RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15975/judges-us-israel

Were the Supreme Court of Israel to decide that Benjamin Netanyahu is legally prohibited from forming a government in which he served as prime minister because he is under indictment, it would be usurping the role of the Knesset (which has not enacted such a prohibition) and the electorate (which gave him plurality, knowing that he was under indictment), as well as undercutting the rule of law (which presumes indicted individuals innocent until and unless convicted).

Such a ruling would throw the justices into the “political thicket” (to quote the US Supreme Court) and further politicize the manner by which justices are selected. It would be a self-inflicted wound on the independence and neutrality of the Supreme Court. Finally, it would give too much power to prosecutors and police officials to interfere with elections, by issuing indictments that might not result in convictions

This is not the time to further politicize a great Israeli institution.

The book of Ruth begins with a cautionary description: “In the days when judges ruled, there was famine in the land.” Though the Bible suggests no causal relationship between the judiciary ruling the people and bad things happening to them, history suggests that governance by unelected Platonic guardians is anathema to democracy.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/05/03/the-palestinian-refugee-scam-2/

Can history be undone? The correct answer is: of course not. Surely what happened happened, notwithstanding any subsequent discomfort with the result.

Not so fast.

For example: Who are the rightful inheritors of Palestine? Indeed, where is “Palestine”? These questions, embedded in discussions (and inevitable disagreements) for the past century, have been thrust to the forefront with announcements by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the planned extension of Israeli sovereignty over settlements in Biblical Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Jordan Valley.

Prompted by the centennial anniversary of the San Remo accords, a long dormant set of flawed assumptions has surfaced. Those 1920 accords, ratified by the League of Nations and never rescinded, affirmed the promise made three years earlier by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour that “His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” The San Remo agreement became, and remained, the international affirmation of Jewish sovereignty over the land west (and originally also east) of the Jordan River. But the United Nations, with its long history of discomfort often shading into overt hostility toward Israel, has yet to recognize this embedded precedent of international law.

Yishai Fleisher, spokesman for the Hebron Jewish community, recently cited, “This momentous occasion, on which the international community recognized and then ratified the inalienable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel for the first time in modern history.” But one year later, at the Cairo Conference, Great Britain excluded Transjordan from the territory comprising the Jewish national home and bestowed it as a gift to King Abdullah for his newly invented Kingdom of Jordan.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

In 1945 at the conclusion of World War 2, a dispirited and depressed Jewish community throughout the world, including the Jewish residents of Palestine, contemplated the devastating fact that one of every three Jews in the world had been killed in the Holocaust. Out of despair came the imperative for an independent Jewish state in the ancient homeland where the Patriarchs founded our faith. It seems almost miraculous that three years later, in May 1948 the President of the United States, Harry Truman declared official recognition of the new/ancient state. And, like the tale of Passover, this time the seas parted again when steel hulled ships brought survivors of Europe and oppressive existence in the Arab states to haven and an epic rescue.  There were wars, terrorism, the implacable hatred of neighboring nations, but Israel grew and prospered. Today, a nation of 8,655,535 people in Israel contributes to better lives for billions of people globally. The following, brought to us from my friend Michael Ordman every week is just an example. Happy 72nd birthday Israel! rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Israeli coronavirus treatment benefits six patients. Six moderate to severe Israeli coronavirus patients have shown clinical improvement with the new opaganib  treatment from Israel’s Redhill (see here previously). All required less supplemental oxygenation, had higher lymphocyte counts and less lung inflammation.
https://www.redhillbio.com/RedHill/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=178&FID=2432&PID=0&IID=15261
 
Startup funds coronavirus treatment. Israeli startup InnoCan is funding research at Tel Aviv University to develop a cannabinoid-based coronavirus treatment. Together with exosomes (particles derived from stem cell culture) it has been shown to be effective against inflammation in lung cells infected with the coronavirus.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3809431,00.html
 
Weizmann starts coronavirus testing. Israel’s Weizmann Institute has started conducting tests to diagnose coronavirus. Its world-class, cutting-edge lab facilities include advanced polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems, which are capable of rapid and efficient gene identification.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/weizmann-institute-science-began-conduct-coronavirus-testing-today
 
Transforming Israel’s ability to combat coronavirus. In just 4 weeks, Israel’s Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Production and Procurement (DOPP) set up of hotel recovery centers, acquired ventilators, testing equipment, and protective gear and then organized for local Israeli companies to take over their manufacture.
https://www.jns.org/an-inside-look-at-the-historic-efforts-by-israels-defense-ministry-to-combat-the-coronavirus/
 
Inside Sheba’s battle with COVID-19. (TY Stuart) Fascinating video of the coronavirus isolation compound at Sheba Medical Center. It focuses on Dr Galia Barkai, Head of Pediatrics and Tele-medicine and shows some of the major issues they have been facing.  Sheba also monitors patients in their own homes (see 2nd video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jue3B5BReJk   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkpO5CIk6i8
 
Identifying high risk patients. As reported here previously, Israel’s Medial EarlySign has partnered with Israeli health company Maccabi to identify its members with a high risk of influenza complications. The system will now be used to fast-track testing and treatment if these patients report coronavirus symptoms to Maccabi.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/new-israeli-tech-helps-identify-those-at-high-risk-for-covid-19/
 
Saving children’s lives in times of adversity. At the Schneider Center for Pediatrics, despite the coronavirus crisis, three life-saving transplant operations were performed on children: Two livers and one kidney. One very complex liver transplant was for an 8-month old infant. The other was the third sibling to receive a new liver.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-doctors-perform-3-lifesaving-transplants-on-children-despite-corona-crisis/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/497324
 
More Israelis recovered than still infected. This week, for the first time, the number of Israelis that have recovered from the coronavirus exceeded those that still have the infection. On 2nd May, over 9,600 had recovered while under 6,500 are still infected (mostly mild or asymptomatic). 82 are on ventilators.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-first-time-israelis-recovered-from-coronavirus-outnumber-those-still-sick/
 
Ready for the next crisis. In case there is a resurgence of the coronavirus, Israel has acquired or manufactured thousands of respirators, some 61 million surgical masks, 930,000 advanced N95 masks, about 1.4 million protective outfits for medical teams, 403,000 disposable gowns, and a million coronavirus testing kits.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-ready-for-next-crisis-61-million-masks-811-respirators-acquired-in-april/
 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/100-years-since-san-remo-when-israel-became-a-sovereignty-626497

In San Remo, the League of Nations decided to turn much of the former Ottoman Empire into new nation-states: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan all emerged from this process, along with Israel.
The 1920 international conference in San Remo, Italy, is finally getting some of the attention it deserves. That conference created Mandatory Palestine as a “national home” for the Jewish people, and promised Jewish migration and “settlement” throughout Palestine, including Judea and Samaria. Yet in the collective memory, the United Nations General Assembly vote in November 1947 to partition Palestine – essentially repudiating much of San Remo – is more closely linked with the establishment of the state.

It is important for Israel to use this centenary occasion to upgrade the memory of San Remo and its importance – putting it ahead of the UN vote that was at best meaningless.

In San Remo, the League of Nations decided to turn much of the former Ottoman Empire into new nation-states: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan all emerged from this process, along with Israel. None of these previously existed as states, but today their legitimacy is unquestioned because they arose from the mandate process. More importantly, all the states that arose from mandates inherited the Mandatory borders: so San Remo explains why Israel’s borders include Judea and Samaria.

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/israel-back-to-the-future/91113/

The centenary that has just been marked of the San Remo Conference reminds us that, among other things, the statecraft that produced the State of Israel way predates the United Nations. It is a moment to grasp that in partitioning Palestine after World War II, the United Nations took a step back. And set the stage for the war against the Jews that has sizzled in the Middle East ever since.

This is beautifully sketched this week by famed law professor E.V. Kontorovich, writing in the Jerusalem Post. He suggests that the parley that took place at the end of April, 1920, at San Remo, Italy, is finally getting the attention it deserves. San Remo had been attended by the main victorious allies of World War I — Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. America, which had just rejected the League of Nations Treaty, was there as an observer.

“In San Remo,” Mr. Kontorovich writes, “the League of Nations decided to turn much of the former Ottoman Empire into new nation-states: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan all emerged from this process, along with Israel.” He notes that none of those previously existed as states and that today “their legitimacy is unquestioned” because “they arose from the mandate process” of the League itself.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/israel-is-a-country-not-a-concept-opinion-626472

The State of Israel turned 72 on Wednesday, and what a peculiar birthday it was. If not for television and the Internet, it might have passed by unnoticed. Indeed, thanks to the coronavirus-spurred 27-hour curfew, the customary annual celebrations were void of participants, other than dignitaries delivering speeches and celebrities performing to venues filled with empty seats.

The sparse fireworks that were permitted in the end went off with more of a whisper than a bang. And anyone not fortunate enough to possess a balcony – or whose garden is secluded – missed out on the sense of solidarity that singing the national anthem on terraces around the nation provided.

As for the traditional barbecues, well, many took place with immediate family members, either indoors or on private patios. So, while the smell of charred meat wafting through the air was strong, the gatherings were subdued.

THIS IS NOT to say that the atmosphere was lacking in cheer, however. On the contrary, the weeks of virtual isolation leading up to the holiday, alongside the gradual reopening of shops that began a few days earlier, contributed to a sense of shared hardship on the one hand and budding optimism on the other. Nothing symbolized the latter better than the news that the beauty parlors were back in business.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/p-david-hornik/2020/04/29/israels-72nd-locked-down-independence-day-still-thriving-and-growing-n386797

As of Tuesday evening and Wednesday, Israel turns 72. But something—to paraphrase the Haggadah, the text that’s read for the Passover ceremony earlier in the spring—makes this Independence Day different from all others: we’re under a strict lockdown, the strictest yet since the COVID-19 era began.

Although, as in many other countries, restrictions are gradually being eased, today they’re back in full force because the government fears the effects of intermingling and, particularly, of large gatherings.

It means that, for this day, we’re not supposed to stray more than 100 meters from our homes. Even grocery stores are closed. The police have set up 44 roadblocks to prevent intercity travel. The usual public events are canceled.   

But one of the most popular of them—the annual flyby of air force planes—will happen on a smaller but still significant scale. As the military announced: “Four Efroni planes will fly over the country’s hospitals and salute the efforts of medical teams and the entire healthcare system, who are fighting the war against the coronavirus.”

Despite this mostly quiet, subdued Independence Day, there is—as in other years—much to celebrate. The annual demographic data are in from the Central Bureau of Statistics, and they’re distinctly upbeat.

https://www.jpost.com/judaism/jewish-holidays/what-does-a-jewish-state-mean-626097

A fundamental misunderstanding has dominated the discussion about this question. Does a Jewish state mean one that is run according to Halacha? Entangled in questions of interpretation and authority, the State of Israel struggles with this issue daily and in myriad ways. What is the place of secular, non-religious Jews? How can individual freedom be protected? Should there be a separation between shul and state?

The idea of a Jewish state is not about the role of Jewish law, a realm of rabbinic discourse, but about how a political structure can incorporate all of its constituent elements into a dynamic, organic whole. The function of a Jewish state is to provide by virtue of its sovereignty the basis of Jewish civilization, a context for Judaism to grow and develop, Jewish existence, a consciousness of what it means to be a Jew.

Jewish civilization and Jewish sovereignty

For Jews in Israel, the struggle to survive is often taken for granted. A fact of life that punches us with every terrorist attack, pounds with every anti-Jewish Arab riot and pains with condemnations by UN agencies and European Union diplomats. It’s nothing new; Jews have lived with persecution and the threat of extinction for millennia. It’s in our blood. We breathe our vulnerability, our eyes search for escape. Many assimilate and drop out, some join the perpetrators and turn on their own. And yet the fragile DNA of Jewish living persists.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/only-here/

As we heard our Jerusalem neighbors’ Sabbath prayers, I thought: we are locked down in the one place Jews would want to be locked dow

It sounded as if the voice was coming from the stones.

Every evening, as nightfall comes to Jerusalem, the buildings here, chameleon-like, change their colors. The streets in our neighborhood are quiet on Shabbat in any event, but lately, they’ve been almost ghostly, eerily silent. Nothing about the neighborhood has changed, but everything is different. So when Shabbat began the week before last, with that slightly golden tint coloring the buildings as the angle of the light shifted before the sun was gone, my wife and I stepped outside onto the terrace to breathe it all in.

We’d expected the usual quiet, the sound of little more than the birds and those proverbial Jerusalem cats. They were there, to be sure, but then, as we stared out over the railing towards the building next door and the street below, there was a voice. You could have mistaken it for the muezzin we often hear around here, bellowing from amplifiers and speakers in mosques closer to the Old City, but this was no muezzin. This was Hebrew.

We craned our necks, to no avail. We couldn’t see where it was coming from, but as the voice grew clearer, we quickly realized – it was Kabbalat Shabbat. From a porch somewhere, or from a window, maybe even a rooftop – who knows? – someone had taken it on himself, with all the synagogues shuttered, to gather together all the neighbors who couldn’t see (and maybe don’t even know) each other, to sing and to pray together. It was Shabbat in Jerusalem, after all. We were in isolation, whoever-he-was was saying, but we weren’t going to be isolated.