RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/iron-dome-woes-and-yair-lapid-in-la-la-land-opinion-680176
Israel should be deeply concerned by the victory that was achieved on Tuesday by the progressive wing of the US House of Representatives. Rather than making excuses for the removal of a $1 billion provision for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system from a major funding bill, Jerusalem would do well to grasp the significance of the goings-on behind the scenes in Washington.

Unfortunately, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s response indicates that the new Israeli government is still clinging to a dangerous fantasy with two related prongs. One is that former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to blame for the “rift” created between the Democratic Party and the Jewish state. The other is that the administration of President Joe Biden is just as pro-Israel, if not more, than its predecessor, headed by Donald Trump.

The irony is inescapable.

In the first place, if anything proves that Bibi isn’t to blame for the radicalization of the American Left and its increasingly open hostility to Israel, it’s the move against the Iron Dome. The maneuver was clearly spearheaded by the so-called Squad, made up of core members Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, and joined by Jamaa Bowman and Cori Bush.

Thus far, these paragons of progressive virtue have been mum about their role in the Iron Dome issue, but they have been clear from the outset about their agenda in general and their attitude toward Israel in particular. Nor have they hidden their view of Biden as a puppet put in place initially to oust Trump, and then to sit back and not get in their way. This week, they showed that they meant business.

Secondly, Biden’s supposedly stellar record on Israel is irrelevant. He thinks that a Palestinian state is crucial for Mideast peace, and continues to push for a return to the nuclear deal with Iran.

That the anti-Netanyahu crowd in Israel was buoyed by the US president’s meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House last month is equally beside the point. The little get-together was briefly postponed due to the slaughter of 13 US servicemen and dozens of Afghans in Kabul – thanks to Biden’s hasty retreat and the Taliban’s immediate takeover.

With that debacle in the background, his pledge of “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” including “full support [for] replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome system,” rang as hollow as his vow to “ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.”
What really reverberated, however, was the caveat that “we’re putting diplomacy first and seeing where that takes us.”

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/islamic-terrorism-and-the-age-of-the-holocaust-opinion-679731

Shrouded by what is portrayed as a “humanitarian” agenda – “self-determination,” “end the occupation – free Palestine,” “global jihad/intifada,” etc. – radical Islamists promote terrorism and murder.
The 20th century, marked by two world wars and the Holocaust, also saw the advent of the nuclear age and the UN; peace, however, didn’t last long. Regional wars erupted: when the State of Israel was declared, Arab nations invaded in an attempt to wipe it out; backed by Communist China, North Korea invaded South Korea and then North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam.

Many African nations are plagued by civil wars between Islamists and Christians. Afghanistan has been conquered by the Taliban; UNICEF calls Yemen, torn by civil war initiated by Islamists and assisted by Iran, “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.” Yazidis, an ethnic minority in Iraq, have been slaughtered and enslaved by Islamists. Islamist insurgents in Nigeria have killed around 35,000 people and displaced at least two million in the past decade, driven first by Boko Haram and more recently by its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Islamist terrorists threaten Mali, Somalia, Sudan and neighboring countries.

This is a third world war. Why is the world silent?

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

 The new Jewish year 5782 is a Sabbatical year when observant Israeli farmers allow their fields to rest. However, as this newsletter shows, there is certainly no rest for Israeli researchers, medics, scientists, aid volunteers, social activists, inventors, designers, entrepreneurs, writers, musicians, or archaeologists. Michael Ordman

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Learning from Israel’s Covid boosters. The Chair of UK’s Health and Social Care Select Committee, MP Jeremy Hunt, stated in Parliament that Israel shows that a booster program reduces Covid hospitalizations in just two weeks. Israeli research also shows that the booster gives 10 times more antibodies than the second jab.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313170
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-research-3rd-vaccine-dose-produces-10-times-more-antibodies-than-2nd/
 
Israeli vaccine gives longer protection. The Brilife vaccine, developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research, appears to give long-term defense against the coronavirus. The 230 trial volunteers who received the highest dosage of the vaccine were still fully protected six months after vaccination.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-high-dose-of-israeli-made-vaccine-appears-to-give-long-lasting-protection/
 
A “super cork” for Covid. (TY WIN) Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have developed a small molecule that stops the coronavirus spike protein from attaching to the lungs’ ACE2 receptor. But it doesn’t damage ACE2’s normal function. (See also here for similarities with opaganib from Israel’s Redhill).
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/putting-super-cork-coronavirus
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-021-00954-4
 
Unlocking cancer immunotherapy. (TY UWI) More details on the breakthrough technology of Israel’s Nectin (see here previously). Monoclonal antibodies, with toxins attached, are sent directly to the cancer cell to break its ability to immobilize the body’s immune system. Clinical trials are expected to start in early 2022.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-drug-candidate-could-boost-potential-of-immunotherapy/
 
Using white blood cells to fight cancer. (TY UWI) Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered that a type of white blood cell (eosinophils) can be utilized to fight cancer. They have a double effect, producing destructive proteins, while at the same time summoning the immune system’s cancer-fighting T-cells.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientists-aim-to-mobilize-allergy-causing-cells-to-fight-cancer/
 
Remove succinate to treat IBD. (TY UWI) Recent studies show that the metabolite succinate, secreted by gut bacteria, can cause Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Scientists at Israel’s Ben Gurion University and in South Korea have developed therapeutic peptides to remove succinates from the body. Patents have been filed.
https://www.israel21c.org/novel-biological-treatment-for-inflammatory-bowel-diseases/
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(21)00952-9
 
Treatment for cystic fibrosis sufferers. Israel’s SpliSense (see here previously) uses mRNA to fix the root cause of cystic fibrosis – genetic mutations that create a non-functioning protein (CFTR). It not only treats patients with no current treatment but is also much cheaper than existing treatments.
https://www.israel21c.org/inhaled-drug-could-treat-rare-cystic-fibrosis-mutations/  https://splisense.com/
 
HBOT and Alzheimer’s. Tel Aviv University scientists have discovered more on the effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT – see here). It significantly improved vascular function and blood flow to the brain, plus reduced and removed the build-up of amyloid plaque on the brain – a common symptom of Alzheimer’s.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/oxygen-therapy-may-slow-alzheimers-say-israeli-researchers-after-mice-study/
 
Voice analysis to aid mental health. Israel’s Eleos Health has developed an AI-powered voice analysis system to help behavioral health clinicians and care teams provide better personalized, care to mental health patients and reduce staff burnout.  It is deployed at Solvista Health, Achieve, Yeshiva University and ReachLink.
https://eleos.health/for-clinics/  https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3917801,00.html
 
Unbelievable joy as twins separated. (TY UWI) Very Good news. Surgeons at Israel’s Soroka hospital used Israeli technology to separate the heads and major blood vessels of two conjoined Israeli baby girls, assisted by a UK Muslim specialist. The babies were visibly delighted to be able to see each other for the first time.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israeli-1st-doctors-separate-heads-of-conjoined-twins-in-life-or-death-op/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-muslim-doctor-busts-boundaries-helps-separate-jewish-israeli-conjoined-twins/   https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313063
 
New York Life works with Empathy. The U.S.’s largest life insurer company New York Life has partnered Israel’s Empathy (see here previously) The Israeli app will help guide NYL customers navigate the complexities experienced with loss by offering logistics and emotional support.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3915955,00.html
 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/talk-about-a-mixture-of-irony-and-idiocy-in-israeli-covid-policy-679607

When Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz was caught on a hot mic on Sunday admitting that the “green pass” system is a necessary means of pressuring the public to get vaccinated — and not based on epidemiology — his remarks were treated by Channel 12 as a big scoop. His words were also held up by anti-vaxxers as evidence of the government’s allegedly unjustified coercion.

“We don’t want to do things that have no medical justification,” Horowitz was heard telling Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, in response to her saying that the restriction on outdoor dining should be lifted. “But I’m telling you that we have a problem. The ‘green pass’ isn’t even being enforced; certainly not in the Arab sector, where it doesn’t exist at all. And I’m seeing the effect on the hospitals.”

At this moment, Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern approached the pair and chimed in, “It’s annoying that they’re taking up the [hospital] beds,” he said.
“Those in intensive care, yes,” added Horowitz.

It’s pretty funny that the exchange caused such a stir. Anyone exposed to the changing regulations as much as to the virus itself knows that his revelation contained both truth and inherent contradictions.

Indeed, Israelis have come to grasp that the only real consensus among health officials these days surrounds the efficacy of inoculation – though some doctors have been questioning the need for or wisdom of a third jab. The rest of the incessant discussions and debates to which we are treated on a daily basis sound like background noise.

We also realize by now that the frequently incomprehensible rules were put in place for those who were likely to follow them. Knocking on an open door is always easier than trying to bang down a closed one, after all.

HOROWITZ IS probably kicking himself while wiping egg off his face for having his honesty aired unwittingly. But the “green pass” and “traffic light” systems are and have been pointless, particularly in a state like Israel.
Let’s not forget that it’s a country whose citizens – Jewish, Arab, haredi, National-Religious or secular – are used to and adept at finding loopholes. This is especially the case when directives appear illogical. Yet even when they make sense, the populace is perfectly content to ignore them.

Israelis of all stripes can be seen puffing away next to “no smoking” signs, for example, or playing Frisbee under “keep off the grass” placards. Ditto for picnickers who leave behind garbage on beaches and in parks, despite admonitions and an abundance of trash cans.

Nevertheless, most of the public rushed to receive the first and second doses of the vaccine, and nearly a third of the population has already been treated to No. 3. It’s not for nothing that Israel is noted for its impressive inoculation drive.

https://jewishlink.news/features/46007-lawfare-a-cynical-manipulation-of-the-rule-of-law

Having failed to destroy Israel militarily, economically and through terrorism, the Palestinian Arabs have restored to using “political warfare and legal warfare,” said former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. “Today the trenches are in Geneva in the Council of Human Rights, or in New York in the General Assembly, or in the Security Council, or in The Hague, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to damage our foreign relations with other nations.”

Lawfare is a weapon in the political war used by NGOs to delegitimize the Jewish state, demonize her leaders and limit the dissemination of public information about radical Islam. Israel’s enemies exploit U.S. and European courts by initiating civil lawsuits and criminal investigations to thwart Israel’s ability to fight terror by accusing her of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” he affirmed.

Captured Al-Qaeda terrorists were ordered to file spurious claims of being abused and tortured in order for the media, the public and the courts to see them as the true victims. As attorney Brooke Goldstein, director of the Lawfare Project maintains, “The object is as much to win a public relations victory as a court case.” This has not stopped them from overtly ignoring basic human rights when they brainwash children to become homicide bombers or use them as human shields.

Anne Herzberg, legal adviser for NGO Monitor, points out the prominent role NGOs have assumed in this process, due to their resources and mostly unrestrained power. Political scientist James McGann explains: “NGOs or civil society organizations (CSOs) have moved from backstage to center stage in world politics and are exerting their power and influence in every aspect of international relations and policymaking … ”

Furthermore, NGOs are “not neutral on issues of policy formation.” This “dual role of providing information and acting as an agent of political pressure on the government, leading to potential conflicts of interest.” This becomes important with regards to the expansion of “universal jurisdiction” and the establishment of international legal institutions.”

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313549

You are probably wondering what comes next for the man who’s done everything wrong since he became president.

Wait no more. Biden has set his sights on Jerusalem so far as his next blunder following Afghanistan.Biden is prepared to fix everything that ain’t broke.

Robert Gates, defense secretary under Obama, put it like this: “Biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”Say this about that, he is consistent, and to remain consistently wrong, Biden seems determined to reopen the US special consulate in Jerusalem.

(That is totally separate from the US Embassy in Jerusalem.)
Accordingly, the Taliban are now people we trust, and the Palestinian Authority are Israel’s partners in peace…among other such fantasies.
Trump had the consulate shut down, largely because he was clear-eyed and knew that it was designated to do business with the PA—terrorists.

That has never been a bother to Biden and fellow Democrat lawmakers, who view the term terrorist differently from Monday to Thursday.

Accordingly, the Taliban are now people we trust, and the Palestinian Authority are Israel’s partners in peace…among other such fantasies.

Re-opening the consulate amounts to a reward for terrorism…terrorism aimed specifically against Jews through the Palestinian Authority’s Martyrs Fund.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trial-over-killing-of-activist-drives-dissent-against-palestinian-leadership-11631629137?mod=world_major_2_pos1

RAMALLAH, West Bank—A Palestinian military court began the trial of 14 members of its security forces who are accused of beating to death a critic of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a case that has highlighted what activists say is the growing reach of paramilitary troops in the West Bank and a creeping culture of authoritarianism.

Nizar Banat’s death in June sparked widespread protests in Ramallah and Hebron, where he lived.

The 42-year-old was well known for his videos on Facebook and YouTube, where he frequently berated Mr. Abbas and a government that had increasingly become unaccountable in the eyes of many Palestinians. Earlier this year, the Palestinian Authority that runs the West Bank canceled elections after opinion polls suggested the ruling Fatah Party would lose.

Other videos veered into attacks on Israel and what Mr. Banat called Western-style feminism. Many of the videos drew thousands of views.

Mr. Banat’s death, allegedly at the hands of security forces, was caught on security cameras outside the house where he was staying and went viral, further inflaming the antigovernment mood in the territory and triggering a short-lived protest movement before a brutal clampdown. Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza and is regarded as a terror group by the U.S. and Israel, tried to expand its own influence in the West Bank during the chaos, though with limited success.

The current trial appears unlikely to assuage the anger over Mr. Banat’s death. His family didn’t appear at the courthouse in Ramallah where proceedings took place. They said their absence was a protest against a trial they said was meant to lay the blame on low-level officers and protect senior Palestinian Authority officials who had allegedly issued orders to drag Mr. Banat out into the street and beat him.

“We can’t be under the same roof with the killers of Nizar but moreover the proceedings are incomplete without those who actually issued the officers; those on trial are only scapegoats,” said Ghassan Banat, the victim’s brother.

Before the hearing began, 14 men accused of the killing were led into a black-barred cage in the courtroom. They stated their names when asked—the first time they had been publicly identified—but proceedings were cut short when their lawyer failed to appear. The next hearing was set for Sept. 21.

The lawyer for Mr. Banat’s family said the family could withdraw from the judicial process entirely if the defense for the accused drags out the trial.

Palestinian officials have presented Mr. Banat’s death, and the crackdown on protesters, as isolated incidents and said that they are committed to civil liberties. Critics say the events are part of a worrisome trend that has eroded trust in the Palestinian Authority.

Besides canceling the elections, authorities are struggling to address the economic fallout from successive Covid-19 lockdowns and are facing growing political pressure from the U.S. and European Union over the arrest of opposition activists.

Ghassan Khatib, the founder of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, a polling agency, and a vice president at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said the Fatah Party has been reluctant to offer up senior officials to public questioning over Mr. Banat’s killing because of the party’s internal divisions under the weakening leadership of Mr. Abbas, who is now 85.

Some Palestinians fear dissatisfaction with the leadership in the West Bank is turning into a crisis.

“The Palestinian public believes the deterioration in legitimacy and the split between Gaza and West Bank weakens the Palestinians vis-à-vis Israel,” said Mr. Khatib.