Feb 3, 2014

The Best Gets…Better?

Jim FletcherBy Jim Fletcher
Prophecy Matters

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In a new column at American Thinker, Michael Curtis offers a superb analysis of Israel's unique innovations that make the world a better place. Too bad the world doesn't appreciate it.

As Curtis writes:

It has long been obvious that Israel punches far above its weight in contributions to innovations in science, research, and general culture. For some time, Tel Aviv and its surroundings have been second only to Silicon Valley in scientific and technological developments. Now the country's ambition is to become a major, and possibly the leading, cyber-nation in the world.

The abundant enemies of Israel readily swallow the Palestinian narrative of unique victimhood and eagerly publicize illustrations of the bigoted companies, organization, and academic units engaged in or proposing boycott of the State of Israel....

We learn that Israel, while also fighting terror and an increasingly hostile international community, is preparing to ramp-up its already startling list of accomplishments:

...Israel will become an enhanced innovation nation with the establishment of a national cyber-park in Beer Sheva, in the Negev, that will be called Cyber Spark.

Cyber Spark will be the first of its kind, and will include leading cyber industries, advanced academic research, security organizations, educational institutions (especially Ben-Gurion University), and governmental agencies. Through a joint technical infrastructure, the Israelis aim at global leadership in the cyber field. The new initiative brings together multinational companies, investors, start-up companies, academic research, and even a high school.

This is an absolutely astonishing achievement for a tiny country that has been the object of scorn by its neighbors since its founding. To put a fine point on it, Israel is making this often-difficult world a better place through a whole range of advances. My friends at Untold News make available amazing information about Israel. For example, in an article about solar power, we read about how stretching our thinking can lead to important gains.

Solar power helps a lot of people. But solar panels take up land and also are the target of environmentalists. So what is Yossi Fisher doing? Mr. Fisher is the co-founder and CEO of Solaris Energy. From the article:

The problem is that solar energy is generated with solar panels. And solar panels take up land. In fact, it turns out that producing traditional solar energy with enough wattage to make a dent in the power usage of real life communities means using a lot of land. There are a lot of people who think covering the land with vast solar arrays isn't such a good idea. These include tourist agencies, builders, farmers, and even environmentalists, who aren't so enthralled with the idea of installing acres of solar panels and casting vast swaths of land into shadow.

The "Eureka Moment" then occurred:

Mr. Fisher and his partners realized that there are plenty of unused acres around the world where solar systems can be deployed: the planet is home to millions of small, medium and large bodies of water that are perfectly suited to host solar arrays. Installations from water treatment facilities to utilities, fish farms to reservoirs maintain bodies of water that can do double duty as solar sites.

Frankly—and this is merely one Israeli innovation—a nation so absorbed with security issues that can also use brainpower to enhance daily living for billions of people is one to keep your eye on. And be thankful for.

Israel medical innovation

Israel: The Innovation Nation

Untold News also reports that Israeli doctors routinely treat Palestinians—everyone from babies with heart defects, to elderly patients who need a liver transplant...to terrorists. That's right: incredibly, Israeli hospitals provide safe haven and life-saving treatment even to terrorists.

And what about the epic problem of world hunger? Israel is developing new methods for fish farming. Incredibly, estimates vary, but it is thought that if nothing is done to "stem the tide' of over-fishing, the world's oceans will be largely empty of fish by 2050.

Enter a company called "Grow Fish Anywhere" (GFA), and its CEO, Dotan Bar-Noy. The company tackles the problem of raising fish in tanks that require consistently clean supplies of water, thus preventing water pollution:

The result was GFA, an aquaculture system that produces zero discharge of water and zero environmental impact, that can grow just about any type of fish, and that can work literally anywhere on the planet.

The system is clean, green, sustainable and provides an abundant food source for a planet that is getting smaller and more crowded.

This is but one more incredible innovation that, as Untold News makes abundantly clear, improves the lives of Israel's neighbors and global community partners.

Perhaps one day, those who benefit from Israel's life-saving and life-enhancing breakthroughs will fully realize that simple gratitude—rather than pressure on the Jewish state—is the more proper response.