RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/02/countering-the-false-apartheid-narrative/

W hen the Abraham Accords were announced three years ago, left-wing organizations ridiculed them as a fantasy that would be repudiated everywhere. Instead, the accords have been very successful in transforming Israel’s relationships with a number of Arab-dominated countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, dramatically increasing trade and tourism.

Rather than focusing on the accords’ impact on Israel’s growing regional acceptance, 29 left-wing organizations signed a joint statement demanding that the U.S. reject the Abraham Accords and “end support for Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights and apartheid rule.” Notable signatories were the Progressive Democrats of America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and a number of Jewish leftist organizations, including Jewish Voices for Peace and IfNotNow. This statement followed an unprecedented Amnesty International report demanding that “Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.”

This extreme rhetoric is quite distant from reality. It ignores the dramatic advances made by Israeli Arabs in the past decade, the numerous initiatives taken by the new government to temper conflicts in the occupied territories, and the substantial abuses perpetrated by Palestinian misleaders in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israeli Arabs make up 20 percent of the country’s population and have moved into the Israeli mainstream, particularly in high-tech and medical fields. They are a growing number in high-tech, driven by their being 20 percent of the graduates from the Technion — Israel’s MIT. Aided by government funding, Nazareth has become a center of high-tech firms, many having Arab ownership. In the medical area, 17 percent of doctors, 24 percent of nurses, and 47 percent of pharmacists are Arab. More generally, Arab share of undergraduate enrollment has increased from 10 percent in 2008 to 17 percent a decade later.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Thanks to Michael Ordman, every week we get incredible news from Israel. From A: Agriculture to Z: Zoology, Israeli innovations and technology help to vanquish despair, disease, famine, and physical challenges for millions. Communications among formerly hostile nations forged in the Abraham Accords thrive, and Israel’s active music, theater, cinema and dance institutions break the invidious barriers of boycotts, and its national cuisine is now considered among the best in the world. In spite of disputatious politics, and the libels of international media, Israelis of every color and ethnicity and life preferences are free to enjoy democracy, freedom and good times. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Alzheimer’s breakthrough. Tel Aviv University scientists have identified pathological activity in the brain that precedes initial Alzheimer’s symptoms by many years. A systemic failure causes high activity in the hippocampus even during sleep. They also found that an existing MS treatment suppresses this activity.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-695244
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124721017800
 
The future of cancer therapy. Israel’s ImmPACT Bio is developing transformative logic-gate-based CAR-T cell therapies for cancer patients who have exhausted their treatment options. The technology is designed to distinguish cancerous cells from normal cells, thereby eliminating tumors without damaging normal tissues. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-cancer-therapy-co-immpact-bio-raises-111m-1001399387
https://immpact-bio.com/
 
Vitamin D and Covid-19. Researchers from Israel’s Bar Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center have confirmed and now published their conclusions regarding their June study (see here previously) that showed increased vitamin D levels can help COVID-19 patients reduce the risk of serious illness or death.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-study-offers-strongest-proof-yet-of-vitamin-ds-power-to-fight-covid/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263069
 
A strategy for tackling Covid-19. Israel’s Pangea (see here previously) has launched a comprehensive portfolio of services and products aimed at helping government authorities over the globe tackle the COVID-19 crisis in their country. Pangea set up Test2Fly at Ben Gurion airport and Green Pass entry systems for offices.
https://www.new-techeurope.com/2022/01/18/israels-pangea-launches-strategic-venture-to-provide-covid-19-products-and-services-to-governments-worldwide/  
 
Passive detection of diseases. Israel’s Olive Diagnostics (see here previously) has completed a successful clinical trial of its KG hands-free, non-invasive, AI-based optical device for 100% passive and seamless urinalysis. In continuous testing, the device accurately detected biomarkers associated with kidney stones.
https://www.startuphub.ai/olive-diagnostics-100-passive-urine-analysis-device-accurately-detects-biomarkers-for-kidney-stones-uti-and-heart-failure/  https://www.olive.earth/
 
A high fat diet can repair brain damage. A Tel Aviv University study indicates that a ketogenic diet may reduce the effects of brain damage after traumatic injury. High-fat products such as meat, fish, eggs, avocado, butter etc., are eaten while restricting carbohydrates e.g., bread, sugar, grains, legumes, pastries and even fruits.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/high-fat-diet-may-restore-cognitive-function-lost-in-brain-injury-israeli-study/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320622   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34876621/
 
Is DNA talking to us? Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University applied linguistics to the study of how DNA protein letter groups repeat. They then generated an algorithm that revealed their functions and now believe this approach can help plan the development of innovative new treatments.
https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/pages/news/dna_text.aspx  https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/49/20/11447/6414050
 
Spinal implant could help paralyzed to walk. (TY WIN) A first-of-its-kind 3D-printed spinal cord tissue implant developed in Prof. Tal Dvir’s regenerative biotechnology lab at Tel Aviv University, has enabled paralyzed lab mice to walk again. Startup Matricelf (see here previously) is now working on a human version.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-lab-made-spinal-cords-get-paralyzed-mice-walking-human-trial-in-3-years/ https://english.tau.ac.il/news/artificial-spine https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202105694
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZQ0-KoaFDE   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swAIomwbZvw
 
Pursue an MD degree in Israel. Do you know of someone interested in pursuing their M.D. or MBA degree in Israel? This video features Lynne M. Quittell, M.D., director of the North American office of BGU’s Medical School for International Health.  https://americansforbgu.org/video/md-or-mba-degree-in-english/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGkH7dTKy84
 
How an insensitive doctor spurred on an EU award-winner. Dr. Daphne Haim-Langford was just 16 when a doctor told her not to study as she was going blind with Uveitis. It pushed her to get a PhD at Israel’s Technion Institute, found medical startup Tarsier and win the EU 2021 prize for female innovators (see here previously).
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3928585,00.html

The refusal of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop bankrolling terrorists is well known. Nevertheless, it’s worth reiterating in light of the efforts by the administration in Washington and government in Jerusalem to give it a good gloss-over. 

The attempts by Washington to deny or obfuscate the PA’s true agenda is aimed at returning to the non-existent two-state solution to the literal and figurative table. To fulfill this goal, it assigns moral equivalence to both sides of the Palestinian war against the Jewish state.

As the target of the aggression, Jerusalem doesn’t unequivocally embrace such a tactic; however, the current coalition has been more open to providing excuses for Palestinian hostility than its predecessor. It does this by espousing the view that appeasing Ramallah is in Israel’s best interest.

That neither of the above has ever led to anything other than an uptick in anti-Zionist violence does not seem to register on the diplomatic-Richter-scale. The constant need to restate the obvious is astonishing, but it’s not as jaw-dropping as the chronological proximity of Western goodwill gestures to bloodcurdling Palestinian statements and the actions they spur.

Only examine the events of the last couple of months. On December 22, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited Ramallah, where he met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to discuss strengthening the ties that the Palestinian leadership severed with America during the administration of former president Donald Trump.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/theres-apartheid-in-the-holy-land-but-not-in-israel-amnesty-international-palestine-racial-discrimination-disfavored-group-11644338888?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

The report by Amnesty International accusing Israel of apartheid—a likely preview of similar moves at the United Nations and the International Criminal Court—has been widely debunked, including in these pages. Yet what is remarkable about its 200 pages of distortions is the evidence of real apartheid-like policies that Amnesty leaves out. There are reasons to be concerned about the emergence of apartheid in the Holy Land—but not the ones Amnesty cites.

The defining characteristic of apartheid—what distinguishes it from generic racial discrimination—is the rigid separation of groups in public spaces and positions of power. This is the apart in apartheid.

Thus, a sign of apartheid could be a government policy that bans real-estate sales or transactions to the disfavored group. Apartheid is suggested by policies that carve out massive zones where the disfavored group cannot live or work, create ethnically homogenous zones, and restrict the disfavored group to ghettos. One might consider it apartheid if a government enforced a policy of extrajudicial execution of members of a disfavored group.

All these policies are practiced in the West Bank and Gaza—by the Palestinian Authority government against Jews. What makes the “Israel apartheid” meme particularly despicable is that is not just a lie, it is an inversion of the truth. In all areas controlled by Israel, Jews and Arabs mix openly. Yet the Palestinian Authority has for decades ruled over Gaza and about half the West Bank—and all the areas under its jurisdiction are Jew-free.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18200/palestinians-human-rights-violations

In August alone, the PA security forces committed 287 violations against Palestinians, including arbitrary arrests of a physicist, activists, lawyers and others. Ten detainees went on hunger strike in PA prison and the health condition of two others deteriorated as a result of torture.

The report analyzed 250 arrest cases between January 2018 and June 2021, and noted: “Not a single case went without one or more instances of violation of procedures related to arrest, detention and fair trial guaranteed by the Palestinian Criminal Procedures Law and the Palestinian Basic Law of 2003.” — Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, 2021.

Under the current circumstances, the Biden administration is stating that it wants to facilitate Abbas’ creation of another Arab dictatorship that suppresses public freedoms and sanctions torture and intimidation.

The ICSPR and ARIJ reports show that the Palestinian dictatorship entity already exists and is actively arresting, torturing, and killing its critics. What else do Blinken and the rest of the international community need to hear before they stop trying to empower such abusive governance and instead heed the voices of these Palestinians?

While international “human rights” organizations such as Amnesty International make false and baseless claims against Israel, most continue intentionally and systematically to ignore the human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

A report published on January 29 by the Palestinian NGO International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR), which seeks to raise awareness of human rights among Palestinians, revealed that the year 2021 witnessed severe setbacks in the exercise of public rights and freedoms under the PA in the West Bank.

As Tevye, in “Fiddler on the Roof” muses on questions “that would cross a rabbi’s eyes” I increasingly ask myself what turpitude could so blithely defame Israel. The nation is a democracy in an archipelago of tyranny, racism, religious intolerance, and oppression. Nonetheless, academics, politicians and the media in our own nation indulge in virtually routine bias against a small country that contributes such outsize research and development in every aspect of human endeavor. Michael Ordman’s weekly newsletter shatters the lies.  Please read it……rsk

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

ALS treatment trial success. (TY I24 News) The cellular therapy from Israel’s Kadimastem (see here previously) was able to slow down the progression of ALS in its first human clinical trial on ten patients. Kadimastem’s Vice President of R&D Michal Izrael describes the treatment and the next trial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHbjiBZepC8

https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-israeli-cellular-therapy-provides-hope-for-people-suffering-from-als/

Eradicating cancer. To mark World Cancer Day on 4th Feb, these articles describe some of the latest developments of Israeli scientists at the Technion Institute, Ben Gurion University, and Tel Aviv University.

https://nocamels.com/2022/02/cancer-innovative-therapy-strategies/

https://www.vpklab.sites.tau.ac.il/

Anti-viral treatment has promise. (TY WIN) Israel’s Todos (see here previously) completed a Phase 2 study of its Tollovir treatment on 31 hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Their clinical improvement was 2.7 days faster than the placebo group. Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital is now allowing Tollovir for compassionate use.

https://www.israel21c.org/covid-19-antiviral-drug-shows-promising-results/

Repairing livers for transplant. Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center performed, for the first time in Israel, a donor liver machine perfusion (MP) to improve a dilapidated liver and successfully transplant it into a patient. By repairing aged and damaged livers, it will reduce the shortage of livers from deceased donors.

https://www.jns.org/using-new-technology-israel-aims-to-make-more-livers-available-for-transplantation/

Protecting preemies’ first breath. A previous newsletter (see here) featured a monitor to detect if premature babies were damaged by their ventilator. Now scientists at Israel’s Technion have discovered the underlying reason for the damage and successfully tested a treatment that could save thousands of young lives.

https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2022/01/mechanical-ventilation-preterm-babies/

More IVF patients to self-monitor. IVF patients of Israel’s Clalit Heathcare have performed nearly 15,000 UV scans using Israel’s Pulsenmore (see here previously) to monitor their pregnancies. Clalit are purchasing thousands more Pulsenmore remote hand-held devices – especially important during the coronavirus pandemic.

https://nocamels.com/2022/01/pulsenmore-clalit-ivf-ultrasound-home/

Sweet Victory over sugar cravings. Israel’s Sweet Victory (see here previously) has completed a successful pilot study of its innovative chewing gum at the Obesity Research Center of Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. In just two minutes it blocks the sugar receptors on the tongue. Available in Israel, France and soon the USA.

https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/sweet-victory-over-sugar-cravings-822460508.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaetu-zwHiw

A window into the body. Researchers from Israel’s Weizmann Institute have shown how to monitor genes deep inside the body. They used a genetic dye and engineered cells to light up when those genes are expressed. One day it will help monitor the success of cell therapy for cancer or the success of transplanted organs.

https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/chemistry/tracking-multiple-genes-flying-colors

https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-israeli-imaging-technique-gives-unprecedented-window-into-genes-deep-in-body/   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-01162-5

Home visits for your pet. Israel’s The Vets has established a startup for owners of pets in over 10 cities across the USA.  It offers a full range of home treatments for pets, including wellness exams, home lab tests, vaccinations, travel certificates, microchipping, and more. The Vets’ product and R&D centers are in Tel Aviv.

https://thevets.com/  https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3928196,00.html

First among equals. Having just donated an ambulance to United Hatzalah, EMT volunteer Kenneth was proudly driving it on its first shift in Beitar Illit.  Suddenly he received an emergency call and seconds later was using equipment from the ambulance to successfully help resuscitate a patient without any vital signs.

https://israelrescue.org/blog/volunteer-emt-donates-ambulance-then-performs-successful-cpr-during-vehicles-first-shift/

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18199/amnesty-international-israel

Unfortunately for the inveterate peace-processors and their followers, the Arab world has moved on from their own opposition to Israel. They see the country for what it is: a source of stability and prosperity in the region. They understand the dangers of continuing Palestinian intransigence and animosity and have denied them a veto on progress — a veto that Amnesty and its fellow Israel rejectionists want to see reinstated.

This report will also provoke increased violence, abuse and boycotts against Jews in Israel and Jews who support Israel in the diaspora, in an era where antisemitic attacks are already at a high point and on the rise. That may not be Amnesty’s aim in producing this twisted document, but they cannot be so blind as to fail to see its bloody consequences, which have played out over decades following similar distorted reports, debates, resolutions and media fabrications.

The definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) includes: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor”. The British government has signed up to the IHRA definition. Amnesty is based in the UK and the UK police should now investigate it for spreading these grievous antisemitic lies.

The latest grotesque exhibition of anti-Israel vitriol among NGOs is this week’s publication of a report by Amnesty International that recycles tired, repeatedly disproven yet deliberately provocative antisemitic tropes and accusations of racism. This from an organization that was itself last year branded as “systemically racist”.

The title of the report, “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and crime against humanity”, is not only a blatant and unsubstantiated lie but also an insult to black South Africans who suffered so horrifically under a genuinely apartheid regime. Few will read this 200+ page diatribe of falsehoods, distortions and half-truths, but many will see and absorb its title, which has already been plastered greedily across left-leaning newspapers and disseminated to millions in social media. The BBC, for example, trumpeted “Israel’s policies against Palestinians amount to apartheid” in an online article, giving full weight to Amnesty’s claims, quoting several people who support them, but allowing only the briefest opposing view from the Israeli government at the end.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Israel is approximately the size of New Jersey, but unlike our Garden State, threatened daily with terrorism and blood curdling threats and libels. Every day research and development in medicine, science, technology, agronomy, proceeds apace, enriching the lives of millions on every continent. Here is this week’s dazzling compilation from Michel Ordman.  rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
The next booster could be Israeli. The CEO of NRx – the US company in charge of trials of Israel’s BriLife coronavirus vaccine – said NRx is designing a Phase II study of BriLife as a booster to protect against COVID-19 variants. The study will be led by the research heads of Israel’s Hadassah and Sourasky (Ichilov) hospitals.
https://www.jns.org/israel-aims-to-test-brilife-vaccine-candidate-as-booster-dose/  
 
92% recovery after 3 days. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare has treated 850 of its high-risk coronavirus-infected customers with the new Pfizer Paxlovid pills. 60% significantly improved on the first day, rising to 92% within 3 days.  All recovered.  https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-692757
 
Pancreatic cancer breakthrough. (TY UWI) Researchers at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center studied the data of 17,000 pancreatic cancer patients. They discovered that a mutation resulting in the absence of two proteins P15 and P16 allows the cancer to spread to the liver. The findings can help treat such patients.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/01/23/israeli-researchers-reveal-achilles-heel-of-pancreatic-cancer/
 
Non-invasive test for IBD. Israel’s Weizmann Institute, working together with Israel’s Sheba Medical Center can detect inflammation in the intestines by analyzing a fecal sample for the genes expressed in the cells. It can help diagnose gastric disorders such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and monitor their treatment.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/noninvasive-test-gut-inflammation
https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2022/01/18/gutjnl-2021-325516?rss=1
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320979
 
Look into my eyes.  A great article about Israel’s Neurolight (see here previously) and its amazing ocular technology that extracts microscopic eye movement measurements to help diagnose neurological disorders. The platform aims to help developers of treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and multiple sclerosis patients.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-answer-to-parkinsons-and-alzheimers-is-all-in-your-eyes/
 
AI management approved for type 2 diabetes. Israel’s DreaMed (see here previously) has now received US FDA approval for use with Type 2 diabetes sufferers as well as Type 1. It will relieve the strain on endocrinologist who each have on average some 46,000 patients.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/israeli-startup-offers-hope-in-global-diabetes-crisis/
 
Israelis live longer. The latest report of life expectancy for Israeli men is 81 years – 8th in the OECD. For Israeli women it’s 84.8 – 11th in the OECD (see here for previous years). Both exceed the OECD average. Israel’s birth rate is by far the highest in the OECD and infant mortality is well below the OECD average.
https://www.jns.org/report-israelis-live-longer-lives-than-most-despite-major-deficits-in-health-care/