RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

Another week brings another compilation of Israel’ unique and outsize contributions to solving medical, technological, social, agricultural, and scientific problems that beset the world in every continent including the advanced and the impoverished nations. Here is Michael Ordman’s weekly list that combats the hateful libels levied against the Jewish State by biased media, academia and the United Nations. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Using AI to identify autoimmune diseases. After winning a medical contest to detect celiac disease, Shlomit Steinberg-Koch founded Predicta Med. Its Artificial Intelligence is 84% accurate in detecting Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and lupus.

https://www.israel21c.org/new-technology-speeds-up-diagnosis-of-7-autoimmune-diseases/  

https://predicta-med.com/

Breakthrough dry eye treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Lumenis (see here previously) has won a MedTech Breakthrough award for “Best New Technology Solution for Ophthalmology.”  Its OptiLight Optimal Pulse Technology (OPT) is the only FDA approved light treatment for dry eye disease, with 49 million US sufferers.

https://lumenis.com/medical/specialties/eye-care/resource-hub/lumenis-optilight-wins-2022-medtech-breakthrough-award-best-new-technology-solution-for-ophthalmology/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VlXaDQKQTY

https://lumenis.com/medical/eye-care-products/optilight/

Breakthrough Innovation. (TY Hazel) Two Israeli health tech startups Sanolla (ultrasound stethoscope – see here) and Naor (a.k.a. Rapid Diagnostics) saliva-based Covid-19 detection (see here), were awarded the Breakthrough Innovation Award at the InoVEX 2022 Pitch Contest held in Taiwan.

https://nocamels.com/2022/06/health-tech-startups-taiwan/  https://sanolla.com/  https://naordia.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF1sOOTf_3Q

Protecting heart patients from stroke. Israel’s Filterex Medical has completed successful trials of its CAPTIS device. The easily deployed device protected 20 patients during Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedures, preventing any embolic particles (debris) entering the bloodstream and causing a stroke.

https://filterlex.com/2022/06/02/filterlex-medical-announces-positive-results-from-a-first-in-human-study-for-the-captis-full-body-embolic-protection-device/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFv7QZNsch8

Treating OPMD. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has opened a specialized clinic to diagnose, treat and follow-up Bukharan Jews suffering from the life-shortening genetic disease oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD). The team includes ENTs, neurologists, oral and maxillofacial physicians, and ophthalmologists.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-708582

Genome sequencing for $100. Israeli-founded, US-based Ultima Genomics has emerged from secrecy to announce it has developed a sequencing machine that allows genome sequencing for a fraction of the cost of rival companies. With five Israelis in the leadership team, it has just raised $600 million in funding.

https://www.ultimagenomics.com/   https://www.ultimagenomics.com/about-ultima-genomics

Powering healthcare. The goal of Israel’s Vim is to help change US medical care from “sick care” to “health care”.  Vim links the payer to the provider to improve quality of patient care at lower cost, with efficient workflow, fast diagnoses, and proactive prevention.  Read how the Israeli system differs from the US system.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sfm2tp56a  https://getvim.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trAprwk6aPI   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p67ZX0620lk

https://www.jns.org/iran-at-top-of-agenda-during-bennetts-surprise-trip-to-uae-say-observers/?utm_source=

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a surprise visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday morning at the invitation of its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. While the trip caught some observers off-guard, others said recent developments concerning Iran were clearly the impetus.

“The immediate trigger is the decision made by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] condemning Iran for not cooperating with the agency on a number of matters,” Eytan Gilboa, professor of political science and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), told JNS.

“The No. 1 item on the agenda will be how to perhaps exploit that decision for mutual benefit,” said Gilboa. “The urgent matter is what to do with the United States and the West.”

The 35-member board of the IAEA voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to criticize Iran for “insufficient” cooperation regarding uranium traces found at three undeclared locations. Thirty countries voted for the resolution. Russia and China opposed while India, Libya and Pakistan abstained. Iran condemned the resolution on Thursday as “political and unconstructive.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/06/palestinians-yet-again-attack-jewish-pilgrims-hugh-fitzgerald/

Another Jewish holiday, another Arab attack on Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount. This time, it was the religious holiday of Shavuot, on June 5, exactly a week after Jerusalem Day, May 29, when Arabs last threw rocks and Molotov cocktails from inside Al-Aqsa at Jewish pilgrims. A report on the latest outbreak of Arab violence on Temple Mount is here: “Police clash with Palestinians on Temple Mount as Jews visit during Shavuot holiday,” Times of Israel, June 5, 2022

Police scuffled with Palestinians on Jerusalem’s flashpoint Temple Mount holy site on Sunday morning as Jews toured the compound during the Shavuot holiday.

Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the compound’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and threw stones at police in response to the visits. There were no reports of injuries or arrests in the incident.

The Palestinians constantly allege that Israeli Jews are “desecrating” the Al-Aqsa Mosque. But it is the Palestinians themselves who desecrate the mosque, by using it both as a place to store weapons – rocks, and bottles ready to be quickly transformed into Molotov cocktails – and as a military encampment from which they hurl those weapons at Jewish visitors and Israeli police.

Footage from the scene showed officers outside the mosque doors, while Palestinians barricaded inside threw stones out of windows and chanted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-never-targets-journalists-shireen-abu-akleh-al-jazeera-reporter-killed-palestine-11654800434?mod=opinion_lead_pos10

Less than two hours after the death on May 11 of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, I contacted Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian minister responsible for cooperation with Israel. We all agree that something awful happened, I told him. I proposed that we hold a joint investigation into her death.

The Palestinians refused. We may never know exactly what caused her death, but the important thing is that, like 511 other journalists who were killed in recent years around the world, she died while carrying out her duties. Being a journalist in wartime is a dangerous business. I know—I was a journalist for 31 years and covered the First Lebanon War.

What happened next can’t be excused by the fog of war. Palestinian propaganda used Abu Akleh, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting her. She would surely have known better.

If the outrageous claim that Israel targets journalists were true, why would she have worked in the region for more than 20 years? How can it be explained that still today hundreds of foreign journalists work in the same place? Al Jazeera, a network run by an Islamist state that is openly hostile to Israel, has permanent staff in Israel who are protected by the state the network slanders on a regular basis?

https://www.jns.org/opinion/shavuot-the-six-day-war-and-the-sorry-status-quo-on-the-temple-mount/

Israeli and Diaspora Jews visiting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday to celebrate Shavuot—the holiday marking the revelation of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai—were greeted by angry Palestinians. The latter, mostly young men, have taken to rioting regularly on the compound where the Al-Aqsa mosque is located.

It would be easy to attribute the behavior of the Muslim troublemakers to the occasion when Jews make a festive pilgrimage to the site of the two temples. It would be equally simple to attach significance to the Gregorian date, which coincided with the 55th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War.

Though the two are indelibly linked, the tendency of mostly young male Palestinians to use any excuse to desecrate the site—the holiest in Judaism and third in Islam after Mecca and Medina—has become commonplace. And it’s no wonder.

Incited by the Palestinian Authority, with a little help from the king of Jordan, these guys get to cloak their violent energy in a veil of religious and political purity. The neat trick on the part of the leaders in Ramallah, Gaza and Amman to encourage terrorist activity is to perpetuate the bald-faced lie that Israel plans to storm the compound and destroy the mosque.

The mendacity doesn’t end there. The P.A. leadership also pretends that the presence of Jews in the ancient land of Israel is a myth, and that the story of the First and Second Temples is a fabrication.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Today is the anniversary of D-Day- the Normandy invasion of June 6, 1944 which was followed by several battles in Europe, but heralded the end of Germany’s Nazi regime and the genocide that claimed one third of world Jewry.  The following 77 years brought a miracle. Israel gained its sovereignty and, in those decades, became a world player in research and development of technology and innovation which heals and gives hope to billions of people throughout the world.  And in historic irony, when former German Chancellor Angela Merkel retired, her first foreign visit was to Israel where she was warmly received.    rsk

Michael Ordman’s weekly blog details Israel impressive accomplishments in every field of Human endeavor.

Israel is like a powerful magnet, attracting global demand for its innovations and assistance.  The European Union is negotiating for Israeli natural gas. Israel is partnering Greece for innovation and research. Israeli robots are caring for seniors in New York.  Israeli technology is growing crops in Africa and providing water in India. Israel’s economic ties has extended to Arab countries that don’t even have formal diplomatic relations with it. Meanwhile, arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport include young Moroccan leaders, the Governor of Arizona, OECD educators, hundreds of new Ethiopian immigrants and hundreds of thousands of tourists. Finally, yet another international embassy is to open in Jerusalem. Michael Ordman

 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Ketamine as an antidepressant. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute and in Germany, have clarified the molecular cascade triggered by ketamine, that leads to its sustained antidepressant effects. They found that the gene Kcnq2 enables potassium ions to pass through the brain, maintaining the activity and stability of neurons.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-german-study-hopes-to-pave-way-for-use-of-ketamine-as-an-antidepressant/
 
Hi-tech blood cell analysis. Report and fascinating new video showing the features of the X100 Microscope and Decision Support System from Israel’s Scopio Labs (see here previously).
https://nocamels.com/2022/05/scopio-labs-cell-microscope/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT3vF1UT4HM
 
$30 million for digital health. Israel has selected 19 programs for a new digital health initiative. They include test sharing, endoscopy videos for R&D, and making data on mental health and midwifery more accessible. The databases used are anonymized and better access should contribute to more breakthroughs in Israeli health tech.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-approves-19-programs-for-30-million-digital-health-initiative/
 
An amazing life – Michael Sela. Professor Michael Sela, formerly the sixth president of Israel’s Weizmann Institute, has passed away at the age of 98. Prof Sela co-invented Copaxone to treat MS, Erbitux for cancer, and other treatments. He helped create the field of immunology, won numerous awards, and spoke nine languages.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/328454
 
Identical twins give birth on same day. Identical twin sisters, Yael and Avital gave birth at Shaare Zedek Medical Center to their fourth babies (both boys) on the same day. Each already had two girls and a boy. And previously, a set of twins were born at Hadassah Medical Center, at 2:22am on the 22nd of February 2022.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/328464  https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/322774
 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18584/biden-is-no-friend-of-israel

The real crime, one that represents a serious breach of the long-standing intelligence-sharing arrangements between the US and Israel, is that one of President Joe Biden’s senior officials has been willing to betray the trust of such a close ally.

At a time when tensions are already running high between Iran and the West over the stalled nuclear talks, there are quite justifiable concerns in Israel that the leak will prompt Iran to exact revenge by attacking Israeli targets, even if it later transpires that Israel was not responsible for the assassination.

The timing of the leak also indicates an underlying willingness on the part of the Biden administration to undermine Israel when, in public, the White House is seeking to portray itself as an ally of Israel, as indicated by its recent seeming decision not to remove the IRGC from the US list of designated terrorist organisations.

As for motivation, it is unclear if the leak was deliberate, to harm Israel, or from not fully appreciating the jeopardy it could potentially cause Israel, an act which would reflect the Biden administration’s profound lack of understanding as to what is at stake with the entire Iran issue.

Nothing better illustrates the Biden administration’s deep-seated antipathy towards the State of Israel than the leaking of highly classified material about the alleged role Israeli intelligence played in the assassination of a top-ranking Iranian terrorist.

For decades, Israel and the US have enjoyed a unique intelligence-sharing relationship whereby the two countries share the most sensitive material on their respective intelligence, security and military operations.

But the deep-seated bond of trust that forms the bedrock of this vital relationship has been seriously compromised as a result of the Biden administration’s egregious decision to leak details of Israel’s alleged involvement in the killing of Colonel Sayad Khodayee, a senior commander in the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC).