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ISRAEL

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Palestinians’ Latest “Apartheid Fatwa” by Bassam Tawil

By on July 17th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12716/palestinians-apartheid-fatwa

The mufti’s position parallels that of a US Supreme Court judge. If the mufti issues a legal opinion or religious decree, his people and leaders are expected to abide by it.

With the new fatwa, Abbas can go to President Trump and other world leaders and tell them, “I would truly like to make peace with the Jews; however, I am prevented from doing so by this fatwa, which bans Muslims from doing real estate transactions with Jews. Sorry!”

One can only imagine the response of the international community had the Chief Rabbi of Israel issued a decree banning Jews from doing business with Muslims. But in the instance of the Palestinian mufti and his superiors in Ramallah, everything seems to be fine — once again, the international community turns a blind eye to the Palestinian leaders’ apartheid and their terrorizing of their own people.

If anyone wanted further proof that no Palestinian leader would ever be able to recognize Israel’s right to exist, it was provided recently in the form of yet another religious decree, or fatwa, issued by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. It is a fatwa that basically tells Muslims: “We will kill you, punish you in many ways, if we catch you selling land or homes to Jews.”

The fatwa makes it clear that no Muslim is entitled to sell his or her land — or transfer ownership over it — to “enemies,” a reference to Jews. The implications are extremely serious. Anyone who violates this religious opinion or decree will face various forms of punishment, ranging from being boycotted to the death sentence.

The fatwa, which was published by the mufti on July 10, has attracted no attention from the international media or those parties that keep telling us how keen they are about achieving peace between Palestinians and Israel. Human rights organizations around the world do not seem to be bothered at all by such threats against Muslims.

According to the fatwa, it is considered a “betrayal of Allah, His Messenger and Islam” to sell land to the “enemies” or accept compensation for it. The Muslims, it states, are obligated to boycott anyone who violates the ruling, refrain from marrying the “sinners” or doing any business with them. Taking matters to their most extreme, Muslims are prohibited from attending the funeral of — or even burying in a Muslim cemetery — anyone who dares to sell land or a house to a Jew.

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The Story of How Mossad Stole 100,000 Iranian Nuclear Docs By Rick Moran

By on July 16th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/trending/the-story-of-how-mossad-stole-100000-iranian-nuclear-docs/

You gotta love Mossad. Agents snuck into a warehouse smack in the middle of Tehran last January and, in a 6 1/2-hour operation, managed to steal 100,000 documents that Israel says prove Iran was lying about their nuclear weapons program.

Wall Street Journal:

The Israeli team secretly reached the warehouse holding the materials and broke in during a tight time window when it knew the building would be unguarded, the officials said. To avoid drawing attention to the nondescript facility, Iran hadn’t posted full-time guards, they said, but rather relied on alarm systems that the Israeli agents disabled.

The Israeli operation was first revealed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an April press conference in which he declared that the stolen documents proved Iran had lied for years in claiming it didn’t have a nuclear-weapons program.

In a lengthy briefing at a security facility here last week, senior Israeli intelligence officials disclosed additional details about the operation. Those include specifics on how the documents were removed from Iran; the existence within the documents of the warhead designs, for which Israel said Iran got unspecified foreign assistance; the operation of a secret explosives-testing facility that international inspectors had long searched for in vain; and a scramble by Iranian officials to keep their nuclear program alive after international inspectors concluded it had been suspended.

There are some cherished myths held by pro-Iran nuclear deal partisans that appear to have been exposed. First, the notion that Iran had “suspended” its nuclear program in 2009 has surely been debunked. Second, the notion that no foreign country would offer Iran help in building a bomb is clearly not true. In this case, it is almost certainly North Korean engineers and techs helping Tehran with their nuclear program.

Third, the idea that Iran couldn’t hide any major nuclear-related facilities from western intelligence or UN inspectors is a joke. Taken together, the wishful thinking — or deliberate self-delusion — of the Obama administration about Tehran’s nuclear program makes the deal look even worse.

So what did the courageous Mossad agents find?

Iranian nuclear scientists, two of whom later were assassinated under mysterious circumstances, are quoted in one document discussing the need to distinguish between “overt” nuclear research activities, which could continue because they could be shown to have peaceful purposes, and “covert” activities that had to be hidden because they could only be attributed to a nuclear-weapons program. CONTINUE AT SITE

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JEAN VERCORS: WHERE ARE THE SAMSON AND DAVID OF OUR GOVERNMENT?

By on July 13th, 2018

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/

He writes:

When I was a little child, I was fascinated by kites. Seeing the kites dancing with the wind with colorful structures in the blue sky was magical. I remember running in all directions on the sand trying to fly my kite like a butterfly, a bird, a happy heart. Like all the children of the world I played with kites on beaches.

Kites are normally children’s toys. Except in Gaza, where the population uses the kite as a weapon of terror against the Israeli civilian population.

For more than three months, hundreds of terror kites and incendiary balloons have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, causing considerable fires and threatening the civilian population in southern Israel (where I live).

Reports indicate that thousands of dunams of crops and plants have been destroyed because of this form of terrorism: agricultural terror.

Since the beginning of Palestinian violence and attempts of incursions into Israeli territory, the damage to flora, crops and wildlife has been considerable, with estimates that losses amount to several millions dollars.

According to a JNS report, “officials of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority have estimated that at least a third of the Carmia Nature Reserve has been destroyed, with significant damage to local plants and wildlife”.

Because Israel has the advanced technologies needed to fight terror kites and incendiary balloons.

It would only take a few hours for the IDF to completely raze Gaza and put an end to this problem.

Except that this problem is not technological, but purely political.

Indeed, to combat these terrorist incursions into Israeli territory, the IDF uses barely 1% of its military power.

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Dear Students For Victory–er, Justice–In Palestine by Gerald A. Honigman

By on July 13th, 2018

What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy G_d ? … Micah 6:8

Justice, Justice, shalt thou pursue… Deuteronomy 16:20

But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God… Leviticus 19:34
Dear SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine:

While you are receiving this correspondence yourselves, I hope you don’t mind that it will be shared with many others as well. So let me begin…

Let’s be honest. That begins with the very name of your organization.

It’s not “justice” you seek, but victory.

Students For Victory In Palestine better characterizes your raison d’etre–along with others aligned with you.

The opening quotes are from the Hebrew Bible, written some twenty-six centuries ago in the land you claim Jews have no ties to. It was called Israel and later, by Greeks and Romans, Iudaea–Judaea. Not until Hadrian ended the costlysecond major revolt of the Jews for freedom in 135 C.E. was the land renamedSyria Palaestina–Palestine–with hopes to end the Jews’ struggle once and for all.

Judaea (as in land of the Judaeans–Jews) was thus renamed for the Hebrews’ historic enemies, the “Sea People” from Crete–non-Semitic, let alone non-Arab, Philistines. Open http://q4j-middle-east.com to see a Judaea Capta coin Rome issued after the first major revolt. Judaea Capta–not Palaestina Capta. Tacitus, Pliny, Dio Cassius, and Josephus were just some of the ancient Roman-sponsored historians who recorded these events.

Those quotes are just some examples of the subject of justice found in the sacred writings of the Jews. And they go far in explaining the difference between the Arab (for example, “Palestinian”) and Jewish approaches to this concept…especially with regards to others.

In reality, there can’t be justice in any conflict unless the needs and legitimate aspirations of all parties are taken into consideration. But, again, justice is not what SJP seeks. The so-called “justice” demanded is for Arabs only. Forget about “the other” in this vision…

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Why Do Palestinian Leaders Oppose Helping Their People? by Bassam Tawil

By on July 12th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12663/palestinian-leaders-gaza-crisis

Mahmoud Abbas and his West Bank-based government seek to prolong the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They want the international community to continue to believe that Israel is responsible for the ongoing, intense suffering of the Palestinians. They are hoping to use the crisis there to pursue their campaign to delegitimize Israel.

Palestinian leaders would prefer to see their people starve than make any form of concessions for peace with Israel. Yet Al-Aloul and Abbas are not the ones who are facing starvation. There is nothing more comfortable than sitting in your fashionable house in Ramallah or Nablus and talking about starvation and humanitarian aid.

The Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, who are desperate for jobs and a better life, do not really care about Trump’s upcoming peace plan. They also do not really care about a settlement or a checkpoint in the West Bank.

This is the essence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Palestinians’ number one priority — the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinians in general — is destroying Israel. They would rather die than give up their dream of destroying Israel.

For years, Palestinian leaders have been complaining that the Gaza Strip was “on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.” Time and again, they have warned that unless the world helps the Palestinians living there, the Gaza Strip will “erupt like a volcano.”

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New Israeli Drug for Crohn’s Disease ‘Groundbreaking’ By Tyler O’Neil

By on July 10th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/trending/new-israeli-drug-for-crohns-disease-groundbreaking/

On Sunday, an Israeli drug company announced that a cure for Crohn’s disease may be in the works. As results of a massive study on the effectiveness of a potentially life-saving drug come in, RedHill Biopharma has also filed new patents for it in the U.S. and Europe.

“This is a groundbreaking new approach, and if we’re correct this will be a new salvation for patients and for doctors and for everyone affected by this disease,” Guy Goldberg, chief business officer at RedHill, told ILTV Israel on Sunday. “We are right now conducting probably the largest most robust study ever done with an anti-bacterial approach to treating Crohn’s disease.”

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus. Signs and symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, and weight loss, while complications include anemia, skin rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the eye, and tiredness.

The direct cause of the disease remains unknown, but it seems linked to a combination of environmental, immune, and bacterial factors in people with a certain type of genetics. About half of the overall risk is related to genetics, with more than 70 genes involved. Tobacco smokers are twice as likely to develop the disease. There is as yet no cure, and people with Crohn’s disease have a reduced life expectancy.

Approximately 1.5 million people were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease worldwide in 2017, and global sales of Crohn’s disease therapies are estimated to exceed $10 billion in 2018, according to RedHill’s research.

“The current way of treating Crohn’s disease is basically suppressing the body’s entire immune response and that only works for a temporary period of time and it has very serious side effects,” Goldberg explained. “They’re essentially treating the symptoms of the disease and not providing a cure.”

By contrast, RedHill is “trying to address the underlying cause of the disease,” Following the theory that it is caused by a bacterial infection involving Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP).

That’s why the RedHill study is so important. The Israeli company is currently conducting a first Phase III study of the drug RHB-104 among Crohn’s disease patients. The last patient in the study completed 26 weeks of treatment in early May 2018, and results from the study are expected in the coming weeks.

The study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating the safety and efficacy of RHB-104 in subjects with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease. The goal is disease remission, and the study has enrolled 331 patients in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. CONTINUE AT SITE

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Using a Movie to Bash Israel By Eileen F. Toplansky

By on July 9th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/07/using_a_movie_to_bash_israel.html

I am not a naïve Jew. I am only too aware that if Jews ceased to exist, most of the world would shrug its shoulders, and, in fact, many would silently say “good riddance.” I am quite cognizant that the very existence of Israel is a bane to a majority of the world’s nations despite Israel’s medical contributions, which have made the lives of so many of the world’s people infinitely better.

I am acutely mindful of the latent as well as overt anti-Semitism that rears its ugly head at American universities. But when I was given a list of readings that students were to use, I realized I needed to speak out.

A February 24, 2018 article by Lux Alptraum, titled “The Defeat of Killmonger in ‘Black Panther’ holds lessons for Israel,” is filled with factually inaccurate assertions and a decidedly anti-Israel tone. Alptraum, a left-wing Jew who claims universalism at the expense of the one Jewish nation in the world, exploits the Holocaust to make his point. He does it with no qualms.

Alptraum asserts that “Israel was founded as a kind of reparation for the survivors of Europe’s attempted genocide.” First off, this was not an “attempted genocide” – it was a chillingly successful genocide. Secondly, Alptraum, a grandson of Holocaust-survivors, apparently does not know of the constant presence of Jews in Israel and the idea of Jewish nationalism known as Zionism, which has existed for centuries.

Alptraum conveniently forgets that Jews purchased land outright from Arabs who also lived on the land. He neglects to mention the outright bigotry and discrimination that describe the Arab world, which stands in stark contrast to the elevation of human rights that Israel demonstrates, often against great odds.

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Both Sides Now: A Review of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor By Brian Stewart see note please

By on July 8th, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/07/book-review-letters-to-my-palestinian-neighbor/
“The book is another pacifist delusion. The last big “reconciliation” was Oslo, which in the reviewer’s words “brought forth an unremitting campaign of suicide-murder from the holy warriors of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, leaving thousands of Israelis dead and maimed. The indiscriminate terror unleashed in these “martyrdom operations” came to a halt only with the construction of the security barrier.” And,” Israel cannot leave the West Bank only for it to collapse into chaos, or for Hamas to impose theocratic control there as it did after Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.” rsk

The Palestinian national movement denies Israel’s legitimacy, and Israel in turn denies the Palestinians’ national sovereignty. A new book insists on accommodating both.

Last year during a long excursion in Israel and the Palestinian territories, this innocent abroad paid a visit to a new hotel in Bethlehem that boasts “the worst view in the world.” The “Walled Off Hotel,” opened by the avant-garde British artist Banksy, lies in the shadow — literally and figuratively — of the 26-foot concrete separation barrier that has become one of the defining symbols of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Guests are treated to far more than a room, for Banksy’s project includes a gallery, museum, and bookstore. They combine to form a veritable one-stop shop of unreconstructed Palestinian nationalism born in the heady days of pan-Arabism.

Perusing the shelves of the bookstore, I couldn’t help but notice that they groaned under the weight of chronicles of Israeli savagery and Palestinian woe. Here the “resistance” oeuvre was on full display: works by the likes of Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Ghassan Kanafani, Tariq Ali, and, seldom out of sight in this infamous company, Noam Chomsky. Only The Protocols of the Elders of Zion — the preferred reading material of Hamas, the Palestinian faction ruling Gaza — was missing. A visitor could spend the better part of an afternoon here, as I did, and not brush up against any Palestinian voices dissenting from their state’s rampant corruption and autocracy (or the symbiotic bond between them), much less testifying to any legitimate interests of the so-called Zionist Entity.

The exhibit leaves the impression that the most chauvinistic and militant positions against the Jewish state were the authentic and noble representatives of Palestinian opinion. It was an emotionally jarring and intellectually stultifying affair. As I took my leave, a companion sensing my discomfort pointedly inquired which book I would choose to smuggle into the Banksy bookstore. I can’t remember quite what I answered then — was it Ajami’s The Dream Palace of the Arabs? — but I know what I would say now.

Yossi Klein Halevi is the author of the new book Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. In it, he offers a heartfelt “invitation to a conversation” to a Palestinian neighbor whom he doesn’t yet know but must come to befriend. The alternative, in this conflict perpetuated by routine failures of leadership, is to remain mired in a “cycle of denial” whereby each side bitterly denies the legitimacy of the other. Halevi seems convinced that breaking the cycle may ultimately depend on the multiplication of such meager efforts. He therefore proposes to host his nameless Palestinian neighbor “in my spiritual home, in the hope that one day we will be able to welcome each other into our physical homes.”

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GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on July 8th, 2018

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Mapping the immune system. Israel’s Technion scientists have built a tool to help treat patients with immune system diseases. “ImmuneXpresso” scans millions of scientific publications to construct a computerized model of the immune system, showing the interactions between immune cells and the human body, across thousands of diseases. https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2018/06/the-immune-system-cracking-open-the-black-box/

Automatic analysis of chest X-rays. (TY Atid-EDI) I’ve reported (see here) on the artificial intelligent (AI) image analysis systems developed by Israel’s Zebra Medical. Now Zebra’s technology extends to chest X-rays with “Textray”, that can identify 40 different common clinical findings. Zebra also raised $30 million of funds.
https://zebramedblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/06/textray-mining-clinical-reports-to-gain-a-broad-understanding-of-chest-x-rays/

Europe and Canada approve Israeli bone regeneration. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Datum Dental has developed OSSIX Bone – an innovative solution for bone and tissue regeneration for dentistry. It has just received the CE Mark in Europe and Health Canada approval. OSSIX Bone already has FDA clearance.
http://www.ossixdental.com/news-and-events/news/item/79-ce-mark-health-canada-regulatory-approvals-for-ossix-bone-following-fda-clearance https://www.youtube.com/embed/gf3XmCESeHo?rel=0

US approval for knee cartilage repair system. (TY Atid-EDI) Meniscus (knee cartilage) tears are common for athletes, those engaged in daily sport activities, the elderly, and anyone with cartilage problems. Israel’s Arcuro Medical has developed the SuperBall™ meniscus repair system and has just received FDA clearance.
http://trendlines.com/portfolio/arcuro-medical/ https://www.youtube.com/embed/ny3AGHM7uJo?rel=0
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arcuro-medical-receives-fda-regulatory-clearance-300667605.html

Go-ahead for bio-ink. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s CollPlant (see here) is developing a proprietary rhCollagen-based formulations intended for use as bio-ink for the 3D printing of tissues and life savings organs. It has now received grant approval (up to $1.2 million) of additional finance from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA).
https://ir.collplant.com/press-releases/detail/49/collplant-receives-research-and-development-project

Israeli algae antioxidant protects the skin. I’ve reported previously (see here) on AstaPure – Israel-based Algatech’s algae-derived Astaxanthin, produced at Kibbutz Ketura. A new clinical trial in Japan provides evidence of Astaxanthin’s protective role against skin deterioration caused by ultraviolet (UV) light.
https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2018/06/27/Astaxanthin-the-perfect-summer-supplement-Study-shows-skin-protection-effects http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/7/817/htm

Advanced security and medical training. Israel’s Advanced Security Training Institute (ASTI) has just completed its latest course, providing 30 US first responders with practical security and medical training. Since 2003, these skills have been passed on to more than 7,000 emergency personnel in the USA.
https://www.jns.org/training-from-the-ground-up-us-first-responders-study-methodology-in-israel/

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Expose the Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Scam Obama concealed a myth-smashing report. Trump can reveal it to the world. By Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer

By on July 6th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/expose-the-palestinian-refugee-scam-1530833146

If President Trump wants to promote peace in the Middle East, his first step should be to declassify a key State Department report that would end the myth of Palestinian “refugees.”

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is singularly devoted to the Palestinian refugee issue. Unrwa labels more than five million Palestinians “refugees”—an impossible figure. The first Arab-Israeli war, in 1948, yielded roughly 800,000 Palestinian Arab refugees. Perhaps 30,000 remain alive today, but Unrwa has kept the refugee issue alive by labeling their descendants—in some cases great-great-grandchildren—as “refugees,” who insist on the “right of return” to their ancestors’ homes. Israel categorically rejects this demand.

Unrwa’s operations run counter to the broader mission of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which is to resettle those displaced by war. Unrwa’s mission, on the other hand, keeps the conflict’s embers glowing by refusing to resettle Palestinians in neighboring countries or even in the Palestinian territories.

If Mr. Trump wants his peace plan to have a chance, he has to challenge false Palestinian narratives. He did this by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the U.S. Embassy there. For decades, Palestinian leaders issued maximalist claims on Jerusalem. Mr. Trump’s move sent the message that making peace requires accepting reality.

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