Sorrow and Hope

Dispatch from Jerusalem

Keeping Food Safe from Farm to Fork

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www.israelimages.com/ Noam Armonn

How can you be sure that bacteria are not festering in your food? Bacteria, viruses, and toxins thrive on food that is undercooked, inadequately refrigerated, or prepared in places where hygiene standards are lax. One Israeli company, however, hopes to make your food safe from the farm to your fork. Herzliya-based MS Tech has developed advanced smart sensor technology that can detect the presence of contaminants and related chemicals in just three seconds in the field.

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Iran’s Unchanged Rhetoric

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“Definitely the day will come when nations of the region will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime.

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Fostering Love for the Bible

{image_1} Avner Netanyahu—son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara—won the regional-level, annual Bible quiz in Jerusalem in February. Held at the Bible Lands Museum, family, classmates, and even Avner’s school principal and homeroom teacher cheered him on as he bested 49 competitors and won with a score of 98 out of 100 points.

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Anti-Semitism on the Rise Worldwide

 
 

{image_1}“Living conditions in the city have become intolerable for Jews.” This would cause concern anywhere, and you might expect it in a mostly Muslim country, but, amazingly, this came from Sweden. Marcus Eilenberg, a former resident of the city of Malmo and interviewed by Ynetnews, tells more: “Each year the situation gets worse. Sometimes children need to be accompanied by guards when they go to kindergarten, and there are always guards around the Jewish Center…Stones being thrown at the center and other Jewish institutions has become a routine occurrence. Graffiti is scrawled on the walls, including swastikas next to Stars of David and ‘Hitler.’ My children can’t go to any Jewish activities without security.”

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“Lawfare” and the Middle East

{image_1} After landing at London’s Heathrow Airport, Israeli Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog remained seated in his airplane seat after the pilot requested he be the last person to leave. He then got a troubling comment from an airline steward—the Israeli military attache in the United Kingdom wanted to speak with him. Almog called the attache and found out an arrest warrant had been issued against him for war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Despite coming to London to fundraise for a group helping autistic children, Almog would never get off the plane, returning to Israel instead. Although the warrant was later canceled, as Almog had left the court’s jurisdiction, it was far from a one-time incident.

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Hand Sanitizer STOPS Swine Flu

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Photo by Isranet

While people all over the world worry about contracting swine flu, an Israeli company has come up with a product to prevent its spread. Yissum Research Development Company, the technology transfer arm of the Hebrew University (HU) of Jerusalem, presents EtoClean, a new antiviral hand sanitizer that stops the swine flu virus in its tracks.

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Israel Assesses 2009 Aid to Gaza

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Photo by Isranet

A meeting of international aid agencies has reviewed their Gaza efforts and found, in 2009, their humanitarian goods deliveries rose 28%. The spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT) said international organizations were more active in the Gaza Strip despite the complex security situation.

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New Ways to Tour Israel

{image_1} Israel has been offering new ways to get around Israel that many people are not yet aware of. I recently tried two of them. If you are one of those adventuresome souls who come to Israel on your own, you may want to consider a different way to see Israel.

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Aroma Goes Global

{image_1}Move over Starbucks! There's a new competitor on the block. Israel's popular Aroma coffee chain is exporting its special brand of Israeli coffee culture to cities around the world. “We just opened a third branch in Toronto, Canada and opened a third in New York. We are expanding in Europe. We have branches in Romania, Cyprus… and the next is in Kazakhstan,” Gil Kiriyati, Aroma's COO tells ISRAEL21c.

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Try Moroccan!  Spicy Moroccan Carrot Salad

{image_1}After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70—followed 60 years later by the Bar Kochba rebellion—the practice of Judaism was forbidden in Israel. Although Jewish people who remained continued to practice their religion in secret, it was impossible for Jerusalem to continue as the center of religious creativity. Eventually, it was replaced by Babylon. It was here that the gaonim (geniuses) of Judaic thought developed the standard edition of the Talmud (rabbinic commentary), known to this day as the Babylonian Talmud.

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