RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20274/palestinian-authority-hamas

The Biden administration has yet to spell out what it means when it talks about a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority.

If the Biden administration is hoping that the PA leadership will halt its ongoing campaign of incitement against Israel in the mosques, media and the rhetoric of Palestinian officials, it is living in a dream world. If the Biden administration believes that the PA, as part of a “revitalization” process, will cease its endless glorification of terrorists and systematically rewarding them with monthly stipends for murdering Israelis, it is also in for a rude awakening.

The Biden administration… can continue to dream about “revamping” the PA, but… every Palestinian child knows that this will never happen as long as Palestinian leaders continue to pay handsomely for the murder of Jews and call for the elimination of Israel.

As the Biden administration doubtless knows, replacing Hamas with the PA will change nothing in the Gaza Strip.

As the Biden administration continues to promote the idea of having a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority (PA) govern the Gaza Strip the day after the current Israel-Hamas war, PA leaders are again proving why they are not much different from the Iran-backed Islamist terrorists who want to destroy Israel and murder Jews.

After the January 2 assassination in Beirut, Lebanon, of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas “political bureau,” who was behind countless terroir attacks against Israelis over the past decade, PA leaders were quick to praise him as a “martyr” and a “hero” and condemn Israel for allegedly killing the top Hamas terrorist. This glorification of an arch-terrorist is nothing less than a full endorsement of Hamas’s Jihad (holy war) on Israel, as outlined in its 1988 charter, which states that “Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.” (Article 8)

https://www.jns.org/israel-wants-unrwa-out-of-gaza/

 Israel’s Foreign Ministry has put together a classified report calling for the removal of UNRWA from the Gaza Strip in the long-term, noting that the U.N. relief agency works against Israel’s interests.

The report’s recommendations set out a three-stage process for shrinking and eventually eliminating UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, from the Strip: 1) Prepare a case detailing UNRWA’s cooperation with Hamas; 2) Reduce UNRWA’s field of activity and find replacement service providers; and 3) Transfer UNRWA’s responsibilities to another entity.

Channel 12, which revealed the existence of the secret report on Thursday, noted that Israel wants to move slowly, recognizing that the U.S. sees UNRWA as a positive player in humanitarian efforts in the Strip. The ministry hopes to gradually build the case for ousting the organization, linking that goal to discussions on “the day after” Hamas.

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), supports dislodging UNRWA, telling JNS that “UNRWA was born in sin and exists in sin, therefore, it should be dismantled.

“It was established because of pressure by the Arab world as a platform to leverage the interests of Arab leaders against the State of Israel using the Palestinian [refugee] issue,” Michael said.

 www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

As 2023 comes to an end, I unashamedly write this introduction with much emotion. There are now definite signs that Israel is winning the war against Hamas in Gaza. It cannot fail, thanks to a winning team of supporters in Israel and across the globe who, like the many thousands of readers of this newsletter, have been donating time, money, skills, accommodation, essential supplies, and more, to help the IDF fight against those wishing to destroy the Jewish State and civilization as a whole. Michael Ordman

POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
 
2.6 million items of warm clothing. Friends of the IDF in the United States completed “Winter Clothing Operation,” a 5-week initiative to send 150 tons (over 2.5 million items) of essential winter clothing and gear to Israeli soldiers fighting on the front line in Gaza.
https://www.jns.org/friends-of-the-idf-ships-150-tons-of-winter-clothing-gear-to-troops/  
 
Nvidia donates $15 million. Thousands of employees of IT giant Nvidia donated $5 million to support Israelis affected by the war. This was tripled by Nvidia itself, with an additional $10 million donation.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bjjbd8hwp
https://www.timesofisrael.com/nvidia-raises-15-million-to-help-israeli-civilians-affected-by-hamas-war/
 
You’re never too old. Ezra Yachin at 95 years young is the oldest active IDF reservist. Despite losing an eye in 1948, he was called up to active duty in the current war. The New York Post, Al Jazeera, etc., wrote about the elderly IDF soldier who put on a uniform again to defend Israel. And he says the enemy hasn’t changed tactics.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382468
https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/95-year-old-reservist-joins-israels-fight-against-hamas-terrorists/ (skip video)
 
Citizen’s Kitchen. (TY UWI) US immigrant to Israel, Aliya Fastman, launched Citizen’s Kitchen on Oct 9, converting her Citrus & Salt studio for cooking lessons into a community kitchen for meal distribution. It has since provided 20,000+ meals to soldiers, bereaved or displaced families, and synagogues hosting meals.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/12/20/how-olim-are-helping-israels-war-effort-part-3-providing-meals-displaced-families-soldiers/  https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-769799
https://www.citrusandsaltcooking.com/
 
JNF-USA volunteers in action. (TY UWI) Volunteers from JNF-USA have heeded the cry of Israel in its time of need and offered whatever services they could help with.  From cooking meals for soldiers on bases, crop picking and storing, to watching children; these volunteers are taking a huge burden off the shoulders of Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2x5QojlPhI   https://www.jnf.org/ways-to-help/support-israel
https://www.jnf.org/travel/tours/index/volunteer-in-israel-missions
 
Volunteers from UK & Germany. Lovely to hear the accents of British volunteers and their reasons for coming to help on farms on farms in southern Israel.  Meanwhile (TY Hazel) staff from the German Embassy volunteered for a day in the orange harvest to help short-staffed Israeli farmers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6axF7JOJ7eQ
https://www.instagram.com/germanyinisrael/reel/C1Epm9hsHIV/
 
Ways that Israelis are volunteering. Israelis are finding unusual ways to pitch in to aid those affected by the events of October 7 and the ongoing battle in Gaza. They include tailoring, matchmaking, folding laundry, giving haircuts, cleaning hospital rooms, rescuing vehicles, and a mobile restroom.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-most-unusual-ways-israelis-are-volunteering-during-the-war/
 
Thanks for the donation. IDF forces have uncovered millions of shekels in Gaza and PA cities that were intended to fund terrorism.  Israel will make better use of the money.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hy5gf99pa  https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkmz00spia
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-775178
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Hospital launches innovation hub. Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center has partnered with international investment firm Arieli Capital to create SHAAR – a joint healthcare innovation hub, designed to be a center for medical research. Healthcare companies will be invited to the first global scale-up cohort by the end of 2023.
https://nocamels.com/2023/12/top-jerusalem-hospital-unveils-healthcare-innovation-hub/
 
Thousands of overseas volunteer doctors. Israel’s Health Ministry has received 7,500 requests from foreign physicians to volunteer in Israel. Nearly 5,000 are from North America and 1,000 from Europe. Many are not Jewish – they just want to help. 450 have Israeli licenses and the rest are being fast-tracked.
https://www.jns.org/the-medical-specialists-who-left-all-behind-to-volunteer-in-israel/
 
Physical therapy on the front lines. Many of Israel’s IDF reservists are in the thirties and forties and not as fit and subtle as they used to be. So UK-born Tasha Cohen launched Chayal’s Angels of volunteer yoga therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, physiotherapists and chiropractors who treat 50 to 200 soldiers every day.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/an-army-of-volunteer-physical-therapists-treats-aching-idf-soldiers-on-the-front-lines/  
 
Miracle survival from deadly wounds. Despite many tragic losses, two IDF soldiers survived gunshot wounds that are usually fatal. Major Itai was hit by a bullet that is still lodged in his brain and cannot be removed. Another bullet passed through Sgt Oren Dovid’s heart.  Following surgery, both want to return to their units.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/idf-heroes-remarkably-survive-gunshots-to-the-heart-and-brain/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwvsHSseXTE  (Hebrew video of Major Itai, but easy to appreciate.)
 
Hyperbaric oxygen to treat PTSD.  Traumatized survivors of the Hamas Oct 7 terror attacks and IDF soldiers with PTSD are receiving HBOT therapy (see here) breathing pure oxygen in high pressure cabins. It is one of the treatments available to patients of the national clinic for PTSD, created by Tel Aviv University.
https://bnnbreaking.com/breaking-news/health/israeli-ptsd-victims-find-hope-in-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-post-hamas-attacks/ .  https://english.tau.ac.il/news/national-ptsd-clinic
 
HBOT for Mikey. (TY Avi Abelow) Mikey, a key member of the IDF Oketz search and rescue special forces unit, was severely wounded by a grenade thrown by a Hamas terrorist. She recovered most of her faculties in just a few weeks thanks to Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) at Israel’s Shamir hospital. Mikey is a dog!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30kPEOwv5hc
 
From death’s door to discharge. Menashe Eisner, 63, suffered a heart attack and was placed on life support. A complex bypass operation failed. Then surgeons at Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus implanted a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Miraculously, 40 days later, Eisner was able to go home.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/LVAD_medical_miracle.aspx
 
Preventing severe lung diseases in diabetics. 35% of patients that died of Covid-19 were diabetics. This led scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute to discover that high blood sugar levels disrupted the immune system response to infection. They then developed experimental medication to reverse the sugar-induced dysfunction.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/why-people-diabetes-are-more-prone-respiratory-risk
 
No big shakes. Lynette Hoffman-Elharar remembers a time when Essential tremor meant she could not hold a glass of water or draw a straight line. Now, after undergoing noninvasive MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRIgFUS) at Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, she is knitting woolen hats for IDF soldiers.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/Knitting_again_after_bilateral_MRIgFUS.aspx
 
Helping the helpers. Jerusalem’s Herzog Medical Center is supported by organizations in the USA, Canada, and the UK. The British Friends of the hospital have just launched a national campaign “Helping the Helpers”’ providing support for mental health professionals treating an increasing number of trauma patients.
http://www.herzoghospital.org/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVmFbpfHMLk
https://www.afherzoghospital.org/  https://www.herzoghospital.ca/
 
96% of nurses at Rambam are graduates. Thanks to two international scholarship programs, 23 nurses at Israel’s Rambam Health Care Campus recently advanced their studies to specialize in various medical disciplines. 96% of Rambam nurses currently hold academic degrees. The target is 100%.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/2023_nursing_scholarships.aspx
 
Record year for liver transplants. In 2023 at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva, a record 24 life-saving liver transplants were conducted in infants, children, and adolescents. Liver transplants in children are among the most medically complex. Two donations were from soldiers killed in the war in Gaza.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382698
 
Israeli doctor saves passenger on El Al flight. Dr. Nathan Ungar, a long-time United Hatzalah volunteer, saved a 70-year-old diabetic passenger who lost consciousness twice on an El Al flight from Bulgaria to Israel. Dr Ungar closely monitored the patient’s condition until the plane made an emergency landing at Rhodes.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382703

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/12/30/how-hamas-weaponises-victimhood/

After Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on 7 October, the speed with which woke Westerners came out in support of the terrorists remains shocking to recall. Within a matter of hours, pundits, activists and academics flooded social media to claim that this anti-Semitic pogrom was a form of anti-colonial resistance. Within days, they were out on the streets of Western cities staging ‘pro-Palestine’ protests, letting off celebratory flares and chanting the genocidal chant, ‘From the river to the sea’. It showed that identitarian Westerners are willing to justify violence, no matter how brutal, so long as it is perpetrated by certain identity groups.

This embrace of Hamas by these Westerners is not an aberration, however. It follows from the logic of identity politics itself.

There are two main reasons why identity politics and support for Hamas go hand in hand. Firstly, identity politics has sacralised victimhood. That is, it attributes an enormous amount of moral authority to groups and individuals on the basis of their perceived victimisation. As Palestinians have been uniformly framed as victims over several decades, they have a tremendous amount of moral authority in identitarian eyes. Secondly, for the woke, victims are by definition blameless. They can neither be doubted nor held responsible for their actions. In the eyes of Western identitarians, Hamas, as the representative of a blameless victim group, is not to be held responsible for what it did on 7 October.

Strikingly, Hamas and other reactionary Islamist groups have themselves bought into the language of victimisation and identity politics. They increasingly frame their actions in therapeutic terms. They present themselves as the traumatised victims of assorted forms of oppression. As Ghazi Hamad, a leading figure in Hamas, put it last month: ‘We are the victims of the [Israeli] occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On 7 October, 10 October, 1,000,000 October – everything we do is justified.’

https://m.jpost.com/bds-threat/article-779863

It might have been mistaken for a rock concert as hundreds of 20- and 30-somethings streamed into Tel Aviv’s Carlton Hotel last week. But these young adults weren’t there for any music. Instead, they were clamoring to hear the perspectives of two prominent advocates for Israel.

The featured speakers at the International Salon were the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp; and author and political commentator Douglas Murray, who has become a social media star since Oct. 7 and whose book War on the West (2018) quickly became a New York Times bestseller.

Both Kemp and Murray have spent the past two and a half months in Israel covering the war. “I’ve almost made aliyah” quipped Kemp.

When the charismatic Murray entered the room a little late, for reasons that he would later share, the audience broke into applause. While Kemp has been known for years for endorsing the IDF as the “most moral army” in the world, Murray shot to fame at the opening of the current conflict with his acerbic response to an interviewer’s question as to whether Israel’s response to the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 could be considered “proportionate.”

In a segment on Britain’s Talk TV, which went instantly viral, Murray responded: “There is some deep perversion in Britain whenever Israel is involved in a conflict, and it’s the word you just used – ‘proportion,’ ‘proportionate,’ ‘proportionality.’ Only Britain is really obsessed with this.

“Proportionality in conflict rarely exists. But if we were to decide that we should have this fetish about proportionality, then that would mean that in retaliation for what Hamas did in Israel on Saturday [Oct. 7], then Israel should try and locate a music festival in Gaza, for instance (and good luck with that), and rape precisely the number of women that Hamas raped, kill precisely the number of young people that Hamas killed.

https://www.jns.org/red-cross-finds-little-sympathy-among-israelis-amid-accusations-of-ineptitude-bias/

“Humanitarianism,” “compassion,” “neutrality”—these are the words the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would like linked to its name. In Israel, the word more commonly associated with the organization is “mud.”

The ICRC has come in for criticism from the Israeli premier on down, with the public consensus being that the ICRC is at best a glorified taxi service, and at worst the most prominent of the consistently anti-Israel and biased so-called “humanitarian” groups.

Israelis blame the ICRC for failing to reach the hostages held by Hamas. Eighty-one days into the war, the Red Cross still hasn’t managed to gain access to the remaining captives held by the terror group. 

Israeli anger has intensified as reports emerge of the grim situation of the abductees, with reports of torture, sexual abuse, lack of food and medical care. Some hostages have been killed in captivity.

The ICRC didn’t help its cause when on Dec. 23 its president, Mirjana Spoljaric, blamed Israel, telling Channel 12 that “both” Hamas and Israel were responsible for the ICRC’s failure to reach the hostages. (Yehonatan Sabban, former ICRC spokesman in Israel, said he had to watch the interview four times because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.)

https://www.frontpagemag.com/frontpage-magazines-man-of-the-year-the-idf-soldier/

In a year when the civilized world is stuck in a state of retreat, he is fighting back.

Under Biden’s leadership, America has been invaded by hordes of millions of migrants, and Europe continues to stagger under an endless wave of migration from the Muslim world. That’s why American and European cities are being torn apart by rioting mobs supporting Hamas.

But after Israel was invaded on Oct 7, it fought back. The men on the front lines are not the politicians or the generals, they’re among the 360,000 reservists activated in a nation with a Jewish population of 7 million who left behind their homes, families and jobs to go and fight.

The Israeli military was unprepared for both Oct 7 and a call-up of this size. The soldiers were fed, clothed, and equipped by the people. While the media reports on the fighting, the truly incredible unreported story is how civilian volunteers have become the supply and support (the ‘tooth-to-tail’) of the Israel Defense Forces or the IDF.

In a small country, volunteers have been bringing food every day, they have provided clothes, shipped in body armor and even showed up with washing machines on pickup trucks to do the laundry. Some civilian volunteers have been wounded and even killed while delivering food. Israeli housewives have formed the Baking Battalion to make cookies, a cooking school produces meals for the troops and restaurants operate free food trucks. Others have stepped in to harvest crops and run the shops of the reservists who have been called up to serve in Gaza.

When the government and the leaders failed, the ordinary Israeli stepped up.

Some armies call themselves the “people’s army”: IDF soldiers really are. They’ve gone into Gaza knowing that the country stands behind them, not as an ideal, but as an everyday reality. Israel is a small country and everyone knows someone who died, came under attack, is among the 200,000 who left their homes to be out of range of the terrorist attacks, or in the ranks of those who are fighting or who have already fallen in defense of their nation.

Israel today reminds me of New York City after September 11 where for a brief shining moment everyone except the worst leftists pulled together against a common enemy. That spirit may well pass in Israel as it did in America, but while it lasts, it is something to admire and emulate.

Islamist mobs rampage around Manhattan and our elites celebrate Hamas, but the Israelis woke up after one terrible day and decided that they wouldn’t take it anymore. They rejected the dogma that fighting doesn’t work and they went to war. And far more than their own country is riding on the outcome. Nation after nation has surrendered to the Jihad, appeased it, and accepted the lie that Islamic terrorists can’t be defeated and fighting back only radicalizes them.