November 2012

Anglo Israel Association

Chartered Accountants Business and Tax Advisers Chairman’s Message Last year, in my message, I sought to highlight the number of unpleasant and even violent anti -Israeli eruptions on our campuses. I did so particularly because one of the most Our team specialises in advising unpleasant cases was at my own university - the Queen’s University of Belfast. I am glad to report that in the period since this incident, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom charities and owner-managed was able to hold a successful visit to the university and hold a seminar on the Middle Eastern conflict. Even so there remain significant problems in our universities but this year it is more businesses important to focus on the international scene. The turbulent experience of the Arab Spring has stretched our conventional media and political establishment’s analytical capacity beyond breaking point. I wish, however, to concentrate on the role of Iran in the region. In the past year We offer professional, yet friendly, advice on all the annihilationist language towards Israel has become ever more explicit. We no longer hear calls for subtle translations business-related and financial matters. because the meaning is now so clear.

It is widely and absolutely correctly insisted on in London and Washington that Israel’s response to provocations Please email or call Anthony Epton to arrange a free and challenges in the region should be considered and proportionate. This will always be excellent advice. However initial consultation and see how we can help you. our own debate does not always respect the principles of proportionality. In the House of Lords, for example, since 2009 some 200 questions have been asked about the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. They are predominantly critical of Israel and do not make mention of Hamas or indeed the role of Iran in the region. Since 2007 there have been seven full length debates on the conflict whilst, in the same period, there has been only one on China and on Latin America. Again, was the 75 Maygrove Road, West Hampstead, media coverage of the murder of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria London NW6 2EG proportionate to its significance? The struggle for peace and historic compromise has not tel: 020 7372 6494 fax: 020 7624 0053 become any easier. But it is all the more reason to sustain the email: [email protected] work of the Anglo Israeli Association which throughout the web: www.goldwins.co.uk year has made every effort to increase understanding at a very difficult moment. Contents 3. Chairman’s message Message of support 6. Israel and the new Egypt 10. HE Ron Prosor’s Speech at the UN

of the Anglo-Israel 15. 4th Ambassadors’ Round Table Association by HMA 16. Harvesting solar energy in Israel 22. Tomorrow’s Technology Today Matthew Gould 24. Israeli Innovations

As British Ambassador to Israel I have made it my mission to build the best and strongest relationship 30. Israel’s advances against Alzheimers we can between Britain and Israel. We are building that partnership across the board, from trade to tech, in our universities and in our laboratories, in security, and in the fight against terrorism. 34. Healing hug from Israel to Japan Trade is growing at a prodigious rate - last year trade was up 34 percent on the year before. The total value of trade and services between Britain and Israel is now well over $8billion a year. Britain is 37. now Israel’s biggest export market after the US. These are fantastic figures, that show an economic Swifts at the Western Wall relationship in excellent shape. 38. Mizpe Ramon My particular focus has been on developing our hi-tech links. We believe there is a huge opportunity here for both Israeli tech entrepreneurs and for British businesses - Israeli tech can go global using Britain’s business strengths and reach; British companies can get a global edge using Israeli 42. Gamila’s Secret innovation. 46. Five Thread Filigree fit for a Queen Both Governments are committed to developing a UK/Israel partnership in tech. To help make this happen, we have launched the UK/Israel Tech Hub at the British Embassy in Israel. The Hub is the first of its kind in the world – a team drawn wholly from the tech sectors, tasked with promoting 48. Taking the Flower train round the world partnership between our companies.

Last month, we saw the launch of the Hub’s TeXchange programme. TeXchange will bring the 50. Yemen Orde Youth Village very best Israeli tech entrepreneurs to Britain. They will get to see what Britain has to offer Israeli companies looking to expand - the world’s financial capital, three of the world’s top ten universities, 52 AIA Educational Trusts world-class marketing and business development skills, and business links across the world. The entrepreneurs will also visit Tech City in London – one of Europe’s biggest digital clusters with over 200 companies. 54. Sunny with the chance of Solar – Israel’s climate change policies Israel and Britain are natural partners in tech. At the moment this is a largely unfulfilled potential. The Hub and programmes like TeXchange will help make this partnership a reality. 56. Food from the Forest In these efforts the role of the Anglo-Israel Association is an important one. The Ambassador’s Forum on Renewable technology was a great success, bringing together key people from both sides. Its support for building a positive relationship between the countries is a real encouragement and a counterbalance to those with the opposite vision. I am grateful for all you do, and look forward to continuing to work closely with you. Anglo-Israel Association PO Box 47819, London NW11 7WD T: 020 8458 1284 F: 020 8458 3484 E: [email protected] www.angloisraelassociation.com

Registered Charity No. 313523

4 The articles in this magazine reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Anglo-Israel Association ideological affinity between the two movements would be a grave mistake. However, the new leadership in Cairo shares with Israel a common interest in avoiding another violent explosion between Israel and Gaza. Israel’s interest is clear: It wishes to avoid developments Israel that endanger its citizens in the south and disrupt their daily lives. But Egypt also fears such explosions, because it seeks to avoid developments that might push the problems and the of Gaza and its population into its own lap. Egypt’s concern is that such responsibility would pull it into an unwanted confrontation with Israel New instigated by some Hamas action. One important way to avoid such explosions is for Israel and Hamas to reach a tacit understanding on “rules of the game.” This would minimize the danger that, by initiating terror and Egypt other attacks, small extremist groups would succeed in embroiling Hamas and Israel in an escalating conflict. Egypt’s improve new leaders have an opportunity to play a positive role here. Egyptian- Whereas until now Egypt’s mediation between Israel and Israeli Hamas has been limited to negotiating ceasefires and the Is it all ties depends Shalit prisoner-exchange deal, the new environment offers not only on the an opportunity for Egypt to help Israel and Hamas reach such complexities of post- broader understandings. The understandings suggested revolutionary Egypt here would need to include the creation of mechanisms bad news? but also on the manner that would allow Israel and Hamas to explain to one another in which Israel will conduct Not surprisingly, Israelis are alarmed at the prospect relations. the steps they may take in an evolving crisis, so as to avoid itself—in its relations with that their southern neighbour will now be led by the While these fears and misunderstandings that lead to inadvertent escalation. Such Egypt, as well as in other realms Muslim Brotherhood. Israel lost “the devils it knew”: concerns remain valid, escalation has occurred in the recent past, when Israel that affect Egyptian-Israeli bilateral not only Mubarak, but also his top lieutenants, such the picture emerging some reacted to attacks launched by small extremist groups in the relations. as General Omar Suleiman, head of Egypt’s General months after the Muslim Sinai by punishing elements of Hamas in Gaza. Intelligence Directorate, with whom Israelis have Brotherhood’s ascent is more The following are a number of key areas been dealing for years. They fear that in the new complex, presenting risks but also Another important possible task for Egypt would be to where an Egyptian-Israeli shared agenda Egypt it may no longer be possible to “close deals” opportunities. Israel and the new play a more effective role in fostering internal Palestinian may emerge. with a very small number of individuals located in the Egypt share some important interests reconciliation. Playing such a role in a manner that does Office of the President and in the security services. that may help preserve the two not clash with Israel’s interests would require that both They also worry that public opinion will now matter countries’ relations. These interests are Israel and Hamas reframe their approaches to this issue. more, and that Egyptian policy toward Israel will be important because Egypt’s new leaders Hamas in Gaza Israel would need to acknowledge that it has an interest in affected to a far greater extent by the sentiments are likely to follow not only their ideological such reconciliation producing a single Palestinian address Since Hamas was born in the Egyptian street, whose hostility toward inclinations but also the geostrategic with which Israel can reach understandings, even if limited as an offshoot of the Israel was given expression by the ransacking of interests of the Egyptian state. (One to practical matters falling short of full resolution of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Israeli Embassy in Cairo in September 2011. such key interest is preserving conflict. Within this context, Israel should further liberalize underestimating Finally, there is fear that Egyptian-Israeli relations Egypt’s close ties with the the arrangements guiding movements of goods to and from the importance will experience a sharp and rapid deterioration. This United States.) Whether Gaza. fear is understandable, given the Brotherhood’s these opportunities of the history of rejecting Israel’s right to exist, as well as its will be utilized In turn, Hamas would need to allow the creation of a new formal and vocal opposition to the 1978 Camp David to preserve Palestinian government that would not be committed to Accords and the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. if not implementing Hamas’ ideology and would not include acknowledged members of the movement. In the latter President Morsi’s August 12 sacking of the case, Israel would need to reciprocate by accepting top commanders of the Egyptian Military and that the Quartet’s three preconditions for intelligence services only exacerbates these engagement would apply to the post- Israeli concerns. The sacking signalled reconciliation new Palestinian a further tilt in the internal balance government, not to the Hamas of power in favour of Egypt’s new movement. Brotherhood-dominated civilian leadership at the expense of security chiefs with whom Israel has had decades- long

6 The Sinai Peninsula

The chaos in the Sinai Peninsula challenges both Israel and Egypt. As has already been demonstrated, extremist groups exploiting the chaos in the Sinai to launch terror attacks against Israel can exact a heavy toll on the Jewish state. In addition, chaos in the Sinai invites human trafficking, thus exacerbating Israel’s problem of rising illegal immigration. Yet such chaos also challenges Egypt directly, as was made the clear by the August 5 attack on an Egyptian army outpost, most which claimed 16 Egyptian lives. More broadly, Egypt’s extreme sovereignty over Sinai—the restoration of which cost the Islamist Egyptians tens of thousands of lives during the 1970 War of groups and cells, Attrition and the 1973 War—has now been compromised, al-Qaeda-affiliated surrendered to an odd amalgamation of Bedouin tribes, or not. Palestinian- Palestinian extremist groups, and al-Qaeda affiliated cells. Egypt under Muslim Brotherhood leadership seems Israeli Peace? Thus Egypt and Israel share an interest in preventing the to view the Syria issue from two Shai Feldman is director of the Crown Possibly the most intriguing question Sinai Peninsula from becoming a base for, and a magnet perspectives. As a leader of the Sunni Center for Middle East Studies at is whether Egypt can play a positive attracting, radical groups. For this reason, Israel has a Arab world, Egypt was clearly unhappy Brandeis University and a senior fellow role in resuscitating the efforts to achieve national security interest in Egypt’s taking measures to with the inroads that Shi‘a Iran has made in at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Palestinian-Israeli Peace. The individuals handling restore and reassert its sovereignty over the Sinai. At the the region, especially after the balance of power Center for Science and International the Palestinian file in Mubarak’s Egypt were sensitive same time, Israel fears that an Egyptian deployment of in the Gulf was destroyed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Affairs. He was head of the Jaffee Center to Israel’s concerns but not uncritical of Israeli policies. As forces in the Sinai that significantly exceeds the limitations Iran’s support of Hezbollah was particularly troubling, for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. noted earlier, the political leaders of post-Mubarak Egypt stipulated in the 1979 Peace Treaty would be a slippery culminating in the April 2010 discovery of a Hezbollah cell Previously an advisor to the AIA on Middle have very different sentiments. slope. Forces ostensibly deployed against radical groups in in Egypt. And Assad’s Syria was seen as an indispensible East Affairs, he still makes frequent the Peninsula may “forget” to leave. transport route for Iran’s support of Hezbollah. visits to London to make presentations Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen have argued that, at a While clearly problematic from Israel’s standpoint, the to government officials, members of both Brotherhood’s track-record also gives it an opportunity to minimum, the security protocol of the 1979 treaty needs Equally challenging are the prospects that post- Houses of Parliament and to Universities, play a positive role in an effort to rekindle the stalemated to be revised. This represents a turn to pragmatism, as the revolutionary Syria would become a focal point for the all under the auspices of the AIA. peace process. Enjoying a level of credibility and influence Brotherhood’s leaders no longer call for abrogating the region’s Sunni Arab extremists in much the same way Iraq Brig. Gen. Shlomo Brom (retired) is a with Hamas that the Mubarak regime lacked, Egypt’s new treaty. Yet Israelis understandably fear that opening up the has experienced in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion. senior research associate at the Institute leaders can help renew the peace efforts by impressing treaty for revisions may prove to be just as slippery a slope. The re-emergence of such groups, this time in Syria, will for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel upon Hamas the utility of joining such efforts instead of A different Israeli approach might transform this risk to challenge the Brotherhood as the leading authority in the Aviv. He was head of Strategic Planning at opposing them. an opportunity. This could be the case if such a discussion world of Sunni political Islam. While Ennahada in Tunisia the IDF’s Planning Branch. Yet for this more positive potential role for Egypt to would result in the new affirmation of the treaty, this time and the Brotherhood in Egypt have now come to represent Shimon Stein is a senior research fellow materialize, Israel would need to adopt a more nuanced by an Egypt led by the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, the one way to replace the old autocratic regimes of the Arab at INSS in Tel Aviv. He was Israel’s and creative approach. While not blind to the risks added legitimacy bestowed by the Brotherhood’s tacit world, al-Qaeda represents the opposite approach. Ambassador to Germany. involved in trying to bridge or at least tactically bypass acceptance of the treaty may even be worth some Israeli These two critically important Egyptian interests are not its ideological differences with Hamas and the broader acceptance of changes in its security protocol. incongruent with the manner in which Israel’s view of This article first appeared in The American Brotherhood movement, a new Israeli approach would the Syrian scene has evolved in recent months. In turn, Interest of September 4, 2012 need to recognize the enormous benefits of any agreement this provides an opportunity for Israel and Egypt’s new with the Palestinians that would win the acceptance, if not Syria and Iran leaders to share their assessments, directly or through endorsement, of the leading forces of political Islam. their respective professional bodies. While these shared

On matters related to Iran and Syria, the geostrategic interests would not necessarily translate into practical The suggestions here point to the possibility that, interests of Israel and Egypt do not collide. In his inaugural modes of cooperation, they at least point to the possibility despite the ideological gap dividing Israel and the new address, and more recently in his August 30 speech at the that Israel and new Egypt may have common regional Muslim Brotherhood-led Egypt, they may have interests Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, President Morsi placed perspectives. Egypt squarely with the opponents of Bashar Assad’s that coincide. This in turn opens new opportunities for regime and thus in opposition to Iran’s efforts to save it. preserving the two countries’ relations, if not necessarily Indeed, with regard to the challenges that the civil war in improving them. Due to the sensitivities involved, exploiting Syria present, Israel and Egypt seem to share two important these opportunities would require that Israel approach this objectives: defeating Iran’s efforts to expand its influence in task with a great deal of finesse and a willingness to act the region, and avoiding Syria becoming even more chaotic quietly. than the Sinai and thus an even more dangerous magnet for 8 Thank you, And dedicating the majority of this condemned a single rocket attack Madame President. debate to the Israeli-Palestinian from Gaza. History’s lessons are clear. Conflict, month after month after Today’s silence is tomorrow’s tragedy. ‘Open Debate on Let me begin by month, has not stopped the Iranian thanking you, regime’s centrifuges from spinning. Madame President, personally, for your Iran’s ambitions for nuclear weapons Myth number three: settlements are are the single greatest threat to the the primary obstacle to peace. the Situation in outstanding leadership Middle East, and the entire world. of the Security Council How many times have we heard that The Iranian nuclear program continues argument in this chamber? this month. to advance at the speed of an express Churchill once said, “In the time that train. The international community’s Just this month, the Human Rights the Middle East’, it takes a lie to get halfway around the efforts to stop them are moving at the Council proposed yet another “fact- world, the truth is still getting its pants pace of the local train, pausing at every finding” mission to Israel. It will on.” stop for some nations to get on and explore…surprise, surprise…Israeli off. The danger of inaction is clear. We settlements. Today, I’d like to save In the barren deserts of the Middle cannot allow the diplomatic channel to the Human Rights Council and the a statement at East, myths find fertile ground to grow provide another avenue for the Iranian international community some time wild. Facts often remain buried in the regime to stall for more time, as they and energy. sand. The myths forged in our region inch closer and closer to a nuclear travel abroad – and can surprisingly weapon. The facts have already been found. find their way into these halls. They are plain for all to see. The fact the UN by Madame President, is that from 1948 until 1967, the West I would like to use today’s debate as an Bank was part of Jordan, and Gaza opportunity to address just a few of the Myth number two: there is a was part of Egypt. The Arab World myths that have become a permanent humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. did nothing – it did not lift a finger – hindrance to our discussion of the In fact, numerous international to create a Palestinian state. And it Ambassador Middle East here at the United Nations. sought Israel’s annihilation when not organizations have said clearly that a single settlement stood anywhere Madame President, there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the Deputy Head of the Red in the West Bank or Gaza. The fact is Myth number one: the Israeli- Cross Office in the area. that in 2005, when I was the Director- Ron Prosor Palestinian Conflict is the central General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, we conflict in the Middle East. If you solve Gaza’s real GDP grew by more than 25 took every settlement out of Gaza and that conflict, you solve all the other percent during the first three quarters only got rockets on our cities in return. conflicts in the region. of 2011. Exports are expanding. International humanitarian projects The fact is that this Israeli Government Make no mistake: it is important for are moving forward at a rapid pace. put in place an unprecedented ten- Israel and the Palestinians to resolve month moratorium on settlements. our longstanding conflict for its own There is not a single civilian good that The Palestinian leadership used the merits. Yet, the truth is that conflicts cannot enter Gaza today. Yet, as aid gesture as an opportunity to take Israel in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, and flows into the area, missiles fly out. and the international community on many other parts of the Middle East This is the crisis in Gaza. And that is another ride to nowhere. For nine out have absolutely nothing to do with what keeps Gaza from realizing its real of those ten months, they rejected Israel. potential. the moratorium as insufficient – and then demanded that we extend it. As It is obvious that resolving the Israeli- It is a simple equation. If it is calm in former U.S. Special Envoy George Palestinian Conflict won’t stop the Israel, it will be calm in Gaza. But the Mitchell said “what had been less persecution of minorities across people of Gaza will face hardship as than worthless a few months earlier the region, end the subjugation of long as terrorists use them as human became indispensable to continue women, or heal the sectarian divides. shields to rain rockets down on Israeli negotiations…[for the Palestinians].” Obsessing over Israel has not stopped cities. Madame President, Assad’s tanks from flattening entire Each rocket in Gaza is armed with a communities. On the contrary, it has warhead capable of causing a political The primary obstacle to peace is not only distracted attention from his earthquake that would extend well settlements. The primary obstacle crimes. beyond Israel’s borders. It will only to peace is the so-called “claim of This debate – even this morning – take one rocket that lands in the return” – and the Palestinian’s refusal has lost any sense of proportion. wrong place at the wrong time to to recognize Israel’s right to exist as the Thousands are being killed in Syria, change the equation on the ground. If nation-state of the Jewish people. that happens, Israel’s leaders would hundreds in Yemen, dozens in Iraq — You will never hear Palestinian leaders and yet, this debate again repeatedly be forced to respond in a completely different manner. say “two states for two peoples”. You is focusing on the legitimate actions of won’t hear them say “two states for two the government of the only democracy It is time for all in this Chamber to peoples” because today the Palestinian in the Middle East. finally wake up to that dangerous leadership is calling for an independent reality. The Security Council has not Palestinian state, but insists that its 10 people return to the Jewish state. This sealed off along religious lines are now right. The time has come for the UN to our day of remembrance and our day of ’ would mean the destruction of Israel. permanently open for worship by all end its complicity in trying to erase the independence. peoples. This is a principle grounded in stories of 850,000 people from history. Some of you might say, “Oh our values, our actions and our laws. On Wednesday, sirens will sound across Ambassador, but the Palestinians The time has also come to speak openly Israel. For two minutes, everything will know that they will have to give up this Madame President, in these halls about the Arab World’s come to a halt. People will stop in their claim, that’s what they whisper quietly role in maintaining the Palestinians as tracks, cars will pull over to the side of at the negotiating table.” There is another great truth that this refugees for more than six decades. highways, and the entire country will organization has completely overlooked pause to remember the more than Ladies and Gentleman – the for the past 64 years. Jews from Arab countries came 22,000 Israelis who have been killed Palestinian leadership has never, ever to refugee camps in Israel, which by wars and terrorism in our nation’s In all of the pages that the UN has said publicly that they will give up the eventually gave birth to thriving short history. so-called “claim of return” – neither written about the Israeli-Palestinian towns and cities. Refugee camps in to the Palestinian people, nor to the Conflict, in all of its reports and fact- Arab Countries gave birth to more On Thursday, we will celebrate the We can never, Arab World, nor to the international finding commissions, and in all of the Palestinian refugees. rebirth of the Jewish nation – and community, or to anyone else. hours dedicated to debate about the our 64th year as a free people in our Middle East, there is one great untold Israel welcomed its Jewish refugees ancient homeland. Against persistent ever give up Since the Palestinian leadership story. Or – to be more specific – there with citizenship and unlocked their vast threats and overwhelming odds, Israel refuses to tell the Palestinian people are more than 850,000 untold stories. potential. As they rose to the highest has not only survived, but thrived. the truth, the international community levels of society, our refugees lifted the hope for lasting has the responsibility and duty to tell More than 850,000 Jews have been State of Israel to new heights. I walk the halls of this organization them the truth. You have a duty to stand uprooted from their homes in Arab tall and proud of my extraordinary peace. up and say that the so-called “claim countries during the past 64 years. Imagine if Arab countries had done the nation – a nation of just 7 million that of return” is a non-starter. Instead of These were vibrant communities dating same with their Palestinian refugees. has produced 10 Nobel prizes; a nation telling the Palestinian people the truth, back 2,500 years. On the banks of the Instead, they have cynically perpetuated that sends satellites into space, puts much of the international community Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Babylonian their status as refugees, for generation electric cars on the road, and develops The price of stands idle as the Arab World tries to Jewry produced many of Judaism’s after generation. Across the Arab the technology to power everything erase the Jewish people’s historical holiest books — and thrived for two World, Palestinians have been denied from cell phones to solar panels to connection to the Land of Israel. millennia. In the great synagogues and citizenship, rights and opportunities. medical devices. conflict is libraries of Cairo, Jews preserved the Across the Arab World – and even intellectual and scientific treasures of All of these are facts that must be We intentionally commemorate these at this table – you hear claims that antiquity into the Renaissance. From neither forgotten nor overlooked, as two days one after another. As the Israeli we look to move forward on the path to too high. The Israel is “Judaizing Jerusalem”. These Aleppo to Aden to Alexandria, Jews people celebrate our independence, accusations come about 3,000 years stood out as some of the greatest peace. we carry the heavy weight of great suffering and sacrifice. too late. It’s like accusing the NBA of artists, musicians, businessmen, and Madame President, evil of war is too Americanizing basketball. writers. The lesson we take from these days I’ve saved the most obvious myth is clear. We can never turn a blind eye Like many nations around this table, All of these communities were wiped for last: the myth that peace can great.That is the to the dangers around us. We cannot the Jewish people have a proud legacy out. Age-old family businesses and somehow be achieved between Israelis pretend that we live in a stable region of age-old kings and queens. It’s just properties were confiscated. Jewish and Palestinians by bypassing direct filled with Jeffersonian democracies. that our tradition goes back a few quarters were destroyed. Pogroms negotiations. History has shown that fundamental years earlier. Since King David laid the left synagogues looted, graveyards peace and negotiations are inseparable. cornerstone for his palace in the 10th desecrated and thousands dead. But there is another lesson that will fill the hearts of Israelis this week. We Century BC, Jerusalem has served as Direct negotiations are the only tool, truth which can never, ever give up hope for lasting the heart of our faith. The pages that the UN has written the only way and the only path to peace. The price of conflict is too high. about the Palestinian refugees could create two-states for two peoples. The evil of war is too great. guides our In debate after debate, speakers sit in fill up soccer stadiums, but not a Last January, Israel offered a clear the Security Council and say that Israel drop of ink has been spilled about proposal in Amman for restarting is committing “ethnic cleansing” in the Jewish refugees. Out of over 1088 That is the fundamental truth which direct negotiations. We presented the guides our leaders. leaders. Jerusalem, even though the percentage UN resolutions on the Middle East, Palestinian delegation with negotiating of Arab residents in the city has grown you will not find a single syllable positions on every major issue Madame President, from 26% to 35% since 1967. regarding the displacement of Jewish separating the parties. That proposal refugees. There have been more than – filled with Israel’s vision for peace – In the dangerous uncertainty of a The holiest sites in Jerusalem, the 172 resolutions exclusively devoted turbulent Middle East, the Security eternal capital of the Jewish people, continues to gather dust, as Palestinian to Palestinian refugees, but not one leaders continue to pile up new pre- Council has never had a greater were closed only to Jews from 1948 dedicated to Jewish refugees. The responsibility to separate myth from until 1967. Everyone could come to conditions for sitting with Israel. They Palestinian refugees have their own are everywhere except the negotiating truth, and fact from fiction. these sites except Jews. There was UN agency, their own information absolutely no freedom of worship. The table. It is time for them to give up The clarity of candour has never been program, and their own department unilateral efforts to internationalize world did not say a word about the within the United Nations. None exist more valuable. The need for honest situation in Jerusalem at that time. the conflict and take up the real path discourse has never been clearer. It is for the Jewish refugees. The word to peace. “double-standard” does not even begin time for this Council to sweep out the Since Israel unified the city, it has to describe this gap. Madame President, cobwebs of old illusions – and plant the thrived under the values of tolerance seeds for a truly “open” debate on the and freedom. For the first time in This discrepancy is very convenient This week we will observe the two most Middle East. The challenges before us centuries, sacred places that were once for some in this Chamber, but it’s not significant public holidays in Israel – demand nothing less. 12 ’ The 4th Ambassadors’

Nimrod Capital LLP 4 The London Fruit & Wool Exchange Brushfield Street, London, E1 6HB Tel: 020 3355 6855 www.nimrodcapital.com With best wishes from

Left to right HE Ambassador Taub, Lord Bew and HE Ambassador Gould,

emphasised the vital environmental, economic The 4th Ambassador’s Round Table on Renewable Technology held in the Great Gallery and regional implications of renewable energy technologies. Referring to the forthcoming Jewish Nimrod Capital LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in Lancaster House, gathered over 50 scientists, entrepreneurs, diplomats, parliamentarians and festival of Hanukkah he noted that “we celebrate

academics from both Israel and Britain. a two thousand year old miracle of oil that lasted The one day- long conference provided an for eight days. How wonderful that we are sharing opportunity for participants to identify opportunities technologies to make this closer to reality”. for Anglo- Israel cooperation in developing and implementing renewable energy technologies. The Ben Moxham, a Senior Advisor on Energy and the

delegates exchanged experience and expertise on Environment to the UK Prime Minister, talked renewable energy technology and deliberated on about off-shore wind, the need for policy focus what the two countries are doing to meet their and investment, and the costs needing to fall, but Gaynor Hartnell, the Chief Executive of the respective renewable energy goals, as well as discussing how to remove the obstacles preventing Renewable Energy Association, on his panel said progress in this area. the government was focusing too much on off- shore wind, to the exclusion of other technologies. The conference, was opened by AIA’s Chairman Innovations from Israel were presented by Lord Bew, was chaired by Oliver Morton, Senior Professor David Faiman, mainly in relation to solar

Editor of The Economist and the keynote speech energy and enhancing capabilities. was given by Nick Butler, Professor and Chair of the Kings Policy Institute. Mr Ophir Gore, Director of Energy & Oil Alternatives Department in the Israeli Ministry of Industry Trade

The Opening Remarks were given by HE Matthew & Labor, focused on the National Oil Alternative Gould, UK’s Ambassador to Israel, and HE Daniel Initiative of the Government of Israel. Mr Gore Taub, Ambassador of Israel to the UK. presented the recent developments of the initiative Mr Gould highlighted the importance Israeli and talked about the prospects and implications innovation has to the British story and the great they would have for the global economy.

partnership between Britain and Israel. Mr Taub

Harvesting Solar Energy in Israel Israeli Desert Yields a Harvest of Energy 16 return on investment can be given to anyone who returns before the lawyers come in, Abramowitz has managed to power back to the grid, via solar power installations or other develop business opportunities for Israeli Bedouin that renewable energies like wind. Israel’s feed-in tariffs were hold the promise of jobs and attractive leasing fees that set for mid-sized solar installations until 300 megawatts beat any kind of agricultural developments they could build are returned to the grid, meaning there is somewhat of on water-poor land. a “race” now on for companies to install mid-sized solar panel farms around the country. “About 60% of the land of Israel is desert, and about 30% of the people who live in the desert are Bedouin,” Yossi Abramowitz, as president of Arava Power, is fighting says Abramowitz. Helping them access the global green to get 30% of Israel’s guaranteed solar power feed-in tariff economy is a moral imperative, he says.

uring a visit to Ketura, a bone-dry kibbutz in grid nearby, the area has conditions that are perfect for Another major player in the solar the Arava Desert in Israel, in August 2006, Yosef producing solar energy. During a recent tour, Abramowitz energy field is Prof David Faiman, DAbramowitz, a social activist, Jewish educator and said, “God could not have invented a better place to do a scientist who emigrated from multi-media entrepreneur from Boston, found the heat solar power,”. the U.K. and has become one extremely oppressive even at 5 a.m. in the morning. He of Israel’s top solar-power felt the kibbutz must work on solar power and was amazed Arava Power is also working to help the Bedouin Arabs, researchers and is spearheading that this was not the case. a mostly nomadic tribal people living in Israel, develop efforts to push the country into their share of the solar industry. Last year, Arava signed a a new age. Faiman, the director Sensing a wonderful opportunity he went into partnership contract with the Tarabin tribe in the Negev desert to build of Israel’s National Solar Energy with Ed Hofland, a businessman from the kibbutz, andD avid a solar installation. The contract was the company’s first Centre at Sde Boker, says the Rosenblatt, an investor and strategist from New Jersey, to step toward generating solar electricity on Bedouin lands government must immediately found the Arava Power Company, the leading commercial in Israel’s southern desert region, where the majority of invest in major solar energy developer of solar power in Israel. Bedouin live. infrastructure projects, coupled with a public relations push to After more than five years of political and regulatory battles The Ministry of Interior’s Southern Regional Planning convince the populace of their with the Israeli authorities, the company has transformed 20 and Building Committee has now approved a plan for a necessity. acres of a sand-coloured field on the edge of the communal photovoltaic solar installation adjacent to Tarabin, to be farm. It now glistens with neat rows of photovoltaic panels based in the Abu Basma Regional Council. It was a historic Faiman moved to Israel right from China, 18,600 in all, that harness the sun. There is no move for the Bedouin, who can expect jobs and attractive before the Yom Kippur war and smoke, only a slight buzz in the spotless rooms where the lease incomes from the deal. The community leader, Haj says the subsequent Arab oil panels’ current is turned into electricity that can be fed into Mousa Tarabin, said, “I am glad there are people who are Professor David Faiman in front boycotts convinced him the the electrical grid. Small openings in the perimeter fence concerned and are helping the Bedouin improve their of his solar panels at the National country must embrace alternative allow animals to cross the field. lifestyle - on the economic level as well as with creating Solar Energy Centre at Sde Boker energy, specifically that drawn various sources of income.” from the sun, which he has spent Depending on the time of year and rate of energy the last decades of his career consumption, this field provides power for as many as five The Israeli government has offered attractive incentives for caps set apart just for the Bedouin people, as an important working to harness. communities. solar field development. In 2008 it was announced that the minority that can’t easily access the incentives. Israeli Public Utility Authority would approve a feed-in tariff A professor of physics at Ben-Gurion University’s Blaustein Siemens, the German conglomerate, was brought in as for solar energy plants. Feed-in tariffs are policies set by If the paperwork goes through in time, Arava engineers Institute for Desert Research and Chair of the Department a partner and invested $15 million, and its Israeli branch governments, so that over a particular period, a guaranteed could install an eight-megawatt facility near the Tarabin of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, Faiman has one built the field. The Jewish National Fund a century-old tribe. This would be enough to power 3,500 air-conditioned solution, curved solar panels that minimize the economic Zionist group most associated with planting trees in Israel homes or an even greater number of non-air-conditioned and environmental cost of producing solar power, one of Y osef Abramowitz, an educator made an unusual strategic investment of $3 million in a homes, like those of many Bedouin families. The ultimate the biggest barriers to the field’s development. and activist from Boston, co- twist on the early national ideal of trying to make the desert plan is to launch 30 megawatts in five locations, boosting founded a solar power company at bloom. the economies of the Bedouin communities as no initiative Recently, Kvutzat Yavneh, a kibbutz east of Ashdod, adopted the Ketura kibbutz in Israel. has before. The team at Arava is putting heart and soul into a new solar technology inspired by Faiman’s ideas. This Arava Power’s pioneering work has not gone unnoticed. getting the Israeli Bedouin to benefit from the Israeli solar year, the technology was exported to South Korea, and next Other communal farms and communities in the arid “gold rush.” year there are plans to ship the panels to Italy and China. reaches of southern Israel are rapidly turning to renewable The improved panels promise higher energy yields, reduced energy: solar energy is a harvest that does not require With an immediate $30 million in backing, 80 percent land use, lower per-unit costs and less environmental irrigation. of which comes from the United States government, damage. Arava says it has a total of $3 billion in financing from Last month, Israel’s Public Utility Authority issued licenses major companies like Siemens, and is ready to develop Faiman was born in Amersham, a small town outside of for nine larger solar fields, including a 150-acre site at the Bedouin solar industry. “This is one of the more London, as German bombs were being dropped on British Ketura that will eventually meet one-third of the peak meaningful, important and fun things that we get to do,” cities during World War II. He says he always wanted to be daytime energy needs in the nearby city of Eilat. says Abramowitz. “There’s definitely a historical element,” a successful physicist and attained physics degrees in the he adds, believing that Israel is and should be a “renewable U.K. and the U.S., crowned by a post-doctorate at Oxford Ketura’s new solar field will be built across the road from light unto the nations” to paraphrase the ethical biblical University. Although Faiman had long pondered the kibbutz in a rift valley between two mountain ranges. imperative for Jews to conduct themselves as an example immigrating, it was his star-crossed encounter with an The near-constant breeze from the north will naturally cool to others. Israeli actress performing a run in England with the Royal the backs of the panels, which will face south. With up to Shakespeare Company that sealed the deal for him. That 14 hours of sunlight in the summer, an average of only 15 Abramowitz meets with the Bedouin every Wednesday. woman, Ofra, became his wife, and Faiman accompanied cloudy days a year and access to the national electricity Working over handshakes and small cups of sweet tea her back to Israel, on the eve of the Yom Kippur War.

18 But Faiman hit upon another idea to turn that liability into Faiman specialized in nuclear physics and worked for an advantage. By running water or some other liquid over CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the solar converter, the radiated surfaces are cooled down before immigrating to Israel to work with the Weizmann to manageable levels. The heat energy absorbed by that Institute. But the Arab oil embargo that followed the Yom liquid is then transferred to water stored in large tanks, Kippur War jolted Faiman into rethinking his research in making it unnecessary to use electricity or burn fossil fuels light of national needs. to heat running water.

“I did a lot of soul-searching as to what would be the At the program’s pilot project at Kvutzat Yavneh, water most useful way I could use my scientific training. The pumped from the panels into a 5000 gallon storage system subsequent oil crisis and Ben-Gurion University’s decision actually exceeds 80 degrees Celsius and needs to be cooled to establish the Blaustein Institute helped me crystallize significantly before it can even be pumped into kibbutz my scientific future,” says Faiman. members’ homes for domestic consumption.

Today, Faiman is at the forefront of developing the next Since 2009, Israeli company Zenith Solar has been making generation of renewable energy systems, certain that Faiman’s ideas a physical reality, assembling the solar Israel must turn to solar solutions. “I like to think that our panel kits in a Kiryat Gat factory. Company co-founder and grandchildren will find it hard to believe that we lived in a CEO Roy Segev says that by using the CHP technology - world in which electricity was not generated mainly from which stands for ‘combined heat and power’ - the panels solar energy,” says Faiman. “Just as my own grandfather, are able to reach efficiencies of over 70%, as opposed to who was born in Russia in 1872, once expressed amazement conventional PV panels, which record efficiencies of only that most people no longer knew how to ride a horse.” between 10 and 15 per cent.

Faiman is concerned about the effects that the country’s Desert Solar panels consumption and population growth rates will have on Israel’s energy requirements and its announced target of ten per cent renewables by 2020. “This straight line that has been rising for the last 20 years at a rate close to two billion kilowatt hours per year, reached 60 billion last year. What that means is, ten years from now, in the year 2020, we are going to be at close to 80 billion,” says Faiman. Warmest wishes The ten per cent goal, out of a projected total of 80 billion, is eight billion, and with ten years to arrive at that figure, that would mean mandating an annual increase of 0.8 billion kilowatt hours produced per year. “0.8 every year means from the Whelfield Trust something like 400 megawatts of installed capacity. Nobody ever built a 400 megawatt photovoltaic plant anywhere in the world. Nobody ever built even a 100 megawatt plant! So we actually have to build photovoltaic plants every year at four to five times the largest plant that’s ever been built,” says Faiman. “That’s the meaning of ten per cent renewables.”

The main reason that solar technologies have not yet been adopted en masse, in Israel and around the world, is that up until now the cost of producing electricity using solar In addition to harvesting much more energy from a smaller panels has exceeded the cost of producing electricity by space, which preserves precious land resources, Segev burning fossil fuels. Faiman and his colleagues hit upon says that far less landfill is produced from their waste. a novel method for reducing panel production costs: separating the two functions of collecting energy and “The majority of the materials here are mirrors, plastic, converting energy. metals, etc,” says Segev. “They are 99% recyclable.” Most importantly for most people, the CHP panels will soon be Although collection surfaces must be large, in order to able to produce energy at parity with conventional energy catch as many solar rays as possible, Faiman realized that sources, says Segev. “If we get these machines at mass the “wafers” which convert these solar rays into electricity production, not millions of machines, but rather at a rate of needn’t be. By bending the panel into a parabolic dish 500 to 1000 units a month, they would generate energy at and re-focusing all the sun’s rays onto a small receiver less than 10 cents U.S. per kilowatt hour.” only one-thousandth the size of the dish, Faiman’s model minimizes the size of the most economically and ecologically expensive component of the panel.

Ordinarily, focusing so much solar energy onto such a small area would burn the solar converter, rendering it useless.

20 Tomorrow’s Technology TaTodayod Todayy TodayTodayTodayTodayTodayTodayTodayToday

This year, the Technion is celebrating its centenary, and it Research Centre on the Technion Campus, marshalling the is truly phenomenal that in the 100 years since its corner brainpower at the Technion. stone was laid, Israel has revolutionised its economy from Much of this innovation stems from Israel’s academic exporting Jaffa Oranges to exporting semiconductors. institutions. The drive, passion and never say never attitude Studies have shown that Technion graduates have played a can be seen across academia, not to mention natural large role in this revolution. Technion graduates comprise scientific talent, which is nurtured at school right through to the majority of Israeli-educated scientists and engineers, university. Israel produces the third most scientific papers constituting over 70% of the country’s founders and per capita in the world. This is demonstrated by Professor managers of high-tech industries, while 80% of Israeli Dan Shechtman’s recent Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his NASDAQ companies are led by Technion graduates, 74% discovery of Quasicrystals. While on sabbatical from the of managers in Israel’s electronic industries hold Technion Technion in 1982, he discovered crystals that had five point degrees and 90% of Israeli start-ups, which generate 31% symmetry, something the rest of the scientific community of Israel’s GNP and one third of its exports, are lead by did not believe existed. His discovery was extremely Technion Graduates. controversial. In the course of defending his findings, he These statistics are impressive and you may wonder how was asked to leave his research group. However, his battle this is possible? It is something that I have discussed with eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception staff at the Technion on many occasions. Why has Israel of the very nature of matter. His determination to change become the ‘start up nation’ and why does a country that the prevailing narrative took many years and he finally is 64 years young with a population of under eight million gained a Nobel Prize in recognition of his discovery in people lead the world when it comes to technological and December 2011. scientific innovation. Scientific and technological innovation in Israel is going The answer is not simple, but is a complex web of factors. from strength to strength, with Israeli institutions such as Yossi Vardi, the ‘godfather’ of Israel’s hi-tech industry the Technion leading the way. As recently as last October, has attributed this success to ‘a cultural and spiritual the city of New York announced that Cornell University phenomenon, but not a technological one, as you have and the Technion have entered into partnership to create technology all over the world.’ He added, ‘all Israeli kids a world class applied science and engineering campus on know that their mother will tell them: ‘After all that we’ve Roosevelt Island. It will combine the academic strengths of done for you, is asking for one Nobel Prize really too both institutions and take elements of the Technion’s global much?’ This success could be in part attributed to the fact leadership in commercialization and technology transfer, that it is easier to start an innovative business in Israel than to transform the city of New York into an innovation hub, as in other countries and very much encouraged, innovation has been done in Haifa. is in the blood because from the turn of the century the The Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology is helping to early Kibbutznicks had to think of new and different ways to shape a brighter future for us all. make the arid desert flower. Israel is surrounded by hostile enemies who have at various points in its history sought to destroy what was blooming in the desert, so military Tony Bernstein is Executive Director of Technion UK technology is cutting edge and often creates lucrative civilian spin offs, particularly in communications. Not to www.technionuk.org mention the influence the influx of Jewish immigrants has had on Israeli society since 1948, often seeking a more prosperous life. In particular, many well respected scientists and academics came to Israel from the Soviet Union in the 1990s and gave the scientific community an immense boost in terms of brain power. Success breeds success, and much of Israel is now known as the ‘Silicon Wadi’. Haifa, where the Technion campus is, has in particular seen a huge expansion in technology companies headquartered there. The likes of Intel are based in Haifa and employ 7,200 Israelis, while Google opened premises in 2006 and Apple followed in 2012. In 2011, it was announced that Microsoft will build a $1.5m Professor Dan Shechtman

22 innovations from israel.

24 RUTH – a new way of fighting breast cancer israeli innovations The Israeli company Real Imaging offers a no-radiation, no- contact alternative to mammography pioneered by electro- optical engineer Boaz Arnon and named in memory of his mother, who died of breast cancer in 2004. Russian Caviar from Israel its business is farm-raised trout, which unlike sturgeon is a kosher fish. To retain its kosher certification, today RUTH uses a new trademarked platform that enables Think “caviar” and the Caspian Sea probably come to the kibbutz does not sell sturgeon or sturgeon caviar automatic quantitative analysis of 3D and infrared signals mind along with Russia and maybe Iran. Well, think again. domestically but it has become its most profitable product. emitted from cancerous and benign breast tissue. Results Because some of the finest caviar in the world today are interpreted by computer, with unprecedented accuracy originates from ponds at Kibbutz Dan in Israel. The staff can tell by the eggs’ taste, size and colour if in patients of all ages — 90 percent as opposed to 80% for the mother is sufficiently mature. Eggs bigger than 2.8 mammography. Thousands of women have been involved millimetres in diameter and somewhere between gold and in clinical trials for RUTH since 2007. The next step is CE gray-black in colour, signal readiness. and FDA approval. Real Imaging’s RUTH device. “Usually when we make this test we check 3,000 females, and about 1,000 are ready,” says Ben-Tzvi. “The rest will be ready the next year or the year after.” Revolutionary Israeli Toilet Gets Gates Sturgeon is a hardy breed that can outlive humans, and the Foundation Grant for $ 110K older fish make more eggs. “Now we have 4,000 or 5,000 sturgeon that are older than eight. Altogether we have An Israeli-invented toilet that needs no water and leaves about 70,000 fish of all ages, the youngest one a year old no waste caught the interest of the Bill & Melinda Gates and the oldest about 12 years.” Foundation, which awarded parent company Paulee CleanTec $110,000 “to create next generation sanitation Nutty and buttery technology to help make sanitation services truly safe and sustainable for the poor.” Under private label of the kibbutz’s Karat brand, the product can be bought on gourmet websites for about $107 “We are one of only very, very few Israeli companies that for a one-ounce tin. have received any grants from this foundation,” points out Oded Halperin, one of the company’s original founders & About four tons will be produced this year, although at full investors. tilt the kibbutz can turn out eight tons of caviar annually. The toilet is based on the same principle as the high-tech “We raise only Osetra sturgeon. That is our big advantage pooper-scooper. Invented by renowned Hebrew University P aulee CleanTec because most caviar in the world is not Osetra and is much biotech innovator Prof. Oded Shoseyov based on an idea less good,” says Ben-Tzvi. Only three other farms in the Halperin thought up, the device gathers droppings and any sewerage or electricity infrastructures or connections. world raise Osetra, and the Israeli variety has gained a turns them into odour free, sterile powder within seconds No need for water to flush, no special maintenance — the premium reputation partly because the ponds use water after the dog-walker pushes a button to release an chemicals can be put in its dispenser once a month and the pumped from the Dan River, a tributary of the Upper Jordan. activation capsule from the cartridge inside the unit. The cost of one use is only a few cents.” Ben- Tzvi tasting freshly harvested eggs. resulting powder is a fertile composting material. “We use Israeli caviar because of its flavour,” Jean-Francois These features are a good fit for the Bill & Melinda Gates Bruel, executive chef at Daniel restaurant in New York City, Earmarked for developing countries by the Gates Foundation’s “Re-invent the Toilet Challenge,” which aims It all started with a business trip to Russia in 1992. Aqua told Reuters recently. He described it as “very nutty and Foundation, the toilet will go a step further. to improve on the limitations of the 18th-century toilet culturists Yigal Ben-Tzvi and Avshalom Hurvitz, who grew buttery” with no aftertaste or muddiness. “We tried some still in use today, for 2.6 billion people lacking access to up on Kibbutz Dan and run its fish farms, bought some caviar from other countries but we found the Israeli one to No water or electricity will be needed sanitation. prized Osetra sturgeon eggs to hatch for the growing Israeli be the best so we work with Israeli caviar.” population of Russian immigrants who love this variety of “For the solid waste, which also can include toilet paper, According to the foundation, re-inventing the toilet could fish. we are mixing it with our chemical formula for not more save millions of lives and help end poverty. About 80 percent than 30 seconds and it will turn immediately into odour of human waste goes into rivers and streams untreated, At the time, harvesting the fish’s precious eggs was not on Tinned Israeli caviar ready for export. free, sterile fertilizer,” Halperin says “The fertilizer will be and 1.1 billion people don’t use a toilet. their agenda. Russia and Iran had that market cornered. automatically dropped into a removable canister where it But when the United Nations declared wild sturgeon can be collected from time to time and then be used for The winning solution must be hygienic and sustainable, endangered in 2003, Ben Tzvi and Hurvitz decided to go for field and/or home crops.” with an operational cost of no more than five cents per user, it even though that entailed holding onto their stock of fish per day. It may not discharge pollutants and must generate for about another six years until they reached the peak age. The liquid waste will be sterilized separately in another energy and recover salt, water and other nutrients. It may It was a good decision, because in 2006 the export of all reservoir, and then pumped up (with a small aquarium not rely on water to flush waste or a septic system to wild sturgeon caviar from the Caspian and Black seas was pump) to flush the toilet – powered by heat energy created process and store waste. banned. from the solid-waste process and stored in a small battery. According to the still-secret drawings of the patent-pending The one-year Gates grant is first-phase funding. If the The little Galilean kibbutz just had to wait until 2009 to device, the internally created heat would even power a LED foundation likes what it sees, Paulee CleanTec will then conquer the market. light inside the stall. submit a second proposal for a $1 million or $1.5 million grant to complete development and build a prototype. Fortunately, sturgeon farming was not – and is not – “Just to back up the energy source, we will also use a small Kibbutz Dan’s only source of income. About 96 percent of solar panel on the roof,” says Halperin. “There’s no need for

26 “Rewalk” the story continues European regulatory version of the US Food and Drug Administration’s stamp of approval. The kits could be In our last issue we told you about the quasi-robotic ready in a few months, and then it’s only a matter of time exoskeleton which includes leg braces with motorized before they become available in the US where some eight joints and motion sensors which enable paraplegics to million extra hospital stays cost the healthcare system an walk again. This first appeared in the VT programme, Glee. estimated $20 billion per year. We now fast forward to London where Claire Lomas, who lit Schroders Private Banking Trusted relationships, advanced thinking the cauldron at Trafalgar Square to start the Paralympics No more guesswork Torch Relay, became the first person in the world to use the new technology at home. Dubbed “the bionic Woman” BioConnections will develop the product as a means to is pleased to support Investment Winner – Charity immediately detect the presence of all multidrug resistant WINNER 2012 Management Investment Management after ‘running’ the London Marathon (over a 17 day period) Company of Investment Performance – Best Private the Year using Rewalk, Lomas says she can now talk to friends infections. The technology will also be able to identify Cautious Portfolios Bank in the UK The Anglo-Israel Association Image and Reputation extremely drug-resistant infections so that affected patients – Ultra High Net Worth and family eye to eye thanks to the £43,000 exoskeleton. Schroders Private Banking Trusted relationships, advanced thinking Raising more than £200,000 for spine injury research, she may be properly isolated and treatments determined within said “Doing the marathon was hard work and mentally very minutes rather than days. challenging but it was a great experience. Mrs Lomas was is pleased to support Prof. Emeritus Investment Winner – Charity WINNER 2012 Management Investment Management Company of given the exoskeleton made by ARGO Medical Technologies Visit us at Investment Performance – Nathan Citri Best Private the Year www.schroders.com/privatebanking Cautious Portfolios Bank in the UK of Haifa, at a 50 per cent discount and raised the rest of the – the genius The Anglo-Israel Association Image and Reputation – Ultra High Net Worth money. Other versions of the suit have been used across behind the new the world in treatment programmes, but hers is the first to superbug kit. Schroder & Co. Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. For your security communications may be taped or monitored. w42487 be allowed for home use. Citri was the first Hebrew Visit us at Israel’s superbug detective kit Prof. Emeritus Nathan Citri University www.schroders.com/privatebanking A new technology, developed by a 91-year-old scientist at scientist ever to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is putting Israel way file for a patent, in 1958, years before Yissum was created Schroder & Co. Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. For your security communications may be taped or monitored. w42487 out front in the worldwide fight against antibiotic-resistant to market and license the university’s technology. His bacteria. latest invention, the bioassay, is based on the biology of beta-lactams, the most widely used group of antibiotics It’s a well-established fact that hospital-borne infections including such commonly known drugs such as penicillin are a top killer in the United States and Europe. Use as and cephalosporin. Weizman UK_06.5.10_287x200.pdf 1 06/05/2010 22:44 much antibacterial hand gel as you like, but no one is totally immune from “superbugs” spawned by the overuse Arranged in an array format, the kits are modular, so or misuse of antibiotics. People with compromised immune can be built to order and made to test various antibiotics systems, newborns and the elderly are especially easy prey according to need. for these microbes. What’s extremely novel about the diagnostic kit is that it also provides information on the type of antibiotic that might Superbug kit. be useful against the infection, whether it’s in the lower respiratory tract, urinary tract, intestines or abdomen. Armed with information from this kit, doctors will be able to shave days off the decision-making process, and remove guesswork from the clinical setting. The kits are made to produce a chemical reaction in the presence of beta-lactamases, an enzyme found in all multi-drug resistant bacteria. If the urine or blood contains a kind of bacteria known to destroy the antibiotics located on a certain part of the array, within minutes a warning Prof. Emeritus Nathan Citri’s medical kit targets the colour change will tell members of the medical team what problem of identifying various bugs fast enough to save they need to know. lives and stop an outbreak. Currently, patients can wait as long as five days to get an evidence-based treatment, time “We are very excited with this new partnership, and during which the infection can spread like wildfire. The are convinced that Prof. Citri’s invention will improve kit has all the material necessary to test for the presence patient care, saving lives, shortening hospital stays and of superbugs in a urine or blood sample, and almost significantly reducing healthcare costs. The first kits are in immediately provides crucial guidelines on how to treat the the last stages of development, and we hope it will reach infection at hand. the market within months,” said Ken Denton, the CEO of BioConnections. The university’s commercial arm, Yissum Research Development, has entered into a licensing agreement with Yissum’s CEO Yaacov Michlin added: “Drug-resistant gut the UK-based company BioConnections to market Citri’s bacteria present the most alarming, imminent threat to our kit. ability to control infectious diseases. In order to contain its spread, a case of multi-drug resistance should be promptly Though many medical diagnostics devices can take years isolated and treated with the one or two last-resort drugs and moments of uncertainty before they come to light, that may still work. This is an extremely important step in BioConnections has already applied for the CE Mark, the our fight against antibiotic resistance.”

28 Israeli Advances Against Alzheimer’s disease

Israel’s researchers are making pathology of the disease. The new trials will determine if it inroads against the devastating has the same effects in humans. and fatal condition through 2. NeuroAD brain science, drugs and memory This electromagnetic stimulation system, developed by enhancement. Yokneam-based Neuronix, is the first medical device in the The amount and quality of medical research coming out of world to receive approval for treating mild to moderate AD. Israel is quite astounding. So it’s not surprising that some It appears to change the course of the disease and allow of Israel’s best minds have been tackling the mystery of patients to regain cognitive skills. Clinical trials in Europe Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a fatal and progressive brain and the United States are revealing that a few weeks of this disorder that is the most common cause of dementia non-invasive treatment deliver better measurable results worldwide. than medications in cognitive improvement. AD affects about one in 20 people age 65 or older, accounting NeuroAD is based on a patent-pending technology for 60-80 percent of dementia cases. In 2010, AD afflicted that electromagnetically stimulates areas of the brain 5.4 million people in the United States, where it is the sixth responsible for memory and learning, making them leading cause of death. One in eight Americans will develop receptive to simultaneous tailored cognitive training. the disease at some point, while more than six million are affected in Europe. About half of AD patients also suffer from depression and up to 40% exhibit symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease as well. Here are just some of the ways Israel is contributing to solutions for a huge worldwide problem.

1. Ladostigil Last May, Israel’s Avraham Pharmaceuticals began 26- week and 36-month Phase 2 clinical studies of Ladostigil, an Israeli-developed drug candidate to treat mild cognitive impairment — one of the signs associated with the onset of NeuroAd by Neuronix. senile dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This “neuroprotective” drug, developed by Prof.Marta Weinstock-Rosin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 3. ElMindA (HUJ) and Prof.Moussa Youdim of the Technion Israel The Herzliya-based company aims to revolutionize Institute of Technology based on an invention by HUJ Prof. diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of AD and other brain Michael Chorev, relieves behavioural and psychological disorders with its trademarked, non-invasive brain network symptoms of AD including depression and anxiety. In activation (BNA) technology. lab animals, it also slows the progression of symptoms for sustained periods of time and actually modifies the During the painless procedure, patients sit at a computer 30 for 15 to 30 minutes performing a specific task many times 5. Nasal Spray Vaccine 8. Alzheimer’s Aid Dogs (the repetition allows the device to sift out unrelated brain activity) while the device maps network activation points in Tel Aviv University researchers, led by neurobiologist A shorthair collie from Finland named Polly was trained the brain in the form of a three-dimensional image. Dan Frenkel, say their (not yet commercialized) two-in- in Israel as the world’s first specifically Alzheimer’s Aid one nasal spray vaccine can protect against both AD and trained dog for people suffering from early-onset AD. BNA is sensitive enough to show subtle differences in the stroke. The two are associated because people with AD Since then, more than 500 AA Dogs have been placed severity of the condition from one day to another, and it can with companions worldwide. The training program was optimize drug-dosing decisions by monitoring the changes devised by professional dog trainer Yariv Ben Yosef, social in brain network activities as the drug takes effect. It can worker Daphna Golan-Shemesh and electrical engineer also help identify patients best suited to test new drugs. Avi Rabinovich. Whilst out for a walk, AA Dogs have been trained to bring their masters back, upon hearing the word “Home” — a codeword that the patient is feeling disoriented – or upon hearing a distress signal sent by a worried carer via SMS Nasal vaccine application to a device worn by the patient. The dogs also help to keep depression at bay by playing with their masters and keeping are at increased risk of stroke due to vascular damage in them company. the brain. The product appears to repair this damage by activating the body’s own immune system. The vaccine would be given as a nasal spray to people at risk or showing 9. Cinnamon extract very early AD symptoms, as well as post-stroke patients. Cinnamon doesn’t only smell nice, it is also known to have

powerful anti-viral properties, and it seems to slow down a nces The ElMindA helmet. 6. Davunetide the progress of AD. Tel Aviv University doctoral student Anat Frydman-Marom found that the extract, dubbed Allon Therapeutics recently shared new research showing CEppt by the Tel Aviv University scientist who isolated it a how its lead product candidate, the neuro-protective

decade ago, can delay the effects of five aggressive strains v 4. Brainsway drug Davunetide, prevents nerve cell death. Co-founder of AD-inducing genes, according to a multi-lab research Illana Gozes of Tel Aviv University, told colleagues at the Brainsway’s patented medical device for deep-brain paper she co-authored for the medical journal PLOS ONE. electromagnetic stimulation is thought to help alleviate 12th International Stockholm/Springfield Symposium on addictions and other brain disorders including AD. Advances in Alzheimer Therapy in May, that the drug is In test tubes, and in flies and mice, CEppt dissolved the currently being tested in a clinical trial on people with mild amyloid plaques known to lead to AD. One day the extract cognitive impairment. could be given as a food additive, drug or vitamin, to younger people to prevent AD occurring later in life. 7. Savion Memory Enhancing Training 10. Fish oil Tel Aviv University neurobiologist Daniel Michaelson has shown the effects of diet and environment on carriers of a gene called APOE4, which is present in half of all AD patients and in 15 percent of the general population. Eating foods high in omega-3 oils (such as fatty fish) and low in cholesterol appears to significantly reduce the negative effects of the gene.

The first computer program in the world designed to provide cognitive stimulation for people suffering from dementia was developed by occupational therapists at Melabev, a The Brainsway device. Jerusalem-area chain of day centres for AD patients.

The device consists of a helmet outfitted with an Savion slows mental deterioration while maintaining and electromagnetic energy-emitting coil licensed exclusively improving memory in early- and middle-stage victims of to the company by the Weizmann Institute of Science and the disease. Verbal, numerical and geometrical exercises, the US National Institutes of Health. The patient wears the plus memory-training tasks, are adjustable to match each helmet for about 15 minutes while sitting quietly, allowing user’s level. the coil to determine what parts of the brain should be In a study at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, AD patients stimulated and how intensively. It can be activated at using Savion for 30 minutes twice a week over four weeks Michaelson, who has been researching AD over the past varying frequencies and patterns for therapeutic results showed improved cognition, language skills, memory and 16 years, says the symptoms of carriers of APOE4 actually over a course of time. organizational aptitude. In response to global demand after worsen when they are in a stimulating environment – its introduction in 2010, Savion is now available in a variety Trials are taking place at 22 centres throughout Europe, the opposite of what is currently accepted wisdom about of languages. the United States, Canada and Israel including Harvard and preventing AD. His nutritional studies indicate that a Columbia universities. healthy diet may counteract the problem.

32 Isr a el i A d Clinical tool Photo courtesy of Yanai Yechiel Back at Nitzanim, it wasn’t possible to offer standard therapy because the families left there after a short stay, so A Healing Hug Dr Shai Chen-Gal and the team had limited time Hibuki - “A hug a day and thus needed a quick keeps the trauma away” and effective tool. Hen-Gal contacted his professor from Tel Aviv University, clinical psychologist Avi Sadeh. from Israel “He invited me and we met at the camp,” Sadeh recounts. “I offered to volunteer but he explained that they had enough volunteers, but needed some sort of strategic solution. I suggested an approach that I use in treating children in to Japan a private clinic: I recommend that parents of restraint that requires one to go on with “business as usual” and avoid public displays of emotion and the terrible buy a stuffed animal and then I teach them how to use it.” Last August, a somewhat unusual Israeli delegation landed million homeless. The tsunami also damaged the nuclear trauma it had undergone. And thus Hibuki (“Huggy”) was born. at Tokyo airport, Dr. Flora Mor, a psychotherapist and reactor at Fukushima and radiation that escaped from head of curriculum development for the Joint Distribution there threatened Tokyo and parts of northern Japan. Since Many of the worst affected were children in the disaster Truth be told, Hibuki - a soft, sad-eyed puppy, made in Committee’s Ashalim program for at-risk children and then the national mood has been in the doldrums. Planned zone. The world they knew had collapsed, some lost their China - began life in Israel as a failure; the importer didn’t youth; psychologist Dr. Shai Hen-Gal, a project director power outages were paralyzing the economy, foreign homes as well as their loved ones. Doctors in the region understand why parents weren’t buying it. Sadeh came specializing in trauma at Ashalim and the Education tourism was wiped out. In the Fukushima area, residents were reporting symptoms that indicated serious emotional across it by chance. “I was wandering the toy stores looking Ministry; and Daniella Hadassi, an art therapist who works were shutting themselves inside their homes, isolated in distress. Many children had stopped laughing or crying. for a plush toy and finally I came to one place where I saw on behalf of the Foreign Ministry. They brought with them their distress. Their facial expressions were frozen and they weren’t this one and knew right away that it was what we needed. 180 stuffed animals in rustling plastic wrapping. These interested in playing. I used the research money I had left over to buy the first 70 Japan had begun to slowly recover from the disaster, but little plush puppies, with their sad faces, have a proven stuffed animals.” while the recycling plants were busy grinding up the rubble The authorities have encountered great difficulty in trying positive effect on traumatized souls. for use in new infrastructure projects, in another sensitive to provide such children with psychological assistance. The sad face that kept parents from embracing Hibuki The tsunami that struck Japan’s north eastern coast on area they were struggling to find relief. The Japanese There are hundreds of thousands of affected children, turned out to be just right for Hen-Gal and Sadeh’s March 11 2011 took more than 20,000 lives and left nearly a psyche remained trapped between the national code spread over a vast area. Nor is there a very highly developed purposes. mental health system, as one would expect to see in the “A traumatized child identifies more with a sad animal West. There are not enough psychologists, psychiatrists because it’s easier for him to project his own sadness onto and educational counsellors to reach all the children it,” Hen-Gal explains. “One of the first questions we asked and give them the attention they need. And direct mental the children was why Hibuki was sad, and the child would health assistance from foreign countries isn’t available say: ‘Because a Qassam fell on his doghouse.’ Or, ‘He either. Foreigners don’t know the language, and Japanese doesn’t have any friends.’ Another advantage of this stuffed law prohibits anyone who didn’t study medicine in Japan animal was its human expression, plus the long arms with from providing medical aid to a local resident. The Israeli Velcro at the ends that can hug the child and cling to him. delegation was an exception, because of its experience in The child hugs the puppet and the puppet hugs him. That’s treating victims of mass trauma. where the name comes from.” Five years before the tsunami in Japan, Israel endured a The two psychologists distributed the stuffed animals in the barrage of rockets in the Second Lebanon War. Thousands camp and asked parents and staff to encourage the kids to of residents of the north abandoned their homes and “take care” of them. The results were astounding. Making found temporary shelter in the tent city set up by Arcadi the child act like a caretaker prompted him to shift his Gaydamak in Nitzanim. Thousands of children roamed the focus from his own problems to those of the little animal, camp unsupervised. The psychological counselling service as it were, and thus indirectly helped the child take care of of the Education Ministry eventually sent a delegation himself. The parents were also given a very valuable means there, including Hen-Gal. for reconnecting with the child and understanding how he “One of the challenges was to quickly diagnose thousands was doing, via indirect questions about his relationship of children and offer them a suitable intervention plan,” he with Hibuki. recalls. “Some were fine and others had suffered trauma of Hen-Gal explains, “It was clear the parents were afraid to one degree or another.” confront reality head-on. They didn’t know what to say to “Traumatic conditions in children entail a terrible sense of the children, and also felt guilty that the kids were paying loneliness that can include subjective feelings such as ‘I such a heavy price. As a result, the children were exposed don’t want to be different than other children,’ or ‘I don’t to vast loneliness, accompanied by anxiety. Our intervention want to burden everyone with my story,’” explains Hen-Gal, made [parents] see that children are affected much worse adding that often the adults around an affected child will when they aren’t able to speak about their anxiety, and we avoid direct mention of his distress. helped them to get the children talking and to answer their questions.” On their recent trip to Japan, Israeli psychologists Dr. Flora Mor and Dr. Shai Hen-Gal expanded the impact of their Hibuki therapy model on Japanese children traumatized by In the past 15 years, mental health research has found the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. 34 that the healing powers of people who are in the children’s Israeli Trauma Counselling Comforts Japanese Kids natural surroundings - parents, teachers, counsellors, The continued efficacy of the Hibuki program became etc., are greater than that of an outsider, no matter how A WELCOME eminently clear as Drs. Mor and Hen-Gal worked with skilled he or she may be. traumatized children, parents, and teachers at Fuji Rather than the magnitude of the disaster, it has been found Kindergarten, where eight children and a teacher who tried RETURN OF THE that it is the ability of such adults to mediate the experience to save them were all killed when the tsunami struck. Many for the child that affects the extent of their psychological of the school’s families and faculty members lost relatives SWIFTS TO NEST IN THE damage. and/or their homes during the disaster; a significant number are still living in temporary shelters, and others “Even children who are exposed to very severe trauma can WESTERN WALL IN have refused to return to the area, fearing a repeat disaster. heal efficiently if their parents and others around them are able to mediate the distress for them,” says Hen-Gal. In fact, the school remains in a near constant state of panic, JERUSALEM. as the Israelis were visiting the kindergarten, a minor Sadeh and Hen-Gal show that treatment with the Hibuki toy earthquake hit, sending everyone into emergency mode. is suitable for 95 percent of children exposed to stressful and traumatic events, and that within just a few days, At one point in the course of the Israelis’ visit, a little boy incidents of stress-related behaviour such as bedwetting, took his Hibuki doll and began performing resuscitation In our last issue we reported on the activities presence of the Mayor nightmares, anxiety and violence were reduced by 40 exercises on the stuffed animal. Eventually, after listening of Professor Yossi Leshem – the “bird man” of Jerusalem and many percent. Plus the therapeutic effect was apparently long- for breathing, the boy concluded that the animal had not of Israel. Now he sends us another report on dignitaries, is held at the lasting. survived. It was later revealed that this boy had witnessed a charming ceremony carried out each year to Western Wall to welcome the the death of his friend during the tsunami, and had watched Hibuki does reserve duty welcome the return of the swifts. swifts back to their summer as his teachers tried desperately but unsuccessfully to home. Since then, Hibuki has gained a virtually unprecedented resuscitate him. The Common Swift is a unique bird that spends most degree of fame. Since 2006, more than 50,000 of the plush Watching the little boy relive his trauma, one teacher of its life on the wing. The Western Wall in Jerusalem serves toys have been distributed to Israeli communities in the became very sad. “He’d been exhibiting violent behaviour It feeds on flying insects which it hunts in the air, it drinks as one of the oldest Common Swift north and south. Whenever children are exposed to trauma, ever since the tsunami struck, and we had not known how while flying, it sleeps on the wing and it even mates on the nesting sites in the world. A special study Hibuki gets a “call-up” notice to help him,” she confessed. The Hibuki training that the wing at the beginning of the breeding season. to map the nests was conducted in 2002 by the Their therapeutic program gained international recognition parents and teachers received addressed precisely this researcher, Mr. Ulrich Tigges and by the when Sadeh and Hen-Gal published an article about it concern, giving adults the tools to understand and be able The Common Swift spends most of the time living in South late Prof. Mendelssohn during which 88 nests were in the prestigious Paediatrics journal - which is how the to respond constructively to the children’s spontaneous Africa in dense colonial groups and at the beginning of noted. This study map served as a guideline during the connection with Japan came about. Daniella Hadassi, play. spring starts migrating north to its breeding sites. work of strengthening the Western Wall, keeping the nests a therapist who works in disaster zones on behalf of the During mid-February it arrives in Israel, which is known unblocked. The kindergarten’s principal, who happened to be away Foreign Ministry, came across the article and realized that to be one of its first breeding sites, and migrates back from the school during the March 2011 tsunami, had been Hibuki could be very helpful in a place like Japan, which to Africa at the beginning of June immediately after its However, the future of the Common Swift is not secure at plagued with overwhelming guilt and depression ever has a venerable puppet-related culture. Hadassi also nestlings have fledged. It is a small bird, weighing only 35 all and their future is at risk. since the disaster. She had isolated herself in her home for coordinated the arrangements between the Israeli team of – 45 grams, but is a superior flier, an aerial acrobat. It has The Friends of the Swifts Association, the Society for the months, unable to face the school community. Colleagues psychologists and Prof. Michiko Hara of Japan, a paediatric a thin, short body and impressive, long, scythe-like wings Protection of Nature in Israel, and Tel Aviv University are and friends brought her against her will to the original neurologist who teaches at Saitama University near Tokyo. with an outstanding aspect ratio. working together to promise the future of the Common Hibuki training sessions in the fall of 2011, and today she Swift by all available means; saving existing nesting sites, Remembering how well the program worked with credits the program with “giving me the strength” to finally Ever since humans started building cities, the Common designing and building new ones, special educational children affected by the second Lebanon War, right after begin to move forward. Swift has found our buildings perfect for nesting sites programs in schools, assisting Wildlife Rehabilitation the tsunami, Hadassi contacted Hara, who specializes in Ever since the group’s return from Japan, positive responses including ancient holy sites such as churches, synagogues, Centres, and PR activities to increase public awareness of aiding at-risk children and is head of the Japanese Puppet have been flowing in and it is possible that its members mosques and temples, and has become dependent on us. this special bird and the problems it faces. Therapy Association. After thoroughly studying the Hibuki will make a return visit. But the effects of using Hibuki Every spring in Jerusalem, a special ceremony, in the therapy concept, Hara sent an official invitation to Hadassi don’t end in Japan, nor with cases of trauma. Psychologist and the other Israeli experts to come to Tokyo to present the Sadeh reports that Cambodia has also expressed interest method. “She had one condition” recalls Dr. Flora Mor of in this method, and says that research shows that the little the Joint Distribution Committee. “Only if we convinced the dog is also useful for treating more common problems like association’s professional staff would we receive approval nightmares among children. Meanwhile, word of the Israeli to go and meet the children and parents who were affected project has even reached Tehran. The website Tehran by the tsunami.” Newsletter published an article describing the principles If owls can do it ... During their visit Dr Flora Mor and Dr Shai Hen-Gal visited of Hibuki therapy and called on the Islamic Republic of Iran tsunami-affected regions and trained Japanese teachers, to adopt them as a means to help the country’s children. nurses and other professionals to use the puppy doll to The pair of Barn Owls from Kibbutz And Hibuki himself? He continues to lovingly absorb the “hug” children and talk through their worries. kicks and blows and hugs from children, with that same Maoz Haim, Beit Shean Valley. “Our work in Israel and in places like Haiti and South sad puppy face. Male hatched in Israel, female Asia has demonstrated that treating trauma, especially in children affected by war or natural disaster, is a vital in Jordan. step towards recovery,” said Judy Amit, Global Director of Both raised successfully - 7 chicks! JDC’s international development program and a clinical psychologist. “By utilizing Japan’s history of doll-play A good sign for a better New Year in and by helping our Japanese partners tweak the Hibuki the Middle East? program to mesh with local cultural norms, we are working together to ensure that children here find solace in the wake of tragedy.” 36 Mitzpe Ramon...

... and its magnificent Maktesh Ramon Crater

38

Nearby, the much lauded Chez Eugene restaurant and surrounding boutique wineries and organic farms are giving travellers a reason to stay longer than when Mitzpe was nothing but a pit-stop on the way to Eilat.

Beresheet means ‘genesis’ in Hebrew and there is a real sense that both the region and hotel’s guests are in the process of being reborn.

Our photographs of Mitzpe Ramon do not do it justice. This is one place you have to go to see for yourself! Beresheet Hotel.‘ Built on a cliff overlooking the spectacular, 200-million- year-old Ramon Crater, the property was a labour of love for the late British hotelier, ‘david lewis

Today the town is slowly being revitalised by styling itself as an all-seasons ecotourism destination, but it has also Mitzpe Ramon become a haven for an eclectic mix of artists and city- escapists who have reclaimed the industrial zone, where and its they have set up galleries, stores, restaurants and even a small planetarium.

magnificent And how things have changed since the opening of the new Beresheet Hotel. Built on a cliff overlooking the Maktesh spectacular, 200-million-year-old Ramon Crater, the property was a labour of love for the late British hotelier David Lewis, credited with developing Eilat into Israel’s Ramon Crater premier resort town. There are 111 bedrooms (39 with private plunge pools) in a series of low-rise buildings. Mitzpe is Hebrew for ‘watchtower’, and accordingly, this small but engaging desert town is perched above the Desert activities include Jeep safaris into the crater, camel dramatic Maktesh Ramon crater. All along this spectacular treks and picnics with llamas, but most guests are happy ‘watchtower’, you’ll find far-ranging views and an extensive to while away their days in the hammam or lying beside the network of hiking routes. This wild wonderland is good for beautiful infinity pool with its views over the crater. The days of wandering. cuisine is a major attraction, with most ingredients sourced from nearby farms, such as Kornmehl for exquisite organic Mitzpe Ramon started life as a remote Moroccan community goat’s cheese. View at the pool of Beresheet Hotel in the 1950s.

40 Gamila’s Secret! eminist and path breaker, Gamila Hiar uses local herbs grown in the Galilee to Fproduce her famous soaps.

When Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli comes to Israel for a visit, she makes sure to stock up on Gamila’s soaps for her glamorous friends around the world. She and other celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and Angelina Jolie swear by the stuff, according to Fuad Hiar, the eldest son of Israel’s most lucrative soap maker the 70-year-old Gamila Hiar.

Gamila is adept at the role of traditional soap maker. She’s traditionally dressed, and as one would expect from an iconic grandmother figure, she has inherited her family’s ancient “soap wisdom” from prior generations, using recipes from her grandfathers, and herbs from their gardens around the Galilee village of Peki’in.

For more than 40 years now, Gamila has been making and selling soap – concocted into small bars worth their weight in gold – at about $35 each. Called Gamila’s Secret, about 100,000 of them are shipped every month to 23 countries around the world. The secrets aren’t in the choice of oils Gamila publicises widely: olive, almond, avocado and lavender. They are in the 15 secret herbs and plant extracts native to the Galilee that give the soap its special restorative properties. Soaps and sex

Gamila (pronounced jah-mill-ah) was born and raised in a small Druze village in Israel, where she still lives today. Her son Fuad, who runs the company, lives in another Druze village nearby. Considered an outgrowth of Islam, the secret Druze sect in Israel has a special history and relationship with the Holy Land. A tenet of the Druze belief is support of the country of residence, and its adherents are famously known for their service in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), unlike Israeli Arabs who do not enlist. Gamila has an extra-special relationship to her village. She was the first woman to A Druze grandma from northern Israel has created a soap empire that has attained enter the workforce decades ago, and is seen as something of a feminist since she celebrity status, used by the likes of Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and Angelina Jolie. introduced sex education into the local schools and emphasises the importance of subjects such as maths. She is also known for her support of women’s employment in her traditional society.

42 Gamila Soap is now on sale in 23 countries around the world.

oday, other than two of her sons, the soap factory in the of soap bars each month. In the beginning, says Fuad (52), TTefen Industrial Park employs only women – from the who has turned Gamila’s Secret into an international Druze, Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. brand, they used to give the soap away. But the family wasn’t always busy shipping out thousands Giving it Make your away skin smile Whilst in the army, at a cadet’s college in Haifa, he’d bring The high cost per bar is because the soap is produced with samples for his army mates to try. The soap wasn’t tested edible oils. on animals but on his army buddies, some of whom could get quite dirty! With family memories spanning generations, Gamila today has five children (four boys and a girl,) 15 grandchildren “It’s really 40 years of development,” says Fuad, himself a and two great-grandchildren. While she isn’t familiar with path breaker in his community. The firstD ruze to graduate the celebrities who use her products, she knows their from the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa’s Carmel mountains, endorsement is very important for business. he went on to serve in one of the IDF’s most prestigious army units as an officer in the Golani Brigade, where he Over the past few years she has developed a face oil and stayed for seven years. Today he runs the global soap cream. “It’s something good, without chemicals. All natural business. with no preservatives,” says Gamila who sees her fortune as her children, the four sons who are continuing her Today, there are problems keeping Gamila’s Secret soap business. They love the work, and believe in it and continue in stock, with orders backlogged by six months. Like a my work. Her best marketing tactic is the product itself and fine wine, the soap requires a certain amount of waiting the one slogan she continues to use to promote the soap: time. It doesn’t ferment. Rather the plant-based oils and “Try it and your skin will smile.” ingredients require setting time — months of drying until they harden.

With no artificial colours or fragrances involved, the soaps are gentle enough for babies, and boast restorative qualities that fight ageing and skin diseases like eczema. Because they contain no animal derivatives, the soap is also perfect for vegans, and those looking for kosher and halal products.

44 n November 2008 when the Queen an emissary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South presented President Shimon Peres with America, completed a degree in New York where he spent an honorary knighthood (the Knight Grand two years, then returned to Israel and worked at ELTA Cross of the Order of St Michael and St Systems – but all this could not keep him away from what George’s) he in return gave her a gift of a he perceived as his true calling, the creation of jewelry. pair of silver filigree candlesticks shaped like pomegranate crowns. These were Both his father and grandfather worked in the past in Five designed and made by Ben-Zion David Ruth Dayan’s project Maskit*, and Ben-Zion David feels a who is a silversmith, a jeweler and an responsibility to continue their tradition. It is impossible artist. His workshop can be found in Old to guess how Yemenite jewelry is crafted, as the finished Jaffa, the residence of many artists, but product offers no clues. “The uniqueness of Yemenite when you enter his workshop, its magic, jewelry is that it is always fashioned from five silver threads,” like another world frozen in time. explains Ben-Zion David. “Each thread has a name and the Thread interweaving in different forms and in various sizes creates Three things catch your attention as soon as you enter the finished product.” Jewelry making is an inspired Ben-Zion David’s workshop; Yemenite music, jewelry in craftsmanship. Apart from artistic ability, you need a lot of Ithe making and the warm smile of the artist. You might get patience to achieve the impressive final product, such as hooked on any one of these, but it is best to connect to all can be seen on display in the gallery. Ben-Zion David is three. How much he enjoys his work is obvious to anyone very proud of the jewelry he creates and is happy to lecture Filigree visiting his workshop. Seated in a specially prepared area, to gallery and workshop visitors on life in Yemen, on the guests are offered coffee and dates, and hear explanations hardships encountered during the journey from Yemen to on the jewelry making process. Israel and on the integration of Yemenite Jews in Israel. “That too is part of the mission I have taken upon myself,” Ben-Zion David derives a great deal of satisfaction from his says Ben-Zion David. enterprise, as he feels he has a mission and an obligation fit for a to preserve the Yemenite silversmith trade, an art that is disappearing from the world.

According to tradition, Yemenite Jews are the descendants of the Tribe of Judah who came to the country after the destruction of the first temple. Jews inY emen were defined as being under the king’s patronage and protection and Queen therefore citizens with lesser rights. The first significant wave of immigration to Israel in modern times was recorded in 1881. Up until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, approximately 35,000 Jews had arrived from Yemen. Immediately after the establishment of Israel, the government launched an urgent operation to bring the remaining Jews to Israel, due to reports of pogroms taking place in Yemen. Known as “On Eagle’s Wings” and “Magic Carpet”, over a three year period, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews (about 50,000) immigrated to Israel.

The most respected craft for Jewish men in Yemen was silversmithing. It originated with the first Jews who arrived in Yemen and was then passed down from one generation to another. Jewish silversmiths had superior artistic skills. Despite their inferior civil status, their jewelry creations were highly regarded by the authorities who allowed them to work in their profession. When ordering a jewel, a customer paid with silver coins, which were used by the Ring designed by Ben-Zion David artisan to prepare the fine silver filigree strands. The left over material was to be his fee. *As a proponent of women’s empowerment, Ruth Dayan (the first wife of Moshe Dayan) founded Maskit, a fashion and decorative arts house His father and grandfather were jewelers and Ben-Zion that provided her with a way of creating jobs for new immigrants and David has been following in their footsteps since the age preserving Jewish ethnic crafts and culture of the various communities of ten. He watched his father working, assisted him and living in Israel, was hooked. While still at high school he began designing jewelry, and as a result was very popular with the girls in his class. “It was worthwhile as I was in demand with no effort whatsoever,” exclaims Ben-Zion David. Following high school graduation, Ben-Zion David enlisted in the Paratroopers Corps and after demobilization studied electrical engineering at the Technion. He worked as

47 Taking the ‘Flower Train’ round the world! Exploring Jerusalem’s Botanical Gardens Some say it’s the best-kept secret in Jerusalem. Now, the secret’s out! The Gardens offer a 35-acre green retreat in the heart of Youth Leadership program - will reach out to Arab as well More than 200,000 people visited the a usually hot and bustling metropolis. They are located a as Jewish teens. stone’s throw from the Israel Museum and the Knesset Jerusalem Botanical Gardens last (Israeli Parliament). Inroads are meanwhile being made into the large ultra- yeaTakingr (up the fro ‘Flowerm Train’80,000 round in the 2008), world! and the They were established as an internal Hebrew University orthodox Jewish community, where boys, in particular, Exploring Jerusalem’s Botanical Gardens facility in the 1950s, opened to the public in 1985, and have little exposure to non-religious subjects. numbers are still rising. expanded in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the largest plant collection in the country (some 10,000 species), they Next year, the Gardens’ attempts to bring children from truly present ‘biodiversity live’! different backgrounds together will take a major step forward with the creation of an interactive Children’s Today’s exhibits divide into geographical sections Discovery Garden – the first of its kind in the country. presenting the vegetation of countries and continents Starting from what youngsters instinctively love doing in all over the world. Here, you can walk or take the Flower nature, this will provide the safe, accessible, yet magical Train from Europe to North America, from South Africa to natural world that is missing in the lives of too many urban Australia, and from Central and South-West Asia to the children living in high rise apartments all over the country.

Mediterranean, all in one day! No less important to the Gardens than public education is Add to that a colourful indoor tropical conservatory, a Bible the development of botanical and horticultural knowledge. Plants trail, a herb and medicinal plant garden, an African savannah grass maze, a picturesque lakeside restaurant The Gardens are currently hosting and collaborating and a year-round program of festivals and events, and you with the Hebrew University and other higher education have a must-see attraction! institutions on a large, government-funded research project aimed at isolating the factors that strengthen The Gardens have become a focus for encouraging social Mediterranean biodiversity. diversity as well as biodiversity. They serve as a neutral meeting place where people of all ages, faiths and cultures On another front, the Gardens test and acclimatize plants can find meaning and respect. Reflecting the Gardens’ from overseas – particularly drought-resistant ones - for motto “Plants grow People,” staff are designing programs use in Israeli parks, gardens and other settings. to reach out to as many population groups as possible - Jews, Muslims and Christians - of all ages and all abilities. Efforts are being stepped up to collect, cultivate, exhibit, Jerusalem’s 774,000-strong population is 63 percent protect and educate about some 400 native Israeli plants Jewish, 34 percent Muslim, and 2 percent Christian. that are in danger of extinction. At the Gardens, plants - which are politically neutral, yet speak to all - are harnessed to encourage social The Gardens have a strong connection to the UK thanks For further information about the Gardens and the interaction and change. One program brings Jewish and to an active British Friends organization. This has been UK Friends, please see the Gardens’ Arab schoolchildren together for a series of plant-based sending scholarship students to Jerusalem (many via Kew website: www.en.botanic.co.il or contact the activities designed to stimulate collaboration and to help Gardens) for some 30 years. The Friends also organize an author of this article: [email protected] break down stereotypes. Another - a new Environmental annual working holiday at the Gardens. By Sue Surkes 48 Yemin Orde Y outh Village

As Europe slowly recovered from the ravages of World Some of Yemin Orde’s graduates today are teachers or War II and survivors emerged from the horrors of Nazi youth leaders themselves. One graduate was the first concentration camps a newly-founded state of Israel stood Ethiopian Jew to become a barrister in Israel, another as a beacon of hope to these homeless souls. Yemin Orde is a noted film-maker, another a politician. Most have Youth Village located on 77 acres atop of Mount Carmel in completed army service, and the majority go on to study at Northern Israel, provided a safe haven and home for these university. So successful is the village’s educational model Holocaust orphans and immigrant children during the that it is known throughout the country and beyond as one great immigration wave to Israel of the fifties. of the most state-of-the-art residential and educational models. Agahozo Shalom in Rwanda, a home to Tutsi Set amidst lush woodland and gardens and located close to orphans, is based on the Yemin Orde model and is run by the Ein Hod’s artists colony south of Haifa, the Yemin Orde educationalists and youth workers who grew up and were Youth village includes 20 student houses, a high school, trained at Yemin Orde. art center, computer center, library, sports facilities, graduates’ home and a synagogue. It is home to some 500 In December 2010 nearly half of the village was destroyed youngsters at-risk, who have been orphaned, traumatized by the largest forest fire Israel has ever experienced. by abuse or poverty, alcohol or drug problems or whose Dormitories, one which housed 30 orphans from the parents simply could not cope or meet their children’s Former Soviet Union (FSU), workshops, staff homes and most basic needs. Some are school drop-outs, some have teaching facilities all were burnt to the ground or rendered spent time in youth prisons. uninhabitable. Lawns and gardens were covered in ashes. Some children lost the only possessions they had, family Yemin Orde’s mission is to take youngsters from the photos and medals they had won at the village. margins of society and improve their life chances. Yemin Village graduates arrived from around Israel and abroad Orde founder, Chaim Peri, says it aims to provide a to help wherever they could. The response of Chaim Peri “community of meaning”, an oasis of tranquility considered summed up what Yemin Orde stands for, to be a vital ingredient in the healing of youngsters who are ” The spirit of Yemin Orde was not destroyed“. scarred by years of conflict and abuse. The Village honors the memory of Major General Orde Charles Wingate. Orde Today, the children are housed in temporary dormitories Wingate was a British army officer, whose contribution to and pre-fab club-rooms and workshops. Building work the defense of the Jews and the formation of the State of had to start by replacing the entire electrical and sewage Israel was enormous. system whilst providing the children with counseling and the same level of care and education the village is known for. Whilst still traumatized by the deep loss suffered, all The Village’s success is evident in the success of its children are proud to take part in rebuilding their home. graduates, who today give back to society as leaders They remain grateful for every donation which comes in in business, the arts, the army and in civic arenas. Our and they appreciate the concern of the Jewish community graduates are not the burdens on society that their abroad. The Nobel Laureate Elie Weisel, The Dali Lama backgrounds would otherwise indicate. “I could have easily and scores of social thought leaders are actively involved remained in the gutter” said Yossi, a graduate who today with the school and praise how immigrant children are studies at the Technion in Haifa. embraced and accelerated into being productive members of society.

50 The AIA Educational Trusts or many years now the AIA has prided itself on the Trust, which contributed towards my studies of an MA in Mr Jonathan Natanian MPhil/PhD in Politics and International Studies, completing success of its educational trusts. We administer two Contemporary History and Politics at Birkbeck College, Mr Natanian is studying Sustainable Environmental September 2014. Ftrusts, the Wyndham Deedes Travel Scholarship Trust, University of London.’ Design (MSc) at the Architectural Association School of named in honour of our founder, which provides scholarships Architecture (the AA) Ms Mor Zaeiri for UK graduates to undertake research in Israel and the ‘Studying in the UK had been my dream since my first year of Ms Zaeiri is studying at the LSE for a full time MSc in Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship Trust commemorating a former BA studies in Israel, and realising this dream was a challenging Mr Amir Sivan Economics completing June 2012 Director of the association which awards scholarships to and enriching experience. As an international student I had Mr Sivan is at the University of Oxford, School of Anthropology Israeli graduates wishing to undertake MA’s and PhD’s in UK to combine my studies with work in order to finance them, and Museum Ethnography for a MSc in Cognitive and Mr Yonatan Zlotogorski universities. Over the years we have assisted many students however your incredibly generous contribution was what made Evolutionary Anthropology commencing October 2012 Mr Zlotogorski is studying at the LSE, for a full time MSc in to pursue their studies in an amazingly wide variety of fields. this experience possible. The grant enabled me to dedicate Global Politics commencing October 2012 and completing more time to my studies and thus not only finish my degree on Mr Oded Steinberg September 2013. Although relatively small, the scholarships are deeply time, but also to graduate with distinction.’ appreciated by our scholars, as can be seen by the following Studying at Oxford University for a DPhil in History extracts from a letter written by one of our scholars. This year we have awarded 23 Kenneth Lindsay Scholarships completing September 2015 Ms Shani Cohen Cost of living and university fees continually rise and it is very Ms Cohen is studying at the University of Cambridge, for a Extract from Netta Levee’s letter – important that we receive more funding to continue our work Ms Lana Tatour Masters in Pure Mathematics. of assisting these scholars whose research has already and Ms Tatour is studying at the University of Warwick, for an ‘I am delighted to write to you to let you know the results of will continue, to contribute so much to society. The following my studies and to express my heartfelt gratitude. In 2010, graduates have received Kenneth Lindsay Scholarships:- I was awarded a grant by the Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship This year we have only awarded one Wyndham Deedes Palestinian Arab villagers and orthodox Jewish communities. Memorial Scholarship to Inna Lazareva. The professor with whom I worked encouraged me to combine Inna’s project, concerns proposals for the better integration of my clinical work with reflective study. He felt that, with my Mrs Ravit Alfandari Mr Ido Gideon the Arab citizens of Israel by drawing on the experiences of the strong research background and although my time was Mrs Alfandari is at the London School of Economics (LSE) Mr Gideon starts at the Institute of Education, University of Russian immigrants, comes at a key time when such questions relatively restricted, it should be possible to conduct some undertaking an MPhil/PhD programme in Social Policy London (IOE), to undertake an MPhil/PhD programme in are being debated widely in Israel society. Her research will work that was potentially publishable. Without giving too completing in September 2013. Education. Will complete September 2015. be helped by collaboration with the Abraham Fund Initiative many secrets away, prior to publication, I chose to investigate which is an NGO that works in conjunction with the Israeli the relationship between ‘connection’ and ‘communication’.” Miss Polina Brangel Mr Iddo Gruengard government in order to promote co-existence between Jews Miss Brangel is at Imperial College London for a PhD in the Mr Gruengard is studying at Central Saint Martin’s College and Arabs in Israel. We look forward to hearing more about “In the context of the study, I considered doctor/patient research field of Bio-functionalised Nanoparticles for Bio of Arts & Design, University of the Arts, London (UAL) for her findings on her return. relationships seeking to Sensing completing in 2016. an MA in Performance, Design and Practice, finishing June The principal goal of understand the patient’s situation 2014. Last Year we awarded the Wyndham and background and to observe the Ms Sarit Cohen Deedes Memorial Scholarship to education is to create men way in which communication takes Ms Cohen is at the University of London, the School of Mr Nimrod Zvi Kovner Dr Karen Shan Leighton who as (and women! Ed.) who are place. The professor felt that as an Pharmacy doing a 3 year PhD in the Dept. of Pharmaceutics Mr Kovner is at the LSE for an MPhil/PhD in Government part of her final year BM studies capable of doing new things, ‘outsider’ – particularly one who completing July 2014. for the 2012/13 session. spent 4 weeks at the department did not speak ‘either’ language of Paediatrics at Hadassah Hebrew not simply of repeating what (Hebrew or Arabic) – I may be able Mr Yarden Eitan Inbar Levy University Hospital. She has been other generations have done. to see things that people who work In October Mr Eitan commences a MPhil in Advanced Ms Levy is at University College, Oxford undertaking a DPhil extremely busy and the promised Jean Piaget (1896-1980) in the environment on a day-to-day Computer Science at Cambridge University. in Law completing in April 2015. article will be published in next Swiss cognitive psychologist basis, may be blind to. Non-verbal year’s magazine. In the meantime communication often ‘speaks’ very she has written – powerfully. I would be in a good Mr Lior Erez Mr Tomer Marcus position to observe that keenly. In Mr Erez is presently in his second year at University College Mr Marcus is a violinist studying at the Guildhall School “I write to express sincere and deep thanks to donors who a children’s ward clowns can be very effective in establishing London to read for a PhD in Political Theory. of Music and Drama for a full time two year Masters facilitated my opportunity to study in Jerusalem earlier connection without speaking. Should they be trained as programme commencing September 2012. this year. I completed a Student Selected Unit (SSU) of my doctors? Or should doctors perhaps be trained to be clowns? Mr Yuval Etgar medical degree during this time. SSU is a short period when, It does not quite fit the picture of the British physician, does it? Mr Etgar is attending the Royal College of Art, for the MA Ms Yarit Mechany with Faculty of Medicine approval, we are allowed to choose Should it – or does that depend on context? “ programme in Curating Contemporary Art (CCA). Ms Mechany is studying at the Royal College of Art for what we study. Most students do their SSU in a department a Master of Arts Degree Course in Design Products, of their placement hospital. Some go to another hospital. For those wishing to learn more about these scholarships Mrs Irit Katz Feigis completing June 2013. Some adventurous ones may ask to go to Europe or Australia. please visit our website at www.angloisraelassociation.com Mrs Feigis is studying at Cambridge University, for a PhD Although not Jewish I chose to go to a country which has long where application forms can be downloaded. in Architecture. Miss Hemya Moran held a fascination for me – the Land of Israel.” Miss Moran is studying at the Royal College of Art for a On average the AIA receives 70 applications per year. Mr Yoni Furas Master of Arts Degree Course in Photography “During my time in Jerusalem, I had the privilege of working We could help a lot more students with more income. Mr Furas is studying at St. Antony’s College, University in the paediatric department, at Hadassah Mount Scopus of Oxford and Faculty of History for a DPhil in History Mrs Michal Nachmany hospital amongst children with (mainly) chronic diseases. If you would like to sponsor a Kenneth Lindsay or a Wyndham completing 2014. Mrs Nachmany is studying at the LSE for a full time MPhil/ These conditions are particularly prevalent in populations Deedes scholar, please contact us at: PhD in Geography, until October 2015 where there is a high level of consanguinity i.e. amongst [email protected] Tel: 020 8458 1284 52 Sunny with a chance of sol ar– Israel’s climate change policies Colloquium The 10th AIA Colloquium “Ethics and Responsibility in A country’s policies tell an interesting business as usual scenario, a modest promises. story – is it a leader? A follower? Is and perfectly feasible commitment. The national mitigation plan may be it a responsible long-term planner, The plan focuses on energy efficiency, a first sign of a strategic, wide angle or does it rely on its good fortune green building and transportation, yet grasp of the importance of climate an Interconnected World” to save it? Can it leverage risks to fails to address the energy production change and its possible implications. To create opportunities? Does it have mix, including renewable energy and complete it, Israel must also prioritize enough courage to make the right natural gas, a lacuna in the plan which adaptation efforts, to increase level choices, even when these choices are was heavily criticised when approved. of preparedness for dire times – from • Rise of the ‘Clicktivists’ • Are new technologies unpopular, and on the ‘wrong side’ However, even a striking success of reinforcement of infrastructures of the prisoner’s dilemma? Caught the plan and future plans will lead to disaster management plans. • The Internet backlash coarsening our culture? between worlds, Israel is (as usual) a to only a negligible impact on global The forest fire on Mount Carmel in unique entity when it comes to climate emissions, as it will cut a small December 2010, which claimed the • Battle for Cyberspace change policies. It is, on one hand, a proportion of Israel’s 0.5% contribution lives of 44 men and women, countless developed country, with average per to global greenhouse gas emissions. animals and millions of trees, serves capita greenhouse gas emissions Although this may pose an interesting as a painful reminder to what an arid, similar to the UK’s, and a robust question regarding Israel’s incentives hot December can cause. It calls for technological foundation, enabling it to mitigate its emissions, there is deep reflection on our agenda, and for to utilize creative alternatives to fossil no real shortage of reasons why lessons to be learned in responsibility fuels. On the other hand, it is a small, Israel should revolutionize its energy and humility. hot, coastal country, dull in natural production and consumption patterns. Facing nature’s rage at the negligence resources and rich in near-sighted Other than being a responsible team- imposed on it by humans, we must bureaucracy, which makes it highly player, Israel has a chance to leverage remember Midrash Kohelet Raba “See vulnerable to climate change. It is climate change policy efforts towards to it that you do not spoil and destroy entangled in a complicated political diversifying its energy sources, My world; for if you do, there will be no and economic agenda, on which reducing its energy intensity and its one else to repair it.” environmental issues rarely make it dependence on foreign oil and coal. high enough, despite the inevitable It has the chance to clean its air, Rutenberg power plant in Ashkelon. links between resources and regional water, and land, scarce and valuable Photo courtesy of Yonatan Ilan conflicts. Moreover, Israel only joined resources. It has the opportunity to the OECD in 2010, and has no official bring the start-up nation that it is to obligations to mitigate its greenhouse new heights by creating, testing and Michal Nachmany (LLB, MA, MBA) is an gas emissions according to the Kyoto exporting solutions to energy and AIA Kenneth Lindsay Scholar studying Protocol. water problems worldwide. By making for her PhD at the London School of Israel into the largest, most efficient Economics and Political Science and the 14-17th November 2013 Realizing the expectations that its and innovative testing field for green Grantham Institute on Climate Change OECD membership brought along, the technologies, it can not only generate and the Environment. Her research Israeli government approved in late clear financial profits, but also make focuses on dynamics of policy diffusion Mishkenot Sha’ananim in Jerusalem 2010 a NIS 2.2 billion (approximately some real local and global progress. among states. Michal worked for the £350 million) national greenhouse Greening Israel’s economy can also Energy and Environment Team at the gas mitigation plan. The national create thousands of jobs, and save Samuel Neaman Institute for National T o register your interest or to help sponsor plan aims to follow President Peres’s money on household energy bills. Policy Research, advising the Israeli commitment at the Copenhagen So far, Israel hasn’t shown enough government on the National Greenhouse the Colloquium please contact AIA. Summit in 2009, to reduce 20% of vigor and courage that will enable it Gas Mitigation Plan and formulating T: 020 8458 1284 E: [email protected] emissions by 2020 compared to a to harvest all these opportunities and Israel’s packaging waste policy.

54 F ood from the forest Recipe from Amir Kalfon, Chef at the Camel Forest Spa Resort in the heart of the Carmel Forest

z

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Mascarpone & Hazelnuts

This is my own personal version of the classic cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup, which gains a wonderful velvety texture through the addition of Italian mascarpone cheese.

Ingredients for 6-8 servings:

5 tbsp. olive oil 1 onion, finely-chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely-chopped 450g Jerusalem artichoke, peeled and coarsely-chopped 1 large potato, peeled and cut into large chunks 1 litre milk 1 litre water or vegetable stock Handful of thyme leaves 150g mascarpone cheese Salt and ground black pepper To serve: 200g (2 cups) hazelnuts, roasted and coarsely chopped

zz Heat the olive oil in a wide pot and fry the onion for 3 minutes until it starts to become golden. Add the garlic, artichoke, potatoes, thyme, salt, and pepper, and steam for 5 minutes. zz Add the milk and water, bring to the boil, and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes until the potatoes and Jerusalem artichoke soften. zz Using a hand blender, mash the contents, add the mascarpone, and mix until smooth. Taste and add seasoning as desired. zz Serve hot and sprinkle with hazelnuts.

56 Weizman UK_06.5.10_287x200.pdf 1 06/05/2010 22:44

Crowe Clark Whitehill’s Private Client team wishes the Anglo-Israel Association well for their 63rd Annual Dinner.

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