50 Ways to Count on Israel
The 50th anniversary of the re-unification of Jerusalem on May 24th will be celebrated during the 50 days between the Jewish festivals of Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost). This feature article focuses on the significance of the number 50 in many of the recent amazing achievements of the Jewish State.
It’s refreshing to see how much Israel has done for the environment in recent years. Thanks to making a substantial improvement in water quality, the freshwater Yarkon Bleak fish has now returned to the mid-stretches of the Yarkon river, after an absence of 50 years. And it is an annual event to watch newborn sea turtles scamper “home” to the sea just 50 days after the mother turtles lay their eggs on clean Israeli beaches. But Israel’s biggest cleantech achievement by far is the 700% increase in crops that Israel has managed to produce from the same amount of water it used 50 years ago.
Israel’s global impact is astonishing. Israeli-Arab Bedouins are using Israeli HomeBioGas units (subsidized by Israel’s Environment ministry) to transform trash into bio-gas. 50 HomeBioGas units are now being tested in the Dominion Republic, as part of attempts to curb deforestation caused by the burning of wood for cooking. In Africa, Israel’s award-winning Amiad Water Systems supplied 50 filtration systems to a project providing clean drinking water in Angola. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu improved relations with Africa immensely during the first visit by an Israeli leader to the continent in 50 years.
Now let’s celebrate – there must be at least fifty ways!