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March 2024

MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

25 Years Later, We’re All Trapped in ‘The Matrix’ The 1999 sci-fi classic predicted a world like the one we now live in, where human beings are cut off from one another by technology. But it also reminded us that resistance is possible. By Meir Soloveichik

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/25-years-later-were-all-trapped-in-the-matrix-3f3a3aea

Twenty-five years ago, “The Matrix” offered us a modern twist on Plato’s cave. Today we are once again asking what it will take to find our way out of the lonely darkness, into the brilliance of other human souls in the real world.

It is a cinematic scene familiar to millions: A man named Morpheus sits across from another man named Neo and informs him that his entire notion of reality is a lie. If Neo wishes to know the truth of human existence, Morpheus says, all he has to do is choose one of two pills. “You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill…and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

This scene is the turning point in “The Matrix,” the sci-fi classic that was released 25 years ago this month. Of course, Neo chooses the red pill and learns the terrible truth that the advent of artificial intelligence allowed machines to take over the Earth. He believes it is 1999, but in fact it is 2199, and all human beings are perpetually asleep in vats, exploited by their AI masters as a source of energy. The world they think they experience is actually a virtual reality known as “The Matrix.”

Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburne, has devoted himself to freeing individuals from the Matrix and leading them to a refuge called Zion. He believes that Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is “the One” destined to liberate humanity.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

New York Doomed to Be Migrant Central Who wouldn’t come? by Betsy McCaughey

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/new-york-doomed-to-be-migrant-central/

Mayor Eric Adams’ agreement to limit the time migrants can stay in shelters at taxpayers’ expense, is smoke and mirrors. It’s designed to fool you into thinking he’s solving a problem when he’s actually caving to the migrant industrial complex.

Adams claims the agreement, with the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, will allow the city to evict adult migrants from city-run shelters after 30 days, saving taxpayers money and limiting the need for more shelters. Not true.

The fine print says migrants have a shot at staying longer if they obtain a driver’s license, follow shelter rules and show good behavior, or — get this one — apply for public benefits. And this is a “non-exhaustive” list of reasons making migrants eligible to stay longer.

The agreement also applies only to single adults. A staggering 78% come with children and get priority placement in hotels. The city currently spends a whopping $387 a night for food and a roof alone for each family, and shells out more money for free medical care, education and legal services. This agreement does zero to alleviate those staggering costs.

The deal dooms New York City to fiscal disaster, because it will continue to be the No. 1 destination for migrants seeking a free roof over their heads. The Big Apple is now Migrant Central.

Worst of all, nothing in the agreement empowers the mayor to evict troublemakers who have repeat run-ins with police. The migrants who beat up cops in Time Square were living in shelters, courtesy of taxpayers, and already had long rap sheets.

When troublemakers are arrested and give a shelter address, the shelter should be contacted and told they no longer qualify. Why should taxpayers be footing the bill to house criminals?

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Leo Varadkar vs the people Good riddance to the man who turned Ireland into a laboratory of the new illiberalism. Brendan O’Neill

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/22/leo-varadkar-vs-the-people/

‘I am no longer best man to be Irish PM’, said a BBC headline this week, summarising Leo Varadkar’s resignation speech. The truth, Leo, is that you were never the best man to be Irish PM. He was never elected by the people to be taoiseach, instead securing that seat of power by appointment and backroom dealing. And once there, once he’d been gifted the highest office in the land by his allies in Dublin 4, he wielded government not for the people, but against them. He bent Ireland to what was essentially a vast real-time experiment in social re-engineering and thought control.

An unelected ruler using his power and clout to correct the country and improve the people? There’s a word for that. And it isn’t ‘democracy’.

Varadkar announced his resignation on Wednesday. In an emotional speech he said he was stepping down as leader of Fine Gael immediately and will step down as taoiseach once his successor has been chosen. His ‘shock departure’ followed the people’s crushing defeat of the twin referendum he put forward. Overwhelming majorities rejected his proposals to alter the Irish constitution to update its definition of ‘family’ and to fix what Varadkar damned as its ‘very sexist’ reference to a woman’s ‘duties’ in the home. No thanks, said the electorate, in the biggest ever referendum loss by an Irish government.

Even the fact that Varadkar’s stepping down is widely seen as a ‘shock move’ speaks to the haughtiness, the outright unworldliness, of his political kind. To many of us it makes perfect sense that a PM would bugger off after suffering a historically unprecedented bloody nose from voters. But it seems the Varadkar clique thought they could ride it out. ‘No biggie’ was their view. Until his ‘shock departure’ on Wednesday, reports the Guardian, ‘the political fallout from the [referendum] debacle had widely been expected to be limited’.

Who expected that? I’m sure those voters who gleefully seized the opportunity of the referendum to give the middle finger to Varadkar and the rest of the establishment didn’t expect the impact of their discontent to be ‘limited’. It is a testament to the arrogance of technocracy, to the chasm that has emerged between Ireland’s rulers and Ireland’s ruled, that the Dublin establishment thought it could shrug off the largest drubbing it has ever received from voters.

In the end, tellingly, it seems it was disgruntlement from within his own party ranks, rather than the disgruntlement of the oiks, that convinced Varadkar to go. He was facing ‘increasing discontent within Fine Gael’, with some party bigwigs worried he’s an ‘electoral liability’. Everything you need to know about the man is contained in the fact that he essentially shrugged when the masses rose up against him but bolted when his fellow clerisy members criticised him. To the technocrat, the disapproval of their dinner-party circle carries far more weight than the discontent of ordinary people.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Biden’s Pier Is a Gift to Hamas Terrorists by Con Coughlin

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20513/biden-pier-gift-to-hamas

There are mounting concerns that the Biden administration’s pier plan could ultimately boomerang, especially, as Netanyahu himself has warned, if the US aid and the port itself end up in the hands of Hamas terrorists.

“This [Biden] administration betrayed its allies – the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan – by handing the port over to Qatar, namely to Hamas….. What all anti-U.S. elements will take away from this tragic episode is not that America stands by its human values to support and care for the population of Gaza, but rather that America is weak and that this is why it is granting the port to Qatar and Hamas.” — Yigal Carmon, founder and president, Middle East Media Research Institute, March 20, 2024.

As Hamas ultimately controls most of the aid distribution networks in Gaza, the plans currently being drawn up by the US and Europe to expand aid deliveries could ultimately prove counter-productive in terms of ending the conflict, as Hamas terrorists have a long track record of exploiting foreign aid to strengthen their terrorist activities in Gaza.

If the Biden administration and its European allies are really serious about ending the conflict in Gaza, then they should give their unequivocal backing to the Israeli military in its battle to destroy the terrorist infrastructure Hamas has constructed in Gaza.

For it will only be when Hamas is completely destroyed, and no longer poses a threat to the Israeli people, that there can be any genuine prospect of lasting peace in the region.

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BOOKS Comments turned off

‘The Anxious Generation’ Review: Apps, Angst and Adolescence Parents could see their phone-obsessed children changing and succumbing to distress. Now we know the true horror of what happened.Meghan Cox Gurdon

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-anxious-generation-review-apps-angst-and-adolescence-43076dc8?mod=opinion_lead_pos12

In 2012, the satirical Onion News Network ran a faux TV story about a smartphone-obsessed teenager capable only of rolling her eyes and texting. The reporter intoned: “Caitlin Teagart was a beautiful, lively girl who loved laughing and playing outside, but all that changed when she was 12.” Now, hooked on technology, the girl is pallid and unresponsive. Caitlin’s parents have decided to have her euthanized. “We can give her eyes,” says the actor playing her father, “to someone who would actually use them to read a book.”

The timing of the video was excruciatingly apt. Smartphones had become ubiquitous, apps were proliferating and childhood itself was in the final throes of what the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls “the great rewiring.”

In “The Anxious Generation,” Mr. Haidt lays out in pitiless detail what happened to the children of Generation Z when life moved online. For this cohort, the first to go through puberty with constant access to the internet, it was not merely that playing and socializing had shifted to phones, tablets and gaming consoles but that real-life pleasures and risks were also disappearing: rough-and-tumble outdoor activities, opportunities for physical independence, unsupervised recreation. Free play had been in retreat and technology on the march since the 1980s, Mr. Haidt observes, but it took the invention of the smartphone, which permits users to be online 24/7, to complete the mutation of childhood from “play-based” to “phone-based.” In words that chill the parental heart, he writes that giving smartphones to young people en masse constitutes “the largest uncontrolled experiment humanity has ever performed on its own children.” The experiment has been a disaster.

Grab a Copy

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A Revived ISIS Rampages in Moscow Putin will blame Ukraine to deflect from his security failure, but the jihadists won’t spare the U.S.

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/articles/isis-rampages-in-moscow-terrorist-attack-russia-3ddf98c6?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

To all the other security risks in the world, you can add the return of Islamic State as a killing machine. Russians were the victims on Friday as gunmen attacked civilians at a Moscow concert venue, killing at least 133. ISIS suicide bombers killed more than 80 in Iran in January, and no one should doubt that the jihadists are looking to target Americans sooner or later.

Vladimir Putin predictably tried to pin the murderous assault on Ukraine, and his coterie blamed the U.S. But the evidence so far points to ISIS, including that the jihadists took credit for the assault and posted a video of it taking place, apparently from one of the killers. The U.S. says it warned Russia about a potential ISIS attack, but Mr. Putin publicly dismissed the U.S. warning as disinformation.

Blaming Ukraine now helps Mr. Putin distract attention from his earlier dismissal of what has now cost so many innocent lives. And it deflects from the fact that Russian security was so inept that the killers could rampage for an hour in the Russian capital and somehow escape in a car.

Mr. Putin will now use the attack to deceive Russians and mobilize more young men to be cannon fodder for his ambition to annex Ukraine. He has a history of using these events to his own political advantage, and the evidence points to an apartment bombing in 1999 as an inside job that helped to elevate him to the Presidency. Ukraine will have to brace itself for missile attacks as part of this latest Putin misdirection.

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BOOKS Comments turned off

CHAPTER 11: Critical Race Theory: A Species of the Ideological Thought Genus Marxism Space Is No Longer the Final Frontier—Reality Is [forthcoming release April 2024] by Linda Goudsmit

By on March 24th, 2024

https://goudsmit.pundicity.com/27641/chapter-11-critical-race-theory-a-species-of

 goudsmit.pundicity.com 

 lindagoudsmit.com 

Dr. James Lindsay, mathematician, cultural critic, political analyst, and prolific anti-Woke/anti-Marxist writer, presents an extraordinary and original analysis of the existential threat facing Western Civilization. He introduces Marxism as a genus of ideological thought, and categorizes classical economic Marxism, Maoism, radical feminism, critical race theory, queer theory, Post-Colonial Theory, and Woke as species in the genus of Marxism. It is a magnificent discourse that identifies Woke as the 21st-century species of Marxism evolved to attack the West, signaling our entry into the transformational stage of education, the final phase of Outcome-Based Education (OBE), discussed in Chapter 6.

Lindsay addressed the European Parliament at its Woke Conference on March 29, 2023[i]. It is a stunning speech in which he states unequivocally, “Woke is Maoism with Western characteristics.” The complete transcript follows.

[Transcript]

Woke: A Culture War Against Europe | James Lindsay at the European Parliament

March 29, 2023 [posted May 30, 2023]

Hello. Thank you. I’m glad to be here. I want to address something Tom just said, which is, in fact, that woke is supposed to advance equity in Europe. So, here’s the definition of equity and see if it sounds like a definition of anything else you’ve ever heard of.

The definition of equity comes from the public administration literature. It was written by a man named George Frederickson, and the definition is “an administered political economy in which Shares are adjusted so that citizens are made equal.”

Does that sound like anything you’ve heard of before—like socialism? They’re going to administer an economy to make “shares” equal. The only difference between equity and socialism is the type of property that they redistribute—the type of shares. They’re going to redistribute social and cultural capital, in addition to economic and material capital.

And so, this is my thesis: When we say, “What is woke?” Woke is Maoism with American characteristics.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on March 24th, 2024

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Jews around the world have just heard how Queen Esther saved the Jewish people from annihilation over 2,000 years ago. This week, the positive Israeli news is full of the achievements of Israeli women.

They include the discoverer of a treatment for a common eye disease.
Three women who developed a test for newborns at risk of disabilities.
The Oct 7 survivor who is back on her feet thanks to Israeli technology.
Technion’s first female dean of aerospace engineering.
The winner of the “Nobel Prize” for Electrical Engineering.
And the founder of an NGO that has brought water & electricity to 1,100 African villages. Michael Ordman

POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR

Israel Prize for heroes. The Israel Prize for civilian heroism will be awarded to Menachem & Elchanan Kalmanson and Itiel Zohar, for saving over 100 lives on Oct 7. They named themselves “Team Elchanan” in honor of Elchanan Kalmanson, who died in the rescue operation.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/heroic-civilians-to-receive-israel-prize-for-saving-nearly-a-100-people-on-oct-7th/

Bedouin Arab policeman rescues hundreds. On Oct 7 Police Sgt. Remo Salman El-Hozayel, a member of the southern Israel Bedouin community, drove hundreds of Nova partygoers to safety in a small, abandoned car he found after Hamas blew his up with a grenade. He later returned the car to its owner who had escaped on foot.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/california-synagogue-leases-space-to-muslim-group-werent-expecting-this-result-2/

Technion UK solidarity trip to Israel. UK readers can join Technion UK (May 6 – 10), for the “Solidarity trip to Israel”. Experience Israel’s innovative spirit firsthand through privileged encounters with pioneering startups, interactive sessions at the Technion Institute and adventure into the heart of Israel’s past, present, and future.
https://technionuk.org/event/solidarity-trip-to-israel/

Directing $800 million of donations to Israel. (TY Yanky) North American Jewish response to the Gaza war has been phenomenal. Jeff Schoenfeld, co-chair of the Israel Emergency Allocations Committee, is busy allocating $800 million of funds raised by Jewish Federations of North America and other institutions.
https://jweekly.com/2024/03/13/the-man-directing-800m-in-post-oct-7-donations-to-israel-on-where-the-money-goes/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Another approach to curing Alzheimer’s? (TY Nevet) In 2023, Bar-Ilan University Prof Shai Rahimipour (see here previously) worked with Canadian scientists on a peptide therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Now he is working with Italian scientists developing nanoparticles to attack an early version of the Amyloid-beta protein.
https://tps.co.il/articles/nanotechnology-breakthrough-could-transform-alzheimers-care/

New pathway for treating wet AMD. Prof. Ofra Benny, cofounder and CSO of Israel’s Orsight, has developed a small molecule that (in lab tests) stops the formation of excess blood vessels in the eye, thus preventing the worst effects of wet AMD. It also has prospects for use in cutting off blood supply to tumors.
https://www.israel21c.org/orsights-novel-amd-drug-may-preserve-sight/
https://ngt-healthcare2.com/orsight-pharma/

Linking heart disease to cancer. (TY Nevet & UWI) Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center found that a diseased heart releases bubbles, called extracellular vesicles (sEVs). These travel through the bloodstream and promote the growth of cancer cells. Spironolactone stops sEVs and prevents cancer.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-researchers-uncover-biological-pathway-between-heart-disease-and-cancer/
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.066911

Saliva tests can prevent lifelong disabilities. (TY Nevet) Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection causes (often lifelong) health problems for one in every 1,000 newborns in the USA. Hadassah / Hebrew Uni researchers have developed an efficient cCMV PCR saliva-based screening test for early detection & treatment.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-791556
https://www.hadassah.org/story/newborn-saliva-screen-could-revolutionize-ccmv-protocol

Innovative tech gets survivor back on her feet. Neta from Kibbutz Kfar Aza was badly wounded by Hamas on Oct 7. Technion doctors created a unique orthotic device tailored specifically for Neta based on 3D scans of her leg, to aid her in walking while her ankle is unable to bear weight. It allows for adjustment as her leg heals.
https://technionuk.org/news-post/a-new-step-toward-healing-with-innovative-orthotic-technology/

New technologies for treating wounded. (TY Nevet) Doctors at Hadassah’s hospitals in Jerusalem are using the latest technologies, like robot-assisted surgeries, 3D printing, and computer games, to treat wounded soldiers and civilians. A robot can extract a bullet easily, without damage to other organs.
https://www.hadassah.org/story/voa-hadassah-treats-wounded-using-advanced-technology
https://www.voanews.com/a/israeli-medical-technology-helps-treat-save-soldiers/7508578.html

Increasing fertility with AI. Israel’s FertilAI has developed Fertilane – an AI platform for clinicians, to offer solutions for better patient care throughout the entire fertility journey. It also includes an app to help patients throughout the complicated process of fertility treatments and to improve clinic-patient communication.
https://www.israel21c.org/fertilais-ai-platform-increases-clinical-fertility-by-8/ https://fertilai.com/

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Female-friendly Technion. (TY Nevet) This year, 50% of new undergraduate students at Israel’s Technion Institute are women. To encourage more new mothers to enroll, the Technion has installed 18 nursing rooms. They are located in each faculty, as well as in the Student House and the Ulman Building used by all faculties.
https://ats.org/our-impact/the-technion-opens-18-rooms-for-nursing-moms/

First female head of aerospace engineering faculty. (TY Nevet) Professor Daniella Raveh is the first woman to become dean of the Israel Technion’s faculty of Aerospace Engineering. An alumna of the faculty, she graduated with honors and went on to earn both a master’s and Ph.D. degree at the Technion.
https://ats.org/our-impact/making-history-first-woman-to-head-the-faculty-of-aerospace-engineering-at-the-technion/ https://ats.org/about/faces-of-the-technion/daniella-raveh/

80,000 Muslims pray peacefully at Al-Aqsa. Tens of thousands of Moslems peacefully worshipped in the compound of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the first Friday prayers of Ramadan. Police reported no unusual incidents, despite Hamas calling for violence. The Islamic Waqf estimated that 80,000 people took part.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-gird-for-first-ramadan-friday-prayers-after-hamas-calls-to-defend-al-aqsa/

Medtech hub utilizes Israeli Arab creativity. Israel’s MEDX Xelerator (see here previously) has generated the NorthMed innovation hub in the northern town of Sakhnin. In its first year, NorthMed helped Swift Duct (see here previously) develop its endoscope for navigating the bile duct.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/medtech-hub-fostering-underutilized-creativity-of-israeli-arabs/
https://medxelerator.com/

Ramadan parade led by Israeli flagbearer. (TY Yanky) The Israeli Bedouin settlement of Bir al-Maksur, which means Broken Well, and is located near the Jezreel Valley. The village held a parade to mark the start of Ramadan. Leading the parade was someone proudly carrying the Israeli flag.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Israel/comments/1bbk7i0/this_is_how_we_welcome_ramadan_in_my_arab_home/

“Nobel Prize” for Electrical Engineering. Tel Aviv University Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron has been awarded the top prize in electrical engineering – IEEE’s Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies – for her groundbreaking technology that uses existing cellular networks to monitor meteorological phenomena.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/tau-professor-wins-top-electrical-engineering-prize-for-weather-monitoring-work/ https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/env-safety-rl.pdf

Still happy despite the war. (TY Nevet) Although at war, Israel is fifth on the World Happiness Report 2024, just one place lower than in 2023 and four higher than in 2022 (see here). The scores are from asking citizens questions about GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387047
https://tps.co.il/articles/despite-war-israel-ranks-5th-in-world-happiness-report/
https://happiness-report.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/WHR+24.pdf

1,000+ African villages. Israeli NGO Innovation: Africa has brought water and electricity to 1,100 villages in Africa. Each village costs $65,000 to provide costs for drilling, solar pump, solar panels, tanks, piping, taps, a 10-meter tower, and remote monitoring. $20,000 brings light to all school classrooms and teacher’s homes.
https://innoafrica.org/ https://innoafrica.org/projects/

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Shaping future technology with India. (TY Nevet) Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to foster research initiatives through collaborative projects, training programs, and research consultancy.
https://tps.co.il/articles/iai-iit-collab/

Sensing food that has gone bad. Israel’s Sensifi promises to revolutionize pathogen detection. Using an ‘artificial nose’, Sensifi’s tiny sensors – electrodes covered with carbon nanoparticles – enable rapid detection of harmful pathogens like E. Coli and Salmonella in under an hour, far less than current alternatives.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/artificial-nose-sniffs-out-bacteria-making-your-food-go-bad/
https://www.startuphub.ai/startups/sensifi/

Printing on the moon. Israeli 3D printing firm Stratasys is sending its 3D-printed materials on an upcoming lunar mission to test their performance on the surface of the moon. It is part NASA’s Tipping Point which is promoting companies that develop space technologies.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/3d-printing-firm-testing-how-its-products-perform-on-the-moon/

Innovative cooling technology. Israel’s Storage Drop (see here previously) has won a 1 million Euros grant in the EU funding program – HORIZON in the Clean and Efficient Cooling 2023 Track. The system, receiving energy from solar panels, aims to supply electricity to the system to produce 5 TR of cooling 24/7.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-storage-drop-wins-eu-grant-to-develop-innovative-cooling-systems-1001473896

Turning Beersheva into Singapore. A comprehensive article about the Synergy7 hub (see here previously) located in the Gav-Yam Advanced Technologies Park in Beersheva. It has just opened its new, first-of-its-kind robotics lab, with specialists from Israel’s Elbit enabling entrepreneurs to gain valuable practical experience.
https://www.israel21c.org/ambitious-new-robotics-lab-opens-in-war-hit-negev/
https://www.gavyam-negev.co.il/en/ https://synergy7.co.il/

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Thousands more foreign workers. (TY Hazel) The Ministry of Housing plans to bring about 40,000 more foreign workers to Israel for jobs in the construction industry. Already some 1,200 Indian workers are in Israel, increasing to 10,000 by end June. Similar numbers will be employed from Georgia, Sri Lanka, and Azerbaijan.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-792325

Facts about Canadian trade. (TY Hazel) In his announcement of an arms embargo on sales to Israel, Canada’s Foreign Minister forgot to mention that in the last decade, the Canadian Defense Ministry purchased Israeli weapon systems worth more than a billion dollars. (see also here previously)
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-792943

Israel Resilience Fund invests in 34 companies. Israel’s OurCrowd has announced that commitment by investors to its Israel Resilience Fund had increased to $17 million, enabling it to increase funding to a current total of 34 startups. In addition, PwC Israel will provide business support to portfolio companies in the fund.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/pwc-israel-collaborates-with-ourcrowds-israel-resilience-fund-to-support-israels-tech-sector-at-time-of-crisis

Europe continues to invest. The tenth Europe Days conference in Tel Aviv (see here previously) featured some 200 Israeli startups and entrepreneurs. All were hoping for investment from the 14 venture capital funds and 18 representatives of companies, authorities, and municipal bodies from Europe.
https://www.israel21c.org/foreign-investors-eye-israeli-startups-at-europe-days/

Europe invests in Israeli AI startup. Israel’s NeuReality (see here previously) has raised $20 million including from The European Innovation Council and Israel’s OurCrowd.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-chip-co-neureality-raises-20m-lincluding-eus-eic-1001474101

Securing payments in Africa. (TY OurCrowd) Egyptian-based PAPSS (the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System) has selected Israel’s Thetaray (see here previously) as its anti-money laundering (AML) and screening partner.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/egypt-based-pay-platform-taps-israeli-anti-money-laundering-startup/

Sports Illustrated is (for 10 years) Israeli. Israel’s Minute Media has reached a 10-year licensing deal for digital and print rights to publish Sports Illustrated. The Israeli company will oversee all digital and print editorial operations across the SI portfolio. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1tq0kuap

Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 24/3/24: US-based Gitlab is acquiring Israel’s cloud security startup Oxeye for $30-40 million. Israeli-founded Redis has acquired Israel’s Speedb.

Startup investment – to 24/3/24: BigID raised $60 million and achieved Unicorn status; NeuReality raised $20 million; Euno raised $6.25 million; IO River raised $5.4 million,

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

International Photography Festival. The 11th International Photography Festival has been rescheduled and will now take place Mar 27 – Apr 6 at the Enav Cultural Center and Ofer Garden complex in Tel Aviv. It is free and includes the Meitar 2024 exhibition, focusing on photographs of the evacuees of the Negev and the Galilee.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/photo-israel-11th-international-photography-festival/
https://photoisrael.org/en

Visit the Israel Museum. There are currently some interesting exhibits and lectures at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Shekels true or false (ends Apr 30); a VR tour of Aleppo’s Great Synagogue. Roman Road in the Desert; The lost album of Yemenite photos;
https://www.imj.org.il/en/current-exhibitions https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/shekels-true-or-false https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/wonders-deep
https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/lost-album-jakob-rosner%E2%80%99s-yemenite-photographs

International Music Festival. The Felicja Blumental International Music Festival runs Mar 25 – 30 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. It advertises as “the best of our Israeli songwriters and classical Arabic music, all wrapped within European classical music performed by orchestras and chamber ensembles”.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/felicja-bloomental-international-music-festival/
https://fbmc.co.il/en/festival/felicja-blumental-festival/

Jerusalem in Harmony. The “Emunah” Concert – Jerusalem in Harmony, takes place on Weds Mar 27 at the Jerusalem Theatre. Chazanut, Classics, Broadway, Israeli, and more. Featuring Shai Abramson, Simon Cohen, Halellu Choir, & Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Proceeds go to the Emunah Centers for Trauma Counselling.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/the-emunah-concert-jerusalem-in-harmony/
https://www.jso.co.il/en/concert/the-emunah-concert-jerusalem-in-harmony/?bt=1

Jerusalem’s new laser light show. The city of Jerusalem has just started its new laser light show along the Tower of David promenade. Through music and visuals, the show tells the story of Jerusalem’s cultural tapestry while offering spectators a panoramic view of the iconic landmarks of Israel’s capital city.
https://www.israel21c.org/jerusalem-debuts-spectacular-laser-light-and-sound-show/
https://www.jwire.com.au/lasers-light-up-jerusalem-night-sky/

Cycling team wins Tour de Taiwan. (TY WIN) Israel Premier – Tech cycling team continued its success at the Tour de Taiwan. After winning the first stage last week (see here previously) it won the overall team event after clinching the 5th and final stage in Kaohsiung City. The team’s 13th win of the year already beats 2023.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-cycling-team-clinches-overall-victory-in-tour-de-taiwan/

The Israelis heading for the Paris Paralympics. Israel has 15 athletes so far in its team for August’s Paris Paralympics. Israel won nine medals at the 2021 games – eight of them in the swimming events.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-paralympic-team-so-far-15-athletes-heading-to-paris/

THE JEWISH STATE

2,000-year-old hideout from the Romans. (TY UWI & WIN) Israeli archaeologists have discovered an extensive underground complex at Huqoq in the Galilee, just north of Tiberias, dating from the First Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire in 66 – 70 CE. It had been converted from a 2nd Temple period water cistern.
https://www.jns.org/2000-year-old-refuge-complex-found-near-sea-of-galilee/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386913

Virtual tour – the return to Zion. An immersive virtual tour (one-hour on Zoom) exploring the profound impact of Persian rule on ancient Israel and its enduring influence on the symbols of Zionism.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/virtual-tour-the-return-to-zion-post-purim/
https://www.museumtours.co.il/event-details/virtual-tour-return-to-zion

Solidarity mission to Israel. This May, join the Friends of the IDF for a truly unforgettable mission to spend Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day on Israeli soil with her protectors. Spend Shabbat in Jerusalem; private meeting with Israel’s President; Yom haZikaron at the Kotel; Yom Ha’Azmaut with IDF soldiers.
https://www.fidf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Israel-Mission-May-Itinerary.pdf

Global hour of Jewish Unity. A global service of solidarity on Mar 21 was streamed live from the Kotel (Western Wall). The hour of psalms and please for the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas culminated with the simultaneous recitation of the Shema prayer. Also see the connection between Purim and this war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiS5dprr0jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFIKFnWNHzg
https://www.jns.org/thousands-attend-western-wall-prayer-service-for-the-hostages/

Jerusalem’s first Purim parade in 4 decades. Despite the war, Jerusalem will host its first Purim parade since 1982 on Shushan Purim 25th March. It will include 30 floats and seven musical stages along the 1km downtown route. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said it is “a victory of spirit and standing strong”.
https://www.jns.org/jerusalem-to-hold-first-purim-parade-since-1982/

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The Russian dictator’s double terrorism standards Putin decries the Moscow massacre, while siding with the genocidal butchers of Oct. 7.By Ruthie Blum

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.jns.org/the-russian-dictators-double-terrorism-standards/

Following Friday’s massacre at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the outskirts of Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a video address to his nation. The slaying of “dozens of peaceful, innocent people … including children, teenagers and women,” he said, was a “bloody, barbaric, terrorist act.”

After praising security services, firefighters, medical teams and “ordinary citizens” who aided in rescuing the victims, he declared that “it is already obvious that we are faced not just with a carefully, cynically planned terrorist attack, but with a prepared and organized mass murder of peaceful, defenseless people.”

Yes, he added, “The criminals calmly and purposefully set out to kill, to shoot at point-blank range our citizens, our children. Just like the Nazis once carried out massacres in the occupied territories, they decided to stage a show execution, a bloody act of intimidation.”

He proceeded to vow: “All perpetrators, organizers and customers of this crime will suffer fair and inevitable punishment—whoever they are, whoever guides them. I repeat, we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this attack on Russia, on our people.”

Not much detective work proved necessary, though, since Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) promptly and proudly took credit for the heinous assault in a statement published on the Telegram channel of the group’s affiliate news agency, Amaq. This didn’t prevent Putin from a subsequent attempt to pin the event on Ukraine, despite zero evidence of Kiyiv involvement.

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Bragg Falsifies Business-Records Charges against Trump By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on March 24th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/03/bragg-falsifies-business-records-charges-against-trump/

Oh, the irony.

Donald Trump is facing a state criminal trial for violating federal election laws that Alvin Bragg has no jurisdiction to enforce.

This is not apparent from last spring’s 34-count indictment, which Bragg couched as a state falsification-of-records prosecution. In the statement of facts he issued in connection with the indictment, the Manhattan district attorney also camouflaged his intentions, knowing a plainspoken admission that he was trying to enforce federal law — congressional statutes under which the responsible federal enforcement agencies had opted not to charge Trump — would ignite a firestorm. The statement of facts makes only a fleeting allusion to Trump’s involvement in a “scheme” in which participants “violated election laws” (not otherwise specified); and it conclusively alleges that the payment of hush money by Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, was “illegal” because Cohen has “since pleaded guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution.”

We should think of Bragg as falsifying his prosecution — just as he accuses Trump of falsifying business records.

Tellingly, Bragg avoided specifying the statute to which Cohen had pled guilty — a federal statute that the state prosecutor has no authority to enforce. And as an experienced prosecutor, Bragg must know that there is zero evidentiary value in what he touts as Cohen’s admission of guilt to federal campaign-finance felonies — made while Cohen was trying to sell himself to the Justice Department as a cooperator, hoping for leniency in an unrelated federal fraud case. Given Cohen’s lack of experience in the esoterica of federal election law, his admission does not establish even that he committed federal campaign-finance felonies, much less that Trump did.

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