BDS Fails, June 2021: stories you likely didn’t see in the British media

Here’s the latest installment in our ongoing series of posts documenting BDS fails – stories of Israeli success that are rarely covered by British media outlets.

Political BDS Fails

UAE becomes first Arab Gulf country to open Holocaust-education exhibit.

Israeli airline Israir announces it will launch direct flights to Morocco in July

The Emirati flag has been raised at the UAE’s new embassy in Tel Aviv

Cambridge City Council rejected a resolution supportive of BDS

Cambridge City Council rejected a resolution supportive of BDS

 The city council of Cambridge, Mass., rejected a resolution supporting the BDS movement.

The resolution, Policy Order #109, was voted down after nearly seven-and-a-half hours of public testimony by more than 300 people late Tuesday.

Downtown Dubai sign welcomes Israel

Switzerland adopts IHRA antisemitism definition.

Economic BDS Fails

Israel one of world’s top 10 arms exporters, defense official says

Israel is one of the top ten weapons exporters in the world, a senior defense official said on Tuesday after the Defense Ministry announced the country’s military exports reached $8.3 billion in 2020, buoyed by a 15 percent spike in the number of agreements signed compared with the previous year.

Israel and South Korea sign free trade agreement.

Japanese NTT Corporation to Open New Research Center in Israel

Japanese telecommunications giant NTT Corp said Wednesday it was setting up an innovation lab that will be “a focal point” for all of its activities in Israel.

The firm is one of the major players in Japanese communication market and is a ranked among the Fortune 100 companies, with over $100 billion in annual sales and more than 300,000 employees in more than 80 countries.

Israel Emerges as Investment ‘Battleground’ for Tech Giants

As the global economy struggles with a shortage of semiconductors, threatening auto factories and toaster ovens alike, US chip giant Intel on Sunday announced multi-billion dollar investments to develop the “chips of the future” in Israel. It was just the latest indication that the world’s biggest tech companies — including Facebook, Amazon and Google — increasingly see Israel as a cornerstone of their strategy in the highly competitive field of microchip development.

Technology and Medical BDS Fails

CONGRATULATIONS to internationally renowned Weizmann Institute scientist Prof. Jacob Klein

New Iron Dome System tracks and destroys rockets in 10 seconds

NeuroRx has announced the completion of a $1.5B merger with Big Rock Partners Acquisition Corporation

Israeli clinical-stage small molecule pharmaceutical company NeuroRx has announced the completion of a merger with Big Rock Partners Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) company. The company will trade on the NASDAQ as NRXP.

The deal is estimated to be worth a $1.5 billion valuation, the Haifa-based company said.

DayTwo, a maker of diet advice app based on gut bacteria, raises $37 million

Israeli startup DayTwo, whose app provides customized nutrition recommendations based on an analysis of gut bacteria, has raised $37 million to continue the development of its technologies.

The firm’s app is designed to improve the health of people with diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

New Israeli tech gives accuracy boost to microscopic scissors for DNA editing

Intel to invest $600 mln to expand chip, Mobileye R&D in Jerusalem

Intel Corp (INTC.O) said on Sunday it will invest another $600 million in Israel to expand its research and development (R&D) and confirmed it was spending $10 billion on a new chip plant.

The announcement was made during a one-day visit to Israel by Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger as part of a European tour that included Germany and Belgium last week. read more

Intel is investing $400 million to turn its Mobileye unit headquartered in Jerusalem into an R&D campus for developing self-driving car technologies.

Cultural BDS Fails

Cannes festival to feature Israeli filmmakers for first time in years

This year’s prestigious film festival in French resort city of Cannes will feature three Israeli filmmakers after years with no blue and white representation.

Among the three films which are set to screen at the festival is NadavLapid’s latest movie “Ahed’s Knee”, which focuses on filmmaker’s struggle with the loss of his mother and his country’s creative freedom. The film will compete for the festival’s “Palme d’Or” prize, alongside some of the most well regarded independent films of 2020-2021.

This summer the safest Mediterranean beaches might well be found in Israel.

That’s because the majority of locals congregating on them have been fully vaccinated and the tourists who join them will have been too.

The UK and Israel are poised to announce a mutual travel corridor that is likely to open on May 23, with Israel expected to be on the green list of countries the government is set to announce on Friday.

This will mean Brits returning from Israel – and Israelis visiting the UK – won’t be required to quarantine.

Netflix buys Israeli crime drama ‘Blackspace

Television broadcasting and production company Reshet announced on Thursday that its crime-drama series “Blackspace” has been sold to the content-streaming service Netflix.

Blackspace, starring prominent Israeli actor and comedian Guri Alfi, entails the story of police detective Ram Davidi who investigates a school massacre in a small Israeli town that left four students dead.

Stevie Wonder awarded Israel’s prestigious Wolf Prize

Music legend Stevie Wonder on Tuesday was awarded Israel’s Wolf Prize, headlining a group of laureates in the arts and sciences receiving the prestigious recognition.

Wonder was recognized for “his tremendous contribution to music and society enriching the lives of entire generations of music lovers,” according to a statement from President Reuven Rivlin’s office.

Israeli and Lebanese musicians unite in healing prayer

An unexpected and moving collaboration between Israeli and Lebanese singers has been made possible due to social media.

Last spring, when the world was already months into the coronavirus pandemic, Israeli musician Yair Levi wrote and produced a tune to accompany a Jewish prayer for healing, motivated by his grandmother’s illness and the pain of many afflicted by the virus.

The song went viral overnight, earning tens of thousands of shares and multiple covers by other performers in many different languages.

At the same time Carine Bassili, a young Lebanese singer living in California to earn money to help her struggling family back home, was searching for songs based on scriptures and stumbled across an Instagram post of Yair singing “Al Na Refa La” with Tel Aviv-based musician Shai Sol.     

“There was something very powerful about that song,” Bassili says. “When I heard it, something happened in my heart, and I said I wished I could do this in Arabic for my people.”

Bassili reached out to Levi with some trepidation, as her knowledge of Israelis came only from growing up in war-torn Lebanon. She asked him if she could translate his song into Arabic.

Levi agreed immediately. The two discussed the song and Bassili asked if he would like to sing it with her.

Thousands attend Jerusalem Pride Parade

Thousands took part in Jerusalem’s Pride Parade Thursday under heavy security over fears of extremist attacks and a year after most of the globe’s pride events were scrapped over the coronavirus pandemic.

Related Posts
Written By
More from Adam Levick
Alice Walker evokes Che Guevera in post on Trayvon Martin at ‘Comment is Free’
We’ve commented previously on American author Alice Walker, focusing primarily of her participation...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *