RUTHFULLY YOURS

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has never been a man of peace. Even now, he continues calling for Jewish blood. Israel, however, has offered peace deal after peace deal – never even to receive even so much as a single counter-offer.

Sometimes, Abbas harps on Israel’s settlement policy as the sole reason for the absence of peace in the region. But before 1967 there were no settlements — and still no peace. What, then, was the PLO thinking of liberating? If you look at any current map of “Palestine” from the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, it blankets the entire country of Israel.

“For how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last? After 67 years, how long?” — Mahmoud Abbas, saying recently that the “occupation” has existed since Israel’s creation in 1948.

One wonders if or when the U.S. administration and the Europeans might ever be serious about promoting real peace and prosperity in the disputed Palestinian territories. Sadly, the White House, in pinning all its hopes on Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, has just been trying to hook its cart to someone not only with a shelf-life that officially expired years ago, but who is also too corrupt to be of any help to his people.

Jewish and Christian clerics are fascinated with and entranced by the Islamic crocodile that smiles at them, unaware that sooner or later, the crocodile will attack and eat them, but not before drowning them in their own folly.

Writing as an atheist, I at first thought it would be difficult to comment on a specific part of Stephen Coughlin’s Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad, which is Part XI: Interfaith Outreach (Appendix One, pp. 511-574). But Coughlin presents the subject in such clear terms that it was fascinating and definitely instructive to observe how the Islamic Movement ensnares Christians and Jews in “interfaith dialogue” for the Muslim Brotherhood’s own nefarious purposes. Much of the slithering methods of the interfaith dialogue promoted by various Islamic organizations, which can be viewed as a master template, can be seen in how Muslim “experts” in Islam are used to help American counter-intelligence formulate useless and vacuous analyses of threats by ISIS and al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, which is also exhaustively detailed by Coughlin in his book.

Readers and fans of my novels know that I can mock any religion, but refrain from such business in real life because all those religions but one are not out of kill, convert, or subjugate me. They leave me alone, I leave them alone. Except for Mormon and Jehovah Witnesses door-knockers, who are mostly unsolicited pests. They’re not on my doorstep for long.

The exception is Islam.

The biggest beneficiary of postmodernism – that is, the broad movement of denial of the value and efficacy of reason – aside from the Democrats, aside from the “trigger warning” and “safe place” addicts, aside from the advocates of open borders, aside from the advocates of moral relativism, aside from gun-control advocates, aside from Black Lives Matter, aside from the assailants on the First Amendment, and etc., is Islam. In the suffocating, mind-stunting miasma of postmodernist thought and practice in Western culture, the biggest victor is and will continue to be Islam.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A treatment for migraine. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Teva is partnering with Japan’s Heptares to develop small-molecule calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonists discovered by Heptares for the treatment of migraine. Migraine affects 36 million people in the United States and 10% of people worldwide.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/teva-pharmaceutical-idUKnBw255141a+100+BSW20151125

Brain link to diabetic foot ulcers. Researchers at Ben Gurion University have discovered that sufferers of diabetic foot ulcers frequently also have substantially impaired cognitive function. Systemic vascular changes affect the whole body including the feet, heart and brain. The researchers propose new treatment strategies.
http://aabgu.org/diabetic-foot-is-linked-to-cognitive-deterioration/

Unique brain imaging study with UCL. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Teva has begun a unique study with University College London (UCL) to use PET scans of the brain in order to analyze the role of inflammation of the brain on dementia and other neuro-degenerative diseases.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/teva-pharmaceutical-idUKnBw195738a+100+BSW20151119?type=companyNews

Portable ventilator is saving lives. The Israeli-invented Pocket BVM (Bag Valve Mask) mini-ventilator has saved US soldiers in Afghanistan and is now being used to treat thousands of people at disasters, as in Nepal. It is also carried on many El Al planes. (See http://www.israelifirstaid.com/ for other Israeli medical equipment)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-israeli-invented-device-thats-saving-american-lives-in-afghanistan/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJKO8jgQvwY http://microbvm.com/home

Transforming patient care. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision has signed a multi-year agreement with Dell Services to deliver its screening and diagnostic decision support platform to hospitals worldwide. Zebra’s systems can identify patients at early risk of osteoporosis, cardiac disease, liver disease etc.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dell-services-selects-zebra-medical-140500442.html

An app to lower your stress level. (TY SDM) Israeli startup Eco-Fusion has developed Serenita – an app that measures and can lower your stress level. Cover your smartphone lens with a finger to measure heartrate, blood flow, and respiration. Serenita’s 5-minute personalized breathing exercise then visibly reduces your stress.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4735610,00.html http://www.eco-fusion.com/serenita/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PGP7n-Sb_U

Safer ingredients. Israel’s Frutarom has launched a new line of natural food extracts compatible with new EU regulations prohibiting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other contaminants in food supplements. Frutarom’s patented EFLA HyperPure technology purifies raw materials susceptible to contamination by PAHs.
http://www.frutaromhealth.com/2015/12/02/closing-the-safety-gap-with-new-efla-hyperpure-line/

I admire Josh Gelernter, but his prescription is shallow…when the world calls those who commit jihads against Israel “militants” and when headlines bruit senseless killings of civilians as Islamic jihad everywhere, but always omit those words when describing atrocities in Israel, and when they link barbaric attacks against Jews with “root causes and the occupation” and call every act of self defense by Israel “disproportionate”- it is hard to argue with words against vile anti-Antisemitism disguised as moral indignation…..rsk
Since last September, Israel has been suffering a wave of terrorist attacks that the press is calling the “Knife Intifada.” Palestinian terrorists have been murdering Israelis (and one teenage American tourist), mostly with knives, at a higher-than-normal rate — and the international consensus is that the murdered Israelis had it coming. Why? Because Israel is terrible at making its own case. Israel’s PR experts are as incompetent as its army is effective. Israel has allowed itself to become the bad guy in its daily struggle for survival.

Israel is losing the argument for its own existence.

Ezra Schwartz — the murdered American teenager — was shot to death while his car sat in traffic. He was from Massachusetts, and the New England Patriots wanted to memorialize him before a game, a week after every team in the NFL had memorialized the victims of the attacks in Paris. Evidently, the league’s front office had to approve the in memoriam statement, and someone decided the Patriots could say only that Ezra had been “gunned down nearly 5,500 miles from home, while studying abroad” — because saying he had been killed by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel would have been too controversial. It’s safe to say that if supporting Israel has become controversial among American football fans, something has gone very wrong.

The fact is, the case for Israel is simple. It could easily be made in a 90-second commercial, which Israel should be paying to air all over the civilized world.

The 90-second ad should start with a question: “Why do you hate Israel?”

“Because of the occupation of Palestinian Territories?”

“But in 2008,” it should say, “Israel offered Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas a deal in which a Palestinian State would be formed in the Gaza Strip and 93.7 percent of the West Bank. The missing 6.3 percent would be replaced by land swaps from Israel. Abbas turned the deal down, telling a reporter, ‘I did not agree. I rejected it out of hand.’

‘Mohammed cartoons don’t inspire Islamic violence. Islamic violence inspires Mohammed cartoons.” That is what Bosch Fawstin tells me. And he knows whereof he speaks.

Fawstin is the award-winning cartoonist thrust into international notoriety in May when he won a “Draw Muhammad” contest in Garland, Texas — a contest that became the first terrorist target of the Islamic State on American soil.

The event was intended to be less a competition than a celebration of free-expression principles. Because those principles undergird Western civilization, they have become the prime target of Islamic supremacists. And when we talk about Islamic supremacists, we are not talking only about violent jihadists, such as the two ISIS-inspired terrorists who were killed in a firefight with police while attempting a mass murder of Fawstin and his fellow contestants.

There are also the “moderates” who specialize in exploiting the atmosphere of intimidation created by jihadist organizations: the Muslim Brotherhood’s international web of Islamic activist groups and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the 57-government bloc that claims to represent Muslim interests globally.

The methods of the “moderates” might differ from those of ISIS and al-Qaeda — and given the extensive promotion of jihadist violence by the Brotherhood and several OIC member states, we say “might” with tongue firmly in cheek. The “moderate” goal, however, is the same: the imposition of sharia, which is Islam’s societal framework and legal code. As Fawstin explains it: “Devout Muslims want their laws to be our laws. In essence, they want us to be de facto Muslims.”

I spent the last days of 2015 meeting with British Jews in Birmingham. Along with many presenters from different countries and professional fields, I had been invited to participate in a Limmud conference, a multi-annual — and by now multi-continental — Jewish happening.

The topics on my agenda were ostensibly varied: the viability of a two-state solution; flaws in the Israeli political system; Israel-U.S. relations in the wake of the Iran deal; the cause and effect of the knife intifada; and whether anti-Semitism is sufficient impetus for immigration to Israel. Still, they all came down to basically the same debate — the extent of Israeli culpability in local and global affairs.

The Paris attacks were still fresh in everyone’s mind, and the heightened security in other European capitals was so palpable that it made Israel’s pale in comparison — as reports on the cancelation of public New Year’s Eve celebrations indicated. Nevertheless, the atmosphere at Limmud was upbeat. Attendees spent good money to live in not-so-luxurious conditions at a hotel repurposed to house the dozens of simultaneous lectures, classes, singles’ events and entertainment for both adults and children. This was a crowd of some 2,500 Jews who could have spent the week after Christmas doing anything they chose. And they opted to spend it reinforcing their sense of community and dedication. Impressive doesn’t begin to describe it.

1. PricewaterhouseCoopers: Israeli mergers and acquisitions (M&A) totaled $12.6bn in 2015, a 73.3% increase over 2014 ($7.25bn). Moreover, 62 Israeli companies were acquired for $7.2bn, compared to 52 companies and $5bn in 2014, a fifth year in a row with over $5bn. Overseas investment in Israeli companies reached $6.5bn, compared to $3.8bn in 2014, a 71% increase. 2015 experienced a rise in the number of investors from the US, China, Hong Kong and Canada. Israeli entrepreneurs and developers are less inclined to sell early-stage startups, investing more resources to reach mature stage, hence the higher price per transaction/investment (Globes business daily, December 28, 2015).

2. Bloomberg (Dec. 18): “”Israel’s economic activity continues to grow, following a year with slightly weaker performance. Israel’s economy is expected to be one of the fastest growing among developed countries….The appreciation of the Israeli Shekel against the Euro and the dollar in 2015, despite the rise in US interest rates, is due to improving Israeli fiscal balances, optimism in the development of Israel’s large offshore natural gas fields, and a sustained strong economy…. Israel’s technology sector is a world-leader in a range of established and disruptive new tech areas…. Israel is home to scores of innovative companies bringing cutting-edge technologies to the global marketplace, [such as] advanced cybersecurity, medical technology, info tech and defense technology that protect airliners from terrorist missiles….”

In an interview with an Arab media organization, Hamas officials say that their military wing has given the order to strike Israel with a new wave of suicide bombings. These attacks will be carried out by sleeper cells in the West Bank, Ynet reports. Ynet already reported on the purported orders back in October of this year, but today marks the first occasion that Hamas officials have openly admitted their intentions. The attacks are supposed to target Israelis in the Green Line.

The Hamas officials also thanked a terrorist cell whose members were arrested by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service. The Hamas terrorists — most of whom are students — were, Hamas admitted, planning to stage major attacks. At the moment of their arrest, sources say they were dangerously close to carrying out plans to attack Israeli military and political targets.

The announcement once again emphasizes that Hamas is and will always remain a terrorist organization; one every bit as fierce and anti-semitic as ISIS. But while the entire world agrees that ISIS should be destroyed, the West and Arab countries continue to blast Israel when it tries to take down Hamas. The double standard is appalling.

In Europe the influx of Moslem Arabs will only increase the growing anti-Semitism on the continent. Jews, in large numbers, are poised to leave. This will be a major blow to their host nations.
Please indulge me in a little ethnic pride.

Wherever they have alighted, Jews have had a disproportionate impact on every aspect of culture, the arts, science and technology.
Don’t believe me? Just go to the operas, concerts, hospitals, museums and research institutions throughout the United States—even in areas with a tiny Jewish population.

Mark Twain recognized this in 1897: “If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished.”

What Twain describes mystifies many commentators. For example, in 2013, in a lengthy interview with The New Republic, British biologist, author and atheist Richard Dawkins expressed his bewilderment at the disproportionate number of Nobel prizes won by Jews. Asked what he thought of it, he responded: “I haven’t thought it through. I don’t know. But I don’t think it is a minor thing; it is colossal. I think more than 20 percent of Nobel Prizes have been won by Jews.”

Dawkins was close. Since the Nobel was first awarded in 1901 approximately 193 of the 855 honorees have been Jewish (22%). Jews make up less than 0.2% of the global population.

· Aliyah up 10% compared to 2014, at highest level since 2003
· All-time record for Aliyah from France with the arrival of 7,900 immigrants, the largest group for the second year running
· Aliyah from Ukraine up 15% compared to 2014, up 230% compared to 2013

Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky: “The high number of immigrants, particularly from western countries, attests to the drawing power of the Zionist idea. The fact that immigrants choose to come to Israel is a sign that Israel invests their lives with meaning that they cannot find elsewhere. This choice requires that we make every effort to enable them to become immediately integrated in the workforce and in the education system, so that they, like those who came before them, may put down roots in Israel and enrich Israeli society.”

Minister of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption Ze’ev Elkin: “We are in a rare window of opportunity. While we are busy with the day-to-day problems of Israel, we did not pay attention to this year’s great development: the number of immigrants exceeded 30,000 for the first time in more than a decade. The number of immigrants rose by 50% in the past two years, and we haven’t heard the last word. It is our duty to do everything necessary to take advantage of this rare opportunity and invest efforts in both immigrant absorption and Aliyah encouragement, so that a figure of 50,000 immigrants in one year does not seem imaginary. If we will it, it is no dream.”