RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-720196

With each passing day ahead of the fast-approaching November 1 Knesset elections, the rhetoric against opposition leader and Likud Party chairman Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu increases in volume and vitriol. Gossip disguised as investigative reportage keeps cropping up about the former prime minister vying to return to the premiership. 

This is coupled with, and often overshadowed by, warnings about the perils of a government that includes MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, No. 2 on the Religious Zionist Party slate. The right-wing firebrand is not only certain to retain his parliamentary seat, but – given his soaring popularity in the polls – will be a prominent figure in a Netanyahu-forged coalition. 

The mudslinging consists of rival politicians and leftist pundits shouting daily from podiums and op-ed pages that Netanyahu will stop at nothing to return to the helm; that Ben-Gvir is a fascist; and that a victory for their camp will mean an end to Israeli democracy.

The ridiculous accusations would be funny if they weren’t echoed in the halls of Washington and Brussels by Israel’s ill-wishers, as well as by ignorant fellow travelers.

Less understood outside of Israel is the real reason that the anti-Netanyahu choir has been singing so loudly about Ben-Gvir. Prime Minister Yair Lapid cannot form a coalition without the backing of the Arab parties. Even with all three of them, he still falls short of the necessary 61-mandate majority. 

One of these is the United Arab List (Ra’am). Though it is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, its chairman, MK Mansour Abbas, became the first of his ilk to join a governing coalition. 

https://bit.ly/3TafFML

The US-engineered and guaranteed Israel-Lebanon maritime/gas accord is supposed to follow in the footsteps of the Israel-Arab peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, reducing regional terrorism and instability, inducing moderation and enhancing US interests.  Does it?

Hezbollah and Lebanon

*The Shiite Hezbollah – Iran’s proxy and globally recognized terrorist organization – is a dominant player in the increasingly imploding, failed-state, Lebanon, politically, militarily, socially, educationally, religiously and journalistically.

Hezbollah has dramatically bolstered its capabilities and clout since its establishment in 1982 – by Iran’s Shiite Ayatollahs – as a vehicle to export the Shiite Islamic Revolution, extend the Ayatollahs’ reach from the Persian Gulf, through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the eastern Mediterranean, and undermine the US strategic posture in the Middle East. 

Hezbollah has collaborated with Iran’s Ayatollahs in the Middle East, West Africa and throughout Latin America, all the way to the US-Mexico border. It has gained substantial sway due to its major contribution to the survival of the Assad regime.  Hezbollah has benefited from the Ayatollahs’ financial support, combat training, and the supply of precise missiles and predator unmanned aerial vehicles.  

*Hezbollah’s dominant role in Lebanon’s decision-making has led the pro-US Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to ostracize Lebanon and suspend financial aid to Beirut, lest it bolsters Hezbollah’s stature.

Israel’s maritime accord vs. Israel-Arab peace treaties

*Israel’s peace treaties with the relatively-stable, pro-US, anti-Iran and anti-terrorist Sunni Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, with the blessing of Saudi Arabia, which generated a critical impetus to the Abraham Accords. Their policy and vision do not extend beyond their own national boundaries. 

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

In the 9th Oct 22 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
 

An Israeli breakthrough delivers chemotherapy without side-effects.

An Israeli emergency NGO aided hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and Florida.

Israeli satellite technology is saving global water supplies.

Israel’s electric airplane takes off.

Israel’s Free Trade Agreement with South Korea has been ratified.

Israeli soccer celebrates two major successes.

A hundred babies were born at one Jerusalem hospital during the Jewish New Year.

All the foregoing, and much more is listed by Michael Ordman. Israel’s global reach gives the lie to B.D.S.-the boycott, divest and sanction libels.

Here is true B.D.S. about Israel: Breathtaking Diagnostic Science every single day which reaches Botswana, Denmark, Senegal. rsk

 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Nanotech to deliver precision chemotherapy. Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have developed a nano-material that can deliver different toxic cancer therapies directly to tumors, without harming healthy cells. Robot chemistry was used to test different materials. The breakthrough can vastly reduce chemo side effects.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-tech-can-reduce-side-effects-and-increase-range-of-cancer-drugs-scientists/  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0142961222004409?dgcid=author
 
Detecting tumors via fungi. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that most tumors have fungi growing inside them. They have also documented their types using records from 17,000 cancer patients. DNA from fungi is detectable in the blood and can be used to develop a new cancer screening method.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/fungus-is-telltale-cancer-sign-possibly-screenable-by-blood-test-israel-us-study/
 
Diagnosing CJD. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was well known during the “mad cow” epidemic. But it can also be caused by an inherited gene mutation. Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center is one of only a dozen hospitals globally to use a 92% accurate spinal fluid test for early onset CJD.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/cutting-edge-test-for-fatal-brain-disorder-now-available-in-israel/
 
AI startup to assess new treatments. AION Labs – the Israeli innovation lab for startups (see here previously) has itself launched a startup.  OMEC.AI aims to predict if a new treatment will succeed following pre-clinical trials. Its next-generation computational platform will gauge effectiveness and expose safety issues.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-innovation-lab-backed-by-pharmaceutical-biotech-giants-mints-1st-ai-startup/  https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/aion-labs-launches-ai-startup-addressing-drug-trial-improvement-301635181.html
 
AI engine thinks like a doctor. Israel’s Kahun (see here previously) has expanded from merely a Covid-19 diagnosis system to a full “digital medical advisor”. Its XAI engine bases its clinical reasoning decisions on Kahun’s proprietary map of over 30 million evidence-based medical insights.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bkswkgqmo
 
CE Mark for AR ophthalmic exoscope. Israel’s Beyeonics Vision (see here previously) now has European as well as US approval for its Beyeonics One™ ophthalmic exoscope. The augmented reality (AR) surgical headset gives eye doctors vastly enhanced abilities when performing eye surgery (e.g., cataracts).
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/beyeonics-vision-has-completed-the-ce-mark-registration-for-its-beyeonics-one-ophthalmic-exoscope-301636525.html
 
Matricelf wins 3rd place in Startup World Cup. Israel’s Matricelf (see here previously) was placed third out of 17,000 contenders for the 2022 Startups World Cup in San Francisco. Matricelf developed the technology for the heart 3D-printed by Tel Aviv University scientists in 2019 (see here).
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1vns800fo
 
WHO conference in Tel Aviv. For the first time, the World Health Organization came to Israel to hold its 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. 53 nations attended the conference from Sep 12-14 during which Israel signed bilateral health cooperation deals with Germany, Croatia, Cyprus, and Kazakhstan.
https://www.jns.org/opinion/heart-of-the-middle-east-israel-a-medical-and-ethical-leader/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tvOeu-ETf0  

https://www.jns.org/opinion/yair-lapids-holiday-bloopers/ 

During a memorial ceremony for Israel Defense Forces soldiers who fell 49 years ago in the Yom Kippur War, interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid made a blooper that gave his rivals further cause to ridicule him.

The Yesh Atid chairman took the opportunity of the somber event, held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, to talk about “societal unity,” a favorite campaign mantra of the parties in the anti-Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu camp. The point that the caretaker premier wanted to make was that the Israeli public had banded together when a coalition of Arab armies, led by Egypt and Syria, launched their infamous surprise attack on the country.

“When thousands of worshipers were torn from synagogue and forced to replace their tallit [prayer shawl] with uniforms and their tefillin [phylacteries] with rifles, they did not ask who was right-wing and who was left-wing, or who fasted and who did not,” he said of the response to the massive Oct. 6, 1973, assault, which began on the holiest day in Judaism.

“The religious person exiting the synagogue and the secular one teaching his children to ride bicycles [on the vehicle-free] streets all donned uniforms and headed shoulder-to-shoulder into battle,” he added.
What Lapid hadn’t realized was that tefillin aren’t laid on Yom Kippur or on any other holiday. Ditto where Shabbat is concerned. Woops.

In fairness, the former journalist-turned-politician—like many of his colleagues and much of the populace—is a secular Jew. And though he would have been taught some level of Torah in elementary school (he didn’t matriculate from high school), his unfamiliarity with the rituals of his religion isn’t terribly shocking.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-719065   

US House Rep. Brad Sherman (D-California) took to Twitter on Monday to “urge Israeli political leaders from all sides of the political spectrum to ostracize extremists like Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose outrageous views run contrary to Israel’s core principles of a democratic and Jewish state.”

These “extremists,” he added, “undermine Israel’s interests and the US-Israel relationship, which I and my colleagues have worked to strengthen.”

Sherman was the second “pro-Israel Democrat” to issue a warning against Otzma Yehudit leader MK Ben-Gvir. According to a report earlier this week in Axios, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez said something similar last month in a private meeting with opposition leader Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.

“The senator told Netanyahu he needed to realize [that] the composition of …[a] coalition with the likes of Ben-Gvir] could seriously erode bipartisan support in Washington, which has been a pillar of the bilateral relationship between the US and Israel,” a source cited by the outlet revealed.

As No. 2 on the Religious Zionist Party list, which most polls are predicting will garner some 12-13 mandates in the November 1 Knesset election, Ben-Gvir is guaranteed to retain his seat in Israel’s parliament. More significantly, he could end up with a ministerial portfolio in the next government if Netanyahu is able to form a coalition.

With friends like these, the Jewish state doesn’t need the rest of the increasingly left-wing Democratic Party’s actual enemies. Leaving aside the chutzpah of American politicians basically demanding that Israel cancel an Israeli counterpart whose views they don’t share, the idea that the elevation of a certain candidate could and would damage the country’s ties with America is as outrageous as it is disingenuous.

Menendez’s moaning that it “could seriously erode bipartisan support in Washington” is particularly laughable. As Israel’s failed outgoing government illustrates, ideological schisms do not allow for the crossing of aisles without one side utterly capitulating to the other on matters of import.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/when-anger-undermines-atonement/

 As always in the lead-up to Yom Kippur, Israelis have been wishing one another an “easy fast” and a “good signing” in the Book of Life. It’s a customary greeting, which slips off the tongue without a moment’s thought for the actual process of penitence and prayer that is supposed to accompany the 25-hour fast.

The print and broadcast media also tend to focus on the more superficial aspect of the high holy day, with tips on how best to get through the round-the-clock abstinence from food and drink. These include warnings about caffeine withdrawal and dehydration, the latter being of particular concern during what always turns out to be a heavy-duty heat wave.

Taking for granted the serious business of atonement for sins against God—after spending the nine days beforehand asking forgiveness from the people around us whom we have hurt or wronged in some way—is a function of familiarity with the ritual, even on the part of those who don’t practice it. Ironically, the casualness of this period of deep religiosity contributes to the secular Jewish state’s unique character and beauty.

The climate surrounding the upcoming national election has been putting a bit of a damper on this year’s Days of Awe, however. Though there’s nothing new about the mutual hostility of politicians in competing camps, the fact that Nov. 1 will constitute the fifth time in three and a half years that the public is called to the ballot box—amid a cynical game of musical Knesset chairs—has caused an almost contradictory societal mixture of apathy and anger. Naturally, neither of these is conducive to self-reflection and remorse on the path to purification and renewal.

Indeed, it’s hard to imagine that when the Israeli airwaves go dark on Tuesday at sundown and remain so until Wednesday night, campaign rivalries will really be set aside for a higher purpose. In fairness to both lawmakers and voters, there’s a lot more at stake than merely the identity of the candidates or the parties they represent.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/a-political-ploy-to-curb-free-speech/

 In an act of chutzpah characteristic of the Israeli left, Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party has petitioned the Central Elections Committee (CEC) to declare Channel 14 a “propaganda platform” for Likud, headed by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to the petition, submitted to the CEC on Wednesday by Economy and Industry Minister Orna Barbivai and Energy Minister Karine Elharrar, the right-wing news outlet, owned by billionaire Yitzchak Mirilashvili, “is a real threat to the basic principles” of Israeli elections, as it is “fully harnessed in favor of a candidate and a party, without balance and contrary to every standard of reasonableness, fairness and common sense.”

Barbivai claimed that the move isn’t intended to “influence the content of the broadcasts,” but to demand transparency—to report to the public that the “content constitutes election propaganda.”

Elharrar accused the outlet of “posing as a news channel [but whose] entire purpose is improper propaganda” for Netanyahu.

“Allowing the channel to continue deceiving the public is a real danger to the press in Israel and to democracy as a whole,” she said.