Profiles in courage: Aharon Karov

Originally posted in Pro Israel bay bloggers

In 2009, Aharon Karov, a 22 year old soldier in the Israeli Paratrooper Brigade 890  reported for duty during operation Cast Lead,   just 12 hours after his wedding to Tzivia

During the fighting in Gaza, Aharon and his squad entered a house in Gaza that had been booby trapped.   The explosion blew off the left side of his face. His body was shattered by over 500 pieces of shrapnel.

Critically wounded, he was evacuated by helicopter and flown to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tivkah. Over the course of the next day,  he had 6 operations.  All of Israel watched and prayed as Aharon fought for his life

His survival is a testament to the skill and commitment of his doctors, and to his own resilience and spirit.

Photo from YNET

Aharon has done more than merely survive. He has thrived.

Tomorrow Aharon Karov will be running in the 2013  New York City Marathon.

Am Yisroel Chai

Druze Officer Now Commands Israel's Famed Golani Brigade

 From the J post

The IDF has appointed a Druse officer for the first time as commander of the Golani Brigade.

Col. Rasan Alian will take up command of the infantry brigade, as part of a series of appointments made by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.

 

Alian’s military career blossomed in the Golani Brigade, where he was commander of Battalion 51, then the Reconnaissance Battalion, and eventually, deputy commander of the brigade.

He also served in the Kfir Brigade as commander of the Duhifat Battalion. His most recent role was commander of the 36th Division on the Golan Heights.

Other appointments include Col. Ori Gordin as commander of the Nahal infantry brigade, and Col. Y as commander of the Israel Air Force’s Active Defense Division. The appointments require approval from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

From the Israel Defense Website:

Col. Rasan Alian will be appointed to command the brigade instead of Col. Yaniv Ashur, and will mark the first time a member of the Druze community has commanded the brigade.

Col. Alian served until recently as the commander of the Menashe Brigade responsible for the Jenin region, and successfully maintained the relative peace in the area. He rose from within the ranks of the Golani Brigade, and served in the past as the commander of its reconnaissance battalion and as the brigade's deputy commander. According to senior officials in the IDF, "Col. Alian was not appointed due to the fact that he is from the Druze community, but be cause of his capabilities and significant experience in the field as a fighter."

  Faces of Israel: Diversity. Democracy. Innovation.

Dr. Hossam Haick: Making miracles happen

Dr. Hossam Haick is a remarkable young man by any standard.

From the Technion website:

Prof. Haick has received several awards for his research, including a Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier dans l'Ordres des Palmes Académiques), the list of the world’s 35 leading young scientists for 2008 of the prestigious scientific journal MIT’s Technology Review, the Horev Chair for Leaders in Science and Technology, the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" Prize in Chemical Engineering, the Discovery Program Award of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the OXYGEN Prize, the Norman and Barbara Seiden Prize, the Israel-France Award for Academic Excellence, the Herschel Rich Innovation Award (2008, 2011), the Minerva Short-Term Research Award, the Bergmann Award for Excellent Young Scientists, the CREATE Award, the Al-Qendil Prize, and the YMCA and Rotary Honorary Decorations.  In addition, Prof. Haick was selected for the lists of “Ten Most Promising Young Israeli Scientists” of Calcalist (2010), “Young Israelis of the Year” of the Jerusalem Post” (2010), “50 Leading Israelis for 2007” and “four saluted Israeli scientists” (2007) of Yedioth Aharonot.  Other honors and awards include the Fulbright fellowship, ‘Israel Ministry of Science and Technology' awards, Prof. Avrahami prize, and CNR-IMIP prize.
 
Prof. Hossam Haick has invented a device with the capacity to identify chemical signals in the breath of cancer patients, making early diagnosis of certain cancers more likely.  This  Nanoscale Artifical Nose (NA-NOSE) contains  five gold nanoparticle sensors linked to software capable of detecting patterns of molecules found in people with cancer. Dr. Haick's  brilliant and innovative work has the potential to save thousands of lives each year, through the early detection of cancer.

Incidentally, Dr. Hossam Haick is an Israeli Arab.

Faces of Israel. Diversity. Democracy. Innovation.

Pvt. Or Meidan. A Light to Us All

From the IDF blog

.... Pvt. Or Meidan, stands out amongst the new recruits. In 2011, Pvt. Meidan immigrated to Israel from Uganda with her family. “We were living at a kibbutz, Yad Mordechi, during operation Pillar of Defense,” she recalls of her first days in the country. “Rockets were flying near us every day from the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip.”

Upon arriving in Israel, Pvt. Meidan planned to finish her university studies, but her experience during the operation inspired her to take a different path. Pvt. Meidan decided to follow in the footsteps of her stepfather, a native-born Israeli, and join the IDF. “My grandfather helped me see that as an Israeli citizen, I also had a duty to serve my country,” she explained proudly.

At first, joining the army was an overwhelming decision for Pvt. Meidan. “I first went to Mikve Alon and took a Hebrew course,” she says, referring to her participation in a basic-training track for new immigrants. After improving her Hebrew, she drafted into the Air Defense Command, where she joined a group of soldiers tasked with operating the Iron Dome system. She realized that the role would allow her to protect Israeli civilians from the same rocket fire that threatened her family and friends during the operation.

“Growing up in Uganda wasn’t particularly difficult. I was very focused on my schoolwork and enjoyed learning about new things.” Pvt. Meidan explains.  “I never thought I would be so challenged and fulfilled, and I am looking forward my daily life and accomplishments in the IDF,” she adds. Her goal is to become a commander for the Iron Dome battery, and train others in the importance of being able to save lives and protect Israeli citizens.

Pvt. Meidan is not Jewish, but she intends participate in Nativ, a special track for IDF soldiers interested in converting to Judaism. “I am an Israeli citizen and I am very proud of the job I am doing in the IDF, but somehow converting to Judaism just feels right,” she says.

                                Faces Of Israel. Diversity. Democracy. Innovation

From Israel HaYom 'Bedouin or Jewish, I am proud to serve my country'

From Israel Hayom

"Mostly, I want the Bedouin/Arab sector to understand and internalize that military service will only do our society good. Social distancing and separation will lead us nowhere," says Master Sgt. Marzuk Suaed, a Bedouin father of three.

Chief Sergeant First Class Marzuk Suaed: "I really am very proud in what I am doing" | Photo credit: Hagai Aharon

Master Sgt. Marzuk Suaed, 37, a Bedouin father of three residing in northern Israel, sees his job as a recruiter of Bedouin, Arab, Christian and Muslim youths to the Israel Defense Forces as a personal and Zionist mission.

"I really am very proud in what I am doing," says Suaed, who hails from a large family in which everyone enlisted into the IDF, many of them serving in combat units.

"I am a citizen of the state, it doesn't matter whether Bedouin or Jewish, and am proud to lend my country a hand. Yes, this is my country, and I want to serve it; and, on the way, mostly, I want the Bedouin/Arab sector to understand and internalize that service in the army will only do our society good. Social distancing and separation will lead us nowhere," he says.

Suaed enlisted into the IDF in 1995 and was assigned to be a Gadna program instructor for Bedouin youth. The army's Gadna program allows Israeli high school students to spend a week experiencing military life before their compulsory service. He said his only goal at that time was to encourage them to enlist.

In 1998, upon completion of his compulsory service, Suaed transferred to the air force in an administrative capacity. In 2002, while still in the air force, he discovered that the enlistment numbers for the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion were very low.

"I added the numbers up and I immediately came to the conclusion that the battalion was the most important thing for me. That's how I decided to try and help it and promote enlistment to the battalion," he says.

Saued goes from door to door in the Bedouin and Arab villages in northern Israel, while also working to increase enlistment in the south of the country. He tells the youngsters he meets of the importance of enlisting and contributing to the country's security. Initially, Suaed's goal was to get all of the enlistment-age men in his extensive family to join the army.

"At one time there was zero awareness in the Bedouin community about enlisting, and if they did actually enlist, they would go become trackers," he says. "Today the Bedouins serve in a considerable number of combat units. I am proud to see them in senior positions. From my perspective, I see this as a personal, social and national success."

Faces of Israel: Dr. Aziz Darawsha

Dr.Aziz Darawsha has been appointed as the new head of the Hadassah Hospital Emergency Medicine Department in Israel. He will be replacing Dr. Yaacov Assaf, who is retiring after 18 years of service. Dr. Darawsha was born in an Arab village near Nazareth and is the oldest of eleven children. His father was a farmer who had completed four years of elementary school. His mother never learned to read or write. Three of his siblings are also doctors.

Dr. Darawsha has a masters degree from Ben -Gurion University of the Negev in health management systems. He studied medicine at the University of Sofia in Bulgaria, and specializes in cardiology, internal medicine and emergency medicine. Since 2010, Dr. Darawsha has been the chairman of the Israel Society for Urgent Medicine and has been an honorary member of the American College of Emergency Physicians since 2011. He has published more than 20 articles on emergency medicine in leading international medical journals

Previously, Dr. Darawsha has served as Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Emek Medical Center in Afula in Northern Israel.

Dr. Darawsha has four sons. One is a graduate of Hadassah’s medical school and is currently doing a fellowship in neurosurgery.

                  Faces Of Israel: Diversity. Democracy. Innovation.

Faces of Israel: Meet our new Miss Israel, Yityish Aynaw

Yityish (Titi) Aynaw is Miss Israel 2013 and will represent Israel at the November Miss Universe Pageant. Israel is very proud of this poised young woman who has overcome tremendous adversity.

Aynaw was born in Chahawit, a small village in northern Ethiopia, near the city of Gondar. Orphaned at age 12, she arrived in Israel with her brother to live with their Ethiopian Jewish grandparents. Like the estimated 125,000 Ethiopian Jews who have come to Israel, Aynaw struggled to assimilate into her new environment.

As Titi stated during an interview with the BBC, "I was raised by my grandmother. Nothing was handed to me on a plate. I had to work very hard and long to achieve things in my life. I felt a responsibility to prove myself in everything I did and to improve myself as well."

She became student council president, excelled in track and field, and won first place in a national student film competition. After graduation, she joined the army, and became responsible for training 90 soldiers, teaching them how to fire a weapon, perform security checks, and to detect bombs.

In less than a decade, Yityish Aynaw went from a orphan in Ethiopia to having dinner with the president of the United States. She is a true Israeli success story.
                                  

Faces Of Israel. Diversity. Democracy. Innovation.                          

Faces of Israel: Mais Ali-Saleh is the Valedictorian of Israel's Technion

 Mais Ali-Saleh, an Israeli Arab has graduated first in her class at Israel's renowned Technion. Why yes, the apartheid state is full of surprises.   

From the Huffington Post:

Guess who graduated first in this year's medical school class at the Technion, Israel's version of M.I.T.? The answer will surprise you. It's a 27-year-old stereotype-buster: a charming, feminist, smart, open-minded and observant Islamic woman named Mais Ali-Saleh who grew up in a small village outside of Nazareth, in Israel's Galilee.

Ali-Selah's academic excellence not only marks her own personal achievement but also proves that contrary to propaganda spouted by proponents of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement -- whose latest convert is Stephen Hawking -- an academic boycott of Israel is the wrong approach to solving the Israel-Arab conflict. Moreover, it ultimately hurts the very people it claims to help. Ali-Selah put it best when she said, "An academic boycott of Israel is a passive move, and it doesn't achieve any of its purported objectives." On trips to Europe, Ali-Selah said that people she met were surprised to learn that Israeli Arabs studied engineering and medicine in Israel, and that they lived among Jews. This lack of awareness helps the BDS Movement win misguided supporters. Boycotters like Roger Waters repeat a falsehood -- that Israel is an apartheid state -- and deny a fundamental truth: Arabs, in particular Arab women, have more freedom, liberties and academic opportunities in Israel than in any Arab country. Yes, they do.

 Rather than an academic boycott -- which targets researchers who want to disseminate knowledge rather than restrict it -- Ali-Selah suggests a more active stance: encouraging academic life within the Palestinian Authority and strengthening academic ties with Palestinian universities, planning joint research projects with Palestinian scientists, and admitting more Palestinian scholars to European and American universities for academic programs.

 Ali-Selah said that because she did medical research, the boycott did not negatively impact her work, but sooner or later, she said that it will impinge upon academic researchers she knows, both Jews and Arabs. That's why Stephen Hawking and others interested in advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East should focus their energies on supporting more of Israel's success stories like Mais Ali-Selah's, and pressuring Arab countries to emulate Israel's academic freedoms and democracy.

Is Mais exceptional? Absolutely,  but not in "that way".  Last year’s Valedictorian was Arza Haddad, a Christian woman whose Lebanese family found refuge in Israel.  Arza’s degree was in aeronautical engineering, working with a team developing ramjets.
                       Faces of Israel:  Diversity. Democracy.  Innovation.

Faces of Israel: Bedouin officers in the IDF

From the Israel Defense Forces (IDF ) Blog:

Meet the Bedouin Soldier Who Enlisted in the IDF Against His Father’s Wishes

When Ibrahim graduated high school with honors, his father urged him to forgo on the army draft and direct his potential towards academic studies. When he enlisted regardless, his father banished him from the house. Now, upon completion of his officer’s course, Ibrahim describes the pride he holds for his country, the obligation he felt to enlist in the IDF, and the friends he met on his way to completing his dream of serving in the IDF.

In Ibrahim's home village of Bu'eine Nujeidat in northern Israel, military enlistment is routine. Most of the youth are recruited for full army service at age 18, with IDF officers often coming to speak with high school students in the village about contributing to the army in a significant way. Military uniforms hanging to dry on clothes lines outside apartment patios is not an unusual sight for the village’s residents. Israeli law, however, does not require them to enlist.

Ibrahim was impacted by the presence of IDF soldiers coming to his school every year, and their discussions about the purpose of the army and the importance of enlisting.

So, he decided to join. “When I graduated from high school in 2006, I was all set to join the army,” Ibrahim said, indicating that his recruitment date was set for the summer of 2006 -  the same summer during which northern Israel was under heavy rocket attack. Those attacks eventually lead to the Second Lebanon War.

His father, however, constantly delayed his enlistment. "My father did not want me to join the army," Ibrahim said. "I had excellent grades. He wanted me to go learn and find a profession. He said having an education was preferable to being in the military. He had no idea what people do in the army, thinking the army is only about war and that’s all.”

 

 Ibrahim joined the IDF against his family's wishes, and they cut off contact with him. But before long, his drive and commitment to his country won them over:

 Following weeks of no contact with his family, Ibrahim returned to the place where he grew up and sat down with his father. Ibrahim discussed the long and difficult conversation he had with his father: "He asked, 'Why did you do that to me? What was missing in your life? Why did you leave school six months before graduating?'" Ibrahim recalled. “I told him I was an adult and that I stand by my decision. I am an independent person and I want to determine my own future. Eventually, he accepted it."

After talking with his father and reconciling with his family, Ibrahim  returned to base with renewed determination. "After three months I joined the commander’s course. He [my father] was happy about that,” Ibrahim said with pride. “He came to my ceremony.”

Eight months later, Ibrahim successfully completed his officer’s course. Ibrahim's family attended the graduation ceremony, which was held last month.

As for his future plans, Ibrahim insists that, for now, his life is in the army. "I’d like to stay until I become company commander. I want to contribute to this country. I am a part of this country. Everyone serves in the IDF, and there is no reason that I would not do the same.”

                    Faces of Israel.  Diversity. Democracy. Innovation