Displaying the most recent of 90425 posts written by

Ruth King

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Is Israel Proscribed to Annex Judea and Samaria (West Bank)? Amb. (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

By on March 14th, 2021

https://theettingerreport.com/is-israel-proscribed-to-annex-judea-and-samaria

It has been suggested that the next Prime Minister of Israel will be proscribed from annexing parts of Judea and Samaria – for the next three years – due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s personal commitment to President Trump to refrain from annexation.  This ostensible commitment was never ratified by Israel’s Legislature.

Does a personal commitment by an Israeli prime minister to a US president tie the hands of succeeding Israeli prime ministers?

Not according to the tradition of democratic societies, which aims to avoid Executive tyranny, limiting the power of presidents and prime ministers through a system of checks and balance.

For example, international accords reached by US presidents require ratification by two thirds of the Senate.  Therefore, in 2018, President Trump was able to withdraw from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Accord (JCPOA), since it was never ratified by the Senate.  Moreover, the US is not committed to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which was signed in 1999 by President Clinton, but has yet to be ratified by the Senate.

Furthermore, the 1975 assurance of President Ford to Israel’s Prime Minister Rabin “to give great weight to Israel’s position that any peace agreement with Syria must be predicated on Israel remaining on the Golan Heights,” did not commit any of the succeeding presidents, since it was not ratified by the Senate. A similar fate met President Eisenhower’s 1957 non-ratified assurance issued to Israel’s Prime Minister Eshkol, which implied US willingness to deploy its military in the face of Egyptian violations of agreements in the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula (which triggered the 1967 War).

Continue reading →
ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Netanyahu: UAE to invest $10 billion in Israel The country’s economy will take a leap forward due to the “staggering” investment, says Israeli premier.

By on March 14th, 2021

https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-uae-to-invest-10-billion-in-israel/?ct=t%28Daily+Syndicate+3-14-21+%28old%29%29

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates, with which Israel signed a peace deal in September, plans to invest $10 billion in the country.

Speaking during a press conference with his Hungarian and Czech counterparts in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that Israel’s economy would “take a leap forward” due to the investment, and that “specific projects” were already under discussion.

The press conference came just hours after a planned visit to the UAE was canceled due to a delay in obtaining Jordanian permission to traverse its airspace. According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the delay was linked to the cancellation of a planned visit to the Temple Mount by the Jordanian Crown Prince due to a disagreement over security arrangements.

“It took us a good couple of hours to set things straight with Jordan,” he said. “We can fly, and I can fly over Jordan, but [due to the delay] until this coordination was achieved, today’s visit was not possible,” he added.

“Accordingly, I just spoke with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, a great leader, the leader of the UAE, and we agreed on three things: One, to carry out another visit soon; two, to advance the ‘Green Passport’ [program] between Israel and the UAE; and three—and this is very important news for the citizens of Israel—regarding the UAE’s intent to invest, by various means, the staggering sum of $10 billion dollars in Israel,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Czech Republic opened a branch of its Israel embassy in Jerusalem in a ceremony attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

Continue reading →
ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel Has Good Reason to Be Wary of ICC Probe By Lawrence J. Haas

By on March 14th, 2021

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/israel-has-good-reason-be-wary-icc-probe-179818

“The investigation,” the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said the other day in announcing her probe of Israeli and Palestinian activity in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, “will cover crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court that are alleged to have been committed . . . since 13 June 2014.”

The starting date is telling, for it mocks Bensouda’s assurances that her office will conduct the investigation “independently, impartially and objectively,” with a “principled, non-partisan approach” that reflects “no agenda other than to meet our statutory duties.”

That’s because it was on June 12, 2014—a day earlier—that the terrorist group Hamas, as it later admitted, kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenage Yeshiva boys from the West Bank, leaving their bodies, as the New York Times put it, “buried under a pile of rocks in an open field about 15 miles from where [they] were last seen.”

It was that attack, which one Hamas leader called a “heroic operation,” that prompted Israel to arrest Hamas leaders in the West Bank, which then prompted Palestinian militants to launch thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, which then prompted an Israeli invasion of Gaza from the air and ground. The 2014 Gaza War, as it’s known, extended into August and left more than two thousand Gazans and scores of Israelis dead.

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

“Nowhere to Turn for Safety”: The Persecution of Christians, by Raymond Ibrahim

By on March 14th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17164/persecution-of-christians-february

“[W]hat is happening in eastern DRC, the killing of innocent civilians on an almost daily basis, is an underreported tragedy.” — Illia Djadi, human rights activist acquainted with the region, Persecution, International Christian Concern, February 16, 2021 — Democratic Republic of the Congo

A Muslim colonel stole weapons from an armory and then blamed the 12 soldiers on duty for the theft. Six of those 12 soldiers—all Christians—were then executed on January 25. — The Christian Post, February 4, 2021 — Nigeria

“It’s not only about these six soldiers…. Nigeria is becoming like Somalia and Rwanda. That was exactly how it started, with the government taking sides and backing the members of a particular ethnic group. That’s the situation. Even in the security forces, Christians are being targeted.” — Emeka Umeagbalasi, a lawyer, The Christian Post, February 4, 2021 — Nigeria

“Many Nigerians now believe the Army fights for Islam, not Nigeria…. The Army’s lack of action to protect Christians comes directly from its leaders in government… When troops go into areas controlled by radical Islamists to defend Nigerian Christians, the government orders them to retreat. Then, Islamist rebels shoot them in the back.” — The Christian Post, February 4, 2021 — Nigeria

Four converts to Christianity, arrested on the charge of “acting against national security by forming a house Church,” were sentenced to a combined total of 35 years in prison…. Apparently thinking his sentencing too lenient, the [judge] further informed the Christian prisoners… that “your actions are worthy of death.” — Uganda Christian News, February 3, 2021 — Iran

During the court hearing, testimony was offered that “In Syria there was a practice whereby if they kill an apostate, they are assured passage to Heaven in the afterlife”…. The accused were granted bail. — Malta Today, February 12, 2021 — Malta

Sexual Assaults on and Forced Conversion of Christian Women

Bangladesh: Two Muslims brutally raped a married Christian mother. On the evening of February 5, the 43-year-old woman was at home alone (her husband worked nights and her son was studying at a distant school). Two men broke in and attacked her. According to the woman:

“With their faces covered, they looked like thieves, but instead they wanted sex and started beating me up. As I tried to disentangle myself, I recognised Mohammed Alam’s face [a neighbor]. They kept beating me; I was scared and helpless. I asked for some water and they gave me a glass mixed with a sleeping pill that made me unconscious for three days.”

Continue reading →
EDUCATION Comments turned off

Critical Race Theory Is Dangerous. Here’s How to Fight It By Samantha Harris

By on March 14th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/critical-race-theory-is-dangerous-heres-how-to-fight-it

Don’t just use the same censorship tools its proponents do. Fight back with the law.

A new orthodoxy has taken over our educational institutions with frightening speed. People who likely never heard the phrase “critical race theory” (CRT) before this summer are now getting emails from their children’s schools about “Decentering Whiteness at Home.” They are discovering that their children’s elementary-school teacher has read them “a book about whiteness” that teaches them how much “color matters” and encourages them to confront “the painful truth” about their “own family” — i.e., that they are being raised by racists. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

This is a dangerous and divisive ideology, one that assigns moral value to people on the basis of their skin color. It is inconceivable that anyone could look back at human history and not see that singling out a particular racial or ethnic group as the cause of all societal problems can quickly lead us to a very bad place.

It is understandable, therefore, that the ascendancy of CRT in our educational institutions is deeply frightening to so many people. People feel like their children are being indoctrinated. In many cases, they are right. This ideology is not simply being presented as one way of looking at the world. It is being taught as the Truth with a capital ‘T,’ and you will be cast into outer darkness or punished for questioning it. Just ask David Flynn, the father of two children in the Dedham, Mass., public schools who was fired from his position as head football coach there after raising concerns about changes to his seventh-grade daughter’s history curriculum. (Flynn is now suing the school district.)

Continue reading →
ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on March 14th, 2021

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

The Jewish holiday of Passover will begin on the evening of March 27 this year, and thanks to the warp speed development of vaccines and incipient herd immunity families can gather to celebrate the history of the Jewish flight from Egypt. This year so many former Pharaohs have turned to accommodation and recognition of Israel and they too will reap the blessings of Israel’s amazing research and development of life enhancing technology and science which Michael Ordman compiles every week. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

5 million vaccinated. Israel’s five millionth recipient of the Covid-19 vaccine was a pregnant 34-year-old from the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, Restaurants, cafes, attractions, hotels, event venues, places of worship, most school grades 7-10, and more, have opened. Only 3% of serious Covid-19 cases had received a 2nd shot.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/1615223985-israel-s-vaccination-drive-passes-5-000-000-mark

https://www.timesofisrael.com/less-than-3-of-serious-covid-cases-are-fully-vaccinated-proving-effectiveness/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKdoAsxY8KE

Learning from our mistakes. One of Israel’s Health Medical Organizations (HMOs) accidentally used a half-sized needle to apply the first Pfizer vaccine into 1,000 Israelis. But when 60% of them were tested three weeks later, they were all found to have high levels of antibodies. The US CDC was pleased to hear the outcome.

https://worldisraelnews.com/right-injection-wrong-needle-israel-accidentally-finds-out-if-the-corona-vaccine-will-still-work/

SARS-Cov-2 treatment subsidiary. Israeli biotech Pepticom (reported here previously) has raised $2.6 million to establish a company that can treat SARS-Cov-2 and its mutations. It will implement AI technology to design, discover and develop novel peptide molecules.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3897696,00.html  https://pepticom.com/

Helping Covid patients to breathe. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center is partnering Israel’s Inspira Technologies in trials of its new respiratory treatment for Covid-19 patients suffering from acute breathing difficulties. The Augmented Respiration Treatment (ART) directly oxygenates blood while the patient remains conscious.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3894246,00.html   https://inspira-technologies.com/

A natural treatment for Covid? IDC Herzliya researchers at Israel’s MIGAL laboratory, with Icelandic scientists, have identified that spirulina algae can reduce the cytokine storm that kills Covid-19 patients. The algae was supplied by Israel’s VAXA (Iceland based) who have EU funding to find natural cures for Covid-19.

https://www.newsrael.com/post/-MUZUMu2rI9dtUFz07He   https://www.vaxa.life/

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-researchers-say-spirulina-algae-could-stop-covid-19-deaths-660064   https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10126-021-10020-z    

 

Breakthrough in protein synthesis. Arab-Israeli Professor Ashraf Brik (see here previously) of Israel’s Technion and his team have overcome a 60-year technical problem to synthesize plectasin, a peptide with promising antibiotic results against multi-resistant bacteria, and linaclotide, to treat irritable bowel syndrome.

https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2021/02/six-decades-old-protein-synthesis-problem-solved-at-technion/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21209-0

New way to diagnose neurological conditions. Scientists at Ben Gurion University have confirmed the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and stroke from electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns. Analysis of changes in brain blood vessel pathology can provide fast diagnosis of those conditions.

https://www.israel21c.org/scientists-discover-new-way-to-diagnose-neurological-conditions/

Eliminating animal testing. Hebrew University researchers have developed a chip containing human tissue with microscopic sensors to precisely monitor the response of the kidney, liver and heart to specific treatments. It is believed to be the first treatment to be submitted to the US FDA for human trials without animal testing.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-create-cancer-drug-using-human-simulating-chip-instead-of-animal-tests/  https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/13/582/eabd6299

Fast glaucoma treatment in trials. Israel’s Belkin Laser (reported here previously) is conducting a large-scale clinical study of its Eagle laser glaucoma treatment in Europe and Israel. Patients at more than 10 sites are testing the computer-guided device that uses healing lasers far less intrusively than currently approved devices.

https://www.israel21c.org/the-glaucoma-treatment-that-only-takes-seconds/         

Transforming ophthalmic surgery. Israeli startup ForSight Robotics is developing a microsurgical robotic platform for eye surgery. The platform will exceed human surgical capabilities with unprecedented dexterity and maneuverability to within only a few microns.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3897656,00.html   https://www.forsightrobotics.com/

Minimally invasive hysterectomies. (TY Nevet) Some 600,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the US. The US FDA has just approved the Hominis Surgical System, developed by Israel’s Memic. The surgeon operates using the Robotically Assisted Surgical Device (RASD) via tiny incisions in the patient’s body.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-robotic-arms-get-fda-nod-for-minimally-invasive-hysterectomies/

https://www.memicmed.com/

Israeli women saving lives.  Four women from Israel’s diverse, inclusive society enthusiastically speak about their life-saving work as volunteer paramedics with Israeli emergency service United Hatzalah. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQyaVKKgUFE

Ask me anything. (TY Nevet) Tel Aviv University Professor Neta Erez made the unusual offer on Reddit.com to answer any questions in one day, about her specialty of cancer research. She answered 61 tough questions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/lws8ge/askscience_ama_series_hi_i_am_tel_aviv_university/

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Game that Left Iran in Historic Impasse by Amir Taheri

By on March 14th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17163/iran-historic-impasse

This is why many, even among the critics of the regime, insist that showing any interest in this year’s presidential election, slated for June, is not only a waste of time but active participation in a massive political deception.

Today the pro-US faction, also backed by Britain, still hopes to revive the scenario by fielding a candidate in June. But that would require a much bigger effort by President Joe Biden to inject massive cash into Iran’s morbid economy, grant major diplomatic concessions to the “New York Boys” and contribute to creating a feel-good atmosphere.

Even then, the scenario may not work.

Khamenei… could propel one of his minions in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, his main support base, into the presidential slot and pave the way for one of his sons to emerge as the next “Supreme Guide”.

“Not worth a bucketful of spit!” This is how US President Harry Truman described the vice-presidency when he himself filled that slot under President Roosevelt.

Today, some commentators believe that he colorful description could be applied to the position of the president in Iran.

This is why many, even among the critics of the regime, insist that showing any interest in this year’s presidential election, slated for June, is not only a waste of time but active participation in a massive political deception.

How relevant are such analyses?

Continue reading →
NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Big White Lies By Hezekiah Kantor

By on March 14th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/13/big-white-lies/

A revitalized and restorationist Republican Party will never take shape until white America finally gets off its knees.

“This government has failed us . . . We need a self-help program, a do-it-yourself philosophy, a do-it-right-now philosophy, an it’s-already-too-late philosophy.”
— Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet”

A new poll of more than 1,000 registered voters released by Echelon Insights offers a startling glimpse into the psyche of Joe Biden supporters. Among Democrats, the top three issues over which they say they are “extremely” or “very concerned” are “Donald Trump supporters,” “white nationalism,” and “systemic racism.” 

Among the actions Biden took during his first week in the White House was to rescind President Trump’s ban on critical race theory training in the federal government. We can now expect the cultural revolution to resume in the federal bureaucracy, a bureaucracy that will now explicitly demonize huge segments of what is (supposed to be) our country. 

My purpose, however, is not to criticize our ruling regime. No, I’m here to criticize psychologically conquered white people and to denounce white liberal supremacy. The former constitute so much of the governing class within the Republican Party and the latter are at the top of every major U.S. institution, public and private. It is time to be critical of the innumerable half-truths and white lies that pass for discourse in our decadent age.

Our Dumb, Racialist Civic Vocabulary

Who is a “white supremacist” according to our ruling regime? According to students at the University of Washington, it is George Washington. Who is a “white nationalist?” Apparently, it is anyone who objects to open borders, reads Patrick Buchanan, or worked for Donald Trump.

Continue reading →
NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Maternity Flight Suits and Other Admonitions When the Gods of the Copybook Headings return maternity flight suits will not be part of the drama. By Roger Kimball

By on March 14th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/13/maternity-flight-suits-and-other-admonitions/

Just about the first thing Lloyd Austin did after being confirmed as Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense was to issue a service-wide order commanding officers issue a one-day “stand down” within sixty days to “address extremism within the nation’s armed forces.” “What extremism?” you might be asking, and you would be right to ask. 

No matter what Lloyd Austin or the media tells you, the trouble with the U.S. Armed Forces is not political extremism but the enervating rust of political correctness. As Victor Davis Hanson has shown, the upper echelons of the U.S. military were purged by Barack Obama. If they are politicized today, it is firmly in the direction of the woke ideology of identity politics.

Thus we have the commander-in-chief, Joe Biden, speak about the “intensity of purpose” that will be devoted to “designing body armor that fits women properly, tailoring combat uniforms for women, creating maternity flight suits, updating requirements for their hairstyles.” This was not a joke—or, rather, it was not said in jest. 

Perhaps the Biden means to prepare the distaff side for a different sort of Battle of the Bulge. True, he would be modestly more reassuring about the U.S. military if he could remember the name of his defense secretary or the name of the building where he works. “I want to thank the—former general . . . the guy who runs that outfit over there.” Oh, dear. 

Meanwhile, the Army is about to revise its standards for physical performance downwards so that women will be able to compete more effectively with men. Once upon a time, the Army’s slogan was “Be All That You Can Be.” Today, it might as well read “Be Whatever You Want.” Among the avalanche of executive diktats signed by Joe Biden in his first weeks in office is a directive approving sex reassignment surgery for active duty personnel. 

Continue reading →
ISRAEL Comments turned off

FOR ISRAEL’S BOYS OF SUMMER WAITING TIME

By on March 13th, 2021

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-03-24/israel-baseball-olympics-p

For Israel’s first Olympic baseball team, it’s wait until next year-  March 2020

Never has Israel won an Olympic medal in a team sport. The chances would have been 50-50 this summer.

Israel had qualified for one of the six spots in the Olympic baseball field. On Monday, Team Israel announced that four-time All-Star Ian Kinsler had obtained Israeli citizenship and signed up for the team.

On Tuesday, the Olympics were postponed, a particularly cruel blow to Israeli baseball officials who have toiled for years to establish the sport in a country that loves basketball and soccer above all. In the 2017 World Baseball Classic, an underdog Israeli team and its “Mensch on the Bench” mascot beat powers Cuba and South Korea in a magical run.

While the WBC is a niche event, the Olympics command a worldwide stage. Because of the size of a baseball team, Israel would have sent its largest delegation ever to the Olympics. And, with Israeli baseball officials planning youth fields outside Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the Olympics could have spurred the development of the sport in Israel like nothing else.

“Baseball is not popular in Israel,” outfielder Jeremy Wolf said. “This was going to make a huge impact with the kids who would see us on television.

“So, when you get rid of the eyeballs of the Olympics, we’re just going to have to keep momentum going so, in 2021, when it happens, people are still going to be interested.”

Continue reading →