RUTHFULLY YOURS

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Many examples of Israel’s determination to rehabilitate the wounded.

An Israeli startup has developed a device that can save millions of stroke victims.

Israeli volunteers are helping Americans recover from recent hurricanes.

An Israeli startup makes flour from the waste from olive oil production.

Take a ride on Israel’s first driverless public bus.

Resilient Israelis make wine and beer while under fire.

Celebrating Sukkot (Tabernacles) in Israel is a unique experience.

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
Sheba hospital’s new rehab center. At Sheba hospital’s new “Returning to Life Rehabilitation Center for War Casualties”, over 600 patients have undergone critical rehabilitation since Oct 7. Sheba’s original rehab unit was expanded to meet the increased demand for trauma care and rehabilitation for civilians and soldiers.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-hospital-transforms-to-meet-wartime-rehab-demand/
 
Farm rehabilitates soldiers. Havat Rom (Rom Farm) some 30 miles from the Lebanese border, contains a farm-to-table restaurant and a glamping site. It also hosts a government rehabilitation program helping people with mental illnesses and disorders, including soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
https://www.israel21c.org/farm-helping-soldiers-with-ptsd-under-shadow-of-war/  https://havatrom.co.il/
https://glow-glamping.com/
 
Back on their feet.  Two articles describing wounded IDF soldiers who are bravely walking again after extensive hospital treatment and rehabilitation.  Major Rotem Shaked Aharon is fortunate to have his original legs, whereas Elisha Madan has two prostheses.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-severely-wounded-idf-soldier-leaves-hospital-on-own-two-feet/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/397410
 
1,600+ scholarships. Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has established a scholarship fund for students in southern border communities. Many are evacuees and still in shock. Returning to studies is a form of rehabilitation. So far, some 1,670 students have received NIS 4,000 each. See also here.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-non-profit-gives-over-1000-scholarships-to-students-gaza-border-communities/   https://donate.kkl-jnf.org/education_jp_full/
 
How Ellay survived. Ellay Golan’s recovery from 8-weeks in a coma to graduating medical school was reported here previously. This article describes how, despite being burned, she bravely fought off Hamas terrorists on Oct 7 to save her 18-month-old baby daughter.
https://www.israel21c.org/rising-from-the-ashes-a-mothers-fight-to-survive/
 
Always thought of others. (TY Yanky) IDF Sgt. Omer Ginzburg may have fallen in battle, but his bone grafts will repair orthopedic injuries; his corneas will give sight to the blind; his skin will treat burns injuries, and his heart valves will also be used. Omer’s parents said, “He always thought of others before thinking of himself.”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-814321
 
Israel tests 8 anti-drone systems. About time!  The IDF drone interception tests included Elbit (Iron Hawk), IAI (Precise Falcon), Rafael (Typhoon), Aerobotics, Xtend, General Robotics (Pitbull), Smartshooter, Fortem (US) + Elbit. See here for most of these and many other Israeli systems previously reported in this newsletter.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bki2ag2yje
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgaDOTCN5sE
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Pioneering medicine. The Pioneering Israeli Medicine Conference in New York City (Sep 22) highlighted new technologies, innovating hospitals, physical & mental rehabilitation, innovation in emergency medicine. The lessons learned from Oct 7 helped medical professionals prepare for the escalation with Hezbollah.
https://www.israel21c.org/october-7-stats-reveal-extraordinary-lifesaving-medical-efforts/
http://med-conf.scienceabroad.org.il/
 
New metabolites can treat diabetes and obesity. Israel’s Metabolize is testing two molecules that reduce both appetite and weight, helping to treat diabetics and the obese. The phenylalanine metabolite X-Phe and N-acetyltaurine (NAT) don’t have the side effects of existing medications and can be ingested rather than injected.
https://nocamels.com/2024/09/harnessing-our-own-bodies-for-side-effect-free-weight-loss/
https://metabolize.life/
 
3D-printed implants. (TY Atid-EDI) Israeli startups Collplant and Stratasys have commenced a pre-clinical study to test the ability of their 3D-printed implants (see here previously) to promote the growth of natural tissue and completely degrade over time. It may be an alternative to reconstructive surgery after cancer surgery.
https://investors.stratasys.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/903/collplant-and-stratasys-announce-pre-clinical-study-for
 
Bladder cancer test goes to Europe. Italy’s Menarini Diagnostics is to distribute the EpiCheck non-invasive bladder cancer urine test from Israel’s Nucleix (see here previously) in Europe. Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer as there are approximately 760,000 people in Europe with the disease.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240909391086/en/
 
Bacteria vs virus test trial successful. Israel’s MeMed (see here previously) successfully completed the first clinical trial of its BV test to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections. The test on 260 patients with suspected lower respiratory tract infection resulted in a 62% relative reduction in unnecessary antibiotics.
https://nocamels.com/2024/10/israeli-test-to-tell-if-infection-bacterial-or-viral-successful-in-trial/
 
Handheld lung test device. Israel’s TechnoPulm is developing a handheld device capable of performing full lung function tests. The tool will replace large, expensive machines with a compact, portable device that weighs just 400 grams. It can be operated in the physician’s office and complete the entire test in under three minutes.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjzzgmhkjx   https://t-pulm.com/
 
US funding for Israeli Ebola virus treatment. BARDA, part of the US department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, is funding development by Israel’s Redhill of Opaganib (see here previously) for the treatment of the Ebola virus.
https://nocamels.com/2024/10/us-government-funding-development-of-israeli-ebola-treatment/
 
Rejuvenate skin with your own cells. Israel’s Ananda Labs is developing an organic treatment that improves skin elasticity, diminishing wrinkles and scars. Using technology of Hebrew University Prof. Yossi Buganim, Ananda genetically reprograms skin cells into placental stem cells, up to 50% younger than the adult originals.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-company-aiming-to-slow-down-aging/  https://www.buganimlab.com/
https://www.ananda-labs.bio/
 
AI alerts of an impending stroke. More about Israel’s Avertto (see here previously) that has developed the first medical device with an AI alert of an impending stroke based on biological mimicry. Avertto cites studies indicating that 80% of strokes are preventable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBhR72JOSb4
https://www.israel21c.org/swift-stroke-prevention-using-ai-and-artery-monitors/
 
A new path to treating cancer. Researchers at Tel Aviv University a significant portion of cancer cells are “aneuploid” – i.e. have an abnormal number of chromosomes. It means they are more sensitive to certain anti-cancer treatments. Patients with that type of cancer could respond to these individually targeted treatments.
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/changes-in-the-chromosomes-of-cancer-cells-may-increase-their-sensitivity-to-anti-cancer-drugs/  https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-820780

https://victorhanson.com/the-ordeal-and-triumph-of-mr-netanyahu/

https://victorhanson.com/the-ordeal-and-triumph-of-mr-netanyahu/

Ordeal

After the October 7 massacres, the obituaries of the long political career of Benjamin Netanyahu, published both in Israel and in the West, became orthodox. He was considered as politically inert as Donald Trump once was after January 6, 2021.

The conventional wisdom speculated not if, but only when he would be forced out of office.

Western leaders and the Israeli left, and indeed even the Israeli non-left, as well as American and European pundits, claimed that the laxity of the Netanyahu government was entirely to blame for the grotesque massacre of October 7.

Indeed, last fall, there arose almost a competition of critics to assert all the ways in which Netanyahu was played by Hamas.

Accordingly, Netanyahu’s sweeping Supreme Court reforms had supposedly needlessly split the country, demoralizing the military and eroding Israeli deterrence in the eyes of Palestinian terrorists. Or his purported strategy of playing off the more lethal and toxic Hamas against the Palestinian Authority was supposedly proof of his reckless naivete.

Still, other opponents argued that his 16 years as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and his age of 75 made him a Joe Biden-like relic of the past, simply too old and too familiar to be any longer effective. He was told it was well past time to step down and let a new generation break out of the old toxic Middle East mindsets.

And indeed, after October 7, Netanyahu faced a bleak regional and global landscape—analogous to what a 65-year-old Churchill faced in June 1940 when all of Western Europe was in the hands of the Nazis and a lonely Britain was without a single wartime ally—with a sympathetic America still hesitant to commit to ensuring its existence.

Massive immigration from the Middle East into Europe and the United States—spiked by hundreds of thousands of oil-subsidized foreign students in Western universities, coupled with the post-George Floyd woke/DEI hysterias—had made European and American political parties unapologetically not just anti-Israel but now increasingly anti-Semitic as well.

Western governments at times seemed far more terrified of their own Muslim citizens, foreign residents, radicalized students, and left-wing activists of their political parties than they were of any terrorist threats emanating from Iran and its surrogates.

https://www.theeditors.com/p/we-are-in-the-midst-of-a-war-of-revival?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_

Yesterday Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, in Hebrew, offering context and a progress report on the war. At least one longtime nonpartisan observer of Netanyahu’s long career described it as superb and one of Netanyahu’s best speeches. An official English translation isn’t yet publicly available but thanks to the magic of artificial intelligence I was able to muster this rough but fluid and rapid translation of the speech. If readers have corrections to the text, by all means send them along and I will update.

The honorable President Yitzhak Herzog; Distinguished Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana; Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Justice Yitzhak Amit and his wife Rivka; dozens of Knesset members; Leader of the Opposition, Member of Knesset Yair Lapid, Members of Knesset, my brothers and sisters, To the bereaved families, relatives of the abducted men and women who stand relentlessly before our eyes, distinguished guests, everyone. We are in the midst of a war of revival. 

On Simchat Torah, on October 7th, a year ago, we suffered a severe blow, but we got back on our feet. We did not break, we did not fall apart, and not only did we not surrender, we launched a powerful counter-offensive against our attackers, a war that is changing the face of the Middle East. 

From then until today, alongside the terrible pain that is the lot of the entire nation, we are defending ourselves with high spirits and supreme determination for the revival of Israel. 

Whoever attacked us brought upon themselves an unprecedented disaster. 

There is a line of similarity in the current war to the War of Independence. Then we faced seven Arab countries, and today we are facing seven fronts of terror. 

But I must emphasize, today we are facing a completely different challenge, against a cruel and barbaric enemy that threatens not only us, it threatens the entire Middle East, it threatens the entire world. Its evil intentions are to kill, destroy, and annihilate. The axis of fanatical evil, led by Iran, which has killed thousands in the past year with its cruelty, threatens to destroy our country and threatens to capture more and more territories. It seeks to take over our region by force and from here threaten first of all the West, not only the West, first of all the West. 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/10/the-biden-iran-scandal-gets-worse/

The source of last week’s leak of U.S. intelligence about Israel’s plans to strike Iran, which has occasioned an investigation, isn’t yet known. What should be obvious, though, is that no individual who has had extensive contact with Iranian intelligence and diplomatic officials, and who has deferred to the direction of those officials before, should have ever been put in a sensitive position in the first place.

The Biden administration has ignored this rather simple rule.

The most glaring example of its questionable handling of the Iran portfolio is Biden Iran envoy Robert Malley’s continued employment by the State Department amid a probe into his handling of classified materials and the possibility that he shared information with the regime. Though Malley has since been suspended, it’s noteworthy that the administration has opted to technically keep him in the role, no doubt wishing to avoid the political fallout that would come with terminating him.

Possibly worse than Malley’s appointment is that of Ariane Tabatabai, an academic turned State Department and Pentagon official. She was part of the now-infamous Iran Experts Initiative — a program used by Tehran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cultivate relationships with foreign academics who could carry water for the regime.

At one point, according to reporting from Semafor, which revealed the program’s existence, Tabatabai opted to skip a conference in Israel after an Iranian official instructed her not to go. She also consulted with this same Iranian official regarding how she should testify in hearings before Congress. Her job today — chief of staff to the Pentagon official who oversees special operations.

It’s true that the leak of documents from the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency could have come from any number of places. According to a former official who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon last week, they appear to have been available to “thousands upon thousands” of U.S. officials via a classified system.

But it’s also true that since October 7, pro-Hamas ideologues within the State Department have labored to leak information that would help their cause and damage Israel’s war effort.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/senior-hamas-official-arrives-in-moscow-for-talks/

A senior member of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzouk, has arrived in Moscow on a planned visit, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing a diplomatic source.

Hamas politburo member Abu Marzouk intends to hold a series of meetings with Russian officials, RIA says, without providing any further details.

Russia has ties to all key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Moscow has repeatedly blamed the current crisis in the Middle East on the failure of US diplomacy, and called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the resumption of talks aimed at finding a peace settlement.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2024/10/22/the-fbi-makes-an-announcement-about-the-pentagon-leaker-n2646567#google_vignette

The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed Tuesday morning the law enforcement agency has launched a probe into the Pentagon and who leaked top secret Israeli strike plans against Iran over the weekend. 

“The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community,” Fox News reported Tuesday morning. “As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further comment.” 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21037/political-elites-mourn-hezbollah

[T]he West’s political “elites” condemned Israel for defending itself by targeting Hezbollah’s leadership.

There was no mention of international law for Hezbollah’s unprovoked, year-long attacks: bombardments of missiles and attack drones every day at a country smaller than New Jersey.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell lamented Israel’s continued successful attempts at destroying one of Iran’s proxy armies.

When Israel took out Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one of the world’s most dangerous arch-terrorists, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres could barely hold back his disappointment, counterfactually calling Hezbollah’s unprovoked war against Israel and the IDF’s response a “cycle of violence.”

Only Argentina’s President Javier Milei displayed a reaction fitting the removal of a terrorist mass murderer…

Israel, as has been noted, is doing the entire world an enormous service by taking out Hezbollah.

Iran, just since October 2023, through its militias in Syria and Iraq, has launched more than 160 attacks on the US forces in the Middle East.

[W]hen Israel killed Ibrahim Aqil, the mastermind of the 1983 attacks and a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, its highest military body, the US could not even bring itself to thank its ally.

The world’s political elites apparently cannot forgive Israel for seeking to defend itself, and rid the world of terrorists working to destroy both America and Western civilization. Could these elites, wittingly or not, be working towards the same result?

It took the world community nearly a year to condemn the war in Lebanon, but they got the wrong mark. Instead of condemning Hezbollah, the world’s largest Iranian proxy terrorist army, with an estimated 40,000 – 50,000 fighters, for starting a year-long war on October 8, 2023 in support of the terrorist organization Hamas, the West’s political “elites” condemned Israel for defending itself by targeting Hezbollah’s leadership.

The UN Security Council called an emergency session on September 20, during which UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told ambassadors that he was “appalled by the breadth and impact” of the attacks on Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/21/the-tragedy-of-palestine/

That footage of Yahya Sinwar’s last, gasping breaths before he was justly shuffled off this mortal coil was extraordinary. Here we had the death agony of a fascist broadcast to the world. Crooked and hunched in a chair coated in dust, in a building bombed almost to nothing, he stared forlornly at his final foe: an Israeli drone. He used his one working arm – the other withered by injury – to toss a stick in the drone’s direction. It was a suitably primitive gesture from the leader of a gang of medieval militants who made the grave error of starting a war with the Jewish State. The stick did nothing, of course. Moments later, their drone having confirmed the presence of a terrorist, the IDF fired a tank shell into the ruins and the architect of the bloodiest pogrom since the Nazis was dead.

Not since the execution of Benito Mussolini by the Italian Resistance had the world been granted such a battle-side view of the death of a fascist. We have all seen the photograph of Mussolini hanging by his feet in Milan in 1945 following his summary execution by partisans and the pelting of his body with rotten vegetables by crowds of righteous, free Italians. Now we have seen the execution of the man who organised the largest slaughter of Jews in 80 years. It was less chaotic – the IDF troops who happened upon Sinwar’s hideout observed his body but did not desecrate it – but no less momentous. A little over a year since Hamas’s pogrom, justice had been served against the plotter of that racist outrage. The young Jews of the IDF had toppled the most notorious Jew-killer of our age.

Yet there was a tint of tragedy to the events of last week. Not in the death of Sinwar – no one should mourn a pogromist. But in that drone footage we also glimpsed the consequences of Sinwar’s murderous vanity. All around him we saw the wages of his futile war against the Jews. We saw the devastation of a patch of land, and of a people, that Sinwar clearly viewed as expendable entities, as mere chess pieces in his game of hate against the Jewish nation. It was brutally confirmed: courtesy of the hijacking of the Palestinian issue by the Islamist demagogues of Hamas, the very idea of Palestine is now as pulverised as that building Sinwar perished in.

The response of the woke West to the death of Sinwar has been mad, even by their standards. In the grimmest nooks of online Israelophobia, there is actual mourning. Even mainstream voices are saying Israel lied and Sinwar wasn’t in fact scurried in a tunnel underground but was on the frontline, fighting with his men. Shorter version: hero. Others say it is a grave folly on Israel’s part to think it can crush a ‘national liberation movement’ by bumping off its leaders. Honestly, the speed with which Western leftists went from saying ‘The only good fascist is a dead fascist’ to saying ‘We can’t just kill everyone in Hamas’ has been mindblowing. From puffed-up anti-fascists who fancied themselves the heirs to the International Brigades to snivelling weepers at the coffins of the fallen fascists of Hamas – it would be funny if it were not so tragic.