RUTHFULLY YOURS

Patients suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease shouldn’t have to plead with bureaucrats to try potentially lifesaving drugs.

In the next few days, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to decide whether to accelerate approval of a new drug that might save the lives of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig’s disease. The manufacturer, Genervon Biopharmaceuticals, requested the approval of GM6 in February after finding improvements in patients during preclinical, Phase 1 and Phase 2A trials — with no negative side effects. If the FDA grants the request, patients would gain immediate access to the drug.

Efforts to speed up approval were triggered, in part, by ALS patient Anthony Carbajal, who a little over a year ago launched a petition on Change.org urging the FDA to allow him, his mother, and others — approximately 30,000 Americans suffer from ALS — to use the new drug. To date, more than 500,000 people have signed the petition.

Not as famous as director Steven Spielberg is his sister Nancy, the filmmaker. Lesser known than the Israelis who fought for their country’s independence were the American pilots who secretly joined that fight. Ahead of Israel’s 67th Independence Day, the new documentary “Above and Beyond” is fusing those two unsung elements.

In 1948, just three years after the liberation of Nazi death camps, a group of American Jewish pilots answered a call for help. In secret and at great personal risk, they smuggled planes out of the U.S., trained behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, and flew for Israel in its War of Independence.

Russia announced Monday that it will sell Iran advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles. The decision, which ends an embargo dating back to 2010, shows that President Barack Obama is rapidly losing control of the international consensus on Iran.

It also sets Israel a deadline to attack Iran–since Israel has treated the S-300 system as a “red line,” and has attacked Syria several times recently to prevent advanced Russian air defense and anti-ship missile systems from becoming operational.

Some Israeli analysts have recently suggested that Israel will only attack Iran if the regime’s nuclear program poses a direct and imminent threat–if the “sword is at the throat.”

It looks like war is coming to Israel. With sanctions limited and the Obama administration signaling that it will not intercede, Iran is arming Israel’s enemies. The Islamic Republic has increased weapons shipments to Hezbollah, which have found their way to Lebanon and the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, and to Hamas in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. This looks like a coordinated attack from all sides in the making.Today, the Russians announced that they were supplying Iran with S-300 anti-missile defense systems which will provide protection for Iran’s nuclear sites. ..Janet Levy

On Monday, Israeli officials reported that Iran has upped its delivery of weapons to the Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah in the past few weeks. Channel 2 stated that the shipments have been made to both Lebanon and the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

In addition, the report stated that Iran was sending weapons to Hamas chiefs in Gaza and arming Hamas members in Judea and Samaria.

Channel 2 asserted that the ease in sanctions on Iran from the present nuclear negotiations would allow it to spend “billions of dollars” shipping weapons to Israel’s enemies.

The increase in Iranian arms shipments coincides with Monday’s announcement that Russia will reverse an earlier ban and send S-300 missile defense systems to Iran. Israel is concerned Iran will transfer the systems to Lebanon and Syria, allowing Hezbollah to attack Israel with impunity and imperiling Israel’s ability to strike back.