RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jns.org/opinion/benjamin-netanyahus-fatal-flaw/

It’s not often that a world leader’s greatest weakness is so nakedly displayed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t know how to bind political talent to him. To say he doesn’t command loyalty is putting it gently. He inspires vindictive rage in his former confidantes. The problem is that Netanyahu seems to know only one way to handle potential rivals—suppress them.

It’s a stark contrast to the other longest-serving Israeli prime minister: David Ben-Gurion. Throughout his decades-long leadership of Israel’s Labor movement, he was rarely challenged. In 1965, when he split from Mapai to form the Rafi Party, all the young Turks went with him, among them Moshe Dayan, Chaim Herzog, Teddy Kollek and Shimon Peres (who was not exactly known for steadfast loyalty).

Such an event couldn’t be imagined with Netanyahu, who sends young Turks scattering at great political cost. Two of them—Naftali Bennett, a former chief of staff to Netanyahu, and Moshe Feiglin, a former Likud Party Knesset member—cost him the first election last April, what would be the first of three consecutive elections in a year’s time. The two parties they founded failed to pass the electoral threshold, sending hundreds of thousands of right-wing votes into the trash. Had they passed the threshold, Netanyahu would have had his majority, sparing the country the following elections in September and earlier this month.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-diseased-attitude-of-the-coronavirus-rebels/

The least that those backpackers could do after the “enormous effort and expense” that was spent on repatriating them was sign a quarantine declaration.

Dozens of the 1,100 Israeli backpackers airlifted from Peru a few days ago threw a hissy fit upon landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Though greeted graciously by ground crew, the exhausted 20-somethings, who had begged the government to rescue them from their treks in South America when they were unable to find flights back home before the coronavirus-necessitated border closures left them stranded, behaved like a bunch of entitled brats.

Peru, like practically every country in the world, was about to go on lockdown for an unspecified period. To get stuck in a foreign land—far away from one’s family and without fluency in the local language—is nothing to sneeze at, especially when every sneeze these days is interpreted as a symptom of COVID-19.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz promptly responded to the tearful pleas for help from the young travelers, who were encountering great difficulty in purchasing airline tickets due to a dearth of available seats and to the exorbitant fees now being charged for them.

In a mission of the sort that does the Jewish state proud, Katz dispatched four El Al 787 Dreamliners to Lima to pick up the distraught Israelis and return them safely to Tel Aviv—at no cost to them or their anxious parents, many of whom, by this point, had been fired from their jobs or put on unpaid leave, thanks to the shuttering of businesses.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15785/palestinians-coronavirus-free-speech

Hamas is claiming that it is worried about the safety of the Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, often for multiple murders, while its own prisons in the Gaza Strip are full of Palestinians whose only crime is that they dared to criticize the Hamas leadership or its policies.

Did Hamas forget that just last month another Palestinian, Ahmed al-Sa’afeen, 39, died shortly after he was detained for his alleged affiliation with Fatah?

Instead of directing millions of dollars to building hospitals or improving healthcare, Hamas has for the past few years invested approximately $150 million in rebuilding its tunnel infrastructure, and has diverted dual-use construction materials such as concrete, steel, and wood, which could have gone to rebuilding Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

According to Palestinian sources, 50 Palestinians are being held in Palestinian Authority prisons in the West Bank because of their affiliation with Hamas and other opposition groups.

Both the PA and Hamas, even during the difficult time of a pandemic, as they have made abundantly clear, do not hesitate to pursue their repressive measures against anyone who dares to speak out against financial and administrative corruption, or express views that annoy anyone leading the Palestinians.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, says it has taken drastic steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among the two million Palestinians living under its rule.

On March 22, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health announced the first confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Gaza Strip: two Palestinians who returned from a visit to Pakistan. The ministry said the two patients were placed in quarantine in a field hospital near Gaza’s border with Egypt.

 https://bit.ly/2UuISEO
Is the vision of the Palestinian Authority limited to the establishment of a state in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)?  Is the vision of the Palestinian Authority amenable to alteration through financial inducements? Shouldn’t the pursuit of peace be based on a realization of the de facto – rather than hopeful – vision of the Palestinian Authority?

The Middle East context

In the Arab/Muslim Middle East – contrary to Western democracies – regimes are authoritarian, suppressing the majority. They are not scrutinized by legislators and constituents, unconstrained by checks and balances, unchallenged by election cycles, and highly motivated by long-term visions. These visions quash constituents’ preference, and supersede tempting Western financial packages.

Therefore, unlike the relatively short-term, election-driven strategy pursued by Western policy-makers, Arab policy-makers are driven by long-term strategy and vision, supported by short term tactics, which frequently aim to mislead, while camouflaging the actual vision.

The de facto, pre-1967 Palestinian vision 

According to the de facto Palestinian vision – as documented by the current K-12Palestinian hate curriculum – Palestine extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, erasing the “infidel” Jewish State (The term Palaistine was coined by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE, referring to the Land of Israel).

http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Virus protection masks. (TY UWI) Israel’s Sonovia (see here) is now in full production of its face masks that protect the wearer from the coronavirus. Sonovia will donate the first 120,000 of the new masks to the Israeli government, for use by medical workers, patients and key employees. More will be donated to other countries.

https://tps.co.il/articles/we-know-that-we-can-kill-the-coronavirus-israeli-company-donates-120000-cutting-edge-protective-masks-to-govt/ https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-start-up-to-donate-120000-masks-to-stop-coronavirus-spread-621077

Treatment saves coronavirus patient. The Israel-Arab bus driver, who was critically ill from the coronavirus, is out of danger. He caught the virus from a group of Greek tourists and was treated with anti-viral medications. Chloroquine, Remdesivir and several experimental medications (see link) are being used in severe cases.

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Health-Ministry-approves-experimental-treatments-for-coronavirus-621209

Stem cell treatment may relieve coronavirus symptoms. Israel’s Pluristem Therapeutics’s placenta-based cell therapy (see here) could be used to treat patients suffering from respiratory and inflammatory complications associated with coronavirus. Pluristem has launched a joint project with two Berlin-based medical institutions.

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-cell-therapy-to-treat-acute-COVID-19-patients-prevent-ARDS-621016 https://unitedwithisrael.org/novel-israeli-therapy-takes-aim-at-coronavirus/

30-minute coronavirus testing kit. Israel’s BATM has developed a diagnostics kit to detect coronavirus from saliva samples in less than half an hour. The kit already detects SARS and MERS virus infections. BATM is now busy commercializing the kit for large-scale production.

https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-company-develops-rapid-diagnostic-kit-for-covid-19/

Double boost for potential ALS treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) The US FDA has given Orphan drug status to the PrimeC ALS therapy from Israel’s NeuroSense (see here). Meanwhile, NeuroSense has begun Phase 1 human clinical trials of PrimeC at two US sites and a Phase 2a human trial at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center.

https://alsnewstoday.com/2020/02/12/als-combination-therapy-primec-receives-fdas-orphan-drug-designation-enters-clinical-trials/

Trial success for diabetes pill. (TY YL & UWI) Israel’s Oramed announced good results of its Phase 2b trials of ORMD-0801 treatment for Type 2 diabetes. Oramed will now discuss its Phase 3 plans with the US FDA.

https://www.oramed.com/oramed-reports-positive-results-in-the-final-cohort-of-its-phase-2b-oral-insulin-trial/

Breakthrough designation for corneal implant. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s EyeYon Medical (see here) has been awarded Breakthrough Device designation for its EndoArt polymer film implant, attached to the posterior corneal surface, to treat chronic corneal edema. EndoArt has been successful in early human clinical trials.

https://eye-yon.com/endoart-received-the-breakthrough-device-designation-from-the-fda/

Only take the vitamins you need. Israeli app Nutricco monitors a person’s nutrient intake, provides dietary advice and delivers missing vitamins to your home. It is intended for those who currently waste money and risk their health by taking unnecessary supplements.

https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-startup-helps-you-take-only-the-vitamins-you-need/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChnHcV_DaBY https://www.nutricco.com/

Smells to boost memory while you sleep. Scientists from Tel Aviv University and Israel’s Weizmann Institute have demonstrated that administering certain scents during sleep bolsters memory processes in the brain. The study tested memory recall after using rose scent while memorizing words and then during a short nap.

https://www.israel21c.org/rose-scents-while-you-sleep-can-boost-your-memory/

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30171-8?_return

EU approval for blood pressure wristband monitor. (TY Atid-EDI) In Sep 2019 Israel’s Biobeat received FDA approval for its medical smartwatch and patch (see here). It has now also received CE Mark approval. The smartwatch measures blood pressure, cardiac output, stroke volume, blood oxygenation and heart rate.

https://www.medgadget.com/2020/03/biobeat-receives-eu-clearance-for-vital-sign-monitoring-with-wristwatch-and-patch.html

A surgical sewing-machine. Israel’s Anchora Medical develops single-use suturing devices used to bring soft tissue into the desired placement during open and minimally invasive surgeries. Anchora has just raised $4.5 million in a funding round led by Japan’s Hoya Corporation.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3798190,00.html http://anchora-medical.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrE0VGqt0UM

Building an imaging system for prostate cancer. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Isotopia Molecular Imaging has entered into a development partnership with Germany’s Eckert & Ziegler for the development of its PSMA-11-Kit for prostate cancer imaging. Isotopia’s team includes some of Israel’s leading scientists.

https://isotopia.co.il/isotopia-molecular-imaging-and-eckert-ziegler-to-start-partnership-for-prostate-cancer-imaging/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5yhCGBqsiA

Predicting success of cancer treatments. Israeli scientists are frequently finding new ways of personalizing cancer treatments. Some are based on genetics (see here) or proteins expressed by the body (see here). Now Weizmann Institute researchers are devising a system to predict how patients will respond to immunotherapy.

https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/predicting-immunotherapy-success

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14639-9

Unlocking more medical data. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s MDClone (see here) organizes patient data to help medical research in Israel and in the US. It has now expanded to Canada with The Ottawa Hospital – one of Canada’s largest hospitals. MDClone’s technology can potentially benefit thousands of Canadians.

https://www.mdclone.com/resources/mdclone-expands-to-canada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-TaH32O1ec

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15773/palestinian-leaders-coronavirus-israel

On March 18, Israel delivered hundreds of kits for detecting the coronavirus into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, together with equipment for medical protection. This is the same Gaza Strip from which Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have been firing thousands of rockets at Israel for the past few years, and launching party-balloons carrying hidden bombs as recently as last week. In February alone, more than 40 rockets were launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian leaders, who are pursuing their efforts to prosecute Israelis for “war crimes,” have been concealing from their own people and the international community the fact that Israel is assisting them in the war on the coronavirus.

For Palestinian leaders, it seems that the war on Israel is more important than the battle against a pandemic and saving the lives of their own people. Yet, these leaders and their families, if they are diagnosed with the disease, will undoubtedly be the first to rush to Israel to seek medical treatment there.

What is the connection between US President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled plan for Middle East peace and the coronavirus?

Palestinian leaders seem to believe that there is a connection between the peace plan, also known as the Deal of the Century, and the coronavirus pandemic. According to these leaders, Israel is taking advantage of the health crisis to implement the Trump plan and build new housing units for Jews in the West Bank. They are referring to Israel’s intention to build a new road between the E1 area and Jerusalem, and 3,500 apartments in Ma’aleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem.

First, the building program in the area has been on the agenda for more than 20 years. All Israeli governments since Yitzhak Rabin’s second tenure as prime minister in the 1990s have supported it.

Second, the recent Israeli announcement was made in the last week of February, before the outbreak of the coronavirus in Israel and the West Bank. In fact, the announcement came on the eve of the March 3 election and was more likely a pledge from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral campaign.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/no-need-to-fear-shin-bet-technology-for-curbing-corona/

During the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the Israeli government unanimously approved an additional emergency measure to track and trace the steps of citizens infected with COVID-19.

The decision to use the Shin Bet internal security agency’s digital technology as a weapon in the war on the coronavirus did not come as a surprise. Indeed, in one of his many press conferences to update the public on the global pandemic in general and on specific directives to prevent its spread in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that discussions were underway on how best to implement the controversial move without egregiously violating civil and human rights.

Netanyahu acknowledged the problematic nature of employing methods normally reserved for surveilling terrorists to monitor everybody. This, he said, was why he was in consultations with legal and security experts to come up with a formula that safeguards public health and provides guarantees of minimal privacy invasion.

Falsely calling the move “clandestine”—because the decision on its immediate implementation was taken in the middle of the night—critics are going wild, attacking it and Netanyahu from every direction. Although the technology in question tracks cell phones, the argument about individual liberty has been upstaged by coalition politics and legalese. The 23d Knesset was only sworn in on Monday, for example, and the next government has yet to be formed.