No doubt, Trump Haters and those afflicted with the Deranged Trump Syndrome will reject these postings but they do so at their own peril because, whether you agree with them or not, they give insight into who Trump is and why he has accomplished much of what he has.
By focusing on Trump's persona, his ill manners, crudeness and unorthodox presidential style, unlike that we have come to expect, Trump has forced the rest of the world to cope with an America that rejects the way we have been treated, of late, and like the movie depicting the shouting CBS TV reporter: 'we are not going to take it any more.'
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Talk about blood disease and incestuous marriages: California Mafia - Must See/unbelievable
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More good news from Israel, edited. (See 1 below.)
And:
Trump tries to accomplish where predecessors failed because he is a deal making optimistic pragmatist.
He has offered the Palestinians one last opportunity to climb aboard the train to a better future but their leadership has no reason to do so because they give not a damn for their own people since they have become wealthy holding the supplicant world hostage.
Never feed bullies. It increases their appetite. (See 1a below.)
Meanwhile:
Israel continues to face grave threats. (See 1b below.)
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Dick
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1)
This week's newsletter is full of news about partnerships between international organizations and
Israelis for global benefit. New medical ventures include major cancer treatment initiatives,
regenerative medicine, zero gravity research and access to clinical trials. Bi-lateral cooperation was
advanced with Italy, Texas, New York City, London, Uganda, Bolivia, India and Sudan. New business
include between Israeli startups and the Multinationals Boeing, Microsoft, SAP, Hyundai and Cisco.
confidence in Israeli innovation and entrepreneurship is at an all-time high.
Michael Ordman
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Inhibiting an enzyme may cure Alzheimer’s. Israel’s ProteKt Therapeutics is developing a treatment for early stage Alzheimer’s disease. It inhibits the PKR enzyme that is over-expressed in Alzheimer’s patients and may slow or even reverse the progress of the disease. It also has potential for ALS, Huntington and Parkinson’s.
Orphan status for pancreatic cancer treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) The European Commission has just granted Orphan drug status to the BL-8040 (Motixafortide) pancreatic cancer treatment from Israel’s BioLineRX (see here). BioLineRX can now receive benefits including EU funding, less regulation, and market exclusivity.
Sheba’s partners Berlin AI for cancer R&D. (TY Atid-EDI) Berlin’s caresyntax, has launched an R&D partnership with the ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) complex at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. They will use Artificial Intelligence to develop algorithms for predicting outcomes for cancer treatment procedures.
US approves complete AI stroke detection package. (TY Atid-EDI) The US FDA previously approved the brain scan software from Israel’s Aidoc (Oct 2018),. It has now approved all four of Aidoc’s AI products, so its comprehensive package can quickly identify and triage both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in CT scans.
Accelerating regenerative medicine. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s CollPlant is partnering with US-based 3D Systems to spur breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. It brings together top 3D-printing technology with Collprint’s bioink technology for 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs.
Space medical research with Italy. (TY WIN) Israel and Italy are to launch a satellite in March, on which medical research will be conducted in zero gravity. The mission involves Israel’s SpacePharma (see here), Israel’s Technion, Sheba hospital, the Hebrew University and the Israeli and Italian space agencies.
Body on a chip. (TY David F) A team of over 50 researchers at Harvard University and Tel Aviv University (TAU) have successfully built human “organs-on-chips” that aim to speed up trials of new treatments. They have linked 10 chips together to form a “functional human Body-on-Chips platform”.
Microsoft Israel gives patients hope. As reported previously (Feb 2019) Microsoft’s Israeli R&D team developed the Microsoft Healthcare AI virtual medical assistant. Team leader Hadas Bitran describes the project. They are now working on the New Hope project to match patients with clinical trials around the globe.
The first Hasid to graduate from Israeli med school. Dr. Yehuda Sabiner is the first Israeli-born Haredi to graduate from medical school. A member of the Gerrer Hasidic sect, Yehuda enrolled at Israel’s Technion, graduated and will intern at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. 35 Haredim are now following in his footsteps.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Texas Governor scouts for Israeli tech. Texas Governor Greg Abbott headed an economic development mission to Israel to develop new and existing partnerships with Israeli entrepreneurs in the cybersecurity, energy, and health sectors. They visited Startup Nation Central and Sheba Medical Center.
Upgrading ties with Uganda and Sudan. (TY UWI) Israeli PM Netanyahu made a one-day trip to Uganda where he and President Yoweri Museveni discussed opening an embassy in Jerusalem. During the visit he also met with the transitional leader of Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who was keen to improve ties with Israel.
Relations restored with Bolivia. (TY UWI &TPS) For the first time in 14 years, an Israeli Foreign Ministry delegation met with senior Bolivian government officials in La Paz for talks following the resumption of relations between the countries two months ago. Both sides agreed on various areas for cooperation.
Protective kits for Chabad in China. Israeli medical organization Magen David Adom is sending items of equipment to China's 14 Chabad Houses to help protect against the spread of the coronavirus. They include 2,000 masks and 200 full protection kits each containing special suits, masks, glasses, shoes and hats covers.
Matching volunteers to causes. Israeli startup GivingWay matches volunteers with non-profits desperately needing the help. GivingWay now has 4,000 vetted nonprofits in 123 countries on its platform, connecting with thousands of volunteers worldwide. 50% of volunteers work from home, e.g. building websites for the charity.
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
Two new gas power plants. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel is to build two power units at Hadera by 2022, to be operated solely with natural gas. The units will supply 1,200 megawatts of power, replacing four coal-fired production units as part of Israel’s plan to eliminate coal usage by 2025 and improve air quality.
Boeing partnership for vertical takeoff tech. US giant Boeing has signed an agreement with Israel’s Tactical Robotics to explore, develop, produce and market Fancraft-based VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) products. Tactical Robotics has been developing the Cormarant unmanned airborne vehicle (see here).
OrCam’s new products. As reported previously, Israel’s OrCam wowed delegates at CES 2020 with OrCam Hear and a new MyEye2. It also showcased OrCam Read - that vocalizes printed or digital texts in real time. And OrCam MyMe – a wearable that uses facial recognition to identify someone to a blind person.
Security risks from suspect cars. (TY UWI &I24 News) Israeli-founded Quest Solution Inc has developed AI-based vehicle recognition and fast proactive database retrieval and analysis to identify security risks. It provides alerts to prevent terrorist incidents - protecting critical infrastructure, schools and more.
What is real? Some readers may be concerned that the latest Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and smart image editing could result in a world of fake videos. Fortunately, Israel’s Cyabra has developed technology that detects expertly doctored videos as well as bots (cyber robots) powering fake social-media profiles.
Control your IoT devices globally. Israel’s London-based FloLive offers a cloud-based IoT connectivity service that enables companies in the IoT industry to deploy, manage, and operate their IoT devices from anywhere in the world. It has just raised $21.5 million to help it expand in Europe, Asia and North America.
Making streetlights smart. Israeli startup ACiiST converts streetlights into a connected, data-gathering network. ACiiST’s black boxes, roughly the size of two iPhones, attach to existing lampposts. They contain hardware and software that can be used to connect with cameras, closed-circuit television, sensors, and wifi.
Electric car charging for US &Canada. One of the joint US-Israel BIRD Foundation-funded energy projects reported recently (see here) is the one partnering Israel’s Chakratec with Blink Charging. Chakratec’s unique “kinetic storage” technology will improve the performance of Blink’s charging stations in rural areas.
Turning novice support staff into experts. Israeli-founded Aquant Technologies develops an AI-driven Service Intelligence Platform that provides all customer service employees with access to a company’s knowledgebase (information library). It generates a neural network that maps problems to the right solutions.
Training students to protect crops. (TY Atid-EDI) Israeli-founded ADAMA and Tel Aviv University have launched a unique research and teaching program. It is anticipated to help combat crop disease, enhance yields and food supply, while requiring less chemicals, thus protecting the environment and the food chain.
BUSINESS
Huge demand for Israeli bonds. Israel has raised a record $3 billion in foreign debt at the lowest-ever rate for an Israeli offering. Demand reached an all-time high, from over 40 countries including the US, UK, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong. It reflected confidence among the world's largest investors in Israel's economy.
Powering NYC’s International fintech center. Israeli startups underpin New York City’s fintech ecosystem. Now, Jerusalem’s JVP and NYC’s Economic Development Corporation have launched the $100 million International NYC Cyber Center. (At the launch actress Gwyneth Paltrow said, “Next Year in Jerusalem”!)
New Sun d’Or summer destinations. El Al subsidiary Sun d’Or is launching three new seasonal routes from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. The new routes are to Romanian city of Cluj, starting May 2020; to Paphos, Cyprus, starting in June; and to Verona, Italy from July. The routes will then operate until the end of October.
Building UAVs with India. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is partnering with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and Dynamatic Technologies (DTL). IAI will share drone technologies and promote the production of Indian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Tel Aviv – London innovation partnership. Tel Aviv-headquartered startup network SOSA has partnered with London innovation center Plexal. SOSA combines an investor network with a corporate innovation hub operating from centers in Tel Aviv and New York City. It already has 250 partners in 10 countries.
SodaStream targets China’s market. SodaStream’s new CEO, Eyal Shohat, is planning to launch in China in 2021. SodaStream is Israeli’s largest civil employer of Bedouin women, prisoners, Ethiopian-Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. It is currently preventing millions of bottles of plastic waste every year.
SAP’s identifies with Israeli startup. German multinational software firm SAP has invested in Israeli startup PlainID, a maker of software that enables single authorizations. PlainID’s products protect the digital assets of users of SAP’s Customer Data Cloud platform by securing cloud, mobile, and other applications.
Hyundai backs Israeli speech-tech startup. The Hyundai Motor Company has led a seed-funding round into Israeli startup Kardome Technology. Kardome develops a multi-user speech to text algorithm that focuses in on a person’s individual voice, filtering out background noise in acoustically challenging environments.
Cisco backs Israeli testing startup. Computer giant Cisco has led an $8.6 million funding round in Israel’s SeaLights Technologies. SeaLights offers a cloud-based software testing automation service designed to identify and prevent untested code changes. The company lists Dell as one of its customers.
Tnuva links up to IoT startup. Israeli-based Tnuva (owned by China’s Bright Foods) has partnered with Israel’s Seebo (see here) to help it adopt AI and IoT (Internet of Things) technology. Seebo turns existing machinery into smart, connected systems, which Tnuva believes can revolutionize the dairy industry.
Intel Israel has a great year. Israel’s largest multinational, Intel, exported $6.6 billion of Israeli products in 2019 – a huge 70% increase on its $3.9 billion in 2018. Much was due to its new Kiryat Gat factory reaching full production. Intel now has some 13,700 employees in Israel, including 900 who work for Mobileye.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT &SPORT`
Free books for children. Food giant McDonalds in Israel is giving away free reading books to children when they or their parents buy Happy Meals. “The Everforest Twins: Adventures in the Wild World”, are written by the children's author Cressida Cowell and have been translated into Hebrew and Arabic.
Read about Israeli chutzpah. Israeli entrepreneur Inbal Arieli is also the author of “Chutzpah: Why Israel Is a Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. She explains how Israel’s unique culture generates “disruptors” who want to change the world. Factors include parenting and uncertainty that encourage pushing the boundaries.
Israel’s desert is alive. 150 wildlife photographers submitted some 500 photos to judges at the Planet Arava 2 festival and competition in Eilat. The aim of the festival was “to promote the Arava’s landscape and animals through photography by people who feel an affinity for the region and its beauty”.
Jerusalem’s new tropical paradise. Jerusalem Botanical Gardens’ Tropical Conservatory has reopened to the public after an 18-month, $2 million transformation. Its rainforest and desert regions contain some 300 kinds of plants, including endangered species, exotic banana trees, coffee plants, orchids and cacti.
The best restaurant in Paris is Israeli. Shabour, the new restaurant by Israeli chef Assaf Granit, which launched just three months ago in Paris, was named as the French capital’s “Best restaurant of the Year” by Le Figaroscope, the Parisian cultural and gastronomical guide published by the French daily Le Figaro.
THE JEWISH STATE
Pop star Noa joins the IDF. Israel’s up-and-coming music sensation, Noa Kirel, has just begun a two-year term in the IDF. She said, “I want to serve as an example for boys and girls to enlist.” A Rabbi told her parents to change her name from Noya to Noa as a baby, due to illness. He said it would enable her to move (“lanua”).
Ancient Jewish site uncovered. (TY TPS) Israeli archaeologists have exposed a late 10th-early 9th century BCE Iron Age temple complex at Tel Motza, west of Jerusalem. It has similarities to King Solomon’s Temple and may be one of the sites that were abandoned when sacrificial services were centralized in Jerusalem.
Christian students see Israel’s diversity. The non-profit Passages organizes 9-day trips to Israel for 3,000 Christian college students each year. It teaches them about the roots of their faith and exposes them to modern Israel. Participants give post-trip talks to churches and write articles for local newspapers.
1a) US promoting historic meeting between PM, Saudi crown prince
Intensive talks are ongoing between Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and Riyadh to convene a summit in the Egyptian capital in the coming weeks, which will include a meeting between PM Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. White House has told the Palestinians it could be their "last chance... to partake in the diplomatic developments unfolding in the region."
Senior Arab diplomatic sources on Thursday night said intensive talks were taking place between Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and Riyadh to convene a summit in the Egyptian capital, which will include a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Senior Arab officials told Israel Hayom, meanwhile, that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his team have been mediating between Israel and Saudi Arabia on the matter for the past several months.
One senior Arab diplomatic source, who confirmed the details to Israel Hayom, said, "In recent days there have been very intensive discussions between Washington, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to arrange a summit meeting in Cairo as early as the coming weeks, even before the election in Israel, which aside from the host, Egypt, will be attended by the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and also the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain and Oman."
Bahrain also proposed hosting the summit in the capital Manama, suggesting that Netanyahu meet the Saudi crown prince there.
According to other Arab sources, Jordan, too, received an invitation to the summit, if it indeed takes place, and that the Jordanians have engaged in talks with various Arab states to convey their position on the matter. According to a senior official, in Amman, Jordan's King Abdullah wants Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to receive a summit invitation. The Jordanians, for their part, have received messages from Washington that discussions with Ramallah on the matter were, in fact, taking place and that Israel has agreed in principle to the Palestinians' participation.
A senior PA official confirmed those details to Israel Hayom, and said that for the time being "Abbas and the leadership in Ramallah would adhere to their boycott of Washington and to freezing diplomatic ties with Israel." According to the official, Washington has told the PA that "this would likely be Abbas' and the Palestinians' last chance to climb down from the tree and partake in the diplomatic developments unfolding in the region."
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meet in Paris, September 21, 2018 (Wafa news agency)
Meanwhile, another senior official in Ramallah confirmed to Israel Hayom that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is attempting to arrange a press conference with Abbas at the United Nations in New York next week to address the Trump administration's vision for Middle East peace.
Olmert is expected to express his opposition to the plan, and remind observers that he was on the threshold of an agreement with the Palestinians at the end of his term as prime minister.
According to Palestinian sources, what Olmert intends to say could help Abbas in mobilizing broad international support to reject the Trump plan.
Abbas is scheduled to speak at the United Nations in New York next week and attend a UN Security Council meeting.
An official in Abbas' office told Israel Hayom that Abbas still hadn't decided whether to take part in the joint press conference. Olmert and Abbas last met in Paris around a year and a half ago.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, the main architect of the US peace plan, slammed Olmert and Abbas as "almost pathetic."
While speaking to reporters outside the United Nations on Thursday, Kushner said, "It is almost pathetic that they are criticizing other people's efforts to try and reach an agreement. It comes from a lot of jealousy that they couldn't do it themselves."
He continued: "If you really want to make peace, then you need to encourage the efforts of other people to try and make peace instead of trying to make headlines when you are not relevant and intervening in the situation to get attention."
Olmert and Abbas are "publicly opposing the plan when they had the chance and failed, I see that as disrespectful," he added.
Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS
1b) Lebanon poses acute threat to Israel with Hezbollah, Iran controlling its government - JNS.org
The last several months have not been good one for Lebanon, as it’s been wracked by economic and political instability. Protesters upset over years of government mismanagement, sectarianism and deep-rooted corruption forced the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in October, which led to more political paralysis and put the country on the verge of a financial collapse.
Seeking to address these imminent concerns, the country formed a new government in January under Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a 60-year-old technocrat and engineering professor at the American University of Beirut.
While under the country’s constitution the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim, Diab received little support from his own Sunni community, who traditionally aligned with the West and Saudi Arabia, and instead his appointment was largely backed by the Hezbollah-allied March 8 parliamentary bloc, which comprised mostly of Shi’ite Muslims and pro-Syrians. This means, of course, that Iran—Hezbollah’s chief sponsor—now holds a tighter grip on Lebanon and its terror proxy has broader reign.
The question is: What does this portend for Israel?
According to Matthew Levitt, director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute, and author of Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God, Hezbollah’s stronger position in Lebanon underscores “the extent to which the group’s actions prioritize its interests, and those of its chief sponsor, Iran, over the welfare of Lebanese citizens and Lebanon’s economy.”
Already the most powerful armed force in the nation that border Israel on the north, the last 15 years has seen Hezbollah increasing its role in mainstream politics, holding numerous seats in previous governments. But the new government under Diab does not include any Western-backed political parties in Lebanon, leading to concern that the government will be unable to secure international help to ease the financial crisis, while at the same time further entrenching the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance in the country.
‘It will not change the basics of the equation’
Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS the fact that Hezbollah has grown stronger in Lebanon “is not a recent revelation. It is something that has been happening for years, and the international community has stood by idly and failed to intervene.”
“There are those who still believe that counter-corruption measures and targeted sanctions might work—and they could hurt Hezbollah on some level—but it will not change the basics of the equation, which is that Lebanon is controlled, at least 40 percent, by an Iranian proxy terrorist organization,” he said.
According to Schanzer, from Israel’s perspective the Lebanese Armed Forces are working hand-in-glove with Hezbollah, and if Israel comes under attack, it will respond to any strikes that come out of Lebanon. Israel is also signaling that attacks against it from Lebanon could prompt strikes against Iran itself.
Just a few months ago, it could be said that there was at least a partial differentiation between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Hezbollah. Now, with Hezbollah controlling Lebanon’s government (and military), Israel must contend with a full-fledged terror state on its northern border serving as a proxy to Iran.
It is also unclear what level of support the new Lebanese government will receive from the United States. Last December, the United States released $105 million in aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces after months of delay. However, there is deepening concern within the Trump administration over the new government’s ties with Hezbollah. In an interview with Bloomberg in late January, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concern about that new direction.
Israeli diplomats have been working hard in recent years to push their other countries to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. For a long time, many countries drew a false distinction between Hezbollah’s military and political wings. Now, this is finally beginning to change.
Honduras and Colombia recently joined Argentina and Paraguay in recognizing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Brazil has indicated it might soon do the same. Britain’s finance ministry recently said it had added the entire Hezbollah movement to its list of terrorist groups; the ministry previously only targeted the Shi’ite terror group’s military wing. The German parliament passed a resolution in December, calling on the government to officially designate Hezbollah as a terror organization and outlaw the group’s activities in the country.
With Diab in place, there is now little distinction between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, according to Jonathan Spyer, an expert on the region at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
Hezbollah is the “de facto ruler of Lebanon, so any challenge to the political order in the country directly involves it,” he told JNS. “The formal state, up to and including the highest bodies of government, is now operated solely and overtly by Iran via its franchise.”
“Hezbollah is seeking an end to the protests, involving no substantive change to the power structures in the country,” he said. “The appointment of Diab forms a part of this. Hezbollah seeks to end the protests without losing its image as the defender of poor Lebanese.”
According to Spyer, “in a future contest between Israel and Hezbollah-Iran, the state of Lebanon, under its Hezbollah-dominated government, will constitute the enemy. This, in turn, will enable Israel to exercise the full range of options available to it from a conventional military point of view.”
A tentative ‘mutual deterrence’ between Israel and Lebanon
With Hezbollah’s takeover of the Lebanese government now complete, what options does Israel have in confronting this threat?
Uzi Rubin, preeminent Israeli expert on missile defense, founder and director of the Arrow defense program, an Israeli defense engineer and analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies, told JNS that while Hezbollah is careful to nurture the idea that it has more than 100,000 missiles at its disposal, it doesn’t want escalation since “Lebanon will suffer and so will the people there.”
Israel cannot preempt Hezbollah’s use of its rockets since that very act could start a war.
“Any escalation with Hezbollah will cause the citizens of Israel suffering,” he said. However, he emphasized that measures Israel can be taken to mitigate the possibility of a rain of missiles on Israel’s home front and thus potential mass casualties.
Israel invests heavily in missile defense, but it also invests in what Rubin referred to as “passive defense.” Every Israeli citizen buying a home must invest in protected rooms. The amount of national income being spent on this necessity is more than the expense of the Iron Dome air-defense system. While Iron Dome “can mitigate the damage, it cannot prevent the damage completely,” he said.
Spyer also said he does not believe that an Israeli proactive attack is likely.
He noted that at present, a kind of mutual deterrence system applies between Israel and Lebanon. “This could be broken in the event of a conflagration involving Israel and Iran,” he said, though “it is unlikely to emerge because of internal Lebanese dynamics.”
It seems apparent that in the event that Israel comes under fire from the north, it will retaliate heavily against Lebanon—and not just against Hezbollah strongholds.
“I don’t see any reason,” Rubin said matter-of-factly, “why residents of Beirut can go on sipping coffee in coffee shops while we are being bombarded by rockets.”
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