Light unto the Nations

Israeli Inventor Unveils New Printing System - David Shamah
Benny Landa has a new technology he believes will become the next industry standard. At this week's Drupa international trade show in Dusseldorf, the world's largest printing equipment exhibition, Landa displayed his latest innovation - a nanotechnology-based print system, which he says provides cheaper, higher quality, more efficient, and more environmentally-friendly printing.
    Digital printing is seen as a great way to produce short-run jobs. But for larger print jobs, offset printing is considered the cheapest method of producing 5,000 or more copies. The new system reduces the cost per page of digital printed matter to meet or beat the price of offset printing, Landa said.
    Digital printing - directly from a computer file - was an Israeli invention. The first digital printer was designed and built by Landa at Indigo, which was bought by HP in 2000. As an HP unit, Indigo went on to dominate the world market; three out of four commercial digital printing presses sold today are made by HP.
    At the heart of the process is a new ink invented by Landa, comprised of pigment particles only tens of nanometers in size. This enables images that are ultra-sharp, very glossy, more colorful, and longer-lasting than can be attained with other printing processes. (Times of Israel)








Israeli High Tech Adjusts to Asian Challenge (AP)
The list of Israeli achievements is surprising for a country of just 7.6 million. The country helped give the world instant messaging, voicemail, and Internet telephony. Its nanotechnology has enabled great advances in medicine.
It boasts more companies on the technology-focused Nasdaq exchange than any place outside North America, and houses research and development centers for multinational giants like Microsoft and Intel.
Technology now accounts for an eighth of Israel's economy and has pushed the per capita output up to a respectable $30,000 - more than many countries in Europe.
Israeli entrepreneurs seem confident that they will maintain an edge in the ability to innovate - a quality Israelis ascribe to a combination of circumstances, including the need to develop military technology and a societal bent to break the rules and challenge the established order.



Rogue state good
Israel Is a Lovable Rogue - Kevin Myers
Canadian Gabriel Latner, 19, presented the most brilliantly audacious defense of Israel since Moses parted the Red Sea at a Cambridge Union debate. Gabriel proposed the motion in the CU that Israel is a rogue state. His first argument was statistical. There are 195 countries in the world; Christian, Muslim, secular. But Israel is the only country in the world that is Jewish. His next argument came from its treatment of Darfurian refugees who are scorned throughout the Middle East, and even shot on sight in Egypt. But they are welcomed in Israel. Israel has a better human rights record than any of its neighbors. Quite so.
As Gabriel himself said, there has never been a liberal democratic state in the Middle East - except for Israel. And of all the countries in the region, Israel is the only one where lesbians, gays and bisexuals enjoy equality. In Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, homosexuals are put to death. Yet again, Israel is the rogue. Gabriel then added another argument - that Israel willfully disregards international law. Look how in 1981 the Zionists destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear bomb plant. The rogues! (Independent-Ireland)


Israeli Know-How Helping to Combat Hunger in Africa - Danielle Nierenberg and Janeen Madan (Jerusalem Post)
Israel has been a leader in developing innovative drip-irrigation systems that reduce the amount of water needed for farming.
The Family Drip Irrigation System (FDIS) was developed by the International Program for Arid Land Crops at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in partnership with the Israeli irrigation company Netafim.
The Israel Foreign Ministry is partnering with local government agencies and NGOs to introduce FDIS in countries across Africa.



How to boycott Israel? If you really want to stop Israel, please follow these simple instructions -
In your office or home, do not use any computers, as Israel developed the Intel Pentium chip, Windows MP, XP and Vista as well as Microsoft Office and AOL IM instant messaging. Also remove your firewalls, as these were developed in Israel.

In your home and car, do not use cellphones that were developed in Israel by Motorola, as was voice mail and camera phones. Quickly destroy your TV remote control, as this also was developed in Israel.

Now for your health: Do not under any circumstances let your gastroenterologist use the camera pill you swallow that photographs your esophagus, colon, etc. Just let him ram his scope up your backside. That will show those Zionists who's in charge. Don't use
Copaxone for MS.

If you have a heart attack, do not let the surgeon put in a stent, which was developed in Israel, or use a defibrillator on you. Also decline the new Israeli medication for Parkinson's or Ex Ablate 2000 if you have fibroid tumors






Nanoparticles Resembling Star of David Discovered by Israeli Researchers


By Alisa Odenheimer - Sep 19, 2010 7:00 PM GMT+0200




The newly discovered nanoparticles, some 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, resemble the six-pointed Star of David. Source: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem via Bloomberg

A new type of nanoparticle that resembles the six-pointed Star of David, a Jewish symbol which appears on the flag of Israel, has been discovered by researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Hebrew University team, headed by researcher Uri Banin, said the star-shaped nanoparticles have a unique, cage-like structure. The discovery is described in an article in the October 2010 issue of the journal Nature Materials.
The particles, which are some 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, may prove useful in applications ranging from the development of new ways to sense glucose in diagnosing diabetes to serving as photo-catalysts for turning solar energy into clean fuel, the university said.
“Exploration into the possible applications for the nano Stars of David has just begun, and already they have shown that they are not just beautiful; the composition and the unique cage shape makes them useful,” the university said in an e-mailed statement.
The Hebrew University team has been working on developing new nanoparticles made of two kinds of materials joined together.
Until now, scientists had only been aware of nanoparticles in which one material encapsulates the other, resembling an egg and a yolk, or where an island of one material forms on the other, much like the head of the match on a matchstick, the university said in the statement.
The Star of Davids are “nano-cages,” with hexagonal crystals, each with a tiny metal frame wrapping around them and “encasing them like a bird cage, but 100 million times smaller,” according to the statement. The cage structure has never been observed in hybrid nanoparticles before.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alisa Odenheimer in Jerusalem at aodenheimer@bloomberg.net


New Israeli Treatment Kills HIV Cells
Israeli researchers have developed a new treatment that destroys HIV-infected human cells without damaging healthy ones, Israel 21c reported. The new treatment fights HIV by causing infected cells to self-destruct. When it was applied to human cell cultures, the infected human cells disappeared in two weeks, and did not reappear up to two weeks later. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and the Institute of Chemistry published their findings last month in the scientific Journal AIDS Research and Therapy. An estimated 33.4 million people worldwide are carriers of HIV, while in the United States alone, it is estimated that more than one million people are living with HIV, and another half a million have died of AIDS. In Israel in 2008, 390 new cases were reported, the highest figure in a decade.


It is the Arabs who persecute their citizens , have horrible living standards, practice apartheid etc


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HUMANITARIAN SHOW

By Ben-Dror Yemini
Maariv
July 2, 2010

Hebrew version
French version


Additional humanitarian aid flotillas from Lebanon, Iran and the West are en route to the Gaza Strip. But the plight of the Turks, Iranians and the Palestinians in Lebanon is worse. Even in Stockholm and Glasgow amidst the festivities. Here are the facts.

Turkey was the most prominent country in the recent flotilla. From there came the Mavi Marmara with members from an organization (IHH) affiliated with Global Jihad. Lebanon is dispatching a ship that is due to arrive, perhaps in the coming days. Even Iran, that bastion of humanitarian justice on Earth, is joining the party. Thus, it would be worthwhile to check what is happening in these compassionate and strong countries, which are showing such noteworthy generosity in dispatching humanitarian aid to a weaker and depressed population. A representative has even arrived from Sweden, Gil Feiler, a former Israeli. Thus, we will also deal with Sweden.

Dead in Turkey; alive in Gaza

Infant mortality is one of the most important indicators in checking the humanitarian situation. It is clear that the situation in Turkey is worse than it is in the Gaza Strip. Infant mortality in Gaza is 17.71 per thousand; in Turkey it is 24.84. The Gaza Strip is in a much better situation than the global average, which is 44 infants per 1,000 births. It is also better than most of the Arab countries and several South American countries, and is certainly better than Africa.

Life expectancy is another important indicator. And here, life expectancy in Turkey is 72.23, whereas in the Gaza Strip it is 73.68, much higher than the global average of 66.12. In comparison, life expectancy is 63.36 in Yemen, 52.52 in Sudan and 50 in Somalia. These countries are crying out for international attention, for aid, for any rescue ship. But none come.

Regarding population growth, the Gaza Strip is ranked 6th, with a growth rate of 3.29% per annum. This may not be an indicator for quality of life but it seems that the high rate of growth, along with the high life expectancy, and the low infant mortality rate, attests to one thing. There is no hunger, no humanitarian crisis and tales of 1,001 nights from 1,001 human rights organizations. Most of the world's inhabitants are – according to objective data – in a worse situation than the residents of the Gaza Strip. This includes those who live in Turkey under Erdogan's rule.

Even by other indicators, such as personal computer use, or Internet access, the situation of the residents of the Gaza Strip is much better than that of most of the world's inhabitants. In order to complete the picture, let us point out that two years ago, a British politician claimed that life expectancy in Glasgow East was much lower than that in the Gaza Strip. The claim caused an uproar. Britain's Channel 4 carried out a scrupulous check and issued its "verdict": Indeed, life expectancy in Glasgow is lower than that in the Gaza Strip.

Thus, it is a little strange that humanitarian aid comes from people whose situation is much worse, and goes to people whose situation is much better. It could be that there is a need for additional ships. But the direction should be reversed. It is Turkey that needs the help. It is the Gaza Strip which should join the aid delegation for the benefit of the poor Turks.

Lebanese apartheid

One of the bans imposed by Israel deals with building materials. Experience has shown that materials that reach the Gaza Strip do not serve the residents but Hamas's military goals. Thus, no sane country, and let us hope that Israel is one of them, would supply an enemy organization with materials from which the bunkers for the struggle against it would be built.

Here as well, a reminder is needed. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in a neighboring country, Lebanon. They are located in refugee camps and live under many and various restrictions, that should be dealt with separately, in a chapter on Arab apartheid against the Palestinians. In our matter, one of the most severe restrictions is a ban on construction. Simply put, it is forbidden to build. Not a home, nor a room, nor any permanent structure. Even in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, which was bombed by the Lebanese (The story is well-known: A radical Islamist takeover, which led to savage bombing that turned the camp into ruins). The extensive damage caused 27,000 of the camp's 30,000 inhabitants to become refugees again. They paid a heavy price for the fact that a mere 450 men were members of a rebel group Fatah Al-Islam. The struggle against radical Islam, which tried to establish itself in the camp, was used as a pretext for the vast devastation that was caused. It is interesting to ask why the world encouraged Lebanon to be heavy-handed, while Israel is asked to knuckle under. There are donations for reconstruction, there is also agreement for this, but the Lebanese government is creating difficulties. Thus is done to people whose plight and refugee status the Arab world wishes to make permanent.

Iranian humanitarianism

Let us not forget Iran. According to every possible indicator, the situation there is worse. Infant mortality, for example, is 34.66 per 1,000 births, double (!) that of the Gaza Strip. Life expectancy is 71.43, less than the Gaza Strip and less than Turkey. With the imposition of Sharia law in the Hamas Strip, as in Iran, and when stoning women becomes the norm, one may assume that the residents of the Strip will deteriorate to Iranian levels. It was only this week that news came from Iran of a 43-year-old woman, Sakineh Mohamamadi e Ashtiani, is in danger of being stoned, following a trial for adultery. But in the meantime, only in the meantime, it is preferable for aid to go from Gaza to Iran. Let us hope that Egypt will allow passage through the Suez Canal.

Intifada in Sweden

And what about Sweden? Indeed, there is no occupation there. There are no well-financed agencies from the industry of lies to disseminate around the world the news of Swedish "apartheid" against Muslims. They were welcomed with open arms. The first and second generations live there. But last month riots broke out there. The rioters burned a school in "Little Mogadishu", the name of the quarter in which they live, in Stockholm. Police and firefighters who arrived to deal with the fire were met by a hail of stones. They did not succeed in reaching the blaze. Not that the Swedes abused them. On the contrary. But in the eyes of the Muslim youths, the Swedes, apparently, are a band of white racists who repress them relentlessly. The riots began because some youths were not admitted to a school dance. Not that there was a racist background to this "discrimination" but the response was stormy. A mini-intifada. This story garnered no headlines around the world. The riots lasted a few days. In the end, a school was burned to the ground, cars and buses were set alight. All in all, a localized clash. True, this occurred in other cities in Sweden. And it has occurred in other cities in Europe. But it has not happened in Gaza, or Jaffa, or Jerusalem. Thus there is nothing to get excited over. There is no need for any number of television stations to say that Sweden is a repressive state. There is no need to deny Sweden's right to exist.

It might be necessary – who knows – to send humanitarian aid to this repressed area in Stockholm, and maybe a mobile school. Details about the next flotilla to Stockholm will be published soon on human rights websites.

An un-humanitarian obsession

Most inhabitants of the world are worse off than the residents of the Gaza Strip. American aid per capita to the Gaza Strip is 7.5 times higher than aid per capita to Haiti. It is unnecessary to note that by any possible indicator, economic or medical, the residents of the Gaza Strip are incomparably better off than the residents of Haiti. The residents of the Gaza Strip are also better off, by every possible indicator, than the Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps. But we have not seen demonstrations in solidarity with those suffering in Lebanon; and no aid flotillas either. It is not even enough to be a Palestinian. One must be a Palestinian who can say, "It is all Israel's fault." What is true is that it is thanks to Israel that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are better off than most of their brethren in the neighboring countries. Because of the "brutal" occupation, life expectancy in the Gaza Strip rose from 48 in 1967 to 66 in 1993 and, as we have shown, life expectancy is continuing to rise. By the way, this is an astounding increase, higher than in the neighboring countries. But please, let us not confuse a "human rights activist" on the aid flotilla with the facts. They do not send aid flotillas to Iran, Lebanon or Turkey, and certainly not to Darfur in the Sudan. The humanitarian distress does not interest them. It is the anti-Israel obsession that interests them. This is not to say that they cannot be presented with the facts. They want to embarrass Israel. But the basic facts, and this is the truth, are likely to embarrass them.

None of the foregoing is to say that there is no true distress in Gaza. There certainly is, even if according to objective data, it is worse in Turkey, Iran and Lebanon. Israel has an interest for it to be better in Gaza, that the standard of living should rise, that the economy should flourish. Israel disengaged in order to disengage, so that Gazans might develop an independent life. But the Hamas takeover has led to a situation in which instead of developing and producing, the only development is the Kassam rocket. The blockade was imposed because the regime in Hamas refuses to recognize previous agreements, refuses to recognize Israel and refuses to enter into the path of peace and reconciliation. The regime in Gaza chose incitement and joining Iran and Global Jihad. And despite this, everything could change in a day. If Hamas would only decide to accept the Quartet's conditions, not Israel's. The keys are in Hamas's hands.
_________________


Israel's secret new weapon?


Israeli company uses nanotechnology to develop paint that makes planes disappear off radar

Ofer Petersburg Published: 07.13.10, 14:29 / Israel News
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Imagine for a moment what the battlefield will look like in the future. Unmanned planes flying through the air; robots fighting on the ground; smart missiles hunting down targets. Now imagine that none of this can be detected on radar screens.




It may sound fictional, but it's happening. An Israeli company called Nanoflight is currently developing a special paint that makes drones, missiles, or war craft simply disappear. Or, to be more precise, they become very difficult to detect.

R&D

23 UK firms attend Israel conference / Ynetnews

Representatives from Britain's life sciences sector take part in prestigious Biomed 2010 convention
Full Story





The critical stage in developing the paint, which was developed in a nanotechnology lab, has recently concluded, and a successful test run was conducted this week. For the test run, a thin layer of the material was painted on dummy missiles, and radar waves aimed at them had a difficult time registering them.



The paint particles don't make the missile's detection on the radar disappear completely, but make it exceedingly difficult to positively identify the object as a missile. In the future, this development will allow any missile or jet significantly decreased radar detection.



Even though they may not entirely disappear from radar screens, this technology is a considerably more cost-effective method to evade radar detection than purchasing an American stealth plane for $5 billion.



How does it work? In order to locate objects, the radar transmitter sends out electromagnetic waves. When these waves hit an object, they are scattered in all directions, with some of them being bounced back to the radar itself. Regular signal reception indicates the existence of an object.



The nanotechnology developed envelopes the object, absorbs the radio waves emitted by the radar, and releases them as heat energy scattered in space. In doing so, the material disguises the object, making it difficult to identify by radar.



"We are only at the beginning and are discovering new worlds everyday," said Eli Shaldag, a former senior Israel Air Force official who worked on the Arrow missile project. He currently is part of the military applications department of Nanoflight.



"This is a breakthrough with the potential to change the rules of the game in the battlefield," Shaldag said.



When will the material be ready for use on war craft?



"We have already completed the main development stage. We conducted a number of tests and discovered that the particles in their nanotechnology composition do significantly neutralize the ability to detect objects that have been painted with the material. We are entering the second stage, after which we will already be able to produce the material in larger quantities."



Will this material be applicable for additional uses in the future?



"Absolutely yes. Discovery of nanotechnology materials is still in its infancy, and we are decoding the secret of this technology's power every day. We are currently working on developing an application of the material that will work with infrared so that soldiers won't be detected on night-vision goggles."




According to company officials, the material can also be used for civilian purposes.



"Just like the nanotechnology material can prevent a radar from detecting a missile, it can also prevent radiation emitted by electrical transformers from reaching nursery schools," said Nanoflight CEO Ricardo Burstein.




Burstein also noted that the material can prevent pollution through its absorption and transformation properties.



"In the future, it could be painted on sidewalks and roads in order to decrease air pollution. We are currently conducting an experiment with the City of Ramat Gan in which we are painting guardrails with the material in order to purify pollution from cars," Burstein explained.






Jerusalem chosen Africa/Mideast’s best city; Tel Aviv No. 3
July 11, 2010

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Jerusalem was voted the No. 1 Best City in Africa and the Middle East and Tel Aviv No. 3 by the readers of Travel+ Leisure magazine.

Jerusalem reached the top spot for the first time since 2000. Tel Aviv, which was behind Cape Town, South Africa, made it to the top 3 for the first time.

The results are published annually in the magazine's August issue.

"We are thrilled by this result because it underscores the growing realization by sophisticated travelers that our two main cities are unique and extraordinary places to visit," said Arie Sommer, Israel's tourism commissioner for North and South America.



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An Israeli company—IDE Technologies—is making seawater drinkable for millions of people around the world, Israel 21c reported. IDE has constructed 400 desalination plants in 40 countries and recently opened its third facility in Israel. The new plant—located in Hadera—will convert salt water from the Mediterranean Sea into 127 million cubic meters of clean drinking water each year. "The success of the mega-desalination plant concept has ushered in a whole new era of plentiful, affordable water for a world facing severe water challenges," said IDE's CEO Avshalom Felber. IDE plants worldwide generate 2,000,000 cubic meters of potable water per day.

Israeli Professor Creates a Birth Control Pill for Men - Karin Kloosterman (Israel21C)
An Israeli professor has created a new pill that could finally place the responsibility of birth control with men.
Prof. Haim Breitbart of Israel's Bar-Ilan University has developed a number of novel compounds that have no affect on male sex drive, but succeed in impairing the reproductive ability of the sperm.
A new male birth control pill could be on the market within the next five years, he says.


Israel to build massive desalination plant
(AFP) – 9 hours ago
JERUSALEM — The Israeli government on Sunday approved the construction of a massive new water desalination plant to help the arid country deal with a severe shortage.
The construction of the Sorek plant, named after the area south of Tel Aviv where it would be built, is part of an ambitious multi-year plan aimed at using sea water to supply a substantial share of the Jewish state's drinking water.
"In recent years, the Israeli water economy has become caught in a deep crisis," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a weekly cabinet meeting, where the plant was approved.
"Sorek will supply 150 million cubic metres annually. That's about a quarter of the shortfall of water in the state of Israel each year," he said, adding that the plant would cost some 2 billion shekels (530 million dollars).
Media reports said the plant's capacity would eventually be increased to 300 million cubic metres, making it one of the biggest in the world.
Uri Shor, a spokesman for the Israeli water authority, said Israel consumes some 700 million cubic metres a year of drinking water, while agriculture uses 450 million and industry uses 100 million cubic metres.
Israel already has three smaller desalination plants that produce a combined total of 292 million cubic metres of drinking water a year.
Another plant in the southern city of Ashdod is still awaiting final clearance from the government following consultations with environmental and public health groups.
The desalination projects are aimed at lessening the country's dependence on the vastly-depleted Jordan river and the Sea of Galilee, as well as underground aquifers.
"This is an infrastructure project of the highest national importance. Solving the water problem is an integral part of creating the state of Israel's infrastructure base for the 21st century," Netanyahu said.


U.S., Israeli Pain Relief Scientists Win Top Spanish Prize
Two U.S. biochemists and an Israeli colleague leading research into pain relief were awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize for scientific and technical research on Wednesday, Agence France Presse reported. David Julius and Linda Watkins from the United States and Baruch Minke from Israel were praised for in uncovering "the causes and mechanisms via which pain is produced and perceived, as well as other sensations such as cold, heat and taste," according the jury. "The findings of these scientists open up new and hopeful avenues for the rational design of specific therapies and drugs for the selective treatment of the different types of pain, one of the great medical challenges of all times." Minke said he was "deeply honored and grateful" to receive the award along with his two colleagues.

Israel Discovers Major Natural Gas Field off Haifa
The Leviathan natural-gas site off the Haifa shore could position Israel as a gas exporter in coming years, The Jerusalem Post reported Friday. "I am thrilled that today's announcement substantiates the potential of a new and significant energy basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which, if successful, could position Israel as a potential energy exporter in future years," said Noble Energy chairman and CEO Charles Davidson. "I would like to congratulate the State of Israel on the discoveries of the last year and a half, which have the potential to strengthen the economy and security of Israel." Noble Energy's discoveries could provide about 35 years of Israel's natural-gas needs at projected 2012 demand rates.


Israel Opens Largest Desalination Plant of Its Kind - Ari Rabinovitch
Israel unveiled the world's largest reverse osmosis desalination plant on Sunday in Hadera, which will supply 127 million cubic meters of desalinated water a year, or about 20% of the yearly household consumption in Israel. It is the third in a series of five desalination plants being built that will eventually supply Israel with about 750 million cubic meters annually. Bigger desalination plants can be found in Saudi Arabia that use a thermal-based technology to desalinate sea water, but reverse osmosis requires less energy and is friendlier to the environment, said IDE Technologies CEO Avshalom Felber. Shmulik Shai, CEO of H2ID, said the plant will supply water at the cost of $0.57 per cubic meter. IDE, or Israel Desalination Enterprises Technologies, has operations in 40 countries. (Reuters)

Israeli Team Makes Breakthrough in Stem Cell Research
Jerusalem's Hadassah University Medical Center has announced a breakthrough in methods for cultivating embryonic stem cells, Israel 21c reported. The breakthrough takes stem cell researchers closer to realizing their dream of manufacturing stem cell treatments for disorders such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes and age-related macular degeneration. Within the next year or two, companies in the United States and Hadassah's technology company in Israel will start clinical trials on humans. The center's advance—a novel technique that allows researchers to grow and cultivate embryonic cells in suspension—paves the way for making this therapy available to everyone, not just the rich. "There is an application to the FDA for a trial [in the United States] to transplant stem cells into patients with spinal cord injury and they hope this clinical trial will start within the next year or two," said lead researcher Dr. Benjamin Reubinoff.




Israeli, American Doctors Make Genetic Discovery
Israeli and American researchers have discovered how a gene "sculpts" neurons into a menorah-like shape in the nervous system, a find that could eventually have far-reaching implications for the rehabilitation of people with central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) damage, The Jerusalem Post reported Friday. It was important to find these genes, the team said, because with their help, it would be possible to find, even in humans, the genes responsible for building neurons in the human brain. This, they concluded, would lead to being able to repair damage to people's brains and spinal cord. The scientists' work on the formation and maintenance of tree-like nerve cell structures could also have applications in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the repair of damaged vital nerves.

Economy
Google's First Israeli Acquisition No Surprise to Investors
By Brian Blum

Google's announcement last week that it was acquiring Tel Aviv-based LabPixies for a rumored $25 million caught some Israeli analysts by surprise. That's a tidy sum for a small startup with just 12 employees that has raised less than $2 million over its four years of operation.

Yaron Carni, LabPixies' lead investor wasn't caught out, however. "I immediately loved the company's products, their vitality and, of course, the team," he tells ISRAEL21c. Speaking on behalf of a handpicked group of angels including Auren Hoffman and Fabrice Grinda, Carni says, "we were all deeply impressed with the character, commitment, talent and forthrightness of the founders."

LabPixies was particularly attractive to Google due to the company's role in developing some of the first and subsequently leading 'gadgets' for the iGoogle platform, Google's alternative interactive home page. LabPixies products have garnered as many as one billion impressions a month while signing up 40 million users. One of its most popular products is 'Flood-It,' a game that involves dragging colored balls around the screen. "It's very addictive," says Carni.

LabPixies also builds translating programs, news and weather reports, calculators and calendars that run on other social network services including Facebook, Hi5, Yahoo and MySpace, as well as Google's own Android mobile operating system.



Israel Lends Agricultural Expertise to Africa
Israel is currently training farmers in the West African nation of Senegal, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. "Israel is the only country in the world that has been able to conquer the desert," said Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon. "This is our strength—this we would like to bring here." Senegal's volatile harvests create tremendous food needs for the country's 11 million citizens. Over 80 percent of their food is imported from abroad. "Senegal's traditional agriculture is one crop a year. We know how to do three and four crops a year. We can teach that." Israel was among the first countries to recognize Senegal's independence and the two nations have had diplomatic relations for nearly 50 years.


Modern Israel at 62: Tiny Country and Huge Success

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
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Modern Israel, only 62 years old Monday night, is a world leader in society, technology medicine and dozens of other fields. National-religious Rabbi Shlomo Aviner says, “TImagine what we could do if the world were not against us.”

Israel as a country dates back to the time of King Saul, although the Jewish tribes settled there in the days of Joshua, Moses' successor. Its ancient success is recorded in the Bible with the compilation of the Book of Psalms by his successor King David, whose son King Solomon built the First Temple.

Following the Destruction of the Second Temple and the subsequent end of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel for 2000 years, the modern State of Israel has astonished the world with its achievements since it was established in 1948.

Israel, only a fraction of one percent of the Middle East land mass and 2 percent of its population, Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees per capita in the world. The country, by a large margin, produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation in the world and has the highest number of scientists and technicians per capita in the world.

With those achievements, it is not surprising that Israel has the highest number of PhD's and the highest number of physicians per capita in the world.

Israel also is the only nation in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees.

Taking care of Jews around the world, the nation is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on Earth while respecting other religions. It is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population has grown over the last 50 years and is the only country in the Middle East where Christians, Muslims and Jews are all free to vote.

Despite all its success, Israel also leads the country in United Nations Security Council resolutions against the Jewish State. Of the 175 U.N. Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel. Of the 690 U.N. General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.

Nevertheless, Israel is undeterred. Critics of anti-Israeli boycotts often point out that those supporting sanctions of Israeli products and inventions would have to live without cellular phones, which were developed in Israel, and would gave to forego many life-saving drugs that were discovered and made in Israel.

Anti-Zionists also would have to do without anti-virus program for their computers because there were first developed in Israel, as was voice technology and instant messaging. In the early 1980's, IBM chose an Israeli-designed computer chip as the brains for its first personal computers.

In the field of economics, Israel hosts the world's largest wholesale diamond center and is responsible for most of the cut and polished diamonds in the world. It also has the largest number of companies on the NASDAQ stock exchange, outside of the United States and Canada.

Another modern marvel is the revival of the Hebrew language, the only dead language that ever was revived.

The revival of Torah learning is no less marvelous after the Holocaust, and the number of yeshivas, Torah scholars and Torah publications is astounding.

The ”People of the Book,” as Jews are known, publishes in Israel more books per capita than any other country and has the most independent and free Arabic press in the Middle East. (IsraelNationalNews.com)


7 reasons to support Israel as Jewish state
1. Archeological evidence proves it has been Jewish 4000 years
2. Historical evidence proves it has been Jewish 4000 years-no Palestinan people other than Jews, it was desolate until Jews rebuilt from Turks
3. Practical value of Israelis being there-makes a desert an orchid
4. Humanitarian concerns-6 million Jews slaughtered because Jews had no place to go
5. Strategic ally of US-deterrent to enemies of Democracy-we can depend on them. 911 the “other Middle East allies were cheering. Saves US lives
6. Road block to terrorism. Have shown world how to fight.
7. God said so. Read the Bible. Genesis 13:14-17 the whole Bible is a Zionist document





Israeli economic growth and innovation
Where Tech Keeps Booming
In Israel, a clustering of talent, research universities and venture capital..
. Text .By JAMES K. GLASSMAN
'There are more new innovative ideas . . . coming out of Israel than there are out in [Silicon] Valley right now. And it doesn't slow during economic downturns." The authors of "Start-Up Nation," Dan Senor and Saul Singer, are quoting an executive at British Telecom, but they could just as easily be quoting an executive at Intel, which last year opened a $3.5 billion factory in Kiryat Gat, an hour south of Tel Aviv, to make sophisticated 45-nanometer chips; or Warren Buffett, who in 2006 paid $4 billion for four-fifths of an Israeli firm that makes high-tech cutting tools for cars and planes; or John Chambers, Cisco's chief executive, who has bought nine Israeli start-ups; or Steve Ballmer, who calls Microsoft "as much an Israeli company as an American company" because of the importance of its Israeli technologists. "Google, Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, eBay . . . ," says one of eBay's executives. "The best-kept secret is that we all live and die by the work of our Israeli teams."

Israel is the world's techno-nation. Civilian research-and-development expenditures run 4.5% of the gross domestic product—half-again the level of the U.S., Germany or South Korea—and venture-capital investment per capita is 2½ times that of the U.S. and six times that of the United Kingdom. Even in absolute terms, Israel has only the U.S.—with more than 40 times the population—as a challenger.

As Messrs. Senor and Singer write: "Israel—a country of just 7.1 million people—attracted close to $2 billion in venture capital [in 2008], as much as flowed to the U.K.'s 61 million citizens or the 145 million people living in Germany and France combined." At the start of 2009, some 63 Israeli companies were listed on the Nasdaq, more than those of any other foreign country. Among the Israeli firms: Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world's largest generic drug maker, with a market cap of $48 billion; and Check Point Software Technologies, with a market cap of $7 billion.

Such economic dynamism has occurred in the face of war, internal strife and rising animosity from other nations. During the six years following the bursting of the tech bubble in 2000, Israel suffered one of its worst periods of terrorist attacks and fought a second Lebanese war; and yet, as the authors note, its "share of the global venture capital market did not drop—it doubled, from 15 percent to 31 percent."


Israel world leader in green
Israel was named by the UN as the world's leader in water recycling. Israel recycles about 70% of its waste water and is also a world leader in
desalination. By the end of next year, more than half of Israel's drinking
water will be provided through desalination. In the past ten years,
recycling in Israel has risen from a negligible 3% to 21% and continues to
rise at a rapid rate due to increasing public awareness. Israel has a 50%
target rate for 2020. Israeli solar energy research has made solar energy
cost competitive with fossil fuels. Over 90% of Israeli homes are equipped
with solar water heaters. Israel is a leader in drip irrigation technology
and agricultural r&d. Israel provides foreign aid to over 60 developingAsian, Latin American and African countries in the areas of land settlement, water and land conservation, alternative energy, sustainable agriculture,
medicine, etc. The Arava Project of the Arava Institute for Enviromental
Studies (led by Prof. Alon Tal of the Masorti-Conservative Movement) trains
participants from around the developing world in agricultural techniques.
And let us not forget the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid
http://www.israaid.org.il/. Israid and the Jewish National Fund websites
will provide you with more PC-green-liberal-treehugging hasbara then you
will ever need.