And More Good News to Feel Good About

We should enjoy this while we can. The good news just keeps coming. With most sectors doing well here in Israel, we have plenty of positive thins to think about

Israel economic growth unexpectedly rose to an annualized 4.7% in the 2nd quarter of 2010 [compared with 4.1% in the Euro Bloc, 2.4% - USA and 0.4% - Japan].

It is the fastest pace in more than two years, as exports [19% industrial exports surge in the 2nd quarter] and consumer spending [8.7% in the 2nd quarter] increased [as well as 11% rise of investment in fixed assets]... rising from 3.6% in the 1st quarter [and 4.3% in the 4th quarter of 2009]…"

This is really an economy running on all pistons… The Israeli economy’s rebound from the global financial crisis has been powered by exports, which make up almost half of gross domestic product. Sales abroad increased in July to $3.8BN, the most in two years… Europe’s economy expanded 1% in the 2nd quarter of 2010 from the previous three month.

Israel’s unemployment is likely to drop to 7.3% this year, from 7.6% in 2009 and continue falling to 6.8% next year.

According to Israel’s Ministry of Finance…Inflation eased in July to an annual 1.8%, its slowest pace in more than 2.5 years.

All this seems to give the average citizen a good feeling about life in spite of the dangers around us.

Gallup’s Global Wellbeing or life satisfaction Study of 155 countries (March, 2010) ranks Israel as number 8, Switzerland 9, Canada 10 and Australia 11 at a level of 62% following New Zealand (63%), Netherlands & Sweden (68%), Norway (69%), Finland (85%), Denmark (82%), ahead of the USA (57%), Brazil (58%), most of Europe, etc.

Let's Cheer Some Good News !!

The conflict takes up so much of the media space, that there is never enough room for talkking about the REAL Israel

Here are just a few of the ongoing activities that you may not ahave heard about:

1. Scientists in Israel found that the brackish water, drilled from underground desert aquifers hundreds of feet deep, could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98 degrees on average, proves an ideal environment. Now that can help the food chain in harsh climates.

2. When Stephen Hawkins recently visited Israel , he shared his wisdom with scientists, students, and even the Prime Minister. But the world's most renowned victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, also learned something, due to the Israeli Association for ALS' advanced work in both embryonic and adult stem cell research, as well as its proven track record with neurodegenerative diseases. The Israeli research community is well on its way to finding a treatment for this fatal disease, which affects 30,000 Americans.

3. Israeli start -up, Veterix, has developed an innovative new electronic capsule that sits in the stomach of a cow, sheep, or goat, sending out real-time information on the health of the herd, to the farmer via email or cell phone. The e-capsule, which also sends out alerts if animals are distressed, injured, or lost is now being tested on a herd of cows, in the hopes that the device will lead to tastier and healthier meat and milk supplies. (I could think of a few uses if it was in my stomach!!)

4. Beating cardiac tissue has been created in a lab from human embryonic stem cells by researchers at the Rappaport Medical Faculty and the Technion - Israeli institute of Technology 's biomedical Engineering facility. The work of Dr. Shulamit Levenberg and Prof. Lior Gepstein, has also led to the creation of tiny blood vessels within the tissue, making possible its implantation in a human heart. (And I thought my stents where up-to-date technology!)

5. It is common knowledge that dogs have better night vision than humans and a vastly superior sense of smell and hearing. Israel 's Bio-Sense Technologies recently delved further and electronically analyzed 350 different barks. Finding that dogs of all breeds and sizes, bark the same alarm when they sense a threat, the firm has designed the dog bark-reader, a sensor that can pick up a dog's alarm bark, and alert the human operators. This is just one of a batch of innovative security systems to emerge from Israel which Forbes calls 'the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies.' (Is there a bark to warn a husband that the wife is about to arrive home??)

6. Israeli company, BioControl Medical, sold its first electrical stimulator to treat urinary incontinence to a US company for $50 Million. Now, it is working on CardioFit, which uses electrical nerve stimulation to treat congestive heart failure. With nearly five million Americans presently affected by heart failure, and more than 400,000 new cases diagnosed yearly, the CardioFit is already generating a great deal of excitement as the first device with the potential to halt this deadly disease.

7. One year after Norway 's Socialist Left Party launched its Boycott Israel campaign, the importing of Israeli goods has increased by 15%, the strongest increase in many years, statistics Norway reports. In contrast to the efforts of tiny Israel to make contributions to the world so as to better mankind, one has to ask what have those who have strived to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth done other than to create hate and bloodshed???

Do Journalists Have A "Great Pub" in the Sky?

It has often been said the journalists today are not interested in investigative journalism since their stories have to meet deadlines. Many times the stories are written to a pre determined agenda which bears no relation to reality.

This is clearly evident when a person's actual experiences in Israel are written about and many self styled "experts" cannot accept the version as it conflicts with their agenda and thus, they resort to name bashing and hysterical outbursts.

A classic example of this can be seen at http://www.tribune.ie/article/2010/aug/08/people-see-me-as-a-terrorist/#c14296

Michael Totten is a reader-funded foreign correspondent and foreign policy analyst who has reported from the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. He is now in Israel after a stint in Lebanon and reported on a meeting he had over coffee.

The whole interview can be read at http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2010/08/04/the-greatest-collection-of-nightmares-on-earth/ but what is important is that when he asked his Israeli companion what’s it like to read about Israel in the foreign press? The reply was "Surreal".

When asked to expand on this comment, the respondent replied that "It rarely bears any resemblance to the country I live in, mainly because it either deals only with the conflict or because the news is produced by people who live in the English-speaking Jerusalem bubble."

"There’s a large population of English speakers in Jerusalem. The people who speak English tend to gather around each other, especially if they’re in the higher reaches of government or the media. They tend to hang out with other English-speaking people. They go to the places where such people congregate, they read English-language newspapers, and they watch English-language television. They have very little contact with the rest of Israel, which is predominantly Hebrew-speaking."

"Tel Aviv is quite cosmopolitan, but if you go to the development towns in the south or to the towns in the north and in the Galilee, there are Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking populations there. Journalists have almost no contact with this world. What they portray as Israeli is a corner of a corner of a corner of this country."

"It is clear that journalists hang out with each other and with other foreigners. This affects their opinions, it affects their view of the world, and it affects how they write about it."

Even today we in Israel are suffering the effects of the Mohammad Al Dura case (the young boy "apparently shot" by Israeli soldiers. Yet 7 years after the event we know with absolute certainty that the young boy in the film was not killed and the body buried under the name of Mohammad Al Dura was NOT Mohammad Al Dura.

Thus we continue to suffer from the poor quality of reporting. A reader found THE SAME PICTURE with two different captions from TWO DIFFERENT locations. One picture was defined as "A Lebanese father holding his child" dated Dec 25th 2009 (taken from google images) It accompanies a poem called ‘A Soldier’s Christmas Poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’

And the SAME photo (maybe his twin brother!!) in Iraq holding a "twin" child March 25th 2010 also taken from google images. Here the article with it is entitled ‘The Scent of weakness’ from True Journalism.

Sick, sick, sick. where are the true professionals? In the great pub in the sky?

Now from the North

Today's unprovoked attack by the Lebanese army against the IDF, took place in Israeli territory along Israeli's Northern border. In some areas, there is a gap between the IDF security fence and the actual border, which is where this attack took place. IDF soldiers were conducting routine maintentce work including clearing bushes from the area. This sort of activity is crucial to keep an open line of sight, to prevent attacks and kidnappings, like the one in the summer of 2006, which was in a similar location.

And isn't it strange that reporters where on hand to film everything? - talk about a put up job!!!

And More!!!

If Israel fires a rocket at the weapons smuggling tunnels, it get widespread coverage in the media. I wonder how much of this report will make the world's media?

On Monday morning (Aug 2), explosions were reported in the southern port city of Eilat. No damage or injuries were reported but the explosions were heard throughout the popular resort city.

The Israel Army (IDF) and Israel Police are currently searching the area to assess the situation and examine the source of these explosions, and the Spokesman for the Israel Police has confirmed that the explosions were caused by rockets fired to the area.

A press release issued by the IDF Spokesperson moments after receiving initial reports of the explosions states that the IDF maintains ongoing contact with the Jordanian and Egyptian militaries. Jordanian press is reporting that a rocket landed in Aqaba, injuring several people, but those reports have not yet been confirmed by Israeli security sources.

While attacks to this area are rare, they are not unheard of. Earlier this year, on two separate occasions in April, three rockets were fired at the Eilat beach and an additional Katyusha rocket detonated in Aqaba.

Last Friday (July 30) a Grad rocker exploded in the city of Ashqelon, causing damage, and on Saturday (July 31) a Kassam rocket was fired towards the area of the Negev Regional Council. In response the Israeli Air Force targeted a weapons manufacturing facility and weapons smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip.

Rockets Galore

As we approach a total of 400 attacks launched from Gaza since the cease fire that halted Israel's Cast Lead' military operation in Gaza on January 19, 2009, on Saturday nigthhtn upgraded Qassam rocket scored a direct hit on the children's hydrotherapy rehabilitation center, located in the heart of Sderot's Sapir College. Thus reports the Sderot Media Center.

The Saturday night Qassam attack followed the explosion of a Iranian Grad missile that hit the city of Ashkelon on Friday morning, July 30th. Hamas controlled Gaza has targeted Ashkelon, with a population of 125,000 Israelis, since March 2008.

The children's hydrotherapy rehabilitation center at Sderot's Sapir College provides therapy and workshops for special-needs children who live in the Western Negev and is used by children from the entire country. The facility was decimated.

For the full story with photos and a video see http://sderotmedia.org.il/bin/content.cgi?ID=693&q=3

Well Wouldn't You Know?

(Thanks to Rhonda Spivak)

Although few would say so publicly, every one of the handful of East Jerusalem Arabs I spoke with in the last two weeks said that he would rather live under Israeli sovereignty than under Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority.

In the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem, I met Asem, who sells soccer jerseys and sports wear. In his shop, there is a soccer jersey with the name PALESTINE in big letters on a blue background. Asem tells me there is no national soccer team for PALESTINE, but "but we have the shirt.”

But, although he sells a soccer jersey saying PALESTINE, Asem is in no rush to have East Jerusalem become the capital of a Palestinian state under PA President Abbas. When I ask him if he would prefer to live under Abbas in a state of Palestine, rather than under Israeli sovereignty, he gives me the opposite answer of what I expected.

“No, I would rather live under Israelis than under Abbas. Abbas is a thief like Arafat was. But I would rather have Abbas than King Abdullah.”

When I ask him why he prefers to stay under Israeli rule than PA rule, he answers, “At least here I can say what I want. In Syria, if you say what you want, you can go missing forever. In Jordan too. And under Abbas, too. It is chaos there [under PA rule]. Abbas can stay in Ramallah, and stay out of Jerusalem.”

Asem’s Palestinian friend in the shop nodded in agreement. Asem did say that it’s not that he liked Israel per se, but that if given the choice, he prefers it to being ruled by the PA. He continued, “There are some nice homes in Ramallah. You know who lives in them. Abbas and his people. Not all of the other Palestinians. They are kept poor.”

Akram, a taxi driver living in Wadi Joz in East Jerusalem echoed Asam’s sentiments in wanting to remain under Israeli instead of Palestinian rule.
“Abbas, he should stay in Ramallah and not come to Jerusalem. We don’t need him here. We are different than Palestinians in Ramallah and elsewhere. They [the PA] are all “mamzerim’[bastards] and corrupt. I want to be Israeli. I have my Israeli identity card and I want to get my bituach leumi [national insurance benefit]. Who knows what it would be like to live under PA rule? But I don’t want to try it.”

Wadi Joz is a neighborhood where religious Jews have been trying to buy homes.
“There are Arabs who will sell for a lot of money but they do it quietly so no one will know. They make the deal but they make the possession date a long time away,” says Akram, who is pleased to tell me that his brother is entering the Israeli police force.

Moussa, a taxi driver waiting outside the Western wall tells me his name is “Moshey,” which is the Hebrew name for Moussa. Moussa is also definitive that he doesn’t want East Jerusalem to be a capital of a Palestinian state under Mahmoud Abbas. “It’s a balagan there in the West Bank [under Abbas]. I would keep my Israeli identity card...Baruch Hashem, I should live under the Israelis... It wouldn’t be better under Abbas.”

When Moussa says the words “ Baruch Hashem”, I can’t quite believe my ears. Did I hear you correctly saying Baruch Hashem, just like religious Jews do? Moussa smiles. “Yes, I speak like everyone else around here. I guess I picked up the expression.”

Firas, an Arab, who lives in Jerusalem’s Abu Tor neighborhood also says he isn’t in any rush to be under the PA, and is fine with the fact that there are “both Jews and Arabs who live in Abu Tor.”

“Who knows what kind of State there will be under Abbas. All my life I’ve lived under Israeli rule, so I don’t know anything else. But I don’t think my life would be better under the PA,” he says.