RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21106/hamas-must-be-defeated

Hamas should not be permitted to play any role in the Gaza Strip after the war. This would allow the terror group to rearm and regroup and prepare for another October 7-style attack on Israel.

By negotiating with Hamas about the future of the Gaza Strip, Abbas is legitimizing the Iran-backed terror group and sending a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that he sees no problem with dealing with murderers and terrorists who committed the most horrific crimes… As we have seen most recently in the Chinese Communist Party, Iran and Afghanistan, negotiating with terrorists and their equivalents simply does not work.

Ever since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in wars they initiated with Israel. With the help of Europe, Qatar and Iran, Hamas transformed the Gaza Strip, home to two million Palestinians, into one of the largest bases for Islamist terrorism in the Middle East.

The assumption that Hamas would voluntarily give up its control of the Gaza Strip because of any unity agreement with Abbas is just laughable.

The Biden administration chose to turn a blind eye to Abbas’s efforts to legitimize Hamas. The US offered it a lifeline. A terror group committed to the elimination of Israel should have no role in any Palestinian government — not in the West Bank and certainly not in the Gaza Strip. Such a group should be completely destroyed militarily and politically, and not invited to join any Palestinian government.

As long as Iran’s regime remains in place, torturing both its own people and others… there regrettably will be no peace. That is the only way to secure a truly peaceful future, not only for Israelis but for Palestinians and the Free World.

More than a year after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to view the Iran-backed Islamist movement as a legitimate partner.

Last week, representatives of the PA’s ruling Fatah faction (headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas held talks in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss establishing a joint administration to rule the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian source confirmed that the Fatah-Hamas discussions aim at to create a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip, in addition to pursuing efforts to reach a ceasefire there.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21104/middle-east-peace

Over the decades, Iran’s regime has embedded itself deeply within the region’s crises, stoking unrest and sponsoring terrorism. If the Middle East is to see any genuine peace and stability, a transformation of Iran’s regime is essential.

Without addressing the regime at the core, these threats will only intensify, especially when Iran acquires nuclear weapons… weeks away.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution orchestrated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Israel has been regarded as a cancerous tumor to be wiped off the map.

[O]nly Israel has demonstrated the courage and determination to confront the Iranian regime head-on, recognizing it as the “tumor” that fuels much of the region’s instability.

It is crucial to recognize that the core ideological mission of the Iranian regime — using religion as a pretext to seize power by force — is deeply ingrained and is not going to change. For years, Iran’s regime has not only been attacking its own citizens, especially women, and it has even been executing children. In the first six months of 2024 alone, “Iranian authorities executed 249 people” and an additional 166 people just in October.

A regime that treats its own people this way is not likely to treat anyone else any better.

The system in Iran was founded on principles aimed at “exporting the revolution” and imposing an Islamist governance structure across other nations. This ideological commitment is even enshrined in Iran’s constitution…

Notably, during significant waves of protests in recent years, the Obama and Biden-Harris administrations remained silent, offering no substantial support to the people risking their lives for freedom.

Often, Western countries have chosen to overlook Iran’s human rights abuses and advances in military power: they might interfere with profitable trade.

If these Western nations lack the will to fight the Iranian regime directly, then they should, at the very least, provide Israel with the necessary support — economically, militarily and politically. This is not an act of charity: supporting Israel in its mission serves their own interests.

Can the West set aside its hypocrisy long enough to stand with Israel in confronting Iran — this source of terror to them as well? If they cannot summon the nerve to act directly, then the least they can do is back those who do.

To embark on the path toward sustainable peace in the Middle East, it is essential to confront a fundamental truth: without addressing a crucial first step, peace across the region will remain nothing more than an illusion. This first step lies in directly confronting and ultimately changing the root cause of much of the ongoing conflict, violence, and terrorism — namely, the Islamist regime in Iran.

Over the decades, Iran’s regime has embedded itself deeply within the region’s crises, stoking unrest and sponsoring terrorism. If the Middle East is to see any genuine peace and stability, a transformation of Iran’s regime is essential.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21085/lebanon-tunnels-hezbollah

“Hezbollah’s model is the same as the North Korean model: tunnels in which hundreds of combatants, fully equipped, can pass stealthily and rapidly underground. In our opinion, Hezbollah’s ‘Land of the Tunnels’ project is much larger than the Hamas ‘metro’ project in the Gaza Strip.” – Alma Resrearch and Education Center, July, 2021

These tunnels facilitate the movement of heavy equipment, missiles, and fighters and even allow missiles to be launched from within.

Built beneath the border between Lebanon and Syria, these tunnels allow Hezbollah’s smuggling unit and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force to transport ammunition, supplies, and fighters under the border.

Many of these tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated areas, using civilians as human shields for their activities.

Some of the houses in Lebanon were destroyed by Hezbollah’s own rockets… after they were targeted by the IDF. “The explosions are caused by Hezbollah’s own weapons. In other words, Hezbollah’s tunnels are being used to blow up Lebanon. Hezbollah is displacing, starving and robbing the Lebanese.” — Mohammed Al-Obaid, Arab social media user, X, October 31, 2024

Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians since the October 7, 2023 massacres… The two terrorist groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip are an indication of the terrorist group’s determination to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding the risks to the Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.

Even if Hezbollah say they will withdraw to north of the Litani River, the tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge with no one above ground the wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UN Resolution 1701 to stop building tunnels and storing weapons in south Lebanon.

The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end without the destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas. Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only empowering the Iranian regime and its terror proxies, paving the way for another October 7-style massacre. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will benefit not only Israelis, but the Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.

The Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, as part of its preparations for war with Israel, spent the past 15 years building a vast network of tunnels in Lebanon. Some of the tunnels were supposed to be used for invading Israel to carry out atrocities against Israelis like the ones committed by Hamas, another Iran terror proxy, on October 7, 2023.

  www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Israel’s daring, dazzling, and advanced prowess in defense has impressed Israel’s supporters and humiliated its enemies. Behind the military news, as Michael Ordman reminds us, research and development in every single aspect of humanitarian endeavor flourishes in the laboratories and social institutions of that remarkable nation from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. rsk

 
POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
Wounded paramedic returns. United Hatzalah emergency medic Rabbi Chaim Sassi was seriously wounded by a Hamas terrorist in Sderot on Oct 7. He has now returned to active service after receiving a custom-made “ambucycle” designed to accommodate his lingering leg injury. Rabbi Chaim was praised as “an inspiration”.
https://www.jns.org/volunteer-medic-injured-on-oct-7-returns-to-service-with-ambucycle/
 
Mezuzah from devastated kibbutz goes to Paraguay. A mezuzah was all that survived on Oct 7 from a home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. To honor the memory of the owners of the home, the mezuzah was placed on the doorpost of the new Israeli embassy in Paraguay.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/mezuzah-rescued-from-kfar-azza-finds-new-home-in-israeli-embassy-in-paraguay/
 
Boxer is champion defender. US boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has donated $100,000 to purchase 100 bulletproof vests for Israeli medical volunteers on the front lines. He announced the gift during a sold-out United Hatzalah event in Jerusalem to raise funds for 1,000 protective kits for its volunteer EMTs.
https://worldisraelnews.com/ex-boxing-champ-gives-israeli-rescue-group-100-bulletproof-vests/
 
US Christians donate armored ambulances. Samaritan’s Purse, founded by Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, has donated two more armored ambulances to Magen David Adom. They previously donated 14 ambulances and have committed to donate 28 more. They have also donated 1,000 trauma kits.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/us-evangelical-leader-donates-28-armored-ambulances-in-memory-of-murdered-hostages/
 
South African Christians donate MDA response cars. (TY Yanky) The South African branch of the Christian organization Bridges for Peace is spearheading a donation of two $80,000 Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency rapid response vehicles. MDA will use the cars in communities attacked on Oct. 7.
https://www.jns.org/south-african-christians-donate-emergency-vehicles-to-israel/
 
Gaza envelope kibbutz looks to regrow. Kibbutz Holit has begun to rehabilitate after the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. It will grow the potato developed by Israel’s Rumafeed (see here previously) that has eliminated the toxic glycoalkaloids in its foliage. Rumafeed has just been selected for the latest Intel Ignite accelerator group.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/kibbutz-ravaged-on-oct-7-looks-to-renewal-through-gene-edited-vegetable-trials/  https://unitedwithisrael.org/kibbutz-holit-ravaged-on-oct-7-grows-into-hub-for-agricultural-innovation/
 
An AI view of Gaza without Hamas. ChatGPT was asked the question, “What would life, culture, and the economy be like in Gaza if Hamas were not  in control?”  ChatGPT also was also asked to generate a visual image of Gaza without Hamas.  I expect “Lebanon without Hezbollah?” might generate a similar response.
https://worldisraelnews.com/watch-chatgpt-shows-what-gaza-could-be-without-terrorism-and-hamas/
 
Anti-drone system recycled. Israel has deployed the Israeli-upgraded M61 Vulcan cannon along its northern border, to combat suicide drones launched by Hezbollah terrorists. An older version of the M61 Vulcan was originally provided to Israel by the U.S. during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and saw action in Lebanon in 1982.
https://worldisraelnews.com/unique-vulcan-anti-drone-cannon-deployed-in-north/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machbet   https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-826246
 
One Day raises $1 million. US Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu performed a concert titled “One Day” in New York City. It was part of a Ben Gurion University event that raised $1 million to help the rebuilding and recovery of Israel’s southern communities. “There’ll be no more wars, and our children will play. One Day!”
https://www.jns.org/one-day-benefit-featuring-matisyahu-raises-1m-for-recovery-education-in-southern-israel/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs  https://genius.com/Matisyahu-one-day-lyrics
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Protein antibody to treat cancer. Tel Aviv University researchers were checking protein levels after exposure to UV light. They saw that Ly6a levels rose significantly and speculated it might suppress the immune system in cancer patients. Lab tests showed that antibodies against Ly6a reduced tumor size in many cancers.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/398375  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52079-x
 
Recovery from strokes. Israel’s BioXtreme has developed the deXtreme rehabilitation robot device for improving of motor recovery of upper limbs for stroke patients. And doctors in 30 countries use Tigertriever, from Israel’s Rapid Medical (see here previously) to respond in real time during thrombectomy procedures.
https://www.israel21c.org/8-startups-transforming-stroke-prevention-detection-treatment/
https://bio-xtreme.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJOPaxTO5gE
https://www.rapid-medical.com/tigertriever
 
Life-saving blood cancer analysis. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Scopio Labs (see here previously) has launched its groundbreaking Full-Field Bone Marrow Aspirate™ (FF-BMA) Application for effective, digital imaging and AI analysis of blood cells. It replaces previous slow, manual, expert-only, error-prone, analysis methods.
https://scopiolabs.com/news/scopio-labs-receives-groundbreaking-fda-clearance-for-first-ever-digital-bone-marrow-aspirate-application/  https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/beckman-coulter-and-scopio-labs-add-worlds-first-digital-bone-marrow-imaging-and-analysis-to-long-term-partnership https://scopiolabs.com/ff-bma/
 
Reducing phantom pain. Israel’s 6Degrees (see here previously) is now using its MyMove virtual reality games to enable dozens of new war amputees to have independent physical therapy sessions while decreasing their phantom pain and dependence on pain medications. “Exercising” an amputated limb helps blood flow.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-virtual-reality-game-helps-dozens-of-new-war-amputees-reduce-phantom-pain/
 
500 successful transplants. The partnership between the Gift of Life Marrow Registry and Taglit-Birthright Israel has just celebrated its 500th successful transplant of blood stem cell and bone marrow from Birthright donors to patients. They have saved hundreds of sufferers with leukemia, lymphoma and immune disorders.
https://www.jns.org/wire/gift-of-life-marrow-registry-marks-500th-lifesaving-transplant-from-birthright-donors/
 
Personal park guide for the visually impaired. The audio orientation and guiding system Israel’s RightHear (see here previously) has now been installed at 2,500+ global locations from Angola to the UAE. In August, Natural Bridge State Park in Virginia became the first US state park to offer the digital accessibility solution.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-startup-opening-up-the-world-for-the-visually-impaired/
 
Ariel’s first medical graduates. Israel’s Ariel University celebrated the first class of graduates from its 2019-founded Adelson School of Medicine. 53 students (including 40 women) were awarded their “Doctor of Medicine.” degrees in a ceremony attended by Israeli President Herzog and philanthropist Dr. Miriam Adelson.
https://www.jns.org/ariels-adelson-school-of-medicine-marks-first-graduating-class/

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-desolation-of-palestine/

In the eighteenth century, an English traveler, Thomas Shaw, noted that Palestine was “lacking in people to till its fertile soil.”The French count Constantine François Volney, an eighteenth-century historian, called Palestine “ruined” and “desolate,” observing that “many parts” had “lost almost all their peasantry.” Volney complained that this desolation was unexpected, for the Ottoman imperial records listed larger populations, which led to tax collection efforts’ being frustrated. Of one area, Volney wrote: “Upwards of three thousand two hundred villages were reckoned, but, at present, the collector can scarcely find four hundred. Such of our merchants as have resided there twenty years have themselves seen the greater part of the environs…become depopulated. The traveller meets with nothing but houses in ruins, cisterns rendered useless, and fields abandoned. Those who cultivated them have fled.”

Another English traveler, James Silk Buckingham, visited Jaffa in 1816 and wrote that it had “all the appearances of a poor village, and every part of it that we saw was of corresponding meanness.” In Ramle, said Buckingham, “as throughout the greater part of Palestine, the ruined portion seemed more extensive than that which was inhabited.” Twenty-two years later, the British nobleman Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, Lord Lindsay, declared that “all Judea, except the hills of Hebron and the vales immediately about Jerusalem, is desolate and barren.”

In 1840, another traveler to Palestine praised the Syrians as a “fine spirited race of men,” but whose “population is on the decline.” He noted that the land between Hebron and Bethlehem was “now abandoned and desolate,” marked by “dilapidated towns.” Jerusalem was nothing more than “a large number of houses…in a dilapidated and ruinous state,” with “the masses…without any regular employment.”

In 1847, a U.S. Navy officer noted: “The population of Jaffa is now about 13,000, viz: Turks, 8000; Greeks, 2000; Armenians, 2000; Maronites, 700; and Jews, about 300.” Significantly, he counted no Arabs there at all.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21084/end-war-gaza-lebanon-iran

US President Joe Biden said that Sinwar had been an “insurmountable obstacle” and that his death offered “the opportunity… for a political settlement” in Gaza. A short time later, US Vice President Kamala Harris said that it was now possible to “finally end the war in Gaza.”

Had Israel complied with the Biden-Harris administration’s request and not gone into Rafah, Sinwar would still be preparing the next massacres and making sure that Hamas keeps stealing the humanitarian aid intended for the people of Gaza. When the IDF killed him, just a mile from the Egyptian border, he was found carrying a large sum of money and the passport of a man described as an “UNRWA teacher.”

Hamas continues to steal the humanitarian aid and then sells it on the black market at extortionate prices, from which Hamas has “profited by at least half a billion dollars.” Approximately 200 trucks of aid enter Gaza every day, yet the media report that Gazans are “starving” and that the blame for the supposed “war crime” goes, of course, to — Israel.

[B]y waiving sanctions that block Iran from selling its oil, the Biden-Harris administration has effectively been funding Iran’s nuclear weapons program to the tune of roughly $100 billion.

“After Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attack, Mr. Biden told Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear program. Mr. Trump replied, ‘Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit? It’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons.’ He reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ‘Do what you have to do’… [Trump] tells Israel to do what it needs to do to end the war quickly in victory. Ms. Harris piles on restrictions and insists a cease-fire lead to a two-state solution disconnected from reality.”— Elliot Kaufman, Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2024.

“Now, as the ICC expands and abuses its powers to attack Israel, and Unrwa is exposed as compromised by Hamas, Mr. Biden blocks new sanctions against the ICC and tries to preserve Unrwa.” — Elliot Kaufman, Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2024.

Which will Americans vote for this week? The policies of President Trump or the policies of Presidents Biden and Obama?

October 17. Israeli authorities announce that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, the man who planned and ordered the atrocities of October 7, 2023 and the hostage-taking that accompanied them, has been eliminated. In the hours that followed, US President Joe Biden said that Sinwar had been an “insurmountable obstacle” and that his death offered “the opportunity… for a political settlement” in Gaza. A short time later, US Vice President Kamala Harris said that it was now possible to “finally end the war in Gaza.”

https://www.jns.org/middle-east-summit-in-jerusalem-calls-for-a-new-way-forward/

Jettisoning the two-state solution once and for all, via Israel taking sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, was the theme of the “Middle East Summit: A New Vision for Truth-based Peace,” which drew 500 attendees to Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria on Sunday evening.

Serving as inspiration for the conference was a new book by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman: “One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

While a Bible-based policy may sound far-fetched, Friedman combines realpolitik and sound analysis to argue that applying Jewish rule over Judea and Samaria is where biblical promise and good politics align.

People of faith demonstrate common sense on the issue, arguing that “not one inch” of land be given way, “least of all to enemies of the State of Israel with blood on their hands,” he writes.

“People of faith recognize that the land of Israel was given to the Jewish people by God. And if God gave this land to the Jews, no one has the right to undo that grant,” Friedman notes.

International institutions such as the United Nations, and many world leaders, on the other hand, continue to pressure Israel to make Judea and Samaria a Palestinian state, “notwithstanding the violence brought about by the Oslo Accords,” he continues.

A significant portion of the book focuses on the so-called two-state solution, which Friedman describes as “truly the definition of insanity, trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

The book quickly garnered attention in Israel.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21066/biden-harris-ceasefire-palestinian-state

There seem to be several reasons for the Palestinians’ reluctance to reach an agreement about a two-state solution, and a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

Any Palestinian leader who has recommended an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been denounced by his people as a traitor and killed. That outcome would seem quite a disincentive. As the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said, “Do you want me sitting up there having tea with Sadat?”

The donations that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have received since 1993 could have turned the West Bank into a thriving area, and Gaza into a “New Singapore” or “Dubai on the Mediterranean,” however, the leaders evidently had other priorities for that cash.

One aim of Abbas seems to be to preserve his own wealth, estimated at $100 million, and the prosperity of his sons, who own the largest businesses in the Palestinian Authority. If donors keep throwing gigantic amounts of money at one — especially unconditionally — why not take it?

In a situation where every attempt to achieve peace turns into another bloody war-experiment, most Israelis have apparently concluded that they would be better off without such a “peace”.

From the point of view of many Palestinian Arabs, and even some Americans, Jews can return to the other countries that wanted to kill them.

At present, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praised as “The Churchill of the Middle East,” appears determined to disable Hamas and Hezbollah politically and militarily so they will not be able to threaten the security of Israelis again.

Even with a supposed “ceasefire deal,” Sinwar’s successor will no doubt release the hostages as slowly as possible to allow more time for the Palestinians to rearm.

For a ceasefire, Hamas — probably also including Qatar and Iran — is asking for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, far from the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. They are also asking for a “permanent ceasefire” — meaning that they want the US administration and the international community to force Israel to stop fighting, but leave Hamas’s leaders and terrorists free to rearm, regroup and ready to fight another day.

In 2023, Israel allowed extra work permits to the Gazans — who then mapped out every house to attack, including “the names of the people, how many children they had and even which of them owned dogs.”

At this point, whatever happens with a ceasefire or not, the region clearly does not seem ready for any kind of Palestinian state — to say the least.