On the other hand

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The challenges presented by neighbours who do not want us here never daunted the early pioneers. Instead, they determined to surmount all barriers and as a result, Israel is a leading country in various fields.

PROTECTION AGAINST VIRUS INFECTION

As the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, two Israeli companies are finalizing development of revolutionary antiviral reusable facemasks.

Because there is no vaccine or treatment personal protective equipment is an important way to combat the transmission of the virus and avoid a pandemic.

Disposable facemasks cannot block all pathogens and do not kill them. A used and discarded mask can even become a vector for disease as the pathogens multiply in its fibres.

That’s why washable, reusable masks with anti-pathogen properties could provide a potent prevention tool against the 2019-nCoV and other coronaviruses that have evolved into more severe illnesses, such as SARS and MERS.

 A team of nine Israeli and two Australian volunteers with SmartAID were among the first to enter Australia’s Kangaroo Island to help locals affected by ongoing wildfires.

The SmartAID team is working alongside the Australian army, firefighters and local nonprofit partner BlazeAid to clear the rubble of burned homes, help open access routes and assist farmers in rebuilding their livelihood.

“We are here shoulder to shoulder helping our Australian friends who lost everything to the fire.” The international not-for-profit aid agency has been renamed SmartAID to reflect its unique focus on “harnessing the power of innovation and technology to save lives, alleviate suffering and empower communities.

THERMAL BATHS SPRING BACK TO LIFE

According to Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the Roman spring in Hammat Tiberias has come back to life, after ten dry years, pushed up by the rising Kinneret water.

Hammat Tiberias is an archaeological site of thermal baths located in the city of Tiberias. The site consists of the Roman ruins of the ancient hot springs, the Hamam Suleiman hot bath, and the ruins of a nearby Synagogue.

Herod Antipas established the Roman city in 20 CE. It included Hamma, thus the name Hammat Tiberias. Even later, the city of Tiberias during the Byzantine period in the sixth century CE included Al-Hamma.

Historians such as the Roman Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) and Amineus Marcellinos (330-395 CE) described the great hot water in the public baths in the city of Tiberias. The latter even added that the bath in Hamma had a healing power and that patients came there from as far as Athens for treatment.

In yet another moving and miraculous human interest moment an Israeli Holocaust survivor watches as her grandson, a pilot in the Israeli IDF flies over her house.

As she fights back tears she recounts how as a young girl she was nearly a victim of the Holocaust with no hope and no future. In her wildest fantasies, she could never have imagined that seventy-five years later she would be living in an independent Jewish country and that she would be privileged to have a grandson defending her and the country.