RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/04/14/locked-down-tel-avivians-dance-on-balconies-to-celebrate-citys-birthday/

Tel Aviv celebrated its 111th birthday on Tuesday, amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis that has ground the city to a halt.

“To mark the festive occasion our truck set off to roam the city blasting the city’s unofficial anthem (Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv!) as residents waved from their balconies,” the Tel Aviv municipality tweeted.

Tel Aviv is celebrating it’s 111th birthday today!

To mark the festive occasion our truck set off to roam the city blasting the city’s unofficial anthem (Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv!) as residents waved from their balconies

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-researchers-at-Hebrew-U-develop-fa

Israeli researchers at Hebrew U develop faster, cheaper COVID-19 test By IDAN ZONSHINE  

The new test would supply results 4-10 times faster than the current method, and is made almost entirely from materials which are easily available for purchase within the country.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Sunday that they have developed a new method of testing for COVID-19 which is not only 4-10 times faster than the tests most commonly used today, but also significantly cheaper, while supplying the same level of accuracy.

Moreover, most of the materials required to perform the new test are already available in Israel, easing significantly both the country’s dire shortage of testing materials and its heavy economic dependence on foreign commercial markets.

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDFs-Shayetet-13-develops-solutions-to-compress-oxygen-to-fight-corona-624432

IDF’s Shayetet 13 develops solutions to compress oxygen to fight corona by Anna Ahronheim

The elite unit, which trains experienced divers and as a result has a great deal of experience in under-water breathing technologies and oxygen tanks, developed a unique method.

The Shayetet 13 naval commando unit is helping in the IDF’s fight against the coronavirus by developing advanced solutions to compress oxygen. 

The famed elite unit, which trains divers and as a result has a great deal of experience in underwater breathing technologies and oxygen tanks, developed a unique method and is playing a key role in the fight against the deadly disease. 

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-high-school-develops-robot-to-help-protect-doctors-from-coronavirus/

Mentored by engineers from the Technion, Israel’s leading technology university, a high school robotics team in Haifa produced a robot to deliver equipment, medicine and food and help protect hospital medical staff from COVID-19.

The robotics club at a Haifa high school has teamed up with engineers at the world-class Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology and developed a robot that will help medical workers keep their distance from coronavirus-infected patients.

Dubbed the “COROBOT,” the remote control service trolley allows medicine and food to be delivered to patients without another person present, driving right up to the patient’s bed and complete with a computer tablet to allow two-way communication.

The robot was tested last week, showing officials at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center how it can be also be used to carry equipment to the coronavirus isolation ward to the protective rooms. Like with a remote control car, an operator uses a radio control device to steer the robot.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3804900,00.html

The Directorate of Defense Research and Development (Mafat) has greenlighted a sticker developed at Israeli research university Technion Israel Institute of Technology that attaches to surgical masks, adding an additional layer of protection against coronavirus (Covid-19), Technion announced Monday.

Called Maya, the 3D-printed sticker is made up of nanometric fibers coated with disinfectants and is meant to enhance the containment of nanoparticles and effectively neutralize viruses as they touch the mask, according to the statement.

Israel’s Ministry of Health has given initial approval for the use of the sticker by medical personnel and in the coming days, a pilot will begin at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya in northern Israel, to examine the sticker’s effectiveness and see if it reduces the incidence of infection among medical teams.

The technology behind the sticker was developed by Technion professor Eyal Zussman in conjunction with the Galilee Medical Center.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/04/hamas-top-dog-tells-israel-deliver-ventilators-or-robert-spencer/

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the jihad terror group Hamas, on Thursday boasted that if Israel didn’t come across with more ventilators for “Palestinian” coronavirus victims in Gaza, the jihadis “take them by force.” As if that weren’t enough, Sinwar added: “If ventilators are not brought into [Gaza], we’ll take them by force from Israel and stop the breathing of 6 million Israelis.” Of course, Sinwar wasn’t articulating any new imperative for the jihad group: a new genocide of the Jews has always been a cherished Hamas aspiration.

As The Palestinian Delusion explains, destroying Israel is, in Hamas’ view, a religious imperative — even an act of worship. In 2012, Hamas published a music video that included a lyric apparently inspired by the “drive them out from where they drove you out” command and the Hadith calling on Muslims to kill Jews in order to hasten the Last Day: “Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah.”

To a Gaza imam, Ahmad Okasha, the only solution to the problems of the Palestinians was decreed by Muhammad himself in his own End Times prophecy of Muslims killing Jews. On Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV on November 5, 2018, Okasha said: “The most obvious Jihad on the face of the Earth is the Jihad in Palestine. There is no doubt or dispute about it. Muslims fighting Jews who occupied their land— there is no dispute here.”

Indeed, Okasha added, Jerusalem itself “shall only be liberated in the way decreed for us by Allah: ‘Judgment Day shall not come until you fight the Jews, and the trees and the rocks will say: “Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”’”

https://www.jns.org/opinion/is-a-request-for-economic-patriotism-taking-israels-lockdown-too-far/

Towards the end of his latest address to inform the Israeli public of increased lockdown measures due to the coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added words of cautious optimism ahead of the Passover holiday.

“There is a real possibility that if the positive trends in Israel continue, we will gradually exit the lockdown after Passover,” he said on Monday evening. “[This] will breathe new life into the economy. It will give hope to employers and employees, and to small and big businesses. … As soon as we begin to change direction—the minute that economic activity is increased—everything will begin to change. In the meantime, in order to get through this chapter, we in the government reached a decision to inject NIS 90 billion [into the economy] … ”

Before extending a wish for a “happy and kosher Pesach,” along with the hope that “we will get through this hardship together and emerge from quarantine to freedom,” he concluded with a request.

“One more important thing that I ask of you,” he implored. “Especially during these times, I ask that you buy Israeli-made products.”

http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Testing coronavirus treatment. As reported in the 22nd Mar newsletter, Israel’s Pluristem is developing a treatment for severe coronavirus patients. Latest news is that Pluristem has begun human testing in Israel.

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israels-company-uses-placenta-cells-to-treat-critical-covid-19-patients-622960

Treatment for ARDS. The US FDA has approved a Phase 2 compassionate care trial of Aviptadil by the US-Israeli biotech NeuroRx at Rambam Medical Center on coronavirus patients. Aviptadil combats coronavirus- triggered Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in the lungs, which is fatal in 50% of sufferers.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-israeli-drug-could-treat-condition-that-kills-50-of-corona-patients/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgmpS2N8124

UV light kills the coronavirus. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed a machine that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill viruses and bacteria on hospital surfaces. This will allow medical centers to speed up the sterilization of rooms (previously used chemicals) and make them ready for new patients.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-swords-to-plows-iai-seeks-to-battle-coronavirus-with-uv-light-tech/

MyHeritage to perform coronavirus testing. Last week, Israeli genealogy company MyHeritage.com announced it is donating 66,000 swabs to boost Israel’s coronavirus testing efforts. Now it is building a COVID-19 testing lab (at its own expense) and will perform at least 10,000 tests a day from 9th April.

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Chinese-Israeli-labs-team-up-to-build-emergency-COVID-19-testing-facility-622647 https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3804577,00.html

Anti-viral sticker can transform surgical masks. The Galilee Medical Center is testing Maya – a 3D-printed sticker that Technion Professor Eyal Zussman has developed. When stuck on a surgical mask, it adds the extra layer of a biological filter. Its nanometric fibers are coated with disinfectants to effectively neutralize viruses.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3804900,00.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuNYNj6plDo

Israeli-Arab bus driver released from hospital. The bus driver (see 22 Mar) who caught the coronavirus from Greek tourists has now been released from hospital. The 38-year-old Israeli-Arab was the first person who required a ventilator in Israel to recover from the virus. He had been treated with Remdesivir.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/1st-person-in-israel-in-serious-condition-from-covid-19-recovers/

Sleep app offered free to boost immune system. As reported (here) Israel’s Dayzz and its app help diagnose sleep problems. Now Dayzz is offering the app free to organizations and individuals, in the hope it will boost immunity during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Lack of sleep also increases anxiety levels (& vice-versa).

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-app-improves-sleep-to-bolster-immune-system/

Special MDA ambulances to protect medics. (TY UWI) MDA has 50 ambulances that are sealed inside, to protect the driver and paramedics from being infected by coronavirus patients they are transporting to hospital. The only need to be in physical contact with the more serious cases, when they wear full protective suits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROWbsMYhia4

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Yuli-Edelstein-and-the-struggle-for-Israels-democracy-623589

In order to understand the political drama of former Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein’s resignation, one needs to put it into the context of three on-going political struggles: 1) recent inconclusive elections in which there was no clear majority for either major party; 2) a highly aggressive High Court, legal advisers and state prosecutors which sought to impose their agenda on the executive and legislative branches of government; and 3) efforts to depose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Faced with an ultimatum by the High Court to convene the Knesset and vote on his replacement, Edelstein’s dilemma was considered a “constitutional crisis.” Condemned by many in the media and his opponents, he risked his political career. It was for him a moment of Truth that also created the possibility of healing and reconciliation.      
             
The implosion of the Blue and White Party clearly demonstrates why the High Court’s impulsive intervention was wrong, and explains why Edelstein’s resignation was a wise decision. The High Court demanded that Edelstein accept Blue and White’s claim that it had the support of 61 members of Knesset and was entitled to replace Edelstein with its own candidate.