Dispatch from Jerusalem

Israel Allows Equipment into Gaza

{image_1}Gaza’s power station and a sewage purification facility got some needed materials when Israel opened up a crossing into the Gaza Strip for 17 humanitarian aid trucks carrying the equipment. According to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) press release, among the essential items taken on the truck were an engine for the Gaza power station that had been repaired in Israel and electric poles and cables for the Palestinian Energy Authority, which falls under the authority of Mahmoud Abbas’ (Abu Mazen’s) government in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

Toyota Seeks Israeli Technology

{image_1}An Israeli firm will present senior representatives of Japanese multinational corporation Toyota with the new generation of car development, including software for efficient fuel consumption, technologies for safety management, and driver risk management, etc. In a bid to look into options of cooperation with Israeli companies, the visit to Israel will last about a week.

Coffee A Warm, Sweet Solace

{image_1}Sit inside, in a booth, on a balcony, or on a sidewalk…but wherever you sit, enjoy the taste and the ambience of that wonderful Israeli phenomenon—the coffee shop. They pepper Jerusalem’s landscape; some are ultra-modern while others are tiny and barely recognizable from the street. Whatever the size, all are part of the “coffee culture,” which has taken Israel by storm.

Second Unveiling of 1,700-year-old Mosaic

{image_1} One of the most beautiful mosaics in Israel, which was discovered 13 years ago in Lod (home to Ben Gurion International Airport) and then covered over, was uncovered a second time and opened to the public for three days in July. The 1,700-year-old mosaic is to be moved to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) laboratories where conservation work will be undertaken for the next two years, after which it will be 
permanently returned to Lod.

Preventing Heart Attacks with seaweed gel

{image_1}The Israeli company BioLineRx released the news in July that one of its two compounds—the BL-1040, which repairs damaged heart muscles after cardiac arrest—has been licensed by Ikaria Holdings in a US $282.5 million-deal. Injected into the heart as a liquid, when inside the body, BL-1040 turns into a protective gel scaffold, sheathing the heart muscles and giving them the ability to heal properly. In effect, it enhances the mechanical strength of the heart muscle during recovery and repair.

Meter Monitors Cows and Milk

{image_1}Israeli company AfiMilk has developed a new meter that can monitor milk production in real time and online, giving dairy farmers critical information about possible contamination to milk supplies.

A New Look for an Old City

By Charleeda Sprinkle, Assistant Editor

{image_1}Incessant pounding reverberates as deep caverns are dug for the foundations of new apartment buildings and hotels; pedestrians cautiously walk down torn-up streets; and buses are rerouted to accommodate revised construction schedules. What a mess! God’s great city, Jerusalem, is undergoing a makeover!

71 Senators Ask Obama to Pressure Arab States

{image_1}Seventy-one US Senators sent a letter to US President Barack Obama asking him to encourage and pressure Arab states to consider “dramatic gestures” toward Israel in order to show their commitment to peace with the Jewish state. In their letter, the senators—Democrats and Republicans—detailed steps taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to signal Israel’s commitment for peace with the Palestinians and the entire Arab world.

The New Aliyah:  From Red Tape to Red Carpet

By Chris Eden, BFP South Africa National Director 

{image_1}He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isa. 11:12, NKJV).

Smallest Medical Video Camera

{image_1}Two Israeli companies—Medigus, experts in the miniaturization of diagnostic and surgical tools, and Tower Semiconductor, a leading specialty semiconductor manufacturer and image sensor provider—have collaborated to produce the world’s smallest medical video camera.