■ THE UNIVERSITY of Haifa this week received a transformative $10 million gift from the Azrieli Foundation to establish the “Azrieli Advanced Nursing Center.” The donation is among the largest single grants given in the field of nursing to an Israeli academic institution.
The new center marks a unique and unprecedented academic framework for the development, research, and implementation of advanced nursing roles in the Israeli healthcare system, both in clinical practice and management.
In collaboration with the Health Ministry’s Nursing Administration, the center will help maximize the potential of expert nurses, positioning them as leaders in the healthcare system. Building on the University of Haifa’s distinguished reputation in health sciences, the center will become a national hub for nursing excellence and innovation.
The focus will be on improving care, preventing deterioration among chronically ill patients, particularly the elderly, enhancing mental health services throughout Israel, and increasing the accessibility and quality of healthcare in peripheral regions.
“The Azrieli Advanced Nursing Center is leading the nursing profession into a new era, where multidisciplinary innovation shapes the future of healthcare,” said Prof. Gur Alroey, president of the University of Haifa.
“In collaboration with our new Herta and Paul Amir School of Medicine, we are laying the foundation for joint training that brings together nurses, physicians, and professionals from the health and welfare sectors – fostering holistic, humane, and advanced healthcare. Thanks to the support of the Azrieli Foundation, we are cultivating a new generation of nursing leaders who will place healthcare at the forefront and impact the lives of many.”
Danna Azrieli, chair of the Azrieli Foundation Israel and of the Azrieli Group, emphasized the strategic importance of the investment: “The establishment of the Azrieli Advanced Nursing Center at the University of Haifa represents another significant step by the Azrieli Foundation toward promoting the healthcare system in Israel.
'The nursing profession in Israel suffers from a severe shortage'
“We believe that investment in advanced nursing roles will be key to shaping healthcare services in the country for all population groups. This is crucial, in particular, during this challenging time, given the impact of the war and the shortage of available medical professionals. Our support for the establishment of the center complements many other initiatives that the foundation is undertaking to strengthen the Israeli healthcare system and our investment in the health of all Israeli citizens,” she said.
“The Azrieli Foundation is thrilled to collaborate on this exciting and innovative program in advanced nursing at the University of Haifa,” said Dr. Naomi Azrieli, chair and CEO of the Azrieli Foundation Canada. “The program’s goal, to strengthen the nursing profession in Israel, is critically important at a time when optimizing healthcare capacity is a priority for countries around the world.”
Prof. Efrat Shadmi, a nurse, researcher, and founding director of the center from the university’s School of Nursing, emphasized the urgent need to strengthen the nursing profession in Israel: “The nursing profession in Israel suffers from a severe shortage and remains far from realizing its full potential. Despite the extensive and advanced training nurses undergo – including baccalaureate and master’s academic degrees, specialized training, and certifications – their professional potential is not fully utilized,” she said.
“The center strives to change this reality by developing new methodologies for integrating advanced nursing roles, providing a research-based resource to support national policy decisions, and by enhancing nurses’ involvement in technology development and implementation.”
Dr. Shoshi Goldberg, national chief nurse and Head of the Nursing Administration, described the center’s establishment as a significant step forward in strengthening the nursing profession in Israel: “The creation of this center marks a milestone in the development of the nursing profession and the healthcare system in Israel. It is one of the most ambitious nursing initiatives ever launched in the country, and the donation for its establishment represents an extraordinary commitment to advancing the profession.”
■ THERE WASN’T much advanced publicity regarding the Presidential Medal of Honor that President Isaac Herzog presented to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier this week, but it was on the cards that it would happen given that Israel and Germany were celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations, something that would have been considered impossible in the immediate aftermath of the establishment of the State of Israel.
The fact that the celebration was taking place in the same week that US President Donald Trump was on his Middle East mission to expand the Abraham Accords was nothing less than symbolic. If Israel could make peace with Germany, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, there is good reason to suppose that other countries in the region would follow suit.
With due respect to President Trump, the vision of a new Middle East was detailed more than thirty years ago in a book, The New Middle East, by Shimon Peres, the ninth president of Israel. He envisaged a new Middle East when he was still the foreign minister and published that book in 1993. Incidentally, Peres himself was proof that people can change. He went from being a hawk to a dove.
Steinmeier has, in all probability, seen more of Israel in a series of changing circumstances than any other German statesman or politician. He came several times as foreign minister and during his first and second terms as president.
He is a little less formal than most of his colleagues, and on one of his previous visits during the presidential term of Reuven Rivlin, the two of them, together with Steinmeier’s wife, went to the Mahaneh Yehuda market to drink beer and watch the world go by.
On this visit, at Kibbutz Be’eri, where soon after October 7 he saw the devastation and where Germany is heavily involved in the rehabilitation process, he came in an open-necked shirt and chatted with some of the kibbutzniks. Both he and German Ambassador Steffen Seibert wore the yellow ribbon pins on their jackets.
■ IT IS often difficult to get into the heads of children who have suffered traumatic experiences. Often, they become less talkative, a factor which poses a near-impossible challenge to those who want to help them overcome.But some of them express themselves through art and are helped by various organizations and business enterprises.
Led by Avi Levi, CEO of Discount Group, the management of Discount Bank, together with Sharon Heskia, founder and CEO of Heznek L’Atid (Spirit for the Future), came together to inaugurate “Time Stood Still, and We Choose Light,” a new art exhibition created by children from the Gaza border communities as part of the “Keren Or” workshops, now displayed at the Discount Campus.
The exhibition showcases creations by children and teens from Sderot, Eshkol, Sdot Negev, and Netivot, who participated in art, phototherapy, and graffiti workshops designed to help them process emotions and regain a sense of control through artistic expression.
Established by the Discount Group after the outbreak of the war, Keren Or is a dedicated aid fund supporting youth in frontline communities. In collaboration with Heznek L’Atid, the initiative has conducted over 5,500 workshops across eight locations, assisting approximately 12,000 children and teenagers in southern Israel.
“Through Keren Or, we are proud to provide these children with a platform to share their personal journey of resilience and strength,” said Levi.
■ AT THE Israel Women’s Network’s Women Jurists Forum Spring Conference held last week at the Tel Aviv Municipality building, attorney Hanital Belinson-Navon was appointed as the new chair of the Forum. Belinson-Navon, a senior partner at the Arnon, Tadmor-Levy law firm and a member of the firm’s executive committee, is one of Israel’s leading commercial litigators.
She succeeds attorney Bruria Lekner, who completed her term.
The conference was attended by senior members of the judicial system, including former Supreme Court president justice Esther Hayut and former Supreme Court justice Anat Baron.
Belinson-Navon, 45, was born and raised in Lod and currently resides in Tel Aviv. She is married to Erez Navon, the son of Israel’s fifth president, Yitzhak Navon, and is a mother of four children aged 5, 8, 10, and 15.
She has extensive experience representing clients in complex commercial and civil disputes, specializing in class action and derivative suits. She began her professional career as an intern at Yigal Arnon & Co. law firm and was mentored by the late attorney Yigal Arnon.
During the conference, an intimate “one-on-one” interview was conducted with justice Hayut, who emphasized the importance of advancing women in the judicial system and the legal profession. The event featured leading women from various fields in law and Israeli society.
“I see the Women Jurists Forum as a vital tool in advancing the status of women, in general, and women in the legal profession, in particular,” Belinson-Navon added to Hayut’s remarks. “The forum serves as a unique platform for creating an empowering community, sharing knowledge and experience, and promoting policies that will break the glass ceiling in the legal world and beyond.”
According to Lekner, the outgoing chair, “True gender equality remains an aspiration yet to be fulfilled. A strong community of women jurists with a prominent public presence is important, now more than ever, in order to transform Israeli society into a more equal, diverse, fair, and just society.”
Prof. Daphna Hacker, chair of the Israel Women’s Network, in congratulating the new chair, said: “Attorney Hanital Belinson-Navon brings rich professional experience and deep social sensitivity, precisely the skills needed to lead the Women Jurists Forum. The struggle for gender equality in the legal arena is an essential part of the broader struggle for a more equal and just society.”
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