THANKS TO JANET LEVY ROSS
Amnesty International thinks that the only reason Jews pray at the Western Wall is to erase “Palestinian history.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPD1VOlhp7M
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2019/03/david-singer-trump-could-replicate.html
President Trump’s Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel (Proclamation) could have important implications for America’s future policy regarding territorial claims by the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria (West Bank).
Trump first signalled America was voting against the United Nations long-held position on the Golan Heights – when US Ambassador to the United Nation Nikki Haley declared on 15 November 2018:
“The annual United Nations resolution entitled “The Occupied Syrian Golan” is scheduled for a vote on Friday, November 16. In previous years, the United States has abstained from voting on this resolution. However, given the resolution’s anti-Israel bias, as well as the militarization of the Syrian Golan border, and a worsening humanitarian crisis, this year the United States has decided to vote no on the resolution.
“The United States will no longer abstain when the United Nations engages in its useless annual vote on the Golan Heights. If this resolution ever made sense, it surely does not today. The resolution is plainly biased against Israel. Further, the atrocities the Syrian regime continues to commit prove its lack of fitness to govern anyone. The destructive influence of the Iranian regime inside Syria presents major threats to international security. ISIS and other terrorist groups remain in Syria. And this resolution does nothing to bring any parties closer to a peace agreement. The United States will vote no.”
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/hamas-jihad-and-jew-hatred-are-islams-jihad-and-jew-hatred/
Brandishing a handgun, Hamas official Rafiq Abu Hani addressed a crowd of Palestinian Muslims on March 17, 2019, and this exchange with his audience was recorded on Hamas/Gaza Al Aqsa TV:Rafiq Abu Hani: Our goal is Jihad for the sake of Allah! What is your goal?Crowd: Jihad!Rafiq Abu Hani: What is your goal?Crowd: Jihad!Rafiq Abu Hani: What is your goal?Crowd: Jihad!Rafiq Abu Hani: We all agree that our weapons – in which lie our honor and strength – will be put down only in the Al-Aqsa compound.
Oh you despicable traitors, do you think that we would ever sell out this [gun], which we paid for with the livelihoods of our children? By Allah, we say to Mohammed Deif, to the Al-Qassam Brigades, and to the heroes of the resistance in the West Bank and in Gaza: Take our livelihoods from us and buy more of these [guns]! Take our salaries and buy more of these!The subsequent two weeks have been punctuated by another round of missile attacks on Israeli cities emanating from Gaza, including a long-range firing which struck a house in moshav Mishmeret in the Sharon region. Massive, violent demonstrations at Gaza’s border with Israel have accompanied these missile attacks the latest even “featuring” Hamas “Prime Minister” Ismail Haniyeh, and a cameo appearance by jihad terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/03/the_gaza_rebellion_as_the_arab_spring.html
For the past year, Hamas has led Palestinians to demonstrate and riot on Fridays along the Gaza-Israel fence. The civilians, of which there are many, provide cover for rocket and incendiary device-wielding terrorists and those who would cross the fence into Israel. This Saturday, Hamas is calling for increased numbers at the fence building up to a massive demonstration on Friday 15 May.
Look past it.
This is a diversion from the active Palestinian revolt against Hamas. The people are complaining about dire living conditions, the brutal nature of Hamas rule, and the high living of Hamas officials. One brave woman told a journalist, “Hamas officials’ children drive in luxurious cars, but I have four unemployed sons. All of Gaza are unemployed because of [leaders] Haniyeh & Sinwar. These officials care nothing about the poor people’s necessities.”
Some people have cried, “We want to live!” Others said, “I have nothing to live for.”
Several reporters were arrested and brutally beaten (three were hospitalized) for covering the demonstrations, and the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that masked Hamas police were raiding homes and arresting hundreds of people. There is video of the brutal nature of the Hamas crackdown and the firing of live ammunition.
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Growing cells to kill cancer. Israel’s Sheba hospital is partnering with Switzerland’s Lonza Group to fast-track production of the CAR-T cancer immunotherapy invented by Israeli scientists. Sheba is the first hospital to trial and refine Lonza’s Cocoon manufacturing platform for growing cells to treat hundreds of oncology patients.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/replacing-clean-rooms-sheba-hospital-to-use-pods-to-grow-cancer-killing-cells/
Fast cancer diagnosis. Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics develops a diagnostic system that uses computer vision, machine learning, and electronic medical records to confirm cancer diagnoses of tissue biopsies. Ibex’s technology helps minimize the risk of misdiagnosis. Ibex has just received $11 million of funding.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3758538,00.html https://ibex-ai.com/
Manufacturing center for tumor lasers. I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s HIL Applied Medical and its focused proton beam lasers to treat tumors. HIL is spending $5 million to set-up a research and development and manufacturing center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3758448,00.html http://hilappliedmedical.com/?p=864
Treatment for iron overload. Israel’s Teva has launched a generic version of EXJADE (deferasirox) in the US. It treats patients two years of age and older for chronic iron overload due to blood transfusions. Currently, one in eight generic prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. is filled with a Teva generic product.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-teva-launches-generic-iron-overload-treatment-1001279327
Marseille base for Israeli infusion pumps. (TY Calcalistech) I reported previously (Feb 2013) that Israel’s Q-core Medical was expanding the distribution of its infusion pumps to the US and Europe. Due to the increased demand for IV infusion systems in France, Q-Core has opened a new regional hub in Marseille.
https://www.qcore.com/single-post/2019/02/27/Q-Core-Medical-Opens-European-Hub-in-France-Kicks-Off-Direct-Sales-of-Leading-Infusion-Systems
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13976/trump-is-right-about-the-golan-heights
No country in history has ever given back to a sworn enemy militarily essential territory that has been captured in a defensive war.
Predictably, the European Union opposed the U.S. recognition of the annexation. But it provided no compelling argument, beyond its usual demand that the status quo not be changed.
Has any European country ever handed over high ground, captured in a defensive war, to a sworn enemy? Recall that at the end of the first and second world wars, European countries made territorial adjustments to help preserve the peace. Why should the European Union subject Israel to a double standard it has never demanded of itself? The answer is clear: The European Union has always acted hypocritically when it comes to Israel, and this is no exception.
No reasonable person would ask the Israelis to give the Golan Heights to the Syrian mass murderer Assad. It would be suicidal to hand the high ground overlooking Israeli towns and villages to a madman who would use it to target Israelis civilians with chemical barrel bombs, as Assad has done to his own citizens. No country has ever returned a battleship captured in a defensive war to an enemy sworn to its destruction. In addition, the Golan Heights is a big battleship that would be used to attack Israel.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/five-ways-trump-is-the-most-pro-israel-president/
President Donald Trump has taken five dramatic, unprecedented pro-Israel measures. They’re not the only factors that make him popular in Israel; others include his withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal and his sanctions on Iran and its proxy Hizballah. But those aren’t moves directed at Israel specifically. The explicitly pro-Israel moves include:
1. Declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem
Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995; Presidents Clinton and Bush, as candidates, vowed to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and President Obama, as a candidate, criticized them for not doing so—and then didn’t do so himself. Candidate Trump promised to “move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem”—and President Trump did so. It’s deeply appreciated in Israel.
2. Cutting aid to UNRWA and the Palestinians
Trump, much more than any past president, has let the Palestinians know that there is no free lunch—that they cannot, along with their UN ally UNRWA, cultivate generations of Israel-hating “refugees” and cannot incentivize and reward terrorism while continuing to receive aid. Last year the administration cut funding to UNRWA and put the Palestinians on notice about U.S. aid and their pay-to-slay policy. Congress advanced its own initiative, and this year, fearing lawsuits in the U.S. over Palestinian terror attacks that have killed Americans, the Palestinian Authority itself requested—and “got”—a major aid cut from the administration.
https://worldisraelnews.com/updated-us-maps-to-show-golan-belongs-to-israel/?ut
The U.S. State Department announced this week that it will update its maps to reflect the Trump administration’s move to officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.A department spokesperson told Voice of America that the map modifications would be “consistent” with the proclamation the president signed on Monday, remarking that the United States “recognizes that the Golan Heights are part of the State of Israel.”U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told Voice of America that Foggy Bottom would “redraw” official maps and make them available “as soon as they are ready.”The editing, said Hook, reflects reality and a “need for Israel to have secure and defensible borders.”Last week, Trump posted on Twitter that he would make that recognition.“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and regional stability!” he tweeted.Israel took control of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War.
https://bit.ly/2YfZ2TE
While US recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights bolsters the national security of the Jewish State, it also yields major strategic benefits for the US.
Thus, President Trump’s endorsement of Israeli sovereignty over the strategically commanding Golan Heights – which may be reinforced by a Congressional resolution – highlights the synergy between the national security of the US and Israel. It underlines the mutually-beneficial, two-way-street strategic coordination and cooperation between the US and Israel.
This endorsement enhances the posture of deterrence of Israel – a systematic, unwavering, effective beachhead of the US in the Middle East – and therefore extends the strategic hand of the US, without the need to deploy additional US forces to the region.
In fact, Israel’s upgraded strategic profile has been a most effective US force-multiplier in the Middle East.
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/03/opinion/strivers-sulkers-and-the-state-of-israel/
Nothing succeeds like success, and the State of Israel’s success in a range of fields has created more goodwill for the Jewish people than at any time in history, and also more enmity. The world’s strivers see Israel as an example, and the world’s sulkers view Israel as a humiliating reminder of their misery.
Joseph Dana argued in a March 25 opinion article on this site that “political Zionism raises the risk of anti-Semitism.” That is true only to the extent that success breeds envy. Success also elicits admiration, though, and Israel is admired by ambitious and upwardly mobile people around the world. On balance, political Zionism has brought about far more philo-Semitism than anti-Semitism.
Half a million tourists visited Israel in December 2018, twice the number of the previous December. South Korean high-school students are adopting traditional Jewish learning techniques. Books about Jewish success are best-sellers in China. Chinese students are applying to Israeli universities; 200 now attend the University of Haifa compared with just 20 in 2013, and nearly 200 are enrolled at the Technion, Israel’s elite science university.
