RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17482/palestinians-human-rights

Abbas appears to be emboldened by the Biden administration’s decision to resume unconditional financial aid to the Palestinians. This no-strings-attached money is being supplied without even a stipulation that the PA put an end to human rights violations and assaults on public freedoms.
Lawyers for Justice said in a separate statement … that the forms of torture in the PA-controlled Jericho Prison included hanging detainees from the ceilings, beatings and verbal abuse… and electric shocks.
“The Future List calls on all electoral lists approved by the Central Elections Committee, all human rights bodies and all honorable people of this country to form a united front to confront the arbitrary political arrests that aim to silence every free voice that rises in the face of tyranny and corruption practiced by the Palestinian Authority.” — The Future List, Shfanews.com, May 26, 2021.
It seems clear that the diplomats care little if the PA is arresting, torturing and intimidating social media users and political activists.
These diplomats and Western journalists do raise their voices — and loudly — when they have something damning to say about Israel. The silence of the international community and the Biden administration’s blind and unqualified support for the PA only encourage the Palestinian leadership to step up its repressive measures against Palestinians.
When Palestinians despair of any improvement in the PA leadership, they move towards Hamas and other terrorist groups that are seen by many Palestinians as a better alternative to Abbas and his Fatah faction.
It is hardly surprising, then, that the most recent public opinion poll showed a dramatic surge in the popularity of Hamas among Palestinians. What should be surprising — and disturbing — is that the Western world is directly aiding and abetting this bloody shift of allegiance.

Did the Biden administration give the Palestinian Authority (PA) a green light to resume its security crackdown on social media users, political activists and rivals in the West Bank?

Since US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit in late May to Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians, PA security forces have arrested or summoned dozens of Palestinians for interrogation.

Many of these Palestinians were accused of “insulting” Palestinian leaders on social media platforms or expressing support for the PA’s rivals in Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Abbas appears to be emboldened by the Biden administration’s decision to resume unconditional financial aid to the Palestinians. This no-strings-attached money is being supplied without even a stipulation that the PA put an end to human rights violations and assaults on public freedoms.

The Biden administration, in short, seems to be sending a message to the Palestinians that the US supports Arab dictatorships that suppress and imprison political activists and opponents and that block the emergence of new and young leaders.

The Biden administration is also telling the Palestinians indirectly that the US will continue to support an Arab leader who has denied them the chance to hold long overdue elections for the Palestinian parliament and presidency.

The Palestinian human rights group Lawyers for Justice said in a statement published on June 5 that “the campaign of political arrests and summonses… affected many citizens on different backgrounds, including arrests based on political affiliation and arrests for exercising freedom of opinion and expression on social media or participating in popular activities after the [May 21] ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/german-media-giants-message-to-employees-find-a-new-job-if-youre-anti-israel?itm_source=parsely-a

The CEO of a German media giant had a very pointed message for employees who complained that the company raised the Israeli flag outside their offices to show solidarity with the Jewish people and Israel as anti-Semitic demonstrations unfolded last month, saying that they should find new jobs.

The remarks by Axel Springer SE CEO Mathias Döpfner were made during a meeting last Thursday for the company’s 16,000 employees where he addressed complaints from some employees that the company had raised an Israeli flag outside company headquarters in Berlin.

I think, and I’m being very frank with you, a person who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after anti-Semitic demonstrations, should look for a new job,” Döpfner said. “After these weeks of terrible antisemitic demonstrations, we at our building headquarters raised next to the European flag, and the German flag, [and] the Berlin flag, said let’s raise for 1 week the Israeli flag as a gesture of solidarity. We do not accept this kind of aggressive anti-Semitic movements.”

The Jerusalem Post reported:

Berlin-based Axel Springer is the largest digital publisher in Europe, which owns Bild, Die Welt, Business Insider, Politico Europe and many other news brands, as well as Israel’s largest classified ads website, Yad2. …

Axel Springer put the Israeli flag up in front of its headquarters in May, following antisemitic displays at pro-Palestinian demonstrations across Germany, including marches to synagogues, shouting slogans against Jews, attacks on Jewish institutions and the burning of Israeli flags.

Döpfner reportedly said that some people did not want to work for the company if the company flew the Israeli flag and that those people did “not fit the company and its values.”

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

If you confront habitual critics of Israel whose opinions are shaped by fake media, fake educators and fake history, ask them about a use of digital and internet devices with components developed  by Israel; advanced treatments for common illnesses; technology that has created non invasive microsurgery and nano technology breakthroughs; agricultural and high-tech partnerships with nations in every continent; global succor and relief for epidemics and natural disasters; and social and humanitarian institutions that protect the rights of all Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. Display and circulate this list compiled every week by Michael Ordman. It is essential for challenging ignorance and bias.  rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
The masks are off. Israelis are now able to show their faces again indoors after Israel’s Health Ministry lifted the indoor facemask requirement. Some 61% of the population has been fully vaccinated and new Covid cases are minimal. Facemasks are only required for the unvaccinated, quarantined, care homes and air travelers.
https://www.jns.org/israel-lifts-indoor-mask-requirement-as-covid-19-recedes/
https://www.israel21c.org/israel-says-goodbye-and-good-riddance-to-covid-masks/
 
Dialing down the immune response. Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have identified the specific part of a protein within a T-cell that tells it to attack a virus or pathogen. The discovery of this “regulatory trigger” may lead to medications to prevent cytokine storms in coronavirus patients or to cure autoimmune diseases.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientists-move-closer-to-averting-deadly-immune-overreaction-to-covid/
https://www.jimmunol.org/content/206/10/2322
 
How to make vaccines go further. Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have evidence that under-30s develop 80% protection after their first SARS-Cov-2 vaccination. They recommend sending the second dose to countries with limited vaccine supplies but high COVID rates.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-propose-1-dose-shortcut-to-herd-immunity-for-vaccine-poor-countries/
 
Preventing cornea rejection. Israeli doctors have discovered that 3% of cornea transplant patients experienced blurry vision following their second Pfizer coronavirus vaccination. The doctors diagnosed that the cornea grafts were being rejected by the awakened immune response and prescribed steroids to quickly stop rejection.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-doctors-identify-and-fix-post-vaccine-problem-for-transplanted-corneas/
 
Protein linked to brain cancer & aging. Scientists at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have found that protein YY1 activates the gene TP73-AS1 which is known to protect glioblastoma brain cancer from chemo treatments. The same protein and gene are present in aging brains and the knowledge advances cancer research.
https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/pages/news/aging_brain%20cancer.aspx https://www.aging-us.com/article/203182/text
https://www.timesofisrael.com/aging-gene-may-make-brain-cancer-chemo-proof-for-some-israeli-study-finds/
 
Lower cholesterol and reduce anxiety. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have been testing beta-sitosterol – a cholesterol lowering substance found in avocados and nuts. They believe it can also reduce anxiety without the side-effects that current anti-depressant medications have. The results support further trials.
https://www.israel21c.org/a-natural-supplement-to-lower-cholesterol-may-ease-anxiety/
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(21)00109-9
 
Micro-surgery breakthrough. Israel’s Lydus Medical has developed Vesseal – a device to help perform the most complex of surgical procedures – connecting ultra-small blood vessels – automatically. It will revolutionize organ transplants, by-pass surgery etc. and will make millions of life-saving surgeries much safer and quicker.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/06/08/lydus-medical-is-new-israeli-medtech-startup/
https://www.lydus-medical.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4SBTcVUbb0
 
More patient data organized. Israel’s new WEF tech pioneer MDClone (see here previously) has added CIUSSS West-Central Montreal to its previous Canadian hospital (Ottawa) now using its ADAMS patient data management system. ADAMS has just been named MedTech’s Best Healthcare Big Data Platform of the year.
https://thecjn.ca/montreal-hospital-partners-with-israeli-digital-health-company/
https://www.mdclone.com/news-press/articles/mdclone-named-best-healthcare-big-data-platform-in-2021-medtech-breakthrough-awards-program  https://medtechbreakthrough.com/2021-winners/
 
 

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/egypt-planning-take-control-gaza-hugh-fitzgerald/

The Egyptians have been heavily involved in ending the Gaza War and its aftermath. It was Egypt that was responsible for arranging the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. It is Egypt that has been the first state to pledge a massive aid package — $500 million – for Gaza. And it is Egyptians, with heavy-duty equipment – bulldozers, trucks, cranes –who have been arriving in the Gaza Strip to begin the enormous task of both clearing the rubble, and rebuilding the Strip. Whether Egypt is considering remaining in the Strip is discussed here: “Is Egypt planning to retake control of the Gaza Strip?,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2021:

Scenes of dozens of Egyptian bulldozers, cranes and trucks entering the Gaza Strip last Friday have left some Palestinians wondering whether Egypt is planning to return to the coastal enclave it ruled between 1948 and 1967.

The Egyptian decision to send building equipment and engineers to the Gaza Strip came within the context of Cairo’s pledge to contribute to reconstruction efforts there after the recent

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has pledged $500 million to help rebuild the houses and buildings that were destroyed during the fighting.

This is an enormous sum for Egypt to commit, and signifies Cairo’s deep interest in winning the gratitude, and allegiance, of Palestinians in Gaza. The Egyptians view Hamas as the local branch in Gaza of the Muslim Brotherhood, and therefore an object of suspicion and loathing. The Egyptians want their presence in Gaza to offer a sharp contrast to Hamas, which dragged the Strip into a war that devastated the area, while Egyptians and their equipment are very visibly in Gaza to repair the damage that Hamas brought upon not only itself, but on the civilians whom the terror group used as civilian shields, by placing its weapons and rocket launching pads in the midst of civilian areas, and even inside schools, hospitals, houses, and apartment buildings in Gaza. Egypt no doubt hopes to win the gratitude of Palestinians as it cleans up the rubble and begins the enormous undertaking of rebuilding.

The presence of the Egyptian construction teams in the Gaza Strip means that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will not be able to resume the rocket attacks on Israel, Palestinian sources told The Jerusalem Post.

“It will be hard for Hamas to initiate another round of fighting with Israel when there are many Egyptians inside the Gaza Strip,” one of the sources said. “If Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad start firing rockets at Israel while the Egyptian construction teams are working in the Gaza Strip, the two groups will get into trouble with Egypt.”

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/its-israels-political-system-stupid-opinion-671343

The swearing-in on Sunday night of Israel’s 36th government was a relief to some of the public, if for no other reason than the fact that it staved off the fifth round of elections. Or so the members of the motley coalition would have us believe, though they, like most people in the country, don’t have great faith in its longevity.

But since the main purpose of the peculiar formation was to oust now-former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they have good cause to be pleased with themselves. Their mission was accomplished, at least temporarily.
The same cannot be said of the voters who gave Netanyahu’s Likud 30 Knesset seats, a far greater number than any other individual party. Nor are many of those who cast their ballots for Yamina, headed by Naftali Bennett, happy at its having joined forces with the Left and Islamist Ra’am Party. Ironically, though their candidate is now prime minister, they’re suffering from buyers’ remorse.

After all, their criticism of Netanyahu, no matter how vocal and hard-hitting, has always come from the right. The current constellation that Bennett finagled, then, isn’t exactly what they’d had in mind when campaigning for him.

Still, there are those among his loyalists who’ve decided to give him a chance to steer the government in the literal and figurative right direction. So far, he’s been put to and passed a couple of small tests.

These include enabling the Jerusalem flag march to proceed as planned on Tuesday, and subsequent airstrikes on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad military compounds, following incendiary-balloon launches from Gaza into southern Israeli border communities.

https://bit.ly/35tV9z9  Pre-1967

In 1948, the CIA opposed the reestablishment of the Jewish State, contending that it would be a feeble entity, unable to withstand an all-out Arab war – which would yield a second Holocaust in less than ten years – fully dependent on US soldiers for its survival, jeopardize US ties with the Arab World, imperil US access to Persian Gulf oil, and probably join the Soviet Bloc. 

The State Department and the Pentagon, along with the New York Times and Washington Post, seconded the CIA assessment.

On the other hand, Clark Clifford, President Truman’s trusted advisor, who dedicated much time to studying the track record of Jewish sovereignty in Middle East history, impressed upon the President that an independent Jewish State would be a most effective military power, reliable, stable and inherently pro-US.

Clifford was absolutely right, while the State Department, the Pentagon, the CIA, the New York Times and the Washington Post were resoundingly wrong.

Following the impressive Israeli military performance in the 1948/49 War of Independence, General Omar Bradley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff, recommended that Israel be considered a favored strategic ally, since “the Israeli army would be the most effective force south of Turkey, which could be utilized to delaying action [in the case of a Soviet invasion]….”

The 1967 Six Day War

Since the 1967 Six Day War Israeli military victory over Egypt, Syria and Jordan, the US national security establishment has recognized the potency of Israel to advance regional and global US national security interests, which supersede the Palestinian issue.

Unlike NATO, South Korea and Japan, Israel has extended the strategic arm of the US with no need for US military personnel.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17472/israel-government-diversity

[B]igots… in the United States and Europe, insist on characterizing Israel as an apartheid state. Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel has real diversity, not the kind of phony diversity that characterizes many American institutions. American diversity is simply a euphemism for more Blacks, and especially more Blacks who hold the same views about political and racial matters.

The best evidence of this truism came from Google’s appointment of a chief diversity officer who had expressed anti-gay and anti-Jewish views…. He is Black and that is all that diversity means at Google and many other American institutions. It is different in Israel, because Israel is such an inherently diverse nation that takes its diversity seriously.

Every Muslim majority nation is officially a Muslim state that bestows considerable benefits on members of that faith. Great Britain is an Anglican Christian state with an established religion. Catholicism is the official religion of several European countries. Many national flags and emblems have crosses, crescents or other distinctly religious symbols.

So stay tuned to see how the now government manages to survive the challenges of diversity. In the meantime, however, stop singling out Israel for demonization by mislabeling it as apartheid or undemocratic.

I challenge anyone to name a parliamentary democracy that has had a more diverse coalition government — racially, religiously, ethnically, ideologically, politically, national origin — than the current Israeli government. It includes people of nearly every color from Black Ethiopians to brown Muslims to swarthy Sephardim to pale Russians. It includes a modern Orthodox Jew as Prime Minister, along with fundamentalist Muslims and atheist and agnostics Jews. It has a gay cabinet member, a deaf member of the Knesset and people who trace their roots to Asia, Africa, Europe and America.

A record number of nine women will be serving in the new Israeli cabinet. The current Prime Minister is a right-winger. The Prime Minister designate who is currently Minster of Foreign Affairs, is a left-winger. Every shade of political opinion — and there are many in Israel — is represented in this government. The old expression “two Jews, three opinions” can now be changed to “20 Israeli cabinet members, 30 opinions” — because each cabinet member represents multiple opinions within their parties.

https://danielgordis.substack.com/p/murder-on-the-tel-aviv-beach-?token=eyJ

Just after dark on the evening of June 16, 1933 (88 years ago today, precisely), Chaim Arlosoroff and his wife, Sima, went for a stroll on the Tel Aviv beach.

Arlosoroff was the head of the Jewish Agency’s political department and effectively the foreign minister of the yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community of Palestine. As he and Sima walked along the beach, two men approached out of the dark, one shining a flashlight in Arlosoroff’s face while the other pulled out a gun and fired. Arlosoroff died on the operating table a few hours later.

We’ll never know if Arlosoroff would have been killed had he not, years earlier, had an affair with the woman who would become the wife of Joseph Goebbels (Hitler’s infamous Minister of Propaganda.) We’ll come back to that very strange twist, or tryst, below. But what we do know is that Arlosoroff was the first political assassination in the history of the yishuv/Israel. He’s worth recalling today not only for that, but even more ominously, because segments of Israeli society seem determined to replicate the circumstances that led to his murder.

In an earlier posting, “Picture the protesters, they’re worth a thousand terrifying words,” we spoke about the political environment that had Israel in its grips as the Yair Lapid / Naftali Bennett coalition seemed to be taking shape. Not much has changed since then. True, Israel has made it past some hurdles: whether you like the coalition or not, Israel at least has a government, and might succeed in passing a budget for the first time in two years. Bennett has managed to stay alive not only politically, but actually alive, thanks to Shin Bet security that he was provided earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

But the accusations of treason are hardly over. At yesterday’s Flag Parade in Jerusalem, which mercifully passed without major incident, one could see more than a few protesters holding up signs with the words “Bennett, shakran”—Bennett, The Liar. That, of course, is precisely what was said about Rabin, who was also, like Bennett, called a traitor.