Israel is attacked continually both physically and politically by neighbouring states and their terrorist proxies. Ironically, this is one of the chief reasons why Israelis have adopted innovative methods in order to prevail against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Overcoming barriers has become almost instinctive to the “Start-up Nation” as can be seen in the following recent typical news stories.

In the medical arena, there is nothing to stop the flow of incredible discoveries and innovations that emanate from Israel’s hospitals, universities and bio-techs. For example, Soroka hospital and Ben Gurion University are jointly developing a unique blood test to detect various types of early-stage cancers before they can spread. In their first trial, researchers succeeded in detecting cancer in almost 90 percent of cancer patients tested. And there is no longer any barrier to young men that have had chemotherapy from fathering children, thanks to Arab-Israeli Professor Mahmoud Huleihel from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University. He has pioneered an artificial testis.

12-year old Pavel Sadyshev from Kazakhstan suffers from Cerebral Palsy and was unable to walk until the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Assaf Harofeh Medical Centre brought him to Israel. Doctors at Harofeh used their world-recognised expertise to operate on Pavel, who is now undergoing rehabilitation – all at Israel’s expense. And more barriers to understanding the human mind will be removed now that a new school of Neuroscience has opened at the Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Hashomer. Three Israeli Nobel Prize winners attended the official opening as Tel Aviv University inaugurated the Sagol School of Neuroscience – the first of its kind in Israel.

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