RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13796/palestinians-zionist-entity

Hamas and Islamic Jihad should be given credit for their clarity and honesty regarding their ambitions. The two groups are clearly saying that their ultimate goal is to see Israel removed from the region and replaced with an Islamic state. As far as they are concerned, the conflict with Israel is not about a settlement, a checkpoint or even Jerusalem. Instead, it is about the presence of Jews in what they regard as their own state and homeland.

What will happen the day after a Palestinian state is established? The answer, according to Hamas and Islamic Jihad (and other Palestinians) is that they will use it to continue the “armed struggle” until the liberation of the supposedly occupied cities of Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Tiberias, Haifa and Ashdod. Under these current circumstances, a Palestinian state will pose an immediate existential danger to Israel.

The Islamic Jihad threat to turn Israeli cities into “hell” by firing missiles at them needs to be taken seriously by those who are working on the upcoming US peace plan. Any land that is given to Abbas and his Palestinian Authority in the West Bank will be used in the future by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as a base for launching rockets and missiles at Israeli cities. Then, the terror groups will not need accurate, long-range rockets to achieve their plan to destroy Israel’s population centers: they will be sitting right across the street from them.

A Palestinian terror group says that its engineers have developed “accurate and destructive” missiles that can reach the “occupied” cities of Tel Aviv, Netanya and Jerusalem. Abu Hamza, spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Iranian-funded Islamic Jihad organization in the Gaza Strip, threatened that his group’s “rocket unit” would turn Israeli cities into “hell.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/trumps_war_against_unrwa_will_benefit_the_palestinian_refugees_.html

In August 2017, President Trump declared war on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) by rejecting its estimate of over 5 million Palestinian refugees, suggesting that the number was more like 500,000. In effect he was saying that a new definition should be operative. If he were to exclude descendants, there would be fewer than 20,000 people still living who fled in 1948The State Department followed this attack up by announcing that the US would make no further contribution to UNRWA.

The intent wasn’t to save money or shift the financial burden to others, but rather was to begin the process of doing away with UNRWA itself because it served to perpetuate the refugee problem and the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, rather than to solve it. And President Trump, and his envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, wanted to solve it.Not only that, but UNRWA has been known to assist Hamas in its wars with Israel, and it uses Palestinian Authority textbooks that incite hatred of Jews and promote a non-existing right of return.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Pluristem’s cells prevented amputation. A patient, with Buerger’s disease was at pre-amputation stage due to non-healing foot ulcers. Regulatory approval was given for compassionate treatment using Pluristem’s PLX-PAD cells. A year after treatment, the wound is fully closed, and the patient has resumed normal activities.
http://www.pluristem.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Pluristem_Buergers_final_isa.pdf

Slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease. I reported briefly previously (9th Dec) that Israel’s KidneyCure was developing cell therapy for treating chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here are some more details of this innovative technology that turns damaged cells into healthy cells. https://www.kidneycure.com/
https://www.israel21c.org/delaying-dialysis-for-patients-with-chronic-kidney-disease/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-kidney-cells-startup-gets-backing-from-billionaire-kahns-venture-arm/

Laser treatment of vascular disease. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s Eximo and its lasers for treating peripheral artery disease (PAD). The Center for Cardiovascular Excellence in Orlando, Florida is the first to use Eximo’s B-Laser Atherectomy System commercially to successfully treat a patient.
https://www.vasculardiseasemanagement.com/content/eximo-medical-ltd-announces-first-commercial-case-its-b-lasertm-atherectomy-system-us-and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6eMGlGknxU

Israelis to get better scan diagnoses. Tel Aviv’s Ichilov (Sourasky) Hospital and Israel’s largest health companies Clalit and Maccabi will use the algorithms of Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision to analyze scanned images from X-rays, CT scans and MRIs.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3756385,00.html

Safer epidurals in China. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (Aug 2013) on Israel’s Omeq Medical and its smart sensor-based epidural injection system. Omeq has partnered with Shanghai-based Pharos Medical, which will establish a production line and commercialize Omeq’s system in China.
https://www.trendlines.com/omeq-medical-raises-3-million-and-signs-commercialization-agreement/

Your personal antibiotic cocktail. (TY Israel21c) Researchers from Israel’s Technion Institute have devised a system for measuring the effectiveness of a combination of antibiotics in fighting infection.
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2019/01/integrated-attack/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-018-0252-1

Jefferson-Israel Center. Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University has partnered with the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) to form the Jefferson-Israel Center. The US university will provide a $1 million fund for Israeli companies to advance healthcare technology solutions. They can also access Jefferson’s medical facilities.
https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Business-and-Innovation/Jefferson-Innovation-Authority-offer-1m-to-healthcare-innovators-580758

Monitoring newborns in Kenya. The Save the Children Fund (like Oxfam and UNICEF) is no friend to Israel. However, it didn’t stop the NGO from buying monitoring systems from Israel’s EarlySense to continuously track key vital signs of newborns in hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya. Another BDS fail.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3755791,00.html
https://www.israel21c.org/save-the-children-tests-israeli-lifesaving-tech-in-africa/

Microsoft’s Israeli virtual healthcare system. Microsoft’s Israeli R&D team, supported by several US medical partners, have launched the Microsoft Healthcare Bot. This innovative AI-powered virtual health assistant service aims to empower healthcare organizations to build and deploy virtual health assistants.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israeli-developers-behind-Microsofts-AI-powered-healthcare-bot-580249
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3756073,00.html

Eliminating transmission of genetic diseases. The Pre-Implantation Genetic Unit of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center uses the latest technology to ensure IVF patients have healthy babies. All procedures are in accordance with Jewish law and religious authorities are consulted when necessary.
https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Advanced-procedures-bring-hope-to-couples-with-genetic-diseases-579959

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Right-from-wrong-when-bubble-dwellers-go-too-far-581442

At a press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Israel Resilience Party leader Benny Gantz made the kind of blooper that only someone living in an insulated bubble is capable of.
Announcing his party’s final list for the April 9 Knesset elections, Gantz launched an attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that can best be described as an own goal. The assault was so outrageous that it caused even many of Netanyahu’s harshest critics to flinch at its stupidity, and spurred Israeli public relations powerhouse Rani Rahav to tweet that whoever wrote Gantz’s tirade ought to “resign immediately and take responsibility for the damaging speech that no Israeli wanted to hear.”

Indeed, rather than go after Netanyahu’s policies and performance in office – which is what a contender against an incumbent normally does – the former IDF chief of staff ridiculed the PM for not having illustrious enough military credentials – oh, and for being too American.

“When I lay in the muddy trenches with my soldiers on frozen winter nights,” Gantz said, “you, Benjamin Netanyahu, left Israel to learn English and practice it at luxurious cocktail parties. On the days when I commanded the Shaldag Unit in life-threatening operations in enemy states, you, Benjamin Netanyahu, worked your way bravely and with determination between the makeup rooms of TV studios. While I trained generations of commanders and fighters, you took acting lessons in a New York studio. And during the nights of tension and stress, when I fell asleep in my uniform and boots, you, Benjamin Netanyahu, had world’s most respected tailors taking your measurements, and returned safely to your bed in your prestigious hotel.”

https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Business-and-Innovation/TAU-develops-blood-test-to-detect-genetic-disorders-in-early-pregnancy-581252

The research, led by Prof. Noam Shomron of the university’s Sackler School of Medicine, was published Wednesday in the Genome Research journal.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a new blood test to detect genetic disorders in fetuses as early as 11 weeks into pregnancy.The simple blood test enables doctors to diagnose genetic disorders
caused by minuscule impairments in the fetal genome by sequencing small amounts of DNA in the mother’s and the father’s blood.

A computer algorithm processes the sequencing results to produce a “map” of the fetal genome, identifying countless mutations with atleast 99% accuracy, depending on the mutation type.

https://www.space.com/spacex-to-launch-israeli-moon-lander.html?utm_source=notification

SpaceX will launch an Israeli robotic lunar lander during the company’s Falcon 9 rocket launch tomorrow (Feb. 21). If the lander succeeds, this will be the first privately funded moonshot to reach the lunar surface.

The lander, called “Beresheet” (in the beginning), will launch at 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT, Feb. 22) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. You can watch the launch live on Space.com courtesy of SpaceX or directly through SpaceX’s webcast page or on Facebook via the lander’s creators.

The Beresheet lander is a joint venture between Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL — one of the participants in the Google Lunar X Prize, which challenged companies to land spacecraft on the moon — and Israel Aerospace Industries, the country’s largest aerospace and defense company. [Israel’s 1st Moon Lander: SpaceIL’s Beresheet Lunar Mission in Pictures]

While the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize challenge ended with no winner in 2018, several participating companies said they are continuing work on their concepts. The SpaceIL project will be the first of those designs to launch, and Israel now has a shot at becoming the fourth country to land a robotic probe on the moon — after the former Soviet Union, the United States and China.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/palestinian-pay-for-slay-policy-will-go-on-despite-israels-new-law/

The Israeli security cabinet decided on Sunday to put into effect a law passed in July to deduct half a billion shekels (approximately $138.2 million) from the annual tax revenues it transfers to the Palestinian Authority each year. The purpose of the legislation—like its precursor, the Taylor Force Act, which was approved by the U.S. Congress in May—is to coerce the P.A. to cease rewarding terrorists with hefty “pay-for-slay” stipends.

Initially, Israeli security officials opposed cutting the funds on the grounds that doing so could endanger security cooperation between Jerusalem and Ramallah, and lead to an escalation of terrorist attacks. But after 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher was raped and murdered earlier this month by a Palestinian wannabe “martyr for Allah,” public pressure on the government to crack down on the P.A. caused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that he would begin implementing the law to withhold funds as soon as he received the green light from the security cabinet. Which he finally did.

The P.A. was quick to issue an incensed response.

“The Palestinian Authority views the approval of the decision to deduct funds as a robbery of the Palestinian people’s money and as a unilateral violation of the agreements signed between the two sides, such as the Paris agreement,” P.A. chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Abu Rudaina said in a statement. “This decision will have dangerous consequences on all levels.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272877/palestinians-un-propaganda-tool-joseph-klein

The Palestinian leadership continues to avoid direct negotiations with Israel, preferring to use the United Nations as a tool to delegitimize the Jewish state. Their latest gambit was an attempt to initiate an official visit by the UN Security Council hosted by the Palestinian Authority to their stomping ground in the West Bank. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, knew that the Palestinians were looking to exploit the Security Council’s presence for propaganda purposes. He objected to Equatorial Guinea’s ambassador to the UN, Anatolio Ndong Mba, who is currently president of the UN Security Council. Israel would be willing to host individual visits by UN ambassadors, he told Ambassador Mba, but not as part of a Palestinian initiative aimed at exploiting the Security Council visit for more propaganda fusillades aimed against Israel.

“The Palestinian initiative is part of an ongoing effort to present a false narrative to the international community,” Ambassador Danon said. “Israel has hosted dozens of UN ambassadors from around the world in recent years, exposing them to the historical truth the Palestinians refuse to accept, and instead choose to engage in terrorism and incitement.” Israel’s ambassador noted the recent brutal murder of a 19-year-old Israeli girl and called upon the Security Council to act against the Palestinian Authority’s “incitement campaign and policy of paying salaries to terrorists.”

All 15 members of the Security Council must approve an official visit along with the countries concerned. Equatorial Guinea’s delegation is still working on the matter. Hopefully he is on a fool’s errand. Talking about foolishness, Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, who currently serves on the Security Council, whined that “We want an official trip.”

https://freebeacon.com/blog/high-stakes-for-likud-as-netanyahu-indictment-looms/

The “Bezeq-Walla! Affair,” or Case 4000 as it’s been dubbed by Israeli media, is one of three corruption cases facing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s also the most serious in that everyone, including the prime minister, believes that it will lead to an indictment in the coming weeks—an X factor that could prove fatal to Likud Party hopes in the April 9 elections.

The Israeli police, who recommend indictment, say that Netanyahu helped Israeli tycoon Shaul Elovitch by pushing through the merger of two companies he owned, telecommunications firm Bezeq and satellite TV company Yes. (Elovitch made $269 million on the deal.)

In exchange, Netanyahu and his family would receive favorable news coverage from Walla!, a news site Bezeq owned.

But the closer one looks, the less things add up. According to all those involved, the merger of Bezeq-Yes was done by the book. The head of Israel’s Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Segev, who served in the position from 2014-2018, said “There wasn’t any pressure from the side of Netanyahu’s people to approve the merger.”