ISRAEL

NEWS FROM OUR JEWISH HOME

Israelis Invent New Cancer Treatment Tests

By mimicking cancer cells, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed a nanochip for testing a variety of cancer treatments.

Professor Mark Schvartzman, leader of

the research team, explained to The Times of Israel, “Our new chip is like an artificial cancer that can be put in a petri dish with lymphocytes that have been genetically engineered and comprise an immunotherapy treatment.

“We look at it under a microscope and see whether the treatment works when faced with ‘cancer,’ and if so, how well it works.”

Because of the repetition required for the tests, there are a variety of benefits to using nanochips for testing rather than real cancer cells that vary as they are extracted from real patients, Schvartzman said. The development has already led to an unexpected discovery about the distance required for receptors to suppress cancer cells, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Shutterstock//Nanotechnology used to create breakthrough cancer treatment tests.

Fifth Female Fighter Pilot Joins Israeli Air Force

A fifth female pilot is joining combat operations for the Israeli Air Force after four women graduated the program earlier this month, according to Israel Hayom via the Jewish News Syndicate. While 62 women have completed the IAF’s pilot’s course since it opened to women in the 1990s, only four women have been assigned to combat roles.

IDF Spokesperson’s Unit// The four women who earned their IAF wings earlier this month. A new class graduated in June of four women and 35 men, including the first woman in nearly five years to become a fighter pilot in Israel, and only the fifth ever. The ceremony took place in Hatzerim Airbase in the Negev Desert.

First Israeli Archer Qualifies for Tokyo Olympics

Itay Shanny made history as the first Israeli archer to qualify for the Olympics, after a Paris tournament for qualification and initially placing 23rd out of 94 contenders, according to The Times of Israel. “It’s surreal. I’m going to be the first archer from Israel to be at the Olympics,” the 22-year-old told World Archery after clinching his spot. “I need to see on paper my name and ‘Tokyo qualification," he added in joking disbelief. Unable to practice frequently during the pandemic, Shanny used visualization to practice, telling World Archery he would stand in a hotel room with all his gear and imagine every detail of the field. “If you envision yourself in the Olympics, you’re going to get used to the idea of you being there and – as a result, maybe – change accordingly and evolve toward that goal,” Shanny said months before his visualizations became reality.

Facebook // Israeli archer Itay Shanny.

Today in Israeli History

June 30, 2012 — Israel’s seventh prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, dies at age 96. Born in Poland, he made aliyah in 1935. joined the Irgun in 1937 and jumped to the more militant Lehi during World War II. He became prime minister at the head of Likud in 1983.

July 1, 1973 — Col. Yosef “Joe” Alon, an Israeli military attache, is fatally shot in his driveway in Chevy Chase, Maryland. A Palestinian radio broadcast calls it revenge for a terrorist’s killing two days earlier.

July 2, 2011 — Longtime tourism official Uri Dvir dies at age 80 in Tel Aviv, where he was born in 1931. He planned and initiated Shvil Yisrael (the Israel National Trail), a 620-mile hiking path that runs the length of the state.

July 3,

1904 — Theodor Herzl, known as the “father of modern Zionism,” dies of cardiac sclerosis at age 44 in Edlach, Austria, seven years after he organized the First Zionist Congress. His body is reburied on Mount Herzl in 1949.

July 4, 1975 — Fourteen people are killed and 62 others are wounded when a bomb built with mortar shells and hidden inside a refrigerator explodes in Jerusalem’s Zion Square. The PLO’s Fatah faction claims responsibility.

July 5, 1979 — Israel National Opera Company founder and star Edis De Philippe dies at age 67. A New York native and renowned singer in prewar Europe, she made aliyah in 1945 and opened the opera company in 1947.

July 6, 1973 — Otto Klemperer, a German Jewish conductor and composer, dies at age 88 in Zurich. Having visited pre-state Palestine, Klemperer first performed in the State of Israel in 1970 and gained Israeli citizenship.

July 7, 1969 — U.N. Secretary-General U Thant says he is considering withdrawing the 96 U.N. observers from the Suez Canal zone because of a state of “open warfare” there. U.N. soldiers were fired on 26 times in June.

July 8, 1989 — Judoka Yarden Gerbi is born in Kfar Saba. She wins eight national championships and, in August 2013, the world judo championship. She wins a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

July 9, 1959 — Riots break out in the Haifa neighborhood of Wadi Salib, whose residents suffer from poverty and discrimination, after police shoot Yaakov Elkarif while trying to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly.

July 10, 1957 — Yiddish novelist and playwright Sholem Asch dies at age 76 in London. He first visited Palestine in 1908 and wrote about the Jewish connection to the land. He lived his final years in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv. July 11, 1927 — A major earthquake kills 300 to 500 people in Jerusalem, Jericho, Nablus and other cities. Although it is known as the Jericho earthquake, later research concludes that the epicenter is 30 miles away near the Dead Sea. July 12, 2006 — The Second Lebanon War begins when Hezbollah launches rockets and mortars as a diversion for a raid in which three Israeli soldiers are killed and two abducted. The monthlong war kills 140 Israelis.

July 13, 1941 — Singer-songwriter and TV and radio host Ehud Manor is born in Binyamina. He composes about 1,200 songs and translates 600 others into Hebrew. He also translates musicals and Shakespearean plays. July 14, 1958 — Army officers overthrow and kill Iraqi King Faisal. King Hussein of Jordan, Faisal’s cousin, condemns the coup, but the Nasser-led United Arab Republic quickly signs a defense pact with the new government. Central Zionist Archive/ Simon Wiesenthal Center Theodor Herzl, shown in Switzerland in 1901, organized and led the Zionist Congress from 1897 until his death.

Yarden Gerbi is Israel’s first judo world champion and one of five Israeli Olympic medalists in the sport. A 2009 Israeli stamp honors Ehud Manor.

Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

Israeli Diaspora Minister Has Atlanta Ties

By Jan Jaben-Eilon

From the fall of 2019 to the spring of 2020, Nachman Shai taught dozens of Emory University students about Israeli leadership and diplomacy as a visiting professor of Israel studies. Now back in Israel, Shai was just sworn in as the new minister of diaspora affairs.

“I have dedicated the last 20 years of my career to strengthening the ties between the State of Israel and world Jewry,” Shai said at his mid-June swearing-in ceremony.

That doesn’t mean Shai’s ties to Atlanta have ended. He continues to serve on the board of the Center for Israel Education.

Ken Stein, president of CIE and director of the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel, recalled why he hired Shai in the first place.

“His reputation was that of an effective media personality in terms of creating and staffing of an organization

as well as being a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces.” Stein was referring to Shai’s first high-profile position during the 1991 Gulf War. “He had a decade worth of Knesset experience, which gave him knowledge of how Israel works on the inside. He also had a fascinating doctoral thesis on Israel and the media, which was excellent. It’s hard to find a practitioner/scholar.”

Stein said Shai developed his own curriculum. “We decided to give him a chance to develop courses that would teach on topics I had never touched or that he was uniquely qualified for. He was meticulous as a teacher,” Stein said. He also described Shai as “affable, unassuming, articulate and knowledgeable, without being pedantic. It’s rare to find someone who can walk into a classroom, knowing how to tell a story. And he has a bag of stories that are endless.”

Eli Sperling was an Emory lecturer and ISMI senior academic research coordinator at the time. He told the AJT that Shai’s Emory students were “lucky to have studied with such a figure. He was definitely an asset to the community.”

Beyond Atlanta, Shai also has had

deep connections to the American Jewish community. Before serving for a decade in the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, he was a senior vice president and director general of what became the Jewish Federations of North America. While he was in the Knesset, he founded the Caucus for Strengthening the Jewish People.

Sperling, who also taught with Shai at Duke University, said the issues that Shai will be dealing with as diaspora minister are “central to him in understanding the future of Israel. They have always been an area of focus for him.” Noting the politicization of Israel in American electoral politics, Sperling said that Shai will “have an uphill battle getting the right message. But he understands the issues that are important to American Jews,” especially about religion.

In fact, one of Shai’s first meetings as minister was with the leaders of the three major denominations of Judaism, according to the Israeli government press office. “On behalf of the new government, I pledge that Israel will be open to the three religious streams and will give them full and open space and recognition. I’m looking forward to continuing to connect with Jewish leaders, communities and individuals across the Jewish world in the coming weeks in an effort to build a more open and mutual relationship between Israel and world Jewry.”

This emphasis is significant because, unlike in the previous government, the new ruling coalition doesn’t include an ultra-Orthodox party. Those parties don’t recognize the Reform and Conservative movements, to which the majority of American Jews belong. Part of Shai’s new position is to convey the interests of the diaspora community to Israelis.

According to Stein, Shai can say to Reform and Conservative Jews in the diaspora that he understands their issues. “Having someone who knows the issues and knows how to turn levers,” is a real advantage.

Sperling added, “One of Shai’s strengths is his ability to communicate across party lines in ways Israeli politicians can understand. The strategic goals of Israel include strengthening the bond” between the diaspora and Israel.

He noted that at 74, Shai is one of the oldest members of the Knesset. “For him, becoming diaspora minister isn’t a long-term career prospect. He’s a public servant and a great communicator.” ì

Eli Sperling said Nachman Shai was an asset to the Atlanta community. Government Press Office // Nachman Shai, left, with Dvir Kahana, outgoing director general of ministry and outgoing minister Omer Yankelevich.

Ken Stein hired Nachman Shai as a visiting Emory professor.