SA JEWISH REPORT STAFF

Parents can now skip germ-ridden waiting rooms

NETANYA – Your preschooler wakes up with an earache and fever. You tell your boss you’ll be late to work, wangle a paediatrician appointment, bundle up the sick kid, sit in a waiting room full of other sick kids, spend five minutes with the doctor, and leave with a prescription and/or orders to return for a follow-up exam.

All parents loathe this scenario, but Israeli dad and healthcare industry entrepreneur, Dedi Gilad, took the initiative to change it. His vision was a home telemedicine kit to help parents perform standard throat, ear, eye, skin, heart and lung examinations of high enough quality to enable a remote diagnosis by the child’s physician. And it would not be limited only to paediatric patients.

In 2012, Gilad and Ofer Tzadik founded TytoCare and spent nearly three years perfecting the technology and design. The Netanya-based company raised $18,5 million from investors including US drugstore chain Walgreens, and now is beta-testing its user-friendly kits for home and clinical use.

The telehealth platform and home kit includes a modular device with a stethoscope, otoscope and computer-vision camera, along with smart audiovisual guidance to the user. Exam results are transmitted to the patient’s chosen clinician via a HIPAA-compliant secure connection.

Alternatively, the user can make a remote appointment with the doctor and perform the exams while seeing and talking to the doctor through Tyto’s video conference feature. – Israel 21c

Cotler at helm of new Raoul Wallenberg Centre

OTTAWA – Irwin Cotler and Stéphane Dion are friends and former parliamentary colleagues, so it was no surprise that former minister of justice met with Dion, the current foreign affairs minister, last week to discuss issues on Cotler’s mind, including, human rights, Iran, and terrorism in Israel.

Cotler, who left parliament last autumn after a distinguished career that included time as attorney general as well, raised issues that are high on the agenda of the new organisation he’s created, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

The centre is named for the wartime Swedish diplomat who saved hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis. Wallenberg was arrested by Soviet forces in 1945 and disappeared in the Soviet camp system. His fate remains unknown.

Cotler said the centre would continue Wallenberg’s humanitarian legacy and pursue justice. Its mission statement includes opposing anti-Semitism and genocide, promoting human rights and defending political prisoners.

The organisation is an international consortium of parliamentarians, scholars, jurists, human rights advocates, NGOs and students. Its honorary co-chairmen are Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel; Supreme Court of Canada Justice Rosalie Abella; former Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson; and Meir Shamgar, former president of Israel’s Supreme Court.

During their meeting, Cotler briefed Dion on several upcoming centre initiatives and raised the issue of Iranian human rights violations. – Canadian Jewish News

New unmanned sea vehicle hits submarines with torpedoes

HAIFA – Elbit Systems unveiled a new, autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that can wage anti-submarine warfare missions by firing small torpedoes, and detect and blow up underwater mines by sending robots and interceptors deep underwater.

The Seagull autonomous multi-mission USV is a two-vessel system that has been developed over the past three years, Elbit officials said at Haifa port, where the platform carried out some manoeuvres on the water.

Ofer Ben David, vice-president of Naval Systems Business Line – UAS at the ISTAR Division, described the platform as a “revolution”, adding that no platform like it exists today.

“We are witnessing the proliferation of submarines, both conventional and nuclear, and sea mines. The cost and risk of dealing with these threats is high,” he said.

“We consider the Israel Navy and Defence Ministry to be advanced potential milestone clients,” he said. Other potential clients are in touch with Elbit as well.

“We would not have entered into this if we did not have a business plan, and if this did not cause much interest, and amazement,” Ben David added. – Jerusalem Post

Three Israeli conmen convicted for £80 million scam

LONDON -Three Jewish fraudsters who fleeced investors out of £79,5 million and blew the cash on “Bentleys, yachts and million pound houses” are facing years behind bars.

Spencer Steinberg, 45, Michael Strubel, 53, and Jolan Saunders, 39, claimed they had won a contract to supply electricals to the Olympic Village ahead of the 2012 London Games.

They said Saunders Electrical Wholesalers Limited (SEWL) also supplied goods including trouser presses and kettles to major hotel chains.

But SEWL was just a shabby high street electrical retailer in east London – a “one man and a van operation”.

Victims were persuaded to invest hundreds of thousands over a period of two months so SEWL could meet urgent orders, then paid seemingly sky-high returns.

They were then asked if they would “roll over” their investment for another two months.

The trio used bogus accounts to impress clients into parting with their cash.

Two investors parted with £2 million after being shown fake company invoices that showed they were supplying the Olympic Village.

Others were fooled after Saunders started using doctored invoices from the Park Plaza chain of hotels that suggested they were a major supplier.

The trio was not investigated until the scandal of United States investor and notorious fraudster Bernie Madoff hit the headlines in 2008, jurors heard.

Steinberg and Strubel were unanimously convicted of conspiracy to defraud after a five-month trial at Southwark Crown Court.

They had denied the charges. – Jewish Chronicle

Former Labour Friends of Israel heads Israel-Britain Alliance

LONDON – A former vice-chairman of Labour Friends of Israel has been appointed to head the Israel-Britain Alliance, a new project designed to increase support for Israel in Parliament.

Launched last week by the Zionist Federation, the IBA will be led by former Labour MP for East Kilbride, Michael McCann, to build relationships between politicians and grassroots Israel supporters across the country. It will also seek to strengthen ties between the House of Commons and the Knesset. – Jewish Chronicle

Israel’s offer to Oscar nominees

LONDON – The Israeli government is offering Oscar nominees a trip to the Holy Land worth $55 000.

In every goodie bag this year, alongside an expensive e-cigarette, a fitness retreat and a year’s worth of unlimited Audi car rentals, Oscar nominees will find a voucher for a 10-day trip to Israel, including first-class flights for two and accommodation in a 5-star hotel.

This is the brainchild of Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who said that the initiative was intended to allow Hollywood’s opinion makers to “experience the country first hand and not through the media”.

He said: “These are the most senior people in the film industry in Hollywood and leading opinion-formers who we are interested in hosting. Their visit will have enormous resonance among millions of fans and followers, including social media.”

The initiative would cost the Israeli government around £1 million if all those offered the trip decide to take it up. – Jewish Chronicle