www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
Not even a war can stop Israel building on its 75-years of success in rebuilding a Jewish State.
Israel continues to build up its basket of subsidized medical treatments, create new remedies for global diseases, discover the secret for building bigger families, and construct medical centers for rehabilitating the injured.
The latest news includes the Israeli woman who oversees the building of Israel’s missile defense system; an Israeli app that rebuilds broken speech into coherent conversation; and 30 Israeli NGOs rebuilding lives in Africa. Israeli startups are restoring the environment, while building efficient EV batteries, hydrogen-powered flying cars, and creating sustainable aviation fuel. Michael Ordman
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
He lied to his wife to rescue survivors. On Oct 7, IDF veteran Eran Masas, from Haifa lied to his wife that he had been called up by the army. He put on a uniform, took his sidearm and drove 220km to the Gaza border. He then coordinated multiple search and rescue operations as survivors thought he was an on-duty IDF officer.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/on-oct-7-killing-grounds-a-vigilante-army-vet-inspires-grieving-us-jewish-leaders/
Have a nice flight! IDF reservist Itay returned to Israel on an overbooked El Al flight from Bangkok with a seat in a washroom. The other 14 washrooms also seated IDF reservists, plus 10 in the cockpit and elsewhere. Luckily, he had a pre-flight massage. Two days later he was dodging terrorist bullets in Huwara, near Nablus.
https://www.jns.org/idf-reservist-flies-home-to-fight-hamas-in-planes-washroom-seat/
US mission for volunteer doctors in Israel. (TY Yanky) Israeli Doctors in America, together with the Israeli Ministry of Health and Israel’s Economic Mission to the USA – East Coast, have launched the IL-USDocAID Initiative. It brings US medical professionals to work either in Israeli hospitals or with Magen David Adom.
https://www.ilusdocaid.org/
1,000 hugs. Operation Hug (see here previously) has now brought over 1,000 parents from over 50 different countries to visit their children who are lone soldiers serving in the IDF. Thanks to Nefesh B’Nefesh, JNF-USA, and FIDF (Friends of the IDF). Watch some of the recent reunions here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06D6EpiGnZU
Former US Envoy donated an ambulance. Former US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and his family donated a mini-lance (mini-ambulance) emergency response vehicle to Israel’s United Hatzalah. He requested that will be specifically driven by a female Arab volunteer and deployed in eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
https://www.jns.org/wire/former-middle-east-envoy-donates-mini-ambulance-to-israeli-ems-team/
Displaced Israeli kids learn and play in mobile tech lab. More about the work of the charity Machshava Tova (see here previously), which uses funds from CJP in Boston to purchase computers, projectors, 3D printers, VR goggles and other equipment for children evacuated from Sderot.
https://www.israel21c.org/displaced-israeli-kids-learn-and-play-in-mobile-tech-lab/
Displaced boy finds 2,000-year-old coin. 11-year-old Nati Tokiyar from Kibbutz Magen was evacuated to the Dead Sea to avoid Hamas rockets from Gaza. As he was exploring the area, he found a coin of Hasmonean king and high priest Alexander Jannaeus (104-76 BCE). The Israel Antiquities Authority gave him a certificate.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/archeology/1708520147-displaced-young-boy-finds-2-000-year-old-hasmonean-coin-in-dead-sea-area
We will still sing. Some 7,000 Netanya children came to the city stadium to demonstrate unity and solidarity and express their desire to see the return of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. See other videos of adults and children displaying that Israelis will never surrender to those that hate us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlok2hsPKpU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hptZdP_hulY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaPhvOLDXjI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rzq-m8_9bE
“I survived for a reason”. Watch an example of the incredible spirit of Israeli soldiers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6nTy72rJo0
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
110 new medications and technologies. Israel’s 2024 subsidized health basket will see an expansion of genetic testing, treatment for adult ADHD, innovative diabetes management, and new treatments for cancer and chronic and rare diseases. The 110 additions will help 317,000 more people at a cost of NIS 650 million to the State.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-2024-health-basket-gets-110-new-medications-and-technologies/
Hope for Huntington’s disease patients. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have identified two small molecules capable, in the laboratory, of penetrating the blood-brain barrier and reducing the levels of a defective protein that causes Huntington’s disease.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-researchers-take-step-toward-cure-for-huntingtons-disease/
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/toward-treatment-huntington%E2%80%99s-disease
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44321-023-00020-y
Hi-tech medical analysis. Tel Aviv University Prof Noam Shomron digitizes human DNA and uses AI to discover genetic diseases. That’s his day job – in evenings and weekends he helps the IDF identify fallen soldiers. He explains how functional genomics and AI can help make better medical decisions.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-scientist-using-ai-to-build-a-more-resilient-society/
Israeli sunshine increases fertility. Women wishing to expand their family might consider making Aliyah. Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found for the first time that exposure to the sun in women aged 30-40 can increase fertility. Their ovaries secrete more Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) due to higher UV levels.
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/sun-exposure-may-have-a-positive-effect-on-fertility-in-women-aged-30-40/
https://safrabio.cs.tau.ac.il/carmit_levy_exposure_to_sun_may_increase_fertility_among_women
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0039128X23001356
Migraine? You’re covered. US non-profit health insurer Highmark has added, to the items covered by its insurance policies, the Nerivio Remote Electrical Neuromodulation (REN) migraine band, developed by Israel’s Theranica (see here previously). Highmark covers around 7 million people in the Pennsylvania area.
https://nocamels.com/2024/02/us-health-insurer-adds-israeli-migraine-treatment-to-coverage/
New rehab center. (TY Yanky) Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality has approved the construction of the Reuth TLV Rehabilitation Hospital – the largest and most advanced rehabilitation facility in Israel. It will take 7 years to build, contain 450 beds, clinics, hydrotherapy pool, hyperbaric chamber, etc., and cost some NIS 850 million.
https://www.reuth-mc.org.il/en/news-in-the-field-of-rehabilitation-a-plan-to-establish-the-largest-rehabilitation-facility-in-israel-is-underway/
Walk-in, walk-out surgery. Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center has opened 10 underground operating rooms for ambulatory surgeries. Costing NIS 100 million, they are expected to shorten the waiting periods for operations that do not require general anesthetic, or pre- or post-operative overnight hospital stays.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/surgery-without-a-stay-ichilov-hospital-unveils-new-operating-rooms-to-cut-wait-times/