Israel's Technion: Celebrating diversity and excellence

Last years valedictorian from the  Technion medical school (Israel's version of M.I.T ) was Mais Ali-Saleh , a Muslim woman who grew up in a small village outside of Nazareth.  Anti-Israel activists cried "tokenism".

Its not.

A remarkable program, financed by Jewish philanthropists and the higher Education Council of Israel has made a concerted effort to ensure that once Arab students are enrolled, that they succeed, flourish and eventually graduate.

In 2002, Benny and Patsy, Landa established the Landa Fund for Equal Opportunity Through Education, enabling enables Israeli youth of “privileged minds and underprivileged means” to achieve higher education.

Via Wikipedia  
The Landa Fund also supports young recent immigrants and Israeli Arabs to acquire university degrees. The Fund has invested more than $50 million at all six of Israel’s universities, allowing thousands of Israeli youth to pursue higher education. The Landa Fund also supports non-profit organizations in the fields of education and the advancement of shared citizenship, tolerance, and understanding between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens...

In 2001, Arabs accounted for only 11 percent of undergraduates at the Technion. This year 21 percent of the Technion's student body are Arab.  Attendance by Arab women  rose from 39 percent in 2003 to 48 percent in 2014.

From Bloomberg Businessweek

"...Arab students are given intensive lessons in Hebrew, English, math, and physics in a summer camp before they enroll in the Technion. As students, each has two advisers, one for academics and one for social and cultural matters. The advisers are top Arab students who are paid for their work."

 Israel is not an apartheid state, and those who slander this diverse and pluralistic democracy do so not out of ignorance, but out of hate. In the past Arabs students were underrepresented in Israeli universities. A remarkable couple took concrete steps to change that. In a short time, they did more to promote equality, diversity and yes, justice, and accomplished more  than 13 years of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions referendums.

Thank you, Benny and Patsy Landa, for showing us that there is another way. If only the Israel-haters were not too blind to see the lesson here.

The Best Headline. Ever

From the Jewish Telegraph July 19, 2014, via David Ha'ivri

"Their God changes the path of our Rockets in mid-air"

Yep. We know. (Though I suspect our engineers at the Technion  may also have something to do with it)

A Song of Ascents.

 I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?
My help will come from Hashem, Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot falter;
Your Guardian does not slumber.
Behold, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Hashem is your guardian;
Hashem is your protective shadow at your right hand.
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
Hashem will guard you from all evil;
He will guard your soul.
Hashem will guard your departure and your arrival from now and for all time

Full text of the article can be found here

UPDATE:
A full copy of the paper, to dispel all doubt that this was photo-shopped

BDS fail news of the Week.

More BSD fail news this week:

Sept. 28 was declared a "National day of Action against Sodastream".  Our friends in the UK were more than ready.

From  Sussex friends of Israel , a group dedicated  to developing greater support, awareness and understanding of Israel through education, communication and community partnership

Supporters of Israel came together today, to hold a Bagels Against Bigotry party outside Brighton’s environmentally friendly refill store Ecostream, to counter a planned day of action and demonstration by BDS, the anti Israel group Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

The bagel themed party started at 11.30am outside the Ecostream store on Western Road Brighton, with supporters offering home baked cakes and salmon filled bagels for passers-by to enjoy as they visited Ecostream.

According to the Police just 45 members of the anti-Israel ‘BDS’ group attended the event billed by them as a national day of action.

Within 20 minutes of their arrival the Police moved the protesters to the opposite side of the road, where their protests were not only drowned out by the passing traffic but also obscured by regular Brighton and Hove double decker buses.

This week the Ecostream store has reported its best ever week of sales since opening in Brighton last year. During the event today there was a constant flow of customers refilling their oils, vinegars and environmentally friendly detergents, stocking up with dry goods, as well as purchasing their brand new Sodastream machines. 

Sussex Friends of Israel organiser Simon Cobbs said: “The turnout from supporters of Israel, from across the country today has been superb, we outnumbered the anti-Israeli groups by at least two to one, and at the same time we had a party. I want to thank everyone for their support today, it just shows what can be achieved when the community comes together to counter bigotry and eat bagels.

“Our cross-denominational supporters, have been baking cakes, filling bagels and, most importantly, at the same time supporting the trade of Ecostream, one of Brighton’s greenest and most environmentally friendly shops.

“We were really surprised that the national day of action only generated 45 protesters, and despite their shouting and screaming, they didn’t interrupt our ‘Bagels Against Bigotry’ party, while Ecostream reported brisk trade throughout the day, which capped a record breaking week of sales”.

 Congratulations to Sussex friends of Israel for this successful example of the Buycott, as an ethical counter to the ugliness of the BDS  boycott.

And a huge, massive, epic  $130 million dollar BDS fail:


Israeli technology, research and innovation is coming to China. The Li Ka Shing Foundation from China has pledged  $130 million to Israel’s Technion. The funds will be used both at  Technion campus in Haifa and to establish the Technion Guangdong Institute of Technology, a joint venture with Shantou University in Guangdong Province in southern China. This is the largest ever donation to the Technion and one of the biggest in the history of Israeli higher education.

Apartheid fail: Mais Ali-Saleh graduates first in her class at Israel's Technion

Apartheid fail. 

 Mais Ali-Saleh, an Israeli Arab has graduated first in her class at Israel's renowned Technion .

 From an article by Diane Bletter in the Huffington Post

Guess who graduated first in this year's medical school class at the Technion, Israel's version of M.I.T.? The answer will surprise you. It's a 27-year-old stereotype-buster: a charming, feminist, smart, open-minded and observant Islamic woman named Mais Ali-Saleh who grew up in a small village outside of Nazareth, in Israel's Galilee.

Ali-Selah's academic excellence not only marks her own personal achievement but also proves that contrary to propaganda spouted by proponents of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement -- whose latest convert is Stephen Hawking -- an academic boycott of Israel is the wrong approach to solving the Israel-Arab conflict. Moreover, it ultimately hurts the very people it claims to help. Ali-Selah put it best when she said, "An academic boycott of Israel is a passive move, and it doesn't achieve any of its purported objectives."

It's a BDS fail, as well. Contrary to what international anti-Israel activists would have you believe, Palestinian civil society does not universally support a boycott of Israel.

On trips to Europe, Ali-Selah said that people she met were surprised to learn that Israeli Arabs studied engineering and medicine in Israel, and that they lived among Jews. This lack of awareness helps the BDS Movement win misguided supporters. Boycotters like Roger Waters repeat a falsehood -- that Israel is an apartheid state -- and deny a fundamental truth: Arabs, in particular Arab women, have more freedom, liberties and academic opportunities in Israel than in any Arab country. Yes, they do.

Rather than an academic boycott -- which targets researchers who want to disseminate knowledge rather than restrict it -- Ali-Selah suggests a more active stance: encouraging academic life within the Palestinian Authority and strengthening academic ties with Palestinian universities, planning joint research projects with Palestinian scientists, and admitting more Palestinian scholars to European and American universities for academic programs.

Ali-Selah said that because she did medical research, the boycott did not negatively impact her work, but sooner or later, she said that it will impinge upon academic researchers she knows, both Jews and Arabs. That's why Stephen Hawking and others interested in advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East should focus their energies on supporting more of Israel's success stories like Mais Ali-Selah's, and pressuring Arab countries to emulate Israel's academic freedoms and democracy.

Some might argue that Ali-Selah is an exception to the rule about the Arab minority in Israel. But we only have to look at President Barack Obama to remember how unusual -- and important -- exceptions are.

Read the whole article at the Huff Post

Alpha Szenszor, Technion to commercialize non-invasive Lung cancer test

Another miracle from the nation that specializes in them.
From Israel 21C:

Alpha Szenszor, a leading provider of carbon nanotube (CNT) based sensors, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have announced a joint venture for the commercialization of advanced lung cancer diagnostics based on Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) detection from human breath. They hope their combined expertise will lead to commercializing an economically viable, non-invasive, digital tool for the early diagnosis of lung cancer....

At Technion, we are excited by this new venture with Alpha Szenszor. The combination of strengths and expertise of both parties will greatly enhance our ability to save human lives,” says lead researcher Prof. Hossam Haick, of the Technion Department of Chemical Engineering. “The Technion’s and Alpha Szenszor’s strong IP portfolio and experience will enable the fast and effective transition of this valuable technology from the lab to the medical world where it will be of real benefit in the fight against cancer

What Israel 21C doesn't mention is that Prof Hossam Haick is one of the most distinguished young scientists in Israel.  

From his faculty page at the Technion website:

Prof. Haick has received several awards for his research, including a Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier dans l'Ordres des Palmes Académiques), the list of the world’s 35 leading young scientists for 2008 of the prestigious scientific journal MIT’s Technology Review, the Horev Chair for Leaders in Science and Technology, the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" Prize in Chemical Engineering, the Discovery Program Award of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the OXYGEN Prize, the Norman and Barbara Seiden Prize, the Israel-France Award for Academic Excellence, the Herschel Rich Innovation Award (2008, 2011), the Minerva Short-Term Research Award, the Bergmann Award for Excellent Young Scientists, the CREATE Award, the Al-Qendil Prize, and the YMCA and Rotary Honorary Decorations.  In addition, Prof. Haick was selected for the lists of “Ten Most Promising Young Israeli Scientists” of Calcalist (2010), “Young Israelis of the Year” of the Jerusalem Post” (2010), “50 Leading Israelis for 2007” and “four saluted Israeli scientists” (2007) of Yedioth Aharonot.  Other honors and awards include the Fulbright fellowship, ‘Israel Ministry of Science and Technology' awards, Prof. Avrahami prize, and CNR-IMIP prize.

 

Besides his recent and past achievements in research, he had excellent achievements as a lecturer, expressed by a wide variety of prizes that he received for (constantly) excellence in teaching (top 4%). Prof. Haick is the recipient of the prestigious "Yanai Prize for Academic Excellence", which is given for exceptional and significant contribution in teaching and academic education. Prof. Haick had also worked as a supervisor for a broad range of talented graduate and undergraduate students worldwide. Prof. Haick serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, review editor of the Frontiers in Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs, and member of the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Nanoscience Letters, Hybrid Materials, Dataset Papers in Physical Chemistry, Frontiers in Respiratory Pharmacology, etc. Prof. Haick serves as an advisory consultant to the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) – the world's authority for chemical information - a senior scientific advisory member of several national and international companies and institutes, and as a scientific evaluator in the European Commission.

And incidentally, Prof. Haick is an Israeli Arab.