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Very Good News Israel
By Michael Ordman
Two prominent themes in this week’s positive Israel newsletter are sustainable Israeli food technology and more life-changing innovations from the minds of Israelis.
In the 18th Sep 22 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Israeli scientists can detect pancreatic cancer with a blood test.
- Israel is top of the global
- Israeli technology streams video simultaneously to millions of viewers.
- An Israeli startup makes vegan meat from “used” vegetable oil seeds.
- New York awarded $1 million to an Israeli energy company.
- The movie Captain America 4 will feature an Israeli superhero.
- A rare Judean “Freedom” coin has returned to the Jewish State
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Oral insulin reduces liver fat. Israel’s Oramed (see here previously) has reported that its ORMD-0801 oral insulin candidate successfully reduced the liver fat in its Phase 2 trial on Type 2 diabetes patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (“NASH”). There were no safety issues in the double-blind, multi-center trial.
https://www.prnewswire.com/
Blood test for colon and pancreatic cancer. (TY Hazel) Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have developed a blood test to detect colorectal cancer, which is normally found through an invasive test, and pancreatic cancer, which has no single diagnostic test. The proof of concept is now to be taken to trials.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.
Transforming cancer diagnosis. (TY NoCamels) Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics (see here previously) has launched a new cancer detection platform – Galen 3.0 with improved AI algorithms to detect cancer in prostate, breast and gastric biopsies. It also calculates the aggressiveness of prostate cancer, reducing time and errors.
https://ibex-ai.com/galen-3-0-
83 cancer research grants. The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) has awarded 83 cancer research grants (28 new and 55 continuing) worth almost $5 million for the 2022-2023 funding year. ICRF’s funding has now
reached 2,730 grants totaling more than $87.5 million.
https://myemail.
Covid-19 variant vaccines arrive. (TY Hazel) Israel has taken delivery of second-generation coronavirus vaccines, updated to better battle new variants. They are expected to be in clinics by the end of September. The international scientific community is again looking to see how well these new vaccines protect Israelis.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Diagnosing Parkinson’s at the cellular level. A Haifa University-led team of international scientists has discovered a method to identify early Parkinson’s Disease cases. Brain cells of PD patients die when they disconnect from the extracellular matrix. Early detection and subsequent treatment could halt this process.
https://www.jpost.com/health-
https://www.nature.com/
Make your time more productive. (TY UWI) Israeli-US startup Hour25.ai has developed an app that learns and monitors a user’s activity patterns and gives an alert whenever it detects inactivity, fatigue or distraction. It then suggests a personalized intervention, e.g., take a walk, or perform an optional exercise.
https://www.israel21c.org/how-
A helping hand. (TY Hazel) Israel’s 6Degrees (see here previously) has made significant progress with its MyMove wristband that allows people who can’t use their hands to operate any phone, laptop, or tablet. It includes having Tel Aviv municipality adopt the wristband to help people with disabilities come back to work.
https://nocamels.com/2022/09/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Discounted vacations for senior citizens. Israeli citizens over retirement age can now receive 20% discount when booking hotels in Israel. The benefit is a joint initiative of the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of Social Equality, and the Hotel Association. It applies to most Sat night to Weds bookings for the coming year.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Environmentally friendly conference. The PLANETech World 2022 Conference in Tel Aviv on 21 Sep will have a much-reduced carbon footprint thanks to Israel’s Palram and UBQ. Palram will incorporate UBQ’s thermoplastic recycled material in the construction of many of the temporary building structures.
https://www.jpost.com/
https://www.planetech.org/
Jerusalem tunnel for cyclists. Following the recent opening of the Highway 16 tunnels (see last week), Jerusalem has now inaugurated an underground road solely for cyclists. The 2.1km Kerem Tunnel is the fifth longest cycle tunnel in the world, taking two years to complete and costing some NIS 25 million.
https://www.
https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/
Negev Bedouins complete “digital tent”. Over a dozen Bedouin Muslim Arab teens competed a 5-week training camp, dubbed “Digital Tent,” designed to integrate members of the community into Israel’s high-tech sector. The camp was established thanks to MIT, Ben-Gurion University, and the non-profit Siraj.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Utah delegation visits Israel. A delegation of Utah governmental and economic officials made its first stop in Israel, on a trip that will also include the United Arab Emirates. 2021 trade between Utah and Israel exceeded $55 million. Of key interest to the delegation was Israel’s Frontier incubator that specializes in desert ag-tech.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.frontierng.com/
Strengthening ties with Central America. The second annual Central America-Israel Forum, involving 14 countries, has just concluded in Panama City, Panama. This year’s focus was strengthening ties between Christians and Jews. It featured Government ministers including from Panama, Uruguay, and Guatemala.
https://www.jns.org/second-
The world’s best Digital Quality of Life. Last year, Israel rose from 8th place to 4th in SurfShark’s annual Digital Quality of Life Index. This year, Israel is top of the 117 countries, mainly due to its fast, affordable mobile Internet. As an Israeli, I can confirm that my digital quality of life has certainly improved this past year!
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://surfshark.com/dql2022 https://surfshark.com/dql2021
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Partnering to advance AI. Celebrating 50 years in Israel, IBM is partnering Israel’s Technion Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem to advance artificial intelligence capabilities and applications in Israel. IBM will fund AI research into Natural Language processing, medicine discovery and multi-cloud computing.
https://www.afhu.org/2022/09/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Streaming to millions. Technology developed by Microsoft’s Israeli R&D team enables video streaming to millions of on-line participants without overloading a company’s network. The secure, easy to install technology was developed by Israel’s Peer5 (see here previously), which Microsoft acquired last year.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Two ways to purify the air. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Airovation (see here) has two indoor air purifying devices: The “Air-O”, which treats CO2, volatile organic compounds in harmful gases, airborne viruses, and bacteria; and the “Airosphera”, which uses sensors to measure conditions for infants and treat the air around them.
https://nocamels.com/2022/09/
Water from the air in your car. Mullen Automotive has signed a partnership with Israel’s Watergen (see here previously) to develop and equip Mullen’s portfolio of electric vehicles with the ability to produce fresh drinking water from thin air. The aim is to provide up to 5 liters of hot or cold water daily.
https://www.jpost.com/
Safe infotainment in your vehicle. Israel’s OVO Automotive enables fleet managers to provide drivers with in-vehicle applications independent of automakers and Apple/Google. These applications run in the cloud and stream to the vehicle screen without compromising safety and security of the vehicle, driver, or passengers.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Dairy-free “milk” chocolate. Israelis Daniel and Elia Barkat are vegans, but they missed delicious creamy milk chocolate, so, they developed their own vegan chocolate. It is sold all over Israel under the brand name “Panda Chocolate”. They have just started selling it in the USA, under the brand name “Seventh Heaven”.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Slaughter-free lamb. (TY UWI) Israel’s Future Meat Technologies (see here previously) has produced its first cultivated lamb, which it says looks, cooks and tastes like conventional ground lamb meat, without harming a single animal. The company isolated fibroblast cells from Awassi sheep in 2019.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Vegan meat from seeds. Israel’s More Foods (see here previously) takes crushed pumpkin and sunflower seeds from oil makers and turns them into clean-label vegan ‘meat’ for restaurants and caterers. The alternative meats, are certified kosher, contain 27% protein, 7% fiber, iron, calcium, potassium and just 1% saturated fat.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.more-foods.co/
Fast-growing, disease-free avocados. Israel’s Bestree, a spinoff from Israel’s MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, has developed avocados from cultivated tissue rather than from seeds. Using sterilized tissue prevents transmission of diseases, improves the quality of the fruit, and speeds up the growth process.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Growing Brazilian superfruit. (TY UWI) The acai is a palm tree that grows in Brazil’s tropical region of the Amazon basin. Its fruit is of great importance in the Brazilian economy. Israeli agriculture tech, including precise irrigation and sensors, will now allow these trees to be cultivated in drier areas in the heart of Brazil.
https://www.gov.il/en/
Now we’re cooking. Israel’s HomeBiogas (see here previously) is offering household versions of its anaerobic digester, which turns organic waste into gas. Your food waste could produce enough biogas for two hours’ cooking a day, and a rich fertilizer for your garden. Plus, you help the environment. Over 15,000 sold already.
https://nocamels.com/2022/09/
https://www.homebiogas.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
UAE’s largest business delegation to Israel. Delegates at the Tel Aviv conference for UAE-Israel trade expressed their amazement at how far trade relations had come in the two years since the signing of the Abraham Accords. There are now 72 weekly flights between the two countries.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Free trade with Guatemala. (TY Hazel) Israel and Guatemala have signed a free trade deal, which includes industrial, food, and agricultural goods. Bi-lateral trade rose 11% to $40 million in 2021. Guatemala’s foreign minister said his country’s economy only improved after moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
https://www.israelhayom.com/
400 Israeli startups in NYC. As the Covid-19 pandemic crisis recedes, a huge number of Israeli startups have fulfilled their plans to expand to New York City. The interactive platform Israeli Mapped in NY now lists 400 Israeli startups operating in the Big Apple. See also details of the conference Mind the Tech NY (14-15 Sep).
https://www.jns.org/despite-
https://newmedia.calcalist.co.
NY State awards $1 million to Zooz. (TY WIN & Hazel) Israel’s Zooz Power (see here previously) has won the New York-Israel Smart Energy Innovation Challenge. Zooz will use the $1 million prize to help New York integrate fast-charging battery capabilities and eventually phase out gas-powered vehicles.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.algemeiner.com/
Shop-and-go in Tel Aviv. Israel is finally getting its first grab-and-go, checkout-free grocery store at Israel’s Shufersal on Mendele Street in Tel Aviv, using technology from Israel’s Trigo (see here previously). Trigo’s systems are already powering stores in the UK, US, Germany, and the Netherlands.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Investment in Israeli startups to 18/9/22: Kape Technologies raised $220 million; Zesty raised $75 million; CYREBRO raised $40 million; Dig Security raised $34 million; Joonko raised $25 million; Groundcover raised $20 million; Ownera raised $20 million; Sightfull raised $18 million; Winn.AI raised $17 million; Opus Security raised $10 million; Xtype raised $5.8 million; VineSight raised $4 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Israel Philharmonic plays Carnegie Hall. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) is to make its first post-Covid-19 tour of the USA from 2nd Nov to 14 Nov. It will perform concerts in Costa Mesa, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Stanford, Miami, with its finale at New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall.
https://www.jns.org/israel-
https://afipo.org/event/
Vertigo dances round America. Israel’s Vertigo Dance Company toured the United States in July. It received acclaim in Houston Texas, the prestigious American Dance Festival in North Carolina, Reno Nevada (open air), and Chatham New York, before continuing to Montreal Canada.
https://www.jpost.com/365days/
Israel is so small. This Israel21c article features five sites to enjoy miniature versions of Israel and works by Israelis. Meanwhile, please publicize that full-size Israel is no bigger than New Jersey, Lake Michigan, Wales, and Kruger National Park. Check the maps! https://www.israel21c.org/5-
Jerusalem is so busy. (TY Sharon) On Jerusalem’s Streets – AGROMASHOV (Israel’s largest agricultural conference), and CLEANTECH; International Dance Festival; Shlomo Artzi concert; Manofim Contemporary Art Festival; Emunah’s first Ethiopian Israeli Cultural Festival, Woodstock, and Green Inside and Out Festival.
http://rjstreets.com/2022/09/
Israeli superhero in Captain America 4. (TY UWI) Israel’s Shira Haas will play the role of Jewish Israeli superhero Sabra in the MCU’s “Captain America: New World Order,” set to be released on May 3, 2024. Sabra (alias Ruth Bat–Seraph), first appeared in the 1980s Incredible Hulk comic book series wearing a Star of David.
https://www.jpost.com/omg/
Watch the migration live. Watch the live migration of half a billion birds through Israel’s Agamon-Hula Lake without leaving your home. KKL-JNF has installed a network of 8 HD cameras around the lake. Click on any of the photos in the 2nd link below to see the live feeds. (The Hula is the Biblical Waters of Merom.)
https://www.israel21c.org/now-
https://www.kkl-jnf.org/
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Brazil 200 in Tel Aviv. Casa Brasil (4-9 Sep) in Tel Aviv celebrated 200 years of Brazilian independence. Centered at Hanger 11 at Tel Aviv Port, it featured lectures, cultural presentations, a fashion show, a food festival and more. Relations between Israel and Brazil has always been good and trade is at record levels.
https://www.
Golden fin tuna swims into Eilat. A golden fin tuna was a rare sight amongst the shallow waters of the Red Sea corals off Eilat. The fish is a native of tropical and sub-tropical oceans and grows up to 2.5 meters long.
https://video.i24news.tv/#/
THE JEWISH STATE
Come excavate Biblical history. (TY WIN) “Unearth the Land of the Bible,” is a joint partnership between Israel’s Tourism Ministry, the Museum of the Bible, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Its aim is to take American Christians in mid-April 2023 on a 10-day “hands on” tour of Israeli archeological heritage sites.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
Million-dollar coin returns to Israel. A Judean quarter-shekel silver coin (one of only two in existence) was returned to the State of Israel in ceremony in New York. It was minted in 69 CE by the Jewish leaders of the Great Revolt (66-73 CE) as a declaration of independence by the Kingdom of Judea from the Roman empire.
https://www.jns.org/extremely-
David Ben Gurion’s archives. Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has constructed a new building to house the archives of David Ben Gurion – Israel’s first President. The new site in Sde Boker will become a focus for studying Ben-Gurion, and through his life, learning about Zionism and the establishment of the State.
https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/bgi/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
How Israel is attracting young tech talent. Useful summary of four initiatives to help talented individuals make Aliyah and fill the gaps in Israel’s high-tech industry. Israel Innovation Authority grants; MasaTech career relocation program; Government fast-track Law of Return; plus, specific company programs.
https://www.jns.org/opinion/
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Fetterman proving he is not the better man:
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‘Floundering’ Fetterman has Democrats fretting in Senate race vs. Dr. Oz
By Salena Zito
John Fetterman’s troubling health issues and his campaign’s lack of transparency have drawn rebuke from even political allies ahead of his lone debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz in the race for US Senate.John Fetterman's troubling health issues and his campaign's lack of transparency have drawn rebuke from even political allies ahead of his lone debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz in the race for US Senate. James Keivom
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is running for US Senate, but his floundering performance on the campaign trail has left many questioning whether he is fit to run for office — or even serve in the upper chamber of the house.
After Fetterman suffered a stroke just days before his May primary, reporters were later told he had a pacemaker and a defibrillator fitted to address atrial fibrillation — a serious heart condition that was diagnosed years earlier but not revealed before he ran for lieutenant governor or senate. In a June statement, his doctor said he also had a serious heart condition called cardiomyopathy. Since then, none of the doctors on his current medical team have provided any details about the aftereffects of his stroke, despite frequent media requests for his medical records. On Thursday, his campaign confirmed that he had taken two neurocognitive tests, one of which showed he scored 28 out of 30 — which is common for people who have at least a high school education.
But his current doctors have failed to say whether the stroke he suffered in May will affect his run for US Senate.New York Post
Since he returned to the campaign in mid-August, Fetterman has made brief appearances at a handful of events where he took no questions from journalists or audience members. He has largely relied on his Twitter account of nearly 800k followers to charm voters in his absence.
At the events he has attended, his halting, sometimes confused, remarks have caused concern. At his most recent event on Sept. 11, a Planned Parenthood “Women for Fetterman” rally, he struggled to finish his thoughts and fumbled his words, as he bashed his opponent, celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, for making fun of his health issues.
At his first event — a rally in Erie on Aug. 12 — he stumbled, paused or missed words throughout his nine-minute speech to the discomfort of many in the audience.
“I knew he had had health issues, I did not realize the extent they had affected him,” said a voter at the event, who said he was from the city of Erie and a Democrat.
A week later at a Steelworkers rally in Pittsburgh, Fetterman gave a four-minute speech and stumbled over his words. “What is wrong with demanding for an easy, safe, kind of their income,” he said. “A path to a safe place for them to win… Excuse me… To work?
On Labor Day, as he spoke for just over two minutes at a rally for Steelworkers in West Mifflin with President Biden in attendance, he often halted or trailed off and offered no comments on policy. “I am going to make it really simple for all of you,” he said, in a riff that was filled with frequent stumbles and awkward pauses, and ended with him confusing New Jersey with Washington DC.
“I can champion the union way of life in Jersey. Excuse me… In DC.”
Democrats who attended that speech said they are becoming uneasy about Fetterman.
“Some tricky, cute tweet coming at the people of Pennsylvania again and again and again, with scarcely a word on substantive issues — if that is all his brain can remember, that is unacceptable,” one Democrat told me. “He seems to think he can ride out the storm and not debate.
Fetterman has not yet debated Oz once during his campaign, although on Wednesday he said will face off with him on October 25 — more than one month after the Sept. 19 deadline when voters start casting mail-in ballots.
On Monday, even the editorial board at the left-leaning Washington Post condemned his lack of transparency and willingness to debate early in the voting process. “Mr. Fetterman is asking voters for a six-year contract without giving them enough information to make sound judgments about whether he’s up for such a demanding job,” it stated. “We have called for full disclosure of health records for federal office in both parties, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and we believe Mr. Fetterman should release his medical record for independent review. And he should debate Mr. Oz before voters start casting their ballots.”
Both Fetterman and his campaign staff have said the candidate suffers from an “auditory processing disorder.” The condition makes it difficult for the brain to interpret what others say, according to Sarah Lantz, a speech language pathologist at Magee Rehabilitation.
Fetterman visibly struggles at communicating with people, and needs to read questions from people so he can process them. The New York Times, Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Politico have all noted that he needed closed captioning to conduct interviews with their reporters. His campaign confirmed that he used Google Meets, a video chat app with closed captioning, for a live television interview this month with MSNBC.
Fetterman’s team acknowledged that he needed closed captioning when conducting this interview with MSNBC in early September.Fetterman’s team acknowledged that he needed closed captioning when conducting this interview with MSNBC in early September.
“I’m running a perfectly normal campaign,” Fetterman, 53, told the Times. “I keep getting better and better, and I’m living a perfectly normal life.” He added that he walks several miles a day and is rapidly improving his auditory processing.
On Monday, Joe Calvello, spokesperson for the Fetterman campaign, admitted to me that the candidate doesn’t write all his tweets himself. “He used to do it all himself but as the campaign has gotten busier from the primary he has some staff do some tweeting. But he still tweets a lot.”
When I asked Calvello for an update on his medical condition, he didn’t reply.
Meanwhile, when Fetterman walks in parades or attends rallies, he is tightly surrounded by volunteers and staff, giving him the illusion of robust health and adoring support while, in fact, it insulates him from reporters or outsiders who try to ask him questions.
Crowds attend Fetterman’s event in Philadelphia on Sept 11, where he struggled to finish his thoughts and fumbled his words.Crowds attend Fetterman’s event in Philadelphia on Sept 11, where he struggled to finish his thoughts and fumbled his words.James Keivom
The secrecy is in keeping with the entire Fetterman campaign. His stroke only became public just before the May primary when he was not seen on the trail for a handful of days. When pressed, the campaign admitted he had been hospitalized with a stroke caused by a blood clot from his heart as a result of atrial fibrillation.
“The fact that even [Pennsylvania] Governor [Tom] Wolf wasn’t aware for two or three days flies in the face of John Fetterman’s declarations of candor and transparency throughout his career,” said one Harrisburg-based Democrat who served in the state capitol for years. “It is unfortunate John has not been candid from the onset of his medical challenge, period.”
Although Fetterman currently leads Oz by nearly seven percentage points, his avoidance of the tough questions — and his opponent — could see him stumble in the final weeks of the campaign. Although Fetterman currently leads Oz by nearly seven percentage points, his avoidance of the tough questions — and his opponent — could see him stumble in the final weeks of the campaign. James Keivom
This is not the first time an elected official has had to contend with questions about his health, said Muhlenberg College political science professor Chris Borick.
“The late governor Bob Casey Sr., a Democrat, had a liver and heart transplant. Arlen Spector, a Republican senator, had a brain aneurysm, Hodgkin’s Disease and a triple bypass — [and] both of them constantly offer[ed] updates from their doctors on their health,” he said.
“Ultimately, having some clear verification of someone, both on their capability of running and their availability to the public, is important,” he said.
Right now, in his avoidance of the tough questions, Fetterman is projecting a shifty image to the public — an image that could eventually topple his 6.5 percentage lead in the polls.
The Harrisburg Democrat, for one, is worried about his chances at victory: “I think his physical impairments are such that he cannot successfully debate Oz.”
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No comment. This article speaks for itself:
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Give Iran Nukes, Says Quincy Institute’s New Iran Expert
By Adam Kredo
Iran should be allowed to build a nuclear weapon, according to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft's newest hire, Roxane Farmanfarmaian.
Farmanfarmaian, a policy analyst who focuses on Iran, earlier this month became a nonresident fellow at the isolationist think tank bankrolled by billionaires George Soros and Charles Koch. In a 2013 policy debate, Farmanfarmaian argued in favor of Iran building a nuclear bomb, saying the country would never use it to destroy Israel, even though the hardline regime has been threatening to do so for years and sponsors the top jihadist terrorists waging war on the Jewish state.
Farmanfarmaian joins a growing roster of Quincy Institute scholars who have pushed for increased engagement with Iran and promoted anti-Israel conspiracy theories from their perch at the think tank. This includes Trita Parsi, who formerly helmed the National Iranian American Council, a group accused of secretly lobbying on Iran's behalf, and Stephen Walt, a longtime Israel critic who has pushed conspiracy theories about the Jewish state. Like many of her Quincy Institute colleagues, Farmanfarmaian has downplayed the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran and argued that Israel should learn to live with the threat of an Iranian bomb.
"If Iran was to bomb Israel, it would destroy Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam," Farmanfarmaian was quoted as saying during the debate, according to a press report published at the time. "It's inconceivable that Iran would bomb Israel because it would isolate it."
Israeli leaders and a wide array of regional experts disagree with this assertion.
Farmanfarmaian also argued in a 2020 op-ed published in the Nation that then-president Donald Trump's assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was "a colossal strategic blunder." Like other Quincy scholars and pro-Iran analysts, Farmanfarmaian argued the assassination would spark a global terror spree by Iran, a fear that never came to fruition.
She also described the general, who helmed Iran's regional terror operations, as "charismatic and highly effective."
Soleimani, "largely immune from the ambivalence with which many Iranians view the ruthless Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, operated for the most part outside the country as the respected head of the IRGC's foreign arm, the elite Quds Force," she wrote at the time. "Charismatic and highly effective, he gained admiration even among reformists for expanding Iran's reach across the Shia Crescent, the land bridge connecting Iran to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon."
Farmanfarmaian went on to claim that the Soleimani assassination genuinely upset ordinary Iranians, even though the general was widely seen as the face of Tehran's massive spending on foreign wars.
"The expressions of grief on the streets of Iran are genuine," she wrote. "His assassination has brought the population closer to the leadership, despite recent protests, in shared outrage not only at Trump's actions but also at the administration's apparent disdain for Iran's sovereign rights and its insulting rhetoric demanding that Iran ‘change its behavior.'"
And:
The Islamic Republic’s ‘morality’ murder and US appeasement
By Ruth King
The killing of Mahsa Amini in Tehran last week should serve as a reminder to the United States about the regime that it’s desperate to enrich with tens of billions of dollars in exchange for another disastrous nuclear deal. And the angry street protests that have erupted around the Islamic Republic since then should signal to the P5+1 that now is the time to help weaken, not strengthen, the grip of the ayatollahs on the populace.
Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Saqez in Iran’s Kurdistan Province, was on a trip with her family to the country’s capital on Tuesday, when she was arrested by the “morality police” for not having her head covered properly. According to eyewitnesses, she was beaten as soon as she entered the van that was transporting her to the station for “education.”
By Friday, she was dead. One can only imagine the kind of torture she endured before she was taken to the Kasra Hospital in northern Tehran. Photos that emerged of her lying in a coma matched the medical center’s statement that when she was admitted on Sept. 13, she showed “no vital signs.”
This notice was removed from the hospital’s social media pages after hardliners called its staff “anti-regime agents.” In parallel, police denied having beaten Amini to death, insisting that she had passed away from a heart attack.
Compounding the lie that nobody bought—least of all her family, who said that she had been perfectly healthy and never suffered from cardiac problems—President Ebrahim Raisi, as much of an Islamist extremist as his mullah handlers, reportedly requested that the Iranian Interior Ministry open an investigation into the incident. The charade would be laughable if it weren’t so typically evil.
Ditto for the response of the regime—a member of the U.N. Women’s Rights Council—to the demonstrations that ensued upon news of Amini’s demise and continued throughout her burial in Saqez on Saturday. During the funeral, women removed their hijabs and mourners chanted “Death to the dictator,” referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ironically, reports that Khamenei was severely ill with a bowel obstruction, along with rumors that he may even have died, were countered on Saturday with an appearance by the octogenarian cleric at a religious ceremony.
Meanwhile, Iranian security forces were busy trying to nip the unrest in the bud, with mass arrests and other means. These included firing on the crowds at Amini’s gravesite, where her tombstone was engraved with the message: “You didn’t die. Your name will be a code word [rallying cry].”
Whether Amini becomes a symbol like Neda Soltan—the young woman gunned down in Tehran on June 20, 2009, during a mass demonstration against the rigged results of the presidential election that had taken place a week earlier—remains to be seen. But the similarity is inescapable.
Though the 26-year-old aspiring musician was not a political activist, she had shed her chador in defiance of the Islamic dress code. She was shot by a rooftop sniper, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps militia.
Photos of her lifeless body, with her eyes open and blood trickling from her nose and mouth, became a symbol for the so-called “Green Revolution.” Before it fizzled out—thanks to then-U.S. President Barack Obama’s deference to the powers-that-be in Iran—the internationally viral phrase “We Are All Neda” seemed to indicate a crack in the regime’s armor.
Given the current circumstances, with Obama’s political and literal successors following the same old blueprint with Tehran, it’s unlikely that Amini’s death will have any more of an impact than Neda’s, however.
If there was any hope to the contrary, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley put it to rest on Friday through a pathetic post.
“Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained in custody for an ‘improper’ hijab is appalling,” he tweeted. “Our thoughts are with her family. Iran must end its violence against women for exercising their fundamental rights. Those responsible for her death should be held accountable.”
No, he wasn’t joking; and he’s still bent on filling their coffers. He doesn’t have to worry about Khamenei being out of commission, though, since the ayatollah-in-chief gave Raisi the authority to make decisions on the nuclear pact in his absence.
Nor is it true, as a senior Israeli official told reporters last Monday, that the administration in Washington has “sidelined” Malley, a key architect of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from which then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. A “conflict resolution” expert and advocate of engagement with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, Malley has been so eager to appease Tehran that his second-in-command, Richard Nephew, quit his team, and others followed suit.
“Rob [Malley] … is still very much in charge of … our efforts,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price in his press briefing on Tuesday. “[He] is deeply engaged day-to-day on the substance of this. He is leading a team here at the [State] Department. He is regularly engaging with our counterparts at the White House, the Treasury Department, the intelligence community and elsewhere regarding our efforts to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA and our contingency planning, as well.”
Asked during his briefing on Friday about what’s holding up the deal, Price replied, “What I can offer is our assessment, and there is only one reason that we have not yet reached an understanding on a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA, and that is because Tehran has not yet accepted the reasonable basis presented by the E.U. as coordinator of the JCPOA talks.”
He went on, “As we’ve said repeatedly, gaps remain between the United States and Iran, or between Iran and the rest of the P5+1 … And it’s clear from Iran’s response that these gaps still remain. Iran’s response did not put us in a position to close a deal, but we continue to contend that it’s not too late to conclude [one].”
In other words, the ball is in Raisi’s court. And Amini’s murder—for the crime of exposing too much of her face—is as meaningless as Malley’s mealy-mouthed criticism of it.
Ruthie Blum is an Israel-based journalist and author of “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.’ ”
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