WHO WE ARE

FOUNDER COUNCIL The Late Brigadier General Lady Sainsbury (Chairman) Sir Wyndham Deedes, CMG, DSO Lady Anderson Sir Andrew Burns, KCMG HON PRESIDENT The Earl of Balfour contents HE The Ambassador of Israel Mrs E Corob Dame Vivien Duffield, DBE 5. HON VICE-PRESIDENTS Mr JM Greenwood CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Mr M Green Mrs M Park 6. ISRAAID Mrs L Hochhauser The Marquess of Reading Mr J Marshall Mr D Sumberg 8. WITH NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT: BETWEEN TWO NATIONAL MOVEMENTS - SHLOMO AVINERI Mr GR Pinto The Lord Weidenfeld Lady Sainsbury The Rt Hon The Lord Woolf, PC 12. A WAKE UP CALL TO THE WEST - BENNY MORRIS Mr A Yablon 17. ISRAEL’S PEOPLE WANT PEACE TOO. PRESSURE DOESN’T HELP – DANIEL TAUB EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (TRUSTEES) The Lord Bew (Chairman) DINNER COMMITTEE 18. BDS AND UK CHARITIES Mrs J Atkin Lady Baker (Co Chairman) Mr R Bolchover (Co-Deputy Chairman) Mr A Reeve (Co Chairman) 22. I AM A ZIONIST Miss B Dingle Ms L Diamond 24. AMBASSADOR MATTHEW GOULD Professor D Hochhauser (Co-Deputy Chairman) Mr B Streather Mr D Kessler Mrs E Tarling 25. SPEECH MADE BY AMBASSADOR DANIEL TAUB AT THE “WE STAND BY ISRAEL CONFERENCE” Mr H Lewis FCA (Hon Treasurer) Ms O Polizzi EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 26. IN THE NEWS Mr A Reeve Mrs Ruth Saunders Dr A Sher 30. ISRAELI INNOVATIONS Mr B Streather 42. SUZANNE PERLMAN - A VISIONARY EXPRESSIONIST. Mrs E Tarling Mr T Vince 46. WAS THIS THE SITE OF JESUS’S TRIAL?

48. ISRAEL GETS ITS NINTH UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

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facebook.com/AngloIsraelAssoc/ @AngloIsraelAssn 56. DEBATING MATTERS ISRAEL

59. ISRAEL, UK IN HUGE NEW SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION AGREEMENT

60. MASKIT FASHION SHOW

62. SHAKSHUKA FOR THE SOUL ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSOCIATION PO Box 47819, London NW11 7WD 64. AIA EDUCATIONAL TRUSTS T: 020 8458 1284 F. 020 8458 3484 E: [email protected] 70. TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY’S VALEDICTORIAN www.angloisraelassociation.com 72. JOBLESS ISRAELI ETHIOPIANS TRAIN AS NURSES AIDS Registered Charity No. 313523 74. FURNITURE FOR A GRAFFITI AGE The articles in this magazine reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Anglo- Israel Association. If you have a comment on any of the articles or on the magazine in general, we would 76. HIGH TECH BEHIND THE HEADLINES be pleased to hear from you. Letters or emails should be addressed to the Editor and sent to email: [email protected] or The AIA, PO Box 47819, London NW11 7WD

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

It has been – to be honest – another worrying year. The best that can be said about the Iran nuclear deal is that no one can be sure it will work out well. The spike in anti- Semitic attacks throughout Europe is another profound concern. I find it disturbing that an illustrious writer and scholar like Frederick Raphael, at the age of eighty-four, should feel it necessary to bring out a book on antisemitism in 2015. But I understand Nimrod Capital LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority why he has felt it necessary to do so. In this world, the work of the Anglo Israel Association remains essential. We continue to deepen the intellectual links between Israel and the UK. Over the years, our Ambassadors’ Roundtables have brought together some of the leading scientific minds in both communities. We have been proud to sponsor visits of the Christian clergy to Israel. We regularly sponsor high level debates here about the key issues in Israeli political life. This year in a new initiative, working with The Institute of Ideas, we sponsored a widely based debating competition for schools in Israel. We remain determined to insist on the democratic vitality and complexity of Israeli society. ‘Boycott’ is the word Ireland gave to the world in 1880. The sheer strength of the Israeli contribution to the world, at all levels, is the best defence. That said, the educational role of the AIA remains essential. Now more than ever, we need your support.

Lord Bew Chairman of the Executive Committee

5 Lesbos, Greece beneficiaries come from countries that are traditionally It will also expand the psycho-social help to bases in the A volunteer holds a child after arriving on the Greek hostile, or even officially still at war, with Israel. registration and refugee camps that have been set up. island of Lesbos with a group from Syria But for Shaltiel, that’s unimportant. The NGO also has volunteers providing assistance on the Croatia-Hungary border. Eventually IsraAid plans to be “You are meeting fellow human beings,” she said. “You in final-destination countries, like Germany, where they see agony and pain, you see a need, then what does it hope to help with refugee rehabilitation. matter where the person is from. “The aim is to have a presence as an organization along “In the end you hope that the human contact will bring us the entire journey,” Gorodischer said. forward,” added Shaltiel, who also volunteered for the IsraAid mission in South Sudan. On the beach in Lesbos, the work goes beyond the medical. When she is finished dealing with the But she does acknowledge that for the Syrians, Iraqis, hypothermia, dehydration, wounds and illnesses of the Afghans and Pakistanis — who make up the vast majority travellers, Shaltiel gathers some of the refugees to of those arriving — having Israelis as a first contact explain their situation to them. in Europe can be unexpected and unnerving. We try to find a balance,” Shaltiel said. “On the one hand, we are Most have only a vague idea of which country they are in, wearing IsraAid shirts and speaking most of the time in or that they are on an island and not the mainland. Hebrew to each other. None realize that their landing spot is still a gruelling “But, ultimately, you just want people to get help; you 40-mile walk from the registration camps. don’t want to put up barriers to that.” “It’s safer to stay here during the night and start your Plus, in reality, even though the Israelis are wearing walk in the morning,” she tells them, giving them a map bright blue Stars of David on their shirts, most of the made by the IsraAid team with instructions written in refugees don’t even notice amid the chaos and tumult Arabic. of emotions of the landing beaches, said Kardosh, who The volunteers look to assist in any way they can. does most of the communicating with them in Arabic. “The situation is chaotic, you don’t always know what Among those who recognize the T-shirts, most have a you need in the beginning, so we keep looking for positive response — although some are resistant. One ways to help, to see what’s needed,” said Boaz Arad, a man who was receiving treatment from Shaltiel kept volunteer who was documenting IsraAid activities and asking Kardosh, “Tell me the truth, is she a Jew?” also organizing the logistics and transportation. “I tried to ignore him, but he persisted. Eventually I said After finding hundreds of people sleeping in the open to him, ‘She is here to help you, what does it matter who along the road, IsraAid volunteers brought sleeping bags she is?’” Kardosh said. “After about 10 minutes he came to distribute to families with children. back and offered Tali a biscuit and apologized.” They were also waiting for a shipment of donated baby Another issue for IsraAid has been finding Arabic- carriers from Israel. speaking personnel who can communicate with the refugees. That’s particularly important for the second For Shaltiel, the sight of tens of thousands of refugees part of IsraAid’s mission, which is providing psychological walking across Europe was especially poignant. first-aid to those who have experienced trauma. “When we say ‘Never again,’ it is also an obligation to do One IsraAid volunteer social worker spent a day something,” she said. providing support to the family of a 5-year-old girl who “I can’t stop the war in Syria, but I can do something.” drowned on the crossing. Another team was on the island of Rhodes assisting survivors from a boat that sank, killing 34, including 15 infants and children. “We are working in complicated conditions and our Arabic speakers have that experience of working in IsraAid difficult situations,” said Naama Gorodischer, IsraAid’s LESBOS, Greece — As the small rubber dinghy crowded shivering 4-year-old girl out of her wet clothes and a pair global programs manager. with Syrians and Afghans emerged from the midnight- of inflatable armbands that would have provided little black sea to land on a desolate pebble beach, the first protection had the overloaded boat capsized at sea. Still, it’s a challenge for those who have never done field people to greet the bewildered and frightened refugees work before. Kardosh and Shaltiel are part of a small advance group were two Israelis. of volunteers from IsraAid, an Israeli nongovernmental At the moment, the main aim of the team is to assess “Does anyone need a doctor?” Majeda Kardosh, 27, a organization that is trying to provide some assistance to the needs of the refugees and find gaps in the services nurse from Nazareth, shouted repeatedly in Arabic as the hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants who provided by the overwhelmed Greek authorities and the asylum seekers scrambled ashore amid cries of are flowing into Europe. other volunteer groups. celebration and tears of relief at surviving the short but While Israaid has plenty of experience in disaster relief and IsraAid plans to expand the medical teams and eventually perilous crossing from Turkey to this Greek island. assistance in 31 countries — from the 2011 earthquake establish a mobile clinic that will provide emergency IsraAid.co.il Her team partner, Tali Shaltiel, 31, a physician from and tsunami in Japan to the Ebola outbreak in West care for new arrivals on the beaches. Jerusalem, stood knee deep in the water, helping a Africa — this mission presents a unique challenge: The

7 two national movements but a conflict between one There is more than one national movement (the Palestinian) and a colonial and imperialistic entity (Israel). According to this view, Israel reason for the failure of the will end like all colonial phenomena – it will perish and disappear. Moreover, according to the Palestinian view, Oslo Accords, but at the the Jews are not a nation but a religious community, and as such not entitled to national self-determination which basis lies a fundamental is, after all, a universal imperative.

difference in how each side According to this view, the Palestinians see all of Israel WITH NO – and not just the West Bank and Gaza – as analogous views the conflict. to Algeria: an Arab country out of which the foreign colonialists were ultimately expelled. Because of this, BY SHLOMO AVINERI Israel – even in its pre-1967 borders – never appears in Palestinian school textbooks; because of this the Twenty years after the Oslo Accords, the time has come to Palestinians insist never to give up their claim to the right SOLUTION ask why they did not bring about the historic compromise of return of 1948 refugees and their descendants to Israel. envisaged by their initiators and supporters. This is a Not A People question to be asked especially by those who supported them and viewed them, justifiably, as the opening toward This is also the reason for the Palestinians’ obstinate an epochal reconciliation between the Jewish and refusal – from Abbas to Saeb Erekat – to accept Israel IN SIGHT: Palestinian peoples. as the Jewish nation-state in any way whatsoever. At the end of the day, the Palestinian position views Israel as an There is more than one reason for the failure to achieve illegitimate entity, sooner or later doomed to disappear. an end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians: The Crusader analogy only adds force to this claim. mutual distrust between the two populations, internal BETWEEN pressures from the rejectionists on both sides, Yasser One expression of the gap between the Israeli and Arafat’s repeated deceptions, the murder of Prime the Palestinian perception is evident in the diplomatic Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the electoral victories of Likud in language of both sides when they refer to the two-state Israeli elections, Palestinian terrorism, continuing Israeli solution. The Israeli version talks about “two states for two settlement activities in the territories, the bloody rift peoples,” sometime adding “a Palestinian nation-state between Fatah and Hamas, American presidents who did living next to the Jewish nation-state.” The Palestinian TWO NATIONAL too little (George W. Bush) or too much and in a wrong version refers only to a “two-state solution,” never to way (Barack Obama), the political weakness of Mahmoud “two states for two peoples.” It is obvious: If the Jews are Abbas, governments headed by Netanyahu that did not a people, they are not entitled to a state. everything possible to undermine effective negotiations. All this is true, and everyone picks and chooses what fits This is also the reason why there is no regret among MOVEMENTS: their views and interests – but beyond all these lies a the Palestinians for their rejection of the 1947 United fundamental difference in the terms in which each side Nations Partition Plan. As far as I know – and I would views the conflict, a difference many tend or choose to be happy if proven wrong – there has until now not been overlook. any serious Palestinian debate around their rejection of partition: There have been innumerable discussions and Most Israelis view the conflict as a struggle between two publications about their military defeat in 1948 in their national movements: the Jewish national movement – attempt to prevent the establishment of Israel, but no Zionism – and the Palestinian national movement as part Palestinian leader or thinker has openly admitted that the of the wider Arab national movement. The internal logic decision to reject the UN Partition Plan and to go to war of such a view leads in principle to what is called the two- against it had been politically or morally wrong. state solution. Even if the Israeli right wing preferred for years to avoid such a view, eventually it has been adopted To this very day, no Palestinian intellectual or politician by Netanyahu, albeit reluctantly, and is now the official has dared to admit that had the Palestinians accepted policy of his government. partition then, on May 15, 1948 a Palestinian Arab state would have been established in a part of Mandatory The point is that those Israelis who see the conflict in the Palestine, and there would have been no refugees and no framework of a struggle between two national movements Nakba (“catastrophe”). It is much easier to deny moral assume that this is also the position of the other side; responsibility for the terrible catastrophe the Palestinian hence when negotiations fail, the recipe advocated is leadership has brought upon its own people. to tinker with some of the details, hoping that further concessions, on one or the other side, will bring about an This is not just a matter of historical narrative: It has agreement. Unfortunately, this is an illusion. political implications for the here and now. If Israel is not a legitimate state based on the right to national self- The basic Palestinian position, which usually isn’t always determination but an imperialist entity, there is no ground explicitly stated, is totally different and can be easily for an end-of-conflict agreement based on compromise. detected in numerous Palestinian statements. According Most Israelis who maintain that the conflict is a territorial to the Palestinians’ view, this is not a conflict between conflict between two national movements tend to believe

9 that a territorial arrangement, linked in one way or of the conflicts which are far more difficult to solve. Yet * Encourage and facilitate foreign investments in the West A further and unpleasant element would be the another to the pre-1967 Green Line, is the way to reach this did not prevent some practical ways of finding partial Bank. different political structures of the two entities of such an eventual resolution of the conflict. Yet the Palestinian agreements of different sorts, aimed at attenuating the * Abolish the remnants of the blockade of the Gaza Strip a confederation. How can one imagine setting up the behavior under Arafat at Camp David 2000, as well as conflict and preventing violence and open warfare. and try to establish, with the European Union and Egypt, common institutions of an Israel-Palestine confederation during the negotiations between Abbas and former Prime a sustainable mechanism of entry and exit of people and when one entity (Israel) is a pluralist democracy, while Minister Ehud Olmert, suggests that something much The Israeli right wing is interested in maintaining the goods to and from the Strip. the other would be something else, in all probability run deeper is at stake. status quo, and Netanyahu’s aim is clear: to increase the as a Mukhabarat-type regime like most Arab countries? I number of Jewish settlers, prevent handing over control These steps are not “concessions” to the Palestinians. cannot imagine many Israelis being willing to be linked as When Abbas insists repeatedly that his movement cannot over the territories to the Palestinians and prevent – Since there are not going to be meaningful negotiations citizens in any way to such a despotic structure. In short, give up the claim to the Right of Return because this is “an or delay as much as possible – the establishment of a with the Palestinians in the foreseeable future, they with all due respect for President Rivlin, such an idea individual right” reserved to every Palestinian refugee Palestinian state. are aimed at not accepting the Palestinian veto on an cannot come about due to its overall intrinsic and built-in and his descendants, the implication is that even if there agreement as a cause for a continuing Israeli control contradictions. will be an agreement on the territorial issues, and even if Those who think that the sole aim of Netanyahu is to over millions of Palestinians. Such steps will also clearly all West Bank settlers will be evacuated, the conflict will survive in power are wrong (after all, this is the aim of indicate that Israel is not interested in extending or There is no choice but to admit there is no chance for any continue to exist and fester. This is also the reason why every political leader). He views his staying in power as a perpetuating its rule over areas populated by Palestinians. mutually accepted agreement in the foreseeable future. Abbas refuses to follow Egyptian President Anwar Sadat national mission to maintain Israeli control over as much Such a pessimistic prognosis calls for the opposition, and and address the Knesset as a symbol of reconciliation territory of the Land of Israel as possible. His focusing on I am aware that these are not easy steps and will not be its leader, to acknowledge that they have to think outside – this would imply accepting Israel’s sovereignty and the Iranian threat is, among other things, a ploy to divert welcome by many Israelis – nor are they a “solution” of the the box and offer alternatives not in order to “solve” the legitimacy. attention from the Palestinian issue, even when it is clear conflict, but they constitute an alternative to the existing conflict, but to mitigate its severity and perhaps move that he is not ever going to attack Iran. status quo that is undermining the fabric of Israeli society both sides eventually to an agreed solution. I am well aware that the moderate public in Israel – which as a Jewish and democratic country. acknowledges the Palestinian right to self-determination, THINKING OUT OF THE BOX opposes Jewish settlement in the territories and supports CONFEDERATION NOT A SOLUTION But there should be no the two-state solution – finds it difficult to internalize The opposition under Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Union the fact that the Palestinians basically do not accept does not propose an alternative to this policy. Herzog is A last word about an idea recently floated, among others illusion: So long as the Israel’s right to exist. But there is no way to deny this right in repeating his insistence that Israel should return by President Reuven Rivlin – confederation. I greatly uncomfortable truth. Yet this should not lead to despair to the negotiating table. But this does not suffice, as this appreciate Rivlin’s humane and Zionist campaign to Palestinians maintain or the acceptance of the status quo because “there is is not a political plan. Does Herzog believe that if the ensure the equal rights of Israel’s Arab citizens – in that nothing we can do.” Netanyahu government returns to negotiations, the result he is a true follower of the liberal aspects of Jabotinsky’s that they are fighting – would be an agreement based on the two-state solution? legacy. But Rivlin is also an adherent of continuing rule MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONFLICT Moreover, even if he himself would become – as I hope he over all the Land of Israel and opposes the establishment militarily or diplomatically would – prime minister, can he offer to the Palestinians of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. When One can learn from similar current national conflicts, but more than Ehud Barak offered at Camp David and Olmert asked how he squares the obvious contradiction between – against a Zionist colonial unfortunately most Israelis are so immersed in internal offered to Abbas – offers that have in both cases been these two positions, he occasionally mentions the idea of debates that they are not aware of some of the similarities. rejected by the other side? a confederation. and imperialistic entity, The national conflicts in Cyprus, Kosovo, Bosnia and even faraway Kashmir have certain similarities to the Similarly, the understandably enticing idea of embracing On a verbal level this appears a plausible, even pleasant, an historical compromise Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In all of them a territorial the Arab League Peace Initiative is a chimera: At a time way out. But it’s a mirage. First of all, there exists dimension is evident: the Turkish occupation of northern when the Arab world is rent by internal strife and violent no confederacy anywhere in the world (for historical is unfortunately not on Cyprus, the territorial aspect of the multinational conflicts civil wars, and at least four Arab countries are in various reasons, Switzerland refers to itself as a confederacy, in Bosnia, the Serbian perception of Kosovo as part of stages of radical disintegration, the Arab League is not a but it is a federation). Confederative ideas have been the agenda. Hence a call their historical homeland, the Indian occupation of parts real player, though Israel should address the challenge raised during the disintegration of the Soviet Union and of Kashmir. posed by the initiative, despite the fact that it is basically Yugoslavia, but they all failed. The main reason was that for creative and bold a dead end. setting up a confederation implies establishing mutually But all these conflicts are multi-dimensional, not accepted frontiers among the various members of the alternatives is necessary just territorial – they are conflicts between national Herzog should go beyond the mantra of “returning confederation, and this, after all, is one of the main movements on which usually one side does not accept to negotiations” and initiate an alternative calling for sticking points in national conflicts. in order to get beyond the the very legitimacy of the other group. All these conflicts creativity and political courage. He should declare that, relate to contrasting narratives and historical memories yes, one should return to negotiations, but being aware Does anyone imagine that the Palestinians will agree to status quo and insure Israel’s as well as to claims to sovereignty; they imply occupation, of the difficulties of reaching a formal agreement, a a Palestinian entity within the confederation that would ethnic cleansing, settlers, resistance to occupation, government headed by him would initiate the following not include the Jewish settlements? On the other hand, future as a Jewish and terrorism, reprisals and guerilla warfare. They are not policies: will Israel agree that the settlements will be under the religious conflicts as such, but every one of them has a jurisdiction of the Palestinian entity of the confederation? democratic state. religious dimension, linked to holy sites and religious * A total and unconditional cessation of all construction in It is equally obvious that a confederal scheme will not be memories which usually exacerbate the conflict and make the settlements. able to address the issue of Jerusalem. Furthermore, Shlomo Avineri is a Professor of Political Science at the pragmatic compromises even more difficult. * Dismantle the illegal outposts, as promised by previous in a confederation – as distinct from a federation – Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Israeli governments. each confederal entity is considered an internationally The article first appeared in Ha’aretz on The multi-dimensionality of all these conflicts is the * Encourage a generous program of financial support for recognized state, including possible UN membership. Will 2nd October 2015 reason why no resolution has yet been found to any of settlers who would agree to voluntary resettle in Israel Israel agree to this? Such a confederation, if it ever comes them, even after decades of sincere, though sometimes proper (“pinui-pitzui”). about, will occasionally have a Palestinian president naïve, international efforts: the Annan Plan for Cyprus, * Prevent Jewish takeover of Arab houses in East (probably on a rotating basis): Is this something most the Dayton Accords in Bosnia, etc. All these plans usually Jerusalem, which provokes riots and violence. Israelis would find acceptable? focused on the territorial aspect, mainly because of its * Declare activities linked to organizations like “price tag” obvious visibility, but overlooked the much deeper roots illegal, in accordance with existing laws and regulations.

11 n June 2011, a few months after the beginning of the so- called Arab Spring, I spoke in this hall and warned that the major outcome of the wave of popular uprisings was going to be the growth and ascendancy of militant, authoritarian Islam in the Middle East, with all the dangers that this portended for the West, the region and Israel.

Today it is clear that the West is under a Imulti-pronged Islamic, jihadist assault – and that it refuses to acknowledge this. Denmark’s Prime Minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt, put it categorically, immediately after the recent Muslim attacks in Copenhagen: The attacks had “nothing to do with Islam.” Of A WAKE course, this is absurd. The Moslem perpetrators of terrorist attacks in the West have consistently said they are acting in the name of Islam and according to the precepts of Islam. One might argue that their interpretation of Islam is mistaken and that other interpretations of what the Koran and the Hadiths demand of the believer say something different. But to flatly deny the link the perpetrators are making UP CALL between the Word and their Deed is simply silly.

President Obama several weeks ago chose a slightly different path, preferring evasion to denial. He defined the anti-Semitic attack on a kosher deli in Paris as a random attack by unnamed zealots – zealots “randomly shot a bunch of folks,” as he put it in good colloquial American. TO THE But it amounted to the same thing. Obama was exhibiting his refusal to acknowledge the truth of what is happening around the world, from the southern Philippines through Kashmir and Pakistan and Nigeria and Kenya, to the Middle East and the streets of Europe’s capitals. He was denying the nature and character of the enemy the West is facing. Needless to say, if you cannot identify your enemy, you cannot WEST! beat him; a sniper cannot hit his target if he fails to identify him.

Obama is a thoughtful, cool, calculating man. His pronouncement on the deli attack was not random. Since his As part of the AIA Speaker’s Programme, speech in Cairo back in 2009, Obama Prof. Benny Morris spoke to the International Institute has consistently declined to call a for Strategic Studies on 23rd March 2015. spade a spade. Perhaps he hopes that We are pleased to reproduce his speech. the spade will somehow turn into a

13 loving heart, or will simply go away. support in the Islamic world for Egypt, Libya, Iraq, and so on? Who jihadists in the Middle East have So, too, are Iran’s connections to ISIS. that can reach central Europe. Or perhaps he believes that calling a anti-Western terrorist attacks and knows? But al-Tayib’s point was to attacked and continue to attack pro- To be sure, Iranian Revolutionary This weaponry, once produced spade a spade will only aggravate the the almost complete absence of attribute the bloodshed and chaos Western regimes or groups seen as Guards are busy today arming, and perfected, will advance Iran’s Muslim world’s antagonism toward condemnations of such attacks by to the West, and to deny or diminish Western-linked, such as the Kurds, training and perhaps leading Shi’ite ambition to dominate and overawe America and the West in general. that world’s spiritual leaders and Arab agency. Yezidis and Assyrians in northern militiamen in their effort to push the Middle East and push the West intellectuals. The general tone has Iraq, and have attacked Western back ISIS in central and northern Iraq out of the region, and it will provide But the West and its agents in the been, for the past twenty-odd years: In any event, far more common targets in the Middle East and in the in order to protect the pro-Iranian an umbrella for jihadi campaigning Middle East are clearly under attack ‘Yes, we understand why they did it.’ are pronouncement by Muslim West itself (for example, American Shi’ite regime in Baghdad. But it is beyond the Middle East. by Islam. Some would say – “by Arab spiritual leaders who embassies and military forces and at least worth considering that Iran, radical Islam.” I believe this, too, is Occasionally, rarely, you will hear straightforwardly support this or that civilians and military personnel). clandestinely, had helped ISIS to Iran’s policies, like the an evasion. The problem relates to dissentient pronouncements by variety of Islamic terrorism. Take grow, seeing it as a tool against the pronouncements of its leaders, are an the Islamic world as a whole and to leading Muslims, such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the chairman of Far more subtle has been the long- Americans and the West in the Middle unusual mix of Islamic messianism many, many Moslems, who believe Ahmed al-Tayib, the grand mufti of al- the International Union of Muslim term ongoing anti-Western jihad East. Anti-Western ISIS terrorism and pragmatism. The ayatollahs and that their values and world are in Azhar University, the most prominent Scholars and popular Al-Jazeera by Shi’ite organizations and states, has deflected Western attention Revolutionary Guard generals who conflict with the West. fount of religious authority in the network preacher. He is usually primarily Iran and its agents. Indeed, and energies away from Iran and its run Iran may not unleash a nuclear Sunni Arab world. Some three weeks regarded as a mainstream Muslim most people in the West are simply operations. Indeed, it has promoted war against Israel or other states True, there have so far been relatively ago, at a gathering in Mecca, al-Tayib Brotherhood theologian. Interpol has unaware that these elements are a measure of tacit or clandestine US- fearing that it could lead to their own few direct attacks in the West itself; condemned Muslim extremists and issued an arrest warrant against him engaged in jihad against the West. Iranian cooperation in Iraq and Syria. destruction. But possession of the an attack every few months and by said that they based their barbaric, for inciting to murder. In recent weeks This serves Iran well and certainly ultimate weaponry and the means of a mere handful of terrorists. The The founder and first leader of terrorist practices on a misreading he praised Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the hampers Western efforts to rein in delivery will give it a far freer hand to number of perpetrators is indeed Islamist Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, of the Koran. Al-Tayib’s statement leader of Isis, and condemned the Iran, be it in terms of its efforts to take utilize its proxies, including Muslim very small compared to the vast is quoted as saying: “Islam makes should be viewed within the context West’s war against that organization over, through proxies, various parts communities abroad, to destabilize demographic of the Moslem world. it incumbent on all adult [Moslem] of the new Egyptian regime’s ongoing of brutal beheaders of infidels and of the Middle East or to constrain its pro-Western regimes in the Middle I would suggest that the number males … to prepare themselves for the battle against Muslim Brotherhood, heretics of various stripes. In the nuclear program. East and Western regimes beyond. of attacks actually carried out is ISIS and al-Qaida terrorists in Egypt past, Qaradawi repeatedly, explicitly conquest of other countries so that only a small fraction of the number and in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. True, supported suicide bombings, the writ of Islam is obeyed in every To be sure, Iran’s jihadi campaigns Both Isis and Iran strive to see conceived or planned, but frustrated including by women. Being country in the world … Islam says – starting, indeed, from Khomeini’s the “flag of Allah” flying over the by Western intelligence a Sunni, he occasionally kill all the unbelievers … The sword toppling of the pro-Western regime White House and the Houses of and security agencies. pronounces in favor is the key to paradise.” Khomeini’s in Teheran in 1979 - have focused Parliament. We may believe such For every terrorist who of jihad against Shi’ite explicit jihadist mindset is embedded on the “near enemy”, that is, pro- a vision farfetched and unrealistic. knifes or shoots or bombs Anti-Western ISIS terrorism militants, such as the in revolutionary Iran’s constitution Western regimes and agents in the But the mullahs in Tehran, like the someone in the West Hizbullah. But in general, from 1979. In its preamble it states Middle East rather than on the “far preachers in Mosul and Raka, think 10 or 20 or 30 would- has deflected Western he favors holy war against bluntly that the function of the enemy,” that is the heartlands of the that, with Allah’s help, such an aim be terrorists have been the West. country’s army and Revolutionary West. Since the revolution, Iran and is realizable, indeed, inevitable. We arrested or otherwise attention and energies away Guards Corps is not only to guard its proxies have assailed a variety of need to pay attention to their dreams. restrained. The West and its wards the state’s frontiers but also to fulfill pro-Western regimes and outposts. and supporters in the “the ideological mission of holy jihad They have periodically attacked Moreover, it is well to from Iran and its operations. Middle East are under a … that is, extending the sovereignty Israel. Through Hezbollah, they remember that, as in Benny Morris is a Professor of History in multi-pronged jihadist of God’s law throughout the world.” have established dominance over most wars, only a very the Middle East Studies Department of assault. The assault has That’s what Iran’s constitution says, Lebanon. They have tried to upset the small proportion of any Ben Gurion University of the Negev. occasionally reached simply and straightforwardly. control of pro-Western regimes along army actually see combat. It is only Egyptian President al-Sisi recently the heartland of the West itself, the Persian Gulf. And, most recently, the 10 per cent or less at the spear Since the 1980s, Iran has called for a reform of Islamic London, Paris, New York and Iran’s agents, the Houthi rebels, point, that actually kill and die. So implemented this jihadist policy education to counter the militant Washington DC. The assault is largely have taken over much of Yemen, it is in the current struggle of the on a number of levels. Often, it has Islamist wave. But the sheer rarity of unacknowledged in the West for what including the capital Sana, giving Islamic world against the West. But used proxy forces, and with great such pronouncements highlights the it is, partly because of the confusion them the power to close the Bab al the small minority that are engaged effectiveness; sometimes, its own silence of the vast majority of Arab caused by the fact that some of the Mandeb Straits at the entrance to the in jihad are backed, wholeheartedly units and operatives have engaged political and spiritual leaders in face assailants are at loggerheads among Red Sea. Today, Iran dominates Iraq, or substantively, by roiling masses in this jihad. In Lebanon in the 1980s of the extremists’ terrorist outrages themselves. much of Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen; who pour out into the street, who Iranian operatives and local Shi’ite in the Middle East and the West. to varying degrees, the Gulf States demonstrate against blasphemous The jihad, which began in the 1970s proxies, chiefly from the Hezbollah, live in Tehran’s shadow. cartoons or rage in support of It is worth noting, incidentally, that or perhaps earlier (perhaps in 1948, in a protracted, well-orchestrated toppling this or that twin tower. dissentient pronouncements, such with the pan-Arab assault on Israel, campaign, drove out the Americans When and if Iran succeeds in See the massive sale of Bin-Laden as al-Tayib’s, are almost always which was and is seen as a Western by blowing up American installations controlling or cowing the remaining tee-shirts in the streets of Kabul, accompanied by telling qualifiers. bridgehead, or even in 1915, with – the American embassy in Beirut pro-Western states in the Middle Karachi and Cairo. So it was in Nine- Al-Tayib in his speech in Mecca, for the Armenian genocide), in recent twice - and killing hundreds of East, the Iranians may feel confident Eleven, so it is today. More or less example, attributed the recent bloody decades has taken two forms, Americans. In Iraq in the early 2000s, enough to engage in jihad outside the universally, Muslims the world over, upheavals the Middle East to what he one explicit and clear, the other Shi’ite militiamen, backed by Iran region. That, at least, is the logic of and especially in the Middle East, called the “new global colonialism” clandestine, long-term and often and advised by Iranian Revolutionary their ideology and policy. share a basic hatred of the West, – presumably a veiled reference to subtle. Guard operatives, regularly attacked stemming from a sense, rightly or American policy and actions – carried the American forces that invaded And this logic underlies both Iran’s wrongly, that the West has invaded The explicit jihad, by Sunni the country to rid it of the Saddam nuclear project, which aims at the out, as he put it, “in cooperation with organizations, such as al-Qaida their space, politically, economically Zionism.” Did he mean that America Hussein regime. Lastly, Iran’s links to attainment of nuclear weaponry, and and culturally, and sometimes and ISIS, is obvious and needs little al-Qaeda operations are unclear. its rocketry program, which involves and Zionism were responsible for the explication or description. Sunni militarily. Hence, the widespread outbreaks of mass violence in Syria, building rockets and cruise missiles

15 Palestinians and Israelis light candles for peace in the West Bank.

Israel’s people want peace too. Pressure doesn’t help

Daniel Taub, Emeritus Israeli Ambassador to the Court of St James

f progress towards peace has stalled, it is not because Yet those same polls show Israelis are also sceptical the Israeli people have lost the will to make bold about the possibility of realising such a peace. In part decisions. They need constructive international this scepticism relates to the ability of the international Iengagement, not criticism. community to live up to its assurances. UN peacekeepers have not prevented the rearming of Hezbollah and its “The smaller I return to Israel after four years as its ambassador in attacks on northern Israel. Nor has the international the UK. I’ve been privileged to witness an extraordinary community been able to stop the smuggling of weapons to expansion in our bilateral cooperation, and I’ve also had Hamas in Gaza, or, as Israeli intelligence services recently many conversations about Israel and the prospects for disclosed, its support for Islamic state terrorists in Sinai. peace. One troubling and recurrent theme has been that Even with regard to reconstruction in Gaza, while Israel organisations are the main thing Britain can do to promote peace in the has transferred over a million tons of building supplies Middle East is to exert pressure on Israel. to date, reconstruction remains hindered by the failure of international donors to meet their aid pledges, and by the On hearing this, I am reminded of the fable of the north internal Palestinian Fatah-Hamas power struggle. wind and the sun. In their competition, the north wind equally important” fails to blow the cloak off a passing traveller no matter Away from our region, debate on the peace process how hard it blows; yet the sun succeeds, by warming the continues as if Israelis and Palestinians exist in a vacuum traveller’s surroundings, and encouraging him to take off the cloak himself. As much as Israelis want peace, when they look at the fate of international assurances in Gaza, Lebanon and Recent years have yielded no shortage of wind. elsewhere in the region, they cannot help but ask what is Resolutions and boycott campaigns have all attempted to to stop an evacuated West Bank turning into yet another force Israel’s hand. Yet the response by Israel’s people has launch pad for attacks against Israel, but this time only been emphatic: twice re-electing the government these miles from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. LORD AND LADY KALMS efforts have sought to censure. In a region undergoing such tectonic changes, with Standard-bearers for the pressure camp routinely claim ungoverned spaces increasingly dominated by brutal that a conciliatory approach only reinforces the status jihadist extremists and Iranian proxies, Israelis are quo. But in fact, the Israeli people’s boldest steps towards perplexed that the song sung by international voices peace have taken place when the international community in relation to their corner of the region remains the has been most receptive to their concerns. same. Israelis have come to recognise that new regional realities must mean new thinking, including embracing Israel’s historic peace treaty with Egypt was made possible opportunities to cooperate with states with which we have by US guarantees on security and continued oil supply. never worked before. Yet away from our region, debate on Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon was premised the peace process continues as if Israelis and Palestinians on the UN’s commitment to deploy peacekeeping forces in exist in a vacuum. the area and prevent terrorist aggression against Israel by Hezbollah. Its disengagement from Gaza followed The value of emulating the sun rather than the wind is not international assurances that Hamas and other terror just about recognising the concerns of the Israeli people. It groups would be prevented from gaining access to arms is about seeing the reality that exists today; not the reality via the Sinai. of 10 years ago, or of 1948. The resilience of Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan shows how transformative If progress towards peace has stalled, it is not because the constructive international engagement can be. But the Israeli people have lost the will to make bold decisions. attempt to change the Middle East by brute pressure will Polls consistently show a majority want a lasting peace only ever be so much hot air. with the Palestinians.

17 BDS and UK Charities

By Gerald M. Steinberg and Yitzhak Santis

he international BDS – boycotts, divestment Although they often claim that their goals are limited to “humanitarian aid.” promoted a virulently anti-Semitic video made by David and sanctions campaign targeting Israel opposing the post-1967 “occupation,” the evidence shows War on Want’s role as a leader and mobilizer of BDS Duke, a leading American white supremacist. At a 2013 has its roots in the Arab League’s economic that the objective for many is the destruction of Israel as campaigns is well-documented. The NGO, which was led MAP event, Sir Iain Chalmers complained how “Zionists” war imposed on Israel three years before the national state of the Jewish people. BDS promotes by George Galloway from 1983 to 1987, claims, “through have “control in so many different domains.” its establishment in 1948. This boycott the claim of a “right of return” for the descendants of the supporting the movement for Boycott Divestment and targeted any firm doing business with Israel. 1948 Palestinian Arab war refugees – a widely recognized Sanctions (BDS) we are building a global force to combat Further examples of anti-Jewish invective can be found However, the impact of the Arab League euphemism for Israel’s replacement by a Sunni Israeli Apartheid.” As noted regarding the Durban on MAP’s website. One page promotes “Seven Jewish Tboycott largely disappeared as the Israeli economy grew. Palestinian-majority state. The focus on settlements Strategy, the “apartheid” label is the key in calling into Children”” by Caryl Churchill, a patron of the Palestine For militant campaigners opposed to Israel’s existence is used to legitimize BDS campaigns even among those question Israel’s legitimacy as the sovereign state of the Solidarity Campaign. (The page also contains links to a the relaxing of the official Arab boycott was unacceptable. who support Israel’s right to exist. This sleight of hand Jewish people. In 2010, War on Want published a BDS video performance and a downloadable script.) The play also allows the NGOs to continue receiving support from resource guide explicitly promoting Israel’s international was widely criticised for its stereotyping of Jews. One Thus, the economic and political war against the nation- foreign governments and private foundations that do not isolation, the “right of return”, and asserting that the critic noted, “it is a play explicitly about Jews... It is Jewish state of the Jewish people moved from states to non-state support BDS. “catastrophe facing the Palestinian people is the defining thought and behaviour that links the play together, not actors. This process was highlighted in September 2001 global justice issue of our time.” In September 2015, this Israel. The words Israel, Israelis, Zionism and Zionist are at the infamous NGO Forum of the UN Durban Conference. BDS is not interested in peace and reconciliation between NGO organized a protest in London, coinciding with the not mentioned once in the play, while Jews are mentioned Modeling their campaign on the experience in opposing Israelis and Palestinians. As Omar Barghouti, the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition, in the title and in the text itself.” South African apartheid, the leaders of highly politicized public face of BDS, told a Swedish audience, “Definitely, under the slogan “Stop the Arms Fair 2015: Stop Arming non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formulated a most definitely we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Israel Day of Action.” Elsewhere on MAP’s website is an interview with rocker “Durban strategy”, adopting BDS as the core weapon in Palestine. No rational, not-sell-out Palestinian will ever and anti-Israel activist Roger Waters who said, “The pro- seeking the “complete international isolation of Israel”. accept a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.” Indeed, Funder-enablers for War on Want’s anti-Israel campaign Israel lobby in the US controls not just Congress but the BDS explicitly rejects what it calls “normalization” notably include the British government through the Executive branch as well.” Elsewhere, Waters makes clear In the years that followed, the BDS campaigns have meaning dialogues and other personal interactions Department for International Development. Other what he means by “pro-Israel lobby”: “The Jewish lobby gradually gained visibility, based on a continuous stream of between Israelis and Palestinians. funders include Ireland, the European Union, the German is extraordinary (sic) powerful here and particularly in the allegations regarding Israeli “war crimes”, human rights Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (publically funded) and the industry that I work in, the music industry... I’ve spoken violations and similar claims. Powerful international private Lipman-Miliband Trust. to people who are terrified that if they stand shoulder to NGOs, or charities, such as Amnesty International, UK Charities and BDS – War on Want, MAP, shoulder with me they are going to get f***ed.” (emphasis War on Want, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch, took an Christian Aid, Amnesty, and others The UK-based charity, Medical Aid for Palestinians added) increasingly central role in these campaigns, producing (MAP) is another central player in the international BDS frequent reports attacking Israeli responses to terror, and The UK is a central hub for major charities behind campaign. MAP claims to be “non-political”, but its largely ignoring Palestinian terror attacks. They are joined demonization and BDS, including groups such as activities reflect a very polarizing anti-Israel narrative Christian Charities and the NGO Assault on by dozens of smaller groups also claiming human rights War on Want, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Amnesty under the guise of objective medical expertise. MAP’s Israel and humanitarian aid agendas, and the accusations from International, and many others. Central to enabling the 2014 Gaza relief partners include the Hamas-run these charities are often copied directly by journalists, BDS campaign to function in the UK and elsewhere is Gaza Ministry of Health and IDEALS, an NGO funded by Christian Aid and Catholic Agency for Overseas without any independent investigation or verification. the ability to raise funds as recognized charities (despite Interpal, which is designated as a terrorist entity by the Development (CAFOD) are active in funding pro-BDS their intense political agendas), as well as the receipt of United States. Antisemitism is not foreign to MAP. During NGOs whilst receiving UK government funds. Christian grants provided by government bodies under the rubric of the 2014 Gaza war, MAP founder Dr. Swee Ang Chai Aid’s publications systematically ignore Palestinian

19 responsibility in the conflict and minimize Israel’s right to matters, and this is a political matter. This is not something self-defense. Christian Aid has sponsored or participated that a charity that wants to help people should be doing.” in conferences supporting BDS and the “right to return “ The Commission found that the NGO’s publications were claim; has lobbied for BDS in the EU, published reports “controversial”, the “focus and scope” were wider than demanding that Israel adopt positions solely based on War on Want’s charitable purposes. the Palestinian narrative, and partners with some of the most radical NGOs operating in the Middle East, whose In 2015, a new UK-based organization, Jewish Human collective demands would spell the end of Israel. These Rights Watch, again approached the Charity Commission, include Sabeel, Zochrot, Israeli Coalition Against House which responded initially by noting that “there are Demolitions (ICAHD), Alternative Information Centre regulatory issues that the commission needs to (AIC), among others. explore further with the charity.” While not a full-scale The Reuben Foundation investigation, analysis of the issues related to anti-Israel Sabeel, a Christian Aid beneficiary, is particularly actions by registered charities is expanding. influential in promoting BDS, and a one-state framework within churches. Sabeel frequently engages in anti- Given the impact of BDS campaigns and demonization on Semitic replacement theology and deicide imagery . Israel, primarily in the political dimension, the debate over Its founder, Maim Ateek, often disparages Judaism as the role of charities, under the rubric of “humanitarian is proud to support “tribal,” “primitive,” and “exclusionary.” aid organisations”, and demands for investigations, are likely to escalate. Other Christian Aid grantees include fringe Israeli NGOs such as Zochrot, Israeli Coalition Against House Gerald M. Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor Demolitions, and Alternative Information Center (AIC), Yitzhak Santis, Chief Programs Officer and BDS in the Pews, The Anglo-Israel Association all of which give the BDS campaign and other anti-Israel Project Director, NGO Monitor. efforts a facade of support from token Jews. In 2013, Christian Aid was a co-sponsor of a Zochrot conference “ From Truth to Redress: Realizing the Return of Palestinian Refugees.” and wishes everyone a For its part, CAFOD supports the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center whose director Issam Abu-Haj wrote an open letter, “They Plunder the Organs of Our Sons.” Abu-Haj grotesquely accused Israel of “stealing successful 66th Annual Dinner the organs of the dead [Palestinians] for such uses as: medical and educational trials, organ transplants, and other despicable uses.” He went on to “urge you to further advocate this cause and continue your courageous efforts. For Israel should not exist as a State free of question, shielded by threats of Anti-Semitic accusations.” Other CAFOD beneficiaries include the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine Israel (EAPPI), whose core publication, “ Faith Under Occupation “ endorses BDS as “a strategy that allows people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice.” The booklet also endorses the right of return claim and utilizes highly demonizing rhetoric, accusing Israel of “apartheid,” and “ war crimes.”

In a post on CAFOD’s blog, David McLoughlin, a member of CAFOD’s Theological Reference Group, denigrated Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) claiming the basis of this practice is exclusionary in nature and contrasts with Christian universalism.

Addressing the role of UK Charities in BDS and demonization

In responding to the central role of these and other UK- based charities in the BDS campaign, questions have been raised regarding violations of the requirements for charitable status. For example, in 2007, Lee Scott, Conservative MP for Ilford North, filed a complaint to Charity Commission regarding War on Want’s “guide for boycott, divestment and sanctions.” He asserted that as a registered charity, “it shouldn’t involve itself in political I am a Zionist.

I already laid down on my back to admire the Sistine Chapel, I bought I am a Zionist. a postcard at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and I was deeply impressed by the emerald Buddha at the king’s palace in Bangkok. Yet I I believe that the Jewish people established itself in the Land of still believe that Tel Aviv is more entertaining, the Red Sea is Israel, albeit somewhat late. Had it listened to the alarm clock, greener, and the Western Wall Tunnels provide for a much more powerful there would have been no Holocaust, and my dead grandfather – the one spiritual experience. It is true that I’m not objective, but I’m also I was named after – would have been able to dance a last waltz with not objective in respect to my wife and children. grandma on the shores of the Yarkon River. I am a Zionist. I am a Zionist. I am a man of tomorrow but I also live my past. My dynasty includes Hebrew is the language I use to thank the Creator, and also to swear Moses, Jesus, Maimonides, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, on the road. The Bible does not only contain my history, but also my Woody Allen, Bobby Fischer, Bob Dylan, Franz Kafka, Herzl, and geography. King Saul went to look for mules on what is today Highway Ben-Gurion. I am part of a tiny persecuted minority that influenced 443, Jonah the Prophet boarded his ship not too far from what is today the world more than any other nation. While others invested their a Jaffa restaurant, and the balcony where David peeped on Bathsheba energies in war, we had the sense to invest in our minds. must have been bought by some oligarch by now. I am a Zionist. I am a Zionist. I sometimes look around me and become filled with pride, because I The first time I saw my son wearing an IDF uniform I burst into tears, live better than a billion Indians, 1.3 billion Chinese, the entire I haven’t missed the Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony for 20 African continent, more than 250 million Indonesians, and also better years now, and my television was made in Korea, but I taught it to than the Thais, the Filipinos, the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the cheer for our national soccer team. entire Muslim world, with the exception of the Sultan of Brunei. I live in a country under siege that has no natural resources, yet I am a Zionist. nonetheless the traffic lights always work and we have high-speed connection to the Internet I believe in our right for this land. The people who were persecuted for no reason throughout history have a right to a state of their own. I am a Zionist. Every display of anti-Semitism from London to Mumbai hurts me, yet deep inside I’m thinking that Jews who choose to live abroad fail to understand something very basic My Zionism is natural, just like it is natural for me to be a father, about this world. The State of Israel was not established so that the a husband, and a son. People who claim that they, and only they, anti-Semites will disappear, but rather, so we can tell them to get represent the “real Zionism” are ridiculous in my view. My Zionism is lost. not measured by the size of my kippa, by the neighbourhood where I live, or by the party I will be voting for. It was born a long time I am a Zionist. before me, on a snowy street in the ghetto in Budapest where my father stood and attempted, in vain, to understand why the entire world is I was fired at in Lebanon, a Katyusha rockets missed me by a few feet trying to kill him. in Kiryat Shmona, missiles landed near my home during the first Gulf War, I was in Sderot when the Colour Red anti-rocket alert system was I am a Zionist. activated, terrorists blew themselves up not too far from my parents’ house, and my children stayed in a bomb shelter before they even knew Every time an innocent victim dies, I bow my head because once upon a how to pronounce their own name, clinging to a grandmother who arrived time I was an innocent victim. I have no desire or intention to adopt here from Poland to escape death. Yet nonetheless, I always felt the moral standards of my enemies. I do not want to be like them. I do fortunate to be living here, and I don’t really feel good anywhere else. not live on my sword; I merely keep it under my pillow.

I am a Zionist. I am a Zionist.

I think that anyone who lives here should serve in the army, pay I do not only hold on to the rights of our forefathers, but also to taxes, vote in the elections, and be familiar with the lyrics of at the duty of the sons. The people who established this state lived and least one Shalom Hanoch song. I think that the State of Israel is not worked under much worse conditions than I have to face, yet only a place, it is also an idea, and I wholeheartedly believe in the nonetheless they did not make do with mere survival. They also three extra commandments engraved on the wall of the Holocaust museum attempted to establish a better, wiser, more humane, and more moral in Washington: “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a state here. They were willing to die for this cause, and I try to live perpetrator, but above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” for its sake. YAIR LAPID is the leader of the Israeli Political Party Yesh Atid

23 Excerpt from a speech made by Daniel Taub at the HE AMBASSADOR “WE STAND MATTHEW GOULD BY ISRAEL

HE Matthew Gould, the former Gould has been involved in a number of groundbreaking projects aimed at strengthening relations between the two CONFERENCE” countries: this includes the revamped BIRAX Regenerative British Ambassador to the State in March 2015. Medicine Initiative, through which £10 million will be invested of Israel, supported our yearly in 15 major UK-Israel research projects over a five-year period. Ambassadors’ Roundtables, hosted The initiative was officially launched at a conference at Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev in November 2011, which receptions at the Embassy and drew 250 experts in the field, including 60 British scientists when his duties allowed came to from 20 different universities. our Annual Balfour Dinner. Matthew Gould was appointed Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for Matthew Gould was the first Jew to serve as services to British interests in Israel, particularly trade and British Ambassador to Israel, and spoke of his investment scientific and technological co-operation. pride in the position on a number of occasions. In hen you see a demonstration employing British people here in the UK, they don’t care a video message that coincided with his arrival in Upon his return to the UK Gould was appointed Director of Cyber against Israel, it’s usually a about Israel’s faults. What they simply cannot accept Israel, Gould outlined his three goals: Explaining Security and Information Assurance at the Cabinet Office. He bizarre coalition of what is is that, despite all their efforts to the contrary, Israel Israel to Britain; explaining Britain to Israel and and his team are focussed on keeping Britain safe from cyber sometimes called ‘the red- is alive and well and flourishing – economically and forging a strong partnership between the two. attack, through delivering the UK’s Cyber Security Strategy. green alliance’: radical leftists culturally; inventing and creating; winning Nobel prizes, Gould said, “I need to give a strong message from and extreme Islamists. If you want to break up that exporting TV series, and aiding the developing world Britain that as Israel goes down the difficult path The new UK Ambassador in Israel is HE David Quarrey who is a coalition, it’s extraordinarily easy. You just have to say in agriculture and medicine and disaster relief; helping to peace, Israel isn’t alone.” He also said, “Britain W Foreign Office veteran and was previously private secretary to to them: I know what you stand against, but what do you people rise from their wheelchairs with REWALK, is very clear: We regard Israel as an important Tony Blair during the Labour leader’s time as Prime Minister. stand for? Are you for women’s rights? Or gay rights? helping diagnose illnesses with Pillcams, helping strategic partner.” We look forward to working with him. Or freedom of expression. And of course that feeble avoid traffic jams with WAZE; with more patents per coalition, which only stands against things, never for, capita, more museums per capita, more new trees per In October 2010, Gould and the British Embassy disintegrates before your eyes. acre, more milk per cow, than any other country, and, in Israel officially launched the UK-Israel unbelievably, one of the 10 happiest places in the world. Technologies Hub. The Hub is tasked with forging Our strength is that we stand for, we believe in, we a tech partnership between the two countries. The believe in Israel. goal is to position the UK as a natural partner of choice for Israel in technology, and ensure the “This is the Israel that our opponents cannot Ultimately that’s what this battle is about. Yes, Israel UK market can make full use of the breadth and has faults and we have to work to correct them. But stand. This is the Israel we believe in. And this quality of Israeli R&D and innovation. The Hub remember that, at its core, this hostility to Israel has focuses on three major areas in particular, digital, is the Israel which, with your help, will continue nothing to with Israel’s failings. In fact, to the contrary, bio-medical and clean tech. The Hub is “unique as to thrive and to live the inspirational story of a it has to do with Israel’s success. the team is the only dedicated group in the world people that has finally come home to its land.” promoting high-tech cooperation from inside an The fanatics who interrupt Israeli dance troupes embassy.” and orchestras, or try to shut down Israeli factories

25 In the News research centre focused onouter space. Arab and Jewish students together through a collaborative a shooting star across the horizon. He would bring Israeli like mind his into and came forceidea an before air sector aerospace Israeli the in years 25 spent Brimer Asaf in opens hub innovation and technology New SHOOT FOR THEMOON TEENS JEWISH ARAB northern Arab-Israeli town to foster a unified unified a foster to town Arab-Israeli northern Moona courses attract an equal number of Arab Arab of number equal an attract courses Moona youth movement of space-science enthusiasts. space-science of movement youth and Jewish teens in the Galilee. the in teens Jewish and In the Park established Industrial in2010. Nazareth The Arab-Israeli as such of Galilee, the prospects of citizens job the enhance to projects philanthropist Stef Wertheimer, who has initiated several These goals meshed with those of Israeli industrialist and Visit from NASAadministrator high-tech.” in children][Arabfewhaveopportunities and other, each meet to opportunities have don’t we because advantages better off if society is more open,” he says. “We lose a lot of challenge for Israel, and I decided that my children will be biggest the is society our in division because it started “I academic institutions andbusinesses oftheregion.the to and another one to Galilee the of citizens Jewish and partner, Arab connect to founding wanted Quality, Environmental his for and he TownsAssociationof head Muslim Tarabeih,Husseinthe that explains Brimer in English,while inHebrew “emoona”means“faith.” like“moon” sounds Arabic and in “wish” means “Moona” Moona. at welcomeare also area the from Families exploration. printing, 3D drones, robotics,electronics and other technologies related to in outer-space courses weekly for – teens Muslim and Jewish between split 50-50 a roughly – students school high 100 about attracted has it far, So Change 10 miles east of Acre (Akko) in theWestern Galilee. for village Muslim a Al-Kurum, Space Majd in year last September a — Moona officially opened in opened officially “We don’t need to talk about Arabs and Jews; we’re just we’re Jews; and Arabs about talk to need don’t “We aspect ofMoona. bicultural the on dwell to like Tarabeihdon’t and Brimer willing to forgive people. Andthat’s hard work.” be to got we’ve “But them. told he enemies,” of bitterest one time, the United States and the Soviet Union were the “At do. to managed Russia and States United the as just spaceresearchon together work historicaland of enmity go let to teens the encouraged he visit Bolden’s During a science fair in the town of Sakhnin for the NASA visitors. stageto students the forarranged he Moona, of planning the in involvedteens with meet to Galilee the to come to planning was Bolden that confirmed Brimer as soon As to change society,”andword going madeitswayupto Bolden. the is “that hub technology a for open to intention his 2013 January Brimer had been in touch with friends in at NASA to announce Ramon. astronautIsraeliIlan of life the took that tragedy Israel in 10th was Bolden Administrator Charles BoldenJr. years Two opening. grand previously, Moona’s the hub-to-be got a surprise boost from NASA for hand on were Peres Shimon president Israeli former and Wertheimer the Galilee municipalitiesofKarmielandMisgav. and government Israeli the foundations, and individuals investment came from a crowd funding campaign, private Additional Jews. and Arabs between split evenly for also is equipment and funds Moona, and his son both Oren heads its board provided of directors, which Wertheimer ommrto o te pc Sute Columbia Shuttle Space the of commemoration “From outer space, everyone looks thesame,”hesays. In Brimer’s vision, there are no divisions between peoples. realizing in success, our SpaceIL’s is educational vision.” success Their programs. educational collaborative our for lab new the utilize and Moona with collaborate will SpaceIL future, near the In thriving high-tech industry in the northern Galilee region. Margalit.a and education technology Yankiin shortage real a Chairman is “There SpaceIL said enthusiasm,” “I welcome and support Moona’s establishment with great education in Israeli schools. technology of level the raising and moon the on satellite Israeli an landing toward working experts industry leaders and business academics, volunteers, of national movement a SpaceIL, of backing the has also project The promotional a video for theinnovation lab. on Miari Shada participant Arab-Israeli says before,” do couldn’t females that things doing and researchdoing coat, lab white that wearing myself see “I area Moonaserves. among women, especially those from Arab families in the will stimulate interest inhighereducation inthesciences it hope they And teens. many to space attractive is technology outer on focus and exploration of to combination the believe they because chose they that explains He are welcomed because theneedisbig.” doing things that need to get done,” says Brimer. “And we 27 In the News friend.” to lucky is a “Britain Gould. difference,”said made has countries our between collaboration and leadership “Her in 2010. establishment its since Council Science Israel UK the of co-chairs founding the been Raymond have Gould Prof. and She don Dwek. Oxford and Israel, to Ambassador British outgoing Gould, Matthew H.E. her with collaboration for honoured being is scientist, stem-cell a Carmi, scientific our sharing and nations all discoveries.” of health improving the to committed are “We Carmi. said science,” in especially Israel, and UK the between links increasing recognizesthe which honour this accept to thrilled am “I soitd ih eih n Irei hrte. However, charities. Israeli and Jewish with associated Lordrefugee,formerWeidenfeld,now The been long has co-founded thepublishing firm Weidenfeld &Nicholson. the at work began British Broadcasting Corporation He and within ten years Kingdom. had United the Weidenfeld for Vienna escaped WeidenfeldGeorge 19-year-old 1938, in Austria of annexation Germany’s Nazi George of eve the On — LONDON Lord refugee Former OF SYRIAN RESCUE CHRISTIANS VIA DEBT ULTIMATE HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR REPAYS of appointment bestows Palace Buckingham CARMI RIVKA PROF. PRESIDENT BGU HONOURS ELIZABETH QUEEN spearheads effort to airlift families to Europe from from Europe to families airlift to effort spearheads British the of Order the of Commander honorary Islamic State-held area State-held Islamic relations academic and scientific for Empire By Jenni Frazer Jenni By Israel. and UK the between commitment to strengthen science strengthen to commitment British Empire (CBE). the of Order the of Commander honorary an of appointment an receive will university, Israeli an of president as serve to woman the UK and Israel. Carmi, between relations academic and scientific deepen to work her for be honoured by Queen Elizabeth II of Ben GurionUniversity, issetto Professor Rivka Carmi, President have her as a as her have the first huge reason to dothis.” Sinclair.compellingreallysaid most was no,” the that So say not could we approached, been had we once that felt “But we felt that our donors would approve — and we also opportunity down’ had save Jewish lives during the Holocaust — and turned that we if felt have to opportunity the would had groupChristianhad a learned that we how about thought ‘We and education advocacy. Zionist for as well developing as and Israel, of greening Land in the work its for known is that of sort right the was rescue humanitarian been whether to had as discussion there internal that acknowledged Sinclair However, debt ofgratitude,” saidWeidenfeld. personal risks to save them from certain death. We and owe a women enormous mainlytook who Christians Jews, by helped were children, of thousands 1930s the “In was aprimemotivator for Weidenfeld. Holocaust the from debt a of repayment honourable The cause.” WorldWar.Secondreally worthya was Peopleit realized help,” occasions when Christians reached offer out to Jews during to the do, to special but rare those of thing mindful were“We said. Sinclair right the as it viewed “We and Jews between relations Christians. better for works which Anglo the Israel Association) heads the of Euripides Foundation, member a ( Green Martin compelling. ultimately philanthropists Jewish by but Weidenfeldunusual was GreenJNF Martin the toand made overture the in JNF Britain, of chairman vice Sinclair, Michael to According just before Passover thisyear. meeting board a at Weidenfeld which aid to Fund, decision the National made Jewish the of branch British the with partnership in conducted was operation rescue The of Israel. Times The told Weidenfeld lives,” normal lead can they where havens safe to families Christian of transfer the conflict-torn Middle East countries, and we are supporting “We have been deeply moved by the plight of Christians in in Warsaw. safe now are who families, Christian Syrian 42 of rescue A partial payment came last week in the form of a poignant itis time to repay thisdebt. says, he in Britain, arrived first he when Brethren, Plymouth the group, Christian a by helped was he since project for the JNF, an organization an JNF, the for project based charity,theEsther Foundation. temporary accommodation and in The Poland has visas, been provided Syria. by entry a Warsaw- in offered government still Polish relatives against retaliation of fear for identified be to not asked have them of many where Warsaw, to — Beirut from families flown were — 42 all in the people 149 secrecy, great of conditions Under with works what itcalls “thepersecuted church.” which agency relief international Barnabas an the Fund, by coordinated was — safety of reasons for in unspecified homes — territory their State-controlled from Islamic Christians an the take to move The by Jewish charitiesandindividualsintheUK. contributedwelcomedmoney Isaacs, the Simon Reading, of Marquess the patron,Fund’s Barnabas The £250,000. “With every goodwishfrom Streathers Solicitors LLP” ae aes ud has of of cost a at mission first costs this Fund the underwritten Havens Safe — Weidenfeld separate the and Havens Safe has Operation Fund launched a rescue plan called Barnabas The community. international the war by ignored factions, been largely has internecine Muslim caught between the East, in Middle in Christians the of (courtesy) plight The Weidenfeld George Lord Highgate, 14Muswell Hill,London, N65UG 44 Baker Street, London, W1U 7AL open our doors to them in their hour of need.” said Hoare. we unless go to nowhere terrible conflict. They have this by demolished being are Christians The of homes crisis. greatest its in the Middle East is facing community Christian “The other provide support. upon to governments European called evacuation, Barnabas the on Fund the who advised Hoare, Charles Sir European eastern and governments to discuss similar rescue projects. central other of number a with touch in already is Fund Barnabas the efforts, Toup step Israel to helpfundfuture evacuations,” saidSinclair. and America North in contacts and friends approach to a be not would this “marqueeproject” fororganization. his “We continuewill said Sinclair JNF’s the However, to travel Poland inthecoming months. to due are families 200 further A Weidenfeld. Lord95-year-old the been venturehas the Spearheading The article first appeared intheJewish Chronicle INNOVATIONS from israel.

31 the results of the pre-implantation genetic testing almost impossible,” says Kidron. “Today it’s just a matter during the pregnancy, using chorionic villus sampling of time till it’s on the market.” or amniocentesis. This new test could confirm results INSULIN CAPSULE CAN SLOW THE PROGRESSION israeli INNOVATIONS without any danger of miscarriage – a major concern for OF DIABETES patients who had difficulty getting pregnant and went through the IVF process. Kidron explains that Oramed’s management decided to EXPECTING A BABY? Dr. Altarescu hopes the new test will become routine in focus solely on insulin not only because of the founding Altarescu adds that Shaare Zedek’s Pre-implantation the future. Photo courtesy of Gheona Altarescu scientists’ expertise in diabetes research, but also Here’s one less thing to worry about Genetic Unit was the first in Israel to facilitate the birth because insulin levels are quite easy to measure in the Their first trial focused on Gaucher disease, caused of a normal child to a woman with achondroplasia (a form Genetics experts at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical blood. by a genetic mutation particularly prevalent in Jews of of dwarfism) and the birth of a baby with bone marrow Center devise a groundbreaking blood test to detect Ashkenazi (primarily Eastern European) descent. One in genetic diseases in utero. perfectly matched to an older brother in desperate need And from a business standpoint, diabetes represents a 1,150 babies born to Ashkenazi Jewish couples inherits of a bone marrow transplant. giant market. Some $471 billion was spent worldwide By Abigail klein Leichman the disease. last year to treat diabetes, and the International Diabetes “We have around 450 children born from this program, and Foundation estimates that by 2030, some 552 million “Gaucher is recessive, meaning two healthy parents in addition to our in-house unit we have three satellites in people in the world will be diagnosed with the disease. carrying the mutation have a 25 percent chance of having the Tel Aviv area sending us samples for genetic testing,” an affected embryo,” says Altarescu. she says. “This is the largest unit of its kind in Israel, Most importantly, says Kidron, Oramed’s insulin capsule In the Gaucher Clinic earlier this year, she and Zimran but for molecular disorders — a special type of genetic could slow the progression of Type 2 diabetes, which has drew blood samples from a total of 10 volunteer couples disorders — we are the largest in Europe. And we are three classic phases. always working on improving our techniques.” in different stages of pregnancy. “In all of them, we were The first phase can be addressed through diet and able to detect accurately the mutations from both mother exercise, while the next phase requires oral medications and father, confirming our findings after the babies were that boost the body’s own insulin production. In the third born or through amniocentesis.” GROUND BREAKING INSULIN PILL NEARING phase, when the insulin-producing pancreas cannot “Gaucher was our example to show this is possible,” she MARKET continue producing the hormone, a patient becomes added. “The same test could also be used to detect many insulin-dependent. For 100 years, scientists searched for a way to deliver other genetic disorders common worldwide, including “We wanted to do more than just replace injections — we insulin orally instead of by injection. Now an Israeli team cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs”. wanted to provide an alternative oral medication as an claims it’s found the solution. Phase 2 clinical trials are earlier treatment that can extend the second phase and “Our findings give hope that in the future we can detect coming. Every pregnant mother worries whether her baby will be genetic disorders without invasive tests.” prevent patients from becoming insulin dependent,” says healthy. But invasive tests for genetic abnormalities — Jerusalem’s Oramed Pharmaceuticals is one step closer Kidron. “That’s the revolution.” chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis – present a to putting a groundbreaking oral insulin capsule on the small risk of miscarriage. market for people with Type 2 diabetes. The company is about to begin Phase 2 clinical trials on 147 people at In a groundbreaking development, genetics experts about a dozen medical centers in the United States. at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center have devised a patent-pending process to screen a foetus CEO Nadav Kidron explains that the company’s flagship for genetic diseases using a blood sample from the product could revolutionize the treatment of diabetes, mother. A paper just published in the Journal of Clinical which now affects more than 371 million people worldwide Investigation describes how it works. and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Most cases are Type 2, where the body does not Dr. Gheona Altarescu, director of Shaare Zedek’s use the hormone insulin effectively to metabolize sugars. Preimplantation Genetic Unit, explains that chemical pathologist Dennis Lo discovered in 1997 that small pieces The current method of self-injecting insulin is unpleasant of foetal DNA float freely in the mother’s bloodstream. and also carries the constant risk of infection. A capsule This led to the development of prenatal blood tests for Moreover, the scientists were able to detect foetal pieces taken by mouth would be more convenient and also more chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome. of DNA in the blood sample at week 10 of pregnancy. natural, as it would mimic insulin’s normal route in the Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed Pharmaceuticals However, these tests cannot detect monogenic genetic “We will try to push it further, to detect the DNA before body. But until now nobody had found a way to orally By offering a better solution in the second phase of the diseases such as Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis, even if the 40 days, because in Judaism and Islam the 40-day limit deliver large-molecule polypeptides such as insulin and disease, Oramed could assure that people with Type 2 parents are carriers of the defective gene. is critical in deciding whether you can have an abortion,” vaccines. diabetes avoid further complications of the disease, while says Altarescu. The next development in this field of non-invasive prenatal Israel is a major centre for diabetes research, and in fact benefiting from a less painful, more convenient and more testing was to detect not only the chromosomes of the In another first, the collaborators used a new computerized the technology underlying Oramed is based on 25 years affordable treatment. baby but also mutations coming from the father. system to compare healthy and mutated genes of the of research at Hadassah University Medical Centre in OTHER DIABETES MEDS IN THE PIPELINE expectant parents and their own parents. Jerusalem by scientists including Kidron’s mother, Dr. “You can test for a genetic disease passed [only] by the Because Type 2 diabetes often results from excess Miriam Kidron. father, because if you can detect it in the sample taken from Altarescu believes that once the algorithm is patented body weight, Oramed is also developing an oral capsule the pregnant mother, it has to be from the foetus,” she and the published paper spurs interest, the technique “After the breakthrough, we sat and talked about how it containing the hormone exenatide, which helps balance says. “We took it a step further, developing an algorithm could be commercialized. In its present form the test is could help millions, but to do that you need to establish blood sugar levels and controls appetite. Exenatide can be to detect diseases coming also from the mother, which is very expensive. “Our hope is that it will be used routinely a company and get it financed,” Kidron relates. “I’m a given by injection but it tends to make people nauseous. much more complicated.” in the future.” lawyer with an MBA, so I started the company and raised The oral preparation would reduce that side effect and the money nearly eight years ago.” The elder Kidron is Altarescu worked in collaboration with computational The test also could be a boon for patients in her pre- open it up to a much larger market. chief medical and technology officer of the publicly owned biologist David Zeevi; neurologist Dr. Arndt Rolfs, CEO of implantation genetic diagnosis program, which she “This is a very potent drug in the world of diabetes. We are Oramed, and Hadassah is a stakeholder. Centogene-The Rare Disease Company, in Germany; and established in 2004 with funds from a US donor, Rabbi now doing trials at Hadassah, and if they are successful, Dr. Ari Zimran, director of the Gaucher Clinic at Shaare David Fuld. “When they initiated this project almost 30 years ago at we will then file for FDA approval.” Zedek. She explains that parents are always urged to confirm Hadassah, trying to get insulin delivered orally looked

33 Oramed has a third product in the pipeline that combines monitor to prevent sepsis, a life-threatening blood 9.Hyginex makes a smart bracelet to be worn by every data transmitted by the on-board processing units of oral insulin and oral exenatide. Preliminary results of this infection that causes one in four hospital deaths and is staff member in a hospital to make sure that all personnel nearby vehicles and warns drivers of any imminent danger. therapy were presented at the meeting of the American one of the top 10 causes of death in the United States. wash their hands after contact with patients. Clean hands The Israeli company expects all car manufacturers will Diabetes Association last June, demonstrating a greater Using a patented technology, the NICOM monitors can practically eliminate most hospital-borne infections. integrate its systems by 2015. positive effect when the two products were given in hemodynamics – the movement of blood from the heart to Nurses, doctors and even candy-stripers know it, but 17. BiondVax has completed trials of its universal flu tandem. the body’s organs – via four sensors and enables medical Hyginex enforces it. vaccine first developed at the Weizmann Institute professionals to better diagnose and treat the patient. “We saw that one plus one equals three when people take 10. When the iMayDay of Science. Pending commercial agreements with these together,” says Kidron, “and giving them together 5. The adjustable, iPhone app senses that governments around the world to continue development, is better than giving them separately. So it’s another disposable Lubo Airway your car has been in the vaccine could be in breakthrough not just in delivery but in combining these Collar by Inovytec is a a collision, it sets off the market within two products.” Human trials have yet to begin but results in novel airway management an alarm and emails years. Influenza can animal models are promising. and cervical collar device five pre-determined be deadly. Between for cases of severe trauma addresses (or generates 1976 and 2006, flu- Though the company employs just 11 people, Oramed to the neck and spine. up to 50 SMS messages) associated deaths is backed by a scientific advisory board that includes It is the first-ever non- to inform emergency workers and/or loved ones about in the United States top diabetes researchers. It includes, among others, invasive device that can the accident. It works anywhere in the world. alone were estimated Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Avram Hershko; Dr. Michael open an airway by imitating a jaw-thrust manoeuvre while to be in the thousands, Berelowitz, former senior vice president of Pfizer; Gerald 11. Access to clean drinking water is often difficult following protecting the cervical spine en route to the hospital. possibly as many as Ostrov, former CEO of Bausch & Lomb and former senior a natural disaster. Israel’s line of WaterSheer products 49,000. The 1918 flu pandemic killed three to five percent executive of Johnson & Johnson; and Prof. Derek LeRoith, 6. The Agilite Instant Harness, the world’s smallest has been used by Israeli humanitarian aid workers to of the world’s population at the time. chief of endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Class II rappelling harness, saved the lives of South ensure a steady stream of potable water and to transport Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. African miners trapped underground in 2013. The drinking water where people needed it quickly – such as 18. Wherever disaster strikes in the world – be it natural same Israeli Company also makes the Injured Personnel in Myanmar after the 2008 cyclone, Taiwan after the 2009 or manmade – Israel is always among the first to send Carrier, a novel hands-free device that allows one rescuer earthquake, and Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The medical and search-and-rescue teams and supplies even 18 ISRAELI INVENTIONS THAT COULD SAVE to carry an incapacitated person like a “human backpack”. purification devices for individuals and larger communities when it lacks diplomatic relations with the country in are also being deployed in places experiencing chronic crisis. YOUR LIFE shortages of safe drinking water. Governmental and non-governmental agencies (including Every day, there are reports on Israeli innovations that 12. Micomedic Technologies specializes in developing and Israel Flying Aid, IsraAID, Israeli Humanitarian Aid-Latet, are making life easier and better across the globe, commercializing novel and innovative cancer diagnostic Israel Trauma Coalition, ZAKA, Magen David Adom, Tevel from medical and agricultural advances to social-action kits enabling early intervention. The company’s portfolio B’Tzedek and many others) have been among those on the initiatives and high-tech wonders. spans cancer and cancer-related indications including scene saving lives after disasters including: This article highlights 18 innovations from Israel colorectal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, bladder The 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka; Hurricane Katrina in New specifically designed to save lives – some already on cancer, lung cancer, and diagnostic tools for personalized Orleans in 2005; the 2007 earthquake in Peru; the 2008 the market and some coming soon. In Hebrew, the treatment. cyclone in Myanmar; Philippines typhoons in 2009 and number 18 corresponds to the word “chai” (“life”). 1. 13. It started out as a rescue “spider” in 2005, and today 2013; the Haiti earthquake in 2010; a 2010 hospital fire The First Care Emergency Bandage (also known as the the Israeli-made Skysaver is deployed to help evacuate in Romania; the Japan earthquake and tsunami and the “Israel bandage”), invented by an Israeli military medic, skyscrapers in emergency situations. The device is worn Turkish earthquakes in 1999 and 2011; Hurricane Sandy is used to stop bleeding from hemorrhagic wounds like a backpack and includes a fire-resistant cord that can on the US East Coast in 2012 and the Nepal earthquake in trauma situations. Credited for saving the life of US 7. The Babysense breathing monitor by HiSense alerts rappel rescued people to safety. in 2015. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a 2011 shooting, parents of respiratory cessation (apnea) in babies. The the bandage is widely used by military medics and civilian Israeli breakthrough technology has helped protect more 14. The NowForce smartphone app uses GPS crowd- Israel also set up a field hospital on its border to treat first-responders the world over. than 600,000 babies from crib death around the world, sourcing tech to rally first-response teams quickly. victims of the Syrian civil war, and continues to provide – and has been copied by numerous other manufacturers. NowForce was developed jointly with United Hatzalah, a without charge — lifesaving treatment of wounded Syrian 2. A fatal car crash can Jerusalem-based non-profit that trains thousands of civilians at its northern hospitals. happen in a split second. 8. XSight Systems’ award-winning FODetect advanced neighbourhood volunteers to respond to emergencies An Israeli That’s why Jerusalem- runway sensors keep runways around the world safe on foot or ambucycle before ambulances arrive. United mobile hospital based Mobileye technology from foreign object debris (FOD), birds and wildlife with a Hatzalah teaches its model of community-powered call in Haiti. Photo for identifying and alerting centres throughout the world. by Ambassador to driving hazards is being Daniel Saada. built into virtually every new 15. Wearable devices are becoming the rage for doing vehicle in the world. Mobileye everything from counting calories to counting reps at the is the largest private high- gym. The Oxitone watch is a wearable device that could tech company in Israel and the world’s largest R&D centre save your life by measuring blood oxygen levels and for artificial vision. alerting to a potential heart attack well before it happens. It’s expected on the market within a year. 3.SensAheart a product made by the Israeli 16. Autotalks – maker of the diagnostic technology world’s first automotive-grade company Novamed, can chipset for series-production be used at home and in for vehicle-to-vehicle and unique hybrid optical-radar remote-sensing technology. the hospital to detect a vehicle-to-infrastructure Direct damage to aircraft caused by FOD is estimated to heart attack coming on. communication – aims to keep cost the aviation industry some $4 billion each year. FOD- drivers and passengers safer 4. Tel Aviv’s Cheetah related damage caused the supersonic jetliner Concorde by allowing cars to exchange Medical invented the NICOM non-invasive cardiac output to crash in 2000, killing 113 people. data. The technology analyzes

35 and his colleagues Batsheva Halberstam and James “That’s what caused him to start looking for drugs that Keeping milk fresh from udder to table without HOPE FOR PEOPLE WITH BIPOLAR Gangwisch from the department of psychiatry at Columbia could have a similar effect to ketamine but in a more refrigeration. (Photo by Yossi Zamir/Flash90) University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. gentle and controllable way,” says Jonathan Javitt. For more than 1.5 billion people without adequate access DEPRESSION “Ketamine has rapid onset and lasts only four days. And if to electricity, keeping milk fresh is a Sisyphean battle. The next step is a larger clinical trial. “We will launch you keep giving it, you’ll have overwhelming side effects The small Israeli pharmaceutical company NeuroRx is But new research by Israeli researchers that short pulsed Phase 2B trials under an FDA license starting in that reduce its long-term value.” testing a novel compound of two existing drugs to quash electric fields can be used to kill milk-contaminating the first quarter of 2016, in Israel and the US, with about suicidal feelings. bacteria could make storing milk outside the refrigerator 100 or 120 patients,” explains Javitt. By Abigal Klein Leichman THE RACE IS ON possible. Through a process called electro-poration, bacterial cell ‘THE KETAMINE EFFECT’ NeuroRx is hardly the only pharma company with a keen membranes are selectively damaged. According to lead interest in ketamine, given that treatment-resistant investigator Dr. Alexander Golberg, of Tel Aviv University’s Whereas most conventional antidepressant drugs target depression is estimated to cost the US healthcare system Porter School of Environmental Studies, this process the brain’s serotonin pathway, the compound Cyclurad more than $120 billion annually. intermittently prevents bacteria proliferation in stored acts on the brain’s NMDA receptor. Johnson & Johnson is developing a ketamine nasal spray, milk, potentially increasing its shelf life. while Naurex (acquired recently by Allergan) is developing The role of NMDA in modulating conditions such as a new molecule to target the NMDA receptor. NeuroRx is According to the study, pulsed electric fields, an emerging depression and schizophrenia was first identified in 1991 betting that the key to success is to stimulate a second technology in the food industry that has been shown to by Cyclurad’s inventor, Dr. Daniel Javitt. (Jonathan Javitt’s receptor at the same time as NMDA. That’s the basis of effectively kill multiple food-born microorganisms, brother). He is director of the Division of Experimental its patent. could provide an alternative, non-thermal pasteurization Therapeutics for the department of psychiatry at Columbia Neither of these giant American companies has brought a process. The stored milk is periodically exposed to high- Physicians and Surgeons, and directs the Columbia Conte product to market yet, and the brother-doctor founders of voltage, short pulsed electric fields that kill the bacteria. Research Center. NeuroRx think they can get there first despite having just The energy required can come from conventional sources 10 employees. or from the sun. The technology is three times more Daniel Javitt has been lead inventor on more than 20 US “Isn’t that the story of Israeli innovation?” asks Jonathan More than three million Americans have bipolar energy-efficient than boiling and almost twice as energy and international patent applications related to NMDA Javitt. depression, a condition that more than quintuples the risk efficient as refrigeration. of suicide compared with people who have other forms of function, including the use of D-cycloserine in depression clinical depression. and associated disorders. Before moving to Israel last year from Washington, DC, “We are on a constant hunt for new, low-cost, chemical- he was involved in drug development for Merck, Pfizer, free technologies for milk preservation, especially “Despite extensive evidence that 25 to 50 percent of those “NeuroRx was founded in May 2015 as an outgrowth of 30 Pharmacia and Allergan, and was a healthcare adviser for small farmers in low-income countries,” said Dr. with bipolar depression attempt suicide and far too many years of Dan’s research, and the last three or four years to presidents Clinton and Bush. He is still a professor at Golberg. “For 1.5 billion people without adequate access succeed, there is currently no FDA-approved treatment of active in-human clinical trials,” says older brother Johns Hopkins University. to electricity, refrigeration is simply not a possibility and for active suicidality in bipolar depression,” says Dr. Jonathan Javitt. boiling does not preserve milk’s freshness over time.” Jonathan Javitt, a recent American immigrant to Israel Dan Javitt officially made aliyah 10 years ago. The privately In developed countries, bacterial growth in milk is and CEO of NeuroxRx, a clinical-phase pharmaceutical “All through college, Dan had an interest in neurophysiology, funded NeuroRx has its headquarters in Delaware and is managed with refrigeration. But certain pathogens company. the chemistry of the brain. In medical school he decided setting up an R&D facility in Israel, near Caesarea. like listeria monocytogenes are less sensitive to low to become psychiatrist because psychiatry was only temperature so can proliferate during transportation and Early this summer, NeuroRx reported its first human beginning to understand the importance of the chemistry The study authors caution against drawing any definitive in storage. efficacy data for a newly purposed class of drugs of the brain,” he says. conclusions from the very small study sample of seven “Refrigeration slows the bacteria’s metabolism, but aimed at rapidly reducing symptoms of depression and patients, and the lack of a control group. “However, they pulsed electric fields kill them,” said Dr. Golberg. “They suicidal tendencies in patients with bipolar disorder and While Dan Javitt was beginning to investigate brain concluded, that this result is important, and, if replicated are a fundamentally different approach to controlling maintaining that effect over time. chemistry, doctors across the United States were seeing in a large randomized controlled study, will represent a an alarming epidemic of schizophrenia induced by PCP, major advance in our field”. microorganisms during storage. The seven treatment-resistant patients in the peer- known on the street as angel dust. “Our model shows that pulsed electric fields preservation reviewed study demonstrated a 50% reduction in “His research supervisors said, ‘Find out what receptor technology does not require a constant electricity supply; that drug is binding to, and you could understand symptoms of depression and a 75% reduction in suicides KEEPING MILK FRESH WITHOUT it can be powered for only 5.5 hours a day using small, after a regimen of the anaesthetic drug Ketamine something fundamental about how human thoughts are family scale solar panels. I believe that this technology followed by NeuroRx’s Cyclurad — a novel patent-pending regulated in the brain.’ That led to Dan’s discovery of ELECTRICITY can provide a robust, simple, and energy-efficient milk combination of two FDA-approved pharmaceuticals, the the NMDA receptor and its role in psychiatric illness and preservation system that would decrease the amount of tuberculosis drug D-cycloserine and the antipsychotic thought processes.” wasted milk, thus increasing the income of small farmers drug Lurasidone. in developing countries.” Dr. Daniel Javitt. Photo courtesy Ketamine, Javitt explains, is known to provide fast yet of NeuroRx short-term reversal of depression, though it is not yet FDA-approved for this specific indication. The independent Initially, his main focus was study of Cyclurad is the first clinical report showing that schizophrenia. About 10 years the “Ketamine effect” can potentially be sustained for two ago, the “ketamine effect” months. It is the second peer-reviewed human study in was discovered by accident, which D-cycloserine has shown a statistically significant when the anesthetic was antidepressant effect. given to people with bipolar depression. Dan Javitt realized Results were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry that ketamine was acting on the NMDA receptor. by authors Dr. Joshua T. Kantrowitz of the Schizophrenia Tel Aviv University researcher harnesses energy- research centre at the Nathan Kline Institute in New York, efficient pulsed electric fields to preserve milk.

37 photos of the destroyed houses in India and reading the use buildings in Israel, as well as an auditorium. Those “We live in a world of screens that we’ve come to rely on investigations into the catastrophic failures of concrete buildings show how energy efficiency and reducing for everything from our work to our personal lives, but buildings during the Izmet, Turkey, earthquake of 1999, I the emission of greenhouse gases from construction oftentimes our imaginations are confined by these same discovered paradoxes.” materials can be scaled up. screens,” says Gilad Lederer, co-CEO and cofounder of OTM Technologies. “Phree goes beyond the screen to help He pointed out that in both Izmet and Gujarat, people living An idea for Nepal in traditional wood-framed multi-storied houses with your imagination go digital, free of constraints.” Cicelsky and Kaplin have plans for the kibbutz’s new earth-brick walls, or in clay houses molded by women a More than $1 million crowdfunded student “Eco Campus” that may be more appropriate to century earlier, suffered little more than cracked walls Nepal and other places where poor people need safe and But wait a sec – do people really want to go back to writing after these earthquakes. However, families living in comfortable houses. by hand? Do we even remember how? newer concrete apartments were doomed as the columns of these buildings were severed and roofs and floors “We recognize that living in a dome is fun for our students Apparently the answer is yes, judging by the extraordinary pancaked on top of each other. but not functional for a family,” according to Cicelsky. response to a Kickstarter campaign for Phree that hit the $100,000 target in less than 24 hours and ended up Ancient methods to the rescue Their next project is a three-bedroom rectangular raising $1,065,761 by the June 26 deadline. building that will be light-steel framed like the domes and insulated with straw bales. Phree plugs into a recognized trend that may seem counter-intuitive: As we become ever more digitally Just like the domes, the buildings will be heated solely connected, we crave a return to handwriting. from sunlight. In total, their buildings use 60 percent less energy for heating and cooling than do conventional Smartphones, wearables and IoT devices have buildings in the Arava desert. They can work even more revolutionized how we receive information, yet efficiently in cold climates like Nepal. transmitting information via keyboard is frustratingly MUD AND STRAW HOMES COULD BE awkward. That’s why Google and Microsoft are adding ANSWER FOR EARTHQUAKE REGIONS handwriting-recognition platforms to Android and Nepal could benefit from earthquake-proof houses ISRAELI COMPANY INTRODUCES PHREE, A Windows 10 devices, respectively. developed by Kibbutz Lotan from renewable materials MOBILE INPUT DEVICE INTENDED TO BRING “We all we know the limitations of smartphones,” Lederer and ancient techniques. HANDWRITING BACK INTO OUR DIGITAL explains. “I’m holding a computer in my pocket that’s By Marlene Dodinval much more powerful than my PC at home, but I can’t use INTERACTIONS. it for work. So we had the solution ready.” Write, draw, annotate or doodle with Phree. The Lotan buildings are constructed from straw bales Whatever you write will transfer to your screen, either as coated with mud, making them fireproof as well as handwriting or typed copy, depending on the apps used. When Cicelsky and his building partner Mike Kaplin earthquake-proof. Lederer and cofounders Opher and Uri Kinrot (they’re designed the student housing for the campus of the CfCE, brothers) had long ago invested much time, effort and Nepalese villagers now faced with massive rebuilding they recognized they had two potentially contradictory money in developing an optical translation measurement projects following the April 25 earthquake could benefit design criteria — to be earthquake-proof and to have an (OTM) sensor that uses 3D laser to measure relative from the lessons learned by eco-minded builders in extremely low environmental footprint. Israel’s Arava desert. motion on nearly any surface, producing a crisp, natural Most houses and apartments in Israel are built from digital capture of handwriting in high-resolution. In preparation for future anticipated tremors, the Israelis reinforced concrete in accordance with seismic resistance It was a product before its time, so they shelved it with the are taking a unique approach to safe and environmentally standards. The downside is that, according to the Israel confidence that the coming digital revolution would make sound construction rather than the more common, but Ministry of Environmental Protection, “Cement production it relevant. expensive and less effective, reinforced concrete method is the most important non-energy industrial process often relied on to withstand earthquakes. emitting CO2.” “We realized we had found the key to measuring human handwriting motions, but there was no market for it more Sitting a top the seismically active Great Syria-African Cicelsky and Kaplin found their solution in combining than 10 years ago. We knew things would change,” says Rift, these southern Israeli builders have developed ancient Hebrew-Egyptian mud-and-straw construction Patiently waiting more than a decade until the digital world Lederer. an earthquake-proof housing system that can be with carbon-sequestering straw-bale construction and caught up to their cool technology, three Israeli friends manufactured and constructed quickly by people without geodesic domes made famous by 20th century American are introducing Phree, a unique “smart pen” that tracks In the past year, OTM Technologies took the sensor down building experience. architect Buckminster Fuller. handwriting on virtually any surface and displays it on any from the shelf and hired renowned Israeli industrial designer Elisha Tal from Innovation to Design (I2D) to Northwestern University Prof. Eric Masanet recently Straw bales — a waste product of wheat production — Bluetooth-connected smart phone, tablet, computer, TV fashion it into a sleek and enticing consumer product. brought Alex Cicelsky of Kibbutz Lotan as a guest lecturer are a locally available renewable resource and superb or smart watch in high-definition. (Tal is the creative genius behind the Palm V, the Landa to his course on sustainable engineering to speak about insulator. The mud-straw coating holds the bales together This isn’t just another stylus. Phree uses patented nanographic printing press and SodaStream, among the development work of the kibbutz’s Centre for Creative and makes them fireproof (astounding even the Standards laser technology to deliver what the inventors call an other hit products.) Ecology (CfCE). Institute of Israel, which performed fire-code testing). unprecedented level of motion-tracking accuracy. Marketing and branding guru Eitan Chitayat, head of the Cicelsky told the students about the CfCE’s no-water The elegant geodesic dome is manufactured by hand and When it starts shipping in March 2016, the device will allow Tel Aviv-basedNatie Agency, gave the product a name and composting toilets, biogas-fueled stoves and organic constructed by students from simple steel pipe holds. users to take notes, record thoughts, annotate websites, a profile consumers could easily grasp. agro-ecology in the desert. All of these are low-tech Though the dome holds four tons, “When the earthquake documents and photos, and send text messages with systems that bring high-impact results. shakes the earth, the domes may slide around like an emojis — without touching the screen and even without “The name ‘Phree’ stood out to us as soon as we came He also shared a photograph of the devastation following upside-down bowl on a wobbly table, but they won’t the device in view. up with it because it explicitly and implicitly stands out the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India. collapse,” explains the designers. as an unusual and easy-to-pronounce spelling of ‘free.’ Compatible with Office, OneNote, EverNote, Acrobat, It memorably highlights how this tool frees you from the They used the concept of simple steel structures with “My father was the architect of our homes, and during high Google Handwriting Keyboard, ViberChat and similar screen, and works in harmony with the tagline ‘Make the straw-bale walls to build Kibbutz Lotan’s restaurant, school I worked in construction, so structural integrity is handwriting-recognition software and apps, Phree world your paper.’ And that’s the positioning we delivered,” one of the first grid-connected, solar-powered public- a deep-seated interest,” Cicelsky said. “Examining the promises to free the user of clunky typing interfaces. Chitayat explains “We’re all very happy at Natie to be part of this story’s success.” 39 from israel. INNOVATIONS

OTM Technologies raised seed capital from private investors including former Skype chairman Michael Von Swaaij, who went to business school with Lederer in France. “We are now going for Round A funding in addition to crowd funding, in order to accelerate our path to market,” says Lederer. He and his cofounders are all 1980s graduates of Talpiot, an elite IDF physics and mathematics training program. Their original technology was to be built inside an optical mouse. They signed agreements with Logitech and Apple, but both projects failed due to a problem with an electronic chip provided by another contractor. “Though we lost the market for optical mice, we knew nobody could do Phree,” says Lederer. The product even functions as a headset and has an integrated screen for sending and receiving brief texts. The founders say Phree could also be used for biometric identification. “The real-world applications for Phree are limitless and we’re excited to see how the development community finds new ways to incorporate it into their own work once they get their hands on it,” said Opher Kinrot. “From being able to truly work from a coffee shop to interacting in virtual reality, we foresee Phree becoming a vital part of one’s work and entertainment experiences.” . Suzanne Perlman A Visionary Expressionist

43 he intensity of Suzanne Perlman’s Settling in London, in St John’s Wood in 1990, she modified paintings matches that of her illustrious her exuberant style in response to the city’s atmosphere. life. Born in Budapest in 1923 Suzanne Her subjects include summer revels and autumn blooms Perlman married young and in 1939 in London’s parks, the River Thames, Covent Garden moved with her Dutch husband to the nightlife, booksellers on Southbank and architectural Netherlands. Their stay was short. In vistas of the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and 1940 they narrowly escaped the Nazi St. Paul’s. Perlman’s love affair with London continues Best wishes from occupation. They managed to board daily, whether on her walks (she is never without her an Orient Express train for Bordeaux and then boarded sketch pad) in her car or in her studio. the last ship to leave Europe headed for the beautiful T Suzanne religiously paints every day with the same Caribbean island of Curacao. She painted the island and vitality, intensity and grasp of colour as she has done all its people for over 20 Years. her adult life. Suzanne Perlman studied at San Miguel de Allende, “I have endeavoured in my painting to convey my faith Mexico, Columbia University, New York and Central Saint in the ability of art to express the intrinsic qualities of Martin’s College of Art and Design in London. The most human worth” influential period was in the 1950s when she was selected to work with Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg. Suzanne Perlman is now showing at R Borchard collection She also worked with Sidney Gross in New York. The at the Pallant Galleries, Chichester from 31st October – influences of both artists are readily evident in her work. 28th February 2016

• Parroquial Council Exhibition for Visual Arts, Old Exhibitions: Fortress Church, Fort Amsterdam, Willemstad, Curaçao • Laureate Exposition Internationale de la peinture Manchester House • Musee Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles Contemporaine, Nice, France 86 Princess Street • Curaçao Museum Jubileum Exhibition, Willemstad, Manchester M1 6NG, England • Graceland Exhibition, U.S.A • Royal Netherlands Exhibition, Amsterdam, exhibited Netherlands Antilles Telephone 0161 236 2317 with Hank Chabot and Corneille and Charlie Toorop • Exhibition Gallerie Residentie, Amsterdam, Holland Fax 0161 228 1326 Email [email protected] • Carsons Pirie and Scott Department of Fine Art Chicago, • Sternberg Centre, London, England Website www.broomwell.com solo exhibition • Kerk op den Dam, Amsterdam, solo exhibition • Antillian Cultural Council Exhibition, Willemstad, • International Trade Conference Centre, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, solo exhibition Netherlands Antilles • World Exposition Canada • Boundary Gallery, London, England • Upper Grosvenor Galleries, London, solo exhibition • International Art Exhibition, Miami, Florida, USA • Municipal Museum of Gouda, Holland, solo exhibition • Salon des Artistes, Paris, France • Feria d’Arte Paramaribo, Suriname • National Art Competition, Los Angeles, USA • Exhibition Prodega Mexico, D.F. • New York Art Expo, USA 1 • Concours Internationale de la Peinture, Gallerie • Ben Uri Art Fair, London, England Albatross, Rome, Italy • Salon des Artistes, Paris, France • Grand Palais de Champs Elysée, Salon d’été , Paris, • Travelling Art Exhibition, Hong Kong, China France • Tokyo, Japan • Prix de la France Afrique, Paris, France • Home Exhibits, London • Grand Prix Internationale de la peinture de Côte d’Azur, • Museo Del Barrio, New York Deauville • Ben Uri Gallery “Suzanne Perlman: Painting London”, • Galleries Antillas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, solo exhibition London • Hilton Galleries, Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands • R. Borchard Collection, Pallant Galleries Chichester, Antilles, solo exhibition UK Nationwide

45 tan leather. The current walls of the Old City, JERUSALEM built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, sit (JTA) — When atop the Herodian wall and later served as the outer wall of the prison. Amit Re’em Re’em also believes the room may have embarked on a been the site of Jesus’ trial by Pontius Pilate. Pilate would have tried Jesus in a 1999 excavation prominent location like Herod’s palace, Re’em said, noting that the original route of of an abandoned the Via Dolorosa that Jesus followed to his Ottoman prison crucifixion passed the spot where the Kishle in the Old City now stands. of Jerusalem, Pilate presents Jesus, as depicted in Ecce Home (Behold the man) by Antonio Ciseri, he didn’t 1871 expect anything “A lot of times you expect something and don’t find it because you didn’t get down to revolutionary. the lower layers because of logistics, budget, you name it,” Re’em said. “On the other The dig was primarily aimed at hand, archaeological layers and remains are inspecting the site before it was [sometimes] destroyed. Here we were lucky transformed into an event space the remains weren’t damaged or destroyed. for the nearby Tower of David We could dig for two years from the top down Museum, and Re’em, then just to the bottom.” 28, hoped at most to uncover Re’em’s findings convinced the Tower of some remains of a Herodian David Museum not to build on the site. palace, or maybe part of a wall But since the dig ended in 2001, the room from the second century. remained closed due to budget constraints until the museum’s new director, Eilat He did find those things — along Lieber, opened it to the public last year. with much more. In one 49 meters by 9 meters A room beneath a former Ottoman prison, WAS THIS (160 feet by 30 feet) space, Re’em known as the Kishle, in Jerusalem’s Old unearthed an archaeological City, where layers of ancient history were timeline of Jerusalem dating uncovered. (photo credit: JTA/Hamutal back 2,700 years. Layers from Wachtel) nearly every era of the city’s The room has not been changed since 2001 history lay on top of each other, and looks like an active archaeological dig. THE SITE from the time of the First Temple Lieber hopes to place a glass floor above through the Roman, Crusader and Ottoman periods, and up to Israel’s the remains and to augment them with independence in 1948. 3-D imaging that will show what the space Remains from those eras are strewn throughout the Old City, but looked like in different periods. rarely are they found so close together or so well preserved. “It’s like a hello from different historical eras OF JESUS’S that connect us to this place and allow us to “The strength of the remains and the layering of them one on top of understand what was here.” “What remains each other is like an open book, the whole historical and archaeological are stones, but behind the stones are what sequence of Jerusalem laid out in front of our eyes.” “We expected was here, who the characters were.” to find things, but the strength that we saw them in was beyond our Many of Re’em’s conclusions about the expectations.” room are based on dating techniques and TRIAL BY Called the Kishle — Turkish for prison — the site was built as a jail by inferences from historic sources. The claim the Ottoman Turks in the 1800s and used by the British in the 1940s that the walls belonged to Herod’s palace, to hold captured Jewish militia members. A map of Greater Israel come in part from the writings of the etched by an imprisoned member of the pre-state Irgun militia is still historian Josephus Flavius. Re’em’s belief visible on the wall. that the basins were used for cloth dying is derived from an account by Benjamin of PONTIUS Jerusalem Old City dig Below the prison lay the foundations of a fortification wall built in the Tudela, a medieval Jewish traveller, plus uncovers 2,700 years of eighth century BCE by the ancient Jewish King Hezekiah, who like remnants of red dye on the basin walls. history, with layers from later rulers took advantage of the site’s strategic high ground. Across But Re’em added that at a certain point, the time of the First Temple the room are remains of another defensive wall built 600 years later dating and accuracy become less important through the Roman, Crusader by the Hasmoneans, who ruled Jerusalem after the Maccabees revolt. than what the site means to visitors looking and Ottoman periods The room also houses remains of the wall of a massive Herodian for a spiritual experience. PILATE? palace built near the beginning of the Common Era, as well as basins By Ben Sales from the Crusader period that were likely used to dye clothes and

47 Israel gets its ninth UNESCO World Heritage Site

n July 5, Beit She’arim National Park was beating heart of the Jewish people,” said Israel Nature named Israel’s ninth UNESCO (United and Parks Authority chief archeologist Tsvika Tsuk, Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural noting that the UNESCO application for Beit She’arim was Organization) World Heritage Site. submitted in 2002. Referring to the limestone catacomb- A treasury of ancient artwork filled necropolis as “a landmark of Jewish When they were first excavated in the 1930s, renewal,” UNESCO committee members the catacombs, mausoleums and stone coffins Odecided that the park fulfils two of 10 possible criteria as a (sarcophagi) of Beit She’arim were found to contain World Heritage Site: it “exhibits an important interchange a treasury of artworks and inscriptions in Greek, of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural Aramaic, Palmyrene, and Hebrew documenting two area of the world, on developments in architecture or centuries of historical and cultural achievement. technology…” and it “bears a unique or at least exceptional Carved on tomb walls or on the sarcophagi are many testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which depictions of animals, seven-branched candelabras (the is living or which has disappeared.” menorah that were lit daily in the two Holy Temples) and other Jewish ritual items, stone and marble statues, Beit She’arim (House of Gates), southeast of Haifa in the scenes from the pagan world, and ships. Lower Galilee, was originally a granary and became the primary Jewish burial ground outside Jerusalem between Hundreds of inscriptions reveal the names of the the second and fourth centuries CE, following the failure deceased, their professions and places of residence, and of the second Jewish revolt against Roman rule. curses upon those who would open the tombs, along with lamentations and prayers sending the dead on their way According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the to the afterlife. site is the oldest and most densely populated cemetery in Israel, and is similar to the catacombs in Rome. Catacomb 20 is the largest of all the caves, containing 125 stone coffins. Catacomb 14 contains about 30 burial Many well-to-do Jews of the Roman era requested to be niches, most of them carved into the floor. Inscriptions buried there; even many from neighbouring countries in this cave mention the sons of Rabbi Judah the Prince, in what are now Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Shim’on and Gamaliel, and it is believed that the rabbi Lebanon. The necropolis was so desirable because Rabbi himself was interred at the far end of this cave. Judah Hanasi (the Prince), credited with renewing Jewish life years after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 CE, If you visit Beit She’arim, the Israel Nature and Parks was interred in Beit She’arim in 220 CE. Authority recommends exploring the ruins of the adjacent ancient village. “Near the remains of a basilica, apparently Rabbi Judah lived in Beth She’arim when it was the seat built during the lifetime of Rabbi Judah Hanasi, is a bronze of the Sanhedrin (formerly headquartered in Jerusalem), statue of the pioneer Alexander Zayid astride his horse. ‘Beit She’arim is a a congress of religious-social leaders he headed. Zayid, who established the defence organization called moving testimony It was at Beth Shelarim that Rabbi Judah oversaw the Hashomer, discovered a burial cave in 1926 to our ancestors writing of the Mishnah, the first codification of Jewish which has almost Beit She’arim joins eight other Israeli UNESCO World Oral Law, at the beginning of the third century CE. Though no equal anywhere Heritage Sites declared over the years since 1981 as he moved east to Sepphoris (Tzippori) 17 years before else in the world.’ places worthy of preservation and protection: The Old his death, he asked to be brought back for burial to Beth – Tsvika Tsuk, head City of Jerusalem and its walls, Nahal Me’arot Nature She’arim and eventually a cemetery grew up around his archeologist, INPA Reserve,the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa and Acre, the Old tomb. Most of the corpses were placed on shelves carved By Abigail Klein City of Acre, , the Incense Route and its surrounding into the rock, or in stone and marble sarcophagi. Leichman Nabatean towns, the biblical tels of Megiddo, Hazor and “Beit She’arim is a moving testimony to our ancestors Beersheva, the “White City” of Tel Aviv, Masada and “Land which has almost no equal anywhere else in the world. of a Thousand Caves” Beit Guvrin-Maresha. When visiting Beit She’arim’s necropolis, one feels the

49 Reflections on AIA/CCJ/ Greenwood Trust clergy Israel Study Tour, Jan 2015

NICK ARMSTRONG

Over the last 2-3 years, I had been wanting very much sense of the convoluted and ever-shifting multi-coalition to understand and find a theological ‘place to stand’ politics (though I’ll never ever begin to keep up with it!). regarding Israel, having found most people seeming to As for Palestinian voices, we heard fewer, and they avoid the subject, and others monochromatically extreme constrained by language (and apparent fear?). But or prejudiced either way. I’d read a little, and hungered the effect was dramatic, especially after the night in for some first-hand experience. Ramallah. We heard the victim voice of George ascribing Meanwhile I had been vaguely aware of dull and many difficulties well-known in the UK to the constraints unreflective media reporting, and shocked by views of of Israeli oversight and the partition fence. Then being one or two friends appearing almost anti-Semitic. So I shown around the almost-built 25,000 home Palestinian was on the lookout for an opportunity to visit, but frankly city of Rawabi by the most ‘can-do’ young Palestinian never knew of such a privileged opportunity or tailored architect, revealed the starkest contrast in voices of the tour - simply being in the right place to meet Jacob (Vince, entire tour. I’ve since spoken to many about the Rawabi Greenwood Trust) at the right time! narrative, and none had heard anything like it before. Bland media again. Since returning, it’s naturally been hard to stop me talking about it, and especially concerning the voices we don’t As a Christian leader, it was a great privilege to hear hear, and the connectedness of history, faith, politics and first-hand the voice of marginalised Palestinian Christian everyday life there. Even nearly a month later, several pastor Nihad Salman in Bethlehem. I’d heard of their times a day, places, voices or impressions linger and squeezed position, but so helpful to spend time, ask interact (sometimes awkwardly) with events, reading or questions and stay in contact to pray for them since. conversation. Finally some strange abiding images: For me personally, the interplay and connection of the At the Garden Tomb – seeing the stark new Muslim pilgrimage and political aspects was hugely powerful. burial ground fence & gun (used in Ramadan) directly Far from destroying the sense of pilgrimage, the present above Golgotha. That image of forceful and imposed (yet confusion and multiple narratives somehow emphasised ultimately impotent) authority over a place silently blazing the application of faith to real life and the hard questions the might of self-giving love will abide in me. felt so acutely in Israel – making it easy to imagine it at the centre of world affairs. At the entrance of Yad Vashem there is a video wall showing a montage of clips, pre-war, of Shoah victims, The media obsession (highlighted by Paul Hirschson, many inserted to be viewed through windows of buildings government spokesperson, and by Prof Uzi Rabi at Tel since destroyed. Aviv university) which somehow keeps 800-1000 foreign media personnel in Israel is irrational and bemusing! Rawabi’s impressive sales centre included a walk-through How can so many reporters totally fail to come up with model, with videos of idealised modern Palestinian even a fraction of the voices that we heard in a week? families soon to be inhabitants. It was a bizarre The evidence seems to suggest some combination of juxtaposition and captured many contrasts, aspirations, commercial pressure, fear, and the lurking ghost of anti- hopes, fears and competing world-views of cohabitants in Semitic bias. a wonderful land. Within Israeli voices, it was so helpful and revealing to hear the diversity from the visionary eagerness of pioneering settlers and West Bank Area C co-workers (Lipski factory), Nick Armstrong right through to those convinced of the inevitability and Feb 2015 need of full two-state solution, and those thoroughly in Rev’d Nicholas Armstrong is a member of the Diocesan Synod dismay at the recent settlements as the greatest blunder and since 1997 has been Vicar of Alvey & Quatt in Shropshire. of government. Hearing these voices, and appreciating Since April 2013 he has been Rural Dean with greater first-hand something of Israeli national character, made involvement in wider pastoral care and structures.

51 The 6th AMBASSADORS’

AIA ROUNDTABLE 2015 We had representatives from universities around the country including King’s College London, University Our 6th Ambassador’s Round Table was held on 12th College London, University of Nottingham, Imperial February at Lancaster House, London. The subject matter College London, Anglia Ruskin University, University of was “Dialogues on Trauma and Coping. Some of the East London, Middlesex University, City University London, subjects covered during the day were “Combat soldiers: Queen’s College Oxford and the University of Stirling. Other challenges in Transition to Civilian Life” and “Translating participants included psychiatrists, psychologists and Science into Treatment and Prevention of Stress-Related neuroscientists from the Ministry of Defence, Combat Psychopathology.” Stress, The British Legion, Help for Heroes, The Scottish Government, Scars of War Foundation, NATCEN, The We had high level participation from both the UK and Israel Dart Centre Europe, The Metropolitan Police Service, The including Prof. Sir Simon Wessely, Prof. of Psychological British Navy and the BBC. Medicine, King’s College London and President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Prof. Danny Brom, We also included an invitation to students studying PTSD the Director of the Israel Center for the Treatment of from King’s College London and Imperial College. They Psychotrauma, Herzog Hospital, Jerusalem. commented saying that “it was like having a year’s worth of lectures in one day” and it was fascinating for them Both the British Ambassador, H.E Matthew Gould, and to engage with high level clinicians from both Israel and the Israeli Ambassador, H.E Daniel Taub, opened the the UK. Some of the participants have already agreed to roundtable and said that this kind of event was a ‘model collaborate on future work and research. for UK/Israel engagement’.

53 Ruth Wisse speaks on “NO JOKE MAKING JEWISH HUMOUR.”

osted by Mishcon de Reya, the AIA held a dinner Here’s an example: Hat which Howard Jacobsen, Man Booker Prize Sara in Jerusalem hears on the news about a bombing at winning author and journalist, was in conversation with a popular café near the home of relatives in Tel Aviv. She Ruth Wisse - ‘Should Jews Stop telling Jokes’. The evening calls in a panic and reaches her cousin, who assures her was part of a speaking tour organised for Ruth Wisse by that the family is all safe. the AIA. “And Anat?” Sara asks about the teenager whose hangout it had been. The evening produced much laughter from start to finish “Oh, Anat,” says her mother, reassuringly, “Anat’s fine. with questions flying back and forth and many of the She’s at Auschwitz.” guests telling their own favourite jokes which besides Wisse then provides the information about the trips to laughter, led to some soul searching as to why Jews make Poland’s death camps that are part of Israeli education, the jokes they do. explains the joke’s forced recognition that today’s burden of Jewish peril in Israel may be on a par with that of Ruth Wisse is the Marti Peretz Professor of Yiddish Europe, if not greater, and even suggests the way the Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature joke offends both liberals who refuse to see the ferocity at Harvard University. Her most recent book “No Joke of Arab aggression and nationalistic patriots who can’t Making Jewish Humor” evokes and applauds the genius admit that Zionism does not fully safeguard the Jews. Can of spontaneous Jewish Joking – as well as the brilliance of one ask for more from an author? comic masterworks by writers such as Sholem Aleichem and Philip Roth, whilst at the same time drawing attention Born in Czernowitz in what is today Ukraine, but was then to the precarious conditions that have called Jewish part of Romania, Wisse grew up in Montreal, Canada and humour into being – and the price it may exact from its earned her PhD from McGill University in 1969. Wisse has practitioners and audience. taught at a number of top universities including McGill, Stanford, New York, The Hebrew University and Tel Aviv Readers of the book should be forewarned that Wisse University. Wisse is known by her unwillingness to retreat explains and interprets nearly all of the jokes she tells. from a skirmish and by the inability of even those who She is not one for what Keats called “negative capability,” disagree with her to deny her brilliance. or merely resting content with a joke’s ability to unsettle people, to shake them out of customary ways of seeing Ruth’s book - ‘No Joke: Making Jewish Humor’ (Library and thinking. of Jewish Ideas) is available from Amazon in Hardcover or Kindle version.

55 DEBATING MATTERS ISRAEL

Once dubbed “the toughest debating competition in the AIA’s Chairman Lord Bew and Executive Director Ruth and the ability to defend a position encourages a new way However, his careful preparation paved the way to a strong country” by The Times, Debating Matters features an X Saunders were among the judges for the first debate. of thinking. They teach the value of looking beyond the performance – and as the daylong event came towards a Factor-style panel of expert and often world-leading adult The Debating Matters tournament utilizes a unique headlines and sound bites and instil in young people the close, judges and organisers declared themselves wowed judges who interrogate the student’s arguments and ideas. format of debating, allowing for adjudicators and belief that if they know their stuff, then their opinion counts. by the Israeli contestants. “You can only admire it when Admittedly intimidating, they often pale in comparison to audience members to pose questions to the debaters. people who speak English as a second language give as the fellow students who pull no punches when contributing Which begs the question of why Israel? As Claire Fox, good as they get,” said Claire Fox. from the audience. But the debaters always hold their own. As national coordinator for a new major in Israeli schools director of the Institute of Ideas, stated: “In the UK, there entitled Diplomacy and International Communication has been some new enthusiasm for academic and cultural There were Jewish, Muslim and Christian youngsters in In partnership with the AIA, the Institute of Ideas for the in English, Jennifer Sternlicht notes: “Though Israeli boycotts of Israel. Sadly these are no longer merely the the teams. Hedaya Shoman, a 14 year old who was wearing first time held their unique format ‘Debating Matters students are used to expressing their opinions fringe preoccupation of student union and trade union a hijab, enthused about debating and the confidence it Competition’ in Israel. and arguing, learning how to engage in structured activists, but are now attracting the support of mainstream gives her. “I didn’t really know about debating when I got conversation that results in new understandings academics and thinkers. This is an anathema to the Institute involved in this – but now I feel I’m ready to stand up in So what is Debating Matters and why does debating – that is a rare occurrence and a worthy goal.” of Ideas, which champions free thinking and academic front of anyone,” she said. matter? There are dozens of different debating freedom. What a better way to counter that sort of closed- competitions and formats across the world which With recent elections in Israel and the UK, Debating Matters minded approach to sharing ideas and intellectual life Ohad Davidow, teacher and coach of the winning team, rewards a variety of different virtues. Debating Matters is evidence that young people are not apathetic and that than to bring our Debating Matters competition to Israel.” Reali Haifa School, who also serves as the Chairman was instigated 12 years ago upon the belief that content their political participation extends far beyond the vote. of the university level Israeli Debate League, says “I’m was more important than style, and that in order to really Debate is the vehicle, through which the world changes; very proud of the effort and force of will that my team change the world we all needed to be able to engage with But Debating Matters does not take a person seriously if people don’t rationally defend their arguments and has shown today and proven that they believe that both our own and other people’s ideas. purely based on their age. The demanding format requires interact with each other from different perspectives, words and ideas can make a difference for the better.” thorough research and engagement with the ins and outs then the world would be governed by dogma, and Following on from the success of Debating Matters India, of the evidence. It also expects an understanding of the ingenuity and creativity would be stifled. It’s how we Our congratulations go to; our first Debating Matters a mixture of Jewish and Arab students from six Israeli principles which govern the arguments on both sides, make decisions in democracy and how people differ from Israel National Champions, Reali Haifa schools came together in May 2015 to debate a range of and it offers a broad range of debate subjects that are the consensus in order to progress. Debate is the tool To Best Individual; Yonatan Sherman (Yachad Modi’in); contemporary issues in the challenging Debating Matters always contemporary, and sometimes controversial, but which will one day help to cure cancer or relieve poverty. Highly Commended Individual; Harel Kol-namer (Makif format including, whether Megacities are bad for the which avoid questions covered by national curriculums. By encouraging no-holds-barred discussion across Ramot); and developing world, if animal experimentation can ever be From biomedicine to the law, if you have heard a debate international boundaries we hope to inspire the next Commended Individual; Mishael Lemberg (Ankori). justified, if space exploration is a waste of time and money in the news then they have probably covered it. Debating generation of young people, in both the UK and Israel, to and whether social media is rejuvenating political protest. Matters produce bespoke resources, Topic Guides, to seize the initiative and offer new ideas and new solutions “My students and I had an unforgettable experience. give students a starting point for research, but if they to the most difficult and problematic controversies We have learnt a great deal and the students were truly The event was supported by the British Ambassador HM do not do the work they will be found out under cross- facing their own societies and the world as a whole. ecstatic. They keep on talking about yesterday with starry Matthew Gould who hosted a launch reception at the examination from judges and their peers in the audience. eyes ... I seriously believe this project to be truly educating, British Embassy for the event followed by the showcase, There was great enthusiasm all round. “I barely talk in building confidence and connecting people.” which was held at Tel Aviv University’s Capsule building at This gets to the heart of why what our students say is valued English outside of school so this was really difficult for the Porter School of Environmental Studies. over how they say it, because, at the end of the day, oratory me,” said Harel Kol-Namer as 17 year old from Ramot Trixie Mass, English Co-ordinator, doesn’t change the world, ideas do. In-depth research High School, after arguing passionately that space Ankori Jerusalem exploration is a “waste of time and money”.

57 ISRAEL, UK IN HUGE NEW SCIENTIFIC

A multi-year agreement will further COOPERATION cement the countries’ close research relations By David Shamah AGREEMENT

srael and the UK on medical research, technology, organization dedicated to enhancing have entered into yet business, and many other areas for the digital relationship between the another joint scientific years. Earlier this year, for example, two countries. Britain is the first – research agreement. BIRAX – the Britain Israel Research and only – country to have established The agreement, and Academic Exchange – provided (in 2012) a special government- between the British £10 million for advanced medical sponsored mission in Israel for this Royal Society, the research projects in 11 leading purpose. The program has been such world’s oldest and universities in Britain and Israel. a success that in 2013, British Prime most prestigious Among the projects: regenerating the Minister David Cameron, announced scientific fellowship, liver using a patient’s own stem cells the appointment a special Tech Envoy and the Israel Academy (University of Edinburgh/Hebrew to Israel, an appointment Cameron of Science and University); using a breath test for said he hoped would even further Humanities will fund diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease enhance tech relations between the research in a number of (University of Cambridge/Technion); two countries. scientific areas, as well regenerating immune cells to treat “This agreement is a celebration of as provide funding for diabetes (Cardiff University/MIGAL); ASSISTING BY DONATING the international nature of scientific 12-15 post-doctorate and using heart cells to restore activity and recognizes that Britain exchange fellows to study in each damaged heart muscle (University TO WELLBEING AND and Israel, two countries that share country. of Oxford/Weizmann Institute); and scientific excellence, can augment PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE CAUSES many others. The agreement was signed in April by their individual contributions ISir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Those scientific projects come to mankind through high-level Society, and Professor Ruth Arnon, in addition to the extensive collaboration,” said Arnon. “The president of the Israel Academy of technology cooperation between whole is greater than the sum of its Sciences and Humanities. Helping to the two countries. Among other parts. The agreement serves also as WISH THIS FUNCTION fund the fellowship program will be projects, for example, the UK- a clear statement in support of the the Sir Ralph Kohn Foundation. sponsored TexChange program unfettered exchange of ideas. The brings Israeli entrepreneurs to fellowships program, the central It was just the latest of a long line of SUCCESS London (and other UK locations) feature of the MoU, will foster scientific and research agreements to meet with entrepreneurs, research ties among early career between Israel and the UK, two investors, and potential customers. scientists that will hopefully continue FOR NOW AND IN THE FUTURE countries that have hundreds, if not The program is targeted at start- throughout their scientific careers – thousands, of science and medicine ups and entrepreneurs working in thus further enhancing the scientific research projects going on at one the hottest technologies, such as relations between our countries.” time, according to UK Chief Scientist gaming, advertising technology, Sir Mark Walport. “International collaboration is mobile technology, e-commerce, essential to progress in science,” “There are so many examples of video, convergence, social media, Royal Society President Nurse said. cooperation between researchers convergence technology, and other “The UK is a world leader in science in our two countries,” Walport said cutting-edge areas. Participants and it important that we make it on a recent visit to Israel. “We have attend networking events, conduct possible for the best researchers a great deal in common – world- mentoring sessions with top industry from around the world to work class universities, top researchers, pros, and network with their British here. The international insights and and common values. We have given business counterparts. perspectives they bring also help each other a great deal, and there is The linchpin of the program, and strengthen UK science. Collaboration so much more we can, and will, do of other tech cooperation between not only increases our scientific together.” the two countries, is the UK-Israel knowledge but improves our culture Israel and the UK have worked closely Tech Hub, a Foreign Office-run and economy too.”

59 The AIA hosted the London launch of Maskit, Israel’s foremost fashion house on 24th June FASHION SHOW 2015 at Brown’s Hotel, London with a lunch and fashion show. The event was generously sponsored by Olga Polizzi.

Maskit was for many years, one of Israel’s most renowned luxury fashion brands. The label was originally launched in 1954 by Ruth Dayan, then the wife of Moshe Dayan, as a means of putting Israel on the fashion map with its trademark fusion local ethnic styles to create a distinct Israeli identity. In recognition of her service to the country, she received the Honorary Award of the President of Israel in June.

Maskit’s name rapidly became ubiquitous with the best of Israeli creative and fashion industries, but the company moved out of the spotlight over the past twenty years..

As featured in the last issue of our magazine, Maskit’s Ready-To-Wear collections were always inspired by the multicultural surrounding of Israel and two years ago Dayan joined forces with Sharon Tal, a talented young Israeli designer who had just returned from working in the studios of Lanvin in Paris and Alexander McQueen in London, to relaunch the brand.

Miss Tal wanted the audience to understand the story behind the collection, and her contribution to the Maskit comeback. She explained that the inspiration began randomly from an old box marked “To Maskit only”.

Batia Saranga, a former employee of Maskit Fashion House, passed away in 2001, and left a box full of her ceramic art work. Years later, when her son heard that Sharon Tal was re-establishing the brand, he decided to carry out his Mother’s last wishes and handed over the box that his mother wanted Maskit to have.

As Tal explained in re-launching Maskit, they wanted to bring a contemporary influence to the label’s original vision. Their first collection includes traditional embroidery based on both Jewish and Islamic influences, created and sewn by expert craftswomen drawn from all of Israel’s diverse communities.

Visiting more than a dozen countries in the last few months, Tal and her crew have been presenting the new born collection alongside the history of the brand and the garments, to fashionistas of the high society around the world.

61 Ideas for upgrading the classic egg dish – a hearty version with meat, spinach and chickpeas.

Take a day off. Not for errands or a trip. Just a single day Place your bags on the counter and a skillet on the stove, - in the middle of the week, without any special plans. take out the vegetables and rinse them, do a little chopping, Stay alone. Get up later than usual, wear anything that’s a little mixing, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and comfortable, take your coffee out to the balcony and listen gently crack the eggs. Wait a little bit, then transfer the to the bustle of the city or the rustling of the countryside, skillet to the table and place it on a dish towel. Pour some wherever you happen to be. Then go into the living room, of the yogurt into a glass, tear off a hunk of the bread, flip sit down in your favourite chair and read a book or listen over the record on the turntable, and sit down to eat. to music. By mid-morning you’ll start to feel hungry. It’s A skillet like this can change the course of your day, and only natural. maybe your life. If you got up in a rotten mood, it will Put your sandals on, go down to the corner grocery and refresh and sweeten your day; if you got up feeling bored, give the seller a friendly greeting. Head for the vegetable it will brighten your spirit and clear your head. Freedom aisle, pick up a few things, not too much, just enough for from one thing doesn’t have to mean work at something one meal – a couple of tomatoes, a cucumber, an onion, a else. It’s important to be alone sometimes, to mix a few hot pepper, parsley, lemon, maybe a plum or a pear, and things together in a skillet, truly take it easy and just sit put it in your basket. Now head for the bread section and back and reflect. select a loaf with a firm crust that is still a little warm. Pick up a small container of cream or yogurt and a carton of eggs, and that’s all you need before heading home. Leave the newspaper behind this time.

Shakshuka with meat, chickpeas and spinach

(1 skillet, 4 servings) Peel and slice the onion very thin. Heat oil in a wide, heavy skillet, add onion and fry until golden, while stirring. Chop This skillet contains all the major food groups and can garlic and add to the skillet. Stir for a minute or two, until make for a very nutritious lunch. Initially, it might seem there is an aroma of garlic in the air, then add the meat, that all the ingredients don’t really go together, but as crumble it with a wooden spoon and stir to mix with the soon as you add the spinach and the eggs, it all comes onion. Continue frying until the meat changes colour, first together wonderfully. Try to get some especially fresh, to gray and then to a seared brown. thick pitas to use to sop up all the goodness. Add the chickpeas and continue stirring. Place the Ingredients: spinach leaves on top, squeeze the lemon juice on top of them, lower the flame and wait a couple of minutes until 1 large onion the spinach leaves soften a bit. Then stir them into the ¼ cup olive oil mixture and let them lose their volume. Season with salt 3 garlic cloves and pepper. ½ kilo ground beef or lamb Create six depressions in the mixture. Crack the eggs one at a time, as you would do when separating the white 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas from the yolk, and let some of the white drip into the sink. (frozen is ok) Transfer each egg (yolk plus a little white) to each of the 4-5 cups spinach leaves, separated and rinsed depressions, repeating the process until you’ve used up Juice of ½ lemon all the eggs. 6 organic eggs Cook the mixture over a low flame for three or four - minutes, until the edges of the yolks turn a little brighter Shakshuka For the Soul Sea salt in colour. Remove the skillet from the stove and bring it to Coarsely ground black pepper the table, along with pitas and a cup of yogurt.

63 The AIA Educational Trusts • “I would like to thank you from the bottom of my two years she has been providing psychological treatment Report on AIA Educational Trusts by Linda Diamond scholars often bring with them a spouse and young family heart for the scholarship. It will help me greatly for patients in the Oncology Department and Psychiatry and do exceptional and often world changing research in this coming academic year. The scholarship Medical Center in the Hadassah Hospital. “An Investment in knowledge pays the best interest” and development. They are talented, inventive, creative will allow me to spend more time to further my Benjamin Franklin and original and contribute enormously to any university research and less time on worrying how to afford MR YUVAL ETGAR department they join. it. It will additionally help my parents on the one Yuval Etgar is at Oxford University, studying at the Ruskin These are challenging times! Oxford students defeated hand, while making me feel that I do whatever I School for a DPhil in History and Theory of Contemporary a motion that would have ordered its delegates at April’s Although relatively small, the scholarships are deeply can to contribute” Art. His academic research, is focusing on the practice National Union of Students conference to oppose an Israel appreciated by our scholars. The scholars are good of collage making: a technique that is based on taking a boycott. Meanwhile the prestigious Cambridge Union ambassadors for Israel and use their time not only to This year we received nearly 80 applications and Kenneth piece of paper, a newspaper scrap, or a photograph that Society recently passed a motion that Israel is a “rogue study but also to engage in Israel Societies and to help Lindsay Scholarships for 2015 were awarded to the previously belonged to a particular context and placing state”. counteract the vast anti-Israeli sentiment present today following:- it in a new one, hereby The really frustrating fact is that most of the protesters in most of our universities. The scholarships are open unveiling new meanings against Israel know very little about Israel and have never to all Israelis whatever their religion or ethnic group MR ALON BARAM and relationships. By met an ordinary Israeli with whom to have a discussion. within Israeli society and a number of our scholars have Alon Baram is at Oxford Oxford University using collage, he has been The Anglo Israel Association is trying to change this. As come from the Christian, Muslim, Bedouin and Druze University doing a D.Phil able to examine new ways part of our remit we administer two Trusts –the Kenneth communities. in Clinical Neurosciences. of thinking about urgent Lindsay Scholarship Trust commemorating a former His research involves issues of contemporary director of the Association which awards scholarships to The AIA Kenneth Lindsay scholarships can make a huge applying mathematical life and he believes could Israeli students wishing to study in UK universities and difference to someone’s life as our scholars can testify – models to neural data, for prove vital in using art to the Wyndham Deedes Travel Scholarship Trust, named in • “The last four years have been dedicated to my example in order to gain generate dialogue. honour of our founder, which provides scholarships for doctoral studies, a task which was intensified by better understanding of UK graduates to undertake research in Israel. being a mother to three children, and witnessing psychiatric disorders such MR AMIR FRUCHTMAN Israel change in front of my eyes, taking a as schizophrenia. Amir Fruchtman is in his 3rd The only way to combat boycotts and hostility is for British direction which was sometimes difficult to take year at Oxford University students to have the opportunity to talk with Israelis, ask in as an Israeli living abroad. The AIA’s support MR BEN BELEK for a full time DPhil in them their questions, and receive a ‘first hand ‘impression through the Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship scheme Ben Belek is at Robinson Materials, completing of the country and its people. One recent Kenneth Lindsay was like a warm hug, which extended beyond the College, University of April 2017. Amir’s doctoral scholar wrote to us – financial contribution towards our maintenance Cambridge for a full time studies are in the Quantum here, and went on to make me feel welcome and PhD in Social Anthropology and Nano Technology “As an Israeli, I’ve met my share of stony faces in appreciated.” completing September Theory Group in the Cambridge, especially from the older generation, but 2016. Ben having devoted Department of Material at what I mostly met was deep ignorance to the facts of • “I thank the AIA for their support, and for the much of his time and effort the University of Oxford. the conflict and of what Israel is dealing with. I was opportunities to meet friends, supporters and to the understanding of He is studying energy shocked when a lecturer of politics in my department also challengers, of Israel – to be able to have autism wishes to ultimately transfer between systems, asked me how a small group of Jews can continue conversations that stayed with me, and hopefully apply this knowledge or networks of systems, to control the tens of millions of Arabs living in the with them, long after annual dinners and topical to bettering the lives of which are fundamentally territories. When I walked him through the actual forums were over.” autistic people. quantum mechanical in numbers of Jews and Arabs living west of the Jordan MISS POLINA BRANGEL nature. River, breaking it down for him to the West Bank and • “The fact that my research deals with Israeli Polina is currently in her Gaza strip, he was quite startled: Hearing the word third year of her PhD in the MR NIR GOREN ‘apartheid’ used so many times to describe Israel, judiciary, and more widely with contemporary Israeli society, generated opportunities to discuss department of Materials at Nir Goren is at UCL, for he assumed our demographic situation is similar to Imperial College London. a full time PhD research South Africa’s prior to the nineties.” Israel with fellow scholars and researchers that were not specifically familiar with Israel and its She is working on the degree in Medical Physics development of a novel technology for the detection and bio-engineering, completing September 2016. Nir The Israeli scholars, who come to the UK under the judiciary. This is, in my opinion, an important example of the importance of having Israeli of multiple bladder cancer biomarkers. This project Goren has a strong scientific foundation in neuroscience Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship, are mature students, is done in collaboration with several senior urologists research and has made a significant contribution to the often having served in the IDF for three or four years young scholars taking postgraduate degrees in the UK and hence making connections and from Charing Cross Hospital. A UK report in 2010 stated community in Israel. He is currently working towards national service followed by a three year undergraduate bladder cancer was the second most common urological devising tools and methods to deal with brain conditions degree. The scope of their study and research in the UK networks in this important country, ensuring that it is not entirely hostile towards Israeli academics cancer and sixth most common cancer in the UK causing and to improve the quality of life for patients suffering is extremely broad including medicine, neuroscience and the death of thousands of patients. Her research is aimed from them. neurodegenerative diseases, nanotechnology, computer and promoting future academic collaborations between Israel and the UK. This can however only at rapid, cheap and accurate diagnosis devices that will science, engineering, environmental, humanities, social allow detection of the tumour at an early stage. MR YEHUDA INBAR sciences, social work, business studies, law and music. be achieved by providing these young scholars and their families with appropriate financial Yehuda is at the Royal Academy of Music, for a full time MISS NAOMI CARLEBACH Masters – Performance (AIS Piano) completing in June We receive many outstanding applications but with support, which is what the AIA has been striving to do all these years.” Naomi Carlebach is at University of Oxford for a DPhil in 2016. Yehuda started playing the piano at the age of six. the cost of living and university fees constantly rising, Experimental Psychology completing 2018. In the past After finishing his studies in Israel at both the Buchman- more funding is urgently needed. Our Kenneth Lindsay 65 Mehta school of music and the Jerusalem Academy of research will advance understanding of Israeli law and Professor Arlt in Birmingham whose group is focusing on computer modelling high energy particles used in cancer Music and Dance, furthering his studies abroad seemed society in the UK, in Israel and internationally Due to the steroid research, including the adrenal gland. treatment and a paper was produced and presented at to be the essential step for his musical and personal large number of Israeli and Jewish students who joined the North American Particle Accelerator Conference This development. Yehuda recently won the Royal Academy the College last year, she established a very successful MR RAAM UZDIN summer, prior to commencing her MSc she undertook of Music’s Beethoven prize, and represented the Jewish/Israeli club within the College. For the first time Raam Uzdin has received an invitation letter from Prof another research project at the High Energy Physics Group a Sukkah was built on the College Vlatko Vedral of Oxford University to do a short term at ICL under the supervision of Prof. Egede, analysing premises to celebrate the holiday post doc on Quantum Thermodynamics and the Theory of data from the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, Geneva. LSE University of Sukkoth and they were able to Microscopic (nano) Heat Engines and Refrigerators. The invite people from various nations working collaboration with Prof Vedral started during his WYNDHAM DEEDES SCHOLARSHIP and religions. She feels these visit to Oxford last January. They already have very exciting activities are extremely important results, which they are now preparing for publication. We encourage British students to study in Israel to see in light of the somewhat hostile Vlatko Vedral’s letter of invitation invites Raam to stay as for themselves what Israel is really like. They come back attitude towards Jewish and long as funding permits. He ends his letter with the hope full of enthusiasm and with a changed perspective. To this especially Israeli initiatives in the that ’Ram’s post doc with me will establish a long lasting end, the AIA award a limited number of Wyndham Deedes academic community in the UK. collaboration between the Quantum Frontiers Group in Scholarships each year. The objective of the award is to Oxford and Israel.’ enable graduates of British Universities, who are normally MR ROTEM PERACH resident in the UK to make an intensive study of some Rotem Pereach is at the University DR LIOR WEIZMAN aspect (sociological, scientific, cultural, economic, etc.) of Kent for a PhD in Psychology, Dr Lior Weizman is carrying out post doc research in the of life in Israel. We do not fund full-time degree courses completing in August 2018.For field of brain imaging at the Oxford Centre for Functional at Israeli Universities but a short course or activity at an the past five years he has been MRI (FMRIB) completing August 2017. His ultimate goal Israeli University is permitted if it forms part of a degree working at the Herczeg Institute is to independently explore new research domains in the course at a British University. Conservatoire in the Beethoven Society of Europe Prize, on Aging, at the Tel Aviv University and has produced a field of MRI. The purpose of spending time in the UK is winning third place. number of articles for academic publications. His non to advance his current research and to work side by side No scholarships were awarded in 2014 but this year we academic interests include literature and music. He with some of the world leaders in his field. received an unusually high number of good applications, MR NIMROD ZVI KOVNER has been an active musician for over 10 years, released and the following were awarded scholarships:- Nimrod Kovner is in the last year of his PhD (4th year) at two solo albums, and performed in Israel and in the MR YARON WOLF the LSE for a PhD in Government. His doctoral research European Union. As an Israeli citizen, he feels that his Yaron Wolf is currently in the first year of study for a DPhil BENJAMIN RALPH GOLDSTEIN is a development of his master thesis on the moral PhD studies present a valuable opportunity to promote in Philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford University. He Studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford implication of global climate change. In his research he a comprehensive understanding of Israel and he aims to wished to design comprehensive guidelines for one of the provide British students with a favourable educational grave effects of climate change: human displacement. experience that will promote good will towards Israel and He considers climate change-induced displacement will its citizens. be one of the most important political and humanitarian issues of this century. MR YOAV PERLMAN Yoav Perlman is at the University of East Anglia for a MR YOTAM LEVY research PhD in Environmental Sciences completing Yotam Levy is already in his first year of PhD studies September 2018. Since 1998 Yoav has worked for the in Human and Physiological Sciences research at Israeli Ornithological Center in Israel working in bird King’s College, completing September 2017. He is very research. He founded the National Bird Monitoring passionate about the subject of muscle physiology and Scheme in 2011. Whilst working he completed a BSc in hopes to use the experience gained in the UK to continue Natural Sciences (2004) and an MSc in Desert Ecology his research in Israel at the Wingate Institute. During (2007) at the Ben Gurion University. the last year of his Bachelor’s degree he researched the muscle disease Nemaline Myopathy and was frustrated MS IRA RYK LAKHMAN Cambridge University by the many questions unanswered. Consequently, he Ira Lakham is at University College London studying successfully undertook the project as a PhD. Part of for a PhD in International Law of Foreign Investments, his project concentrates on developing novel methods completing June 2018 Her CV will testify, Ira lives for imaging single muscle fibres in three dimensions and breathes “law”. She has just completed her LL.M has a BA with Honours in Philosophy and History from University he is going to Israel to undertake a semester (3D) which has already demonstrated that much more (International Commercial Law Specialist Degree) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has a Master’s at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew information may be obtained using this method. He University College London. Her proposed research subject in Philosophy from Tel Aviv University Summa Cum University of Jerusalem. Along side of this study he will is also in the process of studying an animal model of for her PhD is “Armed Conflicts and Foreign Investments” Laude and is currently doing research for his DPhil in the also be interning for Ha’aretz newspaper and engaging Nemaline Myopathy, which has been “rescued” with -The Reciprocal Influence of the Laws of Armed Conflicts philosophy of psychology which he hopes will contribute in a social action project in South Tel Aviv as a paralegal genetic treatment. One of the genetic mutations (NEB) and International Law of Foreign Investment. both to contemporary debates and to the history of thought working with African refugees. leading to Nemaline Myopathy is a common cause for the in this field. He hopes studying at Oxford will enable him disease in Ashkenazi Jews. His research therefore is not MS ORLI TURGEMAN to establish a crucial dialogue between local insights and NATASHA HANDSDORFF only an educational collaboration between Israel and the Orli Turgeman is now in her second year at University traditions, and a perspective responsive to contemporary Has been awarded a place on the LLM program at Tel Aviv UK but the benefiters are also Jewish. of Birmingham for a PhD Clinic + Experiment Med FT global developments. University where she hopes to focus on a comparison of the completing September 2016. Orli has decided to focus Israeli and English legal systems. As an English lawyer, MRS YAEL LEVY-ARIEL on endocrinology and did her Masters in reproductive MISS STAV ZALEL Natasha feels there is a great deal to be learned from the Yael Levy-Ariel is at UCL studying for a PhD in Law. She endocrinology. During her studies she decided she would Stav Zalel is now commencing a full time MSc course reasoning exhibited by Israeli Supreme Court judgments has proved to be an extremely successful law student like to focus on the adrenal gland. Not finding a place in in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces at Imperial in cases which demand complex legal balancing exercises, gaining top honours throughout her studies. She is Israel to do research, on a recommendation from Doctor College London completing October 2016. During the past often head of their time. She has been fascinated by the presently in the writing up stage of her thesis Her PhD Orly of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she contacted year she undertook an undergraduate research project, UK’s media’s misrepresentation, and the general public’s

67 perception, of Israeli legal institutions, Israel’s politics preventative treatments that could follow on from her Gaza after the last war and the likelihood of economic improve road safety. Amit moved to take up a prestigious and its relationship with its Arab neighbours. She hopes findings. factors contributing to another war. post in Paris where unfortunately he died. In memory of her proposed study will better enable her to address GRACE WERMENBOL Amit, his former ‘home’ university arranged a symposium inaccuracies and misrepresentations on these subjects SONTI RAMIREZ Grace is currently a DPhil student at the University on Amit’s work which was given at an Annual conference at home. She also hopes that greater co-operation Sonti is a final year history student at the University of Oxford. Her proposed fieldwork in Israel and the at Bar Ilan University. Prof Crundall was invited to speak and interaction between the English and Israeli legal college of London who has been offered an internship Palestinian Territories will enable her to perform crucial, at this symposium, to pay homage to the impact that Amit communities and respective Judiciaries will foster a with the Green Pilgrim organisation in Jerusalem. This primary research on memory transmission. Her research had on the field of hazard perception (his specialism in better understanding and appreciation of the multifaceted organisation which is headed by the former mayor of includes an archival examination of political discourse the field of driving psychology while working in the UK). political and legal issues that Israeli legal institutions Jerusalem Naomi Tsur, encourages interfaith dialogue and media attention related the holocaust and the Nakba, In addition to attending the symposium Prof. Crundall has face and will contribute to the debate on the balance of through the promotion of eco-friendly tourism. During the in addition to a study of memory sites. She also intends suggested that in collaboration with Bar Ilan University in freedoms in the UK. course of the internship, she will have the opportunity to to take part in the activities of the Israeli organisation Israel that they would undertake the very research that observe how green Pilgrim Jerusalem facilitates tourism Zochrot. This organisation attempts to show Israelis the Amit was actively engaged in during his time in the UK. different ‘layers’ of Israeli landscape by focusing on sites They will seek to create a valid Israeli hazard perception of previous Palestinian presence, thereby creating the test that can discriminate between safe and unsafe potential for co-memory. During her fieldwork in Israel drivers. Not only will this potentially be of great benefit to she will be supported by Prof. Yoav Alon, a Middle East young drivers in Israel but Prof. Crundall felt it would be historian at Tel Aviv University who also completed his an appropriate tribute to a man who dedicated his life to DPhil in Middle East Studies at her current Oxford College, understanding why others lost theirs. St. Antony’s. The two trusts run by the AIA help so many students fulfil PROF. DAVID CRUNDALL their huge potential. But we cannot do it without your The last applicant came later and was slightly different help. Any donation – large or small – can make a real from the norm. Prof. David Crundall is a Prof. of difference. We would appeal to our members and others Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. He is a to consider sponsoring a scholar British or Israeli and driving psychologist and his primary interest is the help them achieve the highest levels of excellence. cognitive psychology of driving, particularly in regards to visual skills and hazard detection. In 2008 Dr Amit Shahar, an Israeli, came to the UK to take up a post- graduate research post in his lab. They worked together on several projects focusing on driving psychology to

Hebrew University

DANIEL ISENBERG in the city, and will be engaging with local residents has been granted a three-month Foreign Law Clerkship active in the process, many of whom are of different at the Supreme Court of Israel, in the chambers of Justice faiths and ethnicities. As a student she has observed how Hanan Melcer. His role will be to undertake research on mainstream discourse on the geopolitical conflicts in the specific legal questions relating to questions before the Middle East often lacks any concern for environmental Court, utilising his experience of the law of England and issues and practical solutions for sustainable urban Wales. Some of the memoranda he will provide to the development. This opportunity to learn about the Justice Melcer may even be taken into consideration in environmental dynamic of Jerusalem will enable her to some opinions written by the Court. become an ambassador for dialogue on the topic and help her in her future aspirations to work in conflict mediation.

SUE LAWRENCE NATASHA SPREADBOROUGH Sue is a PhD graduate of the Royal Holloway, University Natasha is a postgraduate student finishing an MSc on The Directors of Corob Group of London in which she examined the risk and resiliency Middle Eastern Politics at SOAS, University of London, in high risk Israeli youth. She was able to go and live in focussing particularly on Israeli politics and society. She Israel to study 108 high-risk youth in Northern Israel. Risk has been granted a research internship at the Moshe Dayan are pleased to support factors included exposure to traumatic events/bombings, Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, deprivation, poor parenting, low self-esteem, gender to work on a research project relating to the security and ethnicity (using national distinctions of Jew/Arab). implication for Israel of the Gazan economic crisis. She The Anglo-Israel Association Resilience factors included having access to support, high feels this topic is extremely relevant to both Israel and self-esteem and strong parental attachment. They also to its relations with the UK, which has a commitment screened for behavioural, emotional disorders and PTSD to human rights and a two-state solution. Her research to see which factors may be linked to disorders. Having will explore the security aspects with regards to Israeli received her doctorate and receiving ongoing guidance society of the current and recent Palestinian economic from Prof. Antonia Bifulco who was her PhD supervisor crisis and developments. She is primarily interested in she is now returning to Israel to collaborate with Dr. Pat- the state of the Gazan economy under Hamas, the political Horenczyk at the Trauma Centre Herzog on potential economy of Hamas’ activities, economic development in TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY’S Haisam Hassanein addresses Tel Aviv University VALEDICTORIAN master’s students

IS EGYPTIAN By Viva Sarah Press

‘We must always question our assumptions. Being here in Israel has taught me...that things are often not as they are made to seem’ Haisam Hassanein

aisam Hassanein is the 2015 valedictorian for the diversity I found here was as surprising as the warmth Koran on the train during Ramadan?” international master’s students of Tel Aviv of the people,” he said in his commencement address. The Egyptian-American student posted his address on University. The Middle Eastern studies major, the Fikra Forum online community that “aims to generate who grew up in rural Egypt, says he heard “a Hassanein said one of the greatest revelations he had H while in Israel was seeing how people got along in their ideas to support Arab democrats in their struggle with million and a half” reasons why not to come to study in authoritarians and extremists.” Israel but chose to see for himself who these people, daily lives. about whom he had heard so much negativity, really were. He sums up his address with a call-to-action for all: “On my very first day here at the university, I saw men “We must always question our assumptions. Being here When asked by security at Ben-Gurion airport why he in kippas, women in headscarves and hijabs. I saw in Israel has taught me that life is full of paradoxes and came here, Hassanein told his fellow graduates that he soldiers walking peacefully among crowds of lively complexities — that nothing is straightforward, and that answered, “I always heard the Jews are bad people, and I students. I learned there were people of every kind in the things are often not as they are made to seem. No matter came to see this for myself.” university, and the university had a place for all of them— how much education and life experience we acquire, we Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouins, and even must always dig deeper. What he had been told about Israelis and what he found international students,” he said. were two very different realities. “So, today, as I celebrate the end of a great year with “How fascinating is it to be in a city where you can to go my classmates, let’s also remember to go forward with “I had expected to find that people in Israel were unfriendly a beach in central Tel Aviv and see a Muslim woman, a a sense of renewed curiosity, knowing the only thing and especially unhappy to meet Egyptians, but I was couple of gays kissing, and a Hasid sharing the same small one should truly expect in life is for life to defy your pleasantly surprised by the exact opposite reaction. I was space? Where else can you find a Christian Arab whose expectations.” invited everywhere, from Shabbat dinners to Ramadan apartment is decorated with posters of Mao and Lenin? Iftar meals, to plays and even political gatherings. And Where else can you see a Bedouin IDF soldier reading the

71 Club of Jerusalem, the Jirapa Health Alliance, the Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central in Ghana and the Rotary JOBLESS ISRAELI ETHIOPIANS Club of Windsor. Now, says Schwartz, “Rotary clubs around the world want us to do the same program in countries such as the TRAIN AS NURSES AIDS Philippines and Peru.” The original nursing-assistant training program also attracted the attention of groups ‘They are really doing holy work, and they are very proud to be acquiring a diploma overseas. One of its supporters is Bridges for Israel, a Christian organization in Switzerland that runs an in a respected and honourable profession.’ orphanage and school in Ethiopia.

thought to be as high as 40 percent among a population of HOLY WORK more than 90,000. Each student in Herzog’s Geriatric Caregiver Training The course has had an unexpected international impact Program completes 300 hours of course work and as well. Rotary International took great interest in the 280 hours of supervised practical experience in the program and enabled Herzog to adapt the curriculum departments of physical rehabilitation, occupational for long-distance public-health training at a Christian therapy, acute geriatric care, complex nursing, chronic hospital in rural Ghana. respiratory care and psycho-geriatrics. GOING INTERNATIONAL Outside professionals come in to give workshops on topics Begashaw Berihun on the ward at Herzog such as reflexology, shiatsu and first aid. Hospital. Photo by Abigail Klein Leichman Steve Schwartz, Herzog’s director of international resource development, explains that the hospital was “They now have the basic knowledge needed in order already participating in international videoconference to help them understand medical conditions that our “grand rounds” sponsored in part by Rotary International geriatric patients can suffer from and how they can best in Canada. help them,” says Suna. When he fled Ethiopia for Israel eight years ago, Begashaw Berihun had experience as a science teacher This setup enables doctors in Israel, Jordan and the “They have also been taught the basics of how to assist and a commercial banker. Palestinian Authority-administered territories to share a patient, such as how to lift them from the bed to a details of specific cases. wheelchair, and to assist with activities of daily living such With three children to support, and a fourth born while the as bathing, feeding, dressing, hygiene and toileting.” family was in a government absorption centre in Nahariya, After learning of the Ethiopian training program, Rotary Berihun didn’t feel he had time to attend Hebrew classes partners in Toronto put Schwartz in touch with the Ontario Ellen, a 40-year-old mother of five, immigrated to Israel and perhaps re-qualify in either profession. He worked in 11 years ago. She was a farmer in Ethiopia but was a factory, post office and supermarket to save up money cleaning houses in Israel. Then her husband took the to buy a home in Rishon LeZion. course at Herzog two years ago and suggested that she do the same. Both now work as nursing assistants at Herzog. Then his relative told him about a free course she took at She explains that now their children are proud of them. Jerusalem’s Herzog Hospital to train Ethiopian immigrants “Cleaning didn’t teach us anything,” she says. “Assisting as certified nursing assistants. Now employed at Herzog – nurses is hard work, she adds, but it affords job security a 330-bed teaching hospital specializing in geriatrics and and benefits she did not enjoy before.” psychiatry — she encouraged Berihun to apply. A video training session from “I heard this is good work for the future and I could go Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem to on to become a nurse,” the soft-spoken 38-year-old man St. Joseph Hospital in Ghana. explains in halting English during a short break from his job on the ward. “I like this work. I like to help people. I see people who cannot speak, who have pain, and if you don’t help them club, one of whose members is Ghana-born physician Dr. move they cannot even change their position.” Godfrey Bacheyie. The doctor assisted Herzog in getting a Rotary Foundation Global Grant for a Tele-health Project “He’s a hard worker and very ambitious,” says Ronni at St. Joseph Hospital in Jirapa, a predominantly poor Suna, the nurse educator who currently heads Herzog’s farming region near Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso. Graduates of the Geriatric Caregiver Training Program. Nurse educa- donor-funded Geriatric Caregiver Training Program, run tor Ronni Suna is second from right, front row. under the auspices of the Economy Ministry. Berihun was “This project will broaden the knowledge base of Suna visits her graduates on the units every day, and one of 20 participants from across Israel who graduated medical practitioners and allied health professionals encourages those with the aptitude and English skills to from the 17th cohort in June last year. and provide interaction between healthcare providers with counterparts in advanced and developed countries go on to nursing school. Since January 2004, 307 men and women (including in a rural, resource-poor area where one doctor serves a “Nurses rely on them to be on the frontlines at the two Arab-Israelis) have completed the course, which population of 80,000,” says Bacheyie. patients’ bedside. They are really doing holy work,” Suna provides a living stipend plus two meals per day. Today, 85 says. “And they are very proud to be acquiring a diploma graduates are working at Herzog Hospital; others found Suna and other nurse educators from Herzog teach about in a respected and honourable profession”.Gr employment elsewhere in Israel. This represents a step infectious disease control and other public-health topics toward addressing Ethiopian immigrant unemployment, as part of this project, whose partners include the Rotary

73 From their studio in South Tel Aviv’s Florentin Orders started coming in after they exhibited their neighbourhood, industrial designers and best friends creations at Tel Aviv’s contemporary art fair, Fresh Ariel Zuckerman and Eran Shimshovic watched as the Paint and at Saga Gallery in Jaffa. old-time carpentry workshops closed at the end of the workday and the streets gave way to lively nightlife in the Street Capture has caught the attention of leading gathering darkness. museums and galleries in San Francisco, New York, Toronto and Tokyo. But Zuckerman and Shimshovic do not Month by month, more carpenters were closing shop intend merely to ship their products. They want to make permanently amid the changing character of Florentin. them specific to each city. Zuckerman and Shimshovic realized they could combine “We got the crazy idea to do a road trip to five or six the vanishing world of furniture-makers with the locations in the United States, getting local mural artists in emerging vibrancy of street artists. those cities to paint on the wooden boards, and then after Street Capture, their resulting line of high-end, one-of-a- a month or two, we would make furniture out of them. We kind furniture, is a hit in Israel and abroad. Now the pair want to mount an exhibition of them all together, showing has expanded into tableware and is contemplating a road which one was made in Chicago, which one in LA, and so show in America. forth,” says Zuckerman. “We just need to find local art producers and workspaces.” “Taking something two dimensional from the public space Street Capture obviously is striking a chord. “People want and making it into a three-dimensional piece of furniture to feel unique and to be part of a community, and this is a for your house preserves both the craft and the culture, way to do that,” says Zuckerman. Zuckerman explains.“It’s like taking a stone from the Berlin Wall and making something new from it.”

They began by attaching blank wooden boards to the walls of Florentin’s alleyways, knowingly supplying a clean canvas for graffiti artists. Some of the boards got stolen, but most of them were soon covered in bold graphics. “We didn’t say anything to anyone, as we were curious to see how it would evolve in the most ‘natural’ manner. Each morning we discovered something new. Sometimes the boards remained untouched, sometimes just a few pencilled lines or letters were added. Finally, layer by layer, a ‘whole’ work was created.”

Zuckerman and Shimshovic then took the boards to their studio, transforming random night-time inspiration into a sort of artistic time capsule. The artwork is protected with acrylic and fused onto HDF, a dense, smooth fibreboard that can be cut, drilled, painted or processed. “The first product was a dresser we called Zerifin 35, which is the street address where we hung the wooden board. Then we made a cocktail table,”says Zuckerman. “These were very authentic. Then, as people started finding out about what we were doing, street artists asked us how they could participate,” he explains. “So now we are collaborating with street artists. It’s less authentic because we control the process, but they are free to paint what they like — all in one day. We pay them and give them the credit.”

The unique Street Capture line gained popularity swiftly. STREET CAPTURE’S ONE-OFF FURNITURE MADE FROM GRAFFITI PAYS HOMAGE “Mostly it’s being used as office furniture, but also some TO TEL AVIV’S OLD-SCHOOL CRAFTSMEN AND YOUNG STREET CULTURE. individuals have bought it,” says Zuckerman.

75 HIGH TECH BEHIND THE HEADLINES

William Hill’s Safe Bet on the Data Economy BY DANIEL SAUNDERS

his summer, leading UK from a clear opportunity to combine Tbookmaker William Hill announced British and Israeli advantage in both its partnership with Stuart Marks’ the high tech and gaming sector. investment fund L Marks in order to In fact, the new accelerator is the launch a new startup accelerator with latest in a growing network of links branches in London and in Tel Aviv. between London and Tel Aviv in With the creation of this accelerator, the gaming industry. Like William dubbed WHLabs, William Hill follows Hill, Ladbrokes also runs its digital in the footsteps of companies marketing operation from Israel, in globally who are tapping into the collaboration with Israeli gaming entrepreneurial spirit of young software developer Playtech. Playtech startups in Israel to produce a new itself also recently completed a £460 wave of technological advances to million takeover of Israel-based and enhance their businesses. London-listed online broker Plus500.

What is notable about WHLabs Yet the project highlights not only the is the decision to run concurrent potential for bilateral collaboration programmes in the “Silicon still to be realised in the gaming Roundabout” of London and the sector, but also the growing diversity “Silicon Wadi” of Tel Aviv. The of the trading relationship between startups accepted into the programme Israel and the UK. Bilateral trade owes to increasing synergy on the backing a proven winner. As has case in point. With bookmakers pricing possibility of another downturn, will receive funding, mentorship continues to grow between the UK and governmental level. Prime Minister been demonstrated by the dramatic bets involving multiple variables, the the benefits of new technology able and access to the William Hill APIs. Israel with it reaching a record high Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit explosion of accelerators across the value of an accurate system capable to analyse corporate expenditure, Additionally, in line with the growing of £3.9 billion in 2014, an increase of highlighted that bilateral projects UK, businesses working in every of taking into account a vast sum of identify efficiency savings, and cut trend for closer synergy between more than 7% from the previous year. go far beyond the high-profile industry have recognised the need to information is significant. William costs are substantial. British and Israeli innovators, the Delve into these figures, and you will cooperation in counterterrorism and innovate and look to the future. From Hill’s search for startups in Israel startups and entrepreneurs will also find not just a 4.8% increase in exports cybersecurity. As Prime Minister banks to airlines, social networks will comprise not only companies With bilateral trade reaching record be encouraged to learn from each from Israel to the UK, but also a 12.9% Netanyahu expressed in his meeting to sports teams, British firms are offering solutions for managing data highs again last year, in spite of efforts other and work together. increase in exports from the UK to with Prime Minister David Cameron, looking to Israeli expertise to give and transactions, but also marketing to delegitimise Israeli companies, the Israel. “the future belongs to those who their products an edge. In the past solutions enabling online products to commercial relationship between For Stuart Marks, it is the combination innovate. Britain and Israel are year, London has played host to Israeli better meet customer demand. Israeli Israel and the UK is already in rude of both vertical and horizontal While not all of the growth in trade two great centres of technology startups with solutions for some of expertise in the sector can therefore health. But the picture emerging from connections offered by the William derives from the high tech sector, with and through pulling our resources the UK’s world-leading industries deliver increased commercial success hidden stories like the gaming industry Hill accelerator that gives it unique pharmaceuticals also playing a major together we can offer a better future including the retail giants, the high- and decreased costs for British highlights the potential of still greater potential. Having previously created role, new technology partnerships in a and great prosperity.” flying travel sector, and the sporting gaming companies, which can in turn links in years to come, with Israeli accelerators for corporates such as variety of sectors are shaping bilateral world. spur further investment in and trade high tech not only catalysing progress John Lewis and DPD, Marks notes the economic relations in the long-term. Both governments are backing with Israeli startups. but also offering the means to hedge unprecedented duality in WHLabs – research collaboration in regenerative The engine behind these exchanges is against the upheavals that seem to be not only connecting businesses with Investment in Israel is continuingly medicine, water science, and complementary economic strengths. Furthermore, the expertise required characterising the 21st century global startups but also linking two distinct breaking records with Israeli high tech nanotechnology, in addition to the While British companies look to to boost the gaming industry is economy. As any bookie can tell you, communities of innovators: “This is companies raising the remarkably high many links between British investors increase productivity through high transferable to other sectors. The it is low risks rather than high stakes the first time that we have run one of figure of $2.1 billion in the first half of and Israeli innovators created and tech solutions and British investors importance of data management to a that ultimately provide the richest our accelerators simultaneously in 2015, an increase of 31% on last year. promoted by both the British Embassy seek the gains made possible by services-based economy like Britain’s rewards. the UK and Israel, where technology- With IPOs of Israeli startups totalling in Tel Aviv and the Embassy of Israel revolutionary technology, Israeli goes far beyond the gaming industry: driven solutions are often developed $2.1 billion in 2014, the highest for ten in London. startups benefit from access to the in a world where financial markets are and I’m certain that we will find new years, British private equity, venture unparalleled capital on offer in the City not only increasingly interconnected and exciting technology that will capital, and hedge funds are among But the growth in trade also reflects and the vast market provided by the but increasingly volatile, technology Daniel Saunders strengthen William Hill’s leadership in the many outside investors finding the fundamental characteristics British services sector. Consequently, can play a vital role in managing risk Chief of Staff, Economic global betting and gaming.” value in Israeli enterprise. of each economy. In seizing on the & Trade Mission the potential exists for our economies and understanding global trends. Embassy of Israel, combination of British capital and to be not just connected but symbiotic. Moreover, as businesses emerge London The inspiration for the project derives In part, British investment in Israel Israeli expertise, William Hill are Here again the gaming industry is a from recession and prepare for the @DanielOfLondon

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