Displaying posts published in

August 2018

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Gaza Schools Run by U.N. Agency Face Closure Over Funding Shortfall U.S. has frozen tens of millions of dollars as it presses changes to the agency’s mandate

By on August 19th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gaza-schools-run-by-u-n-agency-face-closure-over-funding-shortfall-1534439632?cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=5&cx_tag=contextual&cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s

U.N.-run schools that educate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children may not be able to operate for the full school year, officials said, pointing to a funding shortfall as the U.S. freezes tens of millions of dollars and presses changes to the agency’s mandate.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as Unrwa, operates 711 schools attended by 526,000 refugee girls and boys in the Palestinian territories and neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.

On Thursday, the agency said it will reopen schools on time for the new term that starts in weeks but only has funding to run its services until the end of September.

“We need a further $217 million to ensure that our schools not only open but can be run until the end of the year,” Pierre Krähenbühl, commissioner-general of Unrwa’s advisory commission, said in a statement.

The U.S., its largest donor, contributed $368 million last year to an overall budget of $1.24 billion. Washington has only released about $60 million this year.

The Trump administration wants other countries to step up and fund the organization, and if they’re not willing to, the U.S. hopes they will support changes to the organization’s mandate. Such changes can only be made at the U.N. General Assembly, and the last time Unrwa’s mandate was up for renewal, in 2016, 167 out of 193 member states voted in favor of extending it, making garnering enough support to change it highly unlikely—a point American officials concede.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel Closes Pedestrian Crossing With Gaza Closing comes in response to violent protests at the border that left two dead By Felicia Schwartz and Dov Lieber

By on August 19th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-closes-pedestrian-crossing-with-gaza-1534674761

Israel closed its only pedestrian crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday in response to violent protests at the border fence, a move that comes amid a fragile truce and talks for a long-term cease-fire.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Ministry branch that operates the border crossings with Gaza said the Erez Crossing was closed in response to “violent protests” that took place Friday. Exceptions will be made for humanitarian cases

Thousands of people gathered along the security fence dividing Gaza and Israel, with some hurling firebombs and improvised explosive devices, Israel’s military said Friday. Its military forces responded with riot-dispersal measures as well as live fire, which Gaza’s Ministry of Health said killed two people.

The United Nations and Egypt are mediating a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Gaza ruler Hamas after a spate of violent clashes at the border and intense fighting between the two sides in recent months. Israel last week reopened the only commercial crossing between Gaza and Israel as those talks progressed.

The crossing in northern Gaza usually sees relatively little traffic but its closure comes as the region breaks for a Muslim religious holiday—Eid al-Adha—when people often use it to travel outside through Israel. The flow of people between the blockaded Gaza Strip and the West Bank also increases during the holiday period.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

DANIEL GREENFIELD: SOUTH AFRICA GOES FULL ZIMBABWE

By on August 19th, 2018

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

Strongman politics are ascendant,” Barack Obama warned in South Africa. He spoke passionately about “the politics of fear and resentment” at the Mandela Lecture. He worried that we were entering a world, “where might makes right and politics is a hostile competition between tribes and races and religions.”

While the media used the remarks to attack Trump’s meeting with Putin, Obama had shared a stage with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who had come to power promising to seize land from white farmers. Ramaphosa was the latest in a series of ANC strongmen, including his predecessor, an alleged rapist, beginning with the Communist terrorist whose legacy Obama was commemorating.

President Ramaphosa had vowed early on to seize land from white farmers without compensation. “The expropriation of land without compensation is envisaged as one of the measures that we will use to accelerate redistribution of land to black South Africans,” he had declared. And denied that such racist Communist tactics were unconstitutional. Now he’s moving to modify South Africa’s constitution.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

White South African farmers preparing to run as ‘land reform’ gets closer to reality By Rick Moran

By on August 19th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/08/white_south_african_farmers_preparing_to_run_as_land_reform_gets_closer_to_reality.html

White South African farmers find themselves under the gun as the ruling ANC party prepares plans to sieze farms from whites without compensation.

What the ANC is calling “land reform” would be “catastrophic” according to one lobbying group. Even black farmers are saying any plan to take land without compensation would be “unrealistic.”

Sunday Express:

Tensions among the country’s white farming community have been rising since the election of Cyril Ramaphosa assumed office earlier this year and committed his African National Congress (ANC) to land expropriation.

And ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe sparked panic last week when he said: “You shouldn’t own more than 25,000 acres of land.

“Therefore if you own more it should be taken without compensation.

“People who are privileged never give away privilege as a matter of a gift.

The group representing white farmers reports that a record number of farms are up for sale – but no one is buying:

Omri van Zyl, head of the Agri SA union, which represents mainly white commercial farmers, said: “The mood among our members is very solemn.

“They are confused about the lack of any apparent strategy from the government and many are panicking.

“So many farms are up for sale, more than we’ve ever had, but no one is buying.”

Analysts warn the move could undermine property rights and deter investment.

In neighbouring Zimbabwe, violent land seizures authorised by Robert Mugabe in the 1990s sent the country into a spiral of decline from which it has never recovered.

Analyst Henrik Gullberg said: “Markets are sensitive to anything perceived to be ‘Zimbabwe-fication’ on the land-reform front.”

Black farmers – the supposed beneficiaries of expropriation – are dubious of the plan:

The National African Farmers’ Union (Nafu), which represents the country’s black farmers, said the scheme would lead to job losses.

Nafu president Motsepe Matlala said: “From a practical and economical point of view it will not work.”

Political analyst Marianne Merten said: “The narrative that expropriation without compensation is the silver bullet is simplistic and unrealistic.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Minnesota Democrats endorse Ellison amid abuse allegation

By on August 19th, 2018

https://apnews.com/538f53ba67a14c9fba823607d906e7d2/Minnesota-Democrats-endorse-Ellison-amid-abuse-allegation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Democrats are standing behind U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and his bid for state attorney general, with the state party giving him an endorsement Saturday amid an allegation of domestic abuse from an ex-girlfriend.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement that Ellison “will be a champion for families and fight to hold powerful interests accountable.”

Ellison received 326 votes, or 82 percent of delegates on hand at the party’s state executive committee meeting Saturday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The endorsement comes after Ellison won the Democratic primary just days after Karen Monahan said Ellison had once dragged her off a bed by her feet while screaming obscenities. Ellison has denied the allegation. Monahan has said she has video footage of the 2016 encounter, but has declined to release it. Ellison says the video does not exist.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Untouchables vs. The Deplorables By Julie Kelly

By on August 19th, 2018

https://amgreatness.com/2018/08/18/the-untouchables

One reason Donald Trump won the presidency is that Americans are tired of being ignored by the ruling political class.

A poll taken several months before the election revealed that neglected voters overwhelmingly favored Donald Trump above any other candidate: “Voters who agreed with the statement ‘people like me don’t have any say about what the government does’ were 86.5 percent more likely to prefer Trump. This feeling of powerlessness and voicelessness was a much better predictor of Trump support than age, race, college attainment, [or] income,” wrote Derek Thompson at The Atlantic.

This is the Trump appeal that the ruling political class refused—and still refuses—to acknowledge. It is why Republicans were willing to overlook his personal peccadillos, and why voters in 206 counties who twice chose Barack Obama helped elect Donald Trump. It is why rural moms, union toughs, small business owners, and soybean farmers fill steamy Midwestern assembly halls during summer’s peak to rally around a thrice-married, brash, egotistical Manhattan billionaire who is the working class’s most unlikely champion. It is why Republican candidates across the country are bragging about their Trump-BFF status in tight primary races.

A Battering Ram Against Convention
Trump violates every sycophantic, mannerly rule that politicians and their handlers are taught to follow. The name-calling, the gloating, the fight-picking are precisely what any political consultant would advise their client not to do. “Act presidential,” the memo would say. Let others do your dirty work. Stay above the fray, don’t get in the mud. Keep on message. Politics is a game of addition, not subtraction. Yada yada yada. (Let’s add “Political Consulting Experts” to the long list of professional know-it-alls who’ve been wholly discredited in the Trump era.)

But the jig is up. Trump is a one-man battering ram against a powerful political apparatus—The Untouchables—that ruefully stacks the deck against the very people it purports to understand and protect.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Andrew Cuomo doesn’t see America’s greatness because he doesn’t know where to look by Salena Zito

By on August 19th, 2018

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/andrew-cuomo-doesnt-see-americas-greatness-because-he-doesnt-know-where-to-look Somewhere between Nickelsville and Bear Wallow Hollow along Virginia state route 71, the remains of a redbrick home smolders on the hillside overlooking the single lane road. Several volunteer firemen sit, drinking water near the remains of the home. It’s over 90 degrees out. The sun and heat are punishing, exaggerating the heaviness of […]

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on August 19th, 2018

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Nitrogen test for early cancer diagnosis. Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that in many cancers, the body’s mechanism for producing nitrogen is disrupted so that the tumors can grow faster. These mutations can be detected early on, by analysis of the body’s urea cycle.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/disrupted-nitrogen-metabolism-might-spell-cancer

Link between near drowning and kidney failure. Rambam Hospital doctors have discovered acute kidney injury (AKI) to be a common complication of near-drownings. Of 95 Rambam patients who nearly drowned between 2000 and 2017, 45% developed AKI. The reason is lack of oxygen and potassium, high blood sugar and constricted kidney blood vessels. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/250572

A revolution in blood testing. This Israel21c article features three Israeli startups that are working on instant diagnosis of viruses and bacteria. I already featured Sight Diagnostics (see here) and Efa (see here). Sonorapy has developed a sensor to identify each pathogen from the unique acoustics it emits in response to soundwaves.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-revolution-thats-about-to-transform-blood-testing/
http://sonorapy.com/ https://www.youtube.com/embed/K-KLyLt00q0?rel=0

Freezing tumors to be performed in Israel. (TY Hazel) I’ve reported previously (see here) on Israel’s IceCure Medical and its technology for freezing and destroying tumors. Now Haifa’s Elisha Medical Center is the first Israeli hospital to offer IceCure’s treatment for malignant kidney tumors and benign breast tumors.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744462,00.html

Find a local doctor while overseas. If sick while on vacation in Europe and the Americas, Israeli startup Air Doctor Ltd will locate pre-vetted doctors that provide services to tourists. Air Doctor’s web interface and app will find and book appointments with relevant local general physicians, pediatricians, gynecologists etc.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744300,00.html

New immigrant medics are eager to contribute. In the latest Nefesh b’Nefesh flight there were 27 US and Canadian medical professionals (doctors, nurses, paramedics etc.) who want to get to work as soon as possible. Meanwhile, top liver transplant surgeon Daniel Azoulay has left Paris to join the staff of Sheba Medical Center.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-newest-doctors-hope-to-make-an-impact-on-overburdened-medical-system/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-liver-transplant-surgeon-immigrates-to-israel/

Trust your gut to manage your health. Israeli gut microbiome analysis startup DayTwo Ltd. has partnered with Clalit, one of Israel’s four health care providers. Clalit will offer its members DNA analysis of their gut microbiome and provide personalized nutritional insights based on DayTwo’s technology.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/diet-advice-via-gut-bacteria-coming-soon-to-israels-largest-healthcare-provider/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744390,00.html

Burning fat or carbs? (TY Calcalistec) Israeli startup Metaflow’s Lumen is a respiratory metabolism tracking device that determines whether you are burning fat or carbohydrates. An AI-based app then provides nutrition and fitness advice based on the test’s results and personal goals. Lumen has raised $1.4 million on Indiegogo.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lumen-hack-your-metabolism-lose-weight-apps-food#/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I035rbT6sI

Record numbers of births. Israeli hospitals reported record numbers of new babies in July, always the busiest month. The 1,518 deliveries at Soroka in Beersheva was 10% higher than last July’s record. Tel Aviv’s Ichilov recorded 1,014 births – 10% more than average. Israel’s 3.11 births per mother is the highest in the OECD.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/three-israeli-hospitals-break-newborn-birth-records-in-july/2018/08/13/

I don’t know how, but she swallowed the nail. Doctors at Baruch Padeh Medical Center near Tiberias removed a 2-inch long (5cm) nail from the small intestine of an 8-year-old Arab girl. She had been using her teeth to pull the nail out of a plastic bottle and when it emerged, she accidentally swallowed it.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/israeli-arabs/tiberias-surgeons-endoscopically-remove-2-inch-nail-from-8-year-old-girls-intestine/2018/08/15/

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Summer camp for special needs. Israeli charity Ezer Mizion runs a summer camp at Moshav Nechalim for 300 special needs children and young adults. Each camper has a personal counselor, a yeshiva student who decided to volunteer in this summer camp instead of spending vacation time with his friends.
http://www.ezermizion.org/blog/special-needs-special-opportunities/

Imparting skills to underprivileged teens. Israeli NGO Unistream runs a multi-year program and an annual competition to give entrepreneurship and leadership skills to 4,000 underprivileged teens. This year’s winners developed an allergen detector, an app to recommend charities and a clothing line for special needs children.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3743713,00.html

Democracy Pavilion. Tel Aviv’s new Democracy Pavilion, on Rothschild Boulevard, is an exciting and rich multimedia experience which brings awareness to Israel’s core values of equality, freedom, and diversity. The exhibition is a part of the Independence Trail (see here) which can be followed using an interactive mobile app.
https://www.touristisrael.com/democracy-pavilion-tel-aviv-israel/23611/

Israeli homes for disabled and Bedouin. Israel has approved the construction of several new towns in the Negev and Galilee geared to serve the Bedouin and disabled populations. Shibolet, in the southern Galilee, will have a total of 350 units. 500 units will be built at Daniel in the south. 20% are for people with disabilities.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-approves-construction-of-housing-for-bedouin-disabled-populations/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/PNZjJ4ZrNMs?rel=0

A closer look at Operation Good Neighbor. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Israel has treated about 5000 patients from Syria -both adults and children. The army coordinates their transport, usually at night, to Israeli hospitals mostly in northern Israel.
https://www.jpost.com//Jerusalem-Report/Operation-Good-Neighbor-564579

Two Israeli universities in top 100. In the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Israel’s Technion was ranked at number 77, up from 93 last year. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem moved into the top 100 at number 95 after being in the 101 – 150 section last year.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744361,00.html

Partnering to ease African poverty. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Israel’s Ministry of the Economy are working together to alleviate poverty among Africa’s smallholder farmers. They will leverage Israeli agricultural technology as part of JDC’s new Tikkun Olam Ventures (TOV) program.
https://www.jns.org/jewish-aid-group-and-israel-team-up-to-alleviate-african-poverty-through-agtech/

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

$1.8 billion campaign for global innovation. Israel’s Technion Institute has launched a global $1.8 billion, ten-year fundraising campaign. The campaign has already raised 40% of the required funds that will be used to support world-changing, life-saving innovation. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kvf85BSOXnQ?rel=0
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2018/06/unprecedented-1-8-billion-campaign-for-world-changing-innovation/

$123 million for research universities. Israel’s Council for Higher Education has approved an investment of $123 million (NIS 458 million) over 5 years to fortify research programs in Israeli universities. It is 83% more than that invested in the last 5-year plan. 90% of the funds will be used for lab equipment.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744217,00.html

$24 million to strengthen cyber security. Israel has launched a 3-year NIS 90 million dedicated program to strengthen Israel’s cyber industry. Its aim is to ensure that Israel continues to meet the cyber sector’s biggest challenges, secures its place at the forefront of innovation, and bolsters its global leadership in the industry.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-earmarks-24-million-for-new-program-to-boost-cybersecurity-startups/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744382,00.html

Turning jellyfish into plastic filters. I reported previously (see here) on Israelis making use of jellyfish. Now, scientists at the University of Haifa are developing a filter made of jellyfish mucus to isolate microplastics in the oceans. The research is part of the International Go Jelly project, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program.
http://nocamels.com/2018/08/jellyfish-plastic-waste-israeli-scientists/
https://gojelly.eu/partners/university-of-haifa-israel/

Clean technologies for a better environment. This video summarizes Israel’s work in water recycling, solar energy, wind energy and other alternative energies. More than 400 Israeli companies specialize in developing sustainable technologies. https://www.youtube.com/embed/MwQiJ83Kv3g?rel=0

Cybersecurity wherever you work. More and more employees are working away from their main offices. So, the security of their data and devices needs to move with them. Israeli startup Meta Networks has implemented a cloud-based solution which protects the employee (and the company) anytime, anyplace.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLk0X_NW9ms?rel=0 https://www.metanetworks.com/

Get connected like never before. You have HDMI for your TV, Internet, video, audio, and cables all over your house. With the HDBaseT tester from Israel’s MSolutions, the installer connects everything in every room with just a flick of a switch. https://www.youtube.com/embed/8SifyYhv9ng?rel=0 https://www.m4sol.com/

Keeping pizza fresh for 8 weeks. Israel-based startup Timeless Foods makes firm disposable plastic containers for vacuum packaging delicate foods. It means manufacturers can vacuum seal delicate foods and produce, thus significantly prolonging their shelf life. Pizza, for example, stays fresh for up to 8 weeks without freezing.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744054,00.html
https://www.f6s.com/timelessfoodtechnologies

Alternative protein sources. Israel’s InnovoPro is developing a technology for extracting concentrated protein from chickpeas. InnovoPro is one of the two winning start-ups in the 2018 Calcalist FoodTech competition.
https://innovopro.com/innovopro-wins-calcalist-foodtech-competition/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744035,00.html

3D-printed vegan steaks. Tel Aviv-based startup Jet-Eat develops 3D printing technologies for vegan meat substitutes. The printed meat substitute is designed to emulate the appearance, texture and taste of beef and can be cooked like beef. Jet-Eat was a finalist in the 2018 Calcalist FoodTech competition.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744064,00.html

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

17 trillion shekels. As he opened trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) last week, Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon revealed that the State of Israel would be worth NIS 17,638,763,277,054 if it floated on the TASE. This was according to the latest methodology used by the World Bank in a survey of 140 countries.
https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-gets-nis-17-6-trillion-valuation/

Indonesia selects Israel transportation app. (TY Tower) The Asian Games (Aug 18 – Sep 2) doesn’t allow Israeli athletes to compete, but the host country Indonesia has chosen Israel’s Moovit as the games’ official mobility app. Moovit is the world’s most downloaded transit app with over 200 million users in 82 countries.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-moovit-chosen-as-official-transit-app-for-asian-games-in-indonesia/

BBC admits Israel is creating UK jobs. (TY WIN) What a contrast to the BBC’s normal biased anti-Israel reporting. BBC World’s “Talking Business” program included this feature by Jonathan Josephs. It highlights the UK-Israel Tech Hub as the ideal model to expand UK hi-tech business and create jobs post Brexit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXxF8Ncy7SI

BBC “dragon” funds Israeli startup. Israelis Yosi Romano and Ziv Leinwand went on the BBC’s “Dragon’s Den” program, winning a £125,000 investment from star “dragon” Touker Suleyman. Their device protects babies from pollution, sucking in air, cleaning it and blowing it into the child’s breathing space in its pram.
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/two-israeli-investors-scoop-125000-dragons-den-investment/

El Al buys 16 Dreamliners. El Al has purchased 16 Dreamliners (Boeing 787s) in a $1.2 billion deal, which will gradually replace older Boeing 747 and 767 planes. El Al received its 6th Dreamliner in a ceremony with the PM’s wife Sara Netanyahu who dressed as an El Al flight attendant – one of her previous jobs.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744318,00.html

More Israeli hostels. Good news for backpackers. Latin American hostel and co-working company Selina and Israel’s Ampa Real Estate have been scouting locations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and the southern Negev desert. Selina intends to open several hostels with a combined capacity of 5,000-7,000 beds within five years.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744406,00.html

Warren Buffet buys more Teva shares. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has upped its stake in Israeli biotech Teva by another 6.7%. Berkshire Hathaway now owns nearly $1 billion of Teva shares.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/warren-buffet-ups-bet-on-ailing-drugmaker-teva/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744381,00.html

Visa invests in Israeli Fintech startup. I reported previously (Feb 2017) on Israel’s Behalf which provides short-term loans having used hi-tech to decide on a company’s risk profile. Now financial giant Visa is partnering Behalf to “support small business growth”. Behalf’s clients receive a tokenized Visa Virtual Card.
http://nocamels.com/2018/08/visa-behalf-small-business/

Gett generates $1 billion of revenue. Israel’s Gett makes 100 million rides a year, mostly with its London and NYC taxis. This generates around $1 billion in mobility services, according to Stockholm-listed venture capital firm Vostok New Ventures Ltd in its latest financial report.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744466,00.html

Bringing Hungarians and Bulgarians to Eilat. Low cost Hungarian airline Wizz Air is commencing twice-weekly flights from November between Eilat and both Budapest and Sofia. Wizz already operates services from Eilat to London, Vienna, Bucharest, Riga, and Warsaw.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744163,00.html

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

Annual stork migration begins. The annual migration of the storks has started in Israel. Thousands of storks were spotted flying over the Rotem Plain in southern Israel, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI). (No connection with the large numbers of Israeli births last month!)
http://www.jewishpress.com/uncategorized/theyre-baaaaaack-annual-stork-migration-has-begun-in-israel/2018/08/12/

Colombian Superstar Carlos Vives performs in Israel. Award-winning Colombian musician Carlos Vives held a successful concert in Tel Aviv. He tweeted, “Thanks Tel Aviv! It has been a very special night! What an incredible concert, we are very happy to have been here with you to share and learn from here a little more!”
https://unitedwithisrael.org/colombian-superstar-carlos-vives-rejects-bds-performs-in-israel/

Michael Jackson is to tour Israel. Well, not the superstar himself, obviously, but the “I Am King” tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is landing in Israel for 20 spectacular dates in 2019. Performances begin in Herzliya on Jan 19 and end in Haifa on Feb 20. Catch it in Tel Aviv on Feb 14 and Jerusalem on Feb 16.
https://www.touristisrael.com/i-am-king-michael-jackson-tribute-israel/23873/

Travel magazine awards for 3 Israeli locations. Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2018 World’s Best Awards included Jerusalem (3rd place) and Tel Aviv (4th) in the “5 best cities in Africa and the Middle East” category. The Beresheet in Mitzpe Ramon came 3rd in the “Top Resort Hotels in Africa and the Middle East” category.
http://nocamels.com/2018/08/tel-aviv-jerusalem-desert-resort-top-travelleisure-magazines-2018-worlds-best-awards/ https://www.youtube.com/embed/5gyW3JkOgw8?rel=0

Dog TV is now on satellite. I reported previously (see here) about Israel’s Dog TV channel that allows dog owners to leave their pets home alone but happy. Dog TV is now available on U.S.-based satellite broadcast provider Dish Network Corporation. It is already on Comcast’s cable Xfinity and AT&T’s DirecTV.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744254,00.html

Israel to host Euro Championships of Flag Football. Israel has been chosen to host the European Championships of flag football next year in Jerusalem. The tournament will feature both men’s and women’s competitions and is currently scheduled for June 2019. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/big-sports-news-israel-chosen-to-host-the-european-championships-of-flag-football-next-year-in-jerusalem/2018/08/16/

Para-Euro swimming champions. Israeli swimmers won two gold medals in the European Paralympic championship held in Dublin, Ireland. Inbal Pezaro, 31, won the women’s 200-meter freestyle final and Ami Dadaon, 17, won the men’s 100m freestyle. Both are members of the ILAN Haifa swimming club.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-swimmers-bag-2-gold-medals-in-european-para-championship/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8l-qkGs4Rk

Medals for windsurfers. (TY Nevet) Israelis Eyal Zror and Liam Segey came 1st and 2nd in the men’s U17 category at the 2018 RS:X Windsurfing Youth World Championships in France. Israelis Naama Gazit and Linoy Geva won silver and bronze in the main women’s event. Geva came 1st in the women’s U17 category.
http://www.rsxclass.org/youthworlds2018/results/youth-women/

THE JEWISH STATE

239 new immigrants fly in. The 15th Aug Nefesh b’Nefesh flight contained 239 new Olim from 24 US states and 3 Canadian provinces. They included 57 lone soldiers, 27 medics and 90 children including 3 sets of twins.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/239-north-american-olim-land-in-israel/2018/08/15/

When Ray Charles met David Ben Gurion. I just read about world-renowned singer/songwriter Ray Charles’ support for the Jewish State. In 1972 he visited David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, during his 86th birthday celebrations at Kibbutz Sde Boker. “Israel is one of the few causes I feel good about supporting,” Ray Charles said in 1976. https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-when-ray-charles-met-israels-first-prime-minister/

Jerusalem festival re-enacts Jewish history. (TY WIN) The Kings Valley Festival in the Kidron valley celebrates Jerusalem’s history, offering family workshops and a chance to see what daily life was like in the ancient city during ancient times. https://www.youtube.com/embed/fqVirXKji4o?rel=0

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MY SAY: SPEAKING OF AUGUST

By on August 19th, 2018

I have been home bound for most of this month and I was looking for a trashy novel, but instead found a gem.I am spellbound by one of the finest histories of World One by Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman (January 30, 1912- February 6, 1989).

In “The Guns of August” Tuchman documents the events that led up to World War 1; how it could have been stopped; and how it started. The bloody trench war resulted in a killing machine of four years. Who won? Humanity lost and Tuchman narrates the foiled and failed plans and the world events and strategies that led to the war.

In the first chapter, in flawless prose, Tuchman describes the funeral pomp, circumstance and procession of royals and gentry at the May 1910 funeral of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, nephew of the Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany who attended with eight other kings.

After detailing the military planning and alliances of the Germans, the French and joint strategies of France and England, and those of Russia, Tuchman segues into the events that triggered the conflict, namely, on June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip a Serbian, assassinated the heir to the throne of Austria/Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Duchess of Hohenberg. On August 14th, 1914 -war started. It reads like a fast-paced movie.

As Tuchman has said:” Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books history is silent, literature blind, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.”

One shudders to think how the state of teaching history in the academy has crumbled. rsk

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Time to Change the Rules in Gaza By Dan Calic

By on August 19th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/time_to_change_the_rules_in_gaza.html

The night of August 14, 2005 remains firmly in the memory of many Israelis. For thousands it was their last night at home in the Gaza Strip. The following day was the deadline for all Jews to evacuate. August 15 saw those who remained being forcibly evicted by Israeli soldiers.

Gut wrenching images of screaming Jews being carried away from their homes were all over the media. Soldiers were being cursed. It was an unimaginable scene of Jew against Jew. Israel was almost brought to its knees, coming close to civil war. By September 12 none of the 8,000 Jews who lived in Gaza remained.

After 38 years Israel unilaterally turned this small enclave over to the Arabs. Residents were promised financial compensation, homes and employment by the Israeli government. Ten years on the government had failed to honor its promise to many hundreds of the forced evacuees.

Why would Israel take such an unprecedented step, which severely divided the nation?

For one reason: because Israel sincerely desires peace. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, once a lion who himself championed the development of Israeli communities in Gaza and Judea/Samaria, made an unprecedented and bold move in an effort to bring stability and coexistence with Israel’s Arab neighbors.

However, instead producing a path to peace, the situation only got worse. Subsequent to Israel’s withdrawal Hamas and Fatah engaged in a power struggle. In June 2006 Hamas abducted IDF soldier Gilad Schalit and held him prisoner for five years.

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