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ISRAEL

Israel Remains Steadfast in Face of Hamas War Crimes Terror group fires 400 rockets into Israel – as Israeli army gears up for major offensive. Ari Lieberman

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271939/israel-remains-steadfast-face-hamas-war-crimes-ari-lieberman

It began as a covert intelligence operation, one of many conducted by Israel in the hostile and densely populated Gaza Strip. Most of these operations occur without incident but on Sunday, we were reminded that these covert activities are not without extreme risk.

An undercover force reportedly from the elite Sayeret Maglan unit entered the Strip in civilian clothing using a nondescript vehicle. While in the Gazan city of Khan Yunis, the vehicle drew the suspicions of Hamas operatives who were in the vicinity. As the terrorists closed in, the Maglan boys opened fire on the AK-47 toting gangsters instantly sparking a ferocious firefight.

Three of the terrorists were shot dead during the initial exchange. The Israeli vehicle then frantically made its way through narrow streets of Khan Yunis toward the safety of Israel all while Hamas vehicles were giving chase. The Israelis called in for air support. Drones hovering above fired at the pursuing vehicles, destroying them, and killing an additional four more terrorists.

When it was over, seven terrorists, including a senior Hamas commander and one Israeli soldier were dead. The senior terrorist commander was identified as Nour Baraka, who oversaw terror tunnel operations. The deceased Israeli was a Lt. Colonel and a member of Israel’s Druse minority sect. His name has not been released to the public and he has only been identified as Lt. Col. “M.”

Gaza rockets pound Israel, killing one, wounding dozens Palestinian man living in Ashkelon is killed when rocket hits apartment building • Emergency medical services report treating at least 55 people across southern Israel • Israeli officials say more than 400 rockets and mortars hit Israel over Monday night. Lilach Shoval

http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/13/gaza-rockets-pound-israel-killing-one-wounding-dozens/

Gaza terrorists kept up their most intense rocket fire on Israel since the 2014 Gaza war over Monday night and Tuesday morning, killing a civilian in Ashkelon and wounding dozens across Israel’s south.

Starting from Monday afternoon, hundreds of projectiles fired from Gaza pounded Israeli communities, a day after a botched Israeli intelligence operation in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of an Israeli officer and seven Hamas operatives, including a key Hamas commander.

Magen David Adom emergency medical personnel were on the highest alert level, administering first aid to at least 55 people in a number of locations across southern Israel.

The man killed in Ashkelon was Mahmoud Bashir Abu Asbah, 48, from the Arab village of Halhul, near Hebron. He was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza scored a direct hit on an apartment building. His body was only discovered an hour after the impact, when a civilian surveyor working for a construction company came to film the damage and found the dead man and a seriously wounded woman in her 40s in the rubble.

The IDF said some 400 rockets and mortars had been launched from Gaza since Monday afternoon, with about 100 of them intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

School was canceled in many areas in southern Israel and a local election was postponed because of the threat of further attacks.

Over recent months, the sides have come close to a major escalation several times, only to step back in favor of giving a chance to a long-term Egyptian-mediated truce.

However, the current level of escalation and angry rhetoric, including Hamas’ warnings to strike deeper inside Israel unless Israel halts its strikes in Gaza, may make it more difficult to restore calm.

Israel’s Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, which had been due to meet Tuesday afternoon, pushed its meeting forward to 9 a.m. to discuss the next steps.

MOST HAMAS ROCKET ATTACKS EVER IN A SINGLE DAY TOM GROSS

http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001807.html

Yesterday at least 20 Israelis were injured in the largest ever number of rocket attacks in a single day by the Hamas terror organization. And yet there has been very little reporting of this in the international media, and even where there has been coverage it has often been inaccurate. (Serious reporting will only start when Israel finally starts to defend itself, in order to then portray Hamas as the victims.)

Over 400 rockets have been fired into Israel in the last 24 hours. Houses, buses and shops have been hit all over southern Israel. One man was killed by a rocket that partially destroyed an apartment building. An Israeli 19-year-old is in critical condition. Other Israeli children were injured as rockets slammed into homes. An elderly woman was also seriously injured. One dog in Israel died of injuries from a Hamas rocket. Prime Minister Netanyahu is being criticized in Israel for his weak response.

Israeli casualties have not been far higher, thanks to the technologically amazing Iron Dome system shooting down many incoming rockets and people sheltering in underground bomb shelters. Schools in southern Israel are closed today as children are being told to stay in bomb shelters.

Massive Missile Attack on Israel after Qatar Funds Hamas by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13297/hamas-missiles-qatari-money

The renewed Hamas attacks on Israel serve as a reminder that the terrorist group is not interested in a real truce. Hamas wants millions of dollars paid to its employees so that it can continue to prepare for war with Israel while not having to worry about the welfare of its people.

Qatar’s $15 million cash grant has failed to stop Hamas from launching hundreds of rockets into Israel. On the contrary, the money has only emboldened Hamas and increased its appetite to continue its jihad to eliminate Israel. All the money in the world will not convince Hamas to abandon its ideology or soften its position toward Israel.

What the international mediators need to understand is that there is only one solution to the crisis in the Gaza Strip: removing Hamas from power and destroying its military capabilities. They also need to understand that there is only one language that Hamas understands: the language of force. The assumption that if you pay terrorists millions of dollars, they will stop attacking you — rather than using the funds to build up their forces — has proven to be false.

Last week, as efforts were underway to achieve a new truce between Hamas and Israel, this author asked a legitimate and straightforward question: Can Hamas be trusted?

The conclusion was that a real truce between Israel and Hamas can be achieved only after the Palestinian jihadi terrorists are removed from power, and not rewarded for violence and threats.

Israel, Gaza Militants Exchange Heavy Fire After Raid Goes Awry Escalating hostilities following military operation in territory threaten to upend fragile cease-fire talks with Hamas By Dov Lieber

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-hamas-seek-calm-after-gaza-raid-goes-awry-1542033474

TEL AVIV—Israel’s military and Gaza militant groups exchanged heavy fire in an escalation of hostilities that threatened to upend fragile cease-fire talks that had been gaining momentum.

Israel said Hamas and other militant groups fired more than 300 rockets at Israel on Monday in what is the largest barrage aimed at the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip since their war in 2014. The militants said they were responding to an Israeli operation Sunday night in Gaza that left seven Palestinian militants and an Israeli military officer dead.

At least one Israeli was seriously injured on Monday when an antitank missile fired from Gaza struck a bus near the border, Israeli paramedics said, and at least 10 others were lightly injured by shrapnel in or near the Israeli town of Sderot. Homes in the Israeli towns of Ashkelon and Netivot took direct hits from rocket fire, according to videos shown on Israel’s public broadcaster Kan.

In response to the rocket fire, the Israeli military said it carried out 70 airstrikes against military targets in Gaza, including the building that housed Hamas’s Al Aqsa TV station, an official media arm of the militant group. Israel accused the outlet of directing terror activities against it.

The strikes killed at least three Palestinians and injured nine others, the Gaza Health Ministry said. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an armed group, said two of the dead were their members, and Islamic Jihad, also an armed group, said one of the dead belonged to it.

The attacks were the most intense fighting in weeks on the Gaza border, following a period of calm that coincided with stepped-up peace talks between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, mediated by Egypt and the United Nations. After months of worsening restrictions on Gaza, Israel had begun allowing humanitarian aid from Qatar to flow in, easing conditions there.

The relative quiet was broken Sunday night by what Israel described as an intelligence-gathering mission gone wrong.

The “Separate” Palestinian State by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13281/separate-palestinian-state

To date, Hamas and Fatah have not been able to agree on the interpretation of the “reconciliation” agreements already signed. Fatah claims that the agreements are supposed to allow its Ramallah-based government to assume full responsibility over the Gaza Strip. Hamas, for its part, remains vehemently opposed to relinquishing security control over the Gaza Strip.

Abbas’s official news agency, Wafa, issued a strongly worded statement accusing Hamas of being part of a “Zionist-American conspiracy” to detach the West Bank from the Gaza Strip. According to the statement, Hamas is now cooperating with the US and Israel to establish a separate Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip. “There will be no Palestinian state without the Gaza Strip, and there will be no [separate Palestinian] state in the Gaza Strip,” the statement quoted Abbas as saying.

Abbas can continue to present himself to the world as the “President of the State of Palestine” as much as he wants. He is only living in an illusion: it is obvious by now that he does not represent the two million Palestinians who are living in a separate Hamas-controlled entity in the Gaza Strip. Abbas has not been able to set foot in the Gaza Strip for the past 11 years, and his chances of ever returning there now seem to be zero.

Last week, Hamas began paying salaries to thousands of its employees after Qatar sent a $15 million grant in cash to the Gaza Strip. The money was brought to the Gaza Strip by senior Qatari envoy Mohammed El-Amadi through the Erez border crossing with Israel.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

This week’s newsletter features many articles where Israelis have developed solutions for major world problems, from AIDS and cancer to agricultural infestation and drought.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

AIDS / cancer treatment success & goes into production. (TY Hazel) Following successful human trials, Israel’s Zion Medical is to build a biotechnology plant to manufacture its “Gammora” AIDS / cancer treatment. Gammora (see here) eliminates HIV virus-infected cells – not the virus – preventing development of resistance.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zion-medical-announces-results-of-first-human-clinical-trial-of-hiv-drug-gammora-offering-potential-cure-300741569.html
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-10/24/c_137553489.htm http://zionmedical.com/?page_id=2603
https://www.youtube.com/embed/GZJw0yqZ9Qc?rel=0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvWN9gJ5ZQs

New molecule kills brain cancer cells. Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have developed a molecule to treat glioblastoma, a very aggressive type of brain cancer. The molecule blocks the ability of the MKNK2 gene to produce Mnk2b – a cancer-causing protein but increases the levels of Mnk2a – an inhibitor protein.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-10/31/c_137572222.htm

Destroys tumors in weeks. I reported previously (9th Sep) on Israel’s Alpha Tau’s radiation emitters starting trials in the USA. Trials have also been launched at two centers in Rome, Italy. But I should have mentioned that 70% of patients in earlier Israeli and Italian studies saw their tumors disappear in just a few weeks.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181107005024/en/Alpha-Tau-Medical-Launches-New-Clinical-Trials

Seeing early Alzheimer’s, before symptoms appear. I’ve reported previously (see here) that Israeli researchers at Sheba hospital have linked Alzheimer’s disease with loss of retina function. They have now found that in those with a family history of Alzheimer’s, the inner layer of the retina is thinner than usual.
https://www.aao.org/newsroom/news-releases/detail/evidence-eye-scan-may-detect-early-alzheimers

Shape-shifting pills for better targeted treatments. 3D-printing is relevant even in the medical industry. Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have engineered capsules from a hydrogel that can change shape upon various conditions. E.g. to release medication only in the intestines, or to expand to fill the stomach.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hebrew-u-team-develops-shape-shifting-3d-printed-pills-for-better-targeted-drugs/

Major partnership to prevent diabetes. (TY OurCrowd) I reported previously (Apr 2016) on Israel’s Sweetch and its system for detecting pre-diabetics. Sweetch is partnering with US-based WellSpan Health, providing its 15,000 employees with “the tool we have been looking for to augment our wellness assessment program”.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ai-mobile-health-app-sweetch-partners-with-wellspan-health-to-help-fight-diabetes-300741126.html http://nocamels.com/2018/11/diabetes-israel-sweetch-health/

Breathtaking technology. I reported previously (see here) on Israeli innovations that can detect illness by analyzing someone’s voice. Israeli startup HealthyMize (see here) has just won $75 million in the Henry Ford Health System’s “Increasing Patient and Caregiver Engagement to Reduce Readmission” Challenge.
https://www.israel21c.org/healthymize-wins-75k-award-from-henry-ford-health-system/
https://www.israel21c.org/smartphone-app-listens-to-your-voice-for-lung-disease/
http://www.healthymize.com/ https://www.youtube.com/embed/oq7fu95EKiw?rel=0

More about finding cancer treatment trials. I reported recently (21st Oct) on Israel’s TrailJectory which helps match cancer patients with clinical trials appropriate to their condition. I believe the subject to be so important that I’m publishing another recent article about this innovative startup. It could save someone’s life.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3749045,00.html

Why Israelis live longer. If the previous medical articles haven’t given you the answer, this article might. Then click the link (here) to see the youtube or (here)Facebook video “Nas Daily meets United Hatzalah”.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/heres-why-despite-it-all-israelis-live-longer/

Just a day in the lives of Hadassah medics. When 7-year-old Elisha Alush collapsed in the Judean desert, paramedics rushed him to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital. They realized he had been stung, but by what? They guessed a scorpion and the antidote worked. Had it been a Black Widow spider, it may have been too late.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254275

An Israeli Agent on Campus written by Ari Blaff

https://quillette.com/2018/11/09/an-israeli-agent

“Academia ought to be a forum for the battle of minds and the testing of arguments and ideas. Instead, students such as myself seeking a fair-minded supervisor face a paucity of options as departments congeal around a monolithic interpretation of Middle Eastern politics and history. The result is that a toxic political environment has been allowed to flourish, unrestrained, in specific departments across elite universities. In an environment struggling to balance the broad aims of diversity and inclusivity, many Jewish students remain on the outside looking in.”

In late 2017, having completed a Masters in History and another in Political Science, I was considering the possibility of a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies. The academic path and research-heavy workload were a natural fit and I figured it would buy me some time to reflect on what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. So, at the end of last year, I contacted a handful of professors whose academic interests overlapped with mine to ask their advice. The first two of these were productive and fruitful, and focused mostly on research, career advice, and language skills—par for the course for a graduate student in search of a supervisor. However, my third attempt did not go well at all, and the experience has led me to worry about the effects of ideological homogeneity on university scholarship, particularly in the field of Middle Eastern history and politics.

On December 13, I wrote a short email to Jens Hanssen, an Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean History at the University of Toronto. I explained that I was a graduate student at the Munk School of Global Affairs, that I had found his profile on the History Department website, and that I was hoping to ask him some questions about Middle Eastern history and academia. Later that day, Professor Hanssen responded:

Dear Mr. Blaff, You have probably contacted me because you were alerted to an interview I gave last week to the News Section of UofT’s website on President Trump’s declaration to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Now, you may be a graduate student at the Munk School, but you are also a Hasbara fellow. As far as I know, Hasbara fellows are Israeli advocacy activists sent to North American campuses on behalf of the World Union of Jewish Students, now under the auspices of the new Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, which earlier this year has called for a “new offensive against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” activists.

He then informed me that I had received instruction from something called “The Hasbara Handbook: Promoting Israel on Campus”—a text I had never heard of, let alone read—about “how to approach professors, students and administrators and convince them that legitimate, non-violent criticism of the state of Israel amounts to discrimination against Jews everywhere.” Hanssen continued: “In fact you [are] instructed to conflate Judaism and Zionism and are encouraged to give the impression on our campus that such criticism constitutes antisemitism.”

He went on to accuse me of “slandering” a number of people in an article that he claimed (incorrectly) I had written for the student newspaper the previous September (it actually ran on the Hasbara Fellowship’s blog page). He concluded by announcing that, while the Munk School might be indifferent to the “grave threat Hasbara organizations such as yours pose to academic freedom and the intellectual independence of the university,” he most certainly was not. Consequently, for “ethical and academic” reasons, he would avoid any interaction with people such as myself.

Palestinian Threats to Arab Normalization with Israel by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13236/palestinian-normalization-israel

“There’s no place for the [Israeli] enemy on the map.” — Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas leader, October 29, 2018.

A number of senior Fatah officials, including Munir al-Jaghoob and Mohammed Shtayyeh, have condemned Oman for hosting Netanyahu. They have also condemned the UAE for allowing Israelis to participate in the judo competition.

So, Fatah and Hamas cannot agree to pay their workers, they cannot agree on supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip, and they cannot agree on providing medical supplies to hospitals there. They do agree, however, on inflicting more harm and damage on their people. If they go on like this, the day will come when the Palestinians will discover that their friends and brothers have become their biggest enemies.

For more than 10 years now, Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction have been at war with each other. Attempts by their Arab brothers, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to solve the power struggle between the two rival Palestinian groups have thus far failed and are unlikely to succeed in the foreseeable future. The gap between Hamas and Fatah remains as wide as ever: the two parties despise each other. Fatah wants to return to the Gaza Strip; Hamas says it out loud: no. Fatah wants Hamas to disarm and cede control over the Gaza Strip; Hamas says no.

On one particular issue, however, the two sides lay aside their differences and see eye to eye. When it comes to Israel, one would be hard-pressed to distinguish between Fatah and Hamas.

Both parties use the same harsh language when referring to Israel and the policies and decisions of the Israeli government. The daily statements condemning Israel that are issued separately by Hamas and Fatah sound almost identical. Both refer to Israel as the “state of occupation.” They also continue to incite Palestinians and the rest of the world against Israel by accusing it of committing “war crimes” against the Palestinians and “violating international law.”

Israel to host forum of leading digital nations for first time Yehuda Shlezinger

http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/04/israel-to-host-forum-of-leading-digital-nations-for-first-time/

Conference will be held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on November 19-21 • Participating countries to present their visions for a digital future • Conference host Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel: “Our uniqueness is that we leave nobody behind.”

The annual international Digital 9 forum, comprising the world’s nine leading digital countries, will convene in Israel for the first time later this month.

During the conference, which will be held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv simultaneously on November 19-21, the new advances positioning Israel at the forefront of global digital innovation will be on display.

The conference will also include panels on the issues of smart cities; digital education; health and economy; ethical problems in the digital age; and digital transformation.

Additionally, Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel will launch “Campus,” a national platform for online education, and will also unveil the national digitization work plan for 2019 known as “Digital Israel.”

Each of the participating countries will present their visions for a digital future and the national projects they are seeking to advance.

“I’m happy to have the privilege of representing the State of Israel and the government of Israel as president of the D9 forum and host the annual conference, which is shaping the face of tomorrow,” Gamliel said.