One
Israel development of some interest is the finding of a large reservoir
of natural gas off the coast of Haifa. Important because the less
Israel depends on foreign oil (gas and oil can be interchangeable over
time) the less leverage her European and global enemies have over
Israel.
Two, and most interesting is the development of a new weapon to replace the M16 rifle that I used in the 1960s. The new weapon, the Tavor, is to go into service in the next few years The Tavor is both a short urban assault weapon and a pin-point sniper weapon. The weapon was developed to counter the Arab tactic of using children as shields in front of Arab terrorists.
My son argues that the Tavor is an example of a compassionate tool. Compassion, he describes as clear intention. His example of a compassionate act would be a wolf attacking the jugular of its prey rather than biting off a leg and trailing the prey, if wolves had emotions we could identify.
My definition of compassion is offering solace to one who is different from oneself. Sympathy is solace to one who is like oneself ('there but for the grace of god go I'). Compassion is to offer it to someone different such as a Brahman to a Dalit in India or a successful OR doctor operating on a filth encrusted wino in the U.S..
Three cheers for the Tavor. It should be a great global export item and it is compassionate by both my son's and my definition.