One foot out the door, off to Highland's for granddaughter's wedding.
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Michael Ordman's:
Twice as good - Israel's Good News Newsletter
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Summer camp for special needs. Israeli charity Ezer Mizion runs a summer camp at Moshav Nechalim for 300 special needs children and young adults. Each camper has a personal counselor, a yeshiva student who decided to volunteer in this summer camp instead of spending vacation time with his friends.
http://www.ezermizion.org/
Imparting skills to underprivileged teens. Israeli NGO Unistream runs a multi-year program and an annual competition to give entrepreneurship and leadership skills to 4,000 underprivileged teens. This year’s winners developed an allergen detector, an app to recommend charities and a clothing line for special needs children.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Democracy Pavilion. Tel Aviv’s new Democracy Pavilion, on Rothschild Boulevard, is an exciting and rich multimedia experience which brings awareness to Israel’s core values of equality, freedom, and diversity. The exhibition is a part of the Independence Trail (see here) which can be followed using an interactive mobile app.
https://www.touristisrael.com/
Israeli homes for disabled and Bedouin. Israel has approved the construction of several new towns in the Negev and Galilee geared to serve the Bedouin and disabled populations. Shibolet, in the southern Galilee, will have a total of 350 units. 500 units will be built at Daniel in the south. 20% are for people with disabilities.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/embed/
A closer look at Operation Good Neighbor. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Israel has treated about 5000 patients from Syria -both adults and children. The army coordinates their transport, usually at night, to Israeli hospitals mostly in northern Israel.
https://www.jpost.com//
Two Israeli universities in top 100. In the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Israel’s Technion was ranked at number 77, up from 93 last year. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem moved into the top 100 at number 95 after being in the 101 – 150 section last year.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Partnering to ease African poverty. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Israel’s Ministry of the Economy are working together to alleviate poverty among Africa’s smallholder farmers. They will leverage Israeli agricultural technology as part of JDC’s new Tikkun Olam Ventures (TOV) program.
https://www.jns.org/jewish-
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
$1.8 billion campaign for global innovation. Israel’s Technion Institute has launched a global $1.8 billion, ten-year fundraising campaign. The campaign has already raised 40% of the required funds that will be used to support world-changing, life-saving innovation. https://www.youtube.com/embed/
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/
$123 million for research universities. Israel’s Council for Higher Education has approved an investment of $123 million (NIS 458 million) over 5 years to fortify research programs in Israeli universities. It is 83% more than that invested in the last 5-year plan. 90% of the funds will be used for lab equipment.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
$24 million to strengthen cyber security. Israel has launched a 3-year NIS 90 million dedicated program to strengthen Israel’s cyber industry. Its aim is to ensure that Israel continues to meet the cyber sector’s biggest challenges, secures its place at the forefront of innovation, and bolsters its global leadership in the industry.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Turning jellyfish into plastic filters. I reported previously (see here) on Israelis making use of jellyfish. Now, scientists at the University of Haifa are developing a filter made of jellyfish mucus to isolate microplastics in the oceans. The research is part of the International Go Jelly project, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program.
http://nocamels.com/2018/08/
https://gojelly.eu/partners/
Clean technologies for a better environment. This video summarizes Israel’s work in water recycling, solar energy, wind energy and other alternative energies. More than 400 Israeli companies specialize in developing sustainable technologies. https://www.youtube.com/embed/
Cybersecurity wherever you work. More and more employees are working away from their main offices. So, the security of their data and devices needs to move with them. Israeli startup Meta Networks has implemented a cloud-based solution which protects the employee (and the company) anytime, anyplace.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/
Get connected like never before. You have HDMI for your TV, Internet, video, audio, and cables all over your house. With the HDBaseT tester from Israel’s MSolutions, the installer connects everything in every room with just a flick of a switch. https://www.youtube.com/
Keeping pizza fresh for 8 weeks. Israel-based startup Timeless Foods makes firm disposable plastic containers for vacuum packaging delicate foods. It means manufacturers can vacuum seal delicate foods and produce, thus significantly prolonging their shelf life. Pizza, for example, stays fresh for up to 8 weeks without freezing.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.f6s.com/
Alternative protein sources. Israel’s InnovoPro is developing a technology for extracting concentrated protein from chickpeas. InnovoPro is one of the two winning start-ups in the 2018 Calcalist FoodTech competition.
https://innovopro.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
3D-printed vegan steaks. Tel Aviv-based startup Jet-Eat develops 3D printing technologies for vegan meat substitutes. The printed meat substitute is designed to emulate the appearance, texture and taste of beef and can be cooked like beef. Jet-Eat was a finalist in the 2018 Calcalist FoodTech competition.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
17 trillion shekels. As he opened trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) last week, Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon revealed that the State of Israel would be worth NIS 17,638,763,277,054 if it floated on the TASE. This was according to the latest methodology used by the World Bank in a survey of 140 countries.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Indonesia selects Israel transportation app. (TY Tower) The Asian Games (Aug 18 – Sep 2) doesn’t allow Israeli athletes to compete, but the host country Indonesia has chosen Israel’s Moovit as the games’ official mobility app. Moovit is the world’s most downloaded transit app with over 200 million users in 82 countries.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
BBC admits Israel is creating UK jobs. (TY WIN) What a contrast to the BBC’s normal biased anti-Israel reporting. BBC World’s “Talking Business” program included this feature by Jonathan Josephs. It highlights the UK-Israel Tech Hub as the ideal model to expand UK hi-tech business and create jobs post Brexit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
BBC “dragon” funds Israeli startup. Israelis Yosi Romano and Ziv Leinwand went on the BBC’s “Dragon’s Den” program, winning a £125,000 investment from star “dragon” Touker Suleyman. Their device protects babies from pollution, sucking in air, cleaning it and blowing it into the child’s breathing space in its pram.
https://jewishnews.
El Al buys 16 Dreamliners. El Al has purchased 16 Dreamliners (Boeing 787s) in a $1.2 billion deal, which will gradually replace older Boeing 747 and 767 planes. El Al received its 6th Dreamliner in a ceremony with the PM’s wife Sara Netanyahu who dressed as an El Al flight attendant - one of her previous jobs.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
More Israeli hostels. Good news for backpackers. Latin American hostel and co-working company Selina and Israel’s Ampa Real Estate have been scouting locations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and the southern Negev desert. Selina intends to open several hostels with a combined capacity of 5,000-7,000 beds within five years.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Warren Buffet buys more Teva shares. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has upped its stake in Israeli biotech Teva by another 6.7%. Berkshire Hathaway now owns nearly $1 billion of Teva shares.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Visa invests in Israeli Fintech startup. I reported previously (Feb 2017) on Israel’s Behalf which provides short-term loans having used hi-tech to decide on a company’s risk profile. Now financial giant Visa is partnering Behalf to “support small business growth”. Behalf’s clients receive a tokenized Visa Virtual Card.
http://nocamels.com/2018/08/
Gett generates $1 billion of revenue. Israel’s Gett makes 100 million rides a year, mostly with its London and NYC taxis. This generates around $1 billion in mobility services, according to Stockholm-listed venture capital firm Vostok New Ventures Ltd in its latest financial report.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Bringing Hungarians and Bulgarians to Eilat. Low cost Hungarian airline Wizz Air is commencing twice-weekly flights from November between Eilat and both Budapest and Sofia. Wizz already operates services from Eilat to London, Vienna, Bucharest, Riga, and Warsaw.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Annual stork migration begins. The annual migration of the storks has started in Israel. Thousands of storks were spotted flying over the Rotem Plain in southern Israel, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI). (No connection with the large numbers of Israeli births last month!)
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Colombian Superstar Carlos Vives performs in Israel. Award-winning Colombian musician Carlos Vives held a successful concert in Tel Aviv. He tweeted, “Thanks Tel Aviv! It has been a very special night! What an incredible concert, we are very happy to have been here with you to share and learn from here a little more!”
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Travel magazine awards for 3 Israeli locations. Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2018 World’s Best Awards included Jerusalem (3rd place) and Tel Aviv (4th) in the “5 best cities in Africa and the Middle East” category. The Beresheet in Mitzpe Ramon came 3rd in the “Top Resort Hotels in Africa and the Middle East” category.
http://nocamels.com/2018/08/
Dog TV is now on satellite. I reported previously (see here) about Israel’s Dog TV channel that allows dog owners to leave their pets home alone but happy. Dog TV is now available on U.S.-based satellite broadcast provider Dish Network Corporation. It is already on Comcast’s cable Xfinity and AT&T’s DirecTV.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Israel to host Euro Championships of Flag Football. Israel has been chosen to host the European Championships of flag football next year in Jerusalem. The tournament will feature both men’s and women’s competitions and is currently scheduled for June 2019. http://www.jewishpress.com/
Para-Euro swimming champions. Israeli swimmers won two gold medals in the European Paralympic championship held in Dublin, Ireland. Inbal Pezaro, 31, won the women’s 200-meter freestyle final and Ami Dadaon, 17, won the men’s 100m freestyle. Both are members of the ILAN Haifa swimming club.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Medals for windsurfers. (TY Nevet) Israelis Eyal Zror and Liam Segey came 1st and 2nd in the men’s U17 category at the 2018 RS:X Windsurfing Youth World Championships in France. Israelis Naama Gazit and Linoy Geva won silver and bronze in the main women’s event. Geva came 1st in the women’s U17 category.
http://www.rsxclass.org/
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Britain'd head of The Labor Party caught on video bashing Israel. What's new? (See 1 below.)
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Russian Collusion by any other names spells Clinton. (See 2 below.)
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Let's hear it for John Bolton. Finally, someone with a clear vision and meaningful goal. (See 3 below.)
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Dick
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1) A video surfaced of UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn endorsing a boycott of Israel back in 2015. It contradicts Corbyn’s previous claims that he doesn’t support “a comprehensive or blanket boycott.” Backstory at the JTA.
In the footage filmed in Belfast, he is asked: “Can the panel give hope to the people of Palestine by supporting the movement for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions against Israel?”He replies: “I think the boycott campaign, divestment campaign, is part and parcel of a legal process that has to be adopted.” He later adds: “I believe that sanctions against Israel, because of its breach of the trade agreement, are the appropriate way of promoting [the] peace process.”
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2)INVESTORS BUSINESS JOURNAL
Russia Investigation: It's beginning to look as if claims of monstrous collusion between Russian officials and U.S. political operatives were true. But it wasn't Donald Trump who was guilty of Russian collusion. It was Hillary Clinton and U.S. intelligence officials who worked with Russians and others to entrap Trump.
3)
Bolton was speaking at the Prime Minister's Office prior to a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his second meeting since arriving in Israel Sunday.
“I think it is of the highest importance for the United States that Iran never get nuclear weapons capabilities,” Bolton said.
“This is why President Trump withdrew from the wretched Iran nuclear deal. This is why he has imposed economic sanctions. This is why we are working with our friends in Europe to convince them of the need to take stronger steps against Iranian nuclear weapons,” he said.
This is also, Bolton added, the reason why we “continuously worry about Iran's role as the central banker for international terrorism, this is why we worry about Iran's belligerent military activity in Iran, in Syria, with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in Yemen.”
Bolton, who is in Israel through Wednesday on his first visit to the country since taking office in April, said that all of the regional threats he mentioned were also “global threats that pose a risk of international terrorism, especially terrorists' possible use of weapons of mass destruction.”
Bolton, long a strong supporter of Israel and a loud critic of the Iranian nuclear deal, said that the alliance between Israel and the US, and between the peoples of both countries, have “never been stronger."
Trump, Bolton said, has made the alliance “a cornerstone of his foreign policy,” just as Netanyahu has made it a cornerstone of Israel's policy. He said it was “very important and helpful for the United States” to have in-depth, extended conversations with Netanyahu and his senior advisors.
Bolton began his brief comments by saying it was a “privilege and honor to be in Jerusalem, Israel's capital,” to which Netanyahu joked: “Say that again.”
“Israel's capital,” Bolton repeated, adding that he looked forward to visiting the new US embassy in Jerusalem
Netanyahu welcomed Bolton by saying that Israel has no better friend and ally than the US, and that the US has no better friend and ally than Israel.
In reference to Trump's constant criticism of NATO countries for not spending enough of their own GNP for their defense burden, and relying on the US, Netanyahu said that Israel was a “peculiar kind of ally.”
“We've consistently increased our defense spending,” he said. “We insist on defending ourselves by ourselves and appreciate all manner of American support, but we believe that the alliance is the alliance of the strong and like-minded and we share America's values of freedom and liberty.”
Netanyahu said that under Trump the US-Israel alliance is stronger than ever, and that Bolton's visit gives the two countries the opportunity to “align our policies even more closely on Iran, on Syria, on Gaza and on the many challenges that face both our countries in this region.”
He thanked Trump for withdrawing from the “terrible deal with Iran,” saying this was “nothing less than a hinge of history.” He also applauded the Trump administration's “determination to re-impose tough sanctions on Iran and those doing business with Iran. I know that that view is shared by all our Arab neighbors, or practically everyone in this region.”
Netanyahu said that all countries who care about Mideast peace and security should follow the US and “ratchet up the pressure on Iran, because the greater the pressure on Iran, the greater the chance that the regime will roll back its aggression.”
The prime minister also thanked the US for its unequivocal support for Israel in international forums.
“We hear it every day, on the podiums in the White House, in the State Department, at the United Nations,” he said. “This is deeply, deeply appreciated, and deeply valued.”
2)INVESTORS BUSINESS JOURNAL
Russian Collusion: It Was Hillary Clinton All Along
Russia Investigation: It's beginning to look as if claims of monstrous collusion between Russian officials and U.S. political operatives were true. But it wasn't Donald Trump who was guilty of Russian collusion. It was Hillary Clinton and U.S. intelligence officials who worked with Russians and others to entrap Trump.
That's the stunning conclusion of a RealClear Investigations report by Lee Smith, who looked in-depth at the controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between officials of then-candidate Donald Trump's campaign staff and a Russian lawyer known to have ties with high-level officials in Vladimir Putin's government.
The media have spun a tale of Trump selling his soul to the Russians for campaign dirt to use against Hillary, beginning with the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting.
But "a growing body of evidence ... indicates that the meeting may have been a setup — part of a broad effort to tarnish the Trump campaign involving Hillary Clinton operatives employed by Kremlin-linked figures and Department of Justice officials," wrote Smith.
Smith painstakingly weaves together the evidence that's already out there but has been largely ignored by the mainstream media, which have become so seized with Trump-hatred that their reporting even on routine matters can no longer be trusted.
But he adds in more evidence that the Justice Department only recently handed over to Congress. And It's damning.
Memos, emails and texts now in Congress' possession show that the Justice Department and the FBI worked together both before and after the election with Fusion GPS and their main link to the scandal, former British spy and longtime FBI informant Chris Steele.
As a former British spook in Moscow, Steele had extensive ties to Russia. That's why he was picked as the primary researcher to compile the "unverified and salacious" Trump dossier, as former FBI Director James Comey once described it.
Steele's dossier, for which Fusion reportedly received $1 million, was largely based on interviews with Russian officials. And who paid that $1 million? As we and others have reported, it was Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, then under Hillary's control.
The media knew all this, of course, but largely ignored it.
The great irony here is that, after more than two years of investigating, the only real evidence of collusion with Russians at all points to Hillary Clinton. It was she who hired Steele to dig up dirt on Trump using Russian sources.
But now, it turns out, it goes even deeper than that.
Events surrounding that now-famous June 2016 Trump meeting suggest it, too, was a concoction of Hillary Clinton and her deep-state allies. And that meeting was the basis for much of the later Russian collusion "investigation," if it can even be called that.
Bruce Ohr, the No. 4-ranking official at the Justice Department, "coordinated before, during and after the election" with both Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson and with Steele, notes Smith.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, given that Ohr's wife Nellie, a sometime employee of the CIA, was also working for Fusion GPS.
The FBI fired Steele in October 2016 after it discovered that he leaked information to the press. But that meant nothing. Bruce Ohr merely continued as the conduit from Fusion GPS for information related to Steele's bogus Trump dossier.
The FBI and Justice used information from that 35-page document as the pretense for the FISA wiretap on Trump aide Carter Page. Far from being limited in scope, those wiretaps in essence provided a backdoor key to the entire Trump campaign — and the basis for the Russian investigation.
So far so good.
But an earlier investigation by RealClearPolitics showed that as early as March 2016, the FBI, other Western intelligence sources and Clinton campaign operatives contacted the Trump campaign about potentially damaging information about Clinton.
They were in effect live-trolling the campaign.
This is significant. Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Putin-connected lawyer who contacted the Trump campaign about having dirt on Hillary Clinton, was a client of Fusion GPS when she met with Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump campaign.
And she was accompanied by a former Soviet military counterintelligence official, now working as a lobbyist, named Rinat Akhmetshin.
Let that sink in for a moment.
What's especially curious is that GPS' Glenn Simpson admits he had dinner with Veselnitskaya both the night before and the night after the Trump Tower meeting.
Any possibility there was no discussion of the meeting between the two? Seems highly unlikely. Veselnitskaya herself subsequently claimed that the talking points for her meeting with the Trump people were provided to her by Simpson.
Once in the meeting, she quickly dropped the promises of having dirt on Hillary Clinton and instead brought up Russia's long-standing desire to get rid of the Magnitsky Act, under which the U.S. imposed sanctions on a number of Russian moguls and government officials.
In short, they were baiting a trap for the Trump campaign to make it appear as if they were colluding with Russian officials.
Given the nonstop media coverage following leaks by the FBI and Justice, it seems the meeting served its purpose: It sowed the seeds of suspicion about the Trump campaign's supposed Russian collusion.
The evidence goes even deeper than what we have summarized here. We suggest you read Smith's piece, linked above.
Congress, using the documents it pried out of the Justice Department after repeated requests, is busy getting at what might turn out to be the scandal of the century. And Congress is now doing the work the Justice Department and FBI won't.
"So here you have information flowing from the Clinton campaign from the Russians," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes told Fox News on Sunday.
Was Hillary The Real Colluder?
Nunes, who heads Congress' investigation into the matter, said it was likely that information "was handed directly from Russian propaganda arms to the Clinton campaign, fed into the top levels of the FBI and Department of Justice to open up a counterintelligence investigation into a political campaign that has now colluded (with) nearly every top official at the DOJ and FBI over the course of the last couple years. Absolutely amazing."
We have to agree. If all that is true, it is absolutely amazing. After all, these are serious felonies, using the federal agencies to spy on a political opponent in league with a hostile foreign power.
As we said, the only real collusion appears to be on the part of the Clinton campaign — aided by the Obama administration, CIA chief John Brennan and a handful of high-level officials at the Department of Justice and FBI.
What's next? It's possible the collusion investigation soon will turn from Trump to Clinton. If so, it could lead to more resignations and possibly jail time for those involved. That includes perhaps even Hillary Clinton, who sits at the political epicenter of all this illegality.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Russian Collusion: It Was Hillary Clinton All Along
3)
Bolton: U.S.'s highest priority is Iran never getting nuclear capabilities
The United States is working with European countries to convince them of the need to take stronger steps against the Iranian nuclear weapons program, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Monday.Bolton was speaking at the Prime Minister's Office prior to a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his second meeting since arriving in Israel Sunday.
“I think it is of the highest importance for the United States that Iran never get nuclear weapons capabilities,” Bolton said.
“This is why President Trump withdrew from the wretched Iran nuclear deal. This is why he has imposed economic sanctions. This is why we are working with our friends in Europe to convince them of the need to take stronger steps against Iranian nuclear weapons,” he said.
This is also, Bolton added, the reason why we “continuously worry about Iran's role as the central banker for international terrorism, this is why we worry about Iran's belligerent military activity in Iran, in Syria, with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in Yemen.”
Bolton, who is in Israel through Wednesday on his first visit to the country since taking office in April, said that all of the regional threats he mentioned were also “global threats that pose a risk of international terrorism, especially terrorists' possible use of weapons of mass destruction.”
Bolton, long a strong supporter of Israel and a loud critic of the Iranian nuclear deal, said that the alliance between Israel and the US, and between the peoples of both countries, have “never been stronger."
Trump, Bolton said, has made the alliance “a cornerstone of his foreign policy,” just as Netanyahu has made it a cornerstone of Israel's policy. He said it was “very important and helpful for the United States” to have in-depth, extended conversations with Netanyahu and his senior advisors.
Bolton began his brief comments by saying it was a “privilege and honor to be in Jerusalem, Israel's capital,” to which Netanyahu joked: “Say that again.”
“Israel's capital,” Bolton repeated, adding that he looked forward to visiting the new US embassy in Jerusalem
Netanyahu welcomed Bolton by saying that Israel has no better friend and ally than the US, and that the US has no better friend and ally than Israel.
In reference to Trump's constant criticism of NATO countries for not spending enough of their own GNP for their defense burden, and relying on the US, Netanyahu said that Israel was a “peculiar kind of ally.”
“We've consistently increased our defense spending,” he said. “We insist on defending ourselves by ourselves and appreciate all manner of American support, but we believe that the alliance is the alliance of the strong and like-minded and we share America's values of freedom and liberty.”
Netanyahu said that under Trump the US-Israel alliance is stronger than ever, and that Bolton's visit gives the two countries the opportunity to “align our policies even more closely on Iran, on Syria, on Gaza and on the many challenges that face both our countries in this region.”
He thanked Trump for withdrawing from the “terrible deal with Iran,” saying this was “nothing less than a hinge of history.” He also applauded the Trump administration's “determination to re-impose tough sanctions on Iran and those doing business with Iran. I know that that view is shared by all our Arab neighbors, or practically everyone in this region.”
Netanyahu said that all countries who care about Mideast peace and security should follow the US and “ratchet up the pressure on Iran, because the greater the pressure on Iran, the greater the chance that the regime will roll back its aggression.”
The prime minister also thanked the US for its unequivocal support for Israel in international forums.
“We hear it every day, on the podiums in the White House, in the State Department, at the United Nations,” he said. “This is deeply, deeply appreciated, and deeply valued.”
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