RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/misrepresentation-israels-democracy/

Early in the morning of July 19, after eight hours of debate, the Knesset passed by a vote of 62–55 (with two abstentions) a law codifying Israel’s status as the national home of the Jewish people. First introduced in 2011 by the centrist Kadima Party, the so-called nation-state bill joined more than a dozen “Basic Laws” that now function as Israel’s unwritten constitution. Its 11 paragraphs mostly restate long-operative principles of Israeli democracy: Hebrew is the national language, “Hatikvah” is the national anthem, the menorah is the national emblem, Jerusalem is the nation’s capital, and Israel is where the self-determination of the Jewish nation is exercised.

One might find it surprising that such generalities would provoke a global outcry. Then again, Israel and selective indignation seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. Criticisms run the gamut from saying the law is unnecessary and provocative to saying it’s racist and anti-democratic. The Israeli left, in alliance with Israel’s minority Arabs and Druze, has marched in the streets. Institutions of the Jewish Diaspora have called for the law’s repeal. They have found themselves, rather uneasily, on the same side of the debate as anti-Zionists and Israel-haters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in Muslim capitals, and in the EU and UN. “The spirit of Hitler, which led the world to a great catastrophe, has found its resurgence among some of Israel’s leaders,” said Turkey’s Recep Tayip Erdogan.

Leaving aside anti-Semites such as Erdogan, reasonable people and friends of Israel may disagree about the necessity and utility of the nation-state law. Such disagreement, however, ought to be based on facts. And facts have been sorely lacking in recent discussions of Israel—thanks to an uninformed, biased, and one-sided media. Major journalistic institutions have become so wedded to a pro-Palestinian, anti–Benjamin Netanyahu narrative, in which Israel is part of a global trend toward nationalist authoritarian populism, that they have abdicated any responsibility for presenting the news in a dispassionate and balanced manner. The shameful result of this inflammatory coverage is the normalization of anti-Israel rhetoric and policies and widening divisions between Israel and the Diaspora.

https://freebeacon.com/issues/losing-the-negev/

“The Bedouin need to understand that we live in a country of law,” said Yoav Galant, minister of construction and housing, on Wednesday, sending a warning shot across the bow of local leaders in an otherwise festive occasion to celebrate the opening of the first-ever Bedouin country club in the city of Rahat in the Negev. “Whoever resides legally can enjoy this country club, public and cultural institutions, and everything else we at the office of construction and housing build,” he said.

The problem is that illegal Bedouin encampments stretch for miles across the Negev. There are 64,000 illegal structures with 2,000 new ones added each year. In 2012, Israel established a special police division to deal with the problem. Their demolitions can’t keep up with construction.

“It really is a question of sovereignty,” said Naomi Kahn, director of the international division of Regavim, an Israeli organization focusing on land issues. “Israel may be powerful but it’s hesitant to use that power.” She cites as an example Route 6, one of the country’s main arteries, which ends abruptly in the Negev because Bedouin have camped out on its planned route. As a result, there’s a large military complex in the south without a major road or train to service it, she says.

Regavim estimates that only a fraction of the Negev’s Bedouin, or 55,000 people, actually live in these illegal settlement clusters, equivalent to one-sixth of one percent of Israel’s population.

Yet, they take up over 520,000 dunams, or some 130,000 acres. “These facts are almost impossible to grasp, especially when compared to the total area of land available for civilian use in Israel, some 11 million dunams,” a Regavim report notes.

Senior statesmen have drawn attention to the problem for decades. Committees have been established, plans formed, reports issued. Yet successive Israeli governments have failed to act, making the problem two-fold—not only are the Bedouin uninterested in obeying Israel’s land laws, but the state appears impotent in enforcing them.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271199/pigs-palestine-anti-israel-left-spreads-anti-daniel-greenfield

Combatants for Peace, an anti-Israel group widely touted by the media, has been accusing Jews of attacking Muslim settlers in Israel by releasing the pigs.

Or the boars.

An undercover video by the pro-Israel group Ad Kann showcased a Combatants for Peace tour that included claims that Jewish “settlers” ship in wild pigs by trucks to Muslim settlements in Israel.

“We saw the truck bringing pigs. An Israeli truck carrying boars,” was the claim.

The pigs were allegedly coming from the town of Alei Zahav (Golden Leaves), which has a population of 1,643 people, and about half of them are Orthodox Jews, who are unlikely to harbor many pigs. Its Facebook page features horses grazing in a paddock without so much as a pig in a poke.

But while Alei Zahav’s residents busy themselves with community events and charity projects, a Bar Mitzvah and a children’s dance recital, a multinational conglomeration of radical groups has been accusing them of building a “giant settlement” and now of shipping around trucks full of wild pigs.

Combatants for Peace is funded by the Swiss government, a German foundation named after Rosa Luxemburg, a co-founder of the Communist Spartacus League, and the New Israel Fund. That may seem like an odd bunch to get together and fund accusations of Jewish pig warfare, but it isn’t really.

Israel’s motley of wealthy anti-Israel groups are funded by the Europeans and the New Israel Fund. The NIF basically operates as a slush fund for a variety of hostile groups that range from supporting BDS to involvement in terrorism.

And who funds the NIF? George Soros, Obama’s State Department and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

An Israeli-developed molecule destroys Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
The UN’s most empowered female entrepreneur in Western Europe is an Israeli.
An Israeli company is protecting both UK and Australian armies.
Intel Israel has developed even faster computer processors.
An Israeli rescue robot is virtually unstoppable.
Israel’s SodaStream is bought by PepsiCo for $3.2 billion.
An Israeli gymnast won two World gold medals and broke a world record.
Readers can help launch a film that aims to give a huge PR boost to Israel.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Another leukemia success. I reported previously (see here) on new Israeli treatments for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Now the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and US biotech BioTheryX are developing a single molecule that attacks multiple leukemia proteins simultaneously. Lab tests show a 50% success rate.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-drug-brings-hope-in-acute-leukemia-battle-hebrew-u-researchers-say/
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/hebrew-u-drug-trials-show-50-cure-rate-in-lab-mice-acute-leukemia/2018/08/27/

Breathalyzer for Parkinson’s and much more. I reported previously on the breath analyzers to detect cancer developed by Ben Gurion University (see here) and Na-Nose from Technion’s Dr Hossam Haick (see here). Now Dr Haick’s team has a handheld device to detect early Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and 16 other diseases.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/researchers-say-breathalyzer-can-be-used-to-flag-early-onset-parkinsons/
https://cdn-pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00245
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VtDzt8H8H3E?rel=0

US approves Teva’s generic EpiPen. The US FDA has approved Israeli biotech Teva’s generic version of the EpiPen auto-injector for emergency treatment for those suffering with “anaphylactic” allergic reactions. Frantic parents in the US have been reporting a nationwide shortage of the original Mylan NV “brand” EpiPen.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/teva-shares-skyrocket-after-fda-approves-us-subsidiarys-generic-epipen/2018/08/20/

Another Israeli treatment for head lice. I reported previously (see here) on two innovative Israeli treatments for removing head lice. Now there’s a third – Israel’s Sphinx Smarthead Technologies is developing a device that destroys lice and their eggs in a 5-minute procedure that can be performed by children aged 7 and over.
https://www.oktopuscloud.com/terralab-sphinx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwnpVctnboM?rel=0

Soil bacteria cures fungal infections. Researchers at Israel’s Technion have cured fungal infections using bacteria commonly found in the upper layers of soil. They used a gel and an innovative “factory” formula to produce Bacillus subtilis bacterium, more commonly found on plant roots, to rapidly heal infected skin.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/technion-researchers-use-soil-bacteria-to-tame-fungal-infections/

An app to help you sleep. Israeli startup Dayzz is launching an app for self-insured employers to offer their employees. The app uses big data and an algorithm to diagnose each user’s specific sleep problem and devise a personalized sleep-training plan. The employer enhances the sleep quality of its staff and reduces healthcare costs. https://www.israel21c.org/app-helps-fulfill-dreams-of-a-good-nights-sleep/ https://dayzz.com/

New medical school inaugurated. I reported previously (10th Sep) when the building of Ariel University’s new medical school began. It has now been officially opened in a ceremony attended by the Israeli President and several ministers. 70 students enrolled in its first class which is open to all citizens and Palestinian Arabs.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/overcoming-opposition-to-west-bank-location-ariel-u-inaugurates-medical-school/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZIWi2MJJrg

Glucose meters for Vietnam. (TY Rachel) I reported previously (7th Jan) that Israel’s GlucoMe was shipping its glucose monitors to 200,000 Indian diabetics. Now Germany’s Merck KGaA is trialing GlucoMe’s monitors to help many of the 3.5 million Vietnamese suffering from diabetes – some 5.5% of the entire population.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-glucome-joins-merck-in-venture-to-battle-diabetes-in-vietnam/
https://www.idf.org/our-network/regions-members/western-pacific/members/119-vietnam.html

UK PM honors fundraiser of 11 MDA ambulances. Retired UK surgeon Norman Rosenbaum received the Points of Light Award from UK Prime Minister Theresa May for helping to buy 11 ambulances for Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA). I was lucky to be present at the dedication of the 10th one.
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/pensioner-who-raised-funds-for-11-mda-ambulances-honoured-by-prime-minister/ https://www.pointsoflight.gov.uk/magen-david-adom/
https://netanyareflections.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-gift-of-life.html

http://standpointmag.co.uk/features-september-2018-jonathan-neumann-jeremy-corbyn-antisemitism

Benjamin Netanyahu and Jeremy Corbyn don’t have a great deal in common. But one thing they do share is recognition that the essential character of the State of Israel is its Jewishness. They offer, however, opposing responses to this fundamental. For Netanyahu and the Zionist movement, Israel’s Jewishness is something to affirm and celebrate; for Corbyn and his allies, it represents Israel’s intrinsic evil and it is the reason they are fixated on this tiny plot of land.

Netanyahu’s position was articulated by a law recently passed by his government — a law that Corbyn opposes — that defines Israel as a Jewish State, the expression of the self-determination of the Jewish People. This legislation has provoked a negative reaction both in Israel and around the world. But to appreciate the nuances and significance of that reaction and the position of the Labour leader, one must first understand the provenance and purpose of the law.

The nation-state law was originally introduced as a Knesset bill in 2011 by a member of the centrist Kadima Party, which at the time was led by Tzipi Livni (now the leader of the Opposition and, rather cynically, a critic of the law), and had support from parts of the Israeli Left. The draft legislation went through various iterations and was debated by successive governments, and indeed was watered down from earlier versions, before being passed as a Basic Law in July of this year.

What is a Basic Law? Israel has no constitution. The State’s founders expected one to be written, but it has yet to materialise, due to disagreement over the content and even desirability of such a document. Instead, the Knesset has over the years passed a series of Basic Laws, which are designed to function as clauses of the eventual constitution. Most of them legislate how the Knesset and other branches of the state are to operate. Some Basic Laws are more than functional, however: one, passed in 1980, annexed the eastern portion of Jerusalem; another, passed a few years ago, requires a large Knesset majority or a national referendum on the surrender of any annexed territory.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12915/jerusalem-arabs-election-boycott

Palestinian leaders do not want to see any improvement in the lives of the Arabs in Jerusalem so that they can continue to incite against Israel and accuse it of discriminating against its Arab population.

Palestinian leaders and their religious clerics do not want to see Arabs live a comfortable life under Israel. They are afraid that the world would see that Arabs can have a good life under Israeli sovereignty.

They are also afraid that Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will start envying the Arabs living in Israel — and then demand from their leaders similar conditions.

Ramadan Dabash wants to help the residents of his village of Sur Baher in particular, and east Jerusalem in general, improve their living conditions. He wants them to receive better services from the Jerusalem Municipality. The 52-year-old businessman and social activist, however, has been facing a campaign of threats by several Palestinian leaders and administrative bodies over his decision to run in the municipal election, slated for October 2018.

Recently, Dabash announced his decision to run in the upcoming election at the head of an Arab list called Jerusalem for Jerusalemites. He has repeatedly made it clear this summer that his decision is not politically motivated and that his only intention is to seek improved municipal services for the Arab residents of Jerusalem. Dabash has also called on Arab voters to end their boycott of the municipal election because they are the only ones who stand to lose from such a move.

Facing threats and pressure from various Palestinian factions and leaders, most of the Arab residents of Jerusalem have been boycotting the municipal election under the pretext that participation in the vote was tantamount to recognizing Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem, which was annexed to Israel in 1980. This boycott has hurt the Arab residents themselves, who were left without representatives in the municipal council, someone who would fight for their rights. The Jerusalem Municipality has, despite the absence of Arab representatives, continued to provide various and basic services to the Arab residents of the city.

TEL AVIV — In mid-July, by a vote of 62-55, with two abstentions, the Knesset passed the Basic Law on Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. The legislation — Basic Laws in Israel enjoy constitutional status although only a simple parliamentary majority is needed to pass or repeal them — reaffirmed principles set forth in the country’s May 1948 Declaration of Independence. Nevertheless, the nation-state law has occasioned bitter controversy here. With a nationalist-infused populism roiling the United States, Britain, and Europe, the Israeli debate over the aspiration, inscribed in the country’s founding, to combine nationalism and liberal democracy has implications that transcend the Jewish state.

On Aug. 13, Haaretz contributor Uzi Baram excoriated the new law and its architects. “The nation-state law is not only an unnecessary law, it is an abhorrent law,” he stated, speaking for many on the left. It “was the product of an ultranationalist government, led by the religious right,” and was intended “to divide the public, exclude minorities and undermine the Arabic language.”

On Aug. 16 in Haaretz, Haim Ramon, a man of the center-left, published a sharp reply that gave expression to a Zionist sensibility that extends beyond Israel’s center-right. A former vice prime minister and minister of justice, he emphasized that Israel’s 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty “granted equal rights to every person in the state of Israel in the spirit of Israel’s values as a Jewish and democratic state.” But it was incomplete: “whereas the law on human dignity and liberty elaborated the individual’s rights in a democratic state, it did not elaborate the practical significance of the state’s Jewish character.” The nation-state law remedies that deficiency. It “does not come to bury the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty but to complete it.”

Whatever the actual legislative intentions and legal implications, the new Basic Law aggravated a sense of second-class citizenship among Israel’s minorities. This month Arabs, who constitute a little over 20 percent of the citizenry and who rarely serve in the army, and Druze, who represent about 1.5 percent and generally serve, attracted tens of thousands of protesters to separate political rallies in downtown Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square — the country’s premier venue for demonstrations— to decry the law.