My name is Avi Yoresh.
I'm a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, which is based here in Washington,
D.C.
And I recently authored a book called, Thou Shalt Innovate, How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs
the World, which features 15 innovations that have gone global, 15 Israeli innovations that
have gone global and positively influenced the lives of billions of people around the
world.
What's the inspiration behind this innovative power of the Jewish minds?
I normally attribute it to a number of different items, but primarily we've had a prophetic
tradition over the course of 3,000 years.
Our prophets have been telling us for about 3,000 years, be a light onto the nations.
Everything in Jewish history and in Jewish culture, our prophets primarily have been telling
us to take the mundane and turn it holy.
For example, on Saturday nights, when we separate between the Sabbath and the rest of the week,
we make special blessings.
When we eat, we make special blessings.
When we go to the bathroom, we make special blessings.
Everything in our lives in Judaism revolves around taking something very ordinary and elevating
it.
Now Jews as a whole, we're not a nation of saints, but we do believe that the purpose
in life is to take something ordinary and elevate it.
And this is baked in to the cultural DNA of the state of Israel.
When Ben-Gurion declared the state of Israel 70 years ago, he did two things.
One, he encouraged all Jews to come back to the state of Israel and participate in this
modern day miracle.
And the other, he declared, he said, he baked in a messianic principle.
And he said, Israel has the responsibility and the privilege to tackle some of the world's
greatest challenges in the 20th century.
In the United States and other parts of the world, Jews have come to believe that this
concept is known as tikkun olam, or making the world a better place.
And in Israel, primarily, this idea of tikkun olam, this idea of making the world a better
place, has been manifested through technology.
If one person can walk, perhaps all of us can solve the idea of not having to be in a wheelchair.
If we can grow vegetables and one person can eat, perhaps we can solve world hunger.
And in Israel, this technology is helping improve the lives of billions of people when it comes
to science, when it comes to medicine, when it comes to applications, when it comes to
saving lives, when it comes to technology.
All of these ways in which Israeli technology innovation is leveraged around the world.
When it comes to water, when it comes to birds, when it comes to medicine, Israeli technology
is being used around the world to improve the lives of billions of people.
And I think your viewers, especially in Turkey, are going to be certainly aware of the fact
that in Turkey, we're experiencing in the last few years, massive, massive water crisis.
In large part because of drought, but also because of climate change.
And as we prognosticate and as we look forward over the course of the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years,
we're seeing massive water crises around the world.
But for your viewers in Turkey, Israel has completely solved its water crisis.
In 2013, it declared water independence from the water, from its neighbors, and from the
weather.
And it did this primarily through a few means.
One, it uses drip irrigation.
Drip irrigation is a small plastic tube which drips water.
It's used by farmers around the world.
Over a billion people around the world use this irrigation system.
It uses a third less water and it doubles the yield.
So that's one way.
Secondly, Israel recycles all of its water.
When you go to the bathroom and you flush the toilet, Israel removes the waste and then
recycles 90% of its water and then it uses it in the irrigation system.
The second country down uses about somewhere 12, 13, 14% and in the United States we only
recycle 8% of the water.
There's a big difference between 90% and 8%.
Or take, for example, desalination.
Israel has six desalination plants which are used by the population to drink water.
I mean, Israel has also created, has built the largest desalination plants in California,
in India, and China.
As a result of mastering this technology, Israel has a surplus of water, not a deficit of water.
And as you look over the course of the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years, as Turkey experiences a
massive water crisis, it should look to Israel to solve its water crisis.
This technology can be used around the world and people should benefit from that particular
knowledge and that technology.
So let me start by saying that Israel's hand is outstretched in peace and it's outstretched
in a desire to really help humankind through its technology.
Since the Middle Ages and possibly before, we have been reciting a prayer called the Elenu
prayer.
Three times a day, we're instructed to repair the world.
We believe we're partners with God in spreading morality and social justice.
In the Mishnah, our classic rabbinic code since the second century AD, we're told no less
than 10 times that we have to repair the world for the sake of those who are less advantage
than we are.
The prophet Isaiah calls on all of us to be a light onto the nations.
And as you look at this DNA, Israel is acting as a light onto the nations.
It is using its technology and improving the lives of billions of people.
Take for example, in recent years Israel created the two most used drugs around the world for
multiple sclerosis.
There are 2.5 million people around the world who experience multiple sclerosis and two of
the top drugs treat over a million people.
Almost 50% of these people are using drugs that are coming from Israel.
Or take for example, in Turkey, there are 1.2 million traffic accidents a year.
About 20%, about 200,000 people either die or are injured as a result of these particular
traffic accidents.
About 10 years ago, Israel created an unbelievable application.
First of all, they trained a massive number of emergency responders, EMT, to get to the scene
of a crisis as quickly as possible.
In order to get there, they have an application on their phone.
The five nearest people to the scene of an emergency get an alert to get there as quickly
as possible.
And to get there, they use a, not an ambulance, an ambulance generally in Israel and in the
United States, and I suspect around the world, it takes about 20 minutes to get to the scene
of an emergency.
But there are, in Israel, the average is three minutes, not for an ambulance, but for an
emergency responder to get there.
It's three minutes.
And in cities, major cities, it's 90 seconds.
The number of lives that are saved is a very, very short amount of time.
This is not meant to replace ambulances, but to get there, they use a half ambulance,
half motorcycle.
So you have emergency responders everywhere in Israel.
They use an application on their phone in order to get alerted.
And to get there, they use a half ambulance, half motorcycle called an ambu-cycle to get
there extraordinarily quickly.
Millions of people every single year, their lives are saved as a result of this particular
technology.
If I were to experience a heart attack right here, right now, generally, it depends on the
level of heart attack, but you really, in order to effectively treat someone, you have
about six minutes.
So if an ambulance takes 20 minutes to get there, you're losing a massive number of life
can be saved if you can get there in three minutes or less.
And this is technology that is usable all over the world.
In fact, 20 countries around the world are now using this particular technology in order
to save life.
Or take, for example, in Turkey.
There's a massive infrastructure project that's taking place, primarily in the form of an airport
on the European side of Istanbul, the European side of the continent.
Unfortunately, it's blocking, or it will block when it's fully completed.
It blocks birds that are migrating from Europe to Africa.
Israel has about a billion birds that fly through its aerospace every single year.
And as a result of one scientist who flew at the birds and mapped out their migration patterns,
Israel doesn't have a problem when it comes to birds hitting planes.
Unfortunately, if Turkey is not careful, it will find, when it builds this airport,
with planes that are taking off or landing, it will find birds hitting it.
In fact, in the United States, one bird every single day hits an airplane.
And that's, in large part, why we see not a small number of airplane accidents,
including in 2009 when an airplane was forced to land on the Hudson River
through a very famous movie that came out because of a bird hitting a plane.
Israel solved this problem.
It has the ability to help other countries around the world
to leverage its technology and its know-how.
You cannot divert birds. Birds are not able to, you can't instruct a bird, move here or go there.
We have to deal with the birds, not the birds deal with us.
And so Israel has put in place loud speakers, dogs that bark, scarecrows,
but primarily it's through understanding the patterns of birds,
when they fly, when they do not, where they fly, and where they do not.
But you have to fly with the birds.
You have to understand their migration patterns in order to ensure
that when there's high numbers of birds that are going in, that you avoid them.
And that you have zones where planes do not fly, take off, or land as they go in or go up.
Israel's hand is outstretched in peace.
The State of Israel is here to take its technology and help Muslims around the world.
Israeli technology is used in places like Turkey, like the Arabian Gulf.
It's used throughout the world.
Part of the cultural DNA of the State of Israel is to help solve some of the gravest challenges.
And the State of Israel is there to help anyone which wishes to use its tech and improve their lives.
Farmers around the world are leveraging this technology.
Muslims are using this technology.
Christians are using this technology.
Israel has its hand outstretched in peace.
Thank you.
And I hope that you will buy, it's all featured in my book, Thou Shalt Innovate, How Israel, How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World.
All of these examples are featured there.
In fact, I feature 15 stories and 50 more.
It's called, Thou Shalt Innovate, How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World.
In this particular book you'll find 15 examples of how Israeli technology is used globally around the world
to influence the lives of 15 billion people.
And I feature another 15 in the back of the book.
But all of these stories in the book are being used by billions of people to make the world a better place.
Kristoff
Thank you so much.
So, yes, in these stories up here
the theme of this book was 이것