Tsedek-Israel News No. 126 Nov-Dec 2017
 
Distinctions & performances

- Travel & Leisure magazine has listed the best airports in the world and awarded the 8^th place at Ben Gurion airport, the 1^era place coming back to Singapore airport.
- This magazine has also listed the best cities in Africa and the Middle East, awarding the 2^th place in Jerusalem and the 7^th in Tel Aviv.
In the category of the best hotels, Israel is also distinguished thanks to the Waldorf Astoria of Jerusalem which raises itself to the 2^th Square and the Tel Aviv Norma to the 7^th square.
- Prof. Berta Levavi-Sivan won the 2017 Kaye Innovation Award for her aquaculture discoveries (see below High Tech)
- In the field of innovation (Global Innovation Index), Israel was ranked for the 7th^th consecutive to the 1^era place for the "North Africa and West Asia" region and at 17^th place among 127 countries (against 21^th in 2016).
- Israel is ranked 13th^th among 152 countries for applications for international patent recognition; he occupies the 1^era world market in services exports in the field of communication and information technology, 4^th world ranking for the percentage of female university graduates who work, the 3^th place in the field of cooperation between universities and industry and the 4^th place for foreign investment in research and development.
- The author David Grossman has won in London the prestigious prize "Man Booker International Prize", for "A horse enters a bar", A painful portrait of Israeli society.
- The average life expectancy is 82.5 years (80.6 for men and 84.3 for women), which places the country at 8^th world rank.
- A young high school student in class 12, Mor Divshi, won the gold medal at the 25th^th Philosophical Olympiad of Rotterdam, out of 50 countries. He had done a test on the changes in the professional and personal relations due to the digital society.
- The young Druze Zeid Medah, from Kfar Samia, became Thai boxing world champion under 15
- For the fourth year in a row, Tel Aviv University ranks 9th^th place in the world, for the number of its undergraduate graduates become entrepreneurs, according to the ranking of the market analysis company Pitchbook Data.
- Lady Globes magazine has chosen Minister Ayelet Shaked of the Habayit Hayehoudi party as "the most influential woman in Israel".
 

High tech

 
- The Flytrex company will deliver packages using drones and uses innovative software, which can do more than transport packages from point A to point B. The drones have information on the weather conditions, the topography of places and are advised of the presence of other drones in the air. Flytrex starts a pilot project with Ukrainian postal services. Its drones will be able to carry parcels weighing up to 3kg and deliver them in less than half an hour.  
- 20% of fish are obtained today by aquaculture. Why in aquaculture are fish slow to grow? Prof. Berta Levavi-Sivan of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has identified fine molecules called Neurokinin B (NKB) and Neurokinin F (NKF) that are secreted by the brains of fish and play a crucial role in their development and reproduction . It has succeeded in developing inhibitors of these molecules that increase 25% harvesting fish under the same aquaculture conditions. The technology was patented and entrusted to the start-up AquiNovo Trendlines group.
 
 

Archeology

 
- According to the 14 carbon dating done on olive stones, the city of Khirbet Kéfaya site dates from the 11th^th  century before our era, which corresponds to the time of King David. According to archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (AAI), on the border between the Philistine and Judean kingdoms, this city is none other than Shaarayim, the city of battle between David and Goliath. A new exhibition entitled " In the valley of David and Goliath "Presents the result of 8 years of excavations of great historical and archaeological value. An artifact carries an interesting inscription, probably one of the oldest Hebrew writing specimens ever discovered. Other objects of interest: ritual pieces in religious sanctuaries, unique stone sculpture, representing a small temple and decorated with architectural elements that seem to echo the biblical descriptions of the Temple of King Solomon and his palace in Jerusalem, pottery, weapons like the three iron swords ...
Amanda Weiss, director of the Jerusalem Bible Land Museum, will participate in the inauguration of the Washington Bible Museum (MOTB), which is dedicated to showcasing the influence, history and story of the Bible. through a series of highly technological exhibitions and interactive experiences. The exhibition " In the valley of David and Goliath Will open the Museum in November.
- Researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority (AAI) discovered on the Rosh Ha'ayin site a huge reservoir and a 2700-year-old water supply system. According to Gilad Itach, director of the excavations, it would be an underground reservoir 20m long and 4m deep, collecting rainwater, under a building with walls 50m long. This construction could have housed the administration of neighboring farms, built at the time of the Assyrian domination of the Kingdom of Israel.
- In an excavation site in Galilee, in the old village of Huqoq, co-directed by Shua Killevitz of the IAA, unprecedented representations of the biblical narrative of Jonah and the whale were found on the mosaics of a synagogue dating from the 5th^th century. Jonah's legs appear pendent, coming out of the mouth of a big fish, himself swallowed by another, bigger, which is itself consumed by a third, even more imposing. Among the mosaic finds, there is also a scene of men building a tower with stones, the Tower of Babel. Also noteworthy is a mosaic medallion representing Helios, the god of the Greco-Roman sun, in a chariot drawn by four horses. It is surrounded by personifications of the months, signs of the zodiac and the four seasons. But there is also the image of Samson and the foxes (Judges 15: 4) and that of Samson carrying the gate of Gaza on his shoulders (Judges 16: 3). In addition to their artistic value, mosaics are an open window to the lifestyle and crafting techniques used about 1,500 years ago.
- During excavations in Timna, in the Negev, Dr. Naama Sukenik of AAI & Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University discovered dyes dating from the time of Kings David and Solomon, in tissues 3000 years old and well preserved, given the dry conditions. The plants are the madder that gives a red hue and the wort or indigotine that gives indigo blue.
- According to the IAA, a story about the fall of Jerusalem from Flavius ​​Josephus, a Judeo-Roman historian from^st century, is confirmed by objects discovered on an old road that connected the city gates and the basin of Siloé in the Temple. These are weapons used by Roman legionnaires and Jewish rebels. Archaeologists have also seized the stones of the crossbow, launched by the Roman catapults, and arrowheads used by the Jewish rebels behind the barricades, while the city was delivered to the Romans, in the year 70 of the common era.
 
 

Defense

 
- The society Aeronautics has developed two new drones. The Orbiter 4 is dedicated to maritime missions with its autonomy of 24 hours and its boarding capacity of two loads weighing 50 kg. In these two loads, the aircraft can operate different radars (maritime patrol, aperture synthesis), an interception sensor, an electro-optical load, or even a communication satellite.
Pegasus 120, is a multi-rotor that can lift up to 75 kg of cargo destined for special military missions. (http://www.drone-actu.fr)
- Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. developed the new Gil 2 missile of the 5th^th generation in the family of Spike missiles. This missile is guided by an electro-optical system and infrared sensors that allow very fast and accurate targeted eliminations whatever the conditions. It can be fired by letting it reach its target without intervention, but it can also be controlled remotely during its flight to be redirected in case of sudden change of the target.
Spike LR II is another developed missile weighing 12.7 kg, with a range of 5.5 km from a vehicle or launcher and 10 km from a helicopter.
 - Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed a naval version of the Heron 1 Medium Long Range Endurance (MALE) drone for long-range patrols. Heron1 carries an "advanced" electro-optical payload, namely the Multi-mission Optronic Stabilized Payload (MOSP) developed by IAI's Tamam division, as well as a light surveillance radar designed by ELTA. This Heron1 can simultaneously carry multiple charges and sensors, allowing it to provide a full range of intelligence gathering, target detection and identification capabilities. Endurance of 20 hours, it is able to follow a hundred goals up to a distance of 322 km.
 
 

Inventions and discoveries

 

- Materials with shape memory are characterized by their ability to repair the deformations inflicted on them