RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19964/biden-saudi-bribe-palestinians

Palestinian officials… have assured the US that they will not oppose Saudi-Israeli efforts at normalization, in the hope of receiving security, financial and political incentives from the Biden administration.

The Palestinian list of demands for not opposing a Saudi-Israeli deal includes, among other things: Resuming Saudi financial support to the Palestinian Authority, which slowed from 2016 and stopped completely three years ago, to the tune of around $200 million per year, and transferring parts of the West Bank currently under full Israeli control to the governance of the Palestinian Authority. The talk is about land in the West Bank’s Area C, which, according to the Oslo Accords, is exclusively controlled by Israel.

It appears, then, that Saudi Arabia and the Biden Administration are offering a bribe to the Palestinians in return for their silence over a Saudi-Israeli deal. The Biden administration seems desperate to achieve some kind of deal ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, presumably in the hope that it would boost President Joe Biden’s chances of being re-elected.

The Palestinian list of demands for refraining from condemning a Saudi-Israeli peace accord can be seen as tantamount to blackmail. The Palestinian leadership is telling the Saudis and Americans that if they want to avoid Palestinian condemnation, they must pay the price — with money and territory.

The Saudis are being asked to pay $200 million per year and the Americans, it appears, are expected to pressure — or blackmail — Israel into ceding control of more territory in the West Bank to Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, in exchange for promises. [T]he Americans, it appears, are expected to pressure — or blackmail — Israel into ceding control of more territory in the West Bank to Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, in exchange for promises.

The Palestinian leaders will happily accept any additional land in the West Bank, but, as experience has shown, they will do nothing to prevent these areas from becoming terror hubs.

Given the ongoing state of financial and administrative corruption in the PA, there is every reason to doubt that the Saudi funds would be used to boost the Palestinian economy or improve the living conditions of the Palestinians.

“The corruption began from the first moment that the Palestinian Authority began to gather the Palestinian people’s money and aid and pour it into the [ruling] Fatah [faction] budget, even though this money was given to the Palestinian people, not the Palestinian Authority or its officials who have divided it amongst themselves…. The many scandals of such officials and those close to Abbas have been exposed and seen as symbols of financial and political corruption, nepotism, bribery, smuggling and theft.” — Middle East Monitor, “Corruption in the Palestinian Authority,” December 2013.

Several militias and armed gangs are currently operating in the northern parts of the West Bank, while the PA is doing nothing to rein in the terrorists or prevent them from attacking Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The PA, which has spectacularly failed to enforce law and order in areas under its control, is demanding that Israel now allow it to gain control over even more territory in the West Bank?

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19972/jericho-unesco-heritage-site

The deeply corrupt, highly politicized United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will vote later this week on declaring Jericho, an ancient Jewish city, a “World Heritage Site in Palestine.”

The Palestinian Authority submitted a nomination of Jericho, which it wants to rename Tell es-Sultan.

UNESCO’s purpose is to promote “international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication and information” which it is supposed to do through “knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas.” Nowhere does it say that UNESCO has the least right to meddle in ongoing conflicts and create make-believe “facts” on the ground.

This illegitimate imposition is not the first time that UNESCO is putting on display its anti-Israel bias, penchant for faking history and an impressive tradition of lying.

In 2010, UNESCO renamed the Jewish site of Rachel’s Tomb the “Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque,” stating that it was part of “occupied Palestine.”” … At the time, only the US voted against these straight-faced falsifications of Jewish history.

In 2016, UNESCO declared Jerusalem’s Temple Mount – site of the two biblical Jewish temples – “a Muslim holy site of worship” and mentioned it only by its Islamic names, the “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.” It also renamed the Western Wall — a retaining wall which is all that remains of the Jewish Second Temple that was destroyed by the Roman Legions in 70 CE — “Al-Buraq Plaza”.

“[T]hey decided that the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is a Palestinian site, meaning that it is not Jewish, and that the site is in danger. Not a Jewish site?! Who is buried there? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah – our patriarchs and matriarchs! And the site is in danger? It is only in those places where Israel is, such as Hebron, that freedom of religion for all is ensured.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Guardian, July 7, 2017.

Corruption, politicization, and the falsification history do not appear, however, to bother the Biden administration in the least. In July 2023, the United States rejoined UNESCO, even though the organization has been called “a byword for inefficiency, nepotism and corruption” and was cited “among the most corrupt and politically biased UN agencies.”

“Biden’s excuse for rejoining UNESCO is to counter rising Chinese influence. The State Department argues, for example, that ‘we can’t afford to be absent any longer from one of the key fora in which standards around education for science and technology are set.’ This claim is entirely specious. There is little to no need for America to rejoin UNESCO to prevent harmful Chinese influence. UNESCO ‘standards’ for any sort of education are irrelevant, if not harmful to real education, as we’ve learned over many painful decades…. Biden is making precisely the same mistake as Obama, and, if Biden proceeds further, Congress should firmly block any UNESCO funding, as it has consistently done.” — John R. Bolton, former National Security Advisor and former US Ambassador to the UN, New York Post, June 20, 2023.

UNESCO does nothing to counter China, Russia, North Korea or Iran, but does do a lot to demoralize those countries hoping that the US will still be the leader of the Free World. UNESCO’s corruption, with America’s backing, is simply driving these countries still further into the waiting arms of China.

If US membership in UNESCO is to have any purpose at all, the least the Biden administration can do with its taxpayer dollars is all it can to prevent Jericho from becoming a “Heritage site in Palestine.”

For a start, there is no “State of Palestine.” In fact, until 1964, there was not even a “Palestinian people”.

“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism.” — Zoheir Mohsen, Palestinian leader, interview in Trouw, March 31, 1977.

“For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.” — Zoheir Mohsen, Trouw, March 31, 1977.

It is important to remember: Until the seventh century there were not even any Muslims in the world, let alone Palestinians.

In 2021, UNESCO published a handbook: “Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation: A Handbook for Journalism Education and Training.” Perhaps the good folks at UNESCO might read it before they vote?

Failing that, the US Congress should “should firmly block any UNESCO funding, as it has consistently done” — as Bolton suggested.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19970/unesco-bias-israel

In one of the latest examples [of anti-Israel bias], UNESCO recently announced it will designate the city of Jericho as a “Palestinian” heritage site.

This is a clear attack on Christians and Jews, who also view the city as an important part of their cultural and religious history. The Biden administration should object to this designation and protest UNESCO’s clear bias strongly.

[A]s former U.S. Ambassador to the UN and former National Security Advisor John Bolton advised in his strong article, “Biden’s foolish rush to rejoin UNESCO has nothing to do with China”: “Congress should firmly block any UNESCO funding, as it has consistently done.”

Rather than building a culture of peace, UNESCO is perpetuating a culture of anger and division.

By exiting UNESCO again, the U.S. would send a clear message that it will not tolerate the organization’s anti-Israel bias and that it will stand up to other racist and anti-Semitic actions at the UN.

Most people know the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through its eponymous and popular designation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. By UNESCO’s own definition, “World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located.” But an impending late-September vote by UNESCO again calls into question whether the organization holds to its stated beliefs or fits into the broader pattern of anti-Israel bias that permeates the United Nations.

The clear bias of the UN against the State of Israel was on full display in 2022. The UN General Assembly passed 28 resolutions criticizing countries. Of these resolutions, 15 criticized Israel, while only 13 were critical of all the other countries around the world combined. In a world beset by conflict, with a war in Ukraine, genocide against the Uyghurs in China, violence in Myanmar, the Taliban horrors in Afghanistan, instability in the Sahel, military infighting in the Sudan, and gang violence in Haiti, among the many global hotspots, Israel being the primary focus of UN criticism is totally inappropriate.

https://www.nysun.com/article/america-is-among-the-targets-as-israel-issues-warnings-on-iran?utm_source=MG&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Evening%20Sun%20%202023-09-11

If Prime Minister Netanayahu and President Biden meet next week — even at this late date, the word “if” must be used — expect some pleasantries but also a lot of behind the scenes disagreements, including on a growing rift over Washington’s Iran policies. 

“The prime minister made clear to all world leaders that if we detect uranium enrichment above 60 percent then Israel will have no choice but to act,” Israel’s national security council chief, Tzachi Hanegbi, said Monday. “I don’t think we gamble on our fate if this seems to be the Iranian policy.”

A day earlier, the Mossad chief, David Barnea, made a lot of headlines by telling a conference at Reichman University at Herzliya that Israel is contemplating new methods to slow down the Islamic Republic’s aggression in the region and beyond.

“The time has come to exact a price from Iran in a different way,” Mr. Barnea said, warning that attacks against Israelis and Jews at home or around the world would be more costly to its perpetrators than was seen with past Israeli methods. “These prices will be exacted with great precision in the depths of Iran, in the heart of Tehran,” he said. 

Iran is reportedly building a new airbase in southern Lebanon from which to conduct drone attacks on Israel. “The land is Lebanese, the control is Iranian, and the target is Israel,” the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, told Reichman University Monday, warning of “lethal force” against the base. 

While Israel in the past has often uttered warnings against Iran, the current ones may be directed at more than just Tehran. Mr. Barnea “did not threaten the Iranians. He is a serious enough person to understand that that has no meaning,” a former senior Mossad official, Haim Tomer, told Radio 103FM Monday. “He made a threat to the Americans.” 

Mr. Tomer, who was Mossad’s chief of intelligence and operations, added that Mr. Barnea is “expressing harsh criticism of the current U.S. administration,” and “is telling the Americans that he has freedom of action.” The foreign intelligence agency chief’s comments were cleared by Mr. Netanyahu, and were made on his behalf, Mr. Tomer added.

Washington and Jerusalem increasingly disagree over what to do about the Iranian nuclear program and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ military beef-up and growing aggression. Instead of addressing those issues, Mr. Biden is pressuring Israel over its lack of concessions to the Palestianians.

Washington well knows that Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing government, as it is currently formed, cannot agree on concessions to Ramallah. Such concessions are even less likely in light of the much publicized recent antisemitic comments made by the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas. He denied that Jews are Semites and blamed them for Hitler’s genocide. 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-758080

Thirty years on, we can say with confidence that Oslo and everything that it stood for is dead. Rather than trying to revive it, we would do well to offer it a fitting eulogy.

Next week marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords, one of the most colossal strategic errors in modern Israel’s history.

Three decades after prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat shook hands as a beaming US president Bill Clinton looked on, the smiles have long ago been erased thanks to the disaster wrought by the agreement.

And since the legacy of that catastrophic capitulation by the Jewish state is still very much with us, it is worth gazing back, however briefly, at the folly of that regrettable attempt to appease terror with territory.

Tossing logic to the wind, and blithely ignoring the warnings of senior IDF officials as well as the opposition, Rabin and foreign minister Shimon Peres inexplicably decided to rescue Arafat from political oblivion.

Despite his ignominious career ordering the hijacking of airlines and cruise ships, plotting school massacres, and reveling in the murder of innocents, Arafat was suddenly granted legitimacy as a “partner” by Israel’s government thanks to Oslo. 

Oslo Accord’s writing on the wall

In January 1979, President Carter facilitated the Ayatollahs’ rise to power in Iran, assuming that they would be “preoccupied with tractors, not with tanks.”

In September 1993, Prime Minister Rabin embraced the Oslo Accord, assuming that Arafat would be “preoccupied with domestic issues of the newly-established Palestinian Authority, not with terrorism.”

The architects of the 1993 Oslo Accord subordinated the 1,400-year-old violent and shifty Middle East reality to their eagerness to achieve “peace now.”  They refused to read the following 72-size-font writing on the wall:

*The September 1993 Oslo Accord salvaged the PLO from the abyss – at a time when it was abandoned by the Arabs – paving the road to an unprecedent wave of terrorism.

*The Accord transferred PLO terrorist headquarters from Tunisia, Yemen and Sudan to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza, which are contiguous to the key target of Palestinian terrorism: Israeli population centers.

*The relocation of the PLO headquarters (currently, the Palestinian Authority) was openly defined by PLO leadership as a “Trojan Horse.”  It expanded the potential of PLO terrorism, by facilitating direct control over the Arab population of Gaza, Judea and Samaria, significantly radicalizing the neighboring Israeli Arabs.

*The Oslo Accord provided a tailwind to the 1974 PLO’s “Phased Plan,” which determined that – irrespective of diplomatic agreements – every land ceded by the “Zionist entity” would become a springboard for ending the “1948 occupation” (pre-1967 Israel). This view of the Oslo Accord was articulated by Arafat in a September 13, 1993 statement made on Jordanian television, while the Accord was signed on the White House lawn…

*As expected, the Oslo Accord yielded a corrupt, ruthless, terrorist Palestinian Authority, and a wave of unprecedent terrorism – including thousands of missiles launched at Israeli civilians – fueled by hate education, mosque incitement, idolization of arch terrorists and generous monthly allowances to families of terrorists. The stated goal has been to traumatize Israel’s Jewish population into emigration.

Tom Friedman ignored the writing on the wall

In September 1993, Tom Friedman described the Oslo Accord as “a triumph of hope over history,” describing Arafat as a reformed-terrorist transformed into a peace-pursuing statesman. This was consistent with his reference to Arafat as a “teflon guerrilla”, “gipper” and a rock star, while serving in Lebanon as the New York Times Bureau Chief (1984-1988).
In July 2000, he posed the question: “Who is Arafat? Is he Nelson Mandela or Willie Nelson?” In fact, based on Arafat’s track record, T.F. should have asked: Who is Arafat? Is he Jack the Ripper or the Boston Strangler?

Contrary to T.F. and the architects of the Oslo Accord, Arab leaders are aware of the Palestinian inter-Arab track record of subversion, terrorism, ingratitude and treachery. Therefore, they limit their support of the proposed Palestinian state to talk, not walk.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mahmoud-abbas-palestine-israel-fatah-party-c131ddd9?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

It’s never a good sign when a dictator delivers a rambling historical lecture, in the style of Fidel Castro or Vladimir Putin. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, proved the point on Aug. 24 before the Fatah Revolutionary Council. His subject? The Jews.

Most media will ignore his comments, which were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. They don’t fit the liberal narrative that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a clash of two nationalisms that can be resolved in a “peace process” if Israelis make more concessions. The comments also don’t fit the narrative, gaining ground among Democrats, that the Israelis are extreme and the Palestinians progressive.

“The truth that we should clarify to the world,” Mr. Abbas began, “is that European Jews are not Semites. They have nothing to do with Semitism.” He cited the Khazar hypothesis, which speculates that Ashkenazi Jews aren’t descended from the Holy Land, hailing instead from the medieval Tatar kingdom.

This has been discredited by a century of scholarship; today, it’s a theory one expects to find only in online fever swamps. But its usefulness in denying the Jewish connection to the land of Israel has made it a mainstream claim among Palestinians.

Mr. Abbas kept going. “They say that Hitler killed the Jews for being Jews, and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews. Not true,” he averred. Europeans “fought against these people because of their role in society, which had to do with usury, money and so on.”

“Even Hitler,” he added, “said he fought the Jews because they were dealing with usury and money.” Yes, even for Hitler, “this was not about Semitism and anti-Semitism.”

Three days before Mr. Abbas’s speech, his Fatah party’s military wing competed with Hamas to take credit for the murder near Hebron of a Jewish preschool teacher, Batsheva Nigri, in front of her child. If you wonder why the Oslo peace process hit a dead end and stayed there, consider that Mr. Abbas and Fatah have been described for decades as “moderates.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/05/politics/joe-biden-jack-lew-israel-ambassador/index.html
CNN  —  https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/05/politics/joe-biden-jack-lew-israel-ambassador/index.html

President Joe Biden is nominating former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as his ambassador to Israel at a fraught moment in US-Israel ties.

Lew, who also served as chief of staff during the Obama administration, will likely face a tough confirmation battle as Republicans seek to challenge Biden’s policies toward Israel.

Tensions between Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government have persisted for months, in part over contentious judicial reforms and what Biden regards as extremist positions taken by members of Netanyahu’s government. Israel’s moves to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank have also drawn US criticism.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to meet sometime this fall in the United States after a prolonged period without face-to-face talks. The two men have known each other for decades.

Even amid the tensions, Biden is looking to secure a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the hopes of bringing more stability to the Middle East.

Lew, who has been working in private equity in recent years, declined to comment. He would replace Tom Nides as US ambassador to Israel. Nides, who is married to Virginia Moseley, the executive vice president of editorial for CNN US, departed the post earlier this summer.

Aside from his posts at the White House and Treasury, Lew served as deputy secretary of state for management and resources, and as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He practices Orthodox Judaism and is 68 years old.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Israel is always in the news. Hardly a day goes by without shrieking headlines about protests, counter protests and terror. That is striking considering that in 2023 the population is 9,174, 520 people with a global ranking of 98. Per capita there is not a single country with such dazzling research and development of medicine, technology, economy, agriculture, and social institutions which enhance the life and prospects of billions of citizens throughout the globe. Furthermore, Israel’s unique cuisine and its beautiful beaches, arts, music and theater enchant tourists from all over the world including formerly hostile Arab/Moslem nations.

Fortunately, all the foregoing is catalogued by Michael Ordman almost every week. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Whole genome cancer detection. It wasn’t long ago since the genome was fully decoded. Now, Israel’s C2i Genomics (see here previously) has teamed up with Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center take blood test data and perform whole genome minimal residual disease (MRD) testing to detect recurring cancer early.

https://www.israel21c.org/ai-cancer-startup-collaborates-with-top-israeli-hospital/  https://c2i-genomics.com/

Biopsy the cells. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s MetaSight Diagnostics is developing fast, low-cost mass spectrometry to perform vast amounts of serum biopsies of the metabolome (molecules in a cell). These can detect cancer, liver disease, cardiovascular and neurological diseases etc. MetaSight is working with KSM (Maccabi’s R&D).

https://metasightdx.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wsHb4l7HXc

Light-activated cancer treatment gets US support. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s ImPact Biotech has received Orphan treatment designation from the US FDA for its Padeliporfin VTP in Pancreatic Cancer. ImPact stands for IMmune Photo Activated Cancer Treatment and VTP is Vascular Targeted Photodynamic therapy.

https://impactbiotech.com/impact-biotech-receives-fda-orphan-drug-designation-for-padeliporfin-vtp-in-pancreatic-cancer/   https://impactbiotech.com/

US NIH funds Israeli radiation therapy. The U.S. National Institutes of Health has granted Israel’s Pluri (previously Pluristem) $4.2 million to develop its PLX-R18 (see here) as a treatment for Hematopoietic Acute Radiation Syndrome – a deadly disease that can result from nuclear disasters and radiation exposure.

https://pluri-biotech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/1689056470_PLUR_NIAID_ARS_PR_FINAL-2.pdf

https://pluri-biotech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Pluri_PR_re_BMT_Article_FINAL_accessible.pdf

Transforming clinical best practices. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Quai.MD is developing an AI- platform that improves hospital patient care, reduces costs and saves doctors’ time. The process is tailored to the patient and hospital. Partners include Mayo Clinic & MUSC. Initial focus is the diagnosis of patients with chest pain.

https://nocamels.com/2023/08/ai-platform-helps-diagnose-chest-pain-swiftly-and-accurately/  https://quai.md/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiv_hbQY8Is

11,000 focused ultrasound procedures. (TY OurCrowd) A 5-year study of patients has proved the success of the focused ultrasound treatment from Israel’s Insightec (see here previously). It improved quality of life with no progressive or delayed complications. Insightec’s technology has been used 11,000+ times globally.

https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/focused-ultrasound-treatment-is-proven-an-effective-treatment-to-curb-tremor-for-at-least-five-years-898536012.html

Brain stimulation eases ADHD symptoms. In a small clinical study, Israeli and UK researchers found non-invasive brain stimulation improved the condition of 55% of unmedicated ADHD children aged 6-12. Only 17% of the placebo control group improved. 64% of the treated children retained the improvement weeks later.

https://en.huji.ac.il/news/hope-children-adhd-new-study-finds-non-invasive-brain-stimulation-treatment-can

Next gen blood test device gets US approval. (TY OurCrowd) The US FDA has approved the upgraded 15-minute bacteria vs virus diagnostic blood test device from Israel’s MeMed (see here previously). The new MeMed BV is now suitable for urgent care centers, as it avoids the clotting and spinning process of the original.

https://www.me-med.com/press_release/fda-clears-memed-bv-direct-from-whole-blood/

Approval for smart colonoscopy device. (TY Atid-EDI) MAGENTIQ-COLO from Israel’s MAGENTIQ-EYE (see here previously) has been cleared by the US FDA and Israel’s AMAR, and received Europe’s CE Mark. The AI-assisted device is significantly more efficient in detecting adenomas (pre-cancerous polyps).

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfpmn/pmn.cfm?ID=K223473  https://www.magentiq.com/

https://vimeo.com/540882393   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4HtDuXWAqo

Re-educate your muscles. Israel’s Neuro Trigger is developing a powered muscle stimulator to repeatedly contract muscles to increase their range of motion and prevent retardation. Neuro trigger has received a BIRD grant (see below) to develop an eyelid pacemaker that restores blinking to those with facial paralysis.

https://www.nt-med.com/

Remote health care for Madrid region. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Essence SmartCare (see here previously) has won a contract from the Community of Madrid governmental region. Essence will use its digital AI systems to replace outdated analog remote care services for 100,000 senior citizens and disabled individuals.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-community-of-madrid-selects-essence-smartcare-to-provide-advanced-remote-care-technologies-for-senior-and-disabled-citizens-301873901.html