Late news from Israel hints of a tenuous cease fire in Lebanon against Hezbollah. Put that news in the “we’ll see” category. The one thing that never ceases in Israel, 24/7, even during war, is the ongoing and outsize research and development of technology, medicine, and science to bring succor and hope to billions of people in in the world. To his enormous credit Michael Ordman’s weekly newsletter details the foregoing. rsk
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
https://www.jns.org/ivy-league-holocaust-professor-charges-israel-with-genocide/
Not even Jews facing a recent organized pogrom in Amsterdam received his complete sympathy.
Omer Bartov, Brown University’s Samuel Pisar professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, called Israel’s ongoing Gaza military campaign a “genocide operation” in a Nov. 11 podcast “Gaza and the Question of Genocide.”
Addressing Georgetown University’s Saudi-supported Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), Bartov, an Israeli Holocaust historian, failed miserably to substantiate his outrageous accusation. The irony that a scholar of such reputation and subject specialty would make such egregiously false claims was not lost on Bartov’s hosts, who surely invited him knowing that his stance would be useful in their propaganda war against Israel.
As ACMCU’s reliably anti-Israel director Nader Hashemi moderated, Bartov discussed Israeli policies in the post-Oct. 7, 2023 context. He said the barbarous Hamas jihadist assault upon Israel “should be classified as a war crime and as a crime against humanity.”
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21169/icc-netanyahu-arrest-warrant
[T]he International Criminal Court (ICC)… should be defunded, dismantled, or both.
[By] law, the ICC is precluded from prosecuting any country that already has a valid judiciary system. This stipulation is the based on the treaty upon which the ICC was founded.
Another option that should be considered is for the incoming Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to establish whether maintaining US funding for bodies such as the United Nations and its affiliates, the ICC and ICJ, all of which display a strong anti-Israeli bias, is in Washington’s best interests. Certainly, without the lavish funding these bodies receive from Western governments, their ability to pursue their own twisted agenda will at least be severely curtailed.
The decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on unsubstantiated war crimes charges, shows that the body is unfit for purpose, and should be defunded, dismantled, or both.
First, by law, the ICC is precluded from prosecuting any country that already has a valid judiciary system. This stipulation is the based on the treaty upon which the ICC was founded.
US defence attorney Alan Dershowitz is assembling a “legal dream team” to contest the charges. He emphasized that it would base its argument on the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/obama-signals-he-controls-biden-and-hes-coming-for-israel/
One of Obama’s little pseudointellectual gimmicks was very visibly holding topical books to send a signal ahead of a policy intifada. One of those infamous moments came when he was showing off Fareed Zakaria’s “The Post-American World”.
That’s not something Biden does.
Biden’s not much of a reader and he hasn’t bothered with that kind of posturing before, but then shortly after forcing a ceasefire on Israel using an arms embargo, he was photographed while ‘pulling an Obama’.
President Biden was photographed exiting the Nantucket Bookworks bookstore in Massachusetts with a copy of an anti-Israel screed by Obama’s old pal Rashid Khalidi who had been a terrorist spokesman. Was Biden really planning to read through ‘The Hundred-Year War on Palestine: A History of Colonialism and Resistance’ which slurs Israel as an ‘apartheid state’ and describes Islamic terrorism against Jews as ‘resistance’?
After the Oct 7 attacks, Khalidi defended Hamas, claimed that its members really wanted peace and that Hamas had opened “a door that the United States, Europe and Israel slammed shut”.
“If you can’t go to the International Criminal Court or do a BDS,” Khalidi argued, “then you pick up a gun.”
Khalidi was so toxic that the Los Angeles Times had permanently buried a video of Obama’s toast for the former terror spokesman.
So why is Biden showing off a copy of Khalidi’s hate tract?
https://www.frontpagemag.com/what-is-it-that-the-biden-administration-is-threatening-israel-with/
A ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon appeared imminent on Tuesday afternoon. While numerous mainstream analysts, as clueless as ever, hailed it as the first step toward reducing tensions and establishing a lasting peace in the region, others were not so sanguine.
For over a year now and against enormous international pressure, Israel has been vowing to fight on until Hamas and Hezbollah were completely destroyed. Now it is apparently about to agree to a ceasefire that could allow Hezbollah to survive and murder more Israeli civilians on another day. What is going on? Two words, as Joe Biden would say, and those words are the man’s name himself: Old Joe Biden.
Former Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer Sarit Zahavi explained what was at stake: “But the gap lies with the question of whether Hezbollah will be able to recover or not. After what happened on October 7th, Israelis are not willing to enable Hezbollah to recover. This is not going to happen anymore. We are not going to enable that. While I am speaking to you, there are alerts proving that Hezbollah still has the capabilities to launch rockets and missiles against Israel. We cannot rely on just promises. We need to make sure that Hezbollah is not capable of threatening us and our families over here in the north.” Yet the ceasefire, at least as it is being reported, would allow Hezbollah to do just that.
CBS News reported Tuesday that “under the deal, a full and permanent ceasefire would be implemented immediately. There will be 60 days permitted for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces — a gradual withdrawal to allow the Lebanese forces to mobilize and move in to secure the area, but the trigger time is immediate, set to take effect later Tuesday.
https://worldisraelnews.com/west-wing-director-to-helm-epic-tale-of-american-who-built-israels-air-force/
The significance of Schwimmer’s contribution wasn’t lost on Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion, who declared him ‘America’s greatest gift to Israel.’
Before Israel had an air force, it had Al Schwimmer – an American engineer who orchestrated one of the most daring covert operations in modern history, with help from an unlikely crew including Frank Sinatra and Meyer Lansky.
Warner Bros. has tapped Aaron Sorkin to bring this extraordinary tale to the big screen. Behind the controls of military aircraft during World War II, Al Schwimmer cut his teeth as a flight engineer for TWA and the U.S. Air Transport Command.
But it was his early experience as an aerospace engineer at Lockheed that would lay the groundwork for an operation that seems scripted for the silver screen.
In 1948, while Jews were battling to establish their homeland, Schwimmer assembled a remarkable team of World War II veterans for a mission that would reshape Middle Eastern history.
Schwimmer’s unlikely allies included notorious mobster Meyer Lansky, entertainment icon Frank Sinatra, and even Pee-wee Herman’s father, forming what might be the most eclectic covert team ever assembled.
IDF strikes Syria-Lebanon border for second time in week, Damascus says
Together, they orchestrated the smuggling of 125 military aircraft and over 50,000 weapons to British-Mandated Palestine in a direct challenge to an American embargo at the time.
https://www.jns.org/lessons-from-a-few-hours-in-jenin/
Israeli security forces spent a few hours in the Palestinian Authority city of Jenin earlier this month. The incident didn’t make much news, but there’s much to be learned from it.
Let’s start with the extent of the terrorist presence in the city. The Israelis managed to eliminate a total of nine armed terrorists, and uncovered four explosives laboratories.
The city is literally riddled with bomb-making sites—yet somehow the PA police never noticed them. Some of the terrorists were killed by Israeli air strikes, which then set off “multiple secondary explosions,” according to the Israeli Army spokesman. That indicated “the presence of weapons caches.” Israeli forces also “neutralized dozens of explosives planted along routes intended to target Israeli soldiers.”
What a city! Explosives labs. Weapons caches. Terrorists busily planting dozens of bombs on various roads. Yet not a single member of the PA police or security forces ever noticed them. Amazing!
The PA has been the sole governing authority in Jenin since 1995. For twenty-nine years, the U.S.-trained PA security forces have been in charge.
That security force began as a 12,000-man “strong police force,” according to Article VII of the first Oslo Accord. It grew into a 60,000-man “security force” that has become a de-facto army.
What are the PA security forces required to do in cities such as Jenin? The Oslo agreement says they must “apprehend, investigate and prosecute perpetrators and all other persons directly or indirectly involved in acts of terrorism, violence and incitement.” (Annex I, Article II, 3-c of Oslo II).
https://www.frontpagemag.com/norways-foreign-minister-targets-israel-and-trump/
Weird thing about Norway: on the one hand, the people, by Western European standards, are unusually patriotic and fiercely protective of their sovereignty, waving flags every year on Constitution Day (May 17) and voting twice (in 1972 and 1994) to keep their country out of the EU. On the other hand, these same people’s government is, decades in and decades out, more slavishly devoted to international institutions than that of any other country on earth. Hence Norway, a member of the European Economic Area, is quicker to obey EU directives than are actual EU members. This is true when the “bourgeois” or “conservative” (i.e. socialist) parties are in charge, and it’s even truer when the “socialist” (i.e., really, really socialist) parties are in charge. But since the current Labor Party government took power three years ago, and especially since an absurdly self-regarding mediocrity named Espen Barth Eide was named Foreign Minister a year ago, things have gone utterly haywire.
So last Thursday, when the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, on the premise that they’ve been guilty of genocide in Gaza, Eide’s ministry was quick to announce that if Netanyahu and Gallant set foot in Norway, they’ll be arrested at once. Andreas Kravik, Eide’s #2 man, explained that as a member of the ICC, Norway has no other choice than to take this drastic action. “The ICC plays a crucial role in ensuring accountability for serious crimes,” professed Eide in a fatuous press release. “It is important that the ICC carries out its mandate in a judicious manner. I have confidence that the Court will proceed with the case based on the highest fair trial standards.” Little tyrants! At the same time, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif. This is not quite equal treatment, given that Deif, having been killed in an airstrike in July, is no longer with us.
That’s not Eide’s only recent outrage. Earlier this month, after Turkey wrote a letter to the UN calling for an arms embargo of Israel, Norway, which is to say Eide, signed on – along with 52 other countries, including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Venezuela, and Lula’s Brazil, plus the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Norway, note well, was the only Western country to lend its support to this reprehensible document.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21152/palestinians-new-leaders
For the past three decades, leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas have systematically targeted political activists, journalists, social media users, students, professors and human rights activists as part of an ongoing campaign to silence critics and deter others from speaking out against the lack of democracy and freedom of speech.
Torture included beatings, solitary confinement, feet-whipping, threats and taunts, and forcing detainees into various painful positions for extended periods. [Human Rights Watch] commented that “the habitual, deliberate, widely known use of torture, using similar tactics over years with no action taken by senior officials in either authority to stop these abuses, make these practices systematic.”
This abuse has transformed the PA-controlled areas in the West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip into Palestinian dictatorships similar to those that have long existed in most Arab countries. In addition, it has resulted in the suppression of the emergence of new leaders capable of leading the Palestinians towards security, stability and prosperity.
Palestinians still remember how political activist and human rights defender Nizar Banat, an outspoken critic of corruption in the Palestinian Authority, was beaten to death by PA security officers in Hebron in 2021. Until today, no one has been punished for the killing of Banat.
The family of the slain political activist was naïve enough to believe that the ICC or any other international agency would serve them justice.
The ICC does not care about crimes committed by Palestinians against their own people. Instead, the court’s antisemitic prosecutor is busy searching for ways to punish Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for daring to fight back in a war that was launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Palestinians have not only been deprived of a large portion of the international financial aid — stolen by corrupt Palestinian leaders — but also of the right to elect new leaders and representatives through free elections.
Those who are hoping that a new (and pragmatic) Palestinian leadership will take over one day are in for a disappointment. Even after 89-year-old PA President Mahmoud Abbas is gone, his cronies and inner circle will continue to run the show. They will not, under any circumstances, share the cake with other Palestinians.
The same applies to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. No Palestinian will agree to play any role in the administration of the Gaza Strip after the current Israel-Hamas war, as long as the Iran-backed terrorist group and its friends are still around. That is why it is necessary to eliminate Hamas completely and make sure that it loses its military, political and civilian capabilities in the Gaza Strip. This could take a few more months or years, but it is far better than ending the war in a way that keeps Hamas in power.
Palestinian leaders have a long history of cracking down on their political rivals and opponents. For the past three decades, leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas have systematically targeted political activists, journalists, social media users, students, professors and human rights activists as part of an ongoing campaign to silence critics and deter others from speaking out against the lack of democracy and freedom of speech.
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
As the ICC equates democratic Israel with Hamas terrorists, Israel’s positive news includes vast numbers of articles to highlight Israel’s indispensability in combating the world’s greatest problems. It is quite incredible to see the contrast. Michael Ordman
Members of the Hague’s Criminal Court should be denied all of Israel’s dazzling life saving and health enhancing technology and medicine. rsk
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough. Tel Aviv University scientists have developed a low-cost vaccine for all Covid-19 variants that is administered as a nasal spray and can be stored at room temperature. The absence of needles means less stress for patients – a previous TAU study showed high stress made vaccines less effective.
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/nasal-covid-19-vaccine-developed-by-tau/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202404159 (Advanced Science article)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/21983844/2024/11/40 (Advanced Science Back cover picture)
https://english.tau.ac.il/stress_vaccines
Prostate cancer radiation halved. (TY WIN) Doctors at Israel’s Beilinson Hospital have demonstrated the effectiveness of treating prostate cancer with two doses of high-dose external beam radiation instead of the current five doses. Benefits include less physical and emotional toll, less side effects, and shorter wait times.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-breakthrough-could-halve-radiation-sessions-for-prostate-cancer-patients/
Can you change your DNA? Dr. Idit Maya, Head of the Genomic School at Beilinson Hospital explains how the body need to use different proteins to perform different functions. These proteins can be generated by making changes at the cellular level. In the future, new skills can be taught with the help of biological tools.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1gjujof1e
US clinics offer Israeli PTSD device. (TY ATS) the Prism electrodes-laden cap from Israel’s GrayMatters Health (see here previously) has been added to the PTSD treatments offered by two major US clinics – Home Base and Fermata. Prism helps patients control PTSD symptoms by displaying brain activity.
https://nocamels.com/2024/08/us-clinics-add-israeli-ptsd-treatment-to-roster/
Invisible eye surgery. Israel’s Beyeonics Vision (see here previously) has upgraded its “One” Augmented Reality digital visualization headset, with cutting-edge “invisible” infrared night-vision technology. It means that ophthalmic surgeons can now operate on patients’ eyes without causing discomfort to the patient.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beyeonics-one-revolutionizes-ophthalmic-surgery-with-invisible-light-technology-302272801.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLY5yM0tiwI (eye surgery video)
Smart software for medical imaging. (TY ATS) Israel’s DeepDense has developed Plug-AI – smart tools to enhance the digital images produced by other medical companies. DeepDense has teamed up with US firm Spectrum Dynamics Medical to improve the quality of cardiac and spinal images and reduce scan times.
https://nocamels.com/2024/08/israeli-and-us-medical-imaging-firms-collaborate-on-ai-integration/
https://deepdense.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imxTTebQExI
Revolutionizing women’s health. Israel’s OCON Therapeutics (see here previously) develops, manufactures and markets women’s health products based on its patented, non-invasive, intrauterine therapy delivery technology. 85% of OCON’s workforce are women. Pipeline treatments include fibroids & abnormal bleeding.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-drug-delivery-stent-could-revolutionize-womens-health/
Medical clowns help children with pneumonia. (TY Yanky & ATS) At last, a positive Israel story from the New Scientist. It is known that medical clown reduce stress and anxiety in hospitalized children. Now Israel’s Carmel Medical Center found that medical clowns shorten the time children with pneumonia spend in hospital.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2446996-clown-visits-may-shorten-the-amount-of-time-children-spend-in-hospital/
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