Israeli Innovation in Medical Technology
by Israel HighWay Staff

"It is important for people to know where the products they are buying come from…if the British boycotted medicines that were researched or created in Israel, half of England would be sick."

Kadima Member of Knesset Otniel Schneller used the Israeli medical technology industry as an example in his recent Knesset remarks upon the introduction of his bill to combat anti-Israel boycotts.

Schneller is right: There is virtually no area of medicine to which Israeli technology, research and innovation have not made significant contributions to the world's health. Cardiology, radiology, genetics, neurology and physical therapy are only some of the fields that benefit from advances in Israeli medical technology.

Medical and biotechnological firsts that were researched and developed in Israel include state-of-the-art surgical lasers, incredibly accurate "virtual colonoscopies," an array of cutting edge medicines, fully computerized no-radiation diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer, advanced and less painful laparoscopic procedures, an intelligent medical sensor that can be used to track and direct instruments to an exact three-dimensional location in the heart or other organs via a real-time virtual image, unique computerized monitoring systems for critical care patients, and many more.

Israel can take pride in its advanced medical technology industry. Israel is, in fact, considered the third most important source of medical technology in the world. Israeli medical and health exports have been growing annualy and are expected to reach $10 billion a year by 2009.

Issue of the Week is continued below

Israel Museum Unveils Rare Torah Manuscript from "Silent Era"

A rare Old Testament manuscript some 1,300 years old is finally on display for the first time, after making its way from a secret room in a Cairo synagogue to the hands of an American collector. The manuscript, containing the "Song of the Sea" section of the Book of Exodus and dating to around the 7th century CE, comes from what scholars call the "silent era" - a span of 600 years between the third and eighth centuries from which almost no Hebrew manuscripts survive. It is now on public display for the first time, at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The manuscript is now on extended loan to the Israel Museum and is on display in the museum's Shrine of the Book, which also houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. (AP/My Telus)

Palestinian Kids Perform Death Cult Rites of Spring

Well, it's springtime, time for school plays and graduation ceremonies. The same holds true in the Palestinian school system, except that kids perform ceremonies that celebrate suicide bombing, killings and martyrdom.

A video clip broadcast on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV and captured by MEMRI TV shows a kindergarten graduation ceremony, with young boys dressed as terrorists, wearing Hamas headbands, waving toy guns and swords and chanting "Death for the sake of Allah!" (Israel Insider)

Iranian TV Series Casts Israel as European Problem by Yoav Stern

Iranian state television has begun airing a prestigious drama series that claims that the Jews reached Palestine because of persecution during World War II. The episodes aired thus far are in line with the Iranian government's official stance that the Israeli-Arab conflict is essentially a European problem and therefore Jews in Israel should return to their home countries in Europe. The series, "A Zero Degree Turn" is aired weekly at prime time. (Ha'aretz)

China Cultural Festival Held to Mark 15th Anniversary of China-Israel Diplomatic Ties by Wang Yan

The China Cultural Festival opened in Israel to mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Israel. The opening performances of the feast was presented by the renowned Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe of China with the acrobatic show "Heroes," which showcases ancient Chinese heroic stars from different eras, such as the legendary Mulan, the warriors and horses of Emperor Qin, and Shaolin kung fu masters. Besides the acrobatic show, a number of different Chinese cultural events are also expected to be held in Israel, including Chinese folk dance, folk music and songs, arts and crafts, photo exhibitions, plays and movies. The festival, which is jointly held by Chinese and Israeli governments, will last for about six months until November, during which, more than 200 performers from all over China will be coming to the Jewish nation. Both Chinese and Israeli governments have attached great importance on the event. (China View)

Google Joins Intel in the Israel Expansion by Bogdan Popa

Google plans to expand its presence in Israel and opened a new center in Tel Aviv. This is the second research and development center in the country, this latest one having no less than 30 employees. Last year, the search giant opened a center in Haifa where it currently employees 20 persons. As you might know, Israel is a country that hosts numerous impressive names such as Intel, the regional office that created the third generation processors Core 2 Duo, Microsoft, the famous producer of Windows and Motorola, the well-known phone producer. Obviously, Google joins the competition in the local market and plans to increase its presence in Israel and near locations. As expected, the Google tries to use the new offices to conquer the Israel market and sell its products to local customers. (Softpedia)

Disabled Israeli Athlete Takes on Paris-Dakar Rally by Hannah Meyers

It's been a long, winding road that has taken 39-year-old Israeli extreme athlete Dror Cohen from combat planes to a wheelchair to the 2008 Paris-Dakar Rally, the world's toughest off-road race. An army car accident in 1992 left Cohen, then 24, paralyzed from the waist down. Owing to his nature of action, the frustrated Cohen helped found the Challenge Association in 1995. The organization's goal is to make extreme sports available for the disabled, including the deaf, blind, people with cerebral palsy. According to Cohen, the association offers "everything in the air, sea and land that you can think of." And as a result, thousands of registered disabled Israelis are now enjoying activities that were previously unavailable to them. He trained with a sailing team, placing 8th in the 2000 Paralympics, and went on to take the gold in Athens, in 2004. But even that wasn't enough, and Cohen is gearing up to take on the infamous Paris-Dakar race. (Israel21c)

American Student Overseas Program Directors Learn Why It's 'Destination Israel' by Karin Kloosterman

A group of university overseas directors and counselors from various U.S. institutions recently came to Israel on a 9-day Israel Universities Study Tour to learn about the opportunities available at the universities here and from students who have spent time here.

During the visit, the representatives got a taste for the different flavors of Israel's overseas programs at TAU, Hebrew University, University of Haifa and Ben Gurion University (BGU). The tour was arranged and funded in part by the Israel University Consortium - a group representing those four overseas schools.

With campus tours, talks with academic staff and students; and general touring of the country - the delegation planned to go back home equipped to counsel their curious students who ask questions like: Is it safe in Israel? Where do people find apartments? What is campus food like? Can students study in regular courses among Israelis?

Daniel Hart, the manager of the study abroad program at Arizona State U said, "I want students to know that they would be safer in a city like Tel Aviv than a city like Phoenix, Arizona where there is more crime. And besides," he adds, "The entire world lives in Israel. On the streets you can hear not only Hebrew, but Arabic, Russian, French, German and even Thai. It's one of the most diverse countries I know." (Israel21c)

Rising Star in Israel Hits the Fast Track of English Soccer
by Jack Bell

Ben Sahar, a 17-year-old striker from Israel whose nickname is the Kid, is expected to be at the nexus of his national team's attack in Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier in Group E against F.Y.R. Macedonia in Skopje. He will also lead Israel in the European U-21 championship in the Netherlands, which begins June 10 with a match against the host nation.

Sahar, Chelsea's first Israeli player, was obtained one year ago from Hapoel Tel Aviv. Sahar made the soccer world stand up and take notice when he scored two exquisite goals in a 4-0 Euro 2008 qualifier on March 28 against Estonia in his third appearance for the national team. The goals made him the youngest player to score in the history of Israel's senior national team. (New York Times)

Comment: The Campaign to Delegitimize Israel
by David Horovitz

The international community is being drip-fed the toxic assertion that, were it not for Israel, ours would be a peaceful world. Willfully overlooked by those who seek to delegitimize Israel and, appallingly by those who fall prey to the campaign, are the basic truths at the root of our Middle East reality, at the root of the Islamist terror campaign. Willfully overlooked is the fact that modern Israel is not some upstart Western invention, supplanting the state of Palestine, but the ancestral homeland of the Jewish nation, the land where our nation long lived and has always sought to live. The world is filled with Muslim nation-states and Christian nation-states. Ours is the only Jewish nation-state. It is the only nation-state that the Jewish nation has ever sought.

Continued Palestinian suffering is not a consequence of unacceptable and inexplicable Israeli occupation. Why are Palestinians still living in refugee camps in Gaza when there is no Israeli presence there? Why are Kassam squads firing into sovereign Israel from Jew-free Gaza, and bringing more suffering on their fellow Palestinians as Israel tries to stem the fire? (Jerusalem Post)

Malicious Boycotts Editorial

The University and College Union, a newly formed British union of college teachers, shamefully called last week for a boycott on contacts and exchanges with Israeli academic institutions. That follows on the shameful call in April by the National Union of Journalists in Britain to boycott Israeli goods. It is hard to imagine two organizations that should be less given to such nonsense.

First, Israeli journalists and academics are among the most dedicated critics of their own society. Second, the lack of similar "solidarity" by these unions with any other oppressed or suffering people in the world, and there are plenty, reduces these gestures to an exercise in hypocrisy, or worse. (New York Times)

Israel Is Real by Saul Elbein

There were no bombings today in Jerusalem. The city's nearly 800,000 people got up, put on their clothes, went to work and came home to their families. Many of them rode the buses, none of which blew up. Thousands of pilgrims visited the holy sites in the Old City. There was no gunfire, no rocks thrown. Life went on as it did yesterday, or the day before, or the year before that.

Israel is a real country. Real people live here, and they have real concerns, many of which they share with other people elsewhere. That sounds obvious, but it is not. People assume reality is "The Conflict" on CNN. There is certainly conflict here, a conflict far more complicated than CNN would ever have you believe. But Israel is not solely "The Conflict." Nor is Israel rockets, nor suicide bombers, nor the Temple Mount. It is not even the Western Wall or the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Israel is Israel. It is kids playing soccer, people bargaining in the market,and Arab men hanging out after work smoking nargila. It is high-tech industry and Intel chips, and it is crime and pollution and garbage in the streets.

As long as people see the Middle East as that twisted other world of faith and violence, people cannot understand its real issues. Israel's real problems don't fit into the easy media frames of "oppressor versus oppressed" or "freedom versus terror." They are more complex, because issues involving real people are complex in nature. And Israel is made up of people.

The writer is a journalism junior at the University of Texas. (Daily Texan)