RUTHFULLY YOURS

I was praying at the Western wall of Solomon’s Temple, the holiest place of Judaism, the place which witnessed the beginning of the transformation of pagan humanity into Western civilisation. The experience of touching the hewn stone blocks, polished by a myriad kisses and caresses, was profound.

israel flag IIThe Jews do not weep at the Western (Wailing) Wall about the loss of their country anymore. They sing and dance with joy. This year we found ourselves in Jerusalem after a three-week stint as volunteers for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) program called Sar-El. There aren’t that many days in our life which one can look back to and say – truly, Fate gifted me the experience of a lifetime. I found myself in the midst of an historic occasion – a treat which not many people are privileged to witness.

Yerushalayim was festooned with Israeli and American flags. The signs “Trump make Israel great” and “Trump is a friend of Zion” were ubiquitous. Israel was preparing for the American Embassy’s transition to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. And yet, amid the rejoicing, I was unable to shake the feeling that however important this symbolic act of supreme political realism and courage might be, it was not the main reason for the boundless joy which filled the streets on that day. ews, young and old, Orthodox and secular, atheists and believers — none of them could cared less about what the world thought of Jerusalem and who it does or does not belong to. It was Jerusalem Day, pure and simple.

It was also Israeli Flag Day and most of the people we saw carried the national flag, waving them, wrapping themselves in them. Jerusalem of Gold was transformed into Jerusalem white and blue. That was the main event: the joy of being and belonging and living, of expressing love, patriotism, ancient heritage and pride. All this was mixed up in eruption of overwhelmingly positive energy which demanded release. Intoxicated by the enthusiasm around me, that feeling was infectious. I was whooping and jumping with the rest of the crowd, which accepted me without demur and in the blink of an eye. This was the day the witness of my eyes demolished the sardonic dictum of patriotism being the last refuge of a scoundrel.

I saw Jerusalem’s soul laid bare for anyone to see on that day. I was praying at the Western wall of Solomon’s Temple, the holiest place of Judaism, the place which witnessed the beginning of the transformation of pagan humanity into Western civilisation. The experience of touching the hewn stone blocks, polished by a myriad kisses and caresses, was profound. So, too, watching the emotions of people communing with the Almighty and asking Him favours by way of notes pushed into the cracks and gaps between the ancient stones.

The Jews do not cry at The Wall anymore. On this day, singing at the tops of their voices, there was unashamed joy in observing the public and unadulterated confirmation that Jerusalem is and always has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people. The sentiment was manifest everywhere I turned — on the streets, on the roofs, on the buses and trams – everywhere. The picturesque Yerushalayim of golden sandstone was full of pretty girls handing out sweets and drinks to dancers. There were cars with loudspeakers blaring folk music to the delight of youngsters dancing horas. Smiling police on placid horses calmed the excess of enthusiasm by letting people dance but also making passage for cars stalled by the festive throng. Families with little children waving flags, bemused foreign tourists drawn into the knots of dancers, some of them evangelical Christians wqith Lion of Judah flags.

https://www.jns.org/is-israel-rejecting-right-wing-european-support-it-can-ill-afford-to-lose/

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told an ethnic Hungarian audience in Romania on July 28 that “there’s a general shift towards the right in the whole of Europe,” predicting a wave of “Christian Democracy” that will sweep away the old European multicultural elites. Orbán was warmly received by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu less than two weeks earlier, the first Hungarian premier to visit the Jewish state.

Many in Israel are against dealing with Europe’s right-wing parties even if Europe’s right does have the wind in its sails. They argue that these parties haven’t really abandoned their anti-Semitic past, and Israel’s acceptance will only legitimize them. This was the main reason given at two conferences in Israel to combat anti-Semitism, in February and March, where there was near unanimity against any dealings whatsoever with Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO).

Michael Kleiner, a former Knesset Member and currently president of Likud’s Supreme Court—the Likud’s highest judicial body, which decides all intraparty matters—has worked to build bridges between Israel and European right-wing politicians. He says “today, the more malignant, the more dangerous, the more effective anti-Semitism is from the left.”

He cites as examples the ruling Social Democratic Party of Sweden, which recognized Palestine as a state, and Britain’s Labour Party leadership, which recently jettisoned parts of a widely accepted definition of anti-Semitism to allow for attacks on Israel—i.e., claiming that Israel is a “racist endeavor” and likening it to Nazi Germany.

In comparison, Europe’s right-wing parties are strongly pro-Israel, Kleiner says, rattling off a number of them, including Holland’s Party for Freedom, Poland’s Law and Justice Party, Italy’s Northern League, Austria’s FPO and Orbán’s Fidesz Party (all but one are part of ruling coalitions).

https://freebeacon.com/blog/hamas-israel-military-confrontation-looks-likely/

Since March, Israel and Hamas have been in a war of attrition that neither wants to escalate into a full-blown confrontation. Ironically, that is exactly where things are leading. Netanyahu just announced the cancellation of his visit to Colombia due to tension in the south.

Incendiary kites and balloons not only light up thousands of acres of Israeli crops and forests, but also Israeli television screens. During the periodic rocket barrage, the last one two weeks ago, Israelis are also treated to the sight of families huddling in bomb shelters.

This week marked a shift in tone from southern residents who so far have shown remarkable patience. Their regional representatives took to the airwaves to say that the Army must do more. Adding an exclamation point to their anger was news that a balloon bomb made it as far as the city of Beersheva—a distance of 30 miles, raising fears about just how far these aerial attacks can go. (The balloons were filled with helium, which Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip for medical purposes.)

Their frustration is fueled by the unfulfilled threats of Israeli government leaders. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said on a July 3 tour of the area: “A kite at the Gaza envelope should be treated like a rocket on Ashkelon.” On July 14, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said, “Restraint creates escalation … The IDF must be ordered to act with force, sophistication, and thoroughness.” On July 20, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, speaking in the southern town of Sderot, repeated warnings he had made months earlier: “If they continue pushing us to a wide-scale operation, then we will have a large-scale operation, on a wider scale and more debilitating than Operation Protective Edge,” referring to the 2014 IDF action that earned the south three and a half years of relative quiet.

On Thursday, for the second time Lieberman ordered the Kerem-Shalom border crossing closed to gas shipments. In May, he had ordered the crossing closed for an “indefinite” period only to reopen it six weeks later. To close it and open it and close it again so quickly re-enforces the feeling of Israelis that the government’s response has been tepid.

http://carolineglick.com/israels-holographic-nation-state-law/

There is no connection between the substance of Israel’s newly passed Nation State of the Jewish People law, and the debate its passage unleashed.

On the one hand, supporters of the law led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insist that the law is a vital step in entrenching and protecting Israel’s Jewish identity. After the law passed last Thursday night, Netanyahu declared, “This is a pivotal moment in the annals of Zionism and the annals of the State of Israel. 122 years after [Theodore] Herzl published his vision [of a Jewish state] we affixed in law the founding principle of our existence.”

On the other hand, Arab members of Knesset theatrically condemned the law and claimed that with its passage, Israel had officially embraced “apartheid.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel is the heir of Nazi Germany. PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and his deputies said the UN should reinstitute its definition of defined Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement as a form of racism.

Israeli leftists, including members of Knesset, the supposedly center-left Zionist Union Party, backed by Haaretz, parroted the Arab-Turkish talking points with Hebrew accents. The American-Jewish leadership, like the New York Times, argued that the passage of the law is proof that Israel is on the verge of rejecting democracy.

Given the unreconcilable claims of the Right on the one hand and the Arabs, the Left and American-Jewish leadership on the other, it is imperative to read the text of the law itself. In reading you discover something remarkable.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12785/israel-arabs-nation-state-law

Some Israeli Arab leaders speak disparagingly about Israel for publicity. They know that no newspaper would ever mention them if they were dealing with issues such as sewage or a shortage of classrooms in Arab schools. If they say something bad about Israel or provoke the Jews, however, they will certainly receive a headline in the press.

Israeli Arab leaders can incite against Israel as much as they wish. Their slander will not change the reality that Israel is the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, and treats its minorities with respect. While minorities are being persecuted and murdered in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and other Arab and Islamic countries, the Arab citizens of Israel are being integrated into the state. They hold high positions in the Supreme Court, the Foreign Ministry, the health sector and even the Israel Police. The majority of the Arabs in Israel can work anywhere they wish, they can travel anywhere in the country, and they will continue to enjoy all the privileges, benefits and freedoms that Jewish citizens do.

Some Israeli Arab leaders want Israel to give up its wish to be a Jewish homeland because they are hoping that one day Jews will become a minority in their own country. For far too long, they have been inciting their constituents against Israel and Jews. If these leaders are so unhappy in Israel, perhaps they would consider moving to Ramallah or the Gaza Strip or any Arab country. Perhaps they would care to resign from the Knesset. Why do they refrain from doing so? Because it is in the Jewish homeland, supposedly so harmful to them, that they and their children can live and thrive.

The hypocrisy of the leaders of the Arab citizens of Israel, who are now crying foul over the new Jewish Nation-State Law, has, in the past few days, reached new heights.

These are the same leaders whose words and actions for the past two decades have caused serious damage to relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and to the interests of their own constituents, the Arab citizens of Israel.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270878/legitimacy-israels-nationality-law-joseph-puder

Upon passing the Nationality Law in Israel’s Knesset (Parliament) by a vote of 62 to 55, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the podium and declared, “One hundred and twenty-two years after Theodore Herzl published his vision we have enshrined into the law the basic principle of our existence.” He added, “This is our country, the state of the Jews. But in recent years there have been some people who have been trying to undermine that, and by so doing, to undermine the foundations of our existence and rights. Well, today we etched into the rock of law: this is our country, this is our language, this is our national anthem, and this is our flag. Long live the state of Israel.”

Netanyahu, in defending the Nationality Bill pointed out that “When Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the state, he didn’t see the need to legislate Basic Laws to ensure its Jewish and democratic character…now there are those that challenge the state of Israel’s Jewish character…” Netanyahu’s reference had in mind Mahmoud Abbas’ refusal to recognize Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people.” Netanyahu also made the point that Israel is the only state in the Middle East that honors equal rights.

Isaac Herzog, the Opposition leader, told the plenum, that “it’s a little sad to me that the last speech I make will be against this kind of backdrop. The question is whether the law will harm or benefit Israel. History will determine. I really hope that we won’t find the fine balance between a Jewish and democratic state to be hurt.”

Yariv Levin, Israel’s Minister of Tourism, was one of the sponsors of the Nationality Law. Speaking prior to the vote, he appealed to the opposition by saying, “I ask you my friends from the Zionist Union, (a left-of-center Zionist party) to reply honestly to the question of what is in the law that you oppose. It is a law that expresses the deepest foundations of Zionism and the foundation on which the State of Israel was built. It states the obvious: The State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people,”

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A genetic test for aging. The WizeAging study at Israel’s Weizmann Institute has enrolled 150 volunteers who take a blood test once a year to check for genetic mutations that indicate abnormal aging. Their target is 10,000 volunteers over the age of 50, to help with the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of age-related diseases.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/genetic-test-aging

Instant blood tests from a pin-prick. I reported previously (see here) on Israeli startup Sight Diagnostics and its Malaria blood test. Now Sight Diagnostics has launched a “lab-grade” desktop blood count analyzer called OLO, that digitizes blood images into complete blood count (CBC) tests from only a finger prick of blood.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/12/sight-diagnostics-launches-an-ai-based-diagnostics-device-for-faster-blood-tests/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWwwJ8L7Veo

Re-engineering the immune system to fight cancer. I have reported nearly 20 articles (see here) about Israeli scientists using immunotherapy to tackle cancer. Now Israel’s Cancer Research Fund and US Cancer Research Institute are partnering to decide which, of 160 Israeli research projects, could make the next big breakthrough.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/248564

Positive emotions can shrink tumors. (TY WIN) Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have linked positive emotions with cancer remission. In laboratory tests, increased levels of the pleasurable neurotransmitter dopamine helped the immune system to reduce tumor size by 50 per cent.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-study-shows-positive-emotions-may-shrink-cancer-tumors/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/gDZUiOqhzfA?rel=0

Palestinian Arab baby saved. Israeli Border Police in the city of Hebron saved the life of a nine-month-old Palestinian Arab baby. Hearing shouts from a house, they found an unconscious baby boy and distraught parents. They administered CPR until an Israeli medical team arrived to restore the baby’s breathing.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-troops-save-life-of-palestinian-baby-in-hebron/

Mobile dental clinic for Kenya. Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID set up a mobile dental clinic for one week in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. The four-person dental team treated many of the 190,000 refugees in the camp, many of whom had never received dental care in their lives.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israelis-set-up-mobile-dental-clinic-in-kenya/

https://freebeacon.com/blog/israels-nation-state-law-matters/

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that the “spirit of Hitler has been revived, Israel is the most fascist and racist state.” He then called on—well, everybody—”to work against Israel.” What sent Erdogan into orbit was Israel’s newly minted Nation-State Law, which passed last week by a vote of 62 to 55 after a boisterous Knesset debate lasting over eight hours.

The law declares the Land of Israel is the Jewish people’s historic homeland. It identifies symbols of the state—the flag with its Star of David, the menorah, the national anthem Hatikvah (“the Hope”). It codifies certain official holidays like the Sabbath, recognizes Hebrew as the official language and proclaims encouragement for Jewish immigration and Jewish settlement.

Much of this sounds ho-hum. The law in good part is a reprise of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that it is the “natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.”

Nevertheless, the Nation-State Law is significant:

1) It gives the 1948 declaration the force of law. As the first president of Israel’s Supreme Court said: “The Declaration expresses the vision and credo of the people; but it is not a constitutional law making a practical ruling on the upholding or nullification of various ordinances and statutes.”

For many years, Israeli legal scholars have called for turning the Declaration into a Basic law—Basic Laws in Israel have greater force than other laws as they cannot be easily overturned. Israel has about a dozen such laws. They are akin to a Bill of Rights in a country that has yet to pass a constitution.