Displaying posts categorized under

ISRAEL

Palestinians: Our True Goal is to Destroy Israel by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17361/palestinian-goal-destroy-israel

The Palestinians are upset because Jews are being permitted to tour the Temple Mount. The Palestinians do not want to see Jews visiting their holy site; they do not want to see Jews in Jerusalem, and they do not want to see any Jew at all in the land that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

No one is disputing the Palestinians’ right to protest Israeli policies. Yet when the protests turn into large pro-Hamas demonstrations, with calls for bombing Tel Aviv and killing Jews, they expose the true deadly intention of the protesters.

When thousands of Palestinians chant “We are all Mohammed Deif” they are saying that they see themselves as terrorists ready to attack and destroy Israel. They are saying that Deif is their role model because he managed to murder many Jews and remains at large, despite Israeli attempts to apprehend or kill him.

Hamas owes its growing popularity to the anti-Israel inflammatory campaign waged in the Palestinian media, especially social media platforms, the mosques and public rhetoric of Palestinian leaders. Hamas also owes its popularity to the ongoing corruption and incompetence of the Palestinian Authority and its autocratic president, Mahmoud Abbas.

The demonstrations in favor of Hamas should also sound alarm bells with the Biden administration and serve as an accurate indicator as to Palestinian priorities. The Biden administration is talking about reviving the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of the “two-state solution.” Hamas and the thousands of Palestinians who chanted slogans in support of Hamas and Deif, however, have a different solution in mind: the annihilation of Israel and the deaths of Jews — the more the merrier.

When former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel in 1991, many Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the attacks. Many demonstrations took place in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem even while Palestinians were being issued gas masks by the Israeli authorities to protect them against a possible chemical attack by Iraq against Israel.

The Los Angeles Times reported back then that “several Palestinians expressed joy at last week’s [Iraqi] missile assault on Tel Aviv and Haifa.”

When the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group launched rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon in 2015, Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate, holding Hezbollah flags and handing out sweets to drivers and passersby.

Jerusalem Riots: What the Media — and Rashida Tlaib — Ignore By David Harsanyi

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/jerusalem-riots-what-the-media-and-rashida-tlaib-ignore/

It takes a translation service to figure out what’s actually going on in Israel right now.

I was 7 years old when I first prayed at the Al Aqsa with my sity,” Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib claimed Monday, in response to violent clashes near the holy site. “It’s a sacred site for Muslims. This is equivalent to attacking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, or the Temple Mount for Jews.”

It’s remarkable that Tlaib, a habitual spreader of blood libel, doesn’t seem to know that Jews are forbidden from worshipping at the Temple Mount — or that Al-Aqsa is built on the Temple Mount. As Seth Mandel reminds us, this is the 100th anniversary of the Jewish massacres of 1921, when similar malicious rumors about devious plans to appropriate holy sites were spread to incite bloodshed. It wasn’t the last time such rumors were used to stir up hatred in the region. So, maybe Tlaib does know what she’s doing.

In any event, Israel does not “attack” Al-Aqsa — though it is impelled to quell riots occasionally — or even occupy it. The country handed custodianship to Jordan’s Hashemites to avoid conflict. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is peaceful because local Christians tend not to hurl stones at praying civilians nearby and avoid ransacking their own holy sites. One imagines those who frequent it generally accept that their revered sanctuary is now in the nation-state of Israel, not the future Kingdom of Acre.

The recent rioting in Jerusalem was sparked by the culmination of a long legal battle that led to the possible eviction of five Palestinian families living on land that had been taken from Jewish families after 1948. Palestinians, who demand what is known as a right of return, are upset that the case was adjudicated by a court of law rather than the United Nations or a mob. Then again, it’s a convenient excuse for more violence.

As Biden Tries To Get the Band Back Together, Iran’s Ally Attacks By Benny Avni

https://www.nysun.com/foreign/as-biden-tries-to-get-the-old-band-back-together/9

Let’s retire the phrase “fake news.” The right word for the statements from the Biden White House, the State Department, the Europeans and the United Nations, all of whom are calling for a de-escalation of the violence in Jerusalem, is counterfactual. The fact is that the sudden escalation in violence, centered in a real estate dispute in east Jerusalem, is dictated, mostly, by Hamas.

The Gaza-based terror organization decides when to shoot and at what targets. It is in a fury because the Palestinian Authority decided to cancel a scheduled election that Hamas was predicted to win. Eventually Hamas will also decide to end the current round of hostilities and beg for a ceasefire. Israel will quickly abide. Meantime, Hamas has decided to turn its fire to Israel.

The terrorist organization hitched a ride on a confluence of events, including the end of the holy month of Ramadan; Arab unrest over a real estate dispute at East Jerusalem; Israel’s annual celebration of Jerusalem Day; and riots at the al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount. On Monday, Hamas announced an ultimatum for Israel to end its activities on the Temple Mount by 6 p.m. local o’clock.

When the deadline arrived, the al Aqsa area was actually fairly quiet. Yet Hamas launched a barrage of missiles from Gaza a few seconds after the 6pm deadline. Seven missiles were aimed at Jerusalem, far beyond the usual targeting range. One missile fell in Kiryat Anavim. At the same time, several rockets were launched at Sderot and other towns near the Gaza border that are all too familiar with such attacks.

All this is unfolding amid one of the bitterest feuds in the history of parliamentary democracy — the scramble to try to form a new government. Despite this, Israeli politicians, almost to a man and woman, vowed to back the decisions to respond forcefully that are being made by the premier nearly everyone outside of Likud wants to replace, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defense minister.

There is a new way to smear Zionism – opinion Bashing nationalism is very desirable in academic circles these days, and bashing Jewish nationalism and the Zionist movement is especially popular. By Moshe Phillips

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/there-is-a-new-way-to-smear-zionism-opinion-667601

Jewish academic critics of Israel have come up with a new smear tactic: falsely portraying Jewish nationalism as being intimately tied to the evils of 19th-century “white-settler colonialism.”

That was the theme of a May 4 online program called “Baja California Dreaming: How US Settler Colonialism Shapes Jewish Nationalism,” hosted by the University of California at Davis. The featured speaker was Maxwell Greenberg, a doctoral candidate at UCLA, and the “respondent” was Sarah Imhoff, a professor at UC-Davis.

Greenberg’s remarks focused on a handful of American Jewish philanthropists in San Francisco who in the 1890s were looking for a way to save Russia’s Jews from the pogroms: the systemic, violent anti-Jewish riots of the time. These US Jews came up with the idea of purchasing some land in the Baja section of Mexico where Russian Jewish refugees could live and work.

But the plan never advanced past the point of a few discussions and a pamphlet or two. They didn’t purchase any land and they didn’t bring in any refugees. So why should anybody care about it today? Why did UC-Davis choose to feature the topic in its prestigious “New Directions in Jewish Studies” series, choosing Greenberg’s proposal from among 70 scholarly submissions?

Apparently because bashing nationalism is very desirable in academic circles these days, and bashing Jewish nationalism and the Zionist movement is especially popular.

Accessories to evil The US and EU are conniving at murderous violence against Israeli Jews Melanie Phillips

https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/accessories-to-evil?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjox

Jerusalem tonight is very tense, with the planned Jewish celebrations of Jerusalem Day on Monday provoking fears of a further escalation of the recent violence that has been erupting in the city and which has rippled into attacks against southern Israel.

In the last few days, there have been violent Arab riots around Temple Mount, the Jerusalem religious site sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims; on Saturday night, a rocket was fired into southern Israel from Gaza, and two more were launched from there on Sunday; and incendiary balloons are once again also being fired from Gaza to attack Israeli civilians, their property and farmland, causing on Sunday some 39 fires, mainly in open areas. 

On Friday, around 200 Arabs and 17 Israeli police officers were wounded when hundreds of Arabs rioted on Temple Mount. There were reports that, once again, the Al Aqsa mosque on the site was being used to store ammunition to use against Israelis.

On Saturday night, clashes continued around Temple Mount causing some 90 Arab injuries while Arabs rioted along the Gaza border fence with Israel, burning tyres and throwing explosives at Israeli troops before being dispersed by tear gas.

Times of Israel reported yesterday: 

The central committee of Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, warned Saturday night that “the continuation of the settler attacks on the holy places and the homes of Palestinian residents, their expulsion and expansion of settlements — will lead to an all-out conflict in all the Palestinian territories.”

According to Channel 12, current discourse in the Palestinian street is of a “war for Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The network also said Hamas is encouraging its West Bank operatives to carry out attacks there and inflame tensions.

In Britain and America, this is being mostly reported as Palestinian “resistance” to Israeli attempts to evict some 70 Palestinians Arabs from the contentious east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah — protests that have been met by what is being presented as brutal and heavy-handed reaction by Israeli security forces. Some seven Palestinians were injured in clashes there late on Sunday.

This media narrative is wickedly selective, twisted and misleading. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is currently in progress, is always a time of heightened tension. This has been deliberately stoked up this year through Palestinian incitement to violence, a situation exacerbated in turn by militant Jewish nationalists — and with the fuel to this murderous Arab fire supplied by none other than the White House. 

For Some Arabs, Preventing Peace with Israel Is More Important Than Combating Coronavirus by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17248/arabs-preventing-peace-israel

The project sounds like the type of assistance that Jordanian women need, especially during this difficult period of the economic and health crises in their country.

What particularly irritated the anti-normalization activists and groups in Jordan was that some of the Jordanian women appeared in a video praising the project and talking about how happy they were to join forces with their Israeli neighbors on the other side of the border.

This Jordanian writer [Mohammed Sweidan] has taken it upon himself to be the spokesman for all women in his country. He claims to have some special knowledge of their actual intentions. Notably, he did not even bother to contact the Jordanian women to ask them about their attitude toward the joint project with the Israeli women.

These [Arab] leaders and media have filled the Arab people with so much hate against Israel that participating in a positive, productive endeavor becomes a major crime.

As long as such incitement against Israel in the Arab world continues, any talk about peace will be a pipe dream with hopes going up in smoke.

Hatred for Israel (and Jews) in many Arab countries continues to take priority over economic, health and political problems. Some Arabs prefer to dedicate more time and energy to combating peace with Israel than to dealing with the deadly fallout of COVID-19 in their own backyards.

Jordan, an Arab country that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, is no exception.

On March 31, Jordan reported 111 COVID-related deaths, the highest daily toll since the outbreak of the pandemic. The report came as some Jordanians took to the streets to protest the government’s failed policies, especially in healthcare and the economy.

Instead of focusing their efforts on trying to find solutions to the severe medical crisis in the country, many Jordanians are busy condemning a meeting between Jordanian and Israeli women. These aggrieved Jordanians are dubbing the meeting an act of treason and calling for a commission of inquiry into the encounter.

After Violent Muslim Riots in Jerusalem, AOC, Warren, Sanders Attack Israel Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2021/05/after-violent-muslim-riots-jerusalem-aoc-warren-daniel-greenfield/

During Israel’s War of Independence, the country was invaded by multiple Muslim countries and armies. While these forces were defeated in some areas, they succeeded in seizing and colonizing parts of Jerusalem. When Israel liberated the conquered part of Jerusalem in the Six Day War, the Jewish owners of some houses in Jerusalem began a prolonged Dickensian process of trying to reclaim their former homes.

The Arab Muslim colonizers were backed by international organizations and local lefties who prolonged the process as much as possible.

Losing court cases didn’t stop them, and getting a ruling evicting them meant riots. That’s exactly what happened in Jerusalem.

And top Socialist Democrat, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, are siding with the Muslim colonizers and rioters.

“The forced removal of long-time Palestinian residents in Sheikh Jarrah is abhorrent and unacceptable. The Administration should make clear to the Israeli government that these evictions are illegal and must stop immediately,” Senator Elizabeth Warren falsely tweeted.

“Forced removal” is what happens when you’re living in a house you stole and refuse to relinquish. It’s called an eviction. And it’s fully legal.

“We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. Israeli forces are forcing families from their homes during Ramadan and inflicting violence. It is inhumane and the US must show leadership in safeguarding the human rights of Palestinians,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wrongly tweeted.

There’s plenty more, but this comes down to leftist Democrats choosing to stand with the colonizers who stole the property of Jewish homeowners over their rightful owners.

And that, in a nutshell, is the position of the Left on Israel.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Today is Mothers’ Day so it is fitting to celebrate the mothers of Hadassah and other pioneer women who went to Israel in the first decade of the last century. Some established villages tilling the soil with bare hands. Others created schools and hospitals and social institutions which are the pride of Israel today. Their role in the epic post war rescue of the traumatized survivors of the Holocaust is legendary. They provided housing, schooling, counseling, vocational training and hands on guidance and support. Their memory and story is a blessing. If only they could read Michael Ordman’s weekly news and see the fruits of their labor.   rsk

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Success in trials of multiple myeloma treatment. Israel’s BioLineRx (see here previously) has reported positive results in the Phase 3 trial of its Motixafortide treatment in combination with G-CSF for multiple myeloma. The treatment demonstrated improvement from five-fold to 14-fold compared to the control.

https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-biolinerx-soars-on-positive-phase-3-blood-cancer-trial-results-1001347840

https://ir.biolinerx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/biolinerx-announces-positive-top-line-results-genesis-phase-3

Cancer-fighting bacteria to begin Phase 2 trials. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s NeoTX Therapeutics (see here Mar 2020) has had FDA approval to begin Phase 2a human trials of its Naptumomab Estafenatox (NAP) treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. NAP binds bacteria to the tumor while activating tumor specific immune cells.

https://neotx.com/neotx-announces-fda-clearance-of-ind-for-phase-2-clinical-trial-of-naptumomab-estafenatox-nap-its-lead-tumor-targeted-superantigen-candidate/

Brain stimulation approved for major depression. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s BrainsWay (see here previously) has received US FDA clearance for its 3-minute Theta Burst treatment protocol for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Patients demonstrate meaningful reduction in depression scores after the treatment.

https://www.brainsway.com/news_events/brainsway-receives-fda-clearance-for-three-minute-theta-burst-treatment-protocol-for-major-depressive-disorder/

Machine learning to identify antiviral molecules. Scientists from Israel’s Technion Institute and Ben Gurion University are discovering molecules to fight viruses. They trained a neural network using known treatments and then reversed the process to identify previously untested molecules that bind to and disable virus proteins.

https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2021/04/machine-learning-for-antiviral-drugs/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21578-6

Molecular tweezers to destroy bacteria. Researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and elsewhere have developed “molecular tweezers” to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The tweezers destroy the biofilm that protects the bacteria against the immune system. Bacteria cannot develop resistance to this method of attack.

https://americansforbgu.org/bgu-molecular-tweezers-battle-bacteria/

https://www.cell.com/cell-chemical-biology/fulltext/S2451-9456(21)00152-5

Smart training for medical personnel. Israel’s Edocate has developed an app to help educate Health Care Professionals (HCPs) in the management of patients with chronic conditions (e.g. diabetes). Its virtual patient simulation platform allows HCPs to “learn by doing” and “learn by making mistakes” in a no-risk environment.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3906554,00.html https://edocate.com/

Digital systems keep Americans healthy. Israel’s Aidoc (see here) is to provide its CT image analysis AI system for Radiology Partners, whose radiologists work in 10% of all US hospitals. Another Israeli startup DayTwo (see here) has had much success in the US with its microbiome analysis program for diabetics.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-startups-improve-americans-health/

Nephrologist donates his own kidney. Dr. Aharon Bloch of Hadassah Medical Center is the first Israeli nephrologist to donate a kidney to a stranger. He decided after the passing of Rabbi Yeshayahu Heber, the founder of the NGO “Gift of Life” (see here) whom he treated.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/305405

Human Rights Watch did a one-sided takedown of Israel By Lawrence J. Haas

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/human-rights-watch-did-a-one-sided-takedown-of-israel-opinion-667590

“Israeli authorities do face legitimate security challenges,” Human Rights Watch acknowledged after accusing Israel of committing two “crimes against humanity” – apartheid and persecution – against Palestinians.

It was a grudging, and altogether disingenuous, admission in a new 217-page report about Israeli actions in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem that ignores history and belies reality, all to paint a strikingly one-sided picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The admission, in fact, seems designed to present a facade of balance in a report that is anything but. In describing Israeli behavior, over the course of decades and today, the report all but ignores the very same “legitimate security challenges,” thus painting a picture of gratuitous Israeli oppression.

Moreover, the report comes as Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza erect more barriers to peace with Israel, and as they themselves degrade the human rights of the Palestinian people. But you’d never know that from the tone of the report, or from what it includes and what it leaves out.

“Israel,” the report declares, “has maintained military rule over some portion of the Palestinian population for all but six months of its 73-year history.” Nowhere does the report note that Palestinian leaders have rejected multiple offers of a state since 1947, or that most Palestinians oppose the very notion of an Israel that occupies any land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Human Rights Watch crosses a threshold Its latest attack on Israel goes beyond antisemitism. by Clifford May

http://www.cliffordmay.org/25346/human-rights-watch-antisemitism

Antisemitism may be the world’s oldest hatred but it’s still a long way from death’s door. What I find particularly distressing, if not surprising, is to see self-proclaimed human rights activists demonizing the world’s most frequently threatened Jewish community.

I’m speaking, of course, about Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental – but not non-ideological – organization that has just published a 213-pagereport, “A Threshold Crossed,” declaring its “finding” that Israel is committing “crimes of apartheid,” which it calls “crimes against humanity” which, it adds, “should trigger action.”

In other words, HRW has arrogated to itself the authority to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury. They will leave to others the task of acting as executioners.

That’s not hyperbolic. Apartheid regimes are illegitimate. Illegitimate regimes should be abolished. HRW is therefore providing justification for those whose goal is the abolition of the world’s only Jewish-majority state, the refuge for Jews persecuted in or expelled from Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

Defenders of HRW might say, “They’re just urging Israelis to reform! Why can’t Israel emulate South Africa where the white minority turned over power to the black majority?”

For one, Israel is already a majority-rule nation. The 20 percent of Israeli citizens who identify as Palestinians or Israeli Arabs vote, run for office, hold seats in the Israeli parliament, serve as judges including on Israel’s Supreme Court, work as doctors in (not segregated) hospitals, attend (not segregated) universities, eat in (not segregated) restaurants, and relax on (not segregated) beaches. The same is true for Israeli Druze, Christians, Bedouins, Circassians, and other minorities about which HRW appears ignorant.

To call that apartheid requires twisting the meaning of the word beyond recognition – which HRW does. And it cannot have escaped HRW’s notice that in no other countries of the broader Middle East do ethnic and religious minorities enjoy similar rights and freedoms. Which means that the activists at HRW have chosen to apply a separate and unequal standard to Israel. That alone constitutes antisemitism.

Defenders of HRW might say, “Okay, but the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank are living under apartheid!”

False. Those are territories from which a war was launched against Israel in 1967. Israel survived and, in 2005, withdrew entirely from Gaza. Since 2007, Gaza’s Palestinians been ruled by Hamas which rejects even the possibility of peaceful co-existence with Israel. Hamas engages in acts of terrorism against Israelis daily while explicitly vowing to mass murder and/or drive Israeli Jews out of Israel.