RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/kristallnacht-israel-hugh-fitzgerald/

In the middle of Israel, 16 miles outside of Tel Aviv, sits the city of Lod (Lydda). One-third of its population of 77,000 is Arab; it has been a source of local pride that Arabs and Jews have gotten along so well, and that the Arabs have flourished. Starting with an Arab population of 1,600 in Lod in 1949, the Arabs now number 25,700, a colossal increase of more than 1500%. Obviously, living in Lod agrees with them.

But in recent days, Arab mobs in Lod have been roaming the city, attacking Jews, burning cars, throwing petrol bombs into Jewish homes and shops, setting three synagogues on fire..

A report on this grim spectacle is here: “‘Kristallnacht in Lod’: State of emergency as Arab mobs set synagogues on fire,” Times of Israel, May 12, 2021:

Intense Arab rioting broke out in the central Israeli city of Lod late Tuesday, with three synagogues and numerous shops reportedly set on fire, along with dozens of cars. The government declared a state of emergency in the Jewish-Arab city, and urgently dispatched several Border Police companies to work to restore order.

Some residents reported power was cut in their homes and petrol bombs were thrown through their windows, Channel 12 news said, and police acknowledged having to escort some residents from a community center to their homes as Arab mobs marauded in the streets. A local man, 56, was seriously hurt when hit by a slab on his car, and was hospitalized. Another local resident was seriously hurt.

Jewish shops were set on fire, three synagogues burned, gasoline bombs thrown into Jewish homes. It is a miracle that no one so far has burned to death, though several Jews have been seriously wounded by Arabs, and one Arab man was shot dead while attacking Jews. Meanwhile Arab mobs for two days and nights roamed the streets, looking for Jews and Jewish property to attack. Some Jews had to be escorted home by the police, for fear of what might happen to them at the hands of the maddened Muslim marauders.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/why-israel-victim-frontpagemagcom/

Editors’ note: Below is the text of David Horowitz’s pamphlet, Why Israel is a Victim. Frontpage editors have deemed it vital to run the pamphlet in our pages today, since it reveals the history that explains Hamas’ current terror against Israel – and the international community’s outrageous bias against the Jewish state.

The Gaza Strip is a narrow corridor of land, 25 miles long and about twice the area of Washington, D.C. situated between the State of Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, and has a small southern border with Egypt. When the U.N. created the State of Israel out of the ruins of the Turkish Empire, in 1948, eight Arab countries launched an attack on the infant regime with the stated goal of destroying it. The attackers included Egypt whose tanks invaded Israel through the Gaza land bridge. In its defensive war against the invaders, Israel emerged triumphant but did not occupy Gaza.

In 1949, Egypt annexed the Strip. In 1967, the Egyptian dictator Gamel Abdel Nasser massed hundreds of thousands of troops on the Israeli border with Gaza and closed the Port of Eilat in an attempt to strangle the Israeli State. Israel struck back and in a “Six Day War” vanquished the Egyptian armies and drove them out of Gaza. After the war, Israel refused to withdraw its armies from Gaza and the West Bank because the Arab invaders, which included Iraq, Jordan and several other states refused to negotiate a formal peace treaty. In the years that followed, a few thousand Jews settled in Gaza.

By 2005 they numbered 8,500, a tiny community compared to the 1.4 million Palestinian Arabs. While they lived in Gaza, the lives of the Jewish settlers were in constant danger, particularly after the formation in Gaza of one the world’s leading terrorist organizations, Hamas, whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state “from the [Jordan] River to the Sea.”

After the rejection of the Oslo Peace process in 2001 by Yassar Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians launched four years of unrelenting terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. The attacks were led by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an arm of the Palestinian Authority. As a result of the Palestinian rejection of the peace process and the unrelenting terrorism, the Israeli government decided that a secure peace could probably not be negotiated with its Palestinian antagonists. It therefore built a fence along its borders both on the West Bank and Gaza to prevent further infiltration by suicide bombers, a measure which dramatically reduced the attacks. The Israeli government further decided to remove all Jews living in the Gaza Strip and to withdraw the Israeli Defense Forces which protected them. By September 2005, the Israeli government evacuated every Jew who had been living in the Gaza Strip.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-hamas-iran-and-biden-11621195618?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

As the latest war between Hamas and Israel enters its second week, the narrative is following a familiar script. Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities, Israel retaliates by bombing the source of the rockets in Gaza, Hamas plays up the civilian casualties, and the world leans on Israel to stop defending itself.

Let’s hope this isn’t the trap the Biden Administration falls into as the fighting continues. So far the White House has supported Israel’s right to self-defense. But the weekend bombing of a building in Gaza that housed media offices, including reporters from the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, has led to cries of outrage and an admonition from the State Department to Israel about protecting journalists in combat zones.

But who’s really endangering the journalists? Israel’s government says the multistory building was also used by Hamas for intelligence purposes. AP says it had no knowledge of this, but this wasn’t the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Using civilians and journalists as shields is a common Hamas tactic, and Hamas isn’t likely to have shared its plans with Western journalists.

Israel also warned the journalists and others in the building to clear out an hour before the attack. They did and there are no reports of casualties. This also let Hamas’s militants escape, but it shows how far Israel has gone in this conflict to avoid killing civilians. Inevitably there will be mistakes in war, and civilians will die, but it’s remarkable how discriminating Israel’s targeting has been.

The truth to keep in mind is that this conflict was started by Hamas and another radical outfit, Islamic Jihad. They are attempting to kill Israeli civilians with rockets supplied by Iran, or manufactured in Gaza with parts supplied by Iran. Hamas’s rocket arsenal is larger and more sophisticated than ever, and the Israel Defense Forces said that as of Sunday the Islamists had fired some 3,000 rockets into Israel. The miracle is that more Israelis haven’t died, and that’s due in large part to Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.

Christians and Jews United for Israel, Inc. 19 Windward Walk Harwich Port, Massachusetts 02646-1337

 President Joseph R. Biden 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. The White House Washington, D.C. May 14th, 2021 Via president@whitehouse.gov

 Dear President Biden,

We, the board members of Christians and Jews United for Israel Inc., (CJUI) write to you on behalf of our four thousand members to urge you to construct and execute a foreign policy for the Middle East based on the lessons of the past, a realistic view of human nature and the ethical application of strong American leadership. CJUI advocates for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and for the Judeo-Christian values fundamental to America’s governance.

We encourage you to follow the example of Democratic President Harry S. Truman, who recognized the newborn State of Israel in 1948 against the advice of all the supposed foreign policy experts. President Truman’s moral clarity, coupled with his belief that a Jewish state would survive and thrive, led him to the right decision.

 Similarly, the advice of many so-called experts on the Middle East is wrong today. For fifty years, they have assured us that the road to peace in the Middle East runs though the kleptocrats of Riyadh and is dependent upon Israel giving up land for the promise of peace – an exchange that requires Israel to accept suicidal borders that compromise its security and, as the example of Gaza so clearly demonstrates, does not lead to peace.

 Negotiations for peace will never work with the present Palestinian and HAMAS leadership, who repeatedly demonstrate that they have no intent to negotiate a settlement that allows for Israel’s continued existence. Their genocidal demand for the annihilation of Israel “from the river to the sea,” their diversion of aid to making missiles, their teaching of hate to their children and their indiscriminate launching of hundreds of missiles at population centers shows that they are not partners for peace.

 The thousands of missiles launched by HAMAS is a double war crime. First, by launching their missiles amongst Gazan civilians, using them as human shields and knowing their own civilians will be injured when Israel is compelled to respond.

Israel is at war with Hamas, but in the laboratories, hospitals and scientific institutes the work to ameliorate suffering and enhance life expectancy and quality continues apace as Michael Ordman catalogs.

To Israel’s brave citizens and defense forces is this stanza from Psalm 91:

“For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Trials for Covid-19 wonder treatment. The EXO-CD24 Covid treatment (see here) invented by doctors at Israel’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center, is about to begin Phase 2 trials in Greece on 90 patients. If successful, the treatment could be available to treat patients in India, Brazil etc. by end 2021.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-promising-precision-covid-drug-starting-trial-in-greece-next-week/

How Covid-19 fools the immune system. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have produced the most detailed analysis yet of how SARS-Cov-2 stops cells from making the proteins needed to alert the immune system. When Covid-19 is finally detected, the immune system’s cytokine storm response is too massive.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-does-covid-make-people-so-sick-so-quickly-israeli-geneticist-has-an-answer/

Post-Pfizer vaccination study. Tel Aviv University scientists conducted the world’s first digital monitoring study to check concerns about the side effects of the SARS-Cov-2 vaccine. Almost all 160 Israelis monitored showed changes to vital signs (heart rates, blood pressure etc.). These all returned to normal 3 days later.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-research-explains-post-vaccine-grogginess-and-why-its-not-worrying/

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.06.21256587v1

Israeli vaccine news. Israel’s Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) anticipates commencing Phase 3 of its coronavirus vaccine trials soon – probably in Argentina as 30,000 unvaccinated volunteers are required. A new trial may also be launched to test if the two-shot vaccine could be combined into a higher dose single shot.

https://nocamels.com/2021/05/israeli-covid-19-vaccine-single-dose-redo-trials/

First US patients for Israeli blood clot remover. (TY Atid-EDI) The first US patients have been treated with the Tigertriever from Israel’s Rapid Medical. The device helps neurosurgeons to remove blood clots and restore blood flow to the brain following an ischemic (stroke) event. It was approved by the US FDA in March.

https://www.cathlabdigest.com/content/first-us-ischemic-stroke-patients-treated-rapid-medicals-novel-clot-retriever  https://news.yahoo.com/wellstar-docs-tool-remove-blood-223600879.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjUfE_DZIdM   https://vimeo.com/248700464

Transformative treatment for Cystic Fibrosis. Israel’s SpliSense (see here), is developing mRNA-altering therapies for cystic fibrosis (CF) and other genetic pulmonary diseases. SpliSense founder Professor Batsheva Kerem was part of the Hebrew University team that identified the CFTR gene and developed the CF therapy.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3907693,00.html

Molecule protects implants. Researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed an active molecule (SNV) that can significantly suppress inflammation and resulting bone destruction following dental implants. SNV was originally developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease but was tested on implants by a dentist for her PhD thesis.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/tu-tfa051121.php

Protein from mosquitos could treat brain disorders. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have used a light-sensitive protein derived from mosquitos to regulate the pathways connecting parts of the brain. They believe that the discovery may lead to treatments for neurological disorders such as epilepsy. 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-lab-switches-off-brain-connectors-boosting-efforts-to-treat-disorders/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0896627321001616?dgcid=author

Breakthrough app warns of heart failure. Israel’s Cordio Medical (see here previously) has been granted breakthrough device designation by the US FDA for its HearO smartphone app that gives early warning of congestive heart failure by detecting subtle changes in voice tone. It could save millions of lives every year.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/startup-founded-by-top-israeli-cardiologist-detects-heart-disease-via-smartphone/

Accessible cardiac ultrasound. (TY ToI) Israel’s UltraSight has developed an ultrasound device and AI software that allows medical professionals to perform timely and accurate cardiac ultrasound tests regardless of their sonography (medical ultrasound) training. UltraSight won the TCT 2020 Innovation Competition.

https://www.ultrasight.com/ultrasight-raises-13-million-to-bring-a  https://www.ultrasight.com/

https://scienmag.com/onsight-medical-wins-tct-connect-2020-shark-tank-innovation-competition/

More than just a wristband monitor. (TY Atid-EDI) Europe’s CE Mark has been awarded to the Remote Patient AI Monitoring Platform developed by Israel’s Bio-Beat. The system has recently been radically upgraded (see previous) and now automatically and continuously tracks 15 cardio-pulmonary vital signs.

https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/biobeat-s-ai-powered-remote-patient-monitoring-platform-receives-a-full-ce-mark-883148022.html   https://www.bio-beat.com/

It pays to be healthy. Israel’s UVTAL Health has developed Rumble – an app that uses social, behavioral and economic incentives to help over one million Israelis take exercise. The app records the number of steps walked and converts that into tokens that can be spent at many shops and websites.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3907283,00.html  https://www.rumble.co.il/

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17372/turning-point-in-gaza

Hamas is no match for the IDF and could be quickly and much more cheaply defeated by blunt and crushing military force were it not for one thing — the Israeli need to minimise loss of civilian life. Hamas know that.

Over many years of conflict in Gaza, the majority of the world’s media have enthusiastically reported the deaths of Palestinian civilians as though they were the deliberate object of Israel’s callous and uncaring way of war. This blatantly false propaganda has been taken up by Hamas supporters and “useful idiots” in the West…. Human rights groups around the world have been doing the same.

The wilful ignorance combined with malice has always been breathtaking. Every commission of inquiry determined Israel’s guilt before it even met for the first time.

Every debate and vote has overwhelmingly and of course falsely affirmed Israel’s supposed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meanwhile Hamas’s actual multiple war crimes have been brushed aside.

[T]he IDF did all they could to ensure minimum loss of civilian life by selecting targets where the lowest levels of innocents would be harmed…. As in previous conflicts in Gaza the IDF has made radio broadcasts in Arabic, sent SMS messages and even phoned civilians inside the strip to warn them of impending strikes….Gazans have given interviews confirming this.

Many in the media, human rights groups and international bodies have rushed to characterise all civilian casualties (other than those inflicted by Hamas of course) as war crimes. But the Geneva Conventions disagree. Inflicting civilian casualties is not illegal provided a military operation is necessary for the prosecution of a war, they are not disproportionate to the planned military gain and that combatant commanders do not intentionally target civilians while doing all they can to avoid hitting them.

The media takes reports from the Gaza health ministry as authoritative and objective. That is disingenuous and they know it. The health ministry is controlled by Hamas and follows their every order.

Despite all of this, as the media unceasingly show us, the real victims in this campaign have indeed been Gaza civilians. But they usually get the cause wrong. Every one is due to Hamas’s unprovoked aggression against Israel. None would have occurred without it.

If Western governments, international bodies and human rights groups are genuinely interested in avoiding suffering in Gaza, they should start now, striving to end Hamas’s reign of terror rather than support it by parroting their baleful narrative.

During an operation in Gaza last week, the Israel Defence Forces attacked a Hamas tunnel complex with 12 squadrons of 160 combat planes striking over 150 targets with hundreds of bunker-busting JDAMs [Joint Direct Attack Munitions] in less than an hour. Although the battle damage assessment is still underway, the raid destroyed perhaps the most critical element of Hamas infrastructure, wiping out vast stocks of munitions and likely killing dozens if not hundreds of fighters. This was a hammer blow to Hamas and may prove to be a turning point in the conflict. It also sent a powerful message to Iran and Hizballah, foretelling the consequences of an assault on Israel with their arsenal of tens of thousands of missiles in southern Lebanon.

There was one remarkable story amid all the chaos. A 3-year-old girl was badly wounded in a rocket attack in Holon. Her mother was also injured as well as her twin sister. But the girl’s injury was serious – her carotid artery had been partly severed by a piece of shrapnel. They were in a car at the time. The mother shouted for help and in another car a woman and her husband jumped out and rushed to their assistance. It turned out the woman was one of her customers (she was a hairdresser). The woman took her head-covering, called a mitpachat, which religious women wear, and bandaged the wound. They then started running. A moment later, they heard a loud explosion. It was the car in which the woman and her husband had been traveling. It had exploded, having been hit by shrapnel from the rocket, unbeknownst to them.

So they not only saved the little girl, the little girl saved them.

David Isaac

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/ap-had-advanced-notice-of-israeli-air-strike-on-gaza-building-was-able-to-safely-evacuate-all-journalists/

On Saturday, Israel struck a building in Gaza housing Hamas assets that also happened to have offices for the Associated Press. Why the AP was sharing an office building with a U.S. State Department designated terrorist group that is known to use civilians and journalists as human shields is a subject worth exploring. But here is the full statement by the AP, which includes two important details (which I’ve highlighted in bold):

We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.

We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the U.S. State Department to try to learn more.

This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today.

So to be clear, Israel warned the journalists, who had sufficient time to get out safely, and then proceeded to liquidate a legitimate enemy target.