Israel Week Ending October 8

Knesset Session Open, Ron Arad, Arab-Israelis, Covid, Economy

THE KNESSET

This was the first week of the fall term of Israel’s 24th parliament. The big challenge for the coalition will be to secure final passage of the national budget. If the budget doesn’t pass, the government falls, and new elections are automatically called. Though, this time, no one expects that to happen. While there continue to be profound differences between the widely disparate members of this coalition, they genuinely seem to enjoy working together, and showing they are able to do so collegially.

As is the custom in the opening session, Prime Minister Bennett addressed the Knesset. Although he was constantly interrupted, Bennett made news when he announced that the Mossad had conducted another operation aimed to discover the fate that befell Israeli Navigator Ron Arad, who was seized in Lebanon, in 1986. Arad is believed to have been killed shortly after his capture. Bennett did not provide any more details, and unconfirmed rumors swirled. 

Afterward, the Prime Minister was criticized for divulging a Mossad operation. However, on Thursday, Tami, Ron Arad’s widow gave an interview, in which she said that before the operation, she was assured no Israeli lives would be endangered. Arad further stated she did not want Israel to pay any money whatsoever for information on where Ron might be buried, or for the return of his body, in the event he should be proven dead. If Arad is alive, it might be another matter, but she is opposed to any payment, or risk to the lives of others, for her husbands remains.

ARAB-ISRAELIS

At the start of the week, Prime Minister Bennett chaired a special meeting to discuss what could be done to address the mounting violence and killings within Israel’s Arab communities. It was decided involvement of the Shin Bet, (Israel interior security service, which deals with national security threats), would be required to provide a solution. While there is no question the Shin Bet is capable of contributing to the solution of this scourge, many believe involving the Shin Bet in criminal cases is not appropriate. At the moment, there does not appear to be any other operable solution. The Israeli police are clearly unable to remedy the situation.

The incredible success of Arab-Israelis in health care, provides a stark contrast to the tragic, rampant bloodshed. Arab-Israelis make up 20% of Israel's population. Yet, according to recent statistics, Arab-Israelis and Druze make up 46% of medical licensee recipients; 50% of new nurses, both male and female (as compared with just 9% in 2000); 53% of the dentists, and 57% of pharmacists. These increases have changed the face of Israeli health care, and transformed aspects of Arab-Israeli society

If you would like to read some more about the challenges in the Arab-Israeli Society I recommend two books that I had a part in translating: The Wadi Has Two Banks and Locals:Conversations with Arab Citizens in Israel

COVID–19

It appears Prime Minister Bennett's gamble, i.e., relying on booster shots to bring down the number of Covid cases, has worked. The number of new daily infections has declined from 9,000 a day a little more than a month ago, to 2,064 today. The number of cases of serious illness due to Covid has also continued to drop — from a high of over 800, to 460 as of today. 

Further research in Israel has proven conclusively that the ability of the Pfizer vaccine to prevent infection declines appreciably by the six-month mark. Booster shots bring the effectiveness of the vaccine back to its initial level of protection, and possibly beyond.  

Prime Minister Bennett has been pushing, and the Health Ministry is going along with, the institution of a new Covid plan of operation for schools. In towns where the level of infection is low, students who come into contact with someone infected with Covid will no longer require isolation. Instead, students will be tested every day. However, it should be noted that this decision is being rushed— as the results of the pilot program testing the impact of this approach are not yet in.

In a step forward for Covid testing, Israel will experiment with a saliva-based PCR test. Starting this week, everyone tested for Covid in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square will receive both the standard  PCR and saliva tests. Developed in Israel, Saliva-based PCR test results are available in 45 minutes. Researchers will compare results from the traditional tests to those of the saliva tests. If the saliva test proves to be accurate, it will become the nationwide standard.

In other Covid vaccine news, Clalit Health (HMO) released results of a vital study examining the incidence of Myocarditis in those who received the Covid vaccine — which, as it turns out, is extremely rare — 2.1 cases per 100K vaccinated individuals. Even in cases of those considered most at risk (males, ages 16-29), incidence of Myocarditis turned to be rare (10.7 cases per 100k vaccinated individuals). Moreover, in all but one case, the Myocarditis was mild and entirely treatable.

HEALTHCARE

Medical Residents in Israeli hospitals has resigned en masse over the failure of the government to enact structural reform to limit the number of hours in their hospital shifts. Residents currently work 26 hours shifts. Over the years, there have been several proposals for reform, but little has ever been done. Now, the government is offering a first step that would limit the shift hours in smaller hospitals in the periphery, but would exempt emergency medicine and internal medicine residents from the shift changes. Residents insist that without a clear plan on how the pilot can be expanded, they view the government’s offer as a nonstarter. It's not clear how many residents have actually resigned. However, residents make up the backbone of all hospital care. If they indeed all go on strike, the impact could be devastating.

ECONOMY 

Microsoft announced it will open five new development centers in Israel, and hire an additional 2,000 personnel, primarily in the area of R&D. Microsoft’s statement comes after several multinational corporations released plans to expand their workforces in Israel. Recent reports affirm that a total of 5,000 new employees are currently being sought by multinationals. This is a double-edged sword. 

On the one hand, it's nice to see the most important companies in the world expanding their operations in Israel (although it would be nice if Apple would stop hiring engineers, and instead hire retailers to man their conspicuously absent Apple Store). On the other hand, there is a fear the multinationals will squeeze out local companies in the race to attract the best talent. While Israel has been talking about plans to increase the number of software engineers in the country, no serious proposals have ever been undertaken to date, and the shortage of top personnel is becoming acute.  

RepAir, which is developing a new, less expensive technology to extract CO2 from the air, received a $1.5 million seed investment.

Aquant completed a C-round, raising $70 million. This brings their total capital raised to $110 million. The company has created an AI-based platform for customer service.

NeuroBlade raised 83 million in a B-round of financing. This brings the total raised by the company to $110 million. NeuroBlade developed a new data analytics architecture that eliminates major data movement bottlenecks, by integrating the data processing function inside memory, better known as processing-in-memory (PIM). NeuroBlade claims to be the first company to successfully bring PIM to production.

Several interesting defense contracts were closed this week. First, the government signed a contract with the Czech Republic to provide their country with Rafael's advanced anti-aircraft missiles, in a deal worth over NIS 2 billion. Meanwhile, Elbit continued its relationship with the U.S. military, selling Integrated Helmet And Display Sight Systems ("IHADSS") equipment for the AH-64 Apache helicopter fleet to the Army. These transaction represent a growing trend of the Israeli arms manufacturers, not only selling to third world nations, but to the U.S. and NATO countries, as well.