RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

Mainstream media, the academies and the collective cretins who routinely libel Israel ignore the news that exemplifies Israel. Behind the headlines and despite its chaotic parliamentary politics, and the vicissitudes of enemies poised to destroy the nation, the nation’s state of the art research, medical, technology and scientific institutions produce daily results which benefit citizens of every single nation in the globe. Thanks to Michael Ordman for compiling this weekly list of the foregoing as well as examples of Israel’s humanitarian concerns put into action by impressive social justice institutions. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Severe Covid patients cured in a day. (TY UWI) Israel’s Bonus BioGroup (see here previously) tested its MesenCure MSC treatment on 10 severely ill, high risk Covid-19 patients at Haifa’s Rambam hospital. All ten improved sufficiently to be discharged just one day after treatment. MesenCure now advances to Phase 2 trials.

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/10-serious-covid-patients-given-israeli-drug-leave-hospital-in-one-day-669564  https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-biotech-company-aces-phase-i-covid-cure-trial/

Cancer treatment trial extended. The Phase 1 / 2 trial of DSP107 from Israel’s KAHR Medical (see here previously) has commenced and will now be expanded to include blood cancer patients in addition to solid tumors. KAHR has received an additional investment of $5 million to fund the enlarged trial.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/immuno-oncology-startup-kahr-gets-5-million-for-trial-of-drug-on-blood-cancers/

Baking soda helps kill cancer cells. (TY Nevet) Israeli-Arab Technion PhD graduate Hanan Abumanhal has discovered sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) increases the potency of chemotherapy. For her doctorate, she developed nano particles to reduce the acidity of tumors, allowing reduced quantities of chemo to penetrate.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-researcher-discovers-baking-soda-helps-chemotherapy-kill-cancer-cells/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30615983/

Balancing gene expression to prevent cancer. Researchers at Ben Gurion University have discovered a new biological event that can control an excessive production of genes involved in cancer cell formation. Discovery of “the methylation of BRD4” advances scientific understanding of human cancer progression and its treatment.

https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/pages/news/breast_cancer.aspx

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/bgu-researchers-find-promising-target-for-cancer-treatment-669488

The immune cells that accelerate liver disease. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that the dendritic immune cell cDC1 increases the severity of fatty liver disease and NASH, suffered by 90% of obese individuals. The discovery may lead to treatments that could benefit millions of patients.

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientists-find-cell-involved-in-fatty-liver-disease-progression-668743   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01344-3

Software to help correct genetic defects. The development of CRISPR technology to prevent genetic diseases is hampered by off-target (unintended) changes to the genes. New software called CRISPECTOR from Israel’s IDC and Bar-Ilan University can prevent the consequences from transplanting erroneously modified cells.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-israeli-tech-gives-accuracy-boost-to-microscopic-scissors-for-dna-editing/

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/306746 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22417-4

In touch with the senses. Israel’s CorrActions is developing technology to detect deterioration in human cognitive state from drowsiness, fatigue, exhaustion, intoxication, age, and health issues. A sensor monitors slight, unique, changes in human touch or motion. It could prevent accidents or work errors by professionals.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3908719,00.html  https://www.corractions.com/

Migraine wearable wins Medtech award. The Nerivio therapeutic wearable for treating migraine pain from Israel’s Theranica (see here previously) won “Best New Technology Solution for Pain Management” award in the 2021 MedTech Breakthrough Awards program. It beat more than 3,850 nominations from 17 countries.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israelis-invent-first-wearable-migraine-device-for-acute-pain/

Tool for diagnosing autism. Israeli startup Cell-El Therapeutics.is developing a diagnostic tool for “triple A” (autoimmune antibody associated) autism. It has identified 30 immunological biomarkers and is developing a blood test using the best five. This could help identify severely autistic children and implement early therapies.

https://www.israel21c.org/a-diagnostic-tool-that-treats-autism-like-cancer/   https://www.cell-el.com/

VeryGoodNewsIsrael can be good for your health. It’s official. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have published the findings of their longevity study of 1200 Israelis that began in 1990. Participants aged 85-90 with a high optimism score had a 20% higher rate of survival over those who were less optimistic.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/307287

https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/gerona/glab051/6145793

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/06/what_do_advocates_of_a_twostate_solution_actually_advocate_.html

There are approximately 13.5 million people in the current geographical nation of Israel – about 9 million Israeli nationals and 4.5 million others known as “Palestinians” (primarily ethnic Egyptians and other Arabs who moved into the area early in the 20th century).

Due to some very peculiar agreements that would be unimaginable anywhere else on earth, this tiny country is currently divided into parts in which this external third of the population has been granted almost complete self-rule as “The West Bank” (actually, the provinces of Judea and Samaria) and “The Gaza Strip.” While these two areas are governed completely separately and somewhat differently, the rest of the world, out of ease or ignorance, refers to them together as the Palestinian Authority (PA).

It doesn’t work.

For a number of reasons that have been analyzed to death already, this artificial construct, the Palestinian Authority, is already a failed state, long before it has even achieved statehood. 

In election after election, the residents elect the terrorist leaders of Hamas, Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), as their representatives (and even when they aren’t elected, these terrorists just seize power anyway, as Hamas has done in Gaza, without serious objection from their subjects).

The area they control is governed exactly as one would expect places ruled by terrorists to be governed: with minimal emphasis on economic opportunity, living conditions and the rule of law, and instead, with primary emphasis on political power and a permanent state of war.

As the current conflict – a particularly hot moment within the constant conflict that has lasted the past century, to be honest – attracts more of the world’s attention than usual, the dream remedy known as “the two-state solution” returns to the fore.

Now, what all students of the Middle East should know already, though they often need to be reminded, is that the current map is already the result of a two-state solution.  The British Mandate for Palestine of a century ago was first promised to be all Israel, then was debated, derailed, and divided as the years went on, as statecraft was practiced in country clubs and far-off retreats.  The Mandate wound up split into an Arab state and a Jewish one, the Arab one substantially larger, with seaports in the Gulf of Aqaba, the Jewish one far smaller, but blessed at least with seaports on the Mediterranean.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/zionism-and-judaism-are-they-interdependent-67018

Judaism needs Zionism because it enabled Jews to return and to establish a state; this allows Jews to have a national identity and engage in fulfilling commandments that can only be done in Israel.

Although some people – such as those in the Reform and Reconstruction movements, “Progressives,” and some left-wing Israelis – claim to support Judaism and Zionism, in fact, they do not. For example, on May 15, 2021, a large group of students, mostly from Reform and Reconstructionist colleges, published a letter condemning Israel for “apartheid” and for “violating human rights” in its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. This explains why some Jews in America have turned their backs on Zionism, Israel and Judaism.

Zionism is connected to Judaism because it provides a text, the Jewish Bible, or Tanach (The Five Books of Moses, Prophets, and other writings), as well as libraries of theological and philosophical writing that define and mandate the Land of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Judaism needs Zionism because it enabled Jews to return and to establish a state; this allows Jews to have a national identity and engage in fulfilling mitzvot (commandments) that can only be done in Eretz Yisrael. This is the basis for creating the Third Jewish Commonwealth/Civilization.

Although they need each other to become fulfilled, Zionism and Judaism can and do exist separately and independently in the Diaspora. One can practice Judaism without being a Zionist, just as one can be secular or a non-Jewish Zionist.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-israeli-raam-party-makes-history-by-joining-be

Ringed by flashing cameras in a luxury hotel in Ramat Gan, conservative Islamist Ra’am chief Mansour Abbas made history on Wednesday night as the first Arab Israeli party leader in half a century to sign a deal to sit in a coalition government.

“This is the first time that an Arab party is part of the process of forming a government. We of course hope that it works and that a government will rise after four rounds of elections,” Abbas said.

Even before Ra’am announced it was signing on, the nascent coalition was widely regarded as the widest in the country’s history, uniting parties from the left to the pro-settlement right aimed at deposing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud faction.

To make it happen, Yamina chief Naftali Bennett and centrist Yesh Atid leader Yair Atid agreed to a rotation scheme, with Bennett becoming Prime Minister for the first two years.

Despite the wide spectrum of views in the so-called “change government,” Abbas said that he had agreed on numerous plans and budgets in Arab Israeli society with his counterparts in the constellation of parties seeking to topple Netanyahu.

“We have reached a critical mass of agreements in various fields that serves the interest of Arab society and that provide solutions for the burning issues in Arab society — planning, the housing crisis, and of course, fighting violence and organized crime,” Abbas said.

Abbas promised that many of the benefits would flow to the Negev region in southern Israel. Ra’am’s base is among the traditional Bedouin communities in the Negev desert.

Ra’am said that the so-called change bloc agreed to over NIS 53 billion ($16.3 billion) in budgets and government development plans for Arab society.

https://www.jns.org/analysis-what-does-a-bennett-lapid-government-mean/

“This looks to me like a car with four different wheels, and every wheel is going in a different direction,” said Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar. “The only thing they agree upon is the need to get rid of [Benjamin] Netanyahu. This objective will be achieved in the first minute of this government.”

(June 2, 2021 / JNS) Yesh Atid Party head Yair Lapid and Yamina Party head Naftali Bennett announced on Wednesday that they have secured an agreement to form Israel’s next government, thereby likely ending the 12-year consecutive term of Benjamin Netanyahu as the country’s prime minister.

The new government will be unprecedented in its composition, consisting of seven parties spanning the entire Israeli political spectrum, plus the backing of an Arab party for the first time. As such, questions remain over the ability to successfully govern such a disparate group of parties at a time when the country faces serious security threats stemming from Iran and its terror proxies, as well as internal social discord between Jews and Arabs.

Nevertheless, most analysts JNS spoke with were hopeful, especially when it comes to improving U.S.-Israel ties.

“It could certainly help the mood, initially,” Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, told JNS, saying that the United States will be pleased with a government that includes left-wing members. Though he cautions, “I could well see the Biden administration disappointed if the right-wing parties—which are, in fact, more right than Netanyahu—have their way.”

Pipes expects the right-wing coalition partners to dominate, noting that in the negotiations on forming the coalition, the three right-wing parties—Yamina, New Hope and Yisrael Beiteinu—“have been in the driver’s seat,” and Yamina, with only seven seats, has been given the premiership.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/a-message-for-president-elect-isaac-herzog-opinion-670080

Upon the election of Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog as Israel’s 11th president on Wednesday, letters of congratulations began to pour in from the leaders of organizations whose paths have frequently crossed with him in his current position, which he’s held for the past three years.

The heads of the American Jewish Committee, World Jewish Congress, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, American Jewish Congress and the Israeli-American Council all welcomed the news on the grounds that Herzog is just the right man for the job of unifying Israelis and strengthening bonds between the Jewish state and Jewish communities around the world.
Incumbent President Reuven Rivlin, too, extended felicitations. “I send you my warmest greetings, Mr. President,” Rivlin said in a phone call to his successor. “I can tell you that the responsibility of the role that you are about to assume is unlike anything you have done until now. The Jewish and democratic system we established here, in the land of our ancestors, has a body and soul. If the Knesset is a place of argument, as we have certainly seen recently, Beit Hanassi [the office and official residence of the president] is a place of discourse, partnership and statehood.”

Rivlin went on, “Beit HaNasi is the ‘neshama yetera,’ the additional soul of democracy. It is the home of the people, all the people of Israel. Its door is open and its ear is bent to all partners in building our home, their pains and their troubles, as well as to the fundamental issues of concern to Israeli society as a whole. The title of ‘first citizen’ and the task of guarding the character of the State of Israel, particularly at this point in time, are heavy responsibilities. I have no doubt that you will bear them superbly. I am proud to pass the baton on to you in a month’s time.”