The Israeli Occupation in 2013

“Occupation”- Definition: job, profession, line of work, career, calling, walk of life.

So what work has Israel been doing in connection with the Palestinian Arabs since my last article on the subject earlier in the year?

In May, doctors at Schneider’s children hospital transplanted a kidney into a 10-year-old Palestinian Arab boy. The kidney came from 3-year-old Israeli Noam Naor who died in a tragic fall and his parents decided to donate his organs to save the life of others.  Following the operation, Noam’s mother said, “To see Yakub today is very exciting. I wish him only health, a full and speedy recovery.” In the same month, Hadassah doctors performed an extremely rare operation to deliver the conjoined (“Siamese”) twins of a Palestinian Arab mother. The babies weighed 4.9 pounds and shared a heart.

The Israeli charity Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) performs more life-saving surgery on Palestinian Arab infants than from any other part of the world.  In August, of the 22 children at SACH’s base in the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, seven were from the Palestinian Authority.  SACH works with Christian organization Shevet Achim which funds and transports PA and Gaza children requiring heart surgery to Israeli hospitals such as the Wolfson and to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

In July, IDF paramedics and Magen David Adom joined together with the PA police and the PA Red Crescent to save a Palestinian Arab who was hit by a car when riding his donkey near Nablus (Shechem).  MDA transported him to an Israeli hospital for further treatment.  And coming right up-to-date, in December an IDF emergency medical team rescued a 10-year-old Palestinian Arab boy whose head was cut open following a car accident and airlifted him to hospital.  The team also treated the boy’s mother, who suffered from shock after the accident.

In 2013, truck drivers from Israel were fully occupied making 64,783 deliveries of food, medicines, finished goods and building materials (some 1.3 million tons) into Gaza.  Unfortunately for Hamas, their leader Ismail Haniyeh was caught feeding orphans in Gaza with “boycotted” Israeli yogurts.  Meanwhile in July sixty Gaza farmers attended an agricultural seminar in northern Israel.  They completed workshops on cultivation methods, planting schedules, soil preparation, irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides. In the following video, dozens of Gaza farmers are shown at an Israeli exhibition earlier in the year learning about innovative Israeli agricultural methods and new fruits and vegetables developed in Israel.

When the December storm struck, Israel intervened in Hamas’ quarrel with the PA by rushing in 1.2 million liters of diesel into Gaza to restart its power station.  And when the snow trapped a Palestinian Authority ambulance carrying a very sick woman, Israeli soldiers from the Kfir Brigade were there to help it back on the road.

The PA shuns normalisation of relations with Israel, but the 20,000 Palestinian Arabs working for Israelis in Judea and Samaria (25 percent more than in 2012) illustrate that the reality is quite different.  In August we also read about the hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs who have become business partners and colleagues in joint start-ups. For example Israeli startup Naked Sea Salt partners with a Palestinian Arab company to use eco-friendly methods to harvest salt from the Dead Sea.  And the massive project involving Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority will construct a pipeline from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea to produce millions of cubic meters of drinking water for the region, hydroelectric power and replenish the critically dwindling Dead Sea.  Even Al Jazeera broadcast the news of the joint project.

Work by Israel for the PA includes support for a new industrial park, near Bethlehem(so much for the “apartheid wall”!).  Further construction projects, like that of Israeli water treatment company Mapal Green Energy, are recycling domestic sewage and water for Palestinian Arab villages. This could explain why the PA’s many leisure parks managed to keep their swimming pools full throughout the summer.

Despite the PA being constantly occupied with incitement, there are still occasional opportunities for optimism.  In September, five Arab schools in East Jerusalem decided to switch from the Palestinian to the Israeli curriculum so that their students could study for the Israeli bagrut (matriculation exam).  Then as Moslems celebrated the end of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan, approximately one million Palestinian Arabs received permits to enter Israel as tourists – 200,000 more than last year.  And we may see more videos of Israelis (hopefully not in IDF uniform) and Palestinian Arabs dancing together.

Before anyone says that this is all new, here is a selection of Israel’s “occupational therapy” from previous years.  And here, and here and here.

Finally, future prospects for peace lie with the next generation.  We can only hope that sufficient children remain untouched by PA hate education to achieve this.  Some will have played in mixed teams with Israeli children in the May 2013 Mini Soccer World Cup at Israel’s Kiryat Gat stadium.  It was (UK) Liverpool’s soccer manager Bill Shankly who said, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death… I can assure you, it is much, much more important than that

Invest in Israel : December 2013

11/2013 Vol. 90

This newsletter is brought to you by Invest in Israel, the Investment Promotion Center at the Israeli Ministry of Economy. CANTEL MEDICAL ACQUIRES ISRAEL’S JET PREP INE VENTURES LAUNCHES ISRAELI FUND FOR TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS MICROSOFT VENTURES INVESTS IN ISRAELI MOBILE COLLABORATION APP ZULA COVIDEN ACQUIRES ISRAEL’S GIVEN IMAGING CAREFUSION PURCHASES 40% OF CAESAREA MEDICAL ELECTRONICS  TOSHIBA TO OPEN FIRST ISRAELI R&D CENTER 3 ISRAELI COMPANIES LAND SPOTS IN TOP 10 OF DELOITTE’S 2013 TECHNOLOGY FAST 500 RANKING ISRAEL’S GREENSPENSE INSPIRES AUDIENCE AT 2013 CLEANTECH OPEN  DELL LOOKS TO ISRAEL FOR BIG DATA OPPORTUNITIES LOCAL COMPETITION INSPIRES NEW MEDIA CREATIVITY EMERSON BUYS ISRAEL’S APM AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS ISRAEL’S LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES TAKE THEIR SHOW ON THE ROAD Life Sciences Water Technologies Communication Homeland Security Semiconductor Chemicals Agro-technology Automotive Design Filming New Media Tourism Invest in Israel 5 Bank of Israel St. Jerusalem 91036 Israel Phone: 972-2-6662607 Fax: 972-2-6662938 Email:investinisrael@economy.gov.il Website:  http://www.investinisrael.gov.il CANTEL MEDICAL ACQUIRES ISRAEL’S JET PREP U.S.-based Cantel Medical Corp. has acquired Israel’s Jet Prep.  Based in Herzliya, Jet Prep is the developer of the Jet Prep Flushing Device, a novel single-use irrigation and aspiration catheter designed to improve visualization during colonoscopy procedures.  The Jet Prep operation, which will be integrated into Cantel’s Medivators Endoscopy business, will remain in Israel.  Cantel Medical is a leading global company dedicated to delivering innovative infection prevention and control products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers. Back to Top INE VENTURES LAUNCHES ISRAELI FUND FOR TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS  INE Ventures announced the official launch of INE Ventures Fund I, following the Mayor of Philadelphia’s Economic Trade Mission to Israel.  INE Ventures, along with a selection of venture capital partners, will co-invest seed capital in Israeli technology startups. The funds will be earmarked toward relocating portfolio company founders to Philadelphia and New York City, facilitating their penetration of the U.S. market and their development into multinational companies.  Based on the East Coast with offices in New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA, INE Ventures invests exclusively in Israeli technology startups through co-investment partnerships with select Israeli venture capital firms. Back to Top MICROSOFT VENTURES INVESTS IN ISRAELI MOBILE COLLABORATION APP ZULA  Microsoft Ventures announced a seed fund investment in Zula, an Israeli startup company that streamlines mobile communication and productivity.  Zula’s presentation at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this year earned it the Audience Choice Award, and also captured the attention of Microsoft Ventures, present at the event.  Zula’s compelling performance reflects its promise as a company on a major growth trajectory, given the innovative solutions it offers to the challenges many technologies face in attempting to facilitate collaboration via mobile devices. Back to Top COVIDIEN ACQUIRES ISRAEL’S GIVEN IMAGING   The Irish medical device maker Covidien PLC has acquired the Israeli camera-in-a-pill maker, Given Imaging. The acquisition totaled $860 million, calculated at $30 a share.  Given Imaging’s technology is used to visualize, diagnose and monitor the digestive system.  “We believe GI [gastrointestinal] is one of the most attractive specialty procedure areas. Acquiring Given will enable Covidien to significantly expand its presence in a $3 billion GI market,” said Bryan Hanson, group president for medical devices at Covidien.  Given Imaging was formed in 1998 and first won  approval for its miniature camera three years later. Its technology is modeled on a technology used for guided missiles. Back to Top CAREFUSION PURCHASES 40% OF CAESAREA MEDICAL ELECTRONICS   California-based medical technology developer CareFusion has announced the purchase of a 40% stake in Israel’s Caesarea Medical Electronics for $100m, with rights to further increase its ownership position at a later date. CareFusion makes infusion and syringe pumps which complement the product offerings of CareFusion.  The items produced by Caesarea are used in MRI procedures and epidural anesthesia both in hospitals and at home. CareFusion employs 15,000 people worldwide and has a history of prior activity with Caesarea Medical. Back to Top TOSHIBA TO OPEN FIRST ISRAELI R&D CENTER   Japan’s Toshiba is set to open its first R&D center in Israel, slated to join more than 250 multinationals with similar operations in Israel. Toshiba’s first Israeli R&D center comes on the heels of its purchase of U.S.-based company OCZ Technology Group’s assets and operations for $35 million. As part of the deal Toshiba will gain OCZ’s R&D centers for micro-controllers and software in Israel and Britain. OCZ established an R&D center in Israel when it acquired Sanrad in 2012 from the RAD group. The Israeli R&D center employs 20 people and is led by former Sanrad CEO Oded Ilan. 3 ISRAELI COMPANIES LAND SPOTS IN TOP 10 OF DELOITTE’S 2013 TECHNOLOGY FAST 500 RANKING  In its recent ‘Technology Fast 500’ publication, which ranks the fastest-growing public and private technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, and clean technology companies, Deloitte uncovered the 500 leading companies in revenue growth rate for 2013. The listing revealed three Israeli companies in the top ten, namely, MyThings, Trusteer, and MyHeritage. The five-year revenue growth for the three companies stood at 23,205%, 11,240%, and 9,041%, respectively, earning them their spots in the top 10 fastest-growing companies globally.   Back to Top ISRAEL’S GREENSPENSE INSPIRES AUDIENCE AT 2013 CLEANTECH OPEN   The 2013 Cleantech Open Global Ideas Competition, the world’s largest clean-technology accelerator, held its fifth annual competition earlier this month in Palo Alto, California. The competition brings early-stage startups with breakthrough cleantech ideas to Silicon Valley to compete for the Global Ideas Prize. 28 national finalist teams from around the world faced off at the Cleantech Open Global Forum, following an earlier initial round of competition. Five companies were selected as finalists, with Israeli GreenSpense awarded second place for its development of a propellant-free continuous dispensing technology. The breakthrough cleantech innovation eliminates gas from aerosol containers, enabling reduced costs and eco-friendly packaging. Back to Top DELL LOOKS TO ISRAEL FOR BIG DATA OPPORTUNITIES Dell has launched a new venture capital fund worth some $300 million and will be focusing its efforts toward facilitating the development of entrepreneurial companies in Silicon Valley, Boston and Israel. The Strategic Innovation Venture Fund will target early-to-growth stage companies in emerging technology areas including storage, cloud computing, big data, next-generation data centre, security and mobility. By focusing on connecting with entrepreneurs at promising companies across these vibrant tech locations, Dell hopes to help customers keep up with the latest trends in the industry. Back to Top LOCAL COMPETITION INSPIRES NEW MEDIA CREATIVITY  In an event held last month in collaboration with Google Israel-YouTube, the Israel Film and Television Producers Association, and the Investment Promotion Center at the Israeli Ministry of Economy, some of Israel’s top content creators had an opportunity to showcase their talents and vie for a monetary prize and trip to Google’s London YouTube offices. “MADE for WEB: Innovative Creation in the Digital and New Media Age,” brought together competitors from across Israel’s new media and film industries, seeking to introduce innovative solutions to web-based video production and distribution. Following a conference on web innovation in July, the recent event allowed some 150 content creators to submit videos for participation in the competition, with prizes awarded in four different categories. EMERSON BUYS ISRAEL’S APM AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS   U.S. manufacturing and technology giant, Emerson, has announced the purchase of Israeli APM Automation Solutions. Emerson, which employs some 132,000 employees and operates 230 manufacturing locations worldwide, made the purchase as part of its efforts to augment Emerson Process Management’s measurement instrument portfolio. The acoustic imaging and 3D-mapping technologies created by the Israeli companies help operators accurately measure solids for improved process and inventory control.  The purchase is expected to result in the establishment of Emerson’s first R&D center in Israel, which is expected to expand APM’s current roster of 30 employees. Currently, Emerson has a market cap of $48.1 billion on the New York Stock Exchange and its annual sales are valued at $24.4 billion. The sale of APM, which was started with initial funding from the Israeli Ministry of Economy’s Chief Scientist office, is generating a high return for investors, the deal reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars following an initial $10 million investment. ISRAEL’S LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES TAKE THEIR SHOW ON THE ROAD   A delegation of eight select life sciences companies traveled earlier this month to the U.S. in an effort organized by the Investment Promotion Center at Israel’s Ministry of Economy. Showcasing some of Israel’s most innovative technologies in the sector, the five-day roadshow spanned six cities across the continental U.S. and gave potential investors and partner companies an opportunity to get a glimpse into some of the most up-and-coming technologies emerging from within Israel. Israel’s Life Sciences industry is internationally regarded for its accomplishments, with a host of leading Life Science companies having made significant investments in the country and its life science firms.