Hebrew University Scientists Create ‘Sight’ Method for Blind

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a device that enables blind people to “see.”

Dr. Amir Amedi of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada at the Hebrew University, and PhD student Ella Striem-Amit used in the research a sensory substitution device (SSD) called “The vOICe,” developed by Dr. Peter Meijer of Holland.

The device converts images from a minature camera into soundscapes, allowing the user to listen to and then interpret the visual information coming from the camera. It also enables those using the system to “read” an eye chart with letter sizes smaller than those used in determining the international standard for blindness. Continue Reading »

Help Us Protect And Promote Israel

170 Jewish Nobel Prize Winners

Albert Einstein

Nobel Prizes are awarded by the Nobel Foundation of Sweden to men and women who have rendered the greatest service to humankind.

Between the years 1901 and 2011, around 850 laureates have been awarded Nobel Prizes.

 Of the 850 laureates, at least 170 are Jews.

Less than half of one percent of the world’s population is Jewish.


In 2011, five Jewish laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize:

Daniel  Schechtman
Saul  Perlmutter
Adam Riess
Ralph Steinman
Bruce Beutler

Literature

  • 1910 – Paul Heyse
  • 1927 – Henri Bergson
  • 1958 – Boris Pasternak
  • 1966 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon
  • 1966 – Nelly Sachs
  • 1976 – Saul Bellow
  • 1978 – Isaac Bashevis Singer
  • 1981 – Elias Canetti
  • 1987 – Joseph Brodsky
  • 1991 – Nadine Gordimer
  • 2001 – Imre Kertesz
  • 2005 – Harold Pinter

World Peace

  • 1911 – Alfred Fried
  • 1911 – Tobias Michael Carel
    Asser
  • 1968 – Rene Cassin
  • 1973 – Henry Kissinger
  • 1978 – Menachem Begin
  • 1986 – Elie Wiesel
  • 1994 – Shimon Peres
  • 1994 – Yitzhak Rabin
  • 1995 – Joseph Rotblat

Chemistry

  • 1905 – Adolph Von Baeyer
  • 1906 – Henri Moissan
  • 1910 – Otto Wallach
  • 1915 – Richard
    Willstaetter
  • 1918 – Fritz Haber
  • 1943 – George Charles de Hevesy
  • 1961 – Melvin Calvin
  • 1962 – Max Ferdinand Perutz
  • 1972 – William Howard Stein
  • 1977 – Ilya Prigogine
  • 1979 – Herbert Charles Brown
  • 1980 – Paul Berg
  • 1980 – Walter Gilbert
  • 1981 – Roald Hoffmann
  • 1982 – Aaron Klug
  • 1985 – Herbert Hauptman
  • 1985 – Jerome Karle
  • 1989 – Sidney Altman
  • 1992 – Rudolph Marcus
  • 1998 – Walter Kohn
  • 2004 – Avram Hershko, Aaron Ciechanover, Irwin Rose
  • 2006 – Roger Kornberg
  • 2009 – Ada Yonath
  • 2011 – Daniel Schechtman

Economics

  • 1970 – Paul Samuelson
  • 1971 – Simon Kuznets
  • 1972 – Kenneth Arrow
  • 1973 – Wassily Leontief
  • 1975 – Leonid Kantorovich
  • 1976 – Milton Friedman
  • 1978 – Herbert A.
Continue Reading »

Jewish Family Attacked by Arabs, Narrowly Escapes Injury

A religious family narrowly escaped injuries after its car was attacked by Arab rioters in Jerusalem.

A religious family narrowly escaped injuries after its car was attacked by Arab rioters in Jerusalem this week, the religious radio station Radio Kol Chai reported on Friday.

The incident occurred as the family members were making their way home from prayers at the Western Wall. They were caught in a Nakba Day demonstration held at the Damascus Gate area, the report said.

Nakba Day 2012

Nakba Day 2012 - Reuters

Nakba Day, or the day of catastrophe, is what the Arabs call the English date of May 15, when the State of Israel was re-established with a declaration of independence in 1948. Continue Reading »

Electric car network gets first test in Israel

Range looks to be biggest challenge as car buyers mull ditching gas guzzlers

 

A "Better Place" electric car outside the company's sales center in Tel Aviv (photo credit: AP/Ariel Schalit)
A “Better Place” electric car outside the company’s sales center in Tel Aviv – Photo: AP/Ariel Schalit
ROSH HAAYIN (AP) — Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi has begun rolling out the world’s first nationwide electric car network. Now, will the drivers come?

After more than $400 million in outlays and months behind schedule, dozens of electric cars have hit the road in Israel, the test site Agassi chose for his Better Place venture. Four stations where the cars can get a new dose of juice when their batteries run out are operating, and the plan is to ramp that number up within months. Continue Reading »

As Danino tours TA, police stop gunman in Holon

Officers shoot down motorcyclist after apparently failed robbery; Danino calls for 20% increase in police patrols.

While Police chief Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino on Friday night toured the streets of Tel Aviv on the backdrop of a crime wave that has shaken the nation, it was the city of Holon where a scene developed adding further momentum to nationwide fears that violent crime is infesting Israel’s growing urban enclaves.

 

[illustrative photo] - Photo: Yoni Cohen
Photo: Yoni Cohen

 

It was there police managed to bring down a 19-year-old motorcyclist they said was trying to rob and murder a man traveling in a taxi cab in that city, which sits inland just south of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Continue Reading »

‘Mooly Eden is one of world’s most brilliant tech minds’

Fortune Magazine names head of Intel Israel one of the 10 most brilliant technological minds in the world alongside Amazon CEO, Apple’s chief designer

 

Mooly Eden, president of Intel Israel, is one of the world’s 10 most brilliant technological minds, Fortune Magazine has decreed.

Under the auspices of its well-known Fortune 500 project, which ranks the 500 biggest-earning US companies, Fortune praised 10 senior directors for their “brilliant technological vision.”

Eden made the list alongside some very well-known names, including legendary Apple designer Jonathan Ive – who gave the iPhone, iPod, and iPad their distinctive look; Andy Rubin, vice-president of Google and the mind behind the Android operating system; Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos; Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs; Barnes and Noble CEO William Lynch; and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty. Continue Reading »

Toronto Islamic school sent packing over anti-Semitic lessons

School loses right to use public school for its classes after referring to Jews as ‘crafty’ and ‘treacherous,’ contrasting Islam with ‘the Jews and the Nazis.’

A Toronto Islamic school has lost the right to use a public school for its classes after anti-Semitic teachings were discovered in its curriculum and posted on its website.

David and Mary Thomson Collegiate - Wikipedia - May 19, 2012

David and Mary Thomson Collegiate - Wikipedia

 

The Toronto District School Board announced this week that the East End Madrassah could no longer rent space for its Sunday classes at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate until police finish their investigation of the anti-Jewish teachings.

The public school board “[needs] to be satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and that [the madrassah was] in compliance with our policies and procedures” before they can use school board property, board spokesman Jim Spyropoulos told the Toronto Star. Continue Reading »

Haniyeh Criticizes U.S. Aid to Israel

Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza criticizes the U.S. decision to provide Israel with aid to purchase additional Iron Dome batteries.

Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, criticized on Friday the U.S. decision to provide Israel with aid to purchase additional Iron Dome batteries.

Ismail Haniyeh

Hamas PM Ismail - Photo By REUTERS

According to a report on Kol Yisrael radio, Haniyeh made the comments to pro-Palestinian Authority activists from several Arab and Muslim countries. Haniyeh claimed that providing aid to Israel will encourage it “to continue its war crimes.”

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the United States will immediately give Israel $70 million for additional Iron Dome batteries. Continue Reading »

Medics attacked by Palestinians near Jerusalem

Emergency crew responding on scene of accident find themselves the target of violent mob

 

An emergency medical crew narrowly escaped being lynched this week while responding on the scene of an injurious car accident near Jerusalem, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

The fateful call came on Tuesday; a car carrying a group of Palestinian youths from east Jerusalem swerved off the road and hit a safety barrier near the village of Hizm.

Illustration Photo: Index Open

Illustration Photo: Index Open

Upon reaching on the scene the crew began treating two young women who were hurt in the crash. But their efforts were interrupted with the arrival of the victims’ family members, whose misguided attempts to defend the women quickly turned violent. Continue Reading »

Old becomes new as couples personalize wedding ceremonies

In the U.S., some customize the traditional Jewish wedding to allow for self-expression and individuality.

In the months before his wedding, Jon Cetel cringed at the notion of having his friends dance him to his bride at a traditional bedeken ceremony, where he would place the veil over her face.

The concept “was completely foreign to me,” he said. It “felt too traditional.”

But his bride, Ashley Novack, 26, was entranced by the tradition. “I love dancing, and this sounded like an amazing opportunity definitely not to be missed,” she said.

The bride and groom face each other and smile during a traditional Jewish wedding.

The bride and groom face each other and smile during a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony at El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba - Photo by Reuters

Rabbi Shira Stutman, director of community engagement at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington and the officiant at their wedding, had a suggestion: Reverse it. Continue Reading »

TIME Devotes Cover Story to ‘King Bibi’

TME Magazine devotes its cover story this week to PM Binyamin Netanyahu, who is named “King Bibi”.

TIME Magazine devoted its cover story this week to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was named “King Bibi”, in a play on the name of famous blues artist B.B. King.

The article was written by TIME’s managing editor Richard Stengel and it profiles Israel’s Prime Minister, explaining why he is “the King of Israel”.

Binyamin Netanyahu

Binyamin Netanyahu - Photo by Reuters

“Netanyahu is poised to become the longest-serving Israeli Prime Minister since David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of Israel,” writes Stengel. “He has no national rival. Continue Reading »

Canada looking to expand role in Middle East peace talks

Shimon Peres and Ron Lauder both say they see a role for Ottawa

 

The United States has long been a major player in attempts to broker Middle East peace, but now Washington’s neighbor to the north is reportedly looking to get into the game.

Ten days after President Shimon Peres’s state visit to Canada, the president of the World Jewish Congress said he expects Canada to take on a new role in MIddle East peace talks.

Both Peres and Ronald Lauder were quoted in Canadian media reports as seeing Canada acting as a go-between. ”I believe that in the coming months, Canada can play a role and I think will be invited to play a role,” Lauder said in an interview with The Canadian Press. Continue Reading »

Gov’t okays adding magnesium to drinking water

Netanyahu, Litzman launch pilot project to restore magnesium to drinking water that is lost in desalination.

Prime Minister and former health minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman decided on Wednesday to launch a pilot project in Ashkelon to restore the magnesium to drinking water that is lost in the process of desalination.

The project, whose extent and time frame will be determined by an inter-ministry team, is regarded as urgent due to the increasing share of purified sea water that is being used for drinking.

Israel has desalinated more of its water supply than any other country in the world.

Continue Reading »

Turkey accuses Israel of violating north Cyprus airspace

Turkish army claims Israeli aircraft entered Turkish-controlled area five times on Monday; fighter jets launched in response

 

Turkey accused Israel on Thursday of violating the airspace of Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus in a controversial oil and gas exploration area.

The Israeli aircraft violated the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’s airspace five times in Monday’s incident which saw Turkish fighter jets chase out the intruder, the army command said in a statement.

It gave no other details about the incident nor the type of Israeli plane involved in the alleged incursion over the breakaway statelet, which is recognized only by Ankara.
ציר עוקף טורקיה. נתניהו ונשיא קפריסין היוונית כריסטופיאס (צילום: EPA)
PM Netanyahu and Cyprus president Dimitris Christofias (Photo: EPA)

 

Israel and the internationally-recognized Republic of Cyprus have both discovered huge offshore natural gas deposits beneath the Mediterranean Sea between them, and have tentatively discussed cooperation on delivering gas to European and Asian markets. Continue Reading »

Israel ranked alongside Iran as one of countries with most negative global influence

Israel, Iran, Pakistan and North Korea were ranked most negatively by 24,000 people surveyed in an annual BBC poll,

Israel has been ranked in the top four countries that most negatively influence the word, according to a global public opinion poll conducted by the BBC.

The poll, which surveyed citizens from 22 countries around the world, places Iran in first place, with 55 percent of those surveyed rating it as a negative country. Pakistan ranked second with 51 percent, and in joint third place were Israel and North Korea, with 50 percent of respondents negatively evaluating both countries.

Anti-Israel demonstrators in Tehran, May 15, 2012.
Anti-Israel demonstrators in Tehran, May 15, 2012.
Continue Reading »