RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Right-from-wrong-The-lost-cause-campaign-to-challenge-PM-578612

According to an Army Radio poll released Tuesday, the Likud Party will lose four Knesset seats if Attorney- General Avichai Mandelblit decides next month to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery. As is characteristic of most such surveys, this one is not only unreliable; it belies its political motivation.

To achieve Army Radio’s desired outcome that Netanyahu’s popularity is in peril, the pollsters – in this case, the Midgam and iPanel research companies – posed two questions to respondents. The first was straightforward, asking, “Which party would you vote for if elections were held today?” The second was, “If Mandelblit decides to indict Netanyahu before the elections, which party will you vote for [on April 9]?” The results indicated a discrepancy in the number of seats that would be won – pending an indictment – by five of the 14 parties running. Likud, according to the poll, would be reduced from 29 mandates to 25; Israel Resilience would increase its mandates from 13 to 14; ditto for Yesh Atid; and both Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu would each gain six seats, as opposed to five. The other nine parties purportedly would not be affected.

Aside from being mind-numbingly boring – as it shows that Netanyahu and his party are still way ahead of their rivals – the poll reveals something interesting about the agenda behind it.
With the Left in shambles – and intent on seeing Netanyahu sent to jail – the rest of the “anybody but Bibi” camp has been grasping at straws in order to present an electoral alternative to the long-standing Likud-led government.
Disgruntled former Likud politicians, retired IDF generals and other bubble-dwellers vying for a place at the table, are desperate to come up with a formula that will guarantee their own aggrandizement at Netanyahu’s expense.
The only magic potion they have managed to conjure up, however, is one that has been tried repeatedly in the past and failed: aiming for the so-called “center.”

A brand new, two-story shopping mall just opened in Atorot, a poor, largely Arab section of northern Jerusalem that will serve both Palestinians and Israeli Jews. It is not being celebrated by everyone and may come with a price.

The mall has drawn the ire of Palestine Arab leadership who say ‘coexistence’ between the groups is criminal and in many ways, it reveals the internal machinations of the deep divide that has made the U.S. peace negotiations so difficult.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week that a U.S. peace push “won’t be [uniquely] a U.S.-driven process” and would require the cooperation of all parties, including allies in the region.

“Ultimately, the Israelis and the Palestinians will have to come to an agreement,” he said.

If anything, the Atorot Mall, is another test of that process. It is just across Israel’s separation barrier from Ramallah, the government seat of the Palestinian Authority. Atorot, known as Al-Ram in Arabic, is a little more than six miles from downtown Jerusalem.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/is-israels-inevitable-war-with-iran-underway/

It would be a mistake to dismiss nuclear threats coming out of Tehran as mere saber-rattling, given its stated intention and increasingly overt attempts to annihilate Israel, even at its own potential peril.

Israelis enjoying themselves on the slopes of the Mount Hermon ski resort in the Golan Heights were startled on Sunday afternoon to witness an Iranian missile heading their way. Had it not been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile-defense system, many innocent vacationers, as well as residents in the area, would have been killed.

The surface-to-surface projectile, fired by the Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force in Syria, did not cause the skiers to pack up their gear and run for shelter and hot chocolate, however. After filming the scene on phones and helmet cams, they picked up where they left off. For most Israelis, the rain of enemy rockets is not nearly as novel as mounds of fresh snow.

Disappointment was high, then, when the Israel Defense Forces announced that the popular site, adjacent to the Syrian and Lebanese borders, would be closed on Monday. The IDF was already planning the retaliatory strikes that it carried out late Sunday night against Iranian bases and soldiers stationed near Damascus—a mere 30 miles from Mount Hermon.

https://bit.ly/2TbG6lY

1. Israel’s most successful ever government bonds issue totaled 2.5BN Euros: 1.25BN 10-year bond and 1.25BN 30-year bond. The European demand was six times the amount of the bond issued (15BN Euros!) in spite of the low interest rate – 1.5% for the 10-year bond and 2.5% for the 30-year bond – reflecting confidence in Israel’s economy, Israel’s responsible management of its economy and Israel’s solid bond-repayment track record. Some 300 investors from Britain, Germany, France and other European countries – including European Central Banks, pension fund and insurance companies – participated in the bond issue. At the same time, Saudi Arabia had to increase its interest rate to 3%, in order to raise 3BN Euros (Globes Business Daily, January 10, 2019).

2. Israel surged to 5th place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, 2019, trailing South Korea, Germany, Finland and Switzerland, ahead of Singapore, Sweden, USA, Japan, France, etc. Israel was 10th in the 2018 Index. In 2019, Israel is the only country ahead of South Korea in the category of research & development expenditure as a percentage of GDP (4.3%). Israel’s major surge is in the area of patent activity – from 19thspot in 2018 to the 4th spot in 2019. The Bloomberg Innovation Index ranks the globe’s 60 most innovative countries according to the following criteria: GDP, productivity, patent activity, concentration of researchers, postgraduate PhD students engaged in research & development per 1-million people and concentration of high-tech companies (Globes, January 22).

3. The largest ever Japanese delegation of 200 senior executives of 100 leading Japanese corporations, including Mitsubishi and Toshiba, along with Japan’s Minister of Economic Affairs, visited Israel, exploring ways and means to expand bilateral trade and investment. In 2018, Israel’s export to Japan grew 42% to $1.16BN, mostly medical, optical and metal equipment and products. Since 2014, Japanese companies have made over 200 venture capital investments in Israel’s high tech sector. However, Japan – the world’s 3rd largest economy – accounted for only 2% of foreign investment in Israel during the past five years. In addition to commercial high tech, Japan is increasingly interested in cooperation and acquisitions in the areas of defense and homeland security. Israel’s innovation track record has enticed dozens of Japanese companies to explore the potential of research, development and production cooperation with compatible Israeli companies. Japan’s and Israel’s Economic Ministers signed an agreement, enhancing digital health cooperation, teaming substantial Japanese corporations and ground-breaking Israeli startups. Another agreement highlights the matching of Israeli innovations (e.g., artificial intelligence, cyber technologies) and Japanese manufacturers, targeting the Japanese market. A leading Israeli venture capital fund, Vertex, has benefitted from hundreds of millions of dollars, invested by 31 Japanese investors, including financial institutions and major corporations (Globes, January 17).

https://worldisraelnews.com/exposed-arabs-silently-taking-over-land-in-gush-etzion/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=PushCrew_notification_1548352996&pushcrew_powered=1

Israeli NGO and politicians campaign to fight Palestinian landgrabs in areas where Israel is in full control.

By Aryeh Savir,TPS

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has recently increased its efforts to take control of a strategic area in the Nahal Heletz area between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion.

Regavim, a research-based legal advocacy NGO which says it is dedicated to ensuring accountable use of Israel’s national land, published on Wednesday a report which exposes the PA’s construction work at Nahal Heletz, near Har Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

A large number of heavy tractors have been turning the landscape of the riverbed into a wide and flat expanse, and ancient agricultural huts have been renovated and transformed into residential buildings for Arabs.

These lands are survey lands which are not privately owned and therefore can be declared state lands.

Yishai Hemo, the Regavim director in Judea and Samaria, argues that the engineering work and high cost involved in the effort prove that this is not a private initiative.

https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-ranked-in-top-5-on-bloomberg-innovation-index/

Israel has been catapulted to fifth place in the Bloomberg innovation index for 2019, climbing from 10th place last year and jumping ahead of the U.S., which has been ranked eighth, actually rising three spots.

Also behind Israel are Singapore in sixth place and Japan in the ninth position.

The annual index is being published for the seventh time. It analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development (R&D) spending, manufacturing capability, and concentration of high-tech public companies. The ranking comes as global leaders are gathering at this week’s annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Better patent registration is credited as a major reason for the Israeli improvement.

Bloomberg placed South Korea in first place on the index for the sixth time due to new investments in key technologies and a regulatory plan for encouraging startups. Germany advanced into second place due to investment in production and research by many of its industrial giants, such as Volkswagen, Daimler, and Bosch, in addition to education improvements, bringing Europe’s largest economy to near-parity with the top-ranking country.

https://worldisraelnews.com/pulling-out-of-judea-and-samaria-could-pose-existential-threat-to-israel

Research counters common view in the defense establishment supporting separating Israelis and Palestinians.

Even as anticipation grows of a U.S. plan for the Israelis and Palestinians formulated by the Trump administration, a new survey is raising alarm bells that an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria could pose an existential threat to the State of Israel.

The research was conducted by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen on behalf of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Hacohen served in the IDF for 42 years, commanding troops in battle on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts.

He is perhaps best known, however, for commanding the army’s 2005 Gaza withdrawal and overseeing the forced removal of the some 8,000 Israelis living in the Strip.

His current research accentuates the change in the military theater over the years from conventional battlefields to confrontations involving civilian populations.

In the research, Hacohen lays out possible scenarios which he says could materialize if Israel were to withdraw from Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria. ‘A’ is exclusively administered by Palestinian Authority control and ‘B’ is under joint Palestinian-Israel control under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990’s, though Israel bears ultimate security responsibility.

There is also an Area C, which is under full Israeli control.

http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/01/23/syrian-envoy-to-un-in-veiled-threat-we-will-attack-ben-gurion-airport/

If U.N. Security Council doesn’t adopt measures to stop Israel, “Syria would practice its legitimate right of self-defense and respond to the Israeli aggression on Damascus International Airport in the same way on Tel Aviv airport,” Bashar Jaafari warns.

Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari warned Tuesday that his country would attack Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv if the world body fails to stop Israeli strikes on his country, including on the international airport in Damascus.

Speaking before the U.N. Security Council after a series of IAF airstrikes on Sunday and Monday, Jaafari said Israel was only able to act freely in Syria because it had the backing of the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the Security Council.

If the Security Council didn’t adopt measures stop Israel, “Syria would practice its legitimate right of self-defense and respond to the Israeli aggression on Damascus International Airport in the same way on Tel Aviv airport,” Jaafari was quoted as saying by Syrian state media Sana.