Good News Israel

Compliments of Anglo Saxon Ra’anana

Quote for the Week

“If an expert says it can´t be done, get another expert”

David Ben Gurion, Israel´s first Prime Minister. Sound advice we would say.

According to a report measuring competitiveness just issued, Israel’s main strengths remain its world-class capacity for innovation (6th in the world ), which rests on businesses that are continually inventing new ways and means of doing things by employing research institutions that are the best in the world and that are geared toward the needs of the business sector. This outstanding capacity is reflected in the country’s high number of patents (#4 worldwide). Its favorable financial environment (coming in at no10), particularly the solid availability of venture capital (2nd), has further contributed to making Israel an innovation powerhouse; these elements have all improved in the course of the past year.

Is there no end to the GN about our energy finds, renewable or not. To answer our own question, hopefully not. The latest in; Adira Energy Corporation has announced that the shallow water Gabriella and Yitzhak licenses have a best estimate of 4.54 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 297 million barrels of oil, way up on previous predictions.

The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain if the song is to be believed but in Israel it doesn’t fall at all, in summer at any rate, but wait, rain has actually fallen in the past couple of weeks in several areas of Israel, an anomaly for the dry month of August, three times in fact. The western Sharon and Western Galilee regions experienced the most serious rainfall and in areas like Netanya and Ra’anana, the amounts of rain could actually be recorded- one to three millimeters . Nice to know but we’re not relying on it and our desalination plants are going at it full tilt with increased capacities all round.

Here are four brief indicators that the economy is moving along at a fair pace: The Consumer Confidence Index, compiled by Globes Research and pwc Israel, rose by 2.7 points in August to 80.2 points. The index crossed the 80-point level for the first time since September 2009. Israel’s foreign currency reserves reached an all-time high of $78.08 billion at the end of August, $135 million more than a month earlier, the Bank of Israel announced today and tax revenues totaled NIS 16.6 billion in August 2011, 3% more in real terms than in August 2010, the Ministry of Finance announced today.

The Kenyan Ministry of Health has decided to adopt the model of the Terem emergency medical centers in Jerusalem, and set up a similar chain of clinics in the country. Terem offers the most up-to-date technology, an emergency medical stabilization center, mass casualty center, urgent care center, an ambulance station, a radiology center, a pharmacy and specialists’ clinics the facility sometimes even has an emergency birthing center which, while not the ideal place to have a baby, will be a boon for the ladies in waiting who decide that they can’t wait any longer. The ministry’s director-general visited Israel recently, accompanied by members of her staff. The delegation signed an agreement with Terem for the establishment of these independent emergency medical centers in Kenya.

If figures don’t exactly enchant you perhaps you should skip the next item; Israel posted a budget deficit [that’s how much the state is spending more than it’s earning] of NIS 3.2 billion in August, bringing the deficit to NIS 7.3 billion for the first eight months of 2011, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. Income from taxes [that’s without increasing them, the taxes we mean] totaled NIS 16.6 billion in August, up 6.9% from August 2010. Tax income is up 5.9% in the first eight months of 2011 over the same period last year. For 2010, Israel posted a budget deficit of NIS 30.2 billion or 3.7% of gross domestic product, and that was below the target of 5.5%. Israel aims for a deficit target of 3% this year. All this means that Israel is sticking to a strictly disciplined budgetary line and that ultimately is good for everybody.

GN for the fauna and flora about to sink into the dark reaches of extinction; researchers from the Scripps Institute are being led by an Israeli scientist Dr. Inbar Friedrich Ben-Nun into ground-breaking research that has produced the first stem cells from endangered species, a breakthrough that could potentially save animals in danger of extinction and bolster endangered species’ health in captivity the first to turn normal adult cells into stem cells that can give rise to nearly any type of tissue or cell in the body and they hope to take this method forward to extinct species so that in the not-so-distant future they will be able to create new individuals of those species.

Ravad Ltd. An Israeli property developer controlled by Igal Ahouvi and a partner have bought half of an office building in Cirencester, UK, west of London, for ?14.35 million, plus ?350,000 in brokerage fees. Ravad and its partner bought the property in equal shares. The 4,200-square meter building is leased to St. James Place, Wealth Management Group Plc at ?1.1 million a year in a 20-year lease that expires in 2027. Rent will rise 18.8% to ?1.42 million a year by 2022 which sounds like a pretty good return to us.

The not so GN is that relationships between our neighbor, Turkey and Israel are not exactly cordial at the moment. The GN is that trade between the two countries has gone on uninterrupted producing record figures all round and now Turkey’s wheelchair basketball delegations have arrived in Israel today where Israel is hosting the 19-team European Championships for men and women this week. Can diplomatic relations be salvaged on the sports field. Why not we ask?

Rambam — the largest medical center in northern Israel, serving two million residents — is expanding its capacity by building a new west campus. The Weill family has presented the institution with a donation of $10,000 that will help establish the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department within the Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital and the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Israeli-Palestinian Friendship Center. Not only will the gift expand the children’s cancer ward, but it will help with the ongoing treatment of Palestinian children. Encountering this sort of generosity never fails to move us.

Out of the depths I cry to you,’ says the Psalmist and these words will soon receive a brand new meaning, when a Torah scroll will be placed in Navy submarines for the first time in history. As things stand at present every permanent Israel Defense Forces base has a Torah scroll which is read on Shabbat, as well as on Mondays and Thursday. Since the army began using submarines, no Torah scrolls have been brought in as hardly any religious soldiers served there. But the situation changed recently, after some hesder yeshiva students and even one haredi fighter joined the unit. A family which donated several Torah scrolls to military bases in the past decided recently to donate another one, and the military rabbi they approached suggested that they donate it to the submarine fleet, whose fighters often spend long periods of time on the high seas – underwater. There was only one problem: Space is at an absolute premium in a submarine, in other words, no place for a standard Torah scroll. What did the family do? It ensured that the scroll would be about one-quarter of its regular size, so that it could be stored in a case the size of a shoe box. The writing of the Torah scroll will be completed in the coming days, and according to Navy officials, it will be transferred from submarine to submarine