The B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem is the hub of B'nai B'rith International's activities in Israel, serving as the key link between the organization's members in over 50 countries around the world and the State of Israel. Through its extensive educational programs and well-established relationships with political leaders of all parties, the diplomatic corps and leading academic institutions, the World Center strengthens Israel-Diaspora relations and offers a unique vantage point on developments concerning the Jewish state. Operating under the aegis of BBI's Center for Human Rights and Public Policy, the World Center serves as the organization's permanent and official presence in Jerusalem and its public affairs arm in Israel - a continuing expression of BBI's 140-year active commitment to Jewish renaissance in Eretz Israel.
Board of Trustees:
Fred S. Worms, OBE Chairman, International Board of Trustees (London)
Murray H. Shusterman Founding President
Richard and Phyllis Heideman Trustees (Washington, DC)
Joseph H. Domberger Trustee (Munich)
Dr. Haim V. Katz Chairman (Jerusalem)
Alan Schneider Director |
May 9, 2011
Greeting from the Chairman
 Dear brothers and sisters,
Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, is a day like no other on the Jewish calendar. Here in Israel it is celebrated, on the one hand, like a religious holiday – no work, no school, special prayers giving thanks to the Almighty for helping the Jewish people – but also like secular holidays in other countries, with festivities, merriment and laughter amid a carnival-like atmosphere. We celebrate 63 years of independence this year, and we've earned every one. And along with the happiness, gaiety, and partying that goes on celebrating Jewish independence is the great sense of satisfaction of not only having survived, but of having accomplished so much. In this newsletter are just a few of the most recent examples – developing a security scanner using mice, figuring out how to use less water on a gold course, winning the "Gold Cup" in a wine contest, helping save Lake Victoria – but they reflect on a much bigger picture: a country that is always discovering, always inventing, always helping, always striving to improve the quality of life for ourselves and for our friends. It is being secure in that knowledge that gives us the pride to stand up and celebrate 63 years.
Yom Ha'aytzmaut Sameach,
Dr. Haim V. Katz
tired and not feeling well Chairman,
B'nai B'rith World Center
Happy? You Bet We Are!
A recent survey conducted by the Gallup institute ranked Israel seventh on the happiness level of residents, ahead of the United States and Great Britain. According to a global wellbeing survey of 1,000 adults in 124 countries, 63 percent of respondents in Israel said they were happy with their lives. The majority of residents in only 19 countries rated their lives well enough to be classified as thriving, led by Denmark, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Venezuela, Finland, Israel and New Zealand. Those who conducted the poll say world leaders should focus not only on the country's Gross Domestic Product as an indicator of the residents' well-being, but also consider other factors such as happiness and satisfaction.
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The Latest in High-Tech Security? A Mouse, Silly
Will airport security soon include scanners filled with bomb-sniffing mice? The critters will not be angling for a snack, though. They are part of a bomb-detecting unit created by start-up company BioExplorers, based in Herzliya. It claims that trained mice could be better than full-body scanners and intrusive pat-downs, at telling a bona fide passenger from a terrorist carrying explosives. Researchers also claim that the mice - who work four-hour shifts - are more accurate than dogs and x-ray machines. The detector is similar looking to a full-body scanner, but with three concealed cartridges each containing eight specially trained mice. When the mice sense traces of drugs, they run to a side chamber where they trigger an alarm. "It's as if they're smelling a cat and escaping," says the creator of the device. "We detect the escape."
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Golan Winery Wins World Cup
There were 3,720 wines submitted this year at Italy's annual international wine trade fair, a contest dubbed the "Wine World Cup." They came from 30 countries, including such wine hotspots as France, Chile, Spain and Italy. In the end, the Golan Heights Winery - which produces bottles under the labels Yarden, Gamla and Golan - became the first Israeli company to win the top spot at Verona’s annual wine fair. The award is presented to the vintner who achieves the best overall results at the show, calculated by adding the highest scores of two wines which have won medals in different categories. Though the Israeli winemaker has won awards at Vinitaly in the past - Grand Gold Medals in 2004 and 2006 - this year's win marks the first time the Gran Vinitaly Special Award was bestowed to an Israeli wine-maker. For more information click here
Erasing a Bad Memory
Mosquitoes' thirst for sugar could help kill the pests and eradicate the malaria they spread. While it is generally well known that female mosquitoes need a meal of blood before laying their eggs, less has been written about their appetite for sweet snacks between meals. It is this diet of “sweets”—derived from flower nectar and nectaries on plant leaves and stems—that provides mosquitoes with their persistent energy. Hebrew University researcher Prof. Yosef Schlein and his co-researcher, Günter Müller, discovered how to use mosquitoes' thirst for sweets against them. By spraying acacia trees with a sugar solution spiked with the oral insecticide Spinosad, they were able to wipe out virtually the entire mosquito population of a southern Israeli oasis. For more information click here
Israel, Germany to Save Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and the second-largest in the world, is being threatened by a severe ecological disaster. Half of the fish species in the huge lake – 410 Kilometers (255 miles) long and 250 kilometers (150 miles) wide - have already become extinct. For the past few years, an international effort has been trying to find out what went wrong, to help save at least some of the many varieties of flora and fauna that dot the landscape in and around Lake Victoria. A new joint venture between Israel and Germany in the fields of water and agriculture has now been launched, with the goal of saving Lake Victoria.
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Online Milk Analyzer Could Prevent Contamination
An Israeli dairy farm management company has launched the first online milk analyzer in the world, a technology that can help prevent milk contamination worldwide. This new computerized system can analyze the milk of each cow at each milking session, all day. A device weighs the milk which is then examined by sensors using a light beam that passes through the milk, thus enabling it to monitor the level of protein. Together with the computer's algorithm, the sensors detect the milk components. The results are shown on a screen on-line.
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Wasting Water on a Golf Course? Not In Caesarea
Everyone knows the problem with water - it’s scarce - so watering the grass on a golf course seems like such a terrible waste. Which is why the famous golf course in Caesarea decided to try something new: they imported a type of grass from beaches on South Africa’s and Australia’s borders, with grass roots that grew strong even when it’s watered with 40 percent salt water and 60 percent fresh water. In addition, the entire watering system of the Caesarea golf courses is controlled by a computerized system, which allows planning and programming of every sprinkler separately, for optimal watering. A smart way to save water, and help the environment.
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Israeli-Palestinian Duo Opens West Bank VC fund
Take two executives hailing from tech and finance - one from Israel and one from the Palestinian Authority – and team them up with some of the world's leading business technology companies. The result is the first investment fund for Palestinian high-tech startups. Yadin Kaufmann - who invested in Israeli companies that gave the world the USB flash drive and satellite communications systems – together with Palestinian software entrepreneur Saed Nashef recruited an initial $28.7 million from companies like Google Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. They say their aim is to boost the West Bank's community of software entrepreneurs, and build a robust economy for an eventual independent state. "It's not a political statement," the US-born Kaufmann said. "It's an interesting business opportunity and an opportunity to participate in the creation of something very important ... we're all interested in seeing a knowledge-based economy develop in Palestine." The fund intends to invest its $28.7 million in about a dozen companies over the next five years.
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Getting Old? Not So Fast…
No one likes getting old, but what can be done about it? Well, scientists working on it have already achieved something. Researchers at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology have discovered a way to reverse the aging process by removing old B lymphocytes - a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system - from old mice, and forcing the production of young, potent cells to replace them. The researchers found that the newly generated B cells replaced the old cells that were removed, and led to an improvement of up to 400 percent in the ability of the treated mice to respond to vaccinations. According to lead researcher Professor Doron Melamed, the study shows “that physiological aging is a regulated process that can be reversed, thus raising many questions concerning our understanding of the mechanisms of aging.”
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Helping Out in the Fields
Palestinian agriculture makes up about 9 percent of its gross domestic product, and Israel is the Palestinians' largest market, garnering 60% of what they export. To help raise the quality level of their produce to help sell to the lucrative European markets, some 400 Palestinian farmers and agri-business people from the West Bank – as well as the Palestinian agriculture minister - were invited to participate for the first time at the Agro Mashov international agriculture exhibition held in Tel Aviv. The Palestinians came seeking not only business deals, but in search of Israeli innovations. "The difference between Israeli and Palestinian agriculture is great, but we see today a change on the Palestinian side, which cannot be dismissed," said Samir Moaddi, chief Israeli agriculture adviser to the Palestinian Authority. "I'm sure that this is because the cooperation between us."
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