RUTHFULLY YOURS

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The US position on the proposed Palestinian state – just like on any other issue – should be driven by US interests, and not by pro-Israel or pro-Arab sentiments, nor by an honest broker state of mind.  

Would a Palestinian state advance, or undermine, US interests?

*The US State Department’s deeply rooted attachment to the proposed Palestinian state – just like Western conventional wisdom’s attachment – has been largely a derivative of the Palestinian Authority’s peaceful talk, when communicating with Westerners. However, the moderate talk is replaced by (anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli and anti-US) hateful talk when the Palestinian Authority communicates with its own school children and mosque worshippers as well as with audiences in Arab countries. While communications with Westerners represents a 1,400-year-old dissimulation (Taqiyyah) tactic aimed to mislead the West into advancing the Palestinian strategic position, the Palestinian school curriculum and official mosque sermons constitute the most authentic reflection of the Palestinian worldview.   

*The State Department and Western conventional wisdom have also forged their position on the proposed Palestinian state based upon speculative alternate reality – an ostensibly reformed Palestinian government.  This position has been systematically frustrated, since the 1993 Oslo Accord, by Middle East reality. This reformed Palestinian government would, supposedly, refrain from terrorism, hate education and incitement. It would, allegedly, embrace peaceful coexistence, adhere to democracy and human rights, abide by good-faith negotiation, and abandon its intrinsic ideology, which predates the 1948 and 1967 wars. This ideology has focused on terminating the existence – not the shrinking the size – of the Jewish State, mandating the elimination of “the infidel and illegitimate Zionist entity” from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea.

*However, contrary to the State Department, Arab leaders take lightly the Palestinian talk. They are aware of the fact that in the Middle East one does not pay custom on words, and therefore, there has been an unbridgeable gap between Arab talk and Arab walk (especially on the Palestinian issue). Therefore, Arabs pay much attention to the Palestinian intra-Arab walk, which has become the role model of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism, ingratitude and treachery.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/07/01/the-myth-of-israels-killing-fields/

Andrew Fox is a former British Army officer and an associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, specialising in defence and the Middle East.

You do not need to invent facts to spread propaganda. You only need to stretch them.

Haaretz’s latest ‘exposé’ on Israeli military conduct in Gaza is a prime case in point. This week, the Jewish State’s oldest daily newspaper reported that soldiers belonging to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had ‘deliberately fired’ at Palestinians as they tried to access aid-distribution centres. Since May, these distribution centres have been operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – a private, American-run organisation that is supported by the IDF. Haaretz’s reporting has been repeated, without question, by an almost ubiquitously anti-Israel media.

It is a grim, morally explosive accusation. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz say it is ‘malicious’ and ‘designed to defame’. The IDF says it is investigating the allegation, but rejects any claims soldiers were instructed to fire at Palestinians accessing aid.

While the facts aren’t always easy to discern in the fog of war, there are a number of problems with the Haaretz report. The most significant is that the original Hebrew version of the article says something quite different to the widely reported English version. It reports that soldiers were ordered to fire toward crowds, not at them. This is not a subtle difference. ‘Toward’ is what soldiers call warning shots. It is a common practice for militaries, and one the British Army frequently used in Afghanistan. ‘At’ is to fire at a crowd or an individual – in other words, ‘at’ is the preposition you would use if you wanted to accuse the IDF of war crimes, instead of employing a common tactic.

The report has other flaws – flaws that should not be hard to pick up on, even for the untrained eye. The anonymous soldier quoted by Haaretz claims that the IDF has used machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars on unarmed crowds queuing for aid. Yet, according to the source, this ‘killing field’, in which soldiers use ‘everything imaginable’, results in around ‘one [to] five’ deaths a day. One to five deaths a day, in the middle of a war zone, involving thousands of people and countless flashpoints, from the heaviest weapon systems any infantry can bring to bear? That is not a ‘killing field’, unless the IDF are the worst shots in military history. This is clearly not the number of deaths you would expect to see if one of the world’s most advanced militaries had been instructed to target crowds of unarmed civilians with ‘everything imaginable’, as the source does.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/07/let_s_talk_about_proportionality.html

“But it’s so disproportionate!” Comment from an Israel loathing liberal.

It’s not often that you have a ready answer for people with whom you disagree.  Usually, you think of the perfect comeback when you wake up at two in the morning.

But as it happened, I simply had the cold, hard facts on my side, so it was almost shooting fish in a barrel to answer this Jew-hating, Israel-loathing liberal.

Do You Remember?

My response to her came in a series of questions.

“Do you remember,” I asked her, “when we watched the entire Iraq War — from 2003 to 2011 — on TV, for years?  And the endless articles and commentaries and news coverage, all day and all night?”

“Of course,” she responded.

“Well, even before that, going back to the sixties, do you remember the years-on end coverage of the Vietnam War — from 1964 to 1973 — and the morning and afternoon and nightly news coverage and commentaries the impassioned anti-war demonstrations across the country protesting this war?”

“You know I do.  I was on the frontline of those protests.  I was with the so-called traitor Jane Fonda all the way!”

“How about the Korean War in the 1950s, which wasn’t covered so extensively on TV — TV was relatively new in that decade — but which a million articles were written about, not to mention the extensive radio commentary?”

“Okay,” she said, “and your point?”

“One more question: How about World War II in the 1940s, when we dropped the bombs, and 140,000 died in Hiroshima and 74,000 died in Nagasaki?”  And that is not to omit the massive, overwhelming loss of life from that war — 70–85 million deaths.

“Stop with the statistics, already!” she blurted out.  “What is your point?”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/30/the-left-free-palestine-bigotry-glastonbury-israel/

If Gaza is to be liberated, it should be liberated from the racist and misogynistic Hamas

Is there a more maddening slogan than “Free, free Palestine”? It’s inescapable. Wander into a city centre on a Saturday and you’ll see swarms of the smug belting it out from behind their keffiyehs.

It hangs thick in the air of every campus quad. It’s chanted like a godless prayer by the plummy white saviours of Palestine Action. And of course it rang out across Glastonbury at the weekend.

The eejits of Kneecap said it from inside their tricolour tea cosies. And Bob Vylan too. When he wasn’t hollering for the death of the IDF, or telling us gammon that we’ll never get our country back, he was barking: “Free, free Palestine!”

The crowd went wild. Those three words induce a Pavlovian response in the faux-virtuous middle classes of the modern Left. No sooner does the grim cry hit their ear drums than they’re out of seats and babbling along, making a spectacle of their moral rectitude.

It’s partly the omnipresence of this tuneless motto that makes it so grating. It’s the new “Trans women are women” – a neo-religious mantra that the woke blather on a loop to show the world how righteous they are.

Its aim is less to raise awareness about Palestine than to raise awareness about the ethical perfection of the person saying it. They say “free, free” but all I hear is “me, me”.

But there’s a bigger problem with this noise pollutant masquerading as a rallying cry: it is historically ignorant. Stunningly so. Nothing better captures the cluelessness of the Israelophobes than their unthinking utterance of this daft slogan.

Ask yourself: free Palestine from what? The impression given by this suffocating chant is that evil Israel has its jackboot on Palestine’s throat.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

A question: Can you name another nation besides Israel, that is besieged on every front by genocidal enemies; whose civilians spend many hours and days in bomb shelters; where sirens continue to warn of enemy drones and missiles meant to wreak havoc and destruction; who still manage to continue research and development of every conceivable beneficent science and technology to bring peace and succor to every corner of the Diaspora?

That’s a rhetorical question. As Michael Ordman details, the answer is a resounding NO! rsk

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
A historic victory. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” for the Jewish state following a 12-day conflict with Iran. The IDF had decimated Iran’s nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile arsenal. “We rose up and stood like lions, and our roar shook Tehran and echoed around the world,” he said.
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-hails-historic-victory-over-iran-in-12-day-war/
https://www.jns.org/israel-wins-stunning-12-day-war/
 
Existential threat removed. With a stroke, America removed the last existential threat to Israel by striking Iran’s “impenetrable” Fordo nuclear site, plus its Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. A ceasefire is now in place.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-strikes-irans-elusive-fordo-facility-joining-israels-fight-against-nuclear-program/  https://www.jns.org/israel-claims-victory-over-iran-agrees-to-ceasefire-deal/
 
The nation of Israel has risen. On 12th Jun, Israel’s Prime Minister placed a note into the Western Wall “Am Kalavi” (the operation’s name) “yakum” (The people will rise like a lioness). 10 days later, after the USA bombed Fordo, he returned to the Kotel to place another note: “The people of Israel have risen”.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4LyAK4vV864
 
All restrictions lifted. The IDF Home Front Command has lifted nationwide restrictions on civilian movement that had been imposed amid the conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran. In most of the country, unlimited numbers of people can meet, pray, work, and study.  Schools, public offices, and the airports, have reopened.
https://www.jns.org/idf-lifts-all-restrictions-on-civilian-movement-in-wake-of-iran-truce/
https://www.jns.org/ben-gurion-international-airport-resumes-full-operations/
 
Using cyber to counter drones. The IDF has revealed that its 5114th Spectrum Battalion, a unit operating under the military’s Computer Service Directorate, is defending Israeli airspace from Iranian suicide drones. Its technology disrupts communications or guidance systems, rerouting or neutralizing the UAVs mid-flight.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1rmejd4ee
 
Support for employees. During the war with Iran, Israeli tech companies are offering employees additional financial, emotional, and logistical benefits. Microsoft: 10 days emergency paid leave; Wix: funding credit cards; Matrix: NIS 5,000 to each evacuee; Others: safer housing, yoga sessions, childcare support, and more.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s10qchhnxx
 
So much support. The latest Israeli conflict with Iran has accelerated support from Israeli organizations such as Hashomer Hachadash, the Kibbutz Movement Rehabilitation Fund, Yad Sarah, Leket Yisrael, and La’Aretz Foundation. https://www.jns.org/wire/hashomer-hachadash-responds-to-national-crisis-with-wide-scale-volunteer-efforts-across-israel/  https://www.jns.org/wire/kibbutz-movement-sets-up-emergency-volunteer-headquarters-to-assist-israeli-evacuees/  https://www.jns.org/wire/yad-sarah-mobilizes-as-ongoing-iranian-strikes-threaten-israeli-civilians/  https://www.jns.org/wire/leket-israel-launches-emergency-measures-during-war-with-iran/  https://www.jns.org/wire/foundation-launches-emergency-relief-campaign-for-israeli-families-displaced-by-iran-missile-strikes/
 
Humanitarian aid for Israelis. (TY eJP) For 22 years and in 62 different countries, IsraAid has supported the world’s most vulnerable communities. But since Oct 7 2023 the nonprofit has provided emergency services at home in Israel. And after Iran began its missile attacks on Israel, IsraAID launched new emergency services.
https://www.israaid.org/media/israaid-supporting-israelis-affected-by-iranian-attacks/
 
Funds for missile victims. The Jewish Federations of North America has allocated another $10 million to 19 Israeli organizations – the first since the start of the Israel-Iran war. It included $2 million for Jewish Agency grants to victims of the Iranian attacks. Another $2 million went to Israeli hospitals, primarily Soroka.
https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/jfna-makes-first-allocations-of-israel-iran-war/
 
Haredi MK’s late night maneuvers. At 11pm, Israelis at Larnaca airport phoned Knesset member Moshe Roth (United Torah Judaism) as their flight to Israel via Jordan would arrive after the Jordan crossing closed. The MK arranged via officials and diplomats to wake the Jordanian guard leader so he could open the crossing.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/410474
 
Free luxury Cyprus hotel rooms for stranded Israelis. The (anonymous) Hong Kong billionaire owner of the Cyprus Rodon Hotel has provided free rooms to Israelis stranded by the closure of Israel’s airspace. The owner, who loves Israel, was contacted by Israeli brothers David and Ben Shlomo Cohen who are Cyprus realtors.
https://worldisraelnews.com/luxury-cyprus-hotel-offers-free-rooms-to-stranded-israelis/
 
10 people you’ll meet in your bomb shelter. (TY Ilana O) Lovely article highlighting the individuality and positivity of Israelis.  I know this is fiction based on fact, but see the cleverly generated image.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/10-people-youll-meet-in-your-bomb-shelter/
 
Beautiful and safe. (TY Sharon) Only in Israel can you find colorfully painted bomb shelters next to schools and bus stops. Underground wards in hospitals were literally operating normally. And Jerusalem’s Tower of David museum complex was regularly opened to the public, as it had been reinforced to protect visitors.
https://rjstreets.com/2025/06/22/finding-safety-in-shelters-in-time-of-war/
 
15 minutes IDF rescue response time. The IDF deployed 26,000 reservists to respond to Iranian missile impact sites, saving dozens of lives. More than 21,000 alerts of incoming missiles and other threats were activated through the Command’s alert systems, with an average response time of 15 minutes to each location.
https://www.jns.org/idf-deployed-tens-of-thousands-of-troops-during-war-for-rapid-rescue-missions/
 
What missiles can’t destroy. The Iranian missile that struck the Weizmann Institute may have wiped out decades of life-saving research, but it couldn’t extinguish the determination of the scientists to rebuild. That’s what makes Israel different: the relentless message to its enemies: resilience and defiance.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-missiles-cant-destroy/
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Better health even if no weight lost. A study by researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has found that although over a quarter of people on a diet do not lose weight, they gain other health benefits. These include higher “good” cholesterol, lower leptin levels, and reduced visceral and liver fat. So be positive!
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-and-articles/the-weight-loss-resistance-phenomenon/
https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf308/8154771
 
Antibiotics from coral? Researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University have discovered molecules in corals that prevent bacteria from making the biofilm that connects them. This disrupts their communication, weakening infections and enhancing antibiotic effectiveness without harming beneficial microbiota.
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-and-articles/coral-derived-molecules-disrupt-bacterial-communication/
https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-025-02234-7
 
Stimulating success. Israel’s BrainsWay reported success in the trial of its accelerated Deep TMS protocol on 104 patients suffering from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Both programs of accelerated (10mins) and standard (20 mins) treatment sessions had very high response rates, remission rates, and time to remission.
https://www.brainsway.com/news_events/brainsway-reports-positive-results-from-multicenter-randomized-study-of-accelerated-deep-tms-for-major-depressive-disorder-mdd/
 
Israeli joins US longevity academy. The US Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (AHLR) has inducted Prof. Haim Cohen of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. “It’s inspiring to be part of such a remarkable group of scientists, all working to advance aging research and improve lives around the world,” said Prof. Cohen.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-academy-for-health-and-lifespan-research-announces-the-addition-of-leading-scientists-driving-breakthroughs-in-aging-research-302454328.html
https://www.ahlresearch.org/haim-cohen
 
Tech to treat mental illness. Israelis have developed many digital platforms to aid mental health. They include Kai.ai, physiological approaches from Calmigo (see here), passive sensing technologies by Behavidence, and the digitally scaled trauma response of NATAL (see here), Israel’s Trauma and Resiliency Centre.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/5nrfwvjte  https://www.behavidence.com/
 
One pill to control your body.  Israel’s Lembas (named after elves bread in the movie Lord of the Rings) has developed the GLP-1 Edge dietary supplement. It contains a bioactive peptide that triggers the body’s secretion of GLP-1 and other gut hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-startup-lembas-unveils-food-additive-for-slimming-1001513552
https://www.hellolembas.com/
 
Another less expensive medicine. The US FDA has approved SELARSDI that Israel’s Teva has developed with Europe’s Alvotech. SELARSDI is a biosimilar (see here previously) to the costly branded Stelara. It treats adult and pediatric psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis, as well as Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-teva-jumps-on-fda-approval-for-biosimilar-1001509454                                                                                       
 

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Morning. A little more than 24 hours ago, yesterday morning, we were in the bomb shelter in the basement of our building — for the third time in quick succession. Iran was firing missiles in a staggered sequence, and our Home Front Command seemed confused by it.

It was during that third time in the bomb shelter, here in Be’er Sheva, that we heard the tremendous bang of an interceptor hitting a missile not far overhead. Out of two missiles arriving here in that sally, that was the one that was downed. The other was not downed — instead pulverizing an apartment building and killing an 18-year-old soldier who had been training in an elite unit, his girlfriend, his mother, and an older woman who was an active protester for the hostages in Gaza.

That was how the “ceasefire” began for us — with Iran sneaking in some last missiles and snuffing out four lives, including two very young people.

When, about three hours later, the ceasefire having formally begun, Iran fired still more missiles, this time at northern Israel, our leaders thought — as any leaders would have — that we had to react. That was when, with the warplanes on the way to Iran, President Trump had his now-famous, profane tantrum at Israel and lambasted our prime minister over the phone, and all the planes were recalled except one that executed a minor, purely symbolic attack.

So where do we stand? Is it time to celebrate the defeat of Iran, the demise of its nuclear and ballistic-missile endeavors? Or too early for that, with disturbing reports saying too much of Iran’s means of destruction have survived?

Here in Israel we barely had time to ponder those questions before — just about 24 hours after the deaths in Be’er Sheva — we got the news that, yesterday, seven soldiers had been killed in Gaza when “a Palestinian terror operative planted a bomb on the Puma armored combat engineering vehicle the soldiers were in.”

If anybody was feeling jubilant, it was enough to shatter it.

And it has been that way since the Israel–Iran war — the war pitting Israel against Iran and its proxies — began with the calamity of October 7, 2023. An indescribable rollercoaster of feelings, from abysmal despair to amazement and glee at our astounding intelligence and military achievements.

And this is what it’s like when you’re at the cusp of civilization and can’t just theorize about, make excuses for, or even endorse barbarism, but have no choice but to fight it — while getting widely reviled for doing so.