RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/insight/

Israel’s military operation in Jenin has ended and the IDF has withdrawn from the Palestinian town. You can see some of the results here and weapons caches in mosques here. Evidence of Iranian-sponsored terror organizations living in the middle of the civilian Palestinian population can be seen here.

Even Haaretz journalist Amos Harel almost acknowledged that Israel avoided Palestinian civilian casualties, although the IDF entered a densely populated area of the city. However, he did not note that the reason the IDF was there was because terrorists deliberately located themselves in the heart of this area.

Harel also suggested a sort of “tit for tat” aspect to the Palestinian response: “There was a stabbing attack in Bnei Brak and a vehicular ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv.”

Indeed, the headline of the piece was “Macabre Dance will Persist.”

So, for Harel this is a “dance.” Palestinian terrorists attempt to kill Israeli civilians while burrowed in among their own civilians—two war crimes in one—and this is the same thing as the IDF’s attempt to eliminate the source of this terror.

Harel is not alone in his view. As you watch and read media coverage of the Jenin raid—especially in The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the BBC and Al Jazeera—remember that this is not Israel’s first incursion into Jenin.

During the so-called “second intifada,” Israel took the initiative and removed terrorist emplacements in the city. Western media reported Palestinian claims of 1,000 civilians killed and buried in mass graves as fact. But eventually, Western reporters proved that “about 50 Palestinians had fought and died in a ferocious battle that also cost the lives of 23 Israeli soldiers.”

With that in mind, note a recent New York Times headline: “Jenin Has a Long Legacy as a Bastion of Palestinian Armed Struggle.” The town, the article said, has “nurtured an ethos of defiance.”

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-748976

Using legal and humanitarian arguments to justify Palestinian demands ignores Israel’s legitimate claims to Judea and Samaria and its security needs.

According to the European Union, which influences policymaking in the international community, Israel’s occupation of the “West Bank” (areas that the IDF conquered in 1967) is a “violation of international law” – the Hague and Fourth Geneva Conventions – and is illegal; therefore, Israel must withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines.

While this is a powerful and effective emotional and psychological weapon against Israel, few understand that, for Palestinians, “the occupation” includes all of Israel, everything “from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”

The EU’s position, however, is baseless

The League of Nations recognized the right of the Jewish people to a homeland in the area; this was incorporated into the UN’s Charter (Article 80). The FGC defines “occupation” as occurring between states (“high contracting parties”); only Israel qualifies.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, however, declared that Israel was guilty of illegally “occupying Palestinian territory.” And, since the ICRC has special observer status at the UN and a special position in the FGC, its decisions are considered authoritative. The EU and UN adopted this as “humanitarian law.”

Although Israel withdrew from Areas A and B in Judea and Samaria as stipulated in the Oslo Accords, and assisted the Palestinian Authority to develop its institutional structure, the focus turned to denying Israel’s legal and historical claims to Area C, where all of the “settlements” are located. The debate over further territorial concessions, however, ended because terrorism and incitement continued unabated. Moreover, Iranian proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip – were empowered. The mantras of “land for peace” and “the two-state solution” became irrelevant, even for many in the international community.

http://bit.ly/44cJNfV

According to the late Prof. John Galbraith, the enemy of conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of facts, which may expose conventional wisdom as useless or dangerous.  Prof. Galbraith also suggests that conventional wisdom does not accommodate itself to the real world, but to a certain view of the world.

Indeed, the march of Middle East facts has exposed the alarming flaws of the Palestinian-oriented Western conventional wisdom, which has attempted to reshape Middle East reality in accordance with its own worldview.

For example:

*Since 1948, contrary to Western conventional wisdom, Arab countries have never flexed their military (and barely their financial and diplomatic) muscle on behalf of the Palestinian cause, as evidenced by the July 2023 war/battle between Israel and Palestinian terrorism, the previous 2021, 2014, 2012 and 2008 wars against Gaza Palestinian terrorism, as well as the 2nd (2000-2005) and 1st (1987-93) Intifada and the (1982) war against the PLO in Lebanon.

*Since 1948, Middle East reality has demonstrated that in contradiction of Western conventional wisdom, Arab national interests transcend – and often conflict with – the Palestinian issue. Therefore, no Arab-Israel war (1948/49, 1956, 1967 and 1973) erupted due to – or on behalf of – the Palestinian issue. Moreover, the six Israel-Arab peace accords with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and the Sudan were concluded because they bypassed the Palestinian issue, eliminating the Palestinian veto power, which has been enshrined by Western conventional wisdom, torpedoing all Western peace proposals.

*Moreover, no Israel-Arab peace treaty has been suspended due to Israel’s wars/battles against Palestinian terrorism. Arabs concluded peace with Israel, in order to advance their own interests, and do not sacrifice these interests on the altar of Palestinian interests.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/04/what-israel-is-fighting-against/

Israel’s large-scale military incursion into Jenin on the northern West Bank has drawn widespread international condemnation. Starting on Monday morning, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) deployed over 1,000 troops with armoured vehicles, military bulldozers, drones and helicopter gunships to move into a refugee camp. The military operation is expected to last for a few more days. It is Israel’s largest operation in the West Bank in over 20 years.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), the organisation that officially controls the Palestinian population centres in the West Bank, set the tone for the criticism. A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called the operation ‘a new war crime against our defenceless people’.

According to this narrative, the massively powerful IDF is engaged in yet another brutal and senseless attack against the Palestinians. At the time of writing, the Israeli military has killed at least 10 Palestinians in Jenin and wounded over 100, with 20 people in critical condition. Another Palestinian was killed yesterday, in an Israeli military raid on the West Bank town of Ramallah. About 3,000 Palestinian civilians have fled Jenin in the face of the onslaught.

Israel, in contrast, argues that its operation, unofficially named Bayit Vagan (Home and Garden), is focussed on what it calls ‘terrorist infrastructure’. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry: ‘Over the past two years, Jenin has become a major hub of terrorism and an Iranian stronghold close to Israeli population centres. Most of the terror attacks against Israelis originated from Jenin.’ The IDF’s goals include targeting armed men, arresting wanted men, as well as destroying weapons labs and command-and-control centres. Israel says it is trying its best to minimise civilian casualties.

Israel’s latest incursion marks an uptick in a conflict that has been escalating for a while. This year so far, about 29 people on the Israeli side (including foreigners) have been killed and 270 have been wounded by Palestinian military groups.

As Michael Ordman reminds us in this week’s dazzling list of Israel’s contributions to medicine, technology, agriculture, and water technology to name only a handful, Tel Aviv is also ranked as the happiest city in the world due to “Rich cultural heritage, kind people, and abundance of food, shopping, and learning” “as well as “a global hot spot for spring break and vacationing as a whole.”(https://www.thetravel.com/happiest-cities-in-the-world/#tel-aviv-israel)

All this from a post-colonial Jewish nation which is the size of New Jersey, Lake Michigan, Wales, or Kruger National Park, and the eighth smallest nation in Asia with a high standard of living and one of the world’s most educated work forces.

Read it all. rsk

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
4,000+ spine operations. The xvision Augmented Reality Spine System from Israel’s Augmedics (see here previously) has now been used to treat over 4,000 patients and implant more than 20,000 pedicle screws across 21 U.S. states. It consistently demonstrates 97-100% accuracy across multiple patient studies.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bjfbm8fu3  https://augmedics.com/
 
Hope for children with epilepsy. Researchers at Tel Aviv University and elsewhere have developed therapy in the laboratory to treat Dravet syndrome – a life-threatening form of epilepsy in children caused by a mutation in the SCN1A gene. The scientists used a harmless virus containing normal SCNIA genes to “infect” the brain.
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/tau-discovery-may-help-children-suffering-from-dravet-syndrome/
https://www.jci.org/articles/view/159316
 
Converting skin cells into placenta cells. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have converted human skin cells into functional human placenta cells. The breakthrough can help cure pregnancy-related diseases and infertility issues by generating placenta cells that won’t be rejected as foreign tissue.
https://www.jns.org/colleges-universities/hebrew-university-of-jerusalem/23/6/21/297061/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39104-1
 
When women should take their meds. Israel’s Levana.ai is an AI-based solution that personalizes women’s prescriptions based on their cycle. It’s a platform for women who are taking long-term medication and provides doctors with recommendations regarding when and how much medication to prescribe to their patients.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1iydoovh   https://levana.ai/
 
Brain block may cure addicts. (TY Nevet) Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have identified in the laboratory that the claustrum area of the brain is vital to preventing addiction to certain medications. Existing remedies could help susceptible individuals increase their resistance and self-control.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-discovery-could-help-brain-block-urge-for-highly-addictive-fentanyl/
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00737-6
 
All fingers and thumbs. Arab Israeli Dr. Firas Mawase is head of the Neurorehabilitation and Sensorimotor Neuroscience Laboratory at Israel’s Technion. He is investigating rehabilitating the dexterity of brain-damaged patients (e.g., from a stroke), using engineering and computational tools and functional imaging of the brain.
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2023/05/all-fingers-and-thumbs/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0H0uATaJPA
 
US approval for safe epidural device. The EpiFinder device from Israel’s Omeq Medical (see here previously) has just received US FDA approval. A limited US launch is planned for early 2024.
https://www.israel21c.org/smart-device-aims-to-improve-safety-of-epidurals/
 
Partnership with UAE healthcare system.  Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has partnered UAE’s PureHealth, the largest integrated healthcare platform in the Middle East. The two will conduct joint research, promote advanced technology in healthcare, collaborate on staff training, and boost bi-lateral health tourism.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/sheba-medical-center-enters-partnership-with-largest-uae-healthcare-system/
 
Technion and Toronto medical AI partnership. Israel’s Technion Institute and the University of Toronto Artificial Intelligence Centers have partnered to develop AI solutions in the field of medicine. The first workshop took place in Ein Gedi in May. https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2023/05/changing-medicine-with-ai/
https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech-and-start-ups/article-742749
 
Quick-thinking saves mother and baby. Rachel, a nurse midwife attending a mother in labor at Ziv Medical Center in Safed, noticed that the baby’s head was moving in the wrong direction. She rushed them to ER, where doctors diagnosed a complete rupture of the uterus, delivered baby, and later reconstructed the mother’s womb.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/quick-thinking-israeli-midwife-saves-mother-and-baby/
 
Research training for doctors. The Israel Science Foundation has launched Israel’s MAVRI initiative (Hebrew for “one who heals”). The ISF will award grants totaling $100 million over five years, to create a select team of Medical PhDs who will conduct clinical research that will ultimately benefit patients.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-science-foundation-announces-new-program-to-support-physician-

https://www.wsj.com/articles/netanyahu-revives-judicial-overhaul-stripped-of-most-controversial-piece-33160de?mod=hp_lead_pos7

JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would drop the most controversial part of his plan to remake the country’s court system, pushing ahead with legislation stripped of a provision that would have given the national legislature the power to overturn rulings by the Supreme Court.

“It’s out,” Netanyahu said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that also touched on relations with the U.S., his decision not to supply weapons to Ukraine and his concerns about deepening ties between Russia and Iran.

Netanyahu’s initial judicial-overhaul plan, which sparked large-scale unrest that paralyzed the country earlier this year, was opposed by many secular and liberal Israelis who said they feared the measures would give the government too much power and lead to a rollback in civil liberties.

“I’m attentive to the public pulse, and to what I think will pass muster,” said Netanyahu, who has previously said he wouldn’t support an “unlimited override clause.”

Netanyahu allowed lieutenants to advance the initial legislation, but he has taken control of the plan’s substance and messaging since he paused the effort in March after civil unrest. The prime minister also said he would revise another controversial piece of the legislation, which would have given the ruling coalition more power to appoint judges, though he said he wasn’t sure yet what the new version would look like.

The revisions are unlikely to persuade opposition politicians to support the plan, and risk alienating the religious far-right and ultraorthodox parties that play a critical role in Netanyahu’s coalition government and see the country’s courts as too activist and hostile to their agenda.

It is unclear whether they go far enough to forestall a repeat of mass protests that grew so severe that Netanyahu in March suspended the legislation and started compromise talks with the opposition. He said the sides failed to reach an agreement and that he would move forward with his own revised plan.

He said that with his new version of the law he was determined to find a middle ground so any changes would “stick for a generation.” The opposition says Netanyahu risks plunging the country back into turmoil if he doesn’t return to the negotiating table.

The prime minister said he has also sought a middle ground in Israel’s response to the war in Ukraine.

Netanyahu rejected calls from some Washington lawmakers and Ukrainian officials to join the West’s effort to arm Ukraine, saying, “We have concerns that I don’t think any of the Western allies of Ukraine have.” He said he needs to ensure Israel has “freedom of action” in Syria, where Israeli pilots often bomb Iranian targets in the vicinity of Russia forces, which prop up the Damascus government.

http://bit.ly/3XrrDUV

Notwithstanding the current tension between the Administrations of the US and Israel, and while there is an erosion in Israel’s high favorability among Americans (according to Gallup: Israel’s favorability – 68% compared to 71% in 2022; Palestinian Authority’s – 26%), the US-Israel defense and commercial cooperation keeps expanding.

This expansion responds to mutual threats and challenges, such as Iran’s Ayatollahs, Sunni Islamic terrorism, the vulnerability of all pro-US Arab regimes, and the need to bolster the US’ global, technological competitive edge. Facing these threats and challenges, the US is leveraging Israel’s unique defense and commercial capabilities, which have contributed to the US economy and defense – in dollar terms – more than the annual US “foreign aid” to Israel.
The mutually-beneficial US-Israel partnership has been a derivative of the following factors:

1. US-Israel relations transcend the reality of international relations, in general, and US foreign relations, in particular.  US foreign relations are usually determined by the State Department establishment and the “elite” media, streaming in an up-bottom manner to the public.

However, in the case of the US policy towards Israel, the direction of the policy has been determined by the general public’s state-of-mind – which has prevailed since the Early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers – streaming in a bottom-up manner to elected officials in the House, Senate and White House.  Moreover, US elected officials are accountable to their constituents, who expect them to faithfully represent their worldview (including their pro-Israel sentiments), or “we shall remember in November.”

2. While the White House tends to adopt the State Department’s worldview – which opposed the establishment of Israel in 1948, and has criticized Israel since then – both chambers of Congress (which are the most authentic representatives of the US constituency in the 435 Districts and 50 States) welcomed the newly-established Jewish State in 1948, and have always favored enhanced US-Israel cooperation. Furthermore, the US Congress is the world’s strongest Legislature, co-equal and co-determining to the President, capable of blocking, altering and initiating policy, as demonstrated by a litany of precedents, such as:

*Congress overruled Nixon and Reagan, ending the US military involvement in Southeast Asia (1973), Angola (1976) and Nicaragua (1984);
*Congress prevailed over Nixon (1974), forcing the USSR/Russia to allow free emigration;
*Congress overrode Clinton, Obama and Trump (1996-97, 2011, 2013, 2017), imposing sanctions on Iran, Egypt and Russia;
*The Senate did not ratify the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran (JCPOA), which enabled Trump to withdraw from the accord;
*Congress substantially expanded US-Israel strategic cooperation, in defiance of the Bush/Baker opposition (1990-1992);
*Etc.