Author: AUFTAU

TAU researcher launches urgent push to beat corona

Written by AUFTAU on 18 March 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

What’s more important? Privacy vs. public health

Written by AUFTAU on 18 March 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

On Saturday, March 14, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the government intends to use various digital tools, the kind that have so far been used in the fight against terrorism, for the purpose of monitoring the coronavirus. His remarks remained vague and were not accompanied by detailed explanations, which raised many questions for citizens.

On the one hand, radical measures are being taken around the world to try to eradicate the coronavirus, including increased surveillance and tracking measures, in accordance with WHO recommendations. Apps and features that were previously controversial are being hailed as lifesaving. On the other hand, do public health considerations override an individual’s right to privacy? Is there a precedent for the state to surveil citizens who are not suspected of any crime? What will be done with this private information? Who will have access to it? We asked experts to shed some light on this.

Can your phone serve as your handcuffs?

On Saturday, Israel’s Prime Minister announced that among other measures being considered, there will be use of “digital tools, as done in Taiwan.” Prof. Itzhak Ben-Israel, head of the Security Studies Program at the School of Political Science, Government & Political Affairs and also of the Yuval Ne’eman workshop for Science, Technology & Security and Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center said, “There are many options for this kind of surveillance. The simplest of them is to use the cellphone location function to make sure that the people who are quarantined at home aren’t leaving the house. Another option is to use the same location function to follow the path of someone who might be carrying the virus to see where they’ve been. This is a more intrusive option in terms of privacy. There are of course even more intrusive options, ‘Big Brother’ style. For example, it’s possible to track the ‘suspect’ who might be infected with the disease via the contents of their e-mail or social media, to find people the ‘suspect’ has been in touch with in recent days. In Taiwan, meanwhile, they’ve used the most minimal of the options I’ve mentioned: the use of the location function (as a kind of electronic handcuff).”

The concern: an irreparable violation of individual rights

“Israel’s Prime Minister didn’t elaborate on what measures would be taken, who would be affected by conducting the surveillance, and what legal framework would be used,” says Prof. Michael Birnhack, Deputy Dean of Research at the Buchmann Faculty of Law and also a researcher at the Balavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Researcher Center. “The state now has a number of legal tools to monitor people in various contexts, but there is no context that fits well with a general health emergency, such as the one we are in right now.

“Indeed, the emergency is severe, and Israel and many other countries have no prior experience in dealing with this kind of epidemic, but the right to privacy, like all human rights, is particularly important and is tested in times of crisis and emergency. A populist approach presents the situation as a dichotomy in which we must choose between public health and privacy. This is a false and misleading dichotomy. The democratic approach seeks to balance and, where possible, achieve both goals at once.

“The concern is that curtailing of rights will be difficult to fix, and emergency arrangements will remain with us long after the coronavirus disappears. To prevent such harm, the health system needs to be precisely defined. According to its needs, different tools available to the state can be examined, in order to find the course of action that last violates privacy (‘proportionality’ in legal terms).

“I can characterize some of these needs: First, the patients. They need the best care, and we all have an interest in reducing further infection. The patients’ privacy is compromised by the hospitalization. No additional follow-up measures are needed for them.

“Second, those isolated at home – the interest here is to make sure they maintain isolation lest they infect others. But here, the social solidarity, backed by the law that determines the isolation breach as a criminal offense, the ability to report someone, and the enforcement of the Ministry of Health backed by the police – are sufficient. Geolocation of people who are isolated won’t be effective. A person who wants to violate isolation will simply leave the mobile phone at home.

“Third, reconstructing the ‘path of infection’ for those who are ill. As part of the epidemiological investigation, not all patients remember where they were every hour from the 14 days prior to identifying their disease. Cellular data can help. But here, you don’t need the law. It’s enough to ask for their consent and, in my estimation, everyone will agree to give up their location data, to minimize the harm they’ve caused unintentionally.

“And fourth, locating those who have been exposed to a verified patient. Here, you need to be informed. Now, the Ministry of Health is publicizing the patients’ ‘path of infection’, but presumably the information does not reach everyone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Cellphone surveillance can locate them. This is where the idea of ’privacy by design’ comes into the picture. One way is that cellular companies transmit information to the state. This is a bad, disproportionate way. The goal is not to collect location information, but to inform citizens. So, the flow of information has to be reversed, so that the state asks cellular companies to contact those who were in a certain place at a certain time. The details are important, of course, and should be formulated in an integrated engineering-organizational-legal process,” concludes Prof. Birnhack.

In conclusion, responsibility seems to ultimately fall on everyone in society. It’s our responsibility to demonstrate social solidarity, to obey the instructions of official health agencies so as not to infect others, and help as much as possible those in our community who are afraid or are at higher risk. It’s also our responsibility to ask questions and not take for granted fundamental rights. It seems that balancing these two approaches will allow us to successfully overcome this crisis.

New sleep method strengthens brain’s ability to retain memories

Written by AUFTAU on 12 March 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

A new joint study by Tel Aviv University and Weizmann Institute of Science researchers has yielded an innovative method for bolstering memory processes in the brain during sleep.

The method relies on a memory-evoking scent administered to one nostril. It helps researchers understand how sleep aids memory, and in the future could possibly help to restore memory capabilities following brain injuries, or help treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for whom memory often serves as a trigger.

The new study was led by Ella Bar, a PhD student at TAU and the Weizmann Institute of Science. Other principal investigators include Prof. Yuval Nir of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience, as well as Profs. Yadin Dudai, Noam Sobel and Rony Paz, all of Weizmann’s Department of Neurobiology.

Turning dreams into memories

“We know that a memory consolidation process takes place in the brain during sleep,” Bar explains. “For long-term memory storage, information gradually transitions from the hippocampus — a brain region that serves as a temporary buffer for new memories — to the neocortex. But how this transition happens remains an unsolved mystery.”

“By triggering consolidation processes in only one side of the brain during sleep, we were able to compare the activity between the hemispheres and isolate the specific activity that corresponds to memory reactivation,” Prof. Nir adds. Bar says, “Beyond promoting basic scientific understanding, we hope that in the future this method may also have clinical applications. For instance, post-traumatic patients show higher activity in the right hemisphere when recalling a trauma, possibly related to its emotional content.

“The technique we developed could potentially influence this aspect of the memory during sleep and decrease the emotional stress that accompanies recall of the traumatic memory. Additionally, this method could be further developed to assist in rehabilitation therapy after one-sided brain damage due to stroke.”

The connection between scent and sleep

The researchers began from the knowledge that memories associated with locations on the left side of a person are mostly stored in the right brain hemisphere and vice versa. While exposed to the scent of a rose, research participants were asked to remember the location of words presented on either the left or right side of a computer screen. Participants were then tested on their memory of the word locations, then proceeded to nap at the lab. As the participants were napping, the scent of roses was administered again, but this time to only one nostril.

With this “one-sided” odor delivery, the researchers were able to reactivate and boost specific memories that were stored in a specific brain hemisphere. The team also recorded electrical brain activity during sleep with EEG. The results showed that the “one-sided” rose scent delivery led to different sleep waves in the two hemispheres. The hemisphere that received the scent revealed better electrical signatures of memory consolidation during sleep. Finally, in the most crucial test of all, subjects were asked after waking up to undergo a second memory test about the words they had been exposed to before falling asleep.

“The memory of the subjects was significantly better for words presented on the side affected by smell than the memory for words presented on the other side,” Bar says.

“Our findings emphasize that the memory consolidation process can be amplified by external cues such as scents,” she concludes. “By using the special organization of the olfactory pathways, memories can be manipulated in a local manner on one side of the brain. Our finding demonstrates that memory consolidation likely involves a nocturnal ‘dialogue’ between the hippocampus and specific regions in the cerebral cortex.”

Meet the women behind the next groundbreaking scientific discovery

Written by AUFTAU on 9 March 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

This year, for International Women’s Day, we’d like to introduce you to some of the amazing women working on the next groundbreaking scientific discovery across the TAU campus.

Fixing the environment

Judy Lax is a doctoral student from the Department of Environmental Studies, who spends her time trying to solve the climate crisis in creative ways.

“For me, the climate crisis is the most important and urgent issue there is,” Lax says. “Every moment of my day I deal with the issue in two ways. First, through my research, led by Prof. Colin Price and Prof. Hadas Saaroni, we examine how the humidity in the air can be utilized to generate and store renewable energy in relatively high humidity areas, based on our knowledge of atmospheric electrical phenomena.

“At the same time, through a special project led by former United States Vice President Al Gore (known for his commitment to environmental issues), I give lectures for the general public, which is my way of passing on knowledge and ecological conviction. The combination of passing on knowledge, together with continuing research and trying to develop crisis solutions, is my way of working for the benefit of my daughters and all of our children, so that they have a cleaner and safer world.”

Bats are our future

What brings an experienced veterinarian like Dr. Maya Weinberg to go back to school and study bats?

“I ended up with the bats accidentally and stayed because they’re unlike anything else I knew before. So much about them is still unknown, and they have some extraordinary qualities,” says Dr. Weinberg, a doctoral student at the School of Zoology, part of Dr. Yossi Yovel’s research group. “It seems like everything about this animal is interesting and unusual: the social aspect, the immune system, their fertility, their healing. My PhD combines my love of bats as a clinician and as a researcher. I study the bats’ immune system in relation to non-harmful bacteria (microbium) and also bacterial disease.

“This is because I find bats to be a very healthy animal, and if there is a dominant disease in them, it comes from bacteria (and not from viruses, which people are used to blaming). I have a good adviser who gives me a lot of guidance when necessary but also a lot of freedom. I’m also a mother of three girls, which shows you can do both. When I grow up, so to speak, I want to be at the center of things, researching and being creative. Which is exactly what I’m doing now. My message is clear: always follow what interests you.”

Engineering with beetles

Dr. Bat-El Pinchasik, of the School of Mechanical Engineering, was fascinated by the creative ways beetles and lizards utilize the water around them, and today she develops biomimetic systems that mimic desert animals’ solutions to water scarcity.

“Insects and lizards that live in areas where water is inaccessible need to collect it from other sources. For example, from the air and morning fogs,” explains Dr. Pinchasik. “At times when temperatures are lower, when there’s higher wind and humidity in the air, the air condenses on their bodies. Evolution has made them ‘smart surfaces’ that spontaneously transport the water that has collected directly into their mouths.”

For example, the Texas horned lizard has three-dimensional trenches on its back that serve as its “pipeline”. With the Namib Beatle beetle, most of the body is hydrophobic (water repellent), but it’s sprinkled with hydrophilic micrometric protrusions, which concentrate the droplets in defined places, and roll them directly into the beetle’s mouth. “Our ambition is to define the laws that make such systems effective, to develop smart materials similar to beetles, and to use advanced 3D-printing technologies to build systems that can change lives in areas where water is inaccessible.”

Over the past week, we’ve shared the stories of these women of science on our LinkedIn page, which you can follow for more interesting stories in the future. For now, we wish you a happy, productive and educational International Women’s Day.

Can blood pressure in your twenties cause cognitive decline in your fifties?

Written by AUFTAU on 6 March 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects everything from your arteries to your kidneys, from eyesight to sexual function. Among older adults, high blood pressure is also associated with cognitive decline as a result of interrupted blood flow to the brain, as well as strokes, heart attacks and impaired mobility.

A new Northwestern University–Tel Aviv University study has revealed that subjects who experienced relatively high blood pressure during young adulthood also experienced significant declines in cognitive function and gait in midlife (approximately 56 years old). The study cohort included about 200 young adults with an average age of 24 at the beginning of the study.

The research was led by Prof. Farzaneh A. Sorond and Dr. Simin Mahinrad of Northwestern University’s Department of Neurology and Prof. Jeffrey Hausdorff of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and Tel Aviv Medical Center’s Center for the Study of Movement, Cognition, and Mobility at the Neurological Institute. The study was published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation on November 21, 2019.

Thirty years of data

“We find that the deleterious effects of elevated blood pressure on brain structure and function begin in early adulthood. This demonstrates the need for preventive measures of high blood pressure even at this early age,” explains Prof. Hausdorff. “We know that poor gait and cognitive function among older adults are associated with and predict multiple adverse health outcomes like cognitive decline, dementia, falls and death. Our study shows that the time to treat high blood pressure and to minimize future changes in gait and cognition is much earlier — decades earlier — than previously thought.”

In addition, the study suggests that gait impairment may be an earlier hallmark of hypertensive brain injury than cognitive deficits.

For the study, the researchers assessed the blood pressure, gait and cognition of 191 participants from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, a community-based cohort of young individuals followed over 30 years. In the last year of follow-up, gait was assessed using an instrumented gait mat; cognitive function was evaluated using neuropsychological tests; and the level of white matter intensity in the brain, a symptom of cardiovascular disease, was measured using MRIs. The impact of cumulative levels of high blood pressure was found to be independent of other vascular risk factors over the same 30-year period.

High pressure leads to smaller steps

“Higher cumulative blood pressure was associated with slower walking speed, smaller step length and higher gait variability,” Prof. Hausdorff says. “Higher cumulative blood pressure was also associated with lower cognitive performance in the executive, memory and global domains.”

“Our takeaway is this: Even in young adults, blood pressure has significant implications, even at levels below the ‘hypertension’ threshold, and is important to assess and modify for future cognitive function and mobility,” Prof. Hausdorff concludes.

The power of women in 2020

Written by AUFTAU on 3 March 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

International Women’s Day, originally called International Workers’ Day, is marked annually on March 8th. It’s a political statement that calls for the world to pause for a moment and focus on the economic, social and political achievements of women, while drawing attention to the discrimination that still exists against women around the world.

International Women’s Day has been celebrated around the world since the early 20th century. Although we’ve progressed since then, gender inequality still affects most women. Women make up half the world’s population, but hold less than 23% of parliamentary positions worldwide, earning about 30% less on average than men doing the same jobs.

“Discrimination against women in the workforce harms women, their families, businesses, and the economy as a whole,” says Prof. Daphna Hacker, from the Buchmann Faculty of Law and the NCJW Women and Gender Studies program at the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities at Tel Aviv University.

“Women face discrimination when seeking employment because of the maternal role they play, they aren’t rewarded fairly for the work they do, and they’re affected by the glass ceiling, which prevents them from advancing to management positions. They are hurt because they do not enjoy the best workforce and diversity that women bring with them to the workplace; and the entire economy shuffles around when women are not allowed to exercise in all kinds of professions and occupations.”

Each for Equal

Each year, a theme is selected for International Women’s Day Campaign, and this year the focus stems from the notion of “collective individualism”: our actions, conversations, personal behaviors can affect all of society. Together, we can make change happen.

The campaign says: “Let’s build a gender equal world. Equality is not an issue exclusively for women, it’s a business issue for everyone. Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive. A gender equal world can be healthier, wealthier and more harmonious – so what’s not great about that? The race is on for the gender equal boardroom, a gender equal government, gender equal media coverage, gender equal workplaces, gender equal sports coverage, more gender equality in health and wealth … so let’s make it happen. Let’s be #EachforEqual.”

Building a female professional network

In the world of work, one of the most important strategies for career management in general and job searches in particular is effective networking, which can, among other things, bring about a coveted job, higher pay or quick promotion. Such activity involves developing relationships with others who have the potential to provide work or career advice. For example, joining professional associations, searching for high-visibility assignments, participating in social activities and more. When the data shows that even in 2020, women earn less and there are fewer of them in management positions, some women think that women can use these social tools to fight for their place in a very competitive market.

“Networking is considered especially critical for women because it is a strategy they can use to break the glass ceiling,” explains Meirav Hauben, a personal career consultant at Tel Aviv University’s Career Development Center. “Being able to build relationships with others can help women expand their reach to senior positions in the organization. But various studies show that men and women do not work the same way in establishing and maintaining relationships, and this difference gives men a significant advantage.”

“We see today that women’s participation in the workforce is approaching that of men, but familial obligations are still primarily a woman’s responsibility, and a lot depends on her ability to combine work and family roles. Often, women may experience conflict between these roles. For example, if I want to have lunch with senior managers at the office, but still have the responsibility to leave early and pick up my child from kindergarten – I will not be able to take part in this important networking activity. “

“Women should be encouraged to look at and examine their location on the social networks they build, the value they bring to the network, and how they tend to use it to achieve their professional goals. When seeking work, every woman should proactively create and maintain relationships in a way that serves those professional goals. “It is important that organizations continue to encourage equal opportunities, recruit and promote women to senior positions, where women can be role models and create a network for other women.”

In recent years, we’ve been seeing the beginnings of a welcome trend where employers are encouraging both men and women to give importance to family life and the work-life balance, something that improves job satisfaction and employee productivity. In the Netherlands, for example, the work week is only 29 hours, compared to 40.6 hours in Israel. Denmark and Norway are also on the list of countries with the lowest weekly working hours in the world. Recently, high-tech companies in Israel have begun to allow workers to work from home a few days a week, but we’re still a long way away from finding a good balance between raising children and investing in a career.

^{Can’t do without it – mingling is important for networking and professional success}

Studying and articulating gender

Virginia Wolf said: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Prof. Hannah Naveh and Prof. Hannah Herzog of Tel Aviv University thought that a woman needed her own publication as well, and established “Genders” – a series of research and philosophy books in all areas of women’s and gender studies and feminist theory, which they’ve been editing for twenty years.

The character of the mother of the soldier in new Hebrew literature, the preoccupation with dance in childhood and adolescence for girls in Israel, the 19th century female initiation novel and dozens of other subjects around gender and femininity make for a fascinating title list, where any woman can find something of interest. Over thirty books have been published in the series since the year 2000, including breakthrough books and even bestsellers, most of which have become major texts and have shaped critical thinking at Israeli universities. Researchers from Israel presented original and innovative research in “Genders”, among them: Daphna Hacker, Sharon Geva, Roni Halpern, Tova Cohen, Orit Kamir, Michael Gluzman, Nissim Gal and more. You can find all the books on the United Kibbutz Publishing site.

Living online

At Tel Aviv University, women researchers are soaring and paving the way for science and discovery. Want to know more talented female scholars and read about their work? All week, the University’s social networks will put women front and center, in the stories at the telavivuni instagram account, the tau2go Facebook account, and in English on the TAU LinkdIn account, using the #tau_wmn hashtag.

New Dual Degree Program – TAU & Columbia University

Written by AUFTAU on 29 February 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

Cutting-Edge Education Meets Non-Stop Discovery

Tel Aviv University is proud to announce its newly launched new Dual Degree Program with Columbia University.

As part of the Dual Degree Program, students will begin their college education in one of six academic programs at Tel Aviv University, and have the opportunity to immerse themselves in two elite research universities whose academic, social, and cultural environments allow students to take advantage of the best that both cities have to offer.

The Program, which will welcome its inaugural class in the fall of 2020, transcends traditional study abroad opportunities by providing the opportunity to pursue a rigorous undergraduate liberal arts education spanning two continents. Upon completion of the four-year program, graduates earn two bachelor’s degrees, one from each institution.

The program joins the Columbia University School of General Studies’ current portfolio of highly regarded international undergraduate dual and joint degree programs with Sciences Po, Trinity College Dublin, City University of Hong Kong, and List College of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Created in 1954, the joint program with JTS was the first program of its kind to be established at the School of General Studies.

For any information such as admissions, costs & curriculum please visit the joint dual degree website.

TAU researchers discover unique, non-oxygen breathing animal

Written by AUFTAU on 27 February 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered a non-oxygen breathing animal. The unexpected finding changes one of science’s core assumptions about the animal world.A study on the finding was published on February 25 in PNAS by TAU researchers led by Prof. Dorothee Huchon of the School of Zoology at TAU’s George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Steinhardt Museum of Natural History.The tiny, less than 10-celled parasite Henneguya salminicola lives in salmon muscle. As it evolved, the animal, which is a myxozoan relative of jellyfish and corals, gave up breathing and consuming oxygen to produce energy.

Living without oxygen

“Aerobic respiration was thought to be ubiquitous in animals, but now we confirmed that this is not the case,” Prof. Huchon explains. “Our discovery shows that evolution can go in strange directions. Aerobic respiration is a major source of energy, and yet we found an animal that gave up this critical pathway.”Some other organisms like fungi, amoebas or ciliate lineages in anaerobic environments have lost the ability to breathe over time. The new study demonstrates that the same can happen to an animal — possibly because the parasite happens to live in an anaerobic environment.Its genome was sequenced, along with those of other myxozoan fish parasites, as part of research supported by the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and conducted with Prof. Paulyn Cartwright of the University of Kansas, and Prof. Jerri Bartholomew and Dr. Stephen Atkinson of Oregon State University.

Reversing what we know about evolution

The parasite’s anaerobic nature was an accidental discovery. While assembling the Henneguya genome, Prof. Huchon found that it did not include a mitochondrial genome. The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell where oxygen is captured to make energy, so its absence indicated that the animal was not breathing oxygen.Until the new discovery, there was debate regarding the possibility that organisms belonging to the animal kingdom could survive in anaerobic environments. The assumption that all animals are breathing oxygen was based, among other things, on the fact that animals are multicellular, highly developed organisms, which first appeared on Earth when oxygen levels rose.

“It’s not yet clear to us how the parasite generates energy,” Prof. Huchon says. “It may be drawing it from the surrounding fish cells, or it may have a different type of respiration such as oxygen-free breathing, which typically characterizes anaerobic non-animal organisms.” According to Prof. Huchon, the discovery bears enormous significance for evolutionary research.“It is generally thought that during evolution, organisms become more and more complex, and that simple single-celled or few-celled organisms are the ancestors of complex organisms,” she concludes. “But here, right before us, is an animal whose evolutionary process is the opposite. Living in an oxygen-free environment, it has shed unnecessary genes responsible for aerobic respiration and become an even simpler organism.”

What’s it like to study at TAU?

Written by AUFTAU on 24 February 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

Petr Pesov, a student at the International B.A. in Liberal Arts program and founder of the Youth Innovation Forum, Petr has found Tel Aviv to be full of surprises.

Where are you from?

I was born in Russia and then moved to Latvia during high school.

What are you studying at TAU?

Currently I’m a third-year International B.A. in Liberal Arts student, majoring in Psychology. I’m also interning in the Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges. Petr Pesov

Did anything about studying at TAU surprise you?

Israel is really not what it seems, from what you initially hear from people and how they describe it. Especially when it comes to Tel Aviv, which is perhaps one of the most progressive and flourishing places I’ve ever been.

What’s been your favorite class at TAU?

I really enjoyed one of the classes in my first year: Post-Truth, Post-Politics and another class last year – Business Ethics, which were both philosophy classes, but with a real-life application of the philosophy of information flow and the ethical implications of corporations and different schools of ethics.

What do you do when you’re not studying?

I’m the co-founder of a new student-initiative project on campus: the Youth Innovation Forum. YIF encourages the exchange ideas in a variety of academic disciplines in our weekly meetings. We host presentations on various topics (given by experts) to complement the degrees of students who are part of the Forum, and broaden our horizons. We also share various projects with our students and encourage them to start their own, for example we are currently forming a group of students working on an AI household farming project.

What was the first word you learned in Hebrew?

I believe it was “slicha”, which means “sorry” and always comes in handy when you want to pass someone or something in the wonderful and busy streets of Tel Aviv, or when you want to grab someone’s attention.

What’s next for you?

After I finish my BA I’m hoping to do my MA in Conflict Resolution, move to Israel and pursue my PhD, with aspirations towards a mix between an academic and a practical career in the field of Public Policy.

TAU Embraces Australia after Bushfires

Written by AUFTAU on 20 February 2020. Posted in Newsroom.

The University jointly organized a solidarity event for the restoration of nature and wildlife Down Under

As a way of giving back to Australia at its time of need, Tel Aviv University co-sponsored a fundraising concert attended by 1,000 guests. The Australian Bushfire Relief evening, held jointly with the Zionist Federation of Australia, Jewish National Fund Australia (KKL) and the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, took place on February 3 at Hangar 11, a gig venue at the Tel Aviv Port, a popular outdoor pedestrian area by the sea.

Income from the gathering was donated to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), a global NGO focusing on wilderness preservation.

Keynote speaker Prof. Tamar Dayan of TAU’s School of Zoology, who also chairs the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, described the environmental ramifications of the wildfires.

“Only now are we starting to understand the magnitude of this disaster and how it will affect us all,” said Prof. Dayan. “The physical scale of the damage is unprecedented; it is six times bigger than the outcome caused by the big wildfires in California in 2018. It is estimated that one billion animals were killed and others are at a real risk of extinction, meaning all the wildlife preservation efforts to date were reversed all at once.”

According to Dayan, no government can prepare for a natural disaster of this scope, specifically the fires’ duration and reach.

“There are many factors affecting the restoration of nature and wildlife, including the quantities of rain in the coming months and whether or not the drought lasts. The Australians are trying to assess the process of rehabilitating the damaged areas but only time will tell,” she said.

Prof. Tamar Dayan (left) and Meir Buber. Photo: Jorge Novominsky, KKL-JNF photo archive

Prof. Dayan is one of a couple dozen researchers at TAU’s George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences whose expertise in biodiversity, ecology, plant sciences, climate change and other fields are relevant for Australia’s rehabilitation.

“TAU enjoys a warm and longstanding friendship with Australia, its people and the Australian Jewish community,” said Meir Buber, TAU Senior Executive for Resource Development for Australia, who co-organized the event on behalf of the University. Australian organizations and individuals have supported the University generously over the years, especially for environmental causes, he stressed, and added: “Through this event we want to say thank you to the Australians for their deep rooted support for TAU.”

TAU co-organizer Gillian Rosner, Australia Liaison, added: “At the University we’ve had excellent relations with Australian business delegations, with the Australian Embassy, with Ambassador Chris Cannan and with his predecessors for years. For example, Cannan attended the Balfour Declaration centenary we hosted in 2017 at TAU. Now we’re seeing an outpouring of sympathy by Israelis for Australia.”

Vibrant and cheerful atmosphere

Donated for the evening by its owner, Melbourne-born Zev Eizik, the Hangar 11 venue hosted performances by Israeli social singing initiative Koolulam, reality show songstress Hagit Yaso, Israeli trumpet player Arik Davidov and Israeli-Australian musician Savannah Zwi. Comedian Jeremie Bracka, who is actually an Australian-Israeli human rights lawyer, performed stand-up.

Among attendees at the lively event were Ambassador Cannan, many former Aussies who immigrated to Israel, and residents of Israeli towns near Gaza who for years have received Australian support after rocket attacks. The crowd also included the Roim Rahok (“Seeing Far Ahead”) organization and its trainees, youngsters on the autistic spectrum who are prepared for integration into military service.

The book “Frank Lowy: Pushing the Limits” by Jill Margo telling the story of the Australian-born TAU benefactor was sold at the event in benefit of the WWF.

Australian Ambassador Cannan tweeted his appreciation after the fundraiser: “Thank you Israel for showing, in a big way, your support for Australia’s bushfire recovery. An amazing night of comedy, singing and fundraising for the one thousand Israelis there to support their mates from down under at a tough time.”

The crowd singing at the Australian Bushfire Relief event. Photo: Jorge Novominsky, KKL-JNF photo archive