Activity In Israel Research Articles

ISRAEL'S APPROACH TO LIMITATION OF FOREIGN INVESTMENTS ON THE EXAMPLE OF COOPERATION WITH CHINA, JAPAN AND INDIA

The article focuses on the specifics of the Israeli mechanism of foreign investments control that was created primarily under the influence of the political will of Israel's main global partner, the United States, but not on the basis of the country’s economic interests. The author considers the course of negotiations between the government of B. Netanyahu and the administration of D. Trump on the formation of an advisory committee for foreign investment approval, its goals, objectives and directions of work, as well as the differences from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The cases of China, Japan and India are consistently analyzed. The choice of these examples is motivated by both by the level of their business activity in Israel and the dynamics of contacts with the United States, which forces the White House to support or hinder their cooperation with its Middle Eastern partner. The author comes to conclusion that the Israeli government did not completely repeat the American experience of control over foreign investment, although it is moving towards tightening this practice. The study shows that that the main focus of the Israeli advisory committee since its creation in 2019 has been transactions with China, while relations with representatives of Japan and India have particularly no restrictions.

The epidemiology of wild mushroom poisoning in Israel

ABSTRACT Wild mushroom (macrofungi) picking has become a popular activity in Israel in recent years. Besides the estimated 135 edible species, the mycobiota of Israel includes also around 65 poisonous and potentially dangerous species. We conducted a long-term retrospective study to monitor the frequency, severity, seasonal character, species composition, and geographic distribution of mushroom exposure and poisoning in Israel. Using data collected by the Israel Poison Information Center in Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, during the years 2010–2021, we report that only 4% of cases of exposures due to biological agents were caused by mushrooms. Males were significantly (P < 0.004) more affected than females. Most cases involved either above 18 years of age (41%) or below the age of 6 years (39%). Most of the children under 6 years of age did not develop signs or symptoms of toxicity. During 2017–2021, 128 cases (82.5%) involved the consumption of raw mushrooms, mostly by children under 6 years of age. The most common season of mushroom exposure was rainy winters (P < 0.05). Mushrooms collected from irrigated lawns in the summer also posed a risk. Ingestion of Chlorophyllum molybdites was the leading mushroom ingestion in summer and that of Inocybe species in winter. Our study contributes to improved awareness of mushroom exposure and poisoning patterns among the Israeli population.

Volunteers during a crisis in Israel: a case study of spontaneous self-organized volunteer activity

In Israel, a large number and a wide range of non-governmental volunteering organizations exist in various fields. At the same time, due to the multiplicity of security incidents and other national crises, there are also numerous independent volunteer initiatives emerging within specific communities, small communities, or cities. Private initiatives that started as small volunteer aid have grown mainly thanks to the technological possibilities that enable the transfer of information about a crisis and the needs associated with it. This study examines the volunteers’ perception of effectiveness in a self-organized spontaneous setting, and their sense of belonging to the community and the State of Israel. This article presents a case study of unorganized, spontaneous volunteer activity in Israel in situations of stress and crisis. The study is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with those who engaged in spontaneous self-organized volunteer activity. The study findings show that mobilizing volunteers through WhatsApp messages strengthened the sense of effectiveness in performing the task, fostered the volunteers’ sense of belonging to their community, and contributed to the rapid achievement of the task. The study also highlights the socio-moral dimensions that intensify in such a volunteering process and the individual’s feelings about his place in society and his observation of society’s behaviour in general.

Fascism as a recurring possibility: Zeev Sternhell, the anti-Enlightenment, and the intellectual history of European modernity

ABSTRACT The article offers an overview and a critical assessment of the work of Zeev Sternhell, focussing on the questions of fascism and of the anti-Enlightenment tradition. It claims that the career of the Israeli historian revolves around the intuition of a history of European modernity marked by a central opposition: that between the Enlightenment and the anti-Enlightenment. I show how the idea is already present in his initial works, and argue that it produces a specific kind of intellectual history, concerned with the unity of traditions over large temporal horizons. I claim that it has the advantage of offering an historically grounded reading of fascism which nonetheless is capable to account for its emergence in apparently very dissimilar contexts. After having examined some of the shortcomings of this approach, I offer an historical explanation for the type of intellectual history practiced by Sternhell, arguing that it must be tied to his political activism in Israel.

Circuits and Systems Research and Education Activities in Israel [CAS in the World

Circuits and Systems Research and Education Activities in Israel [CAS in the World

Policing Citizens: Minority Policy in Israel. By Guy Ben-Porat and Fany Yuval. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 250p. $99.99 cloth, $29.99 paper. - Reconstructing the Civic: Palestinian Activism in Israel. By Amal Jamal. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2020. 316p. $95.00 cloth, $32.95 paper. - The Sword Is Not Enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the Limits of Military Force. By Jeremy Pressman.

Policing Citizens: Minority Policy in Israel. By Guy Ben-Porat and Fany Yuval. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 250p. 29.99 paper. - Reconstructing the Civic: Palestinian Activism in Israel. By Amal Jamal. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2020. 316p. 32.95 paper. - The Sword Is Not Enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the Limits of Military Force. By Jeremy Pressman. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020. 296p. $36.95 cloth. - Volume 19 Issue 4

Comparing Community-based Intergenerational Activities in Israel: Participants, Programs, and Perceived Outcomes

ABSTRACT This study investigated whether the content of different community-based intergenerational programs (IGPs) affects their perceived impact on older and younger participants. Data were collected through direct structured questionnaires administered to 84 older, and 96 younger participants, and were assessed using both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Different IGP types involved participants with differing background characteristics and were associated with different benefits and challenges. In art programs, older participants reported being more active and younger participants indicated more awareness of others, but also greater stress. Learning programs contributed to older persons’ happiness, and younger persons’ acquisition of new skills, but were also associated with divergent expectations between young and old, and a perception that young participants lacked commitment. Assistance programs attracted older participants with greater needs, and were associated with such benefits as alleviating older persons’ loneliness, improving younger participants’ satisfaction from helping, but also involved challenges pertaining to the relationship termination. Generally, older participants reported more benefits than younger persons. The results highlight the need to differentiate between IGP types, a distinction not addressed in previous studies. The combination of activity content and participant characteristics and needs may lead to different perceived program impacts.

Genomic Analysis Illustrated a Single Introduction and Evolution of Israeli Bluetongue Serotype 8 Virus Population 2008–2019

Outbreaks of the European Bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 8 (BTV-8), which are characterized by activity cycles separated by years of inactivity, may be influenced by genetic changes of the virus or by herd immunity. BTV activity in Israel is characterized by similar dynamics, but differs from European countries in its vector population, environmental conditions, and lack of cattle vaccination against this serotype. Comparison of these two geographical systems and characterization of their epidemiological connection is therefore of high interest in-order to better understand the factors influencing BTV-8 evolution. BTV-8, closely related to the European strain, was introduced to Israel in 2008. It was at the center of BT outbreaks in 2010 and 2015–2016 and thereafter was lastly isolated in Israel in 2019. We performed genetic analyses of twelve BTV-8 Israeli strains isolated between 2008 and 2019 and compared them with published sequences of BTV-8 isolated in other countries. The analysis revealed a single introduction of BTV-8 into Israel and thereafter extensive occurrence of genomic drifts and multiple reassortments with local BTV strains. Comparison of the Israeli and Cypriot BTV-8 from 2015 to 2016 suggests transmission of the virus between the two countries and a separate and parallel development from European or other Israeli BTV-8 strains. The parallel development of other BTV-8 strains was demonstrated by the identification of the Israeli BTV-8 ISR-1194/1/19 strain, which exhibited common origin with reassorted Israeli BTV-8 strains from 2010 and additional reassortment of seven segments. In order to reveal the source of BTV-8 introduction into Israel we performed BEAST analysis which showed that a probable common ancestor for both European and Israeli BTV-8 presumably existed in 2003–2004. In 2019, a possible new introduction occurred in Israel, where a novel BTV-8 strain was detected, sharing ~95% identity by segments 2 and 6 with Nigerian BTV-8NIG1982/07 and European–Middle Eastern strains. The results of the study indicate that Israel and neighboring countries consist a separate environmental and evolutionary system, distinct from European ones.

Early onset of clinical leishmaniosis in a litter of pups with evidence of in utero transmission

BackgroundCanine leishmaniosis (CanL) is a zoonotic disease caused by Leishmania infantum. Although usually transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies, infection by vertical transmission and by blood transfusion have also been reported.MethodsWe describe the very early onset of clinical leishmaniosis, starting from 2 months of age, in a litter of pups born to an infected dam and sire. Seven pups from the litter of nine living in different households showed alopecic, exfoliative dermatitis and ulcerative cutaneous lesions. All pups and both parents were tested on at least one occasion both serologically, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the Leishmania ribosomal operon internal transcribed spacer 1 region and a short fragment of the kinetoplast minicircle; positive amplicons were sequenced.ResultsAll nine pups were PCR positive for L. infantum verified by DNA sequencing, seven were positive by conjunctival, five by blood, four by lymph node, and one by skin PCR from an ulcerative lesion. Both pups with no clinical signs were seronegative, while five of the seven pups with dermatologic abnormalities were seropositive by ELISA. The sire had typical clinical dermatologic and visceral findings of CanL, was seropositive and PCR positive for L. infantum in the lymph node and fluid from the vas deferens tested after the testes were removed by castration. The dam was sub-clinically infected and seronegative, but positive by blood, lymph node and conjunctival PCR for L. infantum. Allopurinol administered to all clinically affected dogs resulted in clinical recovery.ConclusionsInfection with L. infantum in both parents, the very early age of clinical onset among most of the pups, and the fact that the puppies were born and detected with signs of leishmaniosis in the winter, which is a season without sand fly activity in Israel, strongly suggest vertical transmission. Awareness of the possibility of vertical transmission of L. infantum and infection in littermates should be increased. It is recommended that littermates of young dogs with clinical leishmaniosis should be tested for sub-clinical infection as they may also be infectious to sand flies and thus to other dogs and to humans. Restricting the mating of infected bitches should also be considered to prevent the vertical transmission of the infection.Graphic abstract

A Ground-Motion Database for Israel with Its Corresponding Point-Source Parameters, for Engineering Seismology Applications

AbstractThe seismic activity in Israel and its surrounding neighbors originates mainly from the active Dead Sea fault system. The historical and archeological records suggest a recurrence interval of approximately 102 and 103 yr for earthquakes of M 6 and 7, respectively. Despite the existing hazard, local advancements on this topic have been slow and incremental, partly due to inherent challenges, such as the limited number of significant recorded earthquakes and a limited azimuthal coverage resulting from geopolitical constraints. Annual earthquake bulletins and an earthquake catalog have been published over the years by the Geophysical Institute of Israel, which operated the network until January 2020. In this article, we summarize a joint effort aimed at standardizing the catalog and creating the first of its kind, publicly available ground-motion database for Israel, which is open to the scientific and engineering communities. The database is composed of three main components: event database, ground-motion recording database, and site database. Once compiled, we use this database to derive and calibrate the source, path, and site parameters required to execute ground-motion simulations, namely, the regional stress drop, anelastic attenuation factor Q, geometrical spreading, and the near-surface high-frequency attenuation, kappa. The parameters are optimized to fit the measurement database, and once they do, a synthetic dataset can be simulated, which will compensate for the lack of measurements in the large-magnitude range.

Cultural brokerage and translation of human rights in the face of cultural opposition: A case of deliberative activism in Israel

Over the past two decades, cultural brokerage and translation have become central to the anthropology of human rights. This article sheds new light on the role of cultural brokers as agents capable of placating cultural opposition to human rights. This novel perspective is informed by participant observation at a dialogue group composed of Israeli human rights activists and representatives of one group of their opponents: ultra-Orthodox Mizrahim. This form of activism is called here “deliberative activism” aimed at social learning. This refers to a dialogical activism designed to promote mutual legitimacy and respect between social groups involved in deep cultural conflicts. This activism and the form of translation discovered while observing it—“dialogue-oriented translation”—open new paths for activism that is more equal, reciprocal, and culturally sensitive. However, they also raise new questions regarding the implementation of deliberative principles in activism aimed at advancing human rights.

Religious Zionism – theology and social integration

ABSTRACT This article explores the theology behind the integration of religious Zionists in all spheres of activity in Israel, from commerce and industry to agriculture, academia, and the defence establishment. It argues that religious Zionism is not a combination of religiosity and Zionism but a movement motivated by a distinct theology of integration that espouses a combination of Torah and work, not as part of one’s natural duties to support one’s family but as an integral part of one’s religious duties.

The 2nd Annual Middle East &amp;amp; Africa Alternative Finance Industry Report

Now in its second year, this benchmarking report covers online alternative finance activity from the Middle East and African region in 2016. The total alternative finance market volume across the region grew by 48 per cent, accounting for $358.87 million. Africa alone accounted for $181.56m (51 per cent of this volume) having grown by 118 per cent against the previous year. The Middle East accounted for $177.3m, with volume driven by online alternative finance activity in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The new report covers data from platform activity in 52 countries in Africa and the Middle East, and includes survey data from over 77 alternative finance platforms reporting activity in the 2016 calendar year.

Assessing the quality of public health in the Russian Federation and Israel: Main problems and solutions

Subject. The article addresses the public health in the Russian Federation and Israel. Objectives. The focus is on researching the state of public health in Russia and Israel, using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project methodology, identifying problem areas and searching for possible ways to improve the quality of health of the Russian population based on the experience of Israel. Methods. The study draws on the ideology of the GBD project, which is based on the Disability-Adjusted Life-Year (DALY) metric. Results. The paper reveals the main causes of DALY losses and important risk factors for cancer for Russia and Israel. The findings show that the total DALY losses for Russia exceed Israeli values. The same is true for cancer diseases. Conclusions. Activities in Israel aimed at improving the quality of public health, the effectiveness of which has been proven, can serve as practical recommendations for Russia. The method of analysis, using the ideology of the GBD project, can be used as a tool for quantitative and comparative assessment of the public health.

Exploring School Principals’ Systems Thinking Activities

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the frequency and extent of principals’ use of systems thinking activities in Israel; to examine whether principals’ gender and seniority predict their systems thinking activities; and to determine how systems thinking activities are related to school outcomes. Results indicated that principals’ seniority predicted their extent of systems thinking, but no differences were found within principals’ gender. Positive correlations between principals’ systems thinking and middle-leaders’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment were found. Implications for theory, practice, as well as future research, are discussed.

A Language for Israel: The Role of Translation in Building the Resources of Hebrew

Contrary to common misperceptions, translation is not merely a subsidiary or secondary art but is a critical, productive, and generative process. At key moments in history, translation has helped to strengthen languages, build national literatures, and construct national identities. The case of Hebrew provides a unique example of an ancient sacred language that has evolved into a modern and functional one, now the primary official language of Israel. This article provides an overview of translational activity in Israel, with a focus on the profound impact that translation has had on the development of the Hebrew language. Translations of foreign literature served to nourish an emerging Hebrew literature, diversify its repertoire, and build the resources of the language itself. Translation was even viewed as an integral part of nation building, as illustrated by the vision and personal involvement of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, which culminated in a program of translating world masterpieces to create an “Intellectual State” in addition to the new political one.

Lobbying practices in Israel’s advocacy groups

This paper assesses the degree to which the Libby Lobbying Model (LLM) describes the lobbying practices of advocacy groups in Israel. We conclude that the model is useful in describing advocacy activities in Israel, yet deviations from the model are evident as well. We propose that Israeli organisations could usefully adopt a modified version of the LLM, adapted to their own specific conditions, in order to strengthen the planning and evaluation of their lobbying activity.

Microwave Engineering Research Activity in Israel [Around the Globe

Presents information on global MTTS society education initiatives.

‘I Am Spartacus’: individualising visual media and warfare

The constant presence of cameras and social media has become a given during day-to-day military activities in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Such technologies shift the focus of warfare onto the individual, and in particular onto the faces of soldiers and Palestinians caught on camera. Due to the habitual use of mobile phones and social media by both soldiers and civilians, the face is singled out as a new battleground, where political action is substituted for individual responsibility. On one hand, the co-option of personal social media into armed conflict enables state actors to zero in on the faces and identities of Palestinian dissidents and alleged terrorists. On the other hand, the faces of Israeli soldiers are also captured and circulated on social media as digital images, posing a new threat to state authority, which depends on remaining faceless. Images of IDF soldiers’ faces, once recorded and shared, figuratively strip off the improvised masks they often wear to hide their identity and preserve their impunity. In Israel and Palestine, where everyday social media habits have become inseparable from routines of security and armed conflict, the image of a soldier’s face individualises his or her actions and demands accountability.

Rethinking loose coupling of rules and entrepreneurial practices among university scientists: a Japan–Israel comparison

This paper explores the trajectories of the development and institutionalization of technology transfer structures and activities in Israel and Japan, two countries with strong science and technology sectors, from the 1950s to the present. We examine the local arrangements that existed before the introduction of the U.S. model in the 1980s and 90s, and how the Japanese and Israeli schemes of technology transfer evolved under the combination of local practices and U.S. influence. Drawing on new institutional theory’s concept of loose coupling, we identify different types of loose coupling between formal structures and practices in Israeli and Japanese fields of technology transfer before and after the introduction of U.S. model. Our analysis show that the new configurations in the two countries are best analyzed by looking at two factors: (1) The perceived efficacy of the local, previous technology transfer arrangements, and; (2) the gap between the local arrangement and the U.S. technology transfer model. In the Israeli case, the former technology transfer model was similar to the one in the U.S.—however, it was perceived as potentially ineffective and thus disputable. In the Japanese case, the former technology transfer model was seen as effective and largely uncontested. The introduction of the U.S. formal model with the university ownership of patents disrupted the informal technology transfer mechanisms in Japan. These historical trajectories explain why, on one hand, Israeli science community was quick to adopt to the U.S. model but contested its efficacy and legitimacy, and on the other hand, the Japanese science community modified the U.S. model through negotiating conditions that were as favorable to firms than universities as their previous mode of technology transfer. Through these cases, we show how loose coupling in each field developed and changed in response to global and local policies. We argue that attention to the local dynamics of loose coupling can help explain local variations in the global diffusion of the American style of technology transfer.