RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-here-and-now-of-holocaust-remembrance/

 It is of tragic relevance that anti-Jewish Arab riots, rocket fire and hate-filled solidarity protests around the world have upstaged the lead-up to Yom Hashoah, which begins on Wednesday evening.

Normally at this time, Israel’s preparations for Holocaust Remembrance Day are highlighted in news broadcasts and discussed at length by the punditocracy. Even during the more than 25-month pandemic period, when the customary somber memorials around the country were canceled altogether or replaced by Zoom ceremonies, the day marked by Israel for the anniversary of the Nazi genocide of the Jews—purposely slated for the week before Israel Independence Day—was treated with deference.

This year, however, one would be hard-pressed even to realize that the date is fast approaching. If anything, Israelis have been invoking the Holocaust mainly to decry the events in Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, played on this very heartstring last month when he addressed Israel’s Knesset via video.

The desire to universalize the particular plight of the Jews is nothing new. Nor is it surprising that many Jews are at the forefront of the effort to turn “never again” into a slogan that applies to any and all forms of death, destruction and discrimination.

For the past few years, even a number of prominent Israelis have joined the endeavor with gusto, not only through false analogies but by using the occasion of Holocaust remembrance to warn the Jewish state about its own dangerous extremists. Though some purveyors of this pernicious “cautionary tale” happen to be members of parties in Israel’s governing coalition, including in ministerial positions, their narrative has difficulty permeating the national membrane.

For one thing, most Israelis are too concerned with their personal safety in the face of shootings, stabbings, car-rammings and Molotov cocktails to worry about the purity of their souls and adherence to an unrealistic “rules of engagement” doctrine.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/04/airbrushing-jews-out-jerusalem-and-temple-mount-richard-l-cravatts/

Last week in Jerusalem, as Jews celebrated Passover and Muslims observed Ramadan, violent images were broadcast of Palestinian thugs vandalizing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and hurling Molotov cocktails, stones, and fireworks on the Temple Mount itself and at Jews praying at the Western Wall.

The motivation behind the Arab rage? Initially, false rumors were promoted that settlers were planning to make animal sacrifices, a claim that Ofir Gendelman, spokesperson to the Arab media in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, stressed was false and, in fact, had been promoted by Hamas for the express purpose of inciting terror,

But that spurious charge against Israelis was merely a new variant of the long-standing accusation made against Jews by Arabs that dastardly Jews were plotting to destroy the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque, a baseless but recurring charge that Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai referred to as the “Al-Aksa [sic] Is in Danger” libel. In fact, as early as the 1920s, when Amin al-Husseini, the Nazi-loving Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, rallied Muslims with accusations that Jews intended to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuild the Jewish Temple, Arabs have attempted to ignore and obscure any Jewish connection to the site and have sought to “liberate” purported Muslim holy places from the grip of the occupying Zionists.

While the current round of violence was predictably blamed on Israel, in fact, as with previous clashes on the Temple Mount, the violence and rioting were neither random nor pointless and had both a strategic and tactical purpose—to degrade the Jewish claim to Jerusalem and all of Palestine by erasing the Jewish identity, history, and religious significance of the Temple Mount and Islamicizing the entire site through physical and spiritual control.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/where-the-dual-loyalty-accusation-actually-applies/

 In a speech on Tuesday night, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman refuted the anti-Semitic canard that Diaspora Jews who defend and champion the Jewish state are guilty of “dual loyalty.”

Friedman, a proud Orthodox Jew whose four-year tenure was marked by the overseeing of and participation in a slew of pro-Israel moves, said that he’d been on the “receiving end” of that “shameful” accusation.

“Not only does support for Israel by American Jews not compromise or undermine support for our host country, but support for Israel is actually a quintessential American value,” he said in the opening remarks of his lecture, delivered upon his receipt of the Guardian of Zion Award from Bar-Ilan University’s Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies.

“Indeed,” he went on, “the Bible, so much of which is predicated upon God’s covenant to our forefathers to install, and then later to restore, the Jewish people in the land of Israel, is foundational to the principles upon which America was founded … [and] Jews who support Israel stand for the very best of our American heritage and our American values.”

  https://bit.ly/3OoVkB1

According to the February 2022 annual Gallup poll of country favorability, 71% of Americans accord Israel a “very favorable” and “mostly favorable” rating. It matches

Israel’s average favorability since 2013, compared to 58% in 2002, 71% in 2012, 69% in 2019 and 75% in February 2021.  Israel’s all-time high favorability was in February 1991 – 79% – in the aftermath of the January-February Iraqi Scud Missiles striking Tel Aviv.

Israel is ranked 7th among countries rated by Gallup, trailing Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Germany and India. However, none of these countries have been targeted – as has Israel – for daily criticism by the State Department (which fiercely opposed Israel’s establishment in 1948), the United Nations, the NY Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, CNN, MSNBC and many of the political and social science departments on US campuses.

While Israel is considered favorably by 71% of Americans, the Palestinian Authority has earned a meager 27% favorability rating, at the bottom of the favorability scale, along with Cuba – 40%, Pakistan – 21%, China – 20% (all time low), Libya – 19%, Iraq – 16%, Iran – 13%, Afghanistan – 12%, Russia – 12% and North Korea – 10%.

Israel has retained a high-level of favorability among the three major US political groups: 63% of (mostly moderate) Democrats, 71% of Independents and 81% of Republicans. At the same time the Palestinian Authority received a 38% favorability rating among Democrats, 29% – Independents and 14% – Republicans.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/04/12/the-unholy-alliance-of-israel-haters/

Certain rituals follow every terror attack in the West. People take to social media to express feelings of grief. They post an image of the flag of the nation whose citizens have been slaughtered. ‘I Stand With…’ France, Belgium, Spain, they say, or whatever unfortunate nation has attracted the bloody attention of ideological mass murderers. They might even take part in a sing-song. They might gather somewhere, flowers in hand, to sing ‘Imagine’ or hum along to a national anthem. But there’s one exception to this custom. One nation for which this never happens. For whom virtue is never signalled, flags never waved, songs never sung, no matter how much terror comes its way. You know which nation it is. Israel.

Israel has been subjected to a wave of terror over the past three weeks and social-media mourners are nowhere to be seen. You’ll be searching a long time – forever – to find a blacked-out square on Instagram or an Israeli flag in the Twitter bio of a member of the great and good. Many people I’ve mentioned the terror wave to hadn’t even heard of it. From the mass stabbing carried out by an ISIS-supporting fanatic in the city of Beersheba on 22 March, which left two women and two men dead, to the mass shooting at a crowded bar in Tel Aviv last Thursday, in which three people were murdered, horrific attacks on Israeli citizens have passed many by. Five terror attacks, 14 deaths, and it barely makes a ripple in the Western consciousness.

The individual stories behind the wave of terror are truly grim. In the attack of 29 March – in which a Palestinian terrorist opened fire in the city of Bnei Brak, killing five – two Ukrainian nationals were among the victims. Aged just 23 and 32, they were sitting outside a shop, taking a rest, when they were shot to death. So it isn’t only in Ukraine that Ukrainians face murder in the streets right now – they’re at risk in Israel, too. One of the other victims in Bnei Brak was an Israeli-Arab police officer, a 32-year-old Christian who was engaged to be married. Two of the victims at the Tel Aviv bar were lifelong friends, both 27, meeting for a post-work drink. These are the human realities behind a wave of indiscriminate slaughter that many in the West can’t even be bothered to notice.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Here are some highlights of two weeks in Israel brought to us by Michael Ordman:

For A (astronaut) to C (cancer cures) to Q (quantum computers) to T (Twelve Tel Aviv Techstars) to U (Ukraine and United Arab Emirates) to V (value ofIsrael’s 2021 exports volume of $143 billion) to W (women’s ice hockey team and whiskey distillery) to X (advanced x-ray tech) to Z and the legacy of Zionism-the dream of centuries and the reality in 1948. Happy holidays!

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Cancer therapy “double-whammy”. (TY UWI) Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a 2-in-1 anti-cancer nanoparticle. It is the world’ first RNA-based treatment to combine chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells and immunotherapy to stimulate the immune system to identify and attack the remaining cancer cells.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-2-in-1-cancer-drug-shows-promise-in-boosting-chemo-and-immunotherapy/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q88d4GVq9KM

Natural antibodies fight cancer too. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that in addition to cancer-fighting T-cells, the immune system’s B-lymphocytes also produce antibodies that take part in battles against cancer cells. They target the enzyme MMP14, a cause of metastasis and can be used in future therapies.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/antibodies-fight-cancer-too/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324515

Toxic cancer treatment made safe. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have improved a cancer therapy that killed tumors but was too toxic for use.  They added a specially created antibody that targets only the CD40 receptor protein molecule which stimulates the immune system to fight the cancer.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-lab-says-its-made-a-powerful-but-toxic-cancer-treatment-safe/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43018-022-00329-6

US approval for fast diagnosis of collapsed lung. Israel’s Aidoc (see here previously) has received US FDA approval for its newly developed X-ray solution that detects cases of pneumothorax (collapsed lung) on X-rays for more efficient triage. Fast diagnosis of the condition can prevent subsequent respiratory or cardiac failures.
https://nocamels.com/2022/04/aidoc-pneumothorax-lung-x-ray/

Eye-opening breakthrough. Doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center have performed the first implant of the thinnest artificial cornea ever printed in the world. The 50-micron thick EndoArt implant (see here previously) reduces recovery time and risk of rejection. The patient had a previous human cornea rejected.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/eye-opening-breakthrough-israeli-doctors-implant-worlds-thinnest-artificial-cornea/

The first “shining star” baby. (TY Hazel) Israeli doctors delivered by Caesarian section the first baby born at the “Shining Star” Israeli field hospital in Ukraine. Mother and baby are doing well.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/first-baby-born-at-israeli-field-hospital-in-ukraine/

Israeli Arab leads Ukraine field hospital lab. Arab-Israeli Amir Zoabi heads up the laboratory at the Israeli field hospital in Ukraine. Set-up in an unused schoolroom, his lab can conduct any required test. In this article Amir shares his feelings about being part of the Israeli humanitarian delegation.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-arab-israeli-leads-lifesaving-lab-in-war-torn-ukraine/