Politics The
uncomfortable truth about Black Lives Matter, Malcolm X and anti-Semitism
History has told us that if you want to know a person’s truest nature, examine
his attitude toward Jews Jake Wallis Simons
Posted By Ruth King
Fifty-five years ago,
Martin Luther King delivered a speech to 50,000 Americans in which he demanded
justice for persecuted Jews behind the Iron Curtain.
‘The absence of
opportunity to associate as Jews in the enjoyment of Jewish culture and
religious experience becomes a severe limitation upon the individual,’ he said.
‘Negros can well understand and sympathise with this problem.’
He then stated, in typically
uncompromising style, that Jewish history and culture were ‘part of everyone’s
heritage, whether he be Jewish, Christian or Moslem.’ He concluded:
‘We cannot sit
complacently by the wayside while our Jewish brothers in the Soviet Union face
the possible extinction of their cultural and spiritual life. Those that sit at
rest, while others take pains, are tender turtles, and buy their quiet with
disgrace.’
This speech – released
last week by the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCEJ) to mark
Martin Luther King Day, and coming just days before we remember the
Holocaust – feels particularly poignant in the newly radicalised
atmosphere of 2021. Today’s activists in the Black Lives Matter movement would
be wise to remember King’s words.
During the Los Angeles
riots over the killing of George Floyd, Jewish shops were destroyed, synagogues
were sprayed with ‘free Palestine’ graffiti, and a statue of a Swedish diplomat
who had saved Hungarian Jews from the Nazis was defaced with anti-Semitic
slogans.
In France, a Black Lives
Matter rally descended into cries of
‘dirty Jews’, echoing the anti-Semitic chants that filled the same streets
during the Dreyfus affair a century ago. Shortly afterwards, the
#Jewishprivilege Twitter hashtag sought to lump Jews together with the forces
of oppression – until it was subverted by Jews posting accounts of the
persecution suffered by their families. Jewish privilege indeed.
This anti-Semitism is
hard to countenance in light of the historic bonds between Jewish Zionists and
parts of the black community. Golda Meir, Israel’s first female leader,
pointed out that ‘we Jews share with the African peoples a memory of
centuries-long suffering.’ And she recalled that Theodor Herzl, the father of
modern Zionism, had vowed: ‘Once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews,
my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.’
The animating spirit of
Zionism – to replace centuries of meekness with self-actualisation and national
dignity – shared a common denominator with the civil rights movement.
In the United States,
Jews stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Dr King, and paid a price for it: several
synagogues were attacked by the KKK with bombs and guns. Even Strange Fruit,
Billie Holiday’s iconic protest song about a lynching in Indiana, was written
by a Jewish high school teacher, Abel Meeropol. On this side of the Atlantic,
the British Jewish tennis player Angela Buxton partnered with the
African-American star Althea Gibson in 1956 to face down racism and win the
women’s doubles title at Wimbledon.
Why have some activists
turned their backs on this tradition? The answer may lie in the figure of
Malcolm X. Last summer, as the BLM riots raged, his daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz,
told journalists that it was her firebrand father’s example that was driving
the revolution, rather than that of the nonviolent Martin Luther King. Young
people, she said, were ‘much like’ Malcolm X.
‘My father said that it
would be this generation that would get sick and tired, that they would recognise
the people in power have misused it,’ she said. ‘And that they will no longer
sit by idly and allow these injustices to continue.’
Sadly, her father had
often associated the ‘people in power’ with Jews. Throughout his life, he
attacked what he called ‘Zionist-Dollarism’, deplored Israel and cast Jews as a
race of white oppressors.
In his autobiography –
which contains examples of the crudest anti-Semitism – Malcolm X poured scorn
on the bond between Jews and the civil rights movement. ‘So many Jews actually
were hypocrites in their claim to be friends of the American black man,’ he
wrote. ‘I gave the Jew credit for being among all other whites the most active,
and the most vocal, financial, ‘leader’ and ‘liberal’ in the Negro civil rights
movement. But at the same time I knew that the Jew played these roles for a
very careful strategic reason: the more prejudice in America could be focused
upon the Negro, then the more the white Gentiles’ prejudice would keep diverted
off the Jew.’
Dr King and Malcolm X
were from very different backgrounds. While the former had an affluent
upbringing in upper-middle-class Atlanta, Malcolm X was deeply scarred by
racist abuse at a young age, and burned throughout his life with the fire of
righteous vengeance.
Dr King, an advocate of
nonviolence, famously pursued a world in which the colour of one’s skin could
be eclipsed by the content of one’s character. Malcolm X took a more militant
tack. Violence, in his eyes, was not just justified but necessary. ‘Concerning
nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the
constant victim of brutal attacks,’ he said. But while his radical politics
were potent in the brutal context of segregation America, his legacy cast a
shadow of divisiveness across our more tolerant age.
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It goes without saying
that Malcolm X was a towering figure in the civil rights struggle, and played a
major role in enhancing black pride. But he was a figure both of dazzling light
and troubled darkness. History has told us that if you want to know a person’s
truest nature, examine his attitude toward Jews. If you find this to be malign,
be on your guard; as the late Lord Sacks put it, ‘the hate that begins with
Jews never ends with Jews.’
Dr King and Malcolm X
were both assassinated almost six decades ago. In the years that followed, they
have come to inspire the polarised forces that battle for the soul of Western
culture all around us. While one sought to defuse racial tensions, the other
attempted to force the aggressive ascendency of an oppressed community. The
future of this struggle can be seen playing out today, on our streets, on our
screens and in our institutions, as statues are toppled and synagogues defaced.
It is a conflict that advocates of peace cannot afford to lose, as its outcome
will shape society for decades to come.
Comments are closed.
And:
Democrats and assorted radicals, who speak for them, and those in the mass media want to bring back the McCarthy Years because their sensitivity might be offended by free expression. They want to squelch what burns their ears.
Speech and Sedition in
2021
The progressive press decides that dissenters
should be suppressed.
By The Editorial Board
Most Americans learn in
school about flagship political excesses in U.S. history like Joe McCarthy’s
1950s inquisitions, the post-World War I Red Scare and the Alien and Sedition
Acts of 1798. Yet a recent Washington Post opinion piece purports to explain “what the
1798 Sedition Act got right.”
The law banned a wide
range of political speech and publication. It was passed by the ruling
Federalists to suppress the rival Democratic-Republicans, whom they saw as
seditious. The Post piece argues that though their solution was “flawed,” the
Federalists had reason to worry about “unregulated freedom of the press.”
We highlight this as one
example among many of the emerging appetite for viewpoint suppression among
journalists, intellectuals and Democrats in the wake of the Trump Presidency.
They increasingly see domestic enemies wherever they look, and are devising
ways to use levers of power to restrict, regulate and boycott opposition. It’s
an extraordinary and ominous turn in a democracy.
***
Many calls to sanction
opposition media come from voices that claimed to be most alarmed by Donald Trump’s attacks on the free press.
Margaret Sullivan, the Post’s media columnist, wrote this week that
“corporations that advertise on Fox News should walk away,” declaring that the
outlet’s “role in the 400,000 U.S. lives lost to the pandemic and in the
disastrous attack of Jan. 6” has been “deadly.”
Nicholas Kristof of
the New York Times called for “pressure on
advertisers to withdraw from Fox News so long as it functions as an extremist
madrasa.” He added that “cable
providers should be asked why they distribute channels that peddle lies.” A CNN
writer asserted that providers
like Comcast “have escaped scrutiny and
entirely dodged this conversation.” By conversation he means political bullying
from the left.
Thomas Friedman in the
Times also called for a
business boycott of some Fox News shows and announced that Facebook needs to “surprise us by once
and for all stopping the elevation—for profit—of news that divides and enrages
over more authoritative, evenhanded news sources.” (Fox and the Journal share
common ownership.)
Only non-divisive
sources will be allowed, such as those that compare popular media outlets to an
“extremist madrasa.” A former Facebook executive was more straightforward when
he said on CNN, “we have to turn down the capability of these conservative
influencers to reach these huge audiences.”
Much of American
journalism, which was supposed to revert to its historic role as a check on
those in power after Donald Trump left town, is now devoted to shutting down
the commercial lifeline of other media. Think of the precedent for the next
populist Republican President who might declare pro-choice publications
“deadly.”
The trend arrives when
one party runs nearly all of Washington and has the loud support of virtually
every elite cultural institution and many of the largest corporations.
Social-media firms increasingly respond to government pressure in content
decisions. With progressives filling out the administrative state, expect
politicians and regulators to find new ways to put their thumb on the scale.
There are already calls
for the Federal Communications Commission to revive the Fairness Doctrine that
enforced speech rules when there were three dominant TV networks. It died in
the 1980s. The Axios website complained that
“the U.S. government has done next to nothing to regulate misinformation on
large tech platforms,” and the founder of the liberal fact-checker
Politifact floated “regulations
and new laws” to marginalize right-wing media.
The deplatforming
pressure is spreading from social media—with the destruction of Twitter competitor Parler as the most
prominent recent example—to other forms of communication. A petition now urges publishing
houses to reject book proposals from anyone who worked in the Trump
Administration, and the Associated Press is calling podcasts a “loophole” in
social-media moderation.
“Misinformation” is the
all-purpose excuse given to justify new and aggressive censorship, as if
disagreement and falsehoods are a never-before-seen phenomenon in politics. “If
we can protect against counterfeit dollar bills, we should be able to protect
against fake news that we now know has the potential to kill people,” declared
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.
***
Which takes us back to
the Federalists’ 18th-century Sedition Act against “false” political
speech—which they believed was needed to save the country from domestic
enemies. The noted American historian Gordon Wood told the Journal in a 2018 interview that
“the Federalists never thought that they were a party. They were the government.”
Opposition to the government was naturally seditious.
Today’s liberal elite
swoon over [Alexander] “Hamilton,” who supported the Sedition Act, and perhaps
they’re becoming the arch-Federalists of the current political era. Today the
press, prominent CEOs and all elected branches of government also find
themselves in closer political alignment than at any time in decades. The
liberal temptation to define their point of view as the only legitimate one—to
view themselves as “the government,” rather than one of two parties—is growing
stronger.
Amid the summer Black
Lives Matter protests, prominent media outlets, universities and
corporations underwent internal purges as
leftists made demands of liberals. Now conservative figures and institutions
are under fire from society’s commanding heights.
The problems of
polarization, lies and political violence are real, on both sides. America’s
leaders should reach for the country’s best traditions, not its worst, in
pursuing a better civil society.
Finally:
Does Biden's Justice System suggest skin color become the basis of being judged? If this is the case I seriously doubt he has chosen the correct balm to heal our society but then maybe that was never his intent.
Biden’s ‘racial justice’ agenda: Judge everyone by the color of their skin
On Tuesday, six days into Joe Biden’s administration, it became clear why Susan Rice, hitherto a foreign-policy specialist, was named director of the Domestic Policy Council. Rice — unconfirmable for a Cabinet post after her unembarrassed Sunday-show lying about the Benghazi terrorist attack — ventured into the White House press room to preview Biden’s “equity” initiative.
With one possible exception, the specific policies announced were less important than the word “equity,” invoked 19 times by Rice and nine by Biden. Ending federal private prison contracts and combating “xenophobia” against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are small potatoes as federal policies.
Not so, perhaps, with the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing initiative, started under former President Barack Obama, repealed under former President Donald Trump and now due for spirited revival. The idea is for the feds to reverse local zoning laws and plant low-income housing in suburbs deemed insufficiently diverse.
Actually, discrimination in housing has been reduced since the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act, to the point that in metropolitan areas from Washington to Atlanta to Los Angeles, most blacks now live in suburbs, not in the central cities.
But for Rice and Biden, “equity” requires not equality of opportunity but equality of results. That’s one of the fundamental tenets of critical race theory training banned by outgoing Trumpites and reinstated by Biden on Day 1.
A lower-than-population percentage of blacks in any desirable category, explains critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi, must be the result of “systemic racism” (a term Rice used twice and Biden six times Tuesday). If you don’t agree, you’re guilty of “white fragility” and you must be a “white supremacist.”
As Andrew Sullivan trenchantly observes, “to achieve ‘equity’ you have to first take away equality for individuals who were born in the wrong identity group. Equity means treating individuals unequally so that groups are equal.”
This is exactly contrary to the central thrust of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It could easily be judged, in particular cases, to violate the 14th Amendment. Individuals discriminated against might have standing to go to court.
And there will surely be many such individuals. Rice made clear that the policies mentioned Tuesday are just a start. “Every agency,” she said, with no suggestion of exceptions, “will place equity at the core of their public engagement, their policy design and program delivery to ensure that government resources are reaching Americans of color and all marginalized communities — rural, urban, disabled, LGBTQ+, religious minorities and so many others.”
That’s a lot of preferred categories, but one suspects that, as in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” some preferred groups will be more preferred than others. What we’re being promised is racial quotas and preferences in every conceivable program, in every possible corner of American life.
It may be objected that the United States is already well on its way to such a state of affairs. Quotas and preferences are firmly, almost fanatically, ensconced in higher education. Corporate America’s human resources departments, Kendi’s most eager clients, revel in imposing quotas and enforcing “equity” orthodoxy.
Even so, something still sticks in the craws of most Americans about treating some people differently on account of race or ethnic identity. “You don’t get to unite the country by dividing it along these deep and inflammatory issues of identity,” Sullivan writes.
Proof of this came from the unlikely precincts of California last Nov. 3. Democratic politicians under the influence of critical race theory asked voters to vote yes on Proposition 16 to overturn Proposition 209 barring state government, including universities, from discriminating on the basis of race.
Some $20 million was spent to pass this Proposition 16, versus only $1 million to uphold Proposition 209. Yet Prop 16 — and the legalization of racial quotas and preferences — was rejected by California voters 57 percent to 43 percent.
That’s an even wider margin than the 55 percent to 45 percent by which 209 won in 1996, even though California has become far more Democratic since then.
That suggests the Biden and corporate elite project to create a United States of Racial Quotas and Preferences is in conflict with a strong underlying current of American opinion that favors equal rights under law.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Ordman's good news from Israel (edited.)
-
In the 31st Jan 21 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Almost one third of Israelis have received their first vaccination against Covid-19.
- Breakthrough Israeli alternative to antibiotics gets European funding.
- Israeli voice technology gives independence to the disabled.
- A new Israeli tomato resists a virus destroying half the world’s crops.
- 3 Israeli statups have just become billion-dollar companies.
- With JNF-KKL you can now plant a tree in Israel and attend the ceremony on zoom.
- Best regards
Michael
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
The Vaccination Nation. Nearly 3 million Israelis have now received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and nearly 1.7 million have now received the second. Covid infections and serious illnesses of Israelis over the age of 60 are now 60% lower than before vaccinating started. An inspiring video.
https://www.jns.org/israel-
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
From coffee to vaccines. Israel’s Youtiligent has developed an IoT (Internet of Things) solution for checking that a vaccine has been kept at the correct temperature. Youtiligent is piloting the system with two of Israel’s four Health Management Organizations. Before Covid, Youtiligent monitored coffee machines and ice cream!
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
A Breath of Health. Israel’s Breath of Health (BOH) has developed a breath test system that identifies Covid-19. Clinical trials at Israel’s Hadassah and Sheba Medical Centers have shown preliminary success rates of 98%. BOH has signed an agreement with India's Reliance Group to distribute the system throughout India.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
New pathway for targeting cancer. Normal cells have 23 chromosomes from each parent. But cancer cells do not, and scientists have been trying for years to exploit that fact. Now Tel Aviv University scientists have deciphered the phenomena and can guide oncologists to the therapies most appropriate for each type of cancer.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.nature.com/
Hope for Parkinson’s treatment. Ben Gurion University researchers have discovered that proteins called BMP5/7 are new promising potential therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease. In lab tests, the proteins prevented the accumulation of toxic alpha-synuclein clumps and loss of vital dopamine-producing brain cells.
https://academic.oup.com/
Trial success for kidney monitor. Israel’s Serreno (reported here previously) reported over 96% accuracy in the trials of its Sentinel monitoring system for Acute Kidney Injury in three Israeli Intensive Care Units. The devices will now be manufactured by Israel’s Elcam Medical, which has also invested $1.5 million in Serreno.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
AI to improve IV. Israel’s Embrionics is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the success rates of fertility treatments. Founded by Haredi female entrepreneur Dr.Yael Gold-Zamir, Embrionics is breaking new ground in embryo selection, genetic analysis and utilizing Big Data to help bring happiness to childless couples.
https://jewishbusinessnews.
Tel Aviv is world’s 6th healthiest city. Tel Aviv, known for its vegan scene and vibrant culture, was ranked the 6th healthiest city in the world, according to a new report from UK’s Money.co.uk. It compared life expectancy, obesity levels, pollution levels, safety score, sunlight hours, and cost to be healthy.
https://nocamels.com/2021/01/
https://www.money.co.uk/
EU funding for antibiotic alternative. Israel’s Omnix (reported here previously) has been awarded €10.8 million in EU funding under the EIC Accelerator Programme, part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 research funding program. Omnix’s OMN6 peptide destroys the bacteria’s membrane, regardless of its resistance.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.omnixmedical.com/
Europe approves skin tightening device. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Sofwave (reported here previously) has received Europe’s CE Mark plus Israeli approval for its revolutionary skin tightening and wrinkle reduction device. Sofware’s SUPERB (Synchronous Ultrasound Parallel Beam) has already received US FDA approval.
https://sofwave.com/news/
Working to prevent pre-cancerous colon polyps. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Digestix Bioscience is in the early stage of developing a medical device and treatment to prevent recurrence of certain colorectal polyps. These polyps occur in at least 25% of people over 50 and if not removed can develop into colon cancer.
https://cannabics.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Reducing the stigma of mental illness. The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) has partnered the McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School. 30 Haredi 4th year JCT nursing students will be the “agents of change” to deconstruct the stigma of mental illness in Jerusalem and throughout Israel.
https://www.
Independence for the disabled. Israel’s VoiceITT (reported here previously) has enhanced its mobile speech recognition app to allow people with speech impairments to access and interact with Amazon's Alexa. Now the disabled can control lights, aircon, TV, computers etc. without having to call for help. Great video!
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
Arab hi-tech integration. The number of Israeli-Arabs studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Tel Aviv University’s School of Electrical Engineering has nearly doubled from 237 in 2016 to 459 in 2020. They include 150 Arab women - almost three times higher than in 2016. Small numbers but encouraging trend.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Helping Israel-Arabs MoveUp. Israeli non-profit PresenTense (reported here previously) has partnered with the British Embassy in Israel and others to launch MoveUp - an accelerator for Arab-Israeli tech entrepreneurs. 10 or 12 entrepreneurs will take part in a two-month virtual program led by Israeli and UK experts.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
One of the world’s oldest mosques. Israeli archeologists had a surprise when they were unearthing an 8th century CE mosque in Tiberias. They discovered the foundations of a 7th century CE mosque underneath it! They also found coins and pottery which helped to date the older mosque – the world’s oldest to be excavated.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Planning for after Covid. In a video conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the heads of Austria, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Greece and the Czech Republic to work together to promote scientific research into vaccines. It would provide future pandemic protection for governments against market forces.
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-
Israel opens embassy in UAE. Israel has opened an embassy in the United Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The new Ambassador, Eitan Naeh, and his staff will "expand ties with the Emirati government, financial bodies, and the private sector, universities, the media and more.” The UAE has approved having its embassy in Tel Aviv.
https://www.israelhayom.com/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Young scientist awards. Tel Aviv Uni’s Professor Yossi Yovel, Technion Professor Ido Kaminer and Weizmann Professor Rafal Klajn have won international Blavatnik Young Scientist awards and $100,000 each for their breakthrough research in neuro-ecology, quantum physics and nanomaterials respectively.
https://nocamels.com/2021/01/
Israel’s largest solar power plant. The Israeli government has issued a tender for the construction of the largest photo-voltaic solar power plant in Israel, near Dimona. It will cover 3,000 dunams (750 acres) and include battery storage. Already an unprecedented 27 consortia have submitted applications to build the plant.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Emergency WiFi. (TY Hazel) Israel’s SOS WiFi beams a signal that allows cellphones to freely connect to the Internet even in some of the most remote parts of Israel. It can send warnings of danger to hikers or give them a lifeline to the outside world if they need rescue or help.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Technology Emmy. Israel’s Beamr Imaging has won the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Beamr has developed a technology which compresses video broadcasts on networks.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
AI construction. Israel’s Swapp provides real estate developers and construction companies with a single platform to build their entire construction planning project. It says it simplifies the fragmented planning process, allowing developers to create architectural plans within weeks instead of up to 12 months.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Saving 50% of the tomato crop. (TY TPS) The Israeli Vegetable Seeds R&D center of multinational Syngenta has developed a new tomato variety. It is the first to be resistant to the tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBFRV), which over the past six years has ruined more than 50% of the tomato crop in Israel and globally.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.zeraim.com/en/
Flying pizza. (TY UWI & ILTV) Pizza Hut Israel is said to begin June trials for pizza delivery drones. Multiple orders will be delivered to approved landing zones – e.g. parking lots - where a driver will collect them and take them to individual customers. Israel-Australia Dragontail systems (see here previously) will manage the trials.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Protecting against digital fraud. (TY Atid-EDI) Peruvian bank Banco de Comercio has selected Israel’s Paygilant to bolster its newly established digital channel. Paygilant secures digital and mobile banking services by intelligently analyzing transaction data for its risk of being fraudulent.
https://paygilant.com/news/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Economic resilience is down to technology. Israel has been able to survive the Covid pandemic better than most OECD countries due to its hi-tech exports. Despite high unemployment, Israel’s hi-tech companies have attracted record levels of investment by both the government and global markets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
UAE-Israel tech fund. Israel’s Liquidity Capital and Dubai’s Vault Investments have formed a joint Venture Debt Investment fund with more than $100 million based in Dubai. It will finance tech companies across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe to create new growth in the region.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
New gas pipeline to Egypt. (TY Hazel) Israel Natural Gas Lines Ltd. is to lay a new subsea pipeline to export Israeli natural gas to Egypt. The $228 million route will send as much as 7 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Egypt. Gas is expected to begin flowing down the pipeline by April 2023 at the latest.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/
New York to Tel Aviv flights. American Airlines has announced a 6th May start date for its direct flights between New York JFK and TLV Ben Gurion airports. Tickets went on sale on 25th Jan. American has also announced direct flights from Dallas, Texas and Tel Aviv starting in September.
https://www.jns.org/american-
Record year for Intel. Intel Israel’s 13,000 employees have just received huge bonuses as recognition of their contribution to Intel Corporation’s best-ever year. Despite (or because of) the pandemic, the global demand for technical products increased Intel’s revenue by 8% in 2020 to $78 billion.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
A $5 billion travel company. Israeli-founded TripActions (reported here previously) has just raised $155 million, giving it a market value of $5 billion - despite the coronavirus pandemic! During the past year, TripActions has launched 40 new products, including a Covid-19 focused dashboard.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Vegan meat for Israel. Israeli meat distributor Best Meister is to distribute the plant-based meat alternatives of Israel’s Redefine Meat (reported here previously) to Israeli restaurants and high-end butchers in the first half of 2021. Trials of Redefine Meat products disguised as real meat, were extremely popular with Israeli customers.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
A bridge so far. Israel’s Dynamic Infrastructure (reported here previously) has won its first contract on the Australasia continent. It will deploy its AI-driven technology to maintain dozens of bridges and infrastructure assets in Horsham Rural City Council in the Australian state of Victoria.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
3 baby Unicorns. In just one week, three Israeli startups raised funds, to push their market value over $1 billion and gain the financial status of a “Unicorn”. They are Melio, OwnBackup and Drivenets, reported previously here, here and here. https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Investment in Israeli startups: DriveNets raised $208 million; OwnBackup raised $167.5 million; TripActions raised $155 million; Melio raised $110 million; DarioHealth raised $70 million; Run.AI raised $30 million; Swapp raised $7 million; CardinalOps raised $6.5 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Tu Bishvat in Jerusalem. (TY Sharon) Some beautiful scenes of fruit and flora in Jerusalem.
http://rjstreets.com/2021/01/
King David’s colors. Israeli researchers working in the Timna Valley near Eilat have found three textile scraps colored with the biblically described “argaman” royal purple dye. They have been dated to circa 1,000 BCE - the era of King David. They were found in the area known as “King Solomon’s Mines”.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Set Me Free. Eden Alene anticipates becoming first Israeli of Ethiopian descent to represent Israel at the Eurovision song contest in May 2021. Hopefully, this time the contest will go ahead as Eden was originally chosen for the cancelled 2020 event.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Chess unites new friends. Just six weeks since Israel and Bhutan agreed to formal diplomatic relations, the two countries are holding their first chess tournament. 170 participants are taking part, including 29 from Bhutan. Israel and Morocco have already held their first chess tournament, following new diplomatic relations in Dec.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
The fruits of Land. To celebrate the Jewish New Year for Trees, this article summarizes the annual harvest of the Jewish State. It includes 55,000 metric tons of grapes, 60,000 tons of pomegranates, 2400 tons of figs, 32,000 tons of dates, 4.5 million bottles of wine and 16,000 tons of olive oil. Read also about Israel’s trees.
https://www.jns.org/opinion/
Plant a tree by Zoom. No matter how far away you may be, KKL-JNF can plant a tree for you in the Tzora Forest near Beit Shemesh. You can fully participate in the ceremony online, together with members of your family anywhere. Visit the plantatree site, choose a date/time and get a link to the tree-planting ceremony.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
https://plantatree.kkl.org.il/
Israel’s oldest Indian Jewish community. Hundreds of India’s Bnei Menashe community have just arrived in Israel. But Israel’s 8,000 Cochin Jews can trace their Indian roots all the way back to the times of the biblical King Solomon. The Cochin Jewish Heritage Center is situated in Nevatim, a moshav in the Negev Desert.
https://www.jns.org/meet-the-
Reaching out to the Jewish world. Israeli Diaspora Minister Omer Yankelevich has been holding virtual Kabbalat Shabbat services with Jewish communities around the world. They include Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Warsaw, Lausanne, Baku and Helsinki. Zoom has made it possible to globally share live music and learning.
https://www.jns.org/minister-
Unit for women EMTs. More than 1,000 of United Hatzalah’s volunteer paramedics are women. Around 100 of them serve in UH’s special unit for religiously orthodox women. They attend emergencies where the patient would be uncomfortable being attended to by a male EMT. And delivering babies is all part of the job.
https://israelrescue.org/blog/
Returning Jewish artifacts to Israel. Before Covid, Israeli Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum traveled the world collecting Jewish relics found in junk shops and synagogue genizot (repositories for discarded holy items). Hundreds of objects telling the history of the diaspora are now displayed at Ohr Torah Stone in Eftat, Israel.
https://www.jns.org/collector-
Jordan river unites faiths. (TY Sharon) Last week’s article on the Jordan River landmine clearance should have mentioned that the baptism site is also where the Children of Israel crossed into the Promised Land and where the prophet Elijah is said to have ascended to Heaven. Photos are from last year’s Jewish tour.
https://baltimorejewishlife.
Israeli Covid patients rescued from Nigeria. When 3 Israelis fell ill with Covid-19 in Lagos, Nigeria, the local Chabad went into action. They completed all the complex paperwork and organized the first ever El Al plane to land in Nigeria to take the Israel’s home before Ben Gurion Airport was closed to all flights.
https://anash.org/nigerian-
The end of the pandemic? On Thursday, Jerusalem residents woke up to the sight of a huge rainbow stretched across the whole of Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. The director of Midreshet Kidmat Yerushalayim said, “... on this festive day of Tu B'Shvat may it symbolize the end of the deadly coronavirus…”
https://www.
Biden
Gives Putin A Win In First Days Of Presidency
(TheFreedomFlag)- For all the talk about President Donald Trump being a puppet of Russia, the Democrats handed Russian President Vladimir Putin a victory in the first few days of Joe Biden’s presidency.
On Wednesday, the Russian parliament’s lower house ratified a
new five-year extension to the New START arms control treaty. It confirmed an
extremely generous offer from newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden.
On the one hand, the Democrats say that Russia is a great
threat to the United States and that the former president was in their pockets,
and on the other hand, the newest Democrat president just handed a big victory
to Vladimir Putin.
What’s the deal here?
President Donald Trump remained sceptical of the New START
treaty for years and continued pushing for more concessions from Russia. The
former president also expressed an interest in agreeing to a totally new
trilateral agreement that would have also included China. But Joe Biden didn’t
continue those negotiations, did not put more pressure on China, and simply
gave a victory to what they say is America’s biggest enemy.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration said in July
that “extended New START at this point would probably be the easy thing to do,
but it may not be the right thing to do.”
“Getting China involved in some sort of an arms control
framework is what’s needed today in order to save off a potential three-way
arms race in the future,” an official from the Trump administration added at
the time.
Incredibly, Joe Biden offered a five-year extension even
though the Russians only asked for a one-year extension.
Yes. You read that right.
The New START treaty was signed in 2010 and expected to come
to an end in February of this year.
Biden made the surprise gift to Russia during the first
conversation between the two world leaders over the phone. On Tuesday, Deutsche
Welle reported that the United States and Russia “agreed in principle” to
extend the arms treaty by five years.
“A Kremlin description of the call between the two leaders
said they had both ‘expressed satisfaction’ that diplomatic notes had been
exchanged earlier Tuesday confirming that the treaty would be extended,” the
outlet reported.
Is this why Joe Biden was so reluctant to tell the press what
he spoke to Putin about following the call?
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the two
presidents decided to “work urgently” to iron out the details which will last
for the remainder of Joe Biden’s term as president…and a year into the next
presidency.
If President Trump runs again in 2024, it could mean just one
extra year until he can implement a new deal that gets tougher on Russia.
+++++
Biden has yet to call BIBI and Israel contiues atacking Iranian supported troops in Syria: https://m.jpost.com/middle-
Meanwhile:
+++
Do Liberals give a damn about kids? Even their own?
By Larry Horist | |
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