RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/benjamin-netanyahu-israels-longest-serving-prime-minister/He persisted.

On July 20, Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. His first tenure lasted from 1996 to 1999. This second stint began in 2009. Bibi has won five elections since. The most recent victory, in April, was Pyrrhic. He failed to form a government. An unprecedented rematch is set for September.

Whatever the result, Netanyahu’s historical legacy is assured. He has proven to be not only a skilled and charismatic political operator, but also a remarkably effective steward of Israel’s prosperity and safety.

“A successful democratic statesman,” Irving Kristol wrote in 2001, “is one whose tenure in office is seen by his countrymen as representing a permanent contribution to the shaping of our democratic destiny. He is viewed as having expanded democratic horizons while nourishing the democratic spirit and reinforcing the popular commitment to self-government.” Kristol was describing Ronald Reagan. When interpreted through the fractal lens of Israeli politics, his words also apply to Netanyahu’s achievements in economics, diplomacy, and security.

Beginning with his first premiership, and continuing through his tenure as finance minister in Ariel Sharon’s government, Netanyahu has encouraged the modernization and reform of a once sclerotic economy. What Dan Senor and Saul Singer called Start-up Nation has to a great extent replaced the Israel of labor, cartel, and kibbutz. Today Israel is an entrepreneurial, high-tech economy with a highly educated workforce.

“There is nary an economic indicator that doesn’t look good,” Melrav Arlosoroff wrote in Haaretz last December. “Gross domestic product has risen an average of 3 percent or more annually, unemployment is at a record low, employment is at a record high, more ultra-Orthodox and Arabs are joining the labor force, and the national debt has fallen to 60 percent of GDP.” (We should be so lucky: America’s debt is 105 percent of GDP.)

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Week after week Israel”s achievements in every field of human endeavor dazzle and give the lie to the vicious libels promoted by anti-Semites – including those who benefit from Israeli technology and medicine…..rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Phase 3 trials for pancreatic cancer treatment. (TY Stuart). I reported previously (10th Jun) results of trials of one pancreatic treatment at Israel’s Sheba hospital. Sheba are now starting Phase 3 trials of another, CPI-613 (devimistat) from Israeli biotech Rafael, which can also treat Acute Myeloid Leukemia and other cancers.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Breakthrough-pancreatic-cancer-treatment-phase-III-trial-opens-in-Israel-596059 https://rafaelpharma.com/research-and-development/cpi-613-drug/
 
Israeli project reduces UK child obesity. (TY UWI) Between 2009 and 2017 child obesity increased across the UK but fell 6.4% in Leeds – England’s 3rd largest city. This was due to the HENRY [Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young] initiative, developed by Professor Mary Rudolf of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/UK-city-sees-decrease-in-child-obesity-thanks-to-program-from-Bar-Ilan-prof-595088  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijpo.12529
 
Custom-tailored antibiotics. (TY WIN & UWI) I reported previously (23rd Feb)on the AI system devised at Israel’s Technion for identifying the right antibiotic and dose for curing an individual’s infection. Now, thanks to the KSM Institute of Israel’s Maccabi Health company, the system is getting much nearer to fruition.
https://www.israel21c.org/custom-tailored-antibiotic-treatment-on-the-way/
 
Hope for multi-disease treatment. I reported previously (Feb 2018) about the 5-mer peptide, developed by Professor David Naor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Its potential to treat inflammatory and brain diseases has now been recognized by donors and an Israeli biotech which has signed contracts for clinical trials.
https://www.israel21c.org/inventor-of-4-disease-drug-hears-from-investors-readers/
 
Moses wins excellence award. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (23rd Oct)on the Moses laser from Israel’s Lumenis that urologists were using to smash bladder stones. Its technology was the Silver Winner in the Operating Room Medical Device category of the 21st Annual Medical Design Excellence Awards.
https://lumenis.com/medical/news/mosestm-laser-technology-wins-2019-medical-design-excellence-award/
https://mdeawards.mddionline.com/2019-Winners

https://www.jns.org/opinion/evan-cohen-netanyahus-perfect-pick-for-foreign-press-adviser/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he had appointed Dr. Evan Cohen—founding chairman of Likud Pride, the party’s LGBTQ caucus—as his foreign press adviser.

Cohen was a wise choice for the role of explaining Netanyahu’s policies to the international media. The 51-year-old tenured teacher of linguistics at Tel Aviv University, who immigrated to Israel from South Africa at the age of 9, has been a vocal and articulate bilingual Likud activist for many years, writing op-eds in Hebrew and English, and participating in radio and television debates in both languages. It was a one-on-one TV interview with i24News on June 6, in fact, which reportedly gave Netanyahu the idea to hire him in the first place. And it’s no wonder, given Cohen’s ability to present the Likud’s worldview with clarity.

This has not prevented detractors from engaging in a campaign to cast aspersions on Netanyahu’s motives and Cohen’s credentials, however, particularly with the Sept. 17 Knesset elections looming so large.

The faulty ammunition being used in the “two-fer” attack is a scandal surrounding statements made by Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz on Saturday evening. During an interview with Channel 12’s Dana Weiss, Peretz—an Orthodox rabbi and a member of the Union of Right-Wing Parties—said that it is “possible” for homosexuals to be converted through therapy.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/07/read_of_the_day_a_stron

I strongly recommend a long interview with Michael Oren, and American-born Israeli, who has served as Israel’s ambassador the United States and currently is a Member of the Knesset and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. He speaks very frankly on many issues, and provides perspectives that I found fascinating and useful.

I had never before seen the website (https://octavianreport.com/article/michael-oren-israel-world-power/?) that published the interview, but I am impressed with it and will be returning.

Here is a short sample of Oren’s perspectives on matters of current concern:

About five years ago, when Secretary of State Kerry was traveling back and forth between Israel and the Palestinians, he almost invariably paused before getting on a plane back to the United States to issue a not-so-veiled threat against the state of Israel. The threat was, and we understood it as a threat, that if Israel did not make concessions to the Palestinians, we would be isolated internationally. To quote the Secretary: “isolated on steroids.”

Today, you’ll find that Israel today is pointedly and emphatically less isolated than at any other time in its history. To the best of my knowledge, we’ve yet to make peace with Palestinians.

Our relationship with Latin America is at an unprecedented high. We’ve had the Prime Minister be the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit any country south of the United States of America. Now he’s visited four.

There are 51 countries in Africa, most of which cut off relations with us after the Arab boycott of the 1970’s, that have renewed relations with us. They’re standing in line to strengthen those relationships with us. Our relationships with Eastern Europe, the former Soviet bloc countries, are excellent.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
“Ghost” decoy cells kill cancer. Israel Technion Professor Marcelle Machluf has developed tumor-shrinking technology using normally “good” mesenchymal stem cells that tumors hi-jack to help them grow. Machluf’s team removed the cells’ contents and filled the membranes with chemotherapy.  They lure and destroy tumors.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/technion-professor-creates-army-of-cell-ghosts-to-battle-deadliest-cancers/
 
Colon capsule has further positive trial results. I’ve reported previously (see here) on the C-Scan colon diagnostic capsule from Israel’s Check-Cap. In its latest (post CE approval) study, C-Scan detected 76% of small (potentially cancerous) polyps as opposed to only 28% using currently approved non-invasive techniques.
http://ir.check-cap.com/2019-07-09-Check-Cap-Announces-Positive-Final-Results-from-Its-Post-CE-Approval-Study-of-the-C-Scan-R-System
 
Surgical navigator approved. (TY OurCrowd) The Israeli Ministry of Health approved marketing of the Surgical Navigation Advanced Platform (SNAP) and SuRgical Planner (SRP) systems from Israel’s Surgical Theater. The VR systems help surgeons plan and perform complex operations including brain, heart and spinal.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/surgical-theater-received-approval-market-190000527.html
https://www.surgicaltheater.net/
 
Pain relief without pills. Israel’s Solio has developed Alpha Plus – the world’s first US FDA and European CE approved radio frequency (RF) topical pain relief device. It combines bipolar RF to increase blood circulation, infrared to heat and ease pain and stiffness, and low-level laser to relieve the skin. All in a simple external unit.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-at-home-device-uses-radio-frequency-to-relieve-pain/
https://www.soliotherapy.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iw1qvfm8sQ
 
Anti-bacterial tooth fillings. Tel Aviv scientists have developed dental fillings made of resin-based composites enhanced by antibacterial nano-assemblies. It can hinder bacterial growth on dental restorations, the main cause of secondary tooth decay that can lead to root-canal treatment and tooth extractions.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-antibacterial-fillings-may-fight-repeated-tooth-decay/
 
Paramedics cross the seas. Israel’s Magen David Adom has inaugurated its new ‘Sea-Bulance’ service to assist people in need of critical medical treatment and rescue while at sea. It currently operates in the Sea of Galilee equipped with advanced medical tools and can carry up to six people at speeds of up to 35 knots.
http://nocamels.com/2019/07/mda-sea-ambulance-emergency-water-rescue/
 
Paramedics scale the heights. Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedics treated a Haifa crane operator who lost consciousness, 50 meters above ground. Using advanced medical equipment, they provided treatment before harnessed firefighters and security guards extracted and evacuated him to hospital in stable and good condition.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/265830
 

https://pjmedia.com/spengler/the-palestinian-problem-is-dying-of-natural-causes/

“West Bank grows calmer as pocketbook issues take priority of protests” is the headline of a New York Times story today. It seems that the Palestinian jihadists of the old intifadas are more concerned about making a living than killing Israelis. Writes reporters Isabel Kershner:

BILIN, West Bank — On a recent weekday, Muhammad Abu Rahma returned to the place where Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers used to clash in weekly confrontations that made the West Bank village of Bilin a symbol of resistance against the Israeli occupation.

But this time, he came not to protest but to picnic with his wife and three children. He had served three terms in prison for his activities at the height of the protests. But now, at 33, he had a family and a job as a garbage collector.

“People want money to live, and permits,” he said, referring to the Israeli permits allowing laborers to work in Israel, where they can earn twice as much as they do in the Palestinian territories.

It turns out that time is on Israel’s side, as Ambassador Yoram Ettinger and other Israeli analysts have argued for years. The Arab “demographic time bomb” turned out to be a dud, as fertility rates plunge across the Muslim world, a phenomenon I discussed in my 2011 book How Civilizations Die. In a 2011 analysis for Asia Times, I counseled Israel not to attempt to make peace with a Palestinian population heavily tilted towards hot-headed youngsters, and to wait until the declining Palestinian fertility rate had raised the average age of the West Bank population. Like Northern Ireland, the militants would find themselves married with mortgages (at least those who survived). Prime Minister Netanyahu generously commented on the article when it was published.