In the '60's far too many Americans pit on our military personnel and now we have come full circle and honor their service.
One day we will recoil at what we have done to Trump and his family but not until we come to our senses and reject the dangerous path radical Democrats have unfolded for America.
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Ordman's good news from Israel. (See 1 below edited )
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What direction for Pennsylvania in 2020? (See 2 below.)
And:
Is Iran winning? (See 2a below.)
Finally: What direction will our youth take? Next Generation of Americans Will Embrace Socialism If We Lose ‘War on History
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Dick
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1) Israel again goes beyond the limit to benefit individuals and the world. This week's newsletter includes new Israeli treatments for millions of patients; four amazing Israeli women; Israeli-produced water quenches thirsty Colombians and Tanzanians; Israeli humanitarian aid saves lives in North and South America and Israeli achievements have even reached outer space.
In the 10th Nov 19 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Israeli scientists have identified the gene that causes deadly heart rhythm problems.
- A blind Israeli woman is serving in the Israeli Air Force.
- 5000 Tanzanians have clean water thanks to an Israeli boy’s Bar Mitzva present.
- An Israeli radiation protection vest has begun NASA space trials.
- Skoda, Jaguar Land-Rover and Porsche announced new Israeli partnerships.
- Israel has a new world champion kickboxer.
- 15,000 Israelis have helped excavate an ancient Jewish village in the Galilee.
- Click here to see the 27th October newsletter on IsraelSeen, Ruthfully Yours, Janglo and United With Israel with extra feature on Culture Also (TY Sandra) in German and (TY Zachy) in Hebrew. Please pass on the following links to German and Hebrew-reading contacts. Also (TY Esty) please visit and “like” / “follow” the www.facebook.com/
VerygoodnewsIL Facebook page.
- Click here, to SEARCH the IsraelActive archives of over 15,000 previous news articles.
- If someone wishes to be added to the free email subscription list, they should either click here or send a request (with their name) to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.
com
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
US approval for H. pylori treatment. The US FDA has given approval for Israel’s Redhill Biopharma to market its RHB-105 (Talicia) treatment for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). It follows successful Phase 3 trials, as reported (here) previously. H. pylori affects some 2 million US patients.
Turning mosquitos against themselves. As reported previously (see here) there are several Israeli innovations developed to help reduce numbers of disease infecting mosquitos. Now Ben Gurion University scientists have discovered and activated bacteria in the male mosquito that is poisonous only to mosquito larvae.
Genetic cause of atrial fibrillation. Scientists at Ben Gurion University have found that common (mostly night-time) atrial fibrillation (heart rhythm problems) is caused by a mutation in a gene (KCND2). They are now developing an anti-arrhythmia medication, based on their findings. It could save 200,000 lives each year.
https://www.jewishpress.com/ news/israel/on-way-to-cure- israeli-researchers-discover- gene-causing-afib/2019/11/05/ https://www.ahajournals.org/ doi/10.1161/CIRCGEN.118.002293
Detecting and treating prostate cancer. For Men’s Health Awareness Month, here are 7 Israeli startups focused on detection and treatment of prostate cancer. Two have not been reported here previously. They are Keren Medical’s anastomosis device for bladder operations; and UC-Care’s ultrasound tumor tracking tools.
Relieving pain for pancreatic cancer patients. (TY WIN & I24 News) Doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center have managed to substantially reduce the pain suffered by cancer patients. Radiation is targeted at a nerve behind the pancreas. After 3 weeks, the patient is strong enough to embark on further cancer treatment.
The first medical school in Samaria is open. Seventy students were accepted into the first class of the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School of Medicine at Ariel University. It is the sixth medical school in Israel and the first in Samaria. US Ambassador David Friedman gave the traditional Hebrew ‘Shecheyanu’ blessing.
Sheba hospital – the Cyprus connection. Several newsletter articles (see here) highlight the humanitarian work done at Israel’s Sheba medical center in Tel Hashomer on behalf of citizens of Cyprus. Another example here is when a Cypriot police officer was shot in the spine and airlifted to Sheba for successful treatment.
NATO recognizes Israel as key medical assistance partner. NATO has recognized the Israeli Navy as a key medical-assistance partner in the Mediterranean following a drill held last month practicing emergency evacuations of personnel. “Crystal Sea 2020” involved the United Kingdom, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Blindness not a barrier for IDF officer. Ori was born blind, but that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her dream of serving in the Israel Defense Forces. She overcame all odds and drafted into the Israeli Air Force. After 18 months’ service, Lt. Ori was awarded a medal of excellence.
Female Chief Intelligence Officer. Major General “N” is the first female officer in IDF history to lead an intelligence division at a command level. IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi appointed her as Chief Intelligence Officer for the IDF regional command.
IDF soldiers save Arab woman injured in car accident. (TY TPS) An Arab woman was hit by a car driven by a Palestinian Arab in the Jordan Valley. IDF soldiers rushed to the scene, gave her initial treatment and evacuated her by helicopter to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for further medical treatment.
Miss Congeniality is an inspiration. Israel’s Noy Ben Artzi was chosen by her fellow 53 competitors to receive the title Miss Congeniality at the Miss Asia Pacific pageant held in the Philippines. She inspired five-year-old Filipino Angela Briana Alforque to dress as Miss Israel at her Manila school’s United Nations Day.
Ukraine to open Jerusalem innovation center. The Ukrainian government has announced that it will open an innovation and investment center in Jerusalem. “The office will be equivalent of a diplomatic office and be a part of the Ukrainian embassy in Israel,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli chief of UN business intelligence. Natalia Nadal is the first Israeli to be elected to serve as the Chief of the United Nations’ enabling and outreach service. She will oversee the UN business intelligence operation, in charge of improving relations between the UN and the various companies it engages for products and services.
Water from the air for Colombia. Christian Pastor Andrés Suárez is general manager of the Alliance Project with the State of Israel in Colombia. He has arranged for the installation of a WaterGen GEN-M atmospheric water generator in El Talento, Colombia to demonstrate its benefit to towns with no access to clean water.
How a 13-year-old Israeli brought water to 5000 people. Israeli NGO Innovation: Africa has released this latest video of Lev Ari – a 13-year-old Israeli boy with “attitude”. Lev relinquished his bar mitzva presents and instead raised $50,000 to bring solar power-generated clean water to the Tanzanian village of Sasajila.
Extending rescue operations worldwide. Israeli international mass disaster response agency ZAKA Search and Rescue is establishing bases in strategic cities in North and South America and the Caribbean. The UN-recognized organization’s missions include Haiti (2010), Nepal (2015), Guatemala and Pittsburgh (2018).
Israeli EMS model for Jersey City. (TY WIN) Israeli Emergency Medical Service United Hatzalah is working with Jersey City USA municipality to implement a 90-second volunteer emergency response service.
Israeli volunteers are still helping victims in Paradise. (TY UWI) As reported (see here) previously, Israeli NGO IsraAID helped victims of the fires that destroyed the Californian town of Paradise in Nov 2018. One year later, IsraAID volunteers are still there, providing trauma relief and other support to Israel’s American friends.
F35s join international exercise. The air forces from the United States, Greece and Italy have been training alongside Israeli pilots out of the Uvda airbase north of Eilat. It is the first international ‘Fifth Generation’ exercise held in Israel involving the latest F-35 advanced stealth aircraft.
Astronaut sees Israel from space and honors Israeli father. Jewish NASA astronaut Jessica Meir tweeted photos of Israel from the International Space Station. She then wrote about her Israeli surgeon father who was an inspiration to many in her immediate and extended family. See photos (TY Jacob Richman)
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
New fund to pay for fast internet. Israel’s Communications Ministry is setting up a fund to finance the deployment of fiber optic cables countrywide. Money will be given out via a tender process to telecom firms to install fiber optic cable to improve internet speeds in the Startup Nation.
Technology to help Skoda make engines. As reported previously (Jan 2016) Israeli startup Seebo’s tools and technology helps companies develop smart products. Now, Czech carmaker Skoda is to use Seebo’s AI-based software to optimize manufacturing processes on its engine production lines.
Super wine. (TY ILTV News) Scientists at Tel-Hai College in northern Israel have developed “super-wine,” an alcoholic beverage infused with nutritious organic supplements. Among super-wine’s ingredients is a substance called “resveratrol,” which is found in plants and is being hailed as a new “superfood.”
A multi-purpose robotic arm. On automated production lines, manufacturers use a different robotic arm for each stage of the process. Not anymore – scientists at Ben Gurion University have developed and patented a sophisticated algorithm that enables the design of one robotic arm that can grasp multiple objects.
Identifying which products can be 3D-printed. Israeli startup Castor develops 3D printing software that automatically scans a company’s parts catalog to identify parts that could be manufactured using a 3D printer. It results in fast-produced, lightweight parts that are ideal for the automotive and aviation industries.
Radiation vest blasts off. The innovative radiation protective vest made by Israel’s StemRad has been reported here several times. (see here) It has just been taken to the International Space Station (ISS) where it will start six months of tests.
Making Chinese self-driving cars. Israeli-founded Mobileye (now part of Intel) is partnering with China’s electric car maker NIO to develop automated and autonomous vehicles. NIO will engineer and manufacture a “first of its kind” self-driving system designed by Mobileye and based on Mobileye’s EyeQ chip.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
More gas and oil. Estimates of the recent natural gas discovery by Energean in the Karish North field, reported (here) previously, have been upgraded by another 25 billion cubic meters (0.9 trillion cubic feet). The new estimate also includes 34 million barrels of light crude oil.
34 years of economic co-operation. More than 80 officials gathered at the US Department of State for the 34th US-Israel Joint Economic Development Group. They discussed risk management for foreign investments; women’s economic empowerment; quantum information science, artificial-intelligence research and more.
Education council grant inspires university entrepreneurs. The NIS 6 million from Israel’s Council of Higher Education to establish the Yazamut 360° center for entrepreneurship at Ben-Gurion University (see here) has led to 60 proposed new student startups. Nine of these have now signed formal business agreements.
Israel’s special sauce. Jon Medved, CEO of Israel’s OurCrowd, discusses the success of his crowdsourcing company and explains why he believes Israeli food tech companies to be a big investment opportunity. He also recommends Israeli startups that aim to transform traditional industries.
Can I help you? Israeli startup Mmuze (pronounced “muse”) brings the advantages of a knowledgeable in-store representative to online retailers. Its artificial intelligence and NLU (Natural Language Understanding) generate a virtual shopping assistant, using text, voice, or chat (or a combination) on smartphone or desktop.
Helping “Americanize” Israeli products. (TY Nurit) Newsletter subscriber Nurit Greenger’s latest article describes the work of Fusion LA - the first Los-Angeles based education accelerator for Israeli startups. Its goal is to commercialize their products with investment, office space, mentoring and networking opportunities.
Tech for Jaguar-Land Rover. Jaguar Land-Rover is partnering with Israeli startup Fleetonomy to launch JLR’s new premium electric chauffeur service Havn. Fleetonomy’s AI fleet management mobility technology is behind the new up-market smartphone app ride request for a Jaguar I-PACE taxi. https://www.ridehavn.com/
Porsche feels its way into Israel auto technology. As reported previously (see here) Israel’s Tactile Mobility develops software that allows cars to “feel” the road. German car maker Porsche has made several Israeli investments (see here) and has now made another, leading a $9 million funding round into Tactile.
Isracard chairman is also a drone entrepreneur. As reported previously (24th Mar) Israel’s Tevel Aerobotics has developed an autonomous drone that can pick fruit. Tevel’s chairman Eyel Desheh is also chairman of Isracard, the credit card spinoff of Bank Hapoalim. This article explains both why and how he does both jobs.
ObeserveIT exits for $225 million. Israeli-founded cybersecurity company ObserveIT identifies insider cybersecurity threats. Nearly half of its 150 employees work at its Tel Aviv R&D center. It has just been taken over by US cybersecurity company Proofpoint Inc for $224 million – Proofpoint’s third Israeli acquisition.
InMode becomes a Unicorn. By now readers will know that a Unicorn in financial terms is a company worth over $1 billion. When Israel’s InMode Aesthetic Solutions was last reported here (10th Jun) it was close to launching on NASDAQ. It launched in August and its value has since soared to more than $1 billion.
Helping Europe sell to the Chinese. The online payment processing technology from Israel’s Credorax is licensed in all 32 European Union countries. Credorax has now partnered Chinese mobile payment services WeChat Pay, Alipay, and UnionPay, allowing European retailers to accept payments from Chinese customers.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Richard Branson haggles in the Jaffa flea market. Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson continued to enjoy his recent stopover in Israel. Having formally launched Virgin Atlantic’s new London to Tel Aviv direct service, he embarked on a business “venture” at Jaffa flea market to conduct some Middle Eastern negotiations.
Schug is global culinary trend of 2019. (TY UWI) The spicy Israeli condiment schug (or zhoug) has been named by Forbes magazine as the top global culinary trend of the year. The Yemeni hot sauce has experienced a 129% increase in social mentions in the US from 2017 to 2018.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ gilpress/2019/02/13/zhoug-is- the-new-sriracha-and-other- trends-discovered-by-ai-food- tech-startup-tastewise/ https://www.youtube.com/ watch?time_continue=1354&v= jcfcZh1ataM
Gold and three silvers for Israeli kickboxers. Yulia Sachkov finished first in the Under 52kg class for K-1 style kickboxing at the world championships in Bosnia. Israelis Shir Cohen, Daniella Pashayev and Or Moshe won silver in their classes at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations competition in Sarajevo.
THE JEWISH STATE
Zubin Mehta gave Israel his heart. Indian-born Zubin Mehta gave his final concert as musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The blog article gives amazing examples of the maestro’s love for Israel.
Maccabees defend Israel on campus. The Maccabee Task Force launched in 2016 to counter anti-Israel attacks at six universities in North America. Today it is active at 80 US universities and is targeting at least 20 more US campuses plus 11 universities in six European countries.
Rebirth through Aliya. Aliya Day on 5th Nov triggers a personal reflection by Anna Krycer on the blessings of living in Israel. She highlights the independence of young children; 2400 active centenarians hosted by President Reuven Rivlin; the passion and diversity of its citizens, the amazing food and “only in Israel” events.
Thousands excavate ancient Jewish Galilee village. Over the past year, 15,000 Israelis have worked with the Israel Antiquities Authority to uncover the 1800-year-old Jewish Galilee village of Usha. Among the finds are ritual baths (mikvaot), oil and wine presses, plus evidence of the local manufacture of glass and iron tools.
“Footprints” of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. (TY i24) Archaeologists have uncovered six “sandal-shaped” sites where the ancient Jewish tabernacle rested during the Joshua-led conquest of Canaan by the Children of Israel. Each contains a priestly “footprint” domain, a tabernacle/altar area and an amphitheater for the Israelites.
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2) Pennsylvania 2020; It’s Complicated
By Salena Zito
“This year, Democrats crushed Republican candidates in the suburban Philadelphia counties of Delaware, Chester and Bucks. But Democratic municipal office holders in the traditionally blue suburban counties around Pittsburgh, such as Beaver, Westmoreland, Washington and Greene, were swept out of county government in favor of Republican candidates. And in commissioners’ races across the state, Republicans actually flipped more counties than Democrats — six went from Democrat to Republican while five went from Republican to Democrat.
Overall, the results were a mixed bag for both parties. But one thing’s for sure: Pennsylvania remains the Keystone State to the presidency.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton did what all Democratic presidential nominees have done since 1992: creamed the Republican opponent in Philadelphia and its suburbs. She even flipped then-Republican stronghold Chester County by over 20,000 votes, a spot Barack Obama was unable to win in 2012.
But she essentially lost the rest of the state.
Typically, this is not a problem in any other year, but in 2016 voters in all of the other counties turned out bigly for Trump, handing him the state’s total 20 electoral votes.”
2a)
Is Iran winning or losing?
The anti-regime protests in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran are a dramatic development for Tehran. The less stable its neighbors, the more difficult it is for Iran to set the Revolutionary Guards against Israel.
There’s an old Jewish joke where a young man walks up to his grandfather and asks him how he’s doing.
The grandfather answers, “In a word, good.”
“And in two words?” the grandson presses.
“Not good,” his grandfather replies.
The events of the week call the joke to mind in relation to Iran and its war against Israel and the United States.
On Sunday, a crowd of thousands gathered outside the US embassy building in Tehran and chanted, “Death to America, Death to Israel.” The Iranians sounded their customary death chants to mark the 40th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy and the hostage crisis it precipitated.
Sunday’s demonstration was the opening shot in a week of hostile actions by Iran. On Monday and Tuesday, senior Iranian officials announced they are abandoning key limitations set on their nuclear activities as per the deal they concluded with the Obama administration, the EU, Russia and France in 2015. On Monday, Iran announced it expanded its uranium enrichment at the Natanz nuclear installation with advanced IR-6 centrifuges, and that it is doubling the number of IR-6 centrifuges presently being used.
Tuesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran is renewing enrichment activities at its Fordo nuclear installation, built inside of a mountain outside Qom. According to Rouhani, beginning Wednesday, Iran would begin enriching uranium at Fordo to 5% by injecting its centrifuges with uranium gas.
Many commentators responded to Iran’s announcements by declaring that the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy for scaling back Iranian aggression and thwarting its nuclear program has failed.
President Donald Trump’s campaign, which is enthusiastically supported by Israel and the Sunni Arab states, is comprised of continuously escalating US economic sanctions against Iran. Those sanctions are reinforced by US-supported military operations by US allies – primarily Israel and Saudi Arabia – against Iranian forces and Iranian proxies in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
There are three legs to the claim that the maximum pressure campaign has failed. First, its critics note, the US sanctions have failed to destroy Iran’s economy. This week Foreign Affairs proclaimed that Iran has survived its sanction-induced recession. Its economy, now at zero growth, is no longer shrinking. Iran’s economic survival, Henry Rome, an expert on Iranian foreign policy, said is proof that economic pressure is insufficient to bring down the regime.
The second basis of the claim that the maximum pressure campaign has failed is that Trump ordered the removal of US forces from the Syrian border with Turkey. Trump’s action, his critics say, gave Iran and Russia control over the border with Syria, which has allowed them to consolidate their control over Syria. This, in turn, emboldened Iran to rachet up its nuclear operations.
Third, the critics say, the Iranian regime’s willingness to openly intervene in quelling the mass anti-government protests in Iraq and Lebanon, as exemplified by General Qassem Suleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force direct involvement in attempts to repress the protests in Iraq, and by Hezbollah’s open efforts to stymie the protesters in Lebanon. These shameless moves by Iran and its foreign legion to dictate the outcome of political unrest in foreign countries, it is argued, means that Iran has consolidated its power and has no compunctions about flaunting it.
There are a few problems with these claims.
First, the fact that the Iranian economy hasn’t collapsed doesn’t mean that the Iranians aren’t constrained by the sanctions. According to the World Bank data, Iranian military expenditures increased from year to year between 2014 and 2017, but dropped in 2018. This week, US Ambassador in Germany Richard Grenell said that Iran’s military budget shrunk by 28% last year. Grenell said that outlays to the Revolutionary Guard Corps decreased by 17% last year.
So while it is true that the regime has survived, it is far from true that the sanctions have had no significant impact on Iran. Moreover, even Foreign Affairs acknowledged that it is likely that Iran’s ability to survive under the sanctions is limited.
Second, there is reason to doubt that Iran’s announcements regarding its stepped-up uranium enrichment describes a new activity.
In 2015, Barack Obama and his advisors insisted that the nuclear deal’s inspection regime was unprecedented in its invasiveness. But this not true.
Under the agreement, Iran had the right to bar UN nuclear inspectors from entering “military sites.” And under the agreement, Iran can label any facility a “military site.”
The “invasive” inspections that have taken place have also been far from exhaustive.
For instance, as the Los Angeles Times reported in late 2017, the nuclear reactor at Natanz is monitored around the clock through closed-circuit video cameras. The problem is that the feed does not go directly to the IAEA in Vienna. It goes to the Iranian regime which then sends it on to Vienna. Consequently, there is no way to determine whether the footage the UN receives reflects what is actually occurring at the nuclear site.
The same article pointed out that IAEA inspectors did not seek access to the most sinister nuclear installations, including the nuclear installation in Parchin where Iran was suspected of having carried out nuclear explosive testing.
“Nearly all of the inspections,” the paper reported “were of less sensitive facilities such as universities and manufacturing plants.”
Diplomatic sources told the LA Times that the IAEA was “careful not to provoke a confrontation by demanding access without evidence to sites that Iranian officials have said are off-limits to foreign inspectors.”
In other words, we don’t really know what Iran has been doing in its nuclear facilities. The IAEA defined its job as looking for keys under the lamppost and declaring, every six months that it found no keys under the lamppost.
Perhaps Iran was moved to announce its breaches of the nuclear deal at Natanz and Fordo because the US forces have Syria’s border with Turkey. But it is more likely that Iran’s action was a distress signal.
In his statement Monday, Rouhani made clear the move is an attempt to extort the Europeans into giving Iran money.
In his words, “When they, [Europe] fulfill their commitments, [i.e., give us money], we will stop the gas injection.”
The US withdrawal from Syria’s border with Turkey did lead to Iran and Russia asserting control over the border. But it also put Iran in open confrontation with Turkey. For a decade, Iran and Turkey have been working together in busting US sanctions and in undermining US operations in Syria and Iraq. Now that they stand opposite one another at the Syrian border with Turkey, the future of that cooperation is in doubt.
On Tuesday, Elizabeth Tsurkov from the Foreign Policy Research Institute posted footage of Syrian protesters in Sharjah, a town in Daraa province in southern Syria, an area under full control of the Assad regime, (which is controlled by Iran).
The protesters were chanting “Free, free Syria. Iran get out.”
The protesters in Sharjah were echoing the sentiments of millions of Lebanese and Iraqi protesters who have been out on the streets of their respective countries calling for the overthrow of their governments, which are controlled by Iran, and for a complete reordering of their political systems.
This then brings us to the third argument for the failure of the maximum pressure campaign.
Far from demonstrating that Iran is fully in charge of Iraq and Lebanon, the central role Soleimani is taking in quelling the protests in Iraq, and the central role Hezbollah is playing in Lebanon in undermining the protests is an indication of Iranian weakness.
According to media reports, Soleimani has traveled to Iraq twice over the past month to oversee the repression of the protests, and Iranian-controlled Shiite militias have so far reportedly killed 250 protesters and wounded thousands more.
In Iraq, the protests are concentrated not in Sunni areas, but in the Shiite south. And they are distinctly anti-Iranian.
At the same time the Iranian demonstrators in Tehran were shouting “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel,” thousands of Iraqi protesters in Karbala were throwing firebombs at the Iranian consulate in the city. They replaced the Iranian flag at the site with an Iraqi flag.
Throughout Iraq’s Shiite south, protesters are throwing shoes and burning pictures of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and calling for Iran to get out of their country. The Shiite clerics in Najaf, the religious capital of Shiite Islam have green lighted the protests against Iran. In other words, the Iranians are losing their own backyard.
The sanctions are one of the causes of the protests in both Lebanon and Iraq. Due to the economic constraints Iran is facing, it has reportedly scaled back its payments to its proxies – particularly Hezbollah and the Shiite militias in Iraq. These proxies in turn, have had to expand their use of public funds and extortion to fund their operations.
The protesters in Lebanon are reacting to the economic failure of their country, a failure which owes primarily to government corruption and incompetence. Hezbollah controls the Lebanese government both through its own political representatives and through its proxies. Consequently, it is the protesters’ main target.
In Iraq, the Iranian run Shiite militias have also been feeding off the public trough. They have commandeered public funds and institutions to pay for their operations. And, according to a recent report in Tablet online magazine, they supplement their income by making people travelling on roads under their control pay “tolls.”
If Iran had more money to pay its proxy governments, presumably they would be stealing less money from their respective publics.
In other words, far from having nothing to do with the protests, the sanctions against Iran have everything to do with the protests.
The Lebanese and Iraqis protesting their governments and the Iranian regime which controls them represent a profoundly negative development for Iran and its 40 year war against Israel and America. Together with Syria, Lebanon and Iraq play key roles in Iran’s strategy for fighting Israel. The more unstable they are, the less use Iran will be able to make of them in a future offensive against Israel.
Today, at least publicly, Israel is focusing its attention on Iran’s nuclear operations, and this makes sense. But actions to decrease Iran’s regional power and to destabilize the regime’s grip on power at home are essential components of any strategy for diminishing Iran’s capacity to attack Israel.
To date, the Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy has not managed to bring the regime down. And it is unlikely that on their own, US economic sanctions will suffice to ever bring it down.
Yet as the mass demonstrations against Iran and its proxies in Lebanon and Iraq make clear, the American strategy can and is undermining Iranian domestic and regional power and stability. It is Israel’s responsibility to ensure that this process is expanded and exploited to the greatest degree possible to diminish the prospects of a direct Iranian assault on the Jewish state.
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