Israel as a role model in tobacco policy

June 20, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: General 

ICA director-general Miri Ziv and Cary Adams, CEO - Union for International Cancer Control. (Photo: Viva Sarah Press)

Though smoking in public places in Israel is still prevalent, it would seem that our tobacco policy is still something to be proud of.

At the first American Cancer Society Global Fellowship, which is now underway in New York City, experts are saying that Israel is a “role model” in the Middle East for its anti-tobacco advocacy.

“The Middle East is one of the biggest problems in the world. It is one of the few places in the world where smoking rates are going up,” Dr. Michael Eriksen, founding director of the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University told ISRAEL21c. “Israel is in the unique role to serve as an exemplar. Just because you’re in this part of the world it doesn’t mean smoking rates have to go up. Israel can serve as a model for countries in the region.”

Indeed, the percentage of Israeli smokers is on the downturn.

Miri Ziv, director-general of the Israel Cancer Association who is also in New York City, says that in the 1980s, 45 percent of Israelis smoked. Today, 22% of the population lights up.

“The ICA was among the first 10 counties to pass a law prohibiting smoking in public places,” Ziv told ISRAEL21c.

Ziv added that together with education awareness and media coverage the numbers of smokers in Israel has declined, though there is still work to do.

Tobacco is just one of the topics at the ACS meeting meant to bring attention to the global threat posed by cancer and non-communicable diseases.

Dr. Michael Eriksen, founding director of the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University. (Photo: Viva Sarah Press)

And while Israeli research and innovations in cancer are talked about favorably at this conference, it is the fight against smoking that is seen as an example. Said Eriksen: “Israel has the potential to be a force of good in a region going the wrong way.”

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Nostalgia Sunday – Israel Does Dylan

June 19, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Music, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture 

I don’t know if anyone’s heard but Bob Dylan is playing a concert in Israel tomorrow night.

In honor of the occasion, here’s a small selection of Dylan covers as performed over the years by Israeli artists, starting with an adaptation by poet Yehonatan Geffen of Dylan’s ironic With God on Our Side.

The bitter lyrics in Geffen’s version refer to the Israel-Arab conflict; they are balanced out by David Broza’s sweet singing.

David Broza & Yehonatan Geffen - With God on Our Side

It’s only natural that, in addition to a poetic bent, Yehonatan Geffen’s son Aviv should also inherit an affinity for Dylan. And in the case of A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, the son exceeds the father.

Aviv Geffen - A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

One usually doesn’t automatically think of pop singers together with Dylan but this rendition of Mama, You Been On My Mind — sung by balladeer Rita together with Shlomi Saban, a graduate of Kohav Nolad (the Israeli version of talent competition “Pop Idol”) — works.

Rita and Shlomi Saban – Mama, You Been On My Mind

Ninet is another Kohav Nolad grad who’s made good and her work with Aviv Geffen has apparently had an influence on her song choices. In this case: the Hebrew version of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door which was translated by the late great Meir Ariel who, along with Geffen Senior and Junior, was one of the few Israeli artists with the guts to take on the Master’s works. (Unfortunately, Ariel’s version of the song has been taken offline).

Ninet Tyeb – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Another Israeli artist willing to take on Dylan is the controversial Ariel Zilber. One of the original Israeli rockers, Zilber became religious and a supporter of the Right-wing following Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Here, although all the while seated, he belts out a heartfelt version of Neighborhood Bully. The lyrics needed very little adapting — as they are, they say everything Zilber means .

Ariel Zilber – Neighborhood Bully

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You’ll find it at the Bank Otzar Hahayal

June 19, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Pop Culture 

One of the charming aspects of Israeli society is its integration of pop hits into its advertising and musical lexicon.

Israeli TV and radio ads regularly use classic American oldies to pitch everything from cottage cheese to cable TV, due to their familiarity with the local audience. However, due to the fact that the advertisers are basing their campaigns on the music and not the lyrics, the results are sometimes amusing, if not downright peculiar.

Take, for example, the radio ads that are currently running for Bank Otzar Hahayal – the country’s eighth largest bank. Established in 1946 to provide soldiers with banking benefits and help them once they demobilized, the bank has developed into a national institution. But it’s still, in many minds, still connected to the idea of being the bank for IDF soldiers.

That’s why the latest ads featuring a bouncy jingle in Hebrew sung to the original recording of “YMCA,” the 1970s hit by the Village People is so funny. Evidently, the Tel Aviv creative team behind the ad, is too young to recall that the Village People in general, and “YMCA” in particular were all about celebrating the newly liberated gay lifestyle in the US. While the song ostensibly spouts virtues of the Young Men’s Christian Association, in gay culture from which the group sprang, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA’s reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot.

In the ensuing years, the song has taken on a life of its own, and a quick perusal of Google reveals that it’s now a favorite at sporting events and high school dances in the US. So, I guess, in the end it’s not so surprising that the soldiers’ bank in Israel would decide hawk its wares with the dancing anthem.

But it still is funny.

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Foto Friday – 5683 miles by Yael Ben-Zion

June 17, 2011 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Art, design, education, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture 

5683 miles — the distance between Tel Aviv and New York — is a stretch that Israeli-American photographer Yael Ben-Zion knows well. Born in the US and raised in Israel, she has spent the last ten years traveling the NYC-TLV – TLV-NYC route and considering the differences between the two.

Her first monograph, also called 5683 miles away, presents personal, intimate photographs of places and people as Ben-Zion questions the notion of “normal life” in an emotionally, socially and politically charged place such as Israel…

On one hand, her images of day-to-day life in Israel offer “a poetic reflection on the way people spend their lives…”

On the other hand, they “allude to the complexity of the political climate in Israel, and question its emotional and social consequences…”

Often, the photos tell a story with humor…

And sometimes their titles hint at irony…

Ben-Zion now lives in New York City. Her work has been exhibited in the US and Europe. In 2007, her photograph Crash was selected for the cover of American Photography 23. 5683 miles away (Kehrer, 2010) is her first monograph; it was selected as one of photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010, featured in the PDN Photo Annual 2011, and was also a nominee for the German Photo Book Award 2011. More works by Yael Ben-Zion can be viewed on her website.

Images copyright Yael Ben-Zion. Published by permission.

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Coexisting inventions

June 16, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: coexistence, design, education, General, Israeliness, Medical Breakthroughs, Science 

It’s fairly unusual for a 13-year-old to be aware of an adult’s physical suffering and want to do something about it, and then successfully accomplish that. For 13-year-old Dima Zoabi, from the Arab city of Tamra in the Lower Galilee, her inspiration was her father’s cousin, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer and was suffering through the side effects of chemo.

In seeking a topic for a local science contest held for 150 schools, Zoabi and her fellow teammates from Ort Achva Gilboa — a school in the Gilboa Regional Council — began researching the issue and met with Dr. Gabriel Herzel, head of Oncology at the Haemek Medical Center in Afula, who has been trying to find an effective solution for chemo with fewer side effects. Given that chemo injections are given through veins, the chemo spreads through the body, causing hair loss, nausea and other side effects.

The team came up with the idea of using a wig attached with sensors that can recognize the diseased cells and inject the treatment only to these cells using micro-needles, without damaging brain tissue. According to a Yediot Achronot article about the contest, the girls were inspired by acupuncture, which uses needles to heal problematic areas in the body.

The invention won second place in the contest, and they’re now going on to present their creation at an international competition in the Netherlands. The other inspiring part of the story? At least two of the honor students on the winning team are Arabs, offering a a welcome coexistence element to this particular invention.

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