Water Recycling Technologies in Israel

After years of being told to conserve 'every drop of water', 

Israel now has plenty of it. How so?

Battling water shortage since its inception, Israel is

 now a world leader in recycling wastewater - 

85 percent of its domestic wastewater is being 

recycled and used for agriculture, with Spain

 in next place at 19 percent.

With many countries suffering from water shortage, 

Israel is keen to share its knowledge and technology. 

Lebanese Woman Visits Israel

MARCH 28, 2016, Carol Jahshan a Lebanese American psychologist and artist, completed a 3 month sabbatical in Israel

For the full article go to Times of Israel link  http://tinyurl.com/hh6b8hy 

As a Lebanese woman who grew up in Beirut and made the move to the United States at age 22, I think it is fair to say it was an unusual choice to spend a 3-month sabbatical in Israel at the end of 2015. Add that my father was born in Haifa in 1948 and left with his family for Lebanon at that time, and my choice to live and work in Tel Aviv is even more interesting. To be honest, I had some misgivings and fear around this decision, but at the end of a 3-month working collaboration at Bar Ilan University, there was no doubt that this visit had been a very positive and eye opening experience for me on many levels. It is an experience that I wish were much more common amongst my fellow Lebanese because of the humanizing and understanding it added to my perspective on Israeli society and especially regarding Israelis themselves, who I grew up knowing only through the lens of news reports and conversations that were invariably unfavorable. I would like to share my story.

However, as a proud Arab woman, nothing I have ever done was as profoundly countercultural as applying for an educational leave to work with an Israeli colleague for a semester at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan. I wrestled with telling my family that I had made this decision. When I did, I was met with resistance at first, then reluctant encouragement, and many questions.

“Why, of all places, would you want to visit Israel?” I was asked more than once.

“You won’t be allowed into the country, or if you are it will be a very difficult, humiliating experience.”

I was told that if people knew I visited Israel, I might never be allowed back into Lebanon.

 “Don’t talk about politics with anyone!” (In Israel? Now that I have been there, I think that is a funny one!)

I was told not to let my own friends and extended family know I was going.

There was a lot to consider.

Before arriving, I also wondered whether it would be wise to let people in Israel know that I am Lebanese. After all, this was a country that had invaded Lebanon on more than one occasion, a fact that had made a big impression on me and my generation growing up. In the end, my curiosity outweighed my uncertainties and I traveled to Israel with a heart and mind full of both.

My surprise came when my taxi drove through Ramat Gan, where I initially stayed. I looked out the window and saw the striking resemblance the streets there had to Hadath, the Lebanese town where I was raised. I could have been in Lebanon as far as I could tell from the view. I am not sure how I imagined Israel would look. Very modern and powerful I supposed, but that a suburb of Tel Aviv resembled Lebanon so closely was not what I had expected.

For most of my first week or two, I kept to myself. Largely, this was due to anxiety on my part. Anxiety that told me “if I interacted with people, they would realize I was Lebanese and I might be discriminated against or possibly worse. It turned out that I had no need to be anxious. I let people know that I was from Lebanon and was met with smiles. I let people know that my father was born in Haifa in 1948 and that same year his family took him to Lebanon where he lived most of his life. More smiles and friendly curiosity. I was welcomed “home”. I was invited into a variety of people’s homes for Shabbat dinners. This was not the reception I had expected at all.

One of the most moving interactions came from an Israeli man who had served in the Army in Lebanon. Without talking about politics, without talking about right or wrong, he apologized to me personally for the damage that the incursions caused to the Lebanese people. Another Israeli man expressed his concern and empathy for the Arabs of ‘48 (of which my father was one of the youngest) and I understood that here was a man who very simply wanted good relations and who did not have ill will towards Arab people, or to me, in any detectable way.

I wanted to cry when I heard these men. The idea that such thoughts existed in Israel, especially by former soldiers, was something that never, ever would have occurred to me. The human element of the interactions I had in Israel as an Arab woman had broken through the rhetoric I have heard for years, and had touched me. I had no reason to fear telling people where I was from. Among the many complex feelings I felt in Israel, one of the most undeniable, surprising and important, was feeling absolutely “welcomed”.

As a woman living in Tel Aviv, I felt safe and respected. I was never stared at or harassed. (I wish I could say the same thing about my experiences in Beirut.) Despite the fact that the right-leaning government tacitly endorses abysmal treatment of Arabs in the Territories, there is a stark contrast in the way other groups like gay people, Ethiopians, and women can thrive in Israel as compared to how they are treated elsewhere in the region. Tel Avivians, I realized by living here, are notably fair-minded, and in many ways not much different from my own friends at home.

Dreams of peace

My black and white image of Israel has been shattered. My understanding has increased. I am truly glad I visited. I am proud to have Israeli friends and I am grateful to my colleagues for their generosity and talent. I will never view that the Occupation is good for anybody, not even in the long run, for the settlers insisting on building there. But I see that there is tremendous decency in Israeli society, that there are people who I really, deeply like, with whom I have common interests and ideas. People who want to live peacefully, do their art, their science, their jobs, raise their children and see them happy. People I can genuinely relate to.

Friendship bridging political and religious divides

I am very proud to have taken the culturally bold step of crossing the bridge and experiencing Israel. I was moved deeply when I realized how many Israeli hands reached out to support me during my stay. My attachment to the region and my love for my family there shine as bright as ever but now, when I think of peace, I also wholeheartedly dream for the peace and well-being of Israel and its people.

Palestinian Campuses "More Hamas than Hamas"

Khaled Abu Toameh. 25 March '16..

Link: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7686/palestinian-campuses

These are the days when everything is backwards. The "pro-Palestinian" activists on university campuses throughout the Western world have gotten into the spirit: Palestinian students and academics in the West Bank and Gaza Strip endure daily harassment by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, because all that gets the activists going are "Israeli abuses."

Apparently, today, to be "pro-Palestinian" one has to be "anti-Israel."

For the self-appointed advocates of the Palestinians at Western university campuses, the Palestinian issue is nothing but a vehicle for spewing hatred toward Israel. In good, backwards form, Israel is castigated, and the PA and Hamas are free to abuse their own people.

It seems that in the view of the anti-Israel folks, the Palestinians should not even hope for human rights under the Palestinian regimes.

So while the anti-Israel activists are busy protesting against Israel on Western campuses, Palestinian students and professors are left to be persecuted by their own governments.Instead of campaigning for reform and democracy in the West Bank and Gaza, these activists spend precious energy trying to take down Israel. The Palestinian students and academics are left to their own devices.

Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas suffer an abysmal level of freedom of expression -- and always have. This is the grim reality that the international community and protesting students prefer to ignore. For them, human rights violations must have a "made in Israel" sticker on them.

Here is a suggestion: Let us redefine "pro-Palestinian." Instead of bashing Israel, the real pro-Palestinians will reveal themselves by demanding democracy for those they champion. True pro-Palestinian activists will scream for public freedoms for the Palestinians under the PA and Hamas regimes, which have always smashed dissent with an iron fist.

In the past few days, Palestinians on campuses in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have once again been reminded that they remain as far as ever from achieving a state that would look any different from the other Arab dictatorships in the region. The campus incidents, which have hardly caught the attention of the international media and anti-Israel activists in the West, also expose the media double standard about human rights violations in the territories.

In the most recent case, Hamas security guards detained a number of students at Palestine University in the Gaza Strip who protested against the administration's refusal to allow them to sit for examinations because they had not paid tuition in full.

The students complained that the guards conducted "humiliating" body searches and confiscated their mobile phones. Some said they were physically assaulted.

In another high-profile incident in the Gaza Strip last week, The Islamic University suspended UK-educated Professor Salah Jadallah for criticizing Hamas and the university administration on Facebook. The move drew sharp condemnation from many Palestinian students and academics, who took to social media to voice their fury over the suspension.

Professor Jadallah's suspension is far from unusual in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, where students, journalists and social media activists have repeatedly fallen victim to the Islamist movement's harsh clampdowns.

A founder of Hamas in northern Gaza, Professor Jadallah was until recently considered within Hamas's inner circle. His scathing remarks on Hamas, which he posted on his Facebook page, have turned him into a persona non grata on campus and he is being treated as a "fifth column" by his erstwhile Hamas colleagues. Professor Jadallah is being targeted: what, one might ask, is happening to ordinary Palestinians?

Campuses in the West Bank are faring no better. The Palestinian Authority's security forces systematically target students and academics under various pretexts. Hundreds of students have been rounded up by these security forces in recent years as part of a crackdown on critics and Hamas "supporters." Many of the students remain in detention without the possibility of seeing a lawyer or a family member.

Just this week, Palestinian security forces arrested four more university students and teachers: Izaddin Zaitwai, Ehab Ashour, Zuhdi Kawarik and Awni Fares.

It is not only political critics of the PA and Hamas, however, who are of interest to the security forces in Palestinian regimes.

In the first case of its kind under the Palestinian Authority, the Kadoori University in Tulkarem suspended a student who hugged his fiancé in public after offering her a wedding ring. The student, whose identity was not revealed, was accused of "immodest conduct" and is facing a disciplinary hearing. A university spokesman accused the "hugging" student of "slandering" the university's reputation and defended the punishment.

The decision to suspend the student sparked a social media storm, with many Palestinians accusing the Palestinian Authority and Kadoori University of seeking to be "more Hamas than Hamas."

If the putative champions of the Palestinians in the West continue to disregard the trampling of Palestinian human rights by the PA and Hamas, there may not be any Palestinians left to champion.

Muslim Girls in Israel Army

Still think Israel is a racist, apartheid state? You wouldn’t know it to listen to these young Muslim and Christian Arab girls, who are joining the Israeli army in ever greater numbers.

Young Muslim girls are joining the fight, on Israel’s side! These courageous young women have a unique and important story to tell, and together with a growing number of Christian Arab girls, they are breaking new ground joining ranks with the Israeli army.

When Private ‘A’, one of the Muslim girls now serving in the IDF decided to enlist, her parents refused to support her. She had to leave home and received support from the army as a lone soldier.

“I need to support myself,” she says, “and it’s really difficult, even with the help I get from the army. It is rare for a Muslim girl to join the army, because our families will not accept it. Even so, I would still recommend others to enlist. It is a great, life-changing experience.”

Private ‘G’, a devout Muslim, grew up in a Jewish neighborhood. She decided to enlist after she saw all of her neighbors going to serve. “The army is an important part of everyone’s life in my neighborhood,” she explained. “I wanted to serve just like everyone else. I want to give something back to Israel, my country.”

She added that her mother has been very supportive and sends her regular letters for moral support. “Mom said that she would have enlisted also if it had been possible when she was my age.”

According to Private ‘G’, recent tensions in Israel caused by young Muslims running through the streets attacking Israeli soldiers with knives does not influence her commitment to serve in the army. “I am so angry, just like the other soldiers, with these attacks. I am angry that anyone would try to harm these soldiers who are supporting me,” she said.

Private ‘S’ also grew up in a Jewish neighborhood. “My whole life I went to school with Jewish girls, so I wanted to finish high school, and enlist in the army, just like my friends,” she noted.

“I have never been ashamed of my [Muslim] faith, not even in the army. I wanted to enlist because it is my duty to serve and protect my country,” she added. “I want to serve in a way that makes a significant contribution.”

According to Private ‘S’, the army allows her to practice her religious traditions during her army service. “They allow me to go home during the Muslim Ramadan fast, once a week to be with my family,” she explained. “Some may think it is strange, but at home we actually celebrate some of the Jewish holidays like Purim.”

Corporal ‘M’ is a Christian Arab serving in a sensitive operational unit. “One day I saw a group of girl soldiers walking by carrying machine guns. I asked them about their army service, and it sounded really interesting. I didn’t even know where one would go to sign up, so they told me what I needed to do to enlist,” she recounted.

“After I enlisted,” continued the corporal, “I was walking around the [Arab] neighborhood where I live in uniform. When people saw me they deleted me from their Facebook and erased my number from their telephone. It was very hard, but a few friends still supported me, and I have made a lot of new friends in the army,” she shared.

All the young Muslim and Christian soldiers say that other girls are asking them about enlisting too. “I tell them that I feel like I am doing something important for my country,” said Corporal ‘M’. “And when I explain to the Jewish soldiers why I decided to enlist, they all show real respect for the decision that I made.”

View article at  http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/28547/Default.aspx 

Israel Tests Tunnel Detection

Since the feature of tunnel warfare erupted in the Gaza 2014 campaign, there has been much speculation on Israel's ability to counter this problem.

Now it is reported that Israel has overseen the development of a system that detect and destroy enemy tunnels.

The Israeli Defense Ministry has been working with the United States to develop a cross-border tunnel detection system. Israeli sources said the system, dubbed "Underground Iron Dome," underwent testing in 2016 near the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

"We are doing a lot, but many of the things we do are hidden from the public," Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said.

The sources said the development of the system took more than a decade but was accelerated over the last two years. They said the Defense Ministry was working with Israeli companies to design seismic sensors that could identify digging.

 The sources said Israel spent more than $250 million since the project was launched in 2004. They said Washington has allocated $40 million in fiscal 2016 and could do the same over the subsequent two years.

 "We have dozens, if not a hundred, engineering vehicles on the Gaza border," Eisenkot said.

http://www.menewsline.com/article-1173,36600-Israel-Tests-Tunnel-Detection.aspx

Arab-Israeli School Principal Criticises Arab MKs

(What a pity that more Arab Israeli citizens are not prepared to speak their minds like this headmaster)

http://tinyurl.com/jjx8uyw  

Nael Zoabi, principal of the Tamra Ha’emek elementary school

 and an activist for Jewish-Arab coexistence. Photo: Mida.

The Arab-Israeli leadership prefers investing energy in and siding with Palestinian nationalism to confronting the internal problems of the sector it is supposed to represent, said Nael Zoabi, an Arab-Israeli school principal in the north of the Israel.

In an extensive interview with a Hebrew newspaper, Zoabi — part of the large clan that includes controversial MK Haneen Zoabi of Mavi Marmara fame — insisted that many, if not most, Arabs in the Jewish state would like to work on peaceful coexistence and in bettering their societal standing. But, he asserted harshly, “Their voices are stolen from them” by their own Knesset representatives.

Zoabi bemoaned the fact that his philosophy of education at his school is antithetical to what the Arab politicians are preaching, accusing them of seeking “higher ratings.”

“I meet with Arab and Jewish youth, religious and secular; I speak at home gatherings. Jews from the Diaspora come to visit me, and I introduce them to our people. I raise the issue of coexistence at every opportunity at the school, and write op-eds for Israeli newspapers. I came to educate the kids at the school to be good people and citizens, and not just any citizens, but effective ones. We don’t have another state or country — not us and not you,” he told interviewer.

Slamming the Arab politicians in Israel for what he considers their shameful behavior (i.e. failing to condemn terrorist attacks against Jews and visiting the families of slain Palestinian terrorists), Zoabi said, “I won’t allow people like that to stain my reputation or that of my family or my religion [Islam]. More and more people from the Arab sector are distancing themselves from the ideas and actions of the politicians, who do not represent us,” he said. “They are feeding our public with lies. 

The leaders are selling the [false story] that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger and that Jews want to attack it. This is unacceptable to me. The state of Israel does not want to do such a thing, and if there were an extremist even considering it, the state would know how to handle him. I trust in [Israel].”

According to the newspaper, Zoabi said that though he has criticism of Israel, everything begins within the Arab sector internally. “We want leaders who worry about their public,” he said. “There are serious problems in our sector – relating to education, housing, employment, academic studies, violence and other issues.”

But, he asked rhetorically and then answered, “Who is addressing this? Nobody. The only issues our leaders concern themselves with are anti-Israel ones.”

Imams and Other Muslims Visit Israel

Rather than isolation, as some in the media would have the world believe, more and more representatives of more and more countries are visiting or making contact with Israel.

Many countries are waking up to the fact that they need to seek help and Israel can do just that.

Another example of this is the arrival of Imams and other Muslim religious leaders from a number of central African states in Israel on Sunday for a four-day visit (13-17 March 2016). The visit was arranged by the Africa Division and the World Jewish and Interreligious Affairs Bureau of the Israel Foreign Ministry, in conjunction with the American Jewish Committee. The visit aims to familiarize the visitors with socio-political aspects of Israel; to generate an interreligious, intercultural dialogue; and to explore possibilities for economic and agricultural development cooperation.

The delegation is comprised of senior religious leaders and imams from six African states spread throughout the continent, which gives the visit high strategic importance with regional implications and media impact beyond the states represented by the delegates. In most cases, the Muslim religious leaders serve also as community leaders and have broad political influence; their visit will contribute to strengthening the diplomatic ties between Israel and Africa.

The agenda for the visit includes meetings with senior officials; diplomatic and strategic briefings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; meetings at the Knesset; meetings between the imams and the chief rabbis on the subject of coexistence; a visit to the holy sites of the three religions, including Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem; and tours of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Haifa and Acre - cities that serve as models for interreligious coexistence in Israel.

At the present time, when African states are confronting threats from Islamic jihadist terrorism, we attach prime importance to meetings with moderate Muslim religious leaders. These meetings could serve as a stabilizing factor and boost Israel's connection to these sectors of African society.

Background:

The delegation numbers nine leading Muslim religious figures from South Sudan, Zambia, Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Interreligious dialogue holds a central place on Israel's diplomatic agenda in Africa. Israel's ambassadors to Africa are involved in activities to strengthen ties with the Muslim community, such as donating sheep for the Eid al-Adha holiday, engaging in interreligious dialogues, and more.

Delegations of Senegalese imams and senior clergy visited Israel several years ago (2013 and 2014). The visits were very successful, showing the visitors different aspects of Israeli life and Jewish-Arab coexistence. The visitors returned to their country with high motivation to strengthen diplomatic ties with Israel and improve Israel's public image through the media and academia. Long after the delegation returned, the media continued to portray Israel as a multifaceted and open society.

Better Messaging can help Israel's Public Diplomacy?

In an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/How-Israel-will-win-the-public-diplomacy-war-446871 Dov Lipman a former Member of the Israeli Knesset is suggest that better diplomacy for Israel would result from better messaging.

In my opinion there are more fundamental problems and my letter to him below has still not even resulted in an acknowledgement.

With reference to your op-ed in the Jerusalem Post Friday 4^{th   “}How Israel Will Win the Public Diplomacy War”, there is little in your article with which to take exception.

However, permit me to remind you that soon after you first entered the Knesset as an MK, you organized a meeting with a number of grass roots organisations, in order to “familiarize yourself with the activities of such groups”. Nothing evolved from that meeting.

Whilst messaging such as you a suggesting is important, this avoids the fundamental faults in the structure of Public Diplomacy at all levels.

The Foreign Office has failed to recognize that many, if not the majority, of major battles today are at grass roots level. Our enemies are investing in getting their message across in schools, universities, trade unions, churches and the like and consequently efforts by the Foreign Office are doomed to failure.

There has to be an understanding of the need for a joint coordinated effort whereby the MFA deals with those issues for which it is well equipped and the grass roots organisations  are coordinated and funded in the activities at grass roots level.

The messaging should be a coordinated effort. How many times have the members of grass roots organisations tried to get the powers that be in the MFA to issue strict guidelines regarding terminology, to no avail. How many times has there been an “initiative” to coordinate actions in the field of social media, all of which have failed to get off the ground.

There is a long list of success stories achieved by the many groups operating independently of government; Palestinian Media Watch, NGO Monitor, UK Lawyers for Israel,  Elder of Zion and during the last two conflicts in Gaza, the War Rooms established in a number of Universities.

Haifa University recently held a conference “Rethinking the Challenges of Israel’s PR” (I am a member of the advisory committee of the Comper Institute which was responsible for this conference). Four pillars of Israel’s PR  were discussed; Academia, Law, Diplomacy and Media. An action plan was developed and this is being used as a basis for future work.

In addition, this University is currently in its 5^th cycle of a course “Ambassadors Online” with students of varying academic and ethnic backgrounds. The concept of this course has also been transposed in schools for 15-16 year olds as “Young Ambassadors” and the latest school, Raanana, will be completing this year’s course later this month.

The University and schools programs are preparing students to be effective grass roots advocates in the future. Their effectiveness will be limited if we fail to solve the fundamental problem.

Until the fundamental faults are rectified, the chances of success for coordinated messaging is unlikely to succeed.

Why BDS Still Targets SodaStream

Zahava Raymond 2nd Mar 2016 for Honest Reporting

When SodaStream moved out of the West Bank in October 2015 under pressure from BDS, 500 Palestinian employees lost their jobs. Another 74 were able to continue working at the new factory close to the southern town of Rahat, but only on temporary work permits. On Monday, those permits expired and SodaStream was forced to let its last Palestinian employees go.

Thanks to the BDS movement’s actions, close to 600 Palestinians have now lost their jobs.

BDS activists have clearly demonstrated beyond all doubt that their only goal is to harm Israel, and they don’t care one iota if that causes Palestinians to suffer. Mahmoud Nawajaa, the BDS coordinator in Ramallah, called the loss of the Palestinian jobs at SodaStream

“ part of the price that should be paid in the process of ending the occupation.”

BDS caused  irrevocable damage by costing 600 Palestinians their livelihoods, but the movement got what it wanted. BDS supporters claim they are against “the occupation,” and SodaStream has moved out of the West Bank. What more could there possibly be left for them to do now?

Join the Fighting BDS Facebook page and follow @FightingBDS on Twitter and stand up against the delegitimization of Israel.

The boycott movement will still be targeting SodaStream as leaders claim that operating from the Negev “amounts to participation in Israel’s plans to forcibly displace at least 40,000 Palestinian Bedouins into townships,” and according to BDS leader Omar Barghouti, “colluding in the ethnic cleansing of Bedouin Palestinian citizens.” Except the Bedouins are not Palestinians, and BDS is simply hijacking their identity to fit their narrative portraying Israel as an occupier of Palestinian land.

This is in reference to the contentious Prawer-Begin plan which was dropped while the government sought to formulate a new version, but aimed to resolve the issues of illegal Bedouin settlements and to more fully integrate them into Israeli society.

The SodaStream factory was built in a new industrial zone in the Negev administered by the Bedouin city of Rahat, the Jewish town of Lahavim and the Bnei Shimon Regional Council. Around 40 factories will be based in this industrial zone when it is fully developed, providing employment for hundreds of workers, including many Bedouins from nearby towns. A college and hospital are also being built. The Negev is uncontested land under Israeli sovereignty, but to BDS it is another area that can be used in the attempt to delegitimize Israel altogether.

Just like the 600 Palestinians who lost their jobs, the plight of the Bedouins and the reality of the situation are irrelevant to BDS. The movement will take any opportunity to demonize Israel, even if it is to the detriment of the people it claims to care about.

Israeli scientific discoveries that affected the world

A new exhibit at Ben-Gurion Airport will feature approximately 60 discoveries and developments selected for the innovative and pioneering qualities, and their direct and indirect influence on the lives of millions of people around the world.

ReWalk - an exoskeleton invented by Dr. Amit Gopher that allows

people with paralyzed legs to walk again.

(Copyright: Ministry of Science, Technology and Space) 

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Space will, on Monday, 7 March 2016, at Ben-Gurion International (BGI) Airport, launch a year-long wall exhibit of approximately 60 Israeli developments and discoveries that have affected the world. Nobel laureates, featured researchers and university presidents and vice-presidents for research will also attend.

The exhibit will be displayed on a giant wall just past passport control and will have the potential of reaching approximately 8 million people. The exhibit is designed for public diplomacy and to increase domestic public awareness of science. A recent survey shows that 43% of Israelis are unaware that Israel's first President, Chaim Weizmann, was originally a chemist. Approximately 50% of Israelis were unable to name even one Israeli Nobel laureate scientist. The Science Technology and Space Ministry, in cooperation with the Israel Young Academy, initiated the Ben-Gurion Airport exhibit to present Israeli science.

The exhibit will feature approximately 60 discoveries and developments - chosen by a selection committee composed of representatives from the Israel Young Academy and the Science, Technology and Space Ministry Chief Scientist's office - that were selected for the innovative and pioneering qualities, and their direct and indirect influence on the lives of millions of people around the world.

 Sections of the exhibit will be devoted to Israel's eight Nobel science laureates, three Turing laureates and one Fields Medal winner, as well as to such prominent scientists as Chaim Weizmann, Aaron Aaronsohn and Albert Einstein.

According to the Science, Technology and Space Minister Akounis: "The exhibit is a major public diplomacy asset for Israel. We are showing the vast contributions of Israeli science and technology to the world and all humanity. 

We have what and who to be proud of. Israel is a pioneering country and innovative leader. The entire world admires, and is amazed by,  our achievements; therefore, it is fitting that they be shown at the gateway into and out of Israel."