RUTHFULLY YOURS

Before getting into high gear regarding Bernie Sanders & Co., it may be useful to review some previous thoughts for good background information. So, let’s take a look…

Spend some time on many-to-most university campuses these days; read or listen to numerous Jewish commentators and editorialists in the mainstream media dealing with Israel and the Middle East.

With rare exceptions, you’ll be hard pressed finding Jews (let alone others) who have not succumbed to the pressure to adopt one set of standards by which Israel and Zionism is studied and judged, and another entirely different set by which the rest of the Middle East and North Africa—indeed, the rest of the world–is scrutinized. While Zionism is routinely vilified, have you ever heard the word Arabism even mentioned? https://ekurd.net/arabism-zionism-journeys-2019-01-12 Has it come up in any of the Democrat debates to see who gets to confront President Trump in the-fast approaching American election?

Frequently, Jewish organizations (J Street U, Jewish Voice For Peace, and too many others–including even Hillel, at times) are prominent, or at least collaborative, in partaking in the one-sided Israel and Zionism-bashing goings-on of other groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Muslim Students Association, radical Leftists, and “Progressive” Liberals.

While students learn about the ‘evil’ quest of Jews to cast off their millennial victim, scapegoat, and whipping post status, they’ll neither hear nor read anything about the plights of scores of millions of other non-Arab peoples in the region. They won’t find, for example, a local chapter ofStudents for Justice in Kurdistan or for the Kabyle or Amazigh (Berber”) people, whose programs they can attend. And they won’t find a post-Zionist, “Progressive” Hebrew or other professor mentioning anything about them either. Together, just the Kurds and Imazighen alone account for some 75-80 million non-Arab people in a region that Arabs claim to be merely “purely Arab patrimony…the real main cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict in a nutshell.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Breakthrough in fighting resistant bacteria and cancer. Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and AI to design new antibiotics and treatments for RNA viruses responsible for diseases such as hepatitis, HIV and many cancers.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/breakthrough-israeli-screening-method-could-lead-to-new-cancer-treatments-antibiotics/
 
Treatment for severe victims of coronavirus. As reported previously, (see here) the Allocetra treatment from Israel’s Enlivex cures patients suffering severe sepsis. Allocetra is now being offered to governments for the thousands of coronavirus patients suffering sepsis-induced organ failure due to overactive immune responses.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-company-ready-to-assist-coronavirus-victims-with-novel-drug-617777
 
Faster diagnosis of coronavirus. New technology developed by researchers at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University reduces the time taken to test viruses from an hour down to 15 minutes. The enhanced test is already used in Sheba Medical Center for other viruses and is now undergoing testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-tech-may-help-drastically-reduce-coronavirus-diagnostic-time-617796
 
Israeli support for coronavirus patients. Israeli innovation organization INNONATION recruited 100 Israeli volunteer doctors to provide medical videos to people in quarantine for Coronavirus in China and globally. It has also raised funds to send 150,000 pieces of medical equipment to China. Please see the inspiring video.
https://www.innonation.io/videos?wix-vod-video-id=baeb7735a7c84a1e90db1b678b6ca7c2&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-k0ezbnr7  https://www.innonation.io/
 
Monitoring suspected coronavirus patients. 12 Israelis exposed to the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) on the cruise liner in Japan have been quarantined at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. Each patient uses a TytoCare, device (see here) for doctors to remotely check pulse, temperature, throat, lungs, ears, heart, abdomen and skin.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/with-handheld-device-israelis-exposed-to-coronavirus-monitor-their-own-conditions/
 
Working on a coronavirus vaccine. The MIGAL Galilee Research Institute has made several scientific breakthroughs (see here)but the latest may be a treatment for the coronavirus (COVID-19). They are adapting their effective vaccine against avian Coronavirus Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV). Approval target is 90 days.
https://worldisraelnews.com/coronavirus-breakthrough-israeli-researchers-make-discovery-that-could-lead-to-vaccine/
 
Let me see inside your shoulder. The innovative AI-based / CT technology from Israel’s RSIP Vision (reported here previously)can now assist with shoulder surgery – one of the most complex procedures with a long recovery time. The system provides a precise 3D anatomical model of the shoulder for better diagnosis.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-ai-tech-lets-surgeons-see-inside-of-shoulder/
 
Now we’re smiling. Israel’s Mavrik Dental develops dental devices that help automate dental treatments. Its Thera-Smile teeth-whitening system has been cleared by the US FDA. Mavrik has just raised $30 million to fund opening commercial operations in the U.S. while retaining its product development center in Israel.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3793850,00.html  https://mavrikdental.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzi-_51FuyI
 
Israeli startups save lives. The 2020 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit attracted a record 23,000 delegates from 186 countries. They heard about three Israeli medical startups – Insightec, AlphaTAU and Surgical Theater and three of the patients whose lives they had saved with their groundbreaking technology.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/How-Israeli-technology-saved-78-years-old-Leah-from-skin-cancer-617514   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTEdBuRURE
https://www.timesofisrael.com/this-israeli-tech-helped-grandpa-stop-spilling-his-drink/
 
3D-printing in the hospital. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center is using 3D printing alongside MRI and VR/AR as a precision tool to save lives and greatly improve surgical outcomes such as in knee replacements, heart bridges and facial reconstruction. Printing replicas of organs and bones also helps train new surgeons.
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/health-and-medicine/sheba-medical-center/printing-3d-dreams-the-future-of-operating-room-technology-has-arrived/2020/02/25/
 
Targeting solid tumors. Israel’s KAHR Medical (reported here previously) has just raised $18 million to advance its DSP107 treatment to combat solid tumors. DSP107 works by targeting CD47, a protein that is overexpressed by cancer cells. DSP107 prevents CD47 from suppressing the immune system.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3796430,00.html
https://kahr-medical.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/February-2020-KHAR-Round-D-financing-2020.pdf
 
Using bacteria to fight cancer. Israel’s NeoTX uses Selective T cell Redirection (STR) technology to enlist a powerful immune response against tumors. Mutated bacteria are fused with monoclonal antibodies which target the tumor’s 5T4 antigen, alerting T-cells to kill the tumor.  NeoTX has just raised $45 million of funds.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3794957,00.html
 

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Elections-Super-Tuesday-and-US-Israel-relations-619111

The Israeli public could be forced to undergo a fourth round of elections, which nobody wants and many have threatened to boycott.

The day after Israelis go the polls on Monday to elect the next Knesset, the greatest number of Democratic Party primaries will be held across the United States. The proximity of Super Tuesday to the Jewish state’s third attempt in 11 months to determine the makeup of the next government in Jerusalem is coincidental. Their outcomes, however, will have been mutually influenced.

This might seem peculiar, given the two countries’ completely different electoral and political systems, and the fact that the ballots counted in the US on March 3 merely will give a good idea about which Democratic candidate is likely to win the presidential nomination and run against the Republican incumbent, US President Donald Trump, in November.The Israeli election, on the other hand, is a national one, where voters will be opting this time around for one of 29 (!) parties vying for as many of the 120 Knesset seats as they can get.

The head of the largest party – or the one that has the best chance of forming a majority coalition – will be tasked with establishing the government.

For the past 11 years that figure has been Likud head Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Next week, he is likely to be in that position as well. Barring a surprise shift, again he will be unable to garner a 61-seat majority. If this happens, the Israeli public could be forced to undergo a fourth round of elections, which nobody wants and many have threatened to boycott.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15646/israel-election-iranians-palestinians

The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip seem to have endorsed the banner of Netanyahu’s political rivals in Israel: “Anyone but Bibi (Netanyahu’s nickname).” The two Palestinian groups ‘ perceive Netanyahu as a major threat to their dream of destroying Israel and as someone who has further strengthened Israel’s standing in the international arena.

The Palestinians are apparently convinced that it would be easier to extort concessions from inexperienced politicians such as Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya’alon and Gabi Ashkenazi. For the Palestinians, Netanyahu is a hard nut to crack. His strong stance against their tactics of intimidation have been, for them, a source of concern.

Abbas and his officials, in short, are telling the Israelis: “Look, we have a problem here. This man, Netanyahu, will not surrender to us — and that is why you need to elect a new leader.”

Abbas, not surprisingly, would doubtless prefer Israelis to replace Netanyahu with a weak leader who would comply with all his demands and take Israel back to the indefensible pre-1967 armistice lines — a move that would most likely result in the militias of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Iran sitting on the West Bank hilltops overlooking Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

The Palestinians are doing their absolute utmost to ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party do not win in Israel’s general election on Monday, March 2.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, seem to have endorsed the banner of Netanyahu’s political rivals in Israel: “Anyone but Bibi (Netanyahu’s nickname).” The two Palestinian groups perceive Netanyahu as a major threat to their dream of destroying Israel and as someone who has further strengthened Israel’s standing in the international arena.

In a last-minute, apparently desperate attempt to undermine the current Israeli prime minister’s chances of winning another election, the PA has launched a public relations campaign to explain to the Israeli public why they should not vote for Netanyahu.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15637/deal-of-the-century

Israel’s and America’s upcoming elections are fateful for both countries and will determine who will conduct the negotiations moving forward. If no clear message is conveyed by Israel — immediately — negotiations after the elections could take this silence as tacit agreement.

The political situation in the United States is no less crucial a factor. American presidents are elected to protect American interests — and these often shift. It is therefore important that Israel not do a deal based on oral understandings of how Israel will be at liberty to respond if and when the Palestinians violate the terms of the agreement (right now, oral understandings are all that exist), as we do not know how those oral understandings will be transmitted or accepted by the next US Congress and administration.

There is a world of difference between the approaches of the candidates from the two major US parties… Israel could easily find itself again having traded tangible facts on the ground for intangible, unenforceable promises.

If Trump is re-elected, the version of his plan eventually ratified by Israel will serve as the basis for negotiations. It is therefore crucial that the threats to Israel’s security are corrected before Israel embraces the “conceptual maps.” If, on the other hand, President Trump is not re-elected, the “Peace to Prosperity” vision may prove to be yet another Oslo Accord — a dangerous hole into which Israel will fall without a safety net. If Israel were to approve the plan now, essentially agreeing to the potential creation, at the end of four years, of a Palestinian state, the overwhelming temptation is for a future US president to begin the conversation from there, and not necessarily hold the Palestinian side to its obligations — which is precisely what happened under the Oslo framework.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/polls-gaza-netanyahu-and-gantz/

Even members of the public forced into bomb shelters on a regular basis realize that the prime minister is doing the best he can to keep Hamas at bay, while reserving the option to launch a ground incursion into Gaza as a last resort.

During live coverage of the bombardment of southern Israel by Islamic Jihad rocket fire on Monday, a Red Alert siren sent a TV reporter—along with a local shop owner whom he was interviewing and other people taking cover from the terrorist barrage from Gaza—into a nearby stairwell.

Tragically well-versed in the drill, the handful of passers-by entered the building and positioned themselves, single file, down a flight of steps, with the broadcast journalist and his cameraman in tow. As all waited for the wail of the siren to subside—listening for the familiar sound of explosions from projectile landings, Iron Dome interceptions and Israel Defense Forces’ bombings of terrorist targets over the border—the interview continued.

But it didn’t proceed as the reporter had hoped or anticipated.

After bemoaning the near-bankruptcy that his shoe store has been suffering as a result of the security situation in his city, the interviewee praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There’s nobody like Bibi!” he exclaimed, smiling broadly.

“No, no, let’s not talk politics,” the reporter admonished.