RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/08/palestinian-rutgers-prof-spins-vehicular-jihad-attack-as-car-accident

“The car looks like from the video that it lost control,” Rutgers University law professor Noura Erakat recently fantasized about her Palestinian cousin’s June 23 death; her cousin was clearly filmed in a car ramming attack near Jerusalem against Israeli police. Her lies about this jihad violence, obvious to any objective observer, merely added to her grotesque Israel-hatred in a July 14 Institute of Middle East Understanding (IMEU) podcast with her equally radical host, Omar Baddar.

Baddar shamelessly introduced the “This is Palestine” podcast by describing the death of Ahmad Erakat, the nephew of leading Palestinian Authority (PA) official Saeb Erakat, as occurring in “what appeared to be a car accident.” Yet Israeli security cameras clearly recorded Ahmad driving his car into Israeli border police stationed at the so-called “container checkpoint” on the road between the PA communities of Bethlehem and Abu Dis, Ahmad’s home. A woman police officer, miraculously only lightly wounded in the attack after Ahmad’s car sent her flying, left no doubt about his deliberate assault.

Despite Baddar’s assertions that “Israeli authorities lied about Ahmad’s actions,” Ahmad subsequently rushed from his car, possibly to continue the attack. While Erakat claimed to see Ahmad “attempting to put his arms up” in surrender, the police in reality had no choice but to shoot him. Erakat also claimed that an Israeli ambulance, which arrived within five minutes of the shooting, made a “sadistic” refusal to treat Ahmad, but actually pronounced him dead upon arrival.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/08/term-annexation-land-judea-and-samaria-israel-myth-dr-schmuel-katz/

I know that there is a lot of information available to the observers of the historical perspectives, and as I am sure that many of you know, much of it is based on disinformation and on outright lies. Therefore, in order to be able to promote honorable causes it is important to clarify the facts.

Before addressing a few issues specifically, I would like to make some very important clarifying points:

1.     The state of Israel is one of the strongest and most reliable allies of the USA in the Middle East and in the UN.
 
2.     We do not want to weaken Israel and put her at risk of failure, giving way to Radical Terror Organizations like Hamas, Fatah and Hezbollah etc. and Terror Supporting States like Iran and Lebanon, etc.
 
3.     A failure of Israel will definitively cause irreparable damage to the USA, and to the free world, by losing the mutually crucial security benefits and the tremendous mutually important general benefits, from the Israeli innovations, as they relate also to research and development.
 
4.     The land in the West Bank of the Jordan River, which is being discussed, was known for generations as Judea and Samaria, the heartland of the Jewish people, since Biblical times.
 
5.     The Jewish people had a longstanding claim to the land, which was under the management of the British Mandate following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1917. The Jewish claim was recognized by the Balfour declaration and by the subsequent legally-binding decision by the League of Nations in the San Remo conference. This decision was accepted also by the nascent United Nations. Therefore, it is very clear from the international law point of view, that the presence of the state of Israel in this area is totally legal!!

http://www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Aviptadil saves Covid-19 patients. As reported here previously, Aviptadil from Israel’s NeuroRx, is undergoing Phase 2/3 trials in Israel and the US. The adapted treatment, now known as RLF-100, prevents Covid-19 replication and has already significantly improved the health of 15 emergency cases in the US.
https://www.neurorxpharma.com/press-releases/rlf-100-aviptadil-clinical-trial-showed-rapid-recovery-from-respiratory-failure-and-inhibition-of-coronavirus-replication-in-human-lung-cells/
 
Latest progress at the HUJ against Covid-19. This video shows up-to-date information on the research work being conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem into testing and treatments for Covid-19.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUrXXT1Jys
 
50 Technion labs battle against Covid-19. This video shows Technion scientists working on innovations to improve Covid-19 testing, screen for contagion, fast track vaccines, nano ghost decoys, liquid foam therapy for ARDS, self-cleaning mask, antiviral sticker, ventilator hood, air-filter mask, disinfectant, Corobot and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Puc6QNrB4
 
October start for human trials of Israeli Covid-19 vaccine. Israel’s Minister of Defense Benny Gantz has announced that the Israel Institute of Biological Research will begin human trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in October. Phase 1 clinical trials for safety and efficacy will begin after the Jewish holidays that end on Oct 9th.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-to-begin-covid-19-vaccine-human-trials-1001338518
 
Corona patient leaves hospital after 99 days. 74-year old Marina Chivatova was discharged from Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center after having spent no less than 99 days in the hospital’s Corona Unit.  It could be the world’s longest stay for a hospitalized Covid-19 patient and shows that Israel never gives up.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/284832
 
Matching therapy to tumor behavior. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute and at MIT and Harvard can identify the most suitable cancer therapy from the signals detected in the tumor itself. They analyze the pathway of the tumor using PathOlogist – an advanced bioinformatics tool developed by Bar-Ilan professor Sol Efroni.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/new-approach-tailoring-cancer-therapy-tapping-signaling-activities-cancer-cells  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17090-y
 
Nano antioxidant for CJD patients. (TY UWI & I24 News) More on the nano-engineered pomegranate oil antioxidant produced by scientists at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital. It is now being targeted at sufferers of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) – common in specific Jewish groups.  The latest findings give hope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0jvY_AI20
 
Israeli neurosurgeons save Muslim boy’s life.  (TY JNS) A bullet from Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha celebrations hit a 9-year-old Arab boy in the head. At Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, Israeli neurosurgeons removed the bullet from deep inside the boy’s brain. Two days after the surgery, the boy was eating, talking and moving his limbs.
https://www.israel21c.org/surgeons-safely-remove-mystery-bullet-from-boys-brain/
 
Prospective treatment for children with autism. In her lab, Professor Illana Gozes of Tel Aviv University (reported here previously) repaired live but damaged brain cells taken from deceased Alzheimer’s patients and an autistic child. It showed that her experimental NAP peptide could be used to treat both conditions.
https://neurosciencenews.com/alzheimers-drug-autism-16714/  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32661233/
 
The science of sleep. Another excellent medical webinar from Techion UK. Sleep And Dreams featured Professor Peretz Lavie, former President of Israel’s Technion Institute. He explained some of the mysteries about sleep and dreams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqhgu6ehgII&t=388
 
Competition for remote Femtech. 15 startups are pitching their telemedicine for women to a panel at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. The Israeli startups include PulseNmore, Gyntools, MobileODT, HeraMed (HeraBeat), Nuvo (INVU), EfA (RevDX), MyMilk,and IsenseU (Milk-O-Meter).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/tech-taking-ob-gyn-care-to-the-home-in-boost-of-telemedicine-for-women/
https://www.gyntools.com/   https://isense-u.com/
 
Israeli animal therapy reported in UK Guardian. (TY Eric F) A rare (mostly) positive article in the normally anti-Israel Guardian.  This emphasizes the importance of continually sending positive Israel articles to the Mainstream Media (MSM).  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/21/cats-camels-and-a-jesus-lizard-the-rise-of-animal-assisted-therapy

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/offering-to-help-lebanon-doesnt-mean-hailing-its-flag-637743

It is one thing for Jerusalem to offer assistance, but it quite another that Tel Aviv cover its
Following the horrific explosions that ripped into Beirut on Tuesday, leaving at least 135 dead and more than 4,000 injured, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conveyed his condolences to the people of Lebanon, and offered assistance, “as human beings to human beings.”

President Reuven Rivlin, too, expressed his sorrow, saying that Israel “shares the pain of the Lebanese people in this time of disaster and extends its hand to help at this difficult time.”

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman tweeted, “Humanitarian aid to Lebanon – now is the time to rise above any conflict.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16310/palestinians-china-concentration-camps

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas… is saying that he fully supports China’s right to hold more than one million Muslims in re-education camps and crack down on human rights activists and journalists in Hong Kong. Yet Abbas, a Muslim, sees no reason why he or anyone else should ask the ICC to launch an investigation into China’s “war crimes” against Muslims.

Why have Palestinian leaders chosen to side with China? Money and political support. The Palestinians are hoping that China will replace the US as an “honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Iran, Egypt, Syria and dozens of other countries that could not tolerate a magical realist novel can live with the mass sterilisation of Muslim women. They will give concentration camps a conniving wink of approval, but draw the line at cartoons in a Danish newspaper.” — Nick Cohen, The Guardian, July 4, 2020.

The Palestinians’ hate for Israel and the US has blinded them to the point where they are prepared to support the penning up of more than a million Muslims in re-education camps in China. Such a show of support ought to serve as a re-education for the international community about the warped Palestinian perspective of justice.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) says it is determined to proceed with its request that the International Criminal Court (ICC) launch an investigation against Israel for “committing war crimes” against the Palestinians. The PA is hoping that such a move by the ICC would pave the way for filing “war crimes” charges against several Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While it is seeking to indict Israeli officials for their ostensible “war crimes” against Palestinians, the PA leadership is working to strengthen its relations with China, where more than one million Muslims are being held in detention in re-education camps.

Palestinian leaders have a long record of supporting dictators and autocratic states, including Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and the North Korean leader Kim Jon Un. The Palestinian leadership’s current support for China’s repressive regime is part of a larger pattern. They have proven that they are always ready to support any dictator who openly challenges Israel or the US.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16302/saeb-erekat-lies

Saeb Erekat’s continued lies and fabrications about Israel promote anti-Semitism and embolden terrorists.

As a veteran negotiator, it would be a good idea for him to use his experience to persuade the Hamas terrorists to release the remains of the two soldiers instead of waging a propaganda campaign on behalf of a terrorist who woke up one morning and decided to kill Jews.

With negotiators like Erekat, one can understand why the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been stalled for so many years.

Ahmed Erekat, a 26-year-old Palestinian from the village of Abu Dis, south of Jerusalem, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on June 23 after ramming his car into an Israeli military checkpoint. One soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.

Footage released by the Israeli authorities leaves no room for doubt that Erekat was on a mission to kill soldiers. The footage shows Erekat deliberately turning his car as he waited in line, driving directly at the soldiers, hitting one female soldier and then crashing into a guard booth. Erekat then got out of the vehicle and started walking towards the soldiers, who fired a number of bullets at him, killing him instantly.

Such terrorist attacks are not uncommon in the West Bank, where Palestinian terrorists have carried out dozens of car-rammings against Israeli soldiers and civilians in the past few years.

This attack, however, caught the attention of the international media because the terrorist happens to be a relative of Saeb Erekat, the former Palestinian chief negotiator with Israel who currently serves as secretary general of the PLO.

Since the car-ramming, Saeb Erekat has been waging a campaign of incitement and lies against Israel. He has accused it of “cold-blooded murder” and now of the “extrajudicial execution” of his cousin.

The senior PLO official is deliberately ignoring the video that clearly shows his cousin using his car in an attempt to kill Israeli soldiers. He is also, perhaps not surprisingly, ignoring the testimonies of the soldiers his cousin tried to kill.

http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Pre-clinical success for Covid-19 ARDS treatment. Israel’s BrainStorm (reported here previously) reported promising results of pre-clinical trials for its Nurown treatment for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) brought about by Covid-19. The NurOwn cells reduced the cytokine storm and lung damage.

https://ir.brainstorm-cell.com/2020-07-23-BrainStorm-Announces-Groundbreaking-Pre-Clinical-Study-of-NurOwn-R-derived-Exosome-Based-Treatment-for-COVID-19-ARDS

Vitamin D impacts Covid-19 infection and severity. (TY UWI) Scientists at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have identified low plasma vitamin D level to be an independent risk factor for COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. They studied 782 Israeli COVID-19 positive patients and 7,807 COVID-19 negative patients.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/1595758992-lack-of-vitamin-d-could-make-you-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-researchers

You’ve got Covid – is that bad news? (TY Janglo) Two recent Jewish immigrants to Israel from France have developed an algorithm named PhysioZoo. Using data from a pulse oximeter (that measures oxygen in blood) the algorithm can determine if a Covid-19 patient is going to develop pneumonia long before symptoms appear.

https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/young-professor-combines-aliyah-covid-19-into-ai-breakthrough-636277

VeryGoodNewsIsrael on TV. Barry Shaw of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies and The View from Israel interviewed me last week about the projects that Israel is working on to help combat the coronavirus infection. We hope to produce a monthly video featuring positive Israeli news.  Please pass it on.

http://www.cooltv.se/video/the-view-from-israel-israels-s-search-for-a-covid-cure (Please ensure the sound is on.)

US approval for AI mammography. Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision (reported here previously) that uses artificial intelligence technology to help read medical scans, has received US FDA clearance for use of its algorithm to read mammograms. It already received European (CE) approval for its “HealthMammo” solution.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-zebra-gets-fda-nod-for-ai-based-software-that-helps-spot-breast-cancer/

Two-hour analysis of a biopsy. (TY Honest Reporting) Technion Professor Daphne Weihs has developed a fast test to analyze cancer cells. Biopsies are placed into a special gel and measured. Two hours later the extent that the cells have embedded denotes whether they are benign, non-metastatic or metastatic (potential or actual).

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/new-cancer-test-can-diagnose-aggressive-tumors-in-just-two-hours-636650

So how is your health? Another exciting webinar (see previous) from Technion UK featuring Technion Professor Shai Shen-Orr, one of the leading Israeli researchers into the mysteries of the immune system. Also featured is Professor Ester Sager who is developing biosensors to diagnose diseases within minutes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOli7AezlrU

Sleep and Dream. Professor Peretz Lavie (ex-President of Israel’s Technion Institute) founded the Technion Sleep Medicine Center and authored several books on sleep disorders. Thanks to Technion UK, he is giving a free (donations welcome) webinar on Weds 5th Aug at 6pm UK time – 1pm EST.  Register below to view live.

https://technionuk.org/rsvp-sleep-and-dream-insomnia-dreams-and-stress

Sharing stuff that works. An Israeli startup has launched an online platform where people suffering from chronic diseases can share information to learn which treatments work best for their specific condition, based on the experience of their peers. The crowdsourcing site is appropriately called StuffThatWorks.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3841285,00.html  https://www.stuffthatworks.health/

https://stuff.health/s/1SaJPrvA  (personal survey for specific conditions)

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/israel-woke-religion

This year many people have discovered that liberal life and institutions in the West are in the grip of something resembling a new religion. Anyone following the doings of the past few months won’t need a recap of the attempted “cancellations” of scholars and scientists for heresies, the purge of editors for running the wrong op-ed, or the excommunication of J.K. Rowling.

Adherents of the thought system vaguely described as “woke” believe themselves to be fighting evil in the name of justice. They share a hierarchy of good, a lingo, purity tests, and a stark division of the world into friend and foe, all of which borrow heavily from religious modes of thought. But one of the most obvious signs that religion is in play, and not merely empirical observation or political criticism, is the way this ideology has focused and amplified the condemnation of Jews.

All of this has made me think differently about my experience as a reporter in Israel a decade ago, and particularly about an essay I wrote in 2014 for Tablet, which was one of the first publications to pick up on these trends. That essay, “An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth,” and a second one that appeared in The Atlantic, described the replacement of journalism here by activism, the subjugation of objective description to higher ideological truth, and the manufacture of politically driven morality plays in the guise of news. I took this to be a problem related to, and perhaps limited to, perceptions of Jewish people and of Israel.