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Israeli aid arrives in Haiti, field hospital set up
A rescue team was sent to the Haiti UN headquarters to assist in rescuing survivors. Patients are being treated at the field hospital.
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The Israeli delegation landed in the capital of Port-Au-Prince on Friday evening (15 January) and established its operation center in a soccer field near the airport.

Two teams, comprised of search and rescue personnel and canine operators from the IDF canine unit were sent out on rescue missions. The first team was sent to the Haiti UN headquarters in order to assist in rescuing survivors. The rescue teams are working in cooperation with local authorities in order to reach disaster struck areas where survivors can be located and assisted.

The IDF Medical and Rescue Team set up a field hospital in Port-Au-Prince and is beginning to treat patients there. The field hospital is prepared to receive dozens of ambulances evacuating injured children from the different disaster struck areas. Between Friday night and Saturday, dozens of truckloads of medical and logistical equipment were unloaded and the field hospital set up.

On Saturday (16 Jan) the Israeli team rescued a top income tax official from the government office building which collapsed in the earthquake. The official, who had been trapped underneath the rubble for four days, is currently being treated at the Israeli field hospital.

The field hospital includes 40 doctors, 25 nurses, paramedics, a pharmacy, a children's ward, a radiology department, an intensive care unit, an emergency room, two operating rooms, a surgical department, an internal department and a maternity ward. The hospital can treat approximately 500 patients each day, and in addition will perform preliminary surgeries.

The delegation is scheduled to stay in Haiti for a minimum of two weeks. Further stay will be assessed at the end of this period.

 

Other Israeli relief operations in Haiti:

ZAKA rescue unit in Haiti pulls eight students alive from collapsed university building

The six man ZAKA delegation (four from Israel and two from Mexico) had arrived in Haiti aboard a Mexican air force Hercules, immediately after completing their work in recovery and identification in the Mexico City helicopter crash.

On arrival, the ZAKA delegation was dispatched to the collapsed 8-storey university building where cries could be heard from the trapped students. After 38 hours of work around the clock working with the Mexican military delegation and otehr Jewish volunteers from Mexico, the ZAKA volunteers succeeded Saturday in pulling eight students alive from the rubble.

Amid the stench and chaos, the ZAKA delegation took time out to recite Shabbat prayers - a surreal sight of ultra-orthodox men wrapped in prayer shawls standing on the collapsed buildings. Many locals sat quietly in the rubble, staring at the men as they prayed facing Jerusalem. At the end of the prayers, they crowded around the delegation and kissed the prayer shawls.


IsraAID medical team treats injured in Port-au-Prince Hospital

Just minutes after landing in the airport in Port-au-Prince the IsraAID team was met by David Darg, Operation Blessing Director in the field and his staff and joined with them to unload a planeload of food and medical equipment.

The Israeli medical professionals of IsraAID - F.I.R.S.T. traveled to the main Port-au-prince Hospital to start treating patients, joining local physicians at the site of the collapsed central hospital where thousands of wounded have gathered desperate for help.

"The scenes in the hospital were horrible we saw people everywhere on the floors in the building and outside, people with amputations and bone-deep wounds, hundreds of them, the size of the catastrophe is unbelievable. All of the injured were treated until we came by only one local doctor and we were the first foreign backup team to operate in the hospital." Said Nurse Sheva Cohen from Kibbutz Ein Yahav in the Negev.

When the team arrived at the hospital they found most of the injured outside the building laying in beds in the building's garden, probably out of fear of aftershocks and further collapse. The IsraAID team set up treatment rooms in four empty rooms, treating 60 patients with IV and administered medicine. While in the hospital, an infant with 60% burns died and bodies that had not yet been removed for burial were piled up in back.

In the meantime, the logistical personnel remain in the airport area to set up camp and assist local NGO partners with logistical support for relief items that were continuing to land.

Currently the teams are working around the clock to provide assistance to the injured. In light of the scale of the disaster, IsraAID is currently focused on expanding the scale of its operation, preparing an additional team that would be sent next week.

IsraAID's emergency response in Haiti is supported through the generous donations of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, American Jewish Committee, Bna'i B'rith International, and The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago in addition to other Federations in the North America


Third International Renewable Energy Conference to be held in Eilat - Feb 2010


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The Third International Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference will be held in Eilat from February 16-18, 2010. Organized by the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Administration in association with the Technologies Company, the conference focuses on the latest innovations in renewable energy.

 

The conference is an international forum encouraging discussion and debate of policies, technology, business and investment practices to lead to cost effective, doable solutions. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the conference

 

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has chosen the Eilat-Eilot Conference for inclusion in the Commission's ECO4B initiative, a select project led by the Enterprise Europe Network. The ECO4B partner conferences receive a grant for subsidizing the participation of hi-profile delegations of businessmen and officials at each of the events with the specific aim of building new relationships and seeking potential partnerships.

 

The conference will also serve as the launch of the bidding process for the planned 200 MW Timna Renewable Energy Park, the centerpiece of the Eilat-Eilot region’s efforts to turn Southern Israel into the "Silicon Valley" of renewable energy. 

 

View a video about the Renewable Energy projects of the Eilat-Eilot region.


IMF reports the effects of the current economical recession in Israel

Israel has survived the recession with relatively little damage

The International Monetary Fund gave a report on December 14th on the effects of the global economical crisis in Israel. IMF found that Israel has survived relatively well and even output growth has been seen already in the second and third quarters of 2009.

 

Read the report here



Israel Response to EU Foreign Ministers Council Statement

The EU Foreign Ministers Council gave a statement concerning the Middle East

Dec 8th 2009

 

(Communicated by the Foreign Ministry Spokesman)

 

 

The Statement by the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians – the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table. Given the Israel Government's efforts to renew the negotiations, Israel regrets that the EU has chosen to adopt a text that even if it contains nothing new, does not contribute to the renewal of negotiations.

 

In light of the extreme draft originally presented by the Swedish presidency at the start of discussions, Israel does welcome the fact that in the end the voices of the responsible and reasonable EU states prevailed, balancing  and improving  the text. We also welcome the recognition given to the measures and efforts taken by Israel to enable the resumption of negotiations; to the statement regarding the continued development and expansion of relations between Israel and the EU; to the recognition of the severity of the problem posed by Hamas' armaments; and to the EU's expression of commitment to the security of Israel and its full integration in the area.

 

It could be expected that the EU act to promote direct negotiations between the parties, while considering  Israel's security needs and understanding that Israel's Jewish character must be preserved in any future agreement.



Nobel Chemistry Prize awarded to Israeli researcher


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This year’s Nobel Chemistry Prize was awarded to Ada Yonath of the Weitzmann Institute in Israel, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of Cambridge University in the UK and  Thomas A. Steitz  of Yale University in the USA. All three researchers have studied the structure and mechanism of ribosomes. Ribosomes are cell organelles in charge of protein manufacturing. Knowing the structure of the ribosomes is crucial for the development of new types of antibiotics.


Gilad Shalit in terrorist captivity for three years already

On 25 June 2006, Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists within Israeli territory, near the Kerem Shalom crossing.  The kidnapping was part of an armed attack which made use of a tunnel under the Israel-Gaza border.  During the course of the attack, an IDF soldier, Staff Sergeant Pavel Slutzker, and an officer, Lieutenant Hanan Barak, were killed, while five others were wounded.

 

June 25 marks three years of Staff Sergeant Shalit's captivity.  Hamas continues to refuse Red Cross access to the kidnapped soldier.

 

Three years: A project to raise global awareness of Gilad Shalit

 

Children from around the world have come together in order to bring attention to the third anniversary of the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. This project prominently features Shalit's own story When the Shark and the Fish First Met, about two sea creatures that were raised to hate and fear one another but then realized that everyone would be happier by making peace.  This beautiful story of friendship between unlikely beings was written by Shalit at the age of 11, when he was in the fifth grade.

 

On a video, people from around the world read Shalit's story in their native language.  Watch it here.



Israeli MIAs


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There are at present six Israeli soldiers kidnapped or missing in action

 

Gilad Shalit (19 at the time of his abduction) was born on August 28, 1986. He is the son of Aviva and Noam Schalit from Mitzpe Hilla in the Western Galilee and the brother of Yoel (25) and Hadas (18). Gilad was born in Nahariya but raised from the age of two in Mitzpe Hila in Western Galilee.  He graduated with distinction from the science class of Manor Kabri High School.  Gilad loves math and sports.  He has enjoyed playing basketball ever since being a child, but is interested in sports in general.  He follows the different leagues and tournaments all over the world, from tennis and basketball to cycling and athletics.  If you wish to know the results of a tournament somewhere in the world, it is Gilad you should ask.

 

Gilad is a well-mannered, quiet and introverted young man. An almost permanent shy and hesitant smile lights up his face. Gilad is always volunteering to help everyone; even on his short vacations from the army he helped his parents run their “Bed & Breakfast”.

 

Gilad began his military service about a year before his abduction - at the end of July 2005.  Despite a low medical profile, he preferred to serve in a combat unit and followed his elder brother Yoel into the armored corps.  After successfully completing his training, Gilad was guarding and ensuring the security of the settlements around Gaza when he was abducted by terrorists. 

 

Since the attack at Kerem Shalom on Sunday, 25 June 2006, Gilad has been held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. 

 

Zecharya Baumel, Zvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz

Staff Sgt. Zecharya Baumel, Staff Sgt. Zvi Feldman and Staff Sgt. Yehuda Katz, missing since 11 June 1982, in a battle at Sultan Yakoub in Lebanon.

 

Major Ron Arad, who was captured on 16 October 1986, after his aircraft was shot down near Sidon, Lebanon. Arad was initially held by Amal (a Shi'ite terrorist organization); however his subsequent fate is still unknown.

 

Guy Hever, last seen at his army base on the southern Golan Heights on August 17, 1997.

 
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