themselves.”

This could also be a creative marketing platform for unknown authors to spread their works. Israel already has professors giving scholarly lectures on trains. Maybe thanks to this new project, new authors will give public reading at bus stops.

Shoshan thinks such a project could work as a community-builder in disadvantaged areas as well. With little outlay in costs, what’s to lose?

For further reading please click here

Prompt Israeli Aid Follows Turkish Call for Assistance

Israel delivered prefabricated homes to Turkey on Thursday. Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company

An Israeli plane carrying emergency housing led a flow of  international aid into the quake-stricken area of eastern Turkey on Thursday as the death toll rose to at least 523.

Israel quickly responded to Turkey’s call for international aid yesterday, sending seven prefab houses to the quake-stricken eastern province of Van.

Turkey asked for assistance from more than 30 countries that offered to help in the country’s efforts to relieve its easternmost province from the disaster that struck on Sunday.

Israel was the first country to respond to Turkey’s call, immediately sending a civilian Boeing 747 carrying seven prefab housing units.

Israel’s Defense Ministry said they would continue to send more aid.

Source: 1 , 2