https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/21/opinion/israel-iran-raisi-death.html
The danger to Israel from moves at the ICC, or from campus protests, boycott and divestment efforts or various kinds of arms embargoes, are minimal.
Contrary to some opinions, Israelis are not “settler-colonialists.” Jews believe they are originally from the Land of Israel because they are.
And Zionism, far from being a colonialist project, is the oldest anticolonialism struggle in history, starting during the Roman era, if not the Babylonian Captivity before it.
The idea that Israeli Jews should return, like the Algerian French, to the lands of their forebears misses the point. The Israelis have nowhere else to go, a fact underscored by the waves of hatred now engulfing Jewish diasporic communities.
They will not return to the lands of Russian pogroms, or Arab massacres, or the Holocaust.
The more pressure is exerted on Israel to relent in the face of its enemies, the more Zionism it will generate.
Nothing so crystallizes Jewish identity as the daily reminders of bigotry.
Jews have the right to rule themselves as a sovereign state in their original homeland.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/22/rewarding-fascism/
So now we know what it takes to become a state: the murder of Jews. Rape, kill and kidnap Jews and seven months later, the leaders of Ireland, Spain and Norway will recognise your statehood. That’s the lesson of today’s coordinated spectacle of virtue-signalling in Dublin, Madrid and Oslo: pogroms work. The butchery of civilians gets results. Fascism has its rewards. This is ‘diplomacy’ at its most dangerous.
Of course, Irish taoiseach Simon Harris, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez and Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre are presenting their pious recognition of Palestine as a stab for peace. This is about helping to ‘create a peaceful future’, said Harris. They’re either delusional or they’re engaging in doublespeak. For the true impact of their imperious intervention will be to exacerbate hostilities. Hamas will feel emboldened. It now knows that a wonderful gift awaits it if it keeps battering Israel: a state of its own. In dangling this dream before Hamas, the three PMs have all but green-lighted its terrorism.
Rarely has virtue-signalling felt so reckless. The PMs are so keen to broadcast their correct-think to the world that they appear not to have given one thought to what the consequences might be of three European nations butting in to a bloody war. Their blindness to everything but their own righteousness was best summed up in the figure of Simon Harris. There he was on the steps of Government Buildings in Dublin sermonising about how this is ‘the right thing to do’ – translation: ‘aren’t I wonderful?’ – without so much as a flicker of concern for the global impact of rewarding an act of apocalyptic violence.
That really is what is happening here. Harris and the others were careful to condemn Hamas’s 7 October pogrom, of course. Harris called it a ‘barbaric massacre’. And yet the fact is that today’s announcements, this vain granting of legitimacy to a Palestinian state, would not be happening had it not been for 7 October. Indeed, Harris expressly linked his recognition of Palestine with the ‘appalling’ and ‘unconscionable’ war in Gaza. Yes, a war started by Hamas. On 7 October. With its carnival of anti-Semitic barbarism, the likes of which the world had not seen since the Holocaust. And there you have it. Want a state? Start a war. Kill some Jews. Job done.
Whatever subjective spin the three PMs put on their heedless act of global virtue-signalling, the objective consequence is the legitimation of Hamas. Indeed, Hamas has warmly welcomed their recognition of Palestine, describing it as ‘an important step towards affirming our right to our land’. I’m not into guilt by association, but seriously – when an army of anti-Semites starts singing your praises, you’ve messed up. Badly.
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/ireland-spain-norway-recognize-palestinian-state-israel-recalls-ambassadors/?utm_source=recirc-
Israel is recalling its ambassadors from Ireland, Spain, and Norway after the three European nations announced that they would formally recognize a Palestinian state.
Ireland, Spain, and Norway announced on Wednesday they will be formally recognizing a Palestinian state beginning next Monday, and each nation called for a cease-fire to end the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“I am sending a clear message today: Israel will not be complacent against those who undermine its sovereignty and endanger its security,” Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said upon its decision to recall the ambassadors.
The countries’ ambassadors in Israel will be subject to “reprimand talks” where they will be shown footage of the atrocities Hamas committed against innocent civilians on October 7.
“Recognizing a Palestinian state will lead to more terrorism, instability in the region and jeopardize any prospects for peace,” the Israel foreign ministry said on X. “Don’t be a pawn in the hands of Hamas.”
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas celebrated the decision from Ireland, Spain, and Norway to recognize a Palestinian state, although the leaders of each country distanced themselves from Hamas.
“This is an investment in the only solution that can bring lasting peace in the Middle East,” Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, referring to a two-state solution.
“We hope that our recognition and our reasons contribute to other western countries to follow this path, because the more we are, the more strength we will have to impose a ceasefire, to achieve the release of the hostages held by Hamas, to relaunch the political process that can lead to a peace agreement,” Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said to Spain’s lower legislative chamber.
http://www.PaulSchnee.com
Everyone knows, even if they do not want to admit it, that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) is known throughout the world for taking more care to avoid civilian casualties than any other military in the history of warfare.
Mrs. Clooney would be far better off pursuing Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of Fatah for crimes against humanity who have boasted they took part in the October 7th. massacre and who, like Yahya Sinwar, have vowed to carry out similar attacks again and again until Israel is annihilated.
That over 70% of Arab Palestinians in Gaza and in Judea & Samaria have declared their support for this historically obscene massacre is lost on Mrs. Clooney.
Her Druze father must have told her Sunni Muslim mother that the Druze community was constantly persecuted by the Sunni Ottoman Empire including forced conversion to Islam. This should have given Mrs. Clooney some pause.
Not much has changed since then so one has to ask why Mrs. Clooney, a British barrister mind you, would attempt to claim the moral high ground by approving a charge of war crimes by the International Criminal Court against Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli cabinet without a morsel of evidence. Of course, for some people being associated with any organization that has “international” in its title is just too tempting to resist.
https://amgreatness.com/2024/05/21/amal-clooney-admits-to-advising-icc-on-arrest-warrant-for-netanyahu/
Left-wing activist Amal Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney, admitted on Monday to advising the International Criminal Court (ICC) when it came to the arrest warrant that was issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside several other high-profile warrants.
According to The Hill, Clooney was one of several activists who was assembled onto a panel by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to discuss his requests for the arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s defense ministers, and three Hamas leaders. Clooney detailed her involvement in a statement posted to her Clooney Foundation for Justice website.
Clooney said that the panel came to a unanimous decision that there were “reasonable grounds” to announce the warrants for Netanyahu and the rest.
“We have unanimously determined that the Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestine and by Palestinian nationals,” said Clooney. “I served on this Panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives. The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict.”
Other members of the panel include: Theodor Meron, former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia; Adrian Fulford, a former ICC judge; and Helena Kennedy, a member of the House of Lords with the Labor Party.
In addition to Netanyahu, arrest warrants were issued for three leaders of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas: Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s main political leader; Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza; and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, the commander of Hamas’ military wing.
https://pdavidhornik.substack.com/subscribe?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=email-subscribe&r=8t06w&next=
Israel got hit hard again this week when Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan said he was requesting arrest warrants, pending the approval of three judges, against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for their conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Most egregiously, Khan charges the two Israeli leaders with “extermination and/or murder…including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity.” In international law, crimes against humanity are second only to genocide in severity.
Simultaneously, Khan asked for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh for charges including “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.” Khan did not stint to publicly bracket the two democratically elected Israeli leaders with the three heinous Hamas terrorists.
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant are outrageous on a number of counts. As the Wall Street Journal notes in a stinging editorial (paywall):
Khan alleges “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” Hamas lists 31 Gazans who it claims died of malnutrition and dehydration in seven months of war. That’s out of 2.3 million whom Egypt won’t let out over its border.
Israel has facilitated the entry of 542,570 tons of aid, and 28,255 aid trucks, in an unprecedented effort to supply an enemy’s civilians, even while Hamas steals the aid and tries to frustrate delivery. Israel has begged Egypt for two weeks to let in aid at Rafah, while Egypt refuses. Is this the behavior of an Israeli government bent on starving Gazans?
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20658/gaza-aid-stolen
Close to three-fourths of the humanitarian aid transported from a new $320 million floating pier built by the U.S. military off the Gaza coast was stolen on Saturday en route to a U.N. warehouse, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Eleven trucks “were cleaned out by Palestinians” on the journey to the World Food Programme warehouse in Deir El Balah in the central Strip, with only five truckloads making it to the destination.
“They’ve not seen trucks for a while,” a U.N. official told Reuters. “They just basically mounted on the trucks and helped themselves to some of the food parcels.”
According to the United Nations, no aid was delivered to the warehouse from the U.S. military’s pier on Sunday and Monday.
The United Nations said that 10 truckloads of food aid from the pier arrived at the warehouse on Friday, its first day of operation. It was transported by U.N. contractors.
“We need to make sure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before we proceed,” said the U.N. official.
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas has been stealing up to 60% of the aid entering the Gaza Strip, and a Channel 12 report last week revealed that the terrorist organization has made at least $500 million in profit off humanitarian aid since the start of the war on Oct. 7.
The pier was pre-assembled at the Israeli port of Ashdod before being anchored to a beach in the coastal enclave on Thursday. No American troops went ashore during the installation of the pier, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Some 1,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors helped build the floating pier.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/20/a-judicial-pogrom/
So it’s a crime now to defend yourself against fascist violence? Some of the imperious prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) seem to think so. Just 226 days after the Jews of southern Israel were subjected to the worst act of anti-Semitic slaughter since the Holocaust, the chief prosecutor of the ICC says he’s seeking arrest warrants for Israeli officials. The preening overlord of international law says he has ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe they’ve committed crimes against humanity. Behold the great moral inversion of our times: the victims of a crime against humanity are themselves suspected of crimes against humanity. The targets of fascism are treated as fascists. Rarely has the moral decomposition and blind arrogance of globalist institutions been so graphically illustrated.
This is the news that Karim Khan has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant. He also wants arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar. He says all have possibly committed war crimes. In Israel’s case, there has been questionable military activity ‘from at least 8 October 2023’, he says. One of his examples is Israel’s closing of the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings that link the Gaza Strip to Israel on 8 October, ‘for extended periods’. Yes, that’s because the day before an army of anti-Semites crossed the border and raped women, murdered children, slit the throats of migrant workers and massacred entire families. Are the people at the ICC okay? Name me one state on Earth – one – that would not secure its borders in the aftermath of such a devastating experience of racist barbarism.
The moral equivalence in Khan’s statement is especially galling. To speak of Hamas and Israel in the same breath, to treat them as equally suspect, is to abandon entirely the fundamentals of morality and even Enlightenment. There is no equivalence between Hamas’s intentional targeting of civilians on the basis of their race and Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza. In the former, civilians – let’s say it: Jews – were sought out for murder. In the latter, as with every war in history, civilians are tragically dying in the violent maelstrom. The former was a war crime, the latter is war. The former was a villainous transgression of the norms of conflict, the latter was a response to that transgression. That the ICC seems unable to distinguish between war and war crimes, between democracy and terror, between the Jewish State and a movement devoted to the mass murder of Jews, is truly alarming.
The consequence of the seeking of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders will be to embolden Hamas. Anyone who thinks this is a fair development because it targets both sides in the war is delusional.
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
Here are a few highlights from this week’s catalog of positive news from Israel brought to us by Michael Ordman. Read it all. And, if you can, show this to a befuddled protester glamping on campus. rsk
New Israeli treatments for Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia.
10 new life-changing biomed innovators
Israel is developing non-surgical ultrasonic bioprinting of disease cures.
Netherlands to move embassy to Jerusalem.
Romania’s Friendship and Solidarity Day with Israel
New Orleans Jazz in Tel Aviv.
104-year-old survivor brings 400 of her descendants to the Western Wall.
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Gaza border incubator is back in business. The attacks on Oct 7 took a severe toll on the SouthUp business incubator (see here previously). But now the Nir Am center has fully reopened. Four new startups have joined the portfolio of 27 companies working in the fields of agritech, food tech, medical tech, clean tech, and IoT.
https://www.israel21c.org/startup-incubator-near-gaza-border-is-back-in-business/
75% of employees in the reserves. On Oct 7, 60 of the 80 Israeli-based employees at Israel’s Exodigo (see here previously) were drafted into the IDF reserves. The remaining Israeli office and overseas staff managed to close new deals but persuaded those customers to wait a while for implementation.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjb00lx0fr
Raising funds for child survivors. Israel’s Valoo has launched a fund assembled to provide support for the child survivors of Oct 7. Operating with the social fund Tmura (see here previously), it will regularly distribute cash to these children over the next 10 years. The fund has already raised some $20 million in stock donations.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/skgzgn7qr
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Another schizophrenia treatment. Israel’s Teva has reported positive results of the Phase III trial of its Olanzapine LAI schizophrenia treatment that it has been developing with France’s Medincell. The once-a-month injections met all endpoints. It is likely to be an effective remedy without any serious side effects.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-teva-schizophrenia-drug-phase-iii-results-excite-analysts-1001478459
Alzheimer’s researcher sees the light. More about the groundbreaking research of Prof. Shai Rahimipour of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University (see here previously). His Alzheimer’s disease target is a soluble amyloid protein that can be destroyed by nanoparticles that generate light when exposed to low-intensity X rays.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/new-alzheimers-treatment-uses-light-x-rays-to-hit-harmful-protein/
Edison award for cancer diagnosis. Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics (see here previously) was a bronze winner in the Diagnostic Technologies category at the 2024 Edison Awards. Ibex won the award for its Galen Breast HER2 platform, that identifies the protein responsible for the proliferation of cancer cells.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/breast-cancer-diagnosis-platform-wins-edison-innovation-award/
Diagnosing Endometriosis. Israel’s EndoCure (see here previously) is developing a diagnostic tool combining AI and ultrasound that would allow physicians to clearly see the tiny lesions responsible for Endometriosis. The disease causes pelvic pain and infertility for women. It can spread to other organs and is sometimes fatal.
https://www.israel21c.org/a-diagnostic-tool-for-forgotten-disease-of-endometriosis/
Navigating the US health system. Israel’s Healthee (see here previously) helps employers and employees select and navigate the most suitable health plan. It also connects the user with round-the-clock telehealth services that are free of charge. https://healthee.com/
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/israeli-ai-helps-us-workers-navigate-maze-of-private-healthcare/
Lasers to reduce pain. Doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center are using low-level lasers to treat soldiers and civilians for chronic pain caused from wounds sustained in the Oct 7 war. They stimulate mitochondria which releases ATP causing muscles to contract. Many patients experience up to 80% immediate improvement.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/laser-zaps-away-chronic-pain-for-wounded-israeli-soldiers/
Gel helps bones repair faster. Israel’s OrthoTreat has developed ModulX – a gel containing both a known medication plus a plant-based compound. The gel is injected directly onto the bone as a bonding agent where it strengthens the bone and improves its psychological structure.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/new-gel-jab-aims-to-help-broken-bones-heal-back-better/
Bio-printing cells into the body. Technion Professor Shulamit Levenberg (see here previously) has made yet another medical breakthrough. She has developed a non-surgical medication delivery and tissue implantation technique using ultrasound waves. Live cells from injected biological ink are “printed” deep inside the body.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-technique-bioprints-live-cells-inside-the-body-using-ultrasonic-waves/
10 new life-changing biomed innovators. The first graduates of the SHAAR Innovation Hub (see here previously) include BeCapio, CaleeTech, Gento Gel-LR (sustained release antibiotics), Luseed Vascular, Panacea-ml, Predicta Med, Sherman Diagnostics, Snipe Medical, Sorlis, and TechnoPulm.
https://www.israel21c.org/10-biomed-startups-complete-innovation-hub-on-way-to-market/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1wa7gab0
https://www.jns.org/a-tale-of-two-traffic-jams/
Hours before his daughter Shani’s funeral on Sunday afternoon, Nissim Louk warned viewers of Channel 14’s “This Morning in Israel” program about the likelihood of massive traffic on the way to the burial site near the family home in Srigim. Since tens of thousands of people were expected to arrive to pay their respects, he realized that the roads would be seriously congested.
Asked whether he was recommending a smaller turnout, the bereaved parent answered that it was a matter of personal choice. His reply was gracious.
Since Friday, when it was announced that Shani was among the three (which turned out later to be four) dead hostages retrieved from Gaza in a joint Israel Defense Forces-Shin Bet operation, he’d been urging the public to attend the ceremony. The request was unnecessary.
The beautiful 23-year-old became an international household name in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre. The young woman rose to unwitting fame due to a photo of her twisted, half-naked body being hauled off to Gaza on a pickup truck filled with gleeful Hamas terrorists.
Though the Louks were informed months ago that Shani was already dead in that vile picture—which would come to win a prestigious award—her return from Hamas captivity provided some solace. And it gave them the opportunity to lay her properly to rest in their vicinity.
Still, Nissim’s empathy with the plight of drivers was behind his mentioning the probability of blocked highways in the lead-up to the highly publicized event. This isn’t surprising, given his unfathomably honorable behavior during the 230 days that have elapsed since the Black Sabbath when monsters snuffed out his child’s life and kidnapped her corpse for sport—and leverage.
