RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jns.org/iranian-dissident-delegation-visits-israel-in-historic-first-meets-with-foreign-ministry/

The mission was organized by the Institute for Voices of Liberty, a U.S.-based nonprofit that seeks to “counter the false narratives propagated by the Islamic Republic and its apologists,” and to act as a voice for the “freedom-seeking people of Iran.”

It was billed as the first Iranian delegation to Israel since the fall of the Shah 42 years earlier. Six Iranian Muslim dissidents, forced to leave their homeland decades ago and who made their way to the United States, came on a three-day solidarity mission last week to show support for the Jewish state following the May clash between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip—namely, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad—that have long been backed by Iran.

Accompanying the group were four former Trump administration officials, including Ellie Cohanim, former U.S. deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism at the U.S. State Department, who described the visit as “historic.” Cohanim was born in Tehran and escaped with her family shortly after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

“They know that Hamas, which rained down these rockets on Israel, is an Iranian proxy, and they know that Hezbollah on the Lebanese border is an Iranian proxy,” Cohanim told JNS. “And they wanted to show the Israeli people, but also the world, that they support Israel in its right to a country and its right to self-defense, and they really just stand against the Iranian regime.”

The mission was organized by the Institute for Voices of Liberty (IVOL), a U.S.-based nonprofit that seeks to “counter the false narratives propagated by the Islamic Republic and its apologists,” and to act as a voice for the “freedom-seeking people of Iran.”

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Israel’s oral Covid vaccine. (TY Mickey) Israel’s Oramed will shortly commence clinical trials of its Oravax vaccine – the world’s first oral Covid-19 vaccine (see here previously). Phase 1/2 trials will take place at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center with Phase 3 in countries desperate for a vaccine.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israel-to-become-first-in-world-to-test-oral-covid-19-vaccine-674563
 
Israeli Covid vaccine can defeat variants. (TY I24 News & UWI) Israel’s IIBR-developed BriLife vaccine (see here previously – now in Phase 2 testing) has advantages over vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. It recognizes the whole of the spike protein and can be easily adjusted to protect against mutations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJCGLJoqh5o
 
Existing treatments combat Covid. (TY WIN) Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have lab-tested 3 existing therapies successfully against SARS-CoV-2.  Darapladib, Flumatinib and an HIV medicine target the virus’ other proteins, which mutate far less than the spike protein. The study is now to be peer-reviewed.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/3-existing-drugs-fight-coronavirus-with-almost-100-success-in-jerusalem-lab/
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/14/7/604
 
Anti-viral nasal spray launched. Israel’s SaNOtize (see here previously) has now begun sales of its Enovid Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) at pharmacies in Israel and Bahrain. It is effective against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and variants Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Final tests for the Delta variant look good.
https://nocamels.com/2021/07/sanotize-covid-nasal-spray-israeli-pharmacies/
 
Israeli doctor advises Canadians about Covid. Israeli-born bioethicist and public health advisor Vardit Ravitsky is Chair of the COVID-19 Impact Committee of the Montreal-based Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. A key influencer was her uncle and Israel Prize laureate philosopher Aviezer Ravitzky.
https://robertsarner.com/israeli-canadian-bioethicist-return-to-pre-covid-normal-would-be-wasted-chance/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-canadian-bioethicist-return-to-pre-covid-normal-would-be-wasted-chance/
 
Home Covid tests. The latest tool to be adopted by Israel against the coronavirus pandemic, rapid home virus-testing kits, is being made available to purchase in Israeli pharmacies as part of a pilot program.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-rolls-out-pilot-for-pharmacies-to-sell-rapid-home-virus-tests/
 
Remote monitoring patients in Alabama. Alabama Regional Medical Services (ARMS) has selected the Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) system from Israel’s DarioHealth (see here previously) to improve the management of ARMS’s hypertension patients, including large numbers of underserved and uninsured patients.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/dariohealth-chosen-to-provide-remote-patient-monitoring-for-alabama-regional-medical-services-301337191.html
 
Effective burns treatment for children. Israel’s MediWound (see here previously) successfully completed Phase 3 clinical trials of its NexoBrid treatment on children with severe thermal burns. The study evaluated 145 pediatric patients, from newborn to eighteen years of age, across 36 burn centers worldwide.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-mediwound-says-key-trial-shows-pineapple-gel-effective-for-kids-burns/
 
EU funds for Israeli alternative insulin therapy. Israel’s Betalin Therapeutics (see here previously) is to receive capital from the European Innovation Council (EIC) fund. The funding will advance human trials of its biological pancreas that can produce insulin in the body independently, thus making injections unnecessary.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3912996,00.html
 
Reprogramming the immune system. This article describes the latest progress of Israel’s Immunai (see here previously) which is mapping the immune system to help develop new life-saving treatments. It acquired US-based Dropprint Genomics and has launched into development of cancer and autoimmune disease therapies.
https://www.israel21c.org/creating-a-google-maps-for-the-immune-system/
 
Support for the immune system. Solabia-Algatech Nutrition based at Kibbutz Ketura has launched BioGlena from whole Euglena gracilis algae grown on the Kibbutz. BioGlena contains over 55% β-glucan polysaccharides, touted as nature’s immune-modulator, helping to prime and support natural immunity.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solabia-algatech-nutrition-launches-whole-algae-sourced–glucan-301338424.html   https://www.algatech.com/algatech-facility-arava-desert/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkFa-Im2maA

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com  

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Restoring touch sense to damaged nerves. (TY UWI) Tel Aviv University researchers have developed the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) sensor that can be implanted in the body, e.g., under the tip of a severed finger. It connects to another nerve that functions properly and restores tactile sensation to the injured nerve.
https://en-engineering.tau.ac.il/Engineering-Faculty-Dr-Ben-Maoz-Restoring-Tactile-Sensation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncoE-w6I7AE   https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.0c10141
 
Blind man can see with sound. (TY UWI & JNS) Israeli neuroscientists have trained a 50-year-old man, blind from birth, to recognize objects using Israel’s EyeMusic (see here previously). The system uses sensory substitution that EyeMusic’s Professor Amir Amedi researched at the Hebrew University (see here previously).
https://www.israel21c.org/blind-mans-brain-learns-to-see-through-his-ears/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921003062?via%3Dihub
 
Keep your feet. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Votis Subdermal Imaging Technologies develops devices to diagnose Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) affecting 200+ million people globally. The condition affects mainly diabetics and can lead to Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) with the subsequent need to amputate the feet.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/votis-subdermal-imaging-technologies-raises-us2-5-million-301302733.html  https://www.votis.net/
 
Portable ultrasound heads to space. Israel’s UltraSight (see here previously) is starting clinical trials of its portable ultrasound device in the US and Israel. It will also be tested by Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe as part of the Israel Space Agency’s upcoming Rakia mission on the International Space Station.
https://www.israel21c.org/putting-ultrasound-in-the-hands-of-all-doctors/
 
Repairing the heart. Israel’s Cardiac Success is developing a transcatheter ventricular repair device for heart failure patients. The “V-sling” system aims to transform invasive open-heart surgery on patients with Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF) into a safe and effective minimally invasive transcatheter procedure.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3911698,00.html  https://www.cardiacsuccess.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze_cQPAkIMo
 
Know your Health Plan member. Israel’s Medorion uses behavioral intelligence software to provide health insurers with an in-depth understanding of their plan members. It helps the companies retain customers by addressing members’ needs, improving medical conditions and helping members balance health against cost.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3911926,00.html  https://medorion.com/
 
Covid vaccine boosters. Israel’s Health Ministry has authorized Israel’s healthcare providers to give a third anti-Covid-19 vaccination to adults with impaired immune systems. Israel is the first country to provide boosters to patients who do not develop sufficient antibody response after two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-world-first-covid-boosters-rolled-out-for-some-at-risk-israelis/
 
Israel’s Covid vaccine. The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) (see here previously) has signed an agreement with Israeli-founded NRx Pharmaceuticals. NRx will complete Phase 2 / 3 trials and commercialize IIBR’s “BriLife” COVID vaccine. Clinical trials will be completed in the Ukraine, Georgia and Israel.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309717
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-nrx-to-commercialize-israels-covid-19-vaccine-1001377983
 
Solving healthcare challenges. The PlayBeyondBio initiative has selected nine Israeli startups for its program for companies developing solutions for future challenges to healthcare systems. C2i Genomics, Nucleai, Itamar medical, Medial Earlysign, iBex, Octopus.health, Imagene, iCardio.ai and Cordio Medical.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3912456,00.html
 
Saving children during epidemic. (TY WIN) Israeli NGO ‘Save a Child’s Heart’ (SACH) has been saving hundreds of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRAxjlgZ8ZA
 
 

https://jewishlink.news/features/44956-is-israel-an-apartheid-state

From August 31 to September 8, 2001, more than1,500 nongovernmental agencies (NGOs) met at the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. There they embraced a strategy for the total isolation of Israel through boycotts, divestment and sanctions: “cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel.” They also asked for the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, and efforts to promote Israel as “an apartheid regime,” based on the South African model, according to NGO Monitor founder and president and Bar-Ilan University Professor Emeritus Gerald M. Steinberg.

Israel was accused of committing “crimes against humanity,” “ethnic cleansing,” “apartheid,” and “genocide” against the Palestinian Arabs. “Durban became the most potent symbol of organized hate against Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” Steinberg said. In the participants’ view, “Israel … is a modern extension of Western colonialism of the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s not just the issue of ‘occupied territories.’ The NGO community targets Israel per se as a Western implant in the Middle East. The Palestinians are not guilty of human rights violations because they’re victims by definition. That’s built into the NGO creed.”

These NGOs continue to disseminate specious charges against Israel through their reports, press releases and political lobbying campaigns, which have formidable influence in the U.N., the media and the academy, Steinberg opines. Attempting to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) is another example of this strategy as are Israel apartheid weeks on university campuses and the provoking of confrontations on Jewish students and institutions.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/biden-delivers/

Seeing the region through the lens of the “Palestinian-Israeli peace process,” President Joe Biden and the U.S. State Department are backing the Palestinian Authority under oppressive octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas—in the 17th year of his four year term as president—as America’s partner.

Abbas canceled the announced Palestinian election scheduled in May, understanding that years of his corruption and heavy hand might actually cause him to lose. Since then, P.A. critic Nizar Banat died in custody after his arrest by P.A. “police,” dozens of activists have been arrested and social-media accounts by those who posted the “wrong thing” keep disappearing. But the administration appears to believe that the P.A. needs only some enticement from the United States and concession from Israel to show its true—if hidden—liberal, Western, political credentials.

So off the administration delivers.

In early April, the administration rolled out a pledge to deliver $75 million to Palestinian areas; plus $40 million for security assistance; $150 million to UNRWA; and $15 million for COVID assistance (one might assume that money will not be delivered, as the P.A. rejected 700,000 vaccine doses from Israel); and $10 million for Palestinian-Israeli people-to-people programs.

OK, you say, but they’re not Hamas. True enough, but a month before the launching of more than 4,000 Hamas rockets, official P.A. media was openly inciting violence. Abbas’s religious affairs adviser told PA-TV viewers, “Islam does not want you to be submissive to others,” and “If you die fighting, you go to paradise; if you kill the enemies, they go to hell.” Did that spark the shooting of three Israeli students, including the murder of 19-year-old Yehuda Guetta?

Images of Palestinians beating Orthodox Jews were posted to the social media site TikTok seeking “likes” and “approvals,” and engendering the name “TikTok Intifada” for the activity; Abbas called to “defend the mosque”—a historic call for violence against Jews in Jerusalem; and the ever-popular song on PA-TV, “I fired my shots, I threw my bomb, I detonated, detonated, detonated my [explosive] belts. … My brother, throw my blood on the enemy like bullets.”

But never mind.

References to Palestinian incitement to violence against Jews and Israelis over the past seven months have been deleted from the State Department’s mandated report to Congress on Palestinian violence.

This week’s newsletter title reflects Israeli work to provide clean water to Africa, America and the River Jordan. But it is even more refreshing to see Israelis continue to produce a torrent of breakthrough medical and scientific developments to save lives and allow future generations to flourish. 

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

In the 11th July 21 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include: 
 

Israeli breakthroughs in transplantation and medical device technology.
Israel provides running water to Tanzanians and Native Americans.
Israel’s Technion is Europe’s top institute for Artificial Intelligence.
Israel has begun producing pure water from the Jordan River.
A face-recognition tech startup is Israel’s latest $1 billion company.
Israelis won medals at informatics and acrobatics.
Stunning discoveries revealed during excavations in Jerusalem.

 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Transplant breakthrough. (TY UWI) Researchers at Israel’s Beilinson Hospital have discovered how animal organs can be used in human transplant surgery. The main reason for rejection is the foreign blood vessels that need to be connected to the human body. Coating them with human placenta cells makes a “friendly” interface.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-doctors-develop-pig-human-hybrid-organ-for-transplant-672861
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG8-8z-X3Ck
 
Electrifying the human body. A Tel Aviv University-led international team including Weizmann Institute researchers have developed a nano-film that can generate electricity from any body movement. The non-toxic material could power tiny pacemakers with no need for batteries. It could also power non-medical devices.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-nanotech-may-use-bodys-energy-to-generate-power-for-pacemakers-and-more/   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22895-6
 
Safer keyhole hysterectomies. Laparoscopic (keyhole) removal of the uterus risks spreading possibly cancerous tissue, to other parts of the body. But the LapBox system from Israel’s Ark Surgical ensures secure organ retrieval.  
https://ark-surgical.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxS5hzcA2GI
 
Not to be sniffed at. Israel’s NanoVation (see here previously) has been awarded a 5 million Euro grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) on top of the 2.5 million Euro grant it received last year from Europe’s Horizon 2020 program. It will accelerate the development of NanoVation’s high accuracy respiratory monitor.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3911736,00.html
 
Affordable US healthcare. (TY UWI) Israel’s TailorMed (see here previously) helps financially at-risk patients access resources in the US such as co-pay assistance, replacement medicine programs, government subsidies, community funds, state or disease-specific foundations, and programs that help with living expenses.
https://www.israel21c.org/an-israeli-technology-helping-americans-afford-healthcare/  https://tailormed.co/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDrEsgpNynU
 
Israel exchanges vaccines with South Korea. South Korea welcomed from Israel 700,000 of the coronavirus vaccines that the Palestinian Authority rejected. Israel will now receive additional Pfizer vaccines later in the year, possibly to use as immunity boosters for vulnerable citizens. Meanwhile serious infections are still low.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-palestinians-reject-deal-israel-to-send-700000-vaccines-to-south-korea/
https://worldisraelnews.com/pfizer-vaccine-stems-tide-on-hospitalization-as-delta-variant-surges/
https://www.jns.org/israel-and-south-korea-sign-vaccine-pact/
 
Program to address mental health. A poignant article about the founding of the Israeli branch of the organization Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). The first running of MHFA’s Israel Youth Course provided 17 participants with the skills to become certified mental-health first-responders and help teens in crisis.
https://www.jns.org/loss-becomes-life-saver-new-program-in-israel-addresses-mental-health-head-on/
 
Monitoring care for the vulnerable. A detailed review of Israel’s Sensi.ai (see here previously) – the AI monitor that aims to protect the elderly from inappropriate, negligent care or abuse.
https://www.israel21c.org/an-ai-monitor-that-aims-to-take-care-of-our-elderly-relatives/
 
Better connected care. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s BioT has developed a cloud-based platform for medical device manufacturers, that instantly connects patients with caregivers to ensure a seamless continuum of care. Secure, private, promotes patient adherence, compliant with international regulations and allows customization.
https://www.biot-med.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENx-FTa2ubc

https://bit.ly/3yCv4uC

Why is Arab demography Westernizing?
 
In defiance of Israel’s critics and conventional wisdom, the highest-ever Arab population growth rate in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) occurred during Israel’s full control of the area (1967-1992). 
 
Thus, from the end of 1967 (586,000 people) until the end of 1992 (1,050,000 people), the Arab population of Judea and Samaria expanded by 79%, compared to a mere 0.9% growth during the 1950-1967 Jordanian rule.
 
The unprecedented Arab population growth rate was the outcome of the unprecedented Israeli development of health, medical, transportation, education and employment infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, following the stagnation during the Jordanian occupation of the area. In addition, Israel offered employment opportunities, in its pre-1967 core, to Judea and Samaria Arabs, who preferred working in Israel to the far away Arab Gulf states, West Africa or Latin America.
 
As a result of the enhanced infrastructure (especially health and medical), Arab infant mortality was drastically reduced – and life expectancy surged – almost to the Israeli level. Furthermore, emigration was substantially curtailed due to new opportunities of employment and higher education.
 
Hence, while net-emigration during the 17 years of Jordan’s control (1950-1967) was 28,000 annually, it subsided to 7,000 annually during the 25 years of Israel’s full-control (1967-1992).
 
The exceptionally high Arab population growth rate, during Israel’s full-control of Judea and Samaria, was highlighted by the 170% growth of the 25-34 age group, which is the bulk of emigration. That they stayed attested to the unprecedent development of employment opportunities for Arabs by Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-colombian-telenovela-star-now-an-orthodox-jew-in-israel/

Sarah Mintz, who was born Maritza Rodríguez, was a hugely famous TV personality who gave up her career to move to the Jewish state and live a religious lifestyle.

A Colombian telenovela star who converted from Catholicism to Judaism before getting married is now living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel.

Sarah Mintz, who was born Maritza Rodríguez, married her husband, the Emmy Award-winning Mexican TV producer Joshua Mintz, in 2005. In 2014 she gave birth to twin boys, Akiva and Yehuda. And in April of this year, the family relocated to Jerusalem after years of moving toward religious observance.

“For more than 25 years I had a career as a TV host, actress, model, in the theater on the red carpets — what didn’t I do,” Mintz told Channel 13 news in a recent interview. “But none of it compares to what I have today.”

Mintz, who has 1.6 million followers on Instagram, now describes herself in her bio as a “Jewish Orthodox Fashion & Lifestyle Influencer.” The former actress, who now wears a wig and full-coverage clothing, posts regularly about modest fashion and her love for Judaism and Israel.

https://jewishlink.news/features/44860-is-israel-a-colonial-state

The Arab success in framing the Palestinian Arab/Israeli conflict by making Israel the aggressor, has forced Israel to counter the fabrications, defend her actions and even justify her own raison d’être. Historian Joel Fishman calls this manipulation of language an “inversion of truth and reality … an assault on empirical and rational thought, the foundations of modern culture.” There is a pressing need to debunk the myths that have become such an integral element in the media war against Israel and to discredit those who disseminate them. One of the most ubiquitous lies is that Zionists are a “tool of imperialism.”

The San Remo Conference

At the San Remo Conference in San Remo, Italy, in April 1920, the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers—Britain, France, Italy and Japan—met to define the precise boundaries of the lands they had conquered at the end of World War I. As part of a peace agreement, Turkey yielded jurisdiction over the land it had ruled from 1517 to 1917, including the Holy Land.

Israel and two dozen other countries were created from the states of the former Ottoman Caliphate. For Christians, even those who spoke Arabic, the Holy Land was “Palestine,” which, as Allen Hertz (formerly senior adviser in the Privy Council Office serving Canada’s Prime Minister and the federal cabinet) points out, was “for centuries nothing more than an historical reference, i.e., a fond memory of the early 7th century CE, when Palestine was still a province of the Roman-Byzantine Empire, where Christianity was then the official faith.”

It is important to note that the Mandate and the Balfour Declaration only state that the “civil and religious” rights of the inhabitants of Palestine are to be protected. There is no mention of the national rights of the Arab people (or, for that matter, any other people).

Palestine: Never a Separate Country