It's only your money that is becoming worthles!
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"Hahvahd" going deservedly down hill and their black female president can rewrite all she wants but it will not save the university because it is infested with hypocrite liberals. Their graduates have also wrecked our nation as they have infiltrated our government with their nutty ideas.
BillAckman
If
@Harvard
President Gay resigns, it does not restore Harvard’s reputation. That would only begin when the Corporation board members acknowledge that they made a bad choice of leader, which they have been unwilling to do.
The first step to reputational repair is to acknowledge one’s failures, analyze what went wrong, and then take definitive steps going forward to ensure the error is not repeated.
By waiting for President Gay to resign, the board members can temporarily disclaim responsibility and avoid the inevitable racism accusation, but they are digging a deeper whole for themselves.
When your CEO has done the indefensible, you must take immediate action to replace her. If you don’t, you become culpable in what was initially only her failures.
Ultimately, the buck stops with the Harvard Corporation board. They need to act now.
Each hour of inaction further damages the institution for whom they have a fiduciary responsibility. The board’s actions and inactions to date are indefensible in light of their fiduciary responsibilities to Harvard, the faculty, the student body, the alumni community and other societal stakeholders.
The Harvard Corporation Board is not an honorarium. It is a serious societal responsibility.
We deserve better.
And:
We Are Well Beyond Hypocrisy:
By Victor Davis Hanson
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It is one thing to bite the hand that feeds you but another if that hand wants to choke you.
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Standing Up to the American Colossus
The Biden administration is working assiduously to block Israel from defeating Hamas or contending coherently or effectively with the growing existential threats it faces from Iran and Iran’s Lebanese and Yemeni proxies. To force Israel to stand down, President Joe Biden’s top advisers are descending on Israel one after another to pressure and coerce Jerusalem to limit its military operations in Gaza, Lebanon and the Red Sea.
Last week National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was here to hector Israel’s leaders. Sullivan devoted most of his efforts to demanding that Israel move quickly from major combat operations in Gaza to more limited operations directed against specific “high value targets.” The idea is that Hamas can be left in place, more or less, and Israel can just seek a terror master or two to kill and declare victory.
The United States is using the Security Council as an additional cudgel to force Israel to comply with its militarily self-defeating edicts. If Israel doesn’t obey, the United States will permit a U.N. Security Council resolution requiring Israel to stand down to pass, and then Israel will face international sanctions if it continues fighting.
To maintain U.S. support, a senior administration official told the Israeli media last week, Israel needs to massively resupply Gaza and allow life to return to normal for the Palestinians in Gaza (who overwhelmingly support Hamas).
One of Sullivan’s chief demands was that Israel expand the so-called “humanitarian aid” entering Gaza, and permit that aid to enter Gaza directly from Israel. Once Israel buckled to U.S. pressure on that score and opened the Kerem Shalom crossing for additional trucks of supplies to Hamas, the administration began demanding that Israel permit the renewal of “commercial traffic” to Gaza. “The Israelis understand that the more aid that gets in, the more time they’ll have to continue operations in Gaza,” the U.S. official said.
Biden and his advisers know that the term “humanitarian aid” is a euphemism for resupply of Hamas. They know that the goods entering Gaza are transferred to Hamas, which distributes supplies first to its terror cells and units, then to apparatchiks. After Hamas terrorists and agents are supplied, the “humanitarian aid” is hawked to civilians on black markets at a massive markup.
So, by forcing Israel to permit “humanitarian aid” to enter Gaza, Biden and his top officials are compelling Israel to fortify Hamas’s position as the undisputed ruler of the region, who decides who gets what, when and under what circumstances.
This U.S. policy undermines Israel strategically and tactically in two additional ways. First, its demand that supplies enter Gaza facilitates Egypt’s policy of blocking Palestinians from leaving the war zone to seek shelter in third countries. This policy in turn requires Israel to remain in a strategic trap where it is deemed responsible for the welfare of an enemy population at war with its people, and of accepting an endgame that either enables Palestinian terrorists from Hamas to continue to rule Gaza or pretends Palestinian terrorists from Fatah, who are Hamas’s partners in the war against Israel, are not terrorists and are not Hamas’s partners, and agree that they should take control over Gaza.
Second, and in furtherance of this end, by standing with Egypt in blocking Palestinian civilians from exiting to third countries and insisting that Israel resupply Hamas and the Hamas-controlled population in the midst of war, the U.S. compels Israeli forces in the south to fight in heavily populated areas. Writing in Ynet on Sunday, reporter Yoav Zeitoun described how Israeli forces are subjected to constant danger, and are all but incapable of seizing control over battlefields in Khan Yunis and other critical areas in the south because of the U.S. prohibition on moving civilians out of the area. Operating under these U.S.-imposed limitations, the Israel Defense Forces is forced to fight Hamas while Hamas terrorists are protected by human shields. Not only does this endanger the lives of Israel’s soldiers unnecessarily, but given the U.S.’s additional demand that Israel limit civilian casualties to as close to zero as possible, it makes it all but impossible for Israel to win.
Following closely on Sullivan’s heels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown arrived in Israel to badger their Israeli counterparts still further. According to media accounts of their plans, the two senior officials intend, like Sullivan and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken before them, to pressure Israel to “transition from major combat operations against Hamas to a more limited campaign.”
The Associated Press revealed that the generals want Israel to enable Hamas to survive more or less intact, “to prevent regional war.”
Unfortunately for all concerned, we are already in a regional war. There are two active fronts in addition to Gaza—the Red Sea, which is under effective maritime blockade by the Houthis, Iran’s Yemeni proxy army, and Lebanon, where Israel faces an existential threat from Iran’s Hezbollah terror regime.
Over the past week, five of the largest global shipping companies announced that they are ordering their commercial vessels to temporarily pause their transits through the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Since Nov. 17, the Houthis have attacked at least 20 commercial vehicles, and attacks have steeply escalated over the past week.
The United States has prohibited Israel from attacking Yemeni ports or Houthi regime targets to protect shipping to the port of Eilat, which is now under effective Houthi blockade. The United States has similarly refused to take any offensive action whatsoever against the Houthis, sufficing instead with interceptions of drones and missiles targeting ships on the Red Sea.
As strategic expert David Wurmser explained in a paper for the Institute for a Secure America over the weekend, the Biden administration policy is to “avoid any Israeli escalation against Iranian proxies anywhere.”
Wurmser placed the administration’s position in the framework of its wider policy of realigning the United States away from Israel and the Sunnis and towards Iran. In his words, “This is part of a broader attempt by the U.S. to burrow more deeply into the paradigm it nurtured prior to October 7 regarding Iran. At its core, it is an attempt to appease Iran by handing it major strategic victories.”
One of the most notable characteristics of the administration’s operations in the region since Oct. 7 has been the role that concealment has played in masking its aims. Austin and Brown shield the U.S. policy of enabling Iran to dominate international shipping lanes (and abandoning 200 years of U.S. naval doctrine which views the United States as the protector of freedom of navigation on the high seas) by proclaiming they intend to build a “regional coalition” to confront the Houthis. Notably, their coalition will not include Israel, the only nation willing to confront the Houthis—and Iran.
As for Lebanon, in the face of Hezbollah’s steadily rising assaults on Israel, the United States is doubling down on the fiction that the Hezbollah-controlled (and U.S. funded, armed and trained) Lebanese Armed Forces is a credible, independent force. Based on this fable, the United States insists that there is a “diplomatic solution” to Hezbollah’s military threat to Israel. It involves the LAF serving as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah, and Israel surrendering sovereign territory to Lebanon to satisfy Hezbollah’s legally unsupported demands for Israeli territory.
Insisting that this “diplomatic solution” is a viable alternative to war, the administration is demanding that Israel do nothing to physically secure its territory from Hezbollah terror forces and missiles.
As for Iran, the United States showed its continued subservience to the idea that Iran is a responsible regional power last week when it unfroze another $10 billion in Iranian revenue, which had been frozen under U.S. sanctions. Since Oct. 7, the United States has enabled the transfer of $16 billion to Iran.
Sullivan’s interview last Thursday with Channel 12’s Yonit Levi was a sterling example of how the administration obfuscates its hostile policies towards Israel. While speaking emotionally about how Hamas’s attack was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Sullivan gave no clear answers to any of Levi’s questions about U.S. support for Israel’s war goals. When she asked him whether the United States was demanding that Israel limit the timeline for its war against Hamas, Sullivan spoke of the need to target Hamas’s terror masters and limit bombing. When Levi asked whether the United States would reject an Israeli determination that it must militarily degrade Hezbollah’s military power on the border, Sullivan insisted that the United States believes there is a diplomatic solution to the Hezbollah threat. And when Levi asked whether Israelis should be concerned that the United States may refuse to provide Israel with sufficient ammunition to win the war, Sullivan said that he had just checked to see where congressional approval of Biden’s request for $14 billion in military assistance stood. He didn’t mention that it still hasn’t been approved.
As Michael Doran of the Hudson Institute wrote on his X account, the interview displayed “what the rhetorically-artful national security advisor openly admits, what he tries to dress up as more attractive than it is, and what he hides entirely.”
Why is the United States leveraging its position as Israel’s primary arms supplier and diplomatic shield at the United Nations—that is, its position as Israel’s ally—to compel an Israeli military defeat at the hands of Iran and its proxies, in a war that Israel rightly views as an existential conflict just as fateful as its 1948 War of Independence?
The answer is politics.
As the war in Gaza has progressed, President Biden’s political problems have multiplied. To win next November, Biden needs to secure the coalition of Democrats and Independents that elected him. But that coalition is split over the war. Most Independents support Israel. But according to a Wall Street Journal poll, 25% of Democrats support Hamas over Israel and only 17% of Democrats support Israel over Hamas. (Forty-eight percent of Democrats support Israel and Hamas equally). To win the election, Biden needs to rebuild his coalition and he can only do this by ending the war. And he can only end the war by forcing Israel to stand down, and so lose.
Israel doesn’t have to accept this state of affairs. According to a Harvard/Harris poll, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enjoys significantly more public support in the United States than Biden himself. Israel itself is supported broadly by 81% of Americans. The Harvard/Harris polling data has several internal contradictions, but the thrust of the data makes clear that Israel enjoys the support of a broad cross section of American society, including key Biden constituencies.
If Israel stands its ground and refuses to buckle to the administration’s bullying tactics, and if Netanyahu explains Israel’s position in a way the American public can understand, it will be able to maintain the support of the majority of Americans for its war effort and compel the Biden administration to stand with the Jewish state as we prosecute this life and death struggle to victory.
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Too many Jewish liberals are not aware their embrace of Obama was synonymous with committing suicide because they feared not being accepted.
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Why aren’t Jewish groups fighting DEI-based antisemitism?
The stand of the former ADL and AJC heads against woke ideology is encouraging. But major Jewish organizations still back ideas that breed hate.
They’re a little late to the party, but nevertheless still very welcome. The separate statements of Abe Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, and David Harris, the former head of the American Jewish Committee, calling for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs is welcome. They were dominant figures in the organized Jewish world for a generation and are still regarded as among the most influential voices in the community. So for both of them to come out as opponents of an ideology that has largely taken over the education system, as well as making serious inroads into the corporate world and government, is no small thing.
They join figures like journalist Bari Weiss and a host of other centrist and conservative voices who have been speaking out against the way the woke DEI catechism is both bad for America and fueling a rising tide of antisemitism. It’s been apparent for years that these so-called progressive ideologies like intersectionality and critical race theory have helped create an atmosphere in which Jew hatred has become acceptable behavior on the left. But in the last three months, it became impossible to ignore the cost that Jews in particular are paying for the left’s capture of leading cultural and educational institutions.
In the wake of the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, the sight of left-wing mobs chanting for the destruction of the one Jewish state on the planet (“from the river to the sea”) and in support of genocidal Islamist terrorism (“globalize the intifada”) has shocked American Jewry. Jews are being harassed on the streets of American cities, and the campuses of elite universities have become hostile environments for Jews. Institutions that were quick to silence, shun and punish those who said things that “triggered” left-wingers suddenly rediscovered their support for free speech once it was the progressives who were engaging in controversial conduct. It seems that the Jews are the only minority that is not only not entitled to “safe spaces,” but even to be spared genocidal threats.
Mainstreaming Jew hatred
As the appalling show put on by the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology at a congressional hearing made clear earlier this month, the main priority of these schools was to avoid giving the impression that they were taking sides against those threatening Jews, even if meant refusing to say that “genocidal threats against Jews” violated their codes of conduct.
But the main conclusion to be drawn from that absurd spectacle was not what happened to those three administrators but why those targeting Jews have been given a free pass by those in charge, as well as much of the corporate liberal media and pop culture outlets.
Advocacy for Israel’s destruction has been mainstreamed on the opinion pages of liberal newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post. And it was not without significance that the weekend after the congressional hearing on antisemitism that the “Saturday Night Live” program—which stopped being funny a long time ago but has instead become, like the networks’ late-night comedy shows, a reliable indicator of liberal political opinion—performed a skit about the event. But rather than poking fun at the three college presidents, the show lamely attempted to lampoon Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for having the temerity to interrogate the trio about their complacency and even encouragement of antisemitism since Oct. 7.
The reason for this has nothing to do with any coherent arguments about recent events or the history of the Middle East. It’s axiomatic that few of those screaming about creating a “free” Palestine “from the river to the sea” can identify either body of water. Nor is it likely that they or the adherents of orthodox liberal views that write and perform for SNL understand that, in contrast to Israel, such a “Palestine” wouldn’t be a safe space for gays, transgender or any other non-Islamist behavior. All they know is that their DEI mindset—a direct descendant of Marxist dialectic—has deemed the Jews to be the villains and that’s enough for them.
The political left in this country has become a lockstep cheering section for the Palestinians and even for the barbaric Hamas terrorists whose atrocities are deemed a form of “resistance.” The reason for this is due to the progressives’ adherence to the woke DEI and intersectional playbook that divides humanity into two distinct and immutable groups that are perpetually in conflict: white oppressors and people of color who are victims. They believe in diversity only with respect to certain racial groups and not opinion. They have replaced “equal opportunity” with its polar opposite “equity,” which demands equal outcomes based on race and background rather than individual ability. And they seek to include only those approved minorities from which Jews are conspicuously absent.
This is a recipe for permanent racial conflict for America as the left now takes it as an article of faith that all of the remarkable progress toward racial equality made in this country since the 1960s is insignificant when compared to the “structural” and “institutional” racism that they believe is everywhere in society. Such views had been marginal until the last decade since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The acceptance of the myth that African-Americans are being hunted down and killed by the police in great numbers grew but it took off in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd created a moral panic about racism that led to “mostly peaceful” riots throughout the country.
Though DEI and intersectionality had been gaining ground throughout society before then, especially in the education system, the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020 made it a dominant force with only a few brave conservative voices raised in dissent.
Joining a moral panic
That was bad enough for America, as it worsened race relations after decades of improvement. But as some of us pointed out at the time, this was particularly dangerous for Jews. That’s because the BLM movement was, like the rest of the progressive intersectional mindset, hopelessly antisemitic. Their categorization of Jews as “white” and oppressors, was a permission slip for Jew hatred. As a 2021 survey of DEI college administrators showed, the woke commissars enforcing the new rules were disproportionately anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.
Yet even as it became clear how destructive a force this ideology was, it became impossible for liberals to oppose it. Even U.S. President Joe Biden, who was chosen by Democrats as the “moderate” alternative to more left-wing options, adopted the DEI catechism. He issued an executive order on his first day in office that mandated the creation of DEI plans for every government agency and department and woke commissars to ensure their enforcement.
So it is hardly surprising that the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7 would generate a spike in antisemitism in places like academia where DEI culture reigns supreme.
But one of the most discouraging aspects of this crisis is not merely the failure of legacy Jewish organizations to lead the fight against DEI but their active support for it.
Groups like the ADL and the AJC, which were both considered by many in the liberal-leaning Jewish community as representing mainstream centrism rather than the left wing, were quick to sign on in support of BLM and DEI. And they haven’t wavered in their stands in spite of the mounting evidence that they were aiding and abetting forces that were weaponizing antisemitism, which is the polar opposite of the traditional understanding of their organizational missions.
The reason for this is twofold.
The leadership of these and other mainstream groups were primarily interested in staying in sync with their left-wing allies, especially in the African-American community, with whom they shared other positions on domestic issues. The thought of being caught opposing what liberals viewed as not merely the fashion of the moment but the new orthodoxy was intolerable, since it meant running the risk of being accused of racism, no matter how bogus most such charges have become.
It’s equally true that just as politics has replaced the role that religion once played in the lives of most Americans, Jewish groups have also become more partisan in their orientations. That’s particularly true for the Anti-Defamation League, which replaced Foxman in 2015 with former Obama administration staffer Jonathan Greenblatt. While Foxman was certainly a political liberal, his priority was always the defense of the Jews. I had my share of arguments with him over the years, but I was also quick to defend him when he was lambasted in the media for being too pro-Israel.
By contrast, Greenblatt has, at least until the last few months, been more interested in backing Democratic Party talking points than in carrying out the ADL’s core mission. That has been very bad news for the Jewish community. But it has enabled him to outstrip Foxman as a champion fundraiser as he’s reaped donations from individuals and groups that were not interested in backing a traditional Jewish defense organization.
On a fool’s errand
Harris was no partisan but his stewardship of the American Jewish Committee kept it reliably liberal. In 2022, he was replaced by former Democratic congressman Ted Deutsch, who was a strong supporter of Israel but also someone who never strayed far from most liberal orthodoxies.
While ADL and AJC have been outspoken in denouncing the spike in post-Oct. 7 antisemitism, they have not withdrawn their support for the DEI ideology that is its foundation. Instead, they claim they wish to “engage” with DEI administrators in order to convince them to include Jews among those who benefit from this polarizing racial and ideological movement.
That is a fool’s errand.
The DEI crowd is already convinced that Jews and Israelis are white oppressors and Palestinians are their victims who are “people of color.” That’s nonsense since Jews are the indigenous people of Israel, the Middle East conflict isn’t racial and the majority of Israeli Jews are themselves “people of color,” because they trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa.
Yet what these efforts to “engage” with DEI also fail to comprehend is that any system of thought that categorizes people racially in this manner is profoundly antithetical to the best interests of a Jewish community. The security and success of the Jews in America is based on the very values of equal opportunity and individual rights that DEI is seeking to destroy. As destructive as this is for American society as a whole, DEI poses a direct threat to Jews.
As with their alliances with BLM and other progressives who are committed to opposing Israel, the mainstream Jewish world’s refusal to oppose DEI is not just a mistake; it’s a betrayal of their obligations to their constituents
Foxman and Harris are to be commended for not just drawing the right conclusions. It is to be hoped that many of their fellow liberal Jews who foolishly believed that opposition to DEI, critical race theory and intersectionality was nothing more than a conservative “culture war” issue will now also see the error of their ways and join the growing body of American opinion that realizes just how dangerous these toxic ideas have become.
But those who refuse to join them should not be in any doubt as to what they are doing. Those on the left who claim that opposition to DEI is antis-Smitic, as a recent Vox article claimed, aren’t just trying to divert attention from the truth about woke ideology. They are trying to gaslight liberal Jews into continuing to aid those who seek their slaughter.
Those who refuse to recant their support for DEI—whether it is Biden or the ADL and AJC—may claim they care about stopping antisemitism. But their rhetorical condemnations of Jew hatred are meaningless so long as they continue to support the empowerment of a movement that intrinsically targets Jews for discrimination.
It would have been better had Foxman and Harris joined this fight years ago rather than waiting until after the danger had metastasized. But they should be welcomed nonetheless to a fight that is, whether most of the Jewish community understands it or not, the one on which their future most depends.
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Jimmy Carter's attack on Israel, as an apartheid nation, was due to his hard shell Baptist beliefs. He displayed his anti-Semitism, after many Jews pulled away from his second term. He blamed them for his loss. He always refused to look in the mirror for fear of the pathetic figure he would see.
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Israelis of color push back against race-based, anti-Israel narratives spread abroad
With backgrounds as varied as their online personas, a growing number of Israeli social media influencers work to dispel lies disseminated by pro-Palestinian activists since Oct. 7
By Andrew Esensten
Yes, there are Black people who support Israel, the 20-year-old Ethiopian Israeli says emphatically to the camera; yes, Black Jews like her exist. No, she’s not a convert or an adoptee.
She then responds to critics who claim that Israel mistreats its Black citizens.
“When my grandparents lived all the way in Ethiopia, they were literally hunted and chased and hated just because they were Jews, just because of their religion,” she says. “I lived here in Israel my whole life and I never felt hated. I never felt hunted just because I’m Black.”
In a mock American accent she adds, “It’s insane, right?”
Tegin, who has more than 25,000 TikTok followers, is part of a group of Black Israelis in their 20s and early 30s who have been vigorously defending Israel online — and in English — since the Hamas atrocities of October 7 sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
They are an informal but increasingly visible part of Israel’s public diplomacy, known as hasbara, which seeks to defend Israel from criticism and burnish the country’s image overseas, and kicks into high gear during wartime. (TikTok, especially, has become a major online battleground, with a recent analysis showing that pro-Palestinian hashtags are massively outperforming pro-Israel hashtags on the platform.)
In social media posts and TV appearances, they have shared stories about how they and other Black Israelis have been affected by the war. They have called out African-American critics of Israel, including those aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement. They have also pushed back against race-based, anti-Israel narratives spread by pro-Palestinian activists, such as that Israelis are white, European colonizers of land belonging to indigenous Palestinians.
In addition to Tegin, the most prominent Black content creators include Titi Aynaw, an Ethiopian Israeli model and former Miss Israel; Noah Shufutinsky, better known as the rapper Westside Gravy, an African-American Jew who immigrated to Israel last year; Ashriel Moore, a former contestant on Israel’s version of the reality show “The Amazing Race” and a Hebrew Israelite activist; Yirmiyahu Danzig, a Caribbean-American Israeli educator; and Lilaq Logan, an IDF commander with both Jewish and Hebrew Israelite heritage.
Lilaq Logan, an IDF commander with Jewish and Hebrew Israelite heritage, has been posting videos about the war on Instagram, where she has more than 25,000 followers. (Courtesy via JTA)
Lilaq Logan, an IDF commander with Jewish and Hebrew Israelite heritage, has been posting videos about the war on Instagram, where she has more than 25,000 followers. (Courtesy via JTA)
While they each have their own politics and communication styles, these creators said in interviews that they are motivated by a desire to raise awareness about Israel’s diverse population. All of them except Aynaw, who did not respond to requests for comment, said they are creating Israel-related content on their own initiative, and that the government is not paying them to do hasbara on its behalf. (Like all soldiers, Tegin and Logan receive wages from the IDF to perform their regular military duties.)
“I was looking to show the world that as strange as it may sound, there are also quite a few Black people in Israel, and we live good lives, so there is no need to use my skin color as an excuse” to criticize the country, Tegin, who lives in Haifa, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
There are more than 200,000 people of African descent who call Israel home, including about 170,000 Ethiopian Jews, 30,000 asylum seekers (primarily from Eritrea and Sudan), 3,000 Hebrew Israelites (Black people who identify as descendants of the ancient Israelites but are not recognized as Jews according to Jewish law), and an unknown number of Black Jewish immigrants from the United States and African countries. There are also people who identify as Afro-Palestinian who live inside Israel’s borders.
Besides the asylum seekers, all of these people trace their genealogical or spiritual roots to the Holy Land. “Most of us see our return to the land of Israel as prophetic,” Moore, who was raised in the African Hebrew Israelite community in Dimona, said in an interview. (The community, which considers Israel to be located in northeastern Africa, is not connected to the radical “Black Hebrew Israelite” groups in the United States whose members denigrate Jews and Israel.)
“Most people view Israel as a European white state, but they don’t realize that we are here as well, we are affected as well,” Moore, 32, said. “The rockets don’t discriminate between people, and those who seek to harm civilians don’t discriminate between us, either.”
Among the 1,200 people — mostly civilians — slaughtered in Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7 were several Ethiopian Israelis, including Israel Chana, a security guard who was killed while defending the southern town of Ofakim. Soldiers and reservists from the Black Jewish and Hebrew Israelite communities are currently serving in the IDF, and some have been deployed to Gaza. Two Ethiopian soldiers, Aschalwu Sama and paratrooper Yehonatan Yitzhak Semo, have died after being injured in combat.
The war has affected Black communities in other ways. Dozens of African-American Jews who live together in the southern city of Ashkelon were forced to evacuate due to incessant rocket fire from Gaza.
“We came from America seeking to fully express our Judaism,” Monica Terry, who immigrated from Kansas City in 2011 and works as a pharmacist, says in a video Moore posted on October 17 to Instagram, where he has more than 80,000 followers. “We’re in Ashkelon, right by Gaza, so we’re used to the occasional missiles and firing. But this time it was different.”
According to Moore, members of Terry’s community were temporarily housed at a school in Herzliya and then hosted by Israeli families. Terry never considered returning to the United States. “This is home to me,” she says in another video. “I’m staying here, regardless of what’s going on, regardless of how close [the war] gets.”
The Hamas assault sent shockwaves through the entire Israeli population. For Black Israelis, the psychological pain has been compounded by seeing rising Palestinian solidarity among Black Americans, including in some cases seemingly pro-Hamas responses shared online by those aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement.
A few days after the October 7 assault, an independent BLM chapter in Chicago posted a meme on X (formerly Twitter) with an image of a figure wearing a parachute above the words “I Stand with Palestine.” It was widely interpreted as glorifying the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on hang gliders. Other BLM-affiliated social media accounts posted messages framing Hamas’s assault as a justifiable act of resistance.
In response to the BLM Chicago post, which the group deleted, Aynaw, the first Black Miss Israel, shared an emotional response on Instagram, where she has 113,000 followers. “I remember you screaming in the streets, ‘I can’t breathe,’” she says in the video, echoing the slogan chanted at racial justice protests, including those in the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer. She concludes by saying, “Pray for Israel, because we can’t breathe.”
Israeli protesters compare police violence against African Americans to the killing of Ethiopian Jews, June 2, 2020. (Sam Sokol)
The video led to an invitation to appear on Fox News, where Aynaw, 31, called Black Lives Matter supporters who refused to condemn Hamas “hypocrites.” “They say they care about Black people, they say they care about human rights,” she said. “What about my rights as a Black woman in Israel?”
Many Israelis have viewed the decentralized BLM movement with skepticism since at least 2016, when the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of 60 Black-led organizations, released a platform accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and being an apartheid state. Israel was the only country mentioned in the foreign policy section of the platform, and Jewish groups across the political spectrum condemned it.
Shufuntinsky, the rapper who grew up in San Diego and now lives in the central coastal city of Hadera, said he supports the principles behind BLM but not any particular organization. Since October 7, he has been angered by the “false equivalency” some activists have drawn between the racial justice movement in the US and the Palestinian national struggle.
“You can’t say Black Lives Matter and then look at the two sides of this conflict and support the side who is killing Black people,” he said in a WhatsApp message.
In a new song he released on December 7, the two-month anniversary of the attack, Shufuntinsky, 24, calls out BLM supporters who are “supposed to be my allies” but who ignore the plight of Israelis like him. “Black Lives Matter sometimes, is what you telling me,” he raps. “My Black life could’ve ended and you’d never mention me / Why? Cause I’m the wrong type of Black / This ain’t got nothing to do with no Republican and Democrat.”
Instead, he raps, it has to do with the perception that “Jews are white.”
The second verse flips the narrative about Jewish colonization of Israel by referencing the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the seventh century. The song, he told JTA, is meant to “expose this myth of settler colonialism” and “shine a light on the Black Jewish community,” which he called resilient and “overwhelmingly Zionist.” (Shufutinsky works as the education and outreach manager at the pro-Israel group StandWithUs, but he records and releases music independently.)
Danzig, another American-raised Black Israeli, is a multilingual content creator with more than 46,000 Instagram followers. He educates about Jewish history and Zionism in English and Arabic, and he has called out American celebrities, including rapper Kid Cudi, for describing Israel’s bombardment of Gaza as a “genocide” in an Instagram post.
“Kid Cudi doesn’t care about justice,” he says in a November 6 video. “He’s a pawn in Hamas’ explicit attempt to have an actual genocide [of Jews] between the river and the sea.”
Danzig, 28, also posts people-on-the-street interviews with Palestinians, whom he refers to as his cousins. In one exchange, a Palestinian man calls him an “occupier” in Arabic. He responds, “My great-grandfather was born in the Old City [of Jerusalem]. I’m here since way back!”
The son of an Israeli father and a Guyanese mother, Danzig made aliyah in 2014 and founded an organization last year for Caribbean, West African and African American Israelis called Shachar (“Dawn”). One of the goals of the organization, he said, is to amplify the voices of members of those groups in the media.
“When people discuss Israelis, our triumphs and our tragedies, they’re talking about Israelis of color, even if they don’t realize it,” he told JTA.
Critics of Israel have left comments on recent videos by Danzig and other Black creators questioning why they would defend a “racist” country. It is a sensitive issue for these creators, who belong to communities that, for different reasons, have faced discrimination and struggled to be fully accepted.
In a poignant contrast, Sama, one of the soldiers killed in Gaza, had previously appeared in an Israeli newspaper — back in 2009, when Israeli schools balked at admitting a recent Ethiopian immigrant first-grader.
Ethiopian Israelis have taken to the streets in recent years to protest racism and police brutality. In July 2019, tens of thousands of Ethiopian Israelis protested for several days following the death of 18-year-old Solomon Tekah, who was shot by an off-duty police officer in Haifa. Some held “I can’t breathe” signs at the protests. This past August, Ethiopian Israelis blocked a highway in Tel Aviv to demand justice in the death of Raphael Adana, a 4-year-old Ethiopian Israeli boy who was struck and killed by an elderly driver in Netanya. Moreover, economic disparities persist between Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian Israelis, with Ethiopian households earning less than the average household.
Meanwhile, the African Hebrew Israelites have been battling the Israeli government for more than two years to prevent the deportation of dozens of community members who do not have legal status in the country. Since they are not recognized as Jews, the African Hebrew Israelites are not eligible to receive citizenship under the Law of Return. In 2021, the government threatened to deport those who had entered the country as tourists and stayed illegally. Some received temporary residency last summer, while others are still in limbo. (Most community members hold permanent residency, and the youth are required to enlist in the IDF; the government has extended citizenship to soldiers and their relatives.)
As for the African asylum seekers, the government has held thousands of them in detention centers and sought to deport them en masse. Since Israel considers them to be economic migrants, very few have received refugee status and the rights that come with it. In a rare move last month, Israel’s Interior Minister rewarded Molugata Tsagai, a native of Eritrea, with residency for helping to save the life of an IDF officer who was shot in Sderot during the Hamas invasion.
Prior to October 7, many Black Israeli creators were posting videos about their grievances. Now they are striking a different tone.
“We recognize and speak openly about Israeli society’s flaws,” Danzig said. “None of that justifies the genocidal and racist call to destroy Israel. We will defend our home, because it’s the only home that the Jewish people have.”
Offline, Israel’s Black communities have rallied to support emergency efforts across the country. Asylum seekers have volunteered to harvest food and sort donated goods for those displaced by the war.
Yair Israel, who runs a vegan food manufacturing company, has been delivering free meals to vegan and vegetarian IDF soldiers. (Courtesy via JTA)
The African Hebrew Israelites, who are renowned for their healthy lifestyle, have hosted sound healing sessions in Dimona for Israelis who fled homes near Gaza. Yair Israel, a community member who runs a vegan food manufacturing company, Otentivee, has been delivering free meals to IDF bases for vegan and vegetarian soldiers.
“You can’t have a good soldier fighting for you if you don’t feed him right,” Israel said. “I’ve been all over this country taking the people food.” He estimated he has delivered more than 2,000 meals and is raising money to keep the program running.
Logan, the IDF commander who was born to a Jewish father and Hebrew Israelite mother, said she has felt a strong sense of unity in Israel since Oct. 7. But it’s a different story on Instagram, where she has more than 27,000 followers. The 24-year-old said that responding to some pro-Palestinian commenters is “like arguing with a wall.”
Nevertheless, she has been regularly recording reflections on the war in her IDF uniform and red braids. On Dec. 18, she denounced Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King, who has accused Israel of committing genocide and claimed to have helped free two Americans held hostage by Hamas. (The family of the hostages disputes his account of his involvement.) “Are you really for Black Lives Matter? Are you really for human rights? Or are you on the next trend?” Logan asks in a video.
In one of her most viewed videos, she talks about being dismissed by social media users over her identity. “I didn’t really want to get personal with it, but I got a lot of comments talking about, ‘You’re Black, sis, you don’t even belong [in Israel], sit this one out,” she says.
She told JTA she refuses to be quiet. “People are commenting without knowing what it feels like to be attacked in your own home,” she said. “I’m fighting for a greater cause.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ordman strikes again:
+++
t’s clear in last week’s positive news that Israeli forces are steadily clearing Hamas terrorists from Gaza. We learned that on Oct 7, another Israeli hero gave dozens of survivors a clear escape route from death. A trained IDF K9 dog is helping clear Gaza from bombs and hidden terrorists. And the IDF cleared the way for one soldier to race from Gaza to be at the birth of his baby son.
Israeli medical news includes a new therapy for clearing the breathing of asthma sufferers; a psoriasis treatment to give clear skin; and an antibody that clears the way for the immune system to destroy cancer.
An Israeli startup has won an international award for its software that gives driverless cars a clear way through traffic. Success in Gaza has cleared the way for airlines to resume flights to Israel. And an Israeli startup is helping clear the water in Phoenix Arizona. Finally, two Israeli soccer teams have cleared the way through to the final stages of European competitions.
If this email arrives in your spam / junk folder, please mark it as "NOT SPAM".
Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael.
In the 24th Dec 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
Israeli medical news includes a new therapy for clearing the breathing of asthma sufferers; a psoriasis treatment to give clear skin; and an antibody that clears the way for the immune system to destroy cancer.
An Israeli startup has won an international award for its software that gives driverless cars a clear way through traffic. Success in Gaza has cleared the way for airlines to resume flights to Israel. And an Israeli startup is helping clear the water in Phoenix Arizona. Finally, two Israeli soccer teams have cleared the way through to the final stages of European competitions.
If this email arrives in your spam / junk folder, please mark it as "NOT SPAM".
Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael.
In the 24th Dec 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Tears flow on film of Israeli children being reunited with their families.
- An IDF soldier’s journey from battlefield to delivery room.
- An Israeli 3D-printer helps surgeons remove tumors.
- The first science accelerator for Israeli Arab entrepreneurs.
- Two Israeli innovations win international awards.
- Signs of recovery for Israeli travel and retail businesses.
- Great support from Israel’s American and Christian friends.
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.
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Done but not completed. (TY Zena & Cynthia) Emotional scenes in this newly released film from Israel’s Schneider Children’s Hospital, where many (but not all) young hostages released from Gaza have been reunited with their families. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Another Oct 7 hero. Rami Davidian received a phone call on Oct 7 asking him to rescue someone from the Nova party. In his first rescue mission he crammed 15 youngsters into his car and took them back to his house. In another he pretended to be a Muslim from Gaza and convinced a terrorist to hand him a female captive.
https://www.
IDF dog detects bomb and saves soldiers. An IDF canine is saving lives in Gaza, sniffing out explosives and hidden terrorists. https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Young immigrants making an impact. Aliyah organization Nefesh b’Nefesh has awarded its Maor Youth Prize to ten outstanding young olim (immigrants to Israel) ages 11 to 18, from English-speaking countries, for their exceptional contributions to the State of Israel during current war.
https://www.jns.org/nefesh-
Support for rehabilitation. (TY Ian F) The English-speaking branch of AWIS (Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers) has raised funds (see here) for the IDF’s Rehabilitation Unit, where 100+ brave wounded soldiers are receiving general medical care, physiotherapy and counseling to help them recover and recuperate.
https://www.ufis.org.il/
Fighting on two fronts. In civilian life, Tal is lead R&D engineer at Synchrony Medical (see here previously) developing LibAirty to treat chronic lung disease. Since Oct 7, she has been working 12-hour shifts several days a week as chief sergeant of a control unit that coordinates helicopter evacuations of wounded soldiers.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-
Volunteers build tech to protect. Israel Tech Guard is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit initiative building tech solutions to help protect Israelis during and after the war. They include Blood Donation Bot (donor eligibility), Rehab Track (locating patients in hospital), and Guardian X (social media identity verification) and more.
https://www.israel21c.org/
They couldn’t wait. (TY Laura) A young couple had intended to fly to America to plan their wedding. But Oct 7 changed their plans into a quiet wedding in Israel. Jake was then called up into the IDF and so the wedding ceremony took place next to the Syrian border, with nearly 100 celebrants – the majority in army uniform.
https://aish.com/they-cannot-
From frontlines to fatherhood. When Avi’s wife went into labor early, Avi’s unit pulled out all the stops to get him from Khan Yunis in Gaza to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital. Avi had been in Kfar Aza on Oct 7 when Hamas attacked. Avi said their new baby confounded those intent on destroying the Jewish people.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
100 Evangelicals in IDF. Juergen Buehler, president of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem says there are around 100 Evangelical Christian volunteers in the IDF, including two of his sons. As one of the Christian soldiers said, “We are willing to give our lives for Israel.”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
US approves fiber implants for children. (TY OurCrowd) The US FDA has cleared the bio-integrative technology from Israel’s Ossio (see here previously) to be used in orthopedic surgery for children and adolescents needing bone realignments, fusions or fracture fixation.
https://www.businesswire.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Treatment for asthma. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Teva has bought the rights to complete the development of BD9 - an antibody-based therapy for the treatment of asthma and atopic dermatitis from Israel’s Biolojic Design (see here previously). Biolojic's AI platform generates antibodies that have predictable functions.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
3D printer helps remove tumors. UK’s University Hospital Birmingham has reduced the time taken to remove tumors by up to three hours thanks to 3D-printed cutting guides produced on a J5 MedJet printer from Israel’s Stratasys. It is transforming the way tumors are removed from head and neck cancer patients.
https://investors.stratasys.
Successful trial for plaque psoriasis treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Scinai Immunotherapeutics has announced successful preclinical trial results of its innovative anti‑IL‑17 VHH antibody (‘NanoAb’) as a local treatment for the large and underserved population of patients with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis.
https://www.scinai.com/press-
https://www.scinai.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Massive deal to revitalize biotech. Israel’s Compugen (see here previously) only had six months’ cash left when it was rescued by Gilead Sciences in a deal worth up to $848 million. Gilead will license Compugen’s pre-clinical cancer antibody COM503 that frees up the peptide InterLeukin 18 (IL-18) to destroy tumors.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Jews & Arabs help Arab Israeli farmers. (TY Hazel) Arabs and Israelis from Haifa have united during their leisure time to help Arab Israeli farmers bring in the harvest. The farmers were short-staffed due to the lack of Palestinian Arab workers and the temporary absence of Thai workers.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israeli Arabs work with IDF on mass-casualty simulations. Volunteers from the Israeli Arab city of Kfar Kassem, east of Tel Aviv, joined with the IDF to simulate emergency responses to mass casualty incidents. The comprehensive drill involved local United Hatzalah Arab volunteers and the IDF’s Home Front Command.
https://www.israel21c.org/
An accelerator for Arab science entrepreneurs. Ahmad Sheikh Muhammad is head of the Galilee Society – the Arab National Society for Health Research and Services. He now has established ScienTech, the first Israeli accelerator targeted to help Arab PhD STEM graduates turn their scientific research knowledge into businesses.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://gal-soc.org/en/about-
Arab woman head of ScienTech. Ola Baker Salameh (see here previously) is the Israeli-Arab manager of the new ScienTech accelerator for Arab science entrepreneurs (see above). She previously founded GrowOn – a consultancy to help Arab healthcare startups. She also lectures at Israel’s Technion and Tel Aviv University.
https://growontec.co/
Trees for Jerusalem’s Christians. (TY Hazel) As for the past 25 years, the Jerusalem Municipality has been giving out hundreds of free trees to Christian residents. Getting trees this year was more difficult because they come from southern Israel. Many of the farms where the trees are harvested were destroyed by Hamas.
https://www.jpost.com/
More dates for volunteering. JNF-USA has added new dates for its volunteering missions to Israel.
https://www.jnf.org/travel/
Singapore’s first Ambassador to Israel. Singapore’s first ambassador to Israel, Ian Mack, presented his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The two countries have had diplomatic relations since 1969, but Singapore has never posted an ambassador to Israel. Singapore’s embassy in Tel Aviv, opened in 2022.
https://www.jns.org/
Over 12,000 foreign workers have arrived. (TY Hazel) 12,000+ foreign workers have arrived or returned to Israel since Oct. 7 including 2,218 in agriculture - half of them from Thailand; 100 are from Sri Lanka out of an eventual total of 10,000. 400+ of 5,000 Malawians arrived last month, and 1,500 are expected from Kenya.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
AI that turns ideas into prototypes. (TY OurCrowd) Welcome to the future of engineering. Israel’s Leo AI turns ideas into products in seconds. It’s the world's first engineering design copilot powered by generative AI. It transforms mechanical language into 3D models, adhering to the latest industry standards and best practices.
https://www.getleo.ai/ https://www.youtube.com/
AI-powered digital agents. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s D-ID (see here previously) has launched “Agents” - interactive digital humans for customer-facing businesses. They apparently respond intelligently to customer questions and provide personalized advice, meeting the customers' need for prompt and effective interaction.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
Safer UAVs. Israel’s ParaZero (see here previously) has partnered with US- based KULR Technology to reduce excess vibration that can lead to mechanical damage and UAV failure.
https://nocamels.com/2023/12/
Award-winning sunglasses. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Deep Optics (see here previously) won the Dezeen Award for Product design (consumer design and wearables) of the year 2023. Deep Optics’ 32°N Sunglasses are the first and only adaptive focus sunglasses. The liquid crystal (LC) lenses mimic human eye behavior.
https://www.dezeen.com/awards/
Award-winning autonomous driving software. Israel’s Imagry (see here previously) won Frost & Sullivan’s best-in-class award in Europe's autonomous driving industry for enabling technology leadership. The map-less software correctly assesses the current driving environment and acts the same way as a skilled human driver.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Inflation and unemployment fall. Israel’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell by 0.3% in Nov. In the year to the end of Nov 2023, the index rose by 3.3%, down from 3.7% from the 12 months to the end Oct. Unemployment in Israel fell to 2.8% in Nov from 3.1% in Oct.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Debt clemency for war-affected Israelis. Israeli President Herzog is to pardon monetary fines for war-affected families who face severe financial hardship. The scheme was advanced in response to Druze leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif’s request during Herzog’s visit to bereaved families in the Druze and Bedouin communities.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Microsoft Israel in 2023. Microsoft is one of 370 multinationals with development centers in Israel. It has some 2,700 employees and earned a whopping NIS 3.5 billion for Microsoft in 2023. The Israeli R&D team has just announced its new real time automatic attack disruption security platform that took two years to develop.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Airlines resume services. (TY Hazel & Atid EDI) German airline group Lufthansa plans to resume 20 weekly flights to & from Tel Aviv from Jan 8. Austrian Airlines and SWISS will also restart their services. Meanwhile, El Al and Delta have formalized a long-term codeshare agreement to combine frequent-flyer schemes.
https://www.timesofisrael.
Back in business. Businesses such as fashion store chain Castro had put 30% of its 4,500 employees on unpaid leave in October due to falling sales at the outbreak of the war. Castro has now re-engaged 90% of those furloughed staff, as shoppers have been coming back to its stores and online sales have also started to recover.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Resilience Fund beneficiaries (Dec). (TY OurCrowd) Global digital investment platform, OurCrowd, has approved the first 8 investments from its $50 million Resilience Fund (see here previously). The companies include BlueTree, Carrar, Edgybees, and Verobotics.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Creating 400 tech jobs in Western Negev. Israeli social impact high tech venture Place-IL (see here previously) is leading an $15 million initiative, along with Google, Nvidia and others to create 400 high-tech jobs in war-affected Gaza border towns. Hi-tech will be crucial for building resilience and hope.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Monitoring wastewater in Phoenix. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Kando (see here previously) has begun a six-month pilot project to monitor municipal wastewater systems and facilities in Phoenix Arizona. Kando’s sensors will detect irregularities caused mainly by illegal dumping at industrial sites.
https://www.signalsaz.com/
Exits, takeovers, and mergers – to 24/12/23: US Okta is acquiring Israel’s Spera Security for $100 million;
Investment in Israeli startups – to 24/12/23: ScaleOps raised $15 million; Salvador Technologies raised $6 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
When classical meets klezmer. The Jerusalem Street Orchestra Ensemble is performing on Dec 27 at the Menahem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem, as part of the Spectacular World of Jewish Music.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
Party to aid orphaned kids. After escaping the Nova music rave, Arad, a young Israeli, and Ari, his “Dead Sea Revival” activist father, have organized “Echoes of Hope” - a fundraising event on Dec 31 to benefit the Israeli Children’s Fund. The Jaffa Hotel has donated its entire venue. https://zygo.co.il/event/
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.
Soccer successes. (TY Hazel) Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Gent 3-1 to clinch first place in its Europa Conference League group and advance to the round of 16. Maccabi Haifa with a 2-1 win over Panathinaikos advanced to the Europa Conference League Playoffs. https://jpost.pressreader.com/
Other sports results. (TY Hazel) Timna Nelson Levy won a silver medal at the European judo championships. Israel’s women’s goalball team have qualified for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. At the World Junior Sailing Championships in Brazil, Maayan Shemesh and Emilie Louviot won silver medals and Mika Kafri won bronze.
https://www.ijf.org/judoka/
https://ibsasport.org/
THE JEWISH STATE
Birthright trips to restart. Birthright Israel is resuming its free, 10-day educational trips to Israel in the first week in January. 350 participants (mostly from the US) are anticipated. Summer trip registration will begin mid-Jan. https://www.jns.org/
Jewish presence in the Land of Israel (part2) The second part of the very useful recent summary of the history of the Jews in the holy land. This episode is from the Ottoman conquest to the 18th century. Part 1 can be read here. https://aish.com/jews-in-the-
Christians refurbish Israeli bomb shelters. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has paid $775,000 to renovate 140 underground bomb shelters in the Upper Galilee - 73 in Shlomi and 67 in Ma’alot-Tarshiha. The shelters, last used in the 2006 2nd Lebanon War, needed new lighting, ventilation, and plumbing.
https://www.jns.org/
$1 billion for Israel. American Jewry raised $1 billion for Israel in the first month of the war. Over $600 million of that was raised by the Jewish Federations of North America. In that same month, North American communities held 143 rallies in support of Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
How to help Israel. Here are some sites where newsletter readers can donate to Israeli organizations that provide vital help to Israelis at this difficult time. Many thanks to those who have already contributed and to those who are helping by donating their own valuable time and resources.
Friends of the IDF (US donors): https://www.fidf.org/
or IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel: https://www.ufis.org.il/en/
American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/
or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/
Zaka (US donors): https://donate.zakatelaviv.
or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/
United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/
Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/
JNF USA - https://my.jnf.org/gaza-
Orthodox Union - https://www.charidy.com/
Schneider Children’s Hospital: https://www.fos.org.il/en/
https://system.smartgiving.
https://chaischneider.org/
Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/
Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/
And many more charities here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B)
https://www.
USA - https://www.israelbonds.com/
Europe - https://israelbondsintl.com/
Canada - https://www.israelbonds.ca/
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Done but not completed. (TY Zena & Cynthia) Emotional scenes in this newly released film from Israel’s Schneider Children’s Hospital, where many (but not all) young hostages released from Gaza have been reunited with their families. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Another Oct 7 hero. Rami Davidian received a phone call on Oct 7 asking him to rescue someone from the Nova party. In his first rescue mission he crammed 15 youngsters into his car and took them back to his house. In another he pretended to be a Muslim from Gaza and convinced a terrorist to hand him a female captive.
https://www.
IDF dog detects bomb and saves soldiers. An IDF canine is saving lives in Gaza, sniffing out explosives and hidden terrorists. https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Young immigrants making an impact. Aliyah organization Nefesh b’Nefesh has awarded its Maor Youth Prize to ten outstanding young olim (immigrants to Israel) ages 11 to 18, from English-speaking countries, for their exceptional contributions to the State of Israel during current war.
https://www.jns.org/nefesh-
Support for rehabilitation. (TY Ian F) The English-speaking branch of AWIS (Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers) has raised funds (see here) for the IDF’s Rehabilitation Unit, where 100+ brave wounded soldiers are receiving general medical care, physiotherapy and counseling to help them recover and recuperate.
https://www.ufis.org.il/
Fighting on two fronts. In civilian life, Tal is lead R&D engineer at Synchrony Medical (see here previously) developing LibAirty to treat chronic lung disease. Since Oct 7, she has been working 12-hour shifts several days a week as chief sergeant of a control unit that coordinates helicopter evacuations of wounded soldiers.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-
Volunteers build tech to protect. Israel Tech Guard is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit initiative building tech solutions to help protect Israelis during and after the war. They include Blood Donation Bot (donor eligibility), Rehab Track (locating patients in hospital), and Guardian X (social media identity verification) and more.
https://www.israel21c.org/
They couldn’t wait. (TY Laura) A young couple had intended to fly to America to plan their wedding. But Oct 7 changed their plans into a quiet wedding in Israel. Jake was then called up into the IDF and so the wedding ceremony took place next to the Syrian border, with nearly 100 celebrants – the majority in army uniform.
https://aish.com/they-cannot-
From frontlines to fatherhood. When Avi’s wife went into labor early, Avi’s unit pulled out all the stops to get him from Khan Yunis in Gaza to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital. Avi had been in Kfar Aza on Oct 7 when Hamas attacked. Avi said their new baby confounded those intent on destroying the Jewish people.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
100 Evangelicals in IDF. Juergen Buehler, president of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem says there are around 100 Evangelical Christian volunteers in the IDF, including two of his sons. As one of the Christian soldiers said, “We are willing to give our lives for Israel.”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
US approves fiber implants for children. (TY OurCrowd) The US FDA has cleared the bio-integrative technology from Israel’s Ossio (see here previously) to be used in orthopedic surgery for children and adolescents needing bone realignments, fusions or fracture fixation.
https://www.businesswire.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Treatment for asthma. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Teva has bought the rights to complete the development of BD9 - an antibody-based therapy for the treatment of asthma and atopic dermatitis from Israel’s Biolojic Design (see here previously). Biolojic's AI platform generates antibodies that have predictable functions.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
3D printer helps remove tumors. UK’s University Hospital Birmingham has reduced the time taken to remove tumors by up to three hours thanks to 3D-printed cutting guides produced on a J5 MedJet printer from Israel’s Stratasys. It is transforming the way tumors are removed from head and neck cancer patients.
https://investors.stratasys.
Successful trial for plaque psoriasis treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Scinai Immunotherapeutics has announced successful preclinical trial results of its innovative anti‑IL‑17 VHH antibody (‘NanoAb’) as a local treatment for the large and underserved population of patients with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis.
https://www.scinai.com/press-
https://www.scinai.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Massive deal to revitalize biotech. Israel’s Compugen (see here previously) only had six months’ cash left when it was rescued by Gilead Sciences in a deal worth up to $848 million. Gilead will license Compugen’s pre-clinical cancer antibody COM503 that frees up the peptide InterLeukin 18 (IL-18) to destroy tumors.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Jews & Arabs help Arab Israeli farmers. (TY Hazel) Arabs and Israelis from Haifa have united during their leisure time to help Arab Israeli farmers bring in the harvest. The farmers were short-staffed due to the lack of Palestinian Arab workers and the temporary absence of Thai workers.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israeli Arabs work with IDF on mass-casualty simulations. Volunteers from the Israeli Arab city of Kfar Kassem, east of Tel Aviv, joined with the IDF to simulate emergency responses to mass casualty incidents. The comprehensive drill involved local United Hatzalah Arab volunteers and the IDF’s Home Front Command.
https://www.israel21c.org/
An accelerator for Arab science entrepreneurs. Ahmad Sheikh Muhammad is head of the Galilee Society – the Arab National Society for Health Research and Services. He now has established ScienTech, the first Israeli accelerator targeted to help Arab PhD STEM graduates turn their scientific research knowledge into businesses.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://gal-soc.org/en/about-
Arab woman head of ScienTech. Ola Baker Salameh (see here previously) is the Israeli-Arab manager of the new ScienTech accelerator for Arab science entrepreneurs (see above). She previously founded GrowOn – a consultancy to help Arab healthcare startups. She also lectures at Israel’s Technion and Tel Aviv University.
https://growontec.co/
Trees for Jerusalem’s Christians. (TY Hazel) As for the past 25 years, the Jerusalem Municipality has been giving out hundreds of free trees to Christian residents. Getting trees this year was more difficult because they come from southern Israel. Many of the farms where the trees are harvested were destroyed by Hamas.
https://www.jpost.com/
More dates for volunteering. JNF-USA has added new dates for its volunteering missions to Israel.
https://www.jnf.org/travel/
Singapore’s first Ambassador to Israel. Singapore’s first ambassador to Israel, Ian Mack, presented his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The two countries have had diplomatic relations since 1969, but Singapore has never posted an ambassador to Israel. Singapore’s embassy in Tel Aviv, opened in 2022.
https://www.jns.org/
Over 12,000 foreign workers have arrived. (TY Hazel) 12,000+ foreign workers have arrived or returned to Israel since Oct. 7 including 2,218 in agriculture - half of them from Thailand; 100 are from Sri Lanka out of an eventual total of 10,000. 400+ of 5,000 Malawians arrived last month, and 1,500 are expected from Kenya.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
AI that turns ideas into prototypes. (TY OurCrowd) Welcome to the future of engineering. Israel’s Leo AI turns ideas into products in seconds. It’s the world's first engineering design copilot powered by generative AI. It transforms mechanical language into 3D models, adhering to the latest industry standards and best practices.
https://www.getleo.ai/ https://www.youtube.com/
AI-powered digital agents. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s D-ID (see here previously) has launched “Agents” - interactive digital humans for customer-facing businesses. They apparently respond intelligently to customer questions and provide personalized advice, meeting the customers' need for prompt and effective interaction.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
Safer UAVs. Israel’s ParaZero (see here previously) has partnered with US- based KULR Technology to reduce excess vibration that can lead to mechanical damage and UAV failure.
https://nocamels.com/2023/12/
Award-winning sunglasses. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Deep Optics (see here previously) won the Dezeen Award for Product design (consumer design and wearables) of the year 2023. Deep Optics’ 32°N Sunglasses are the first and only adaptive focus sunglasses. The liquid crystal (LC) lenses mimic human eye behavior.
https://www.dezeen.com/awards/
Award-winning autonomous driving software. Israel’s Imagry (see here previously) won Frost & Sullivan’s best-in-class award in Europe's autonomous driving industry for enabling technology leadership. The map-less software correctly assesses the current driving environment and acts the same way as a skilled human driver.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Inflation and unemployment fall. Israel’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell by 0.3% in Nov. In the year to the end of Nov 2023, the index rose by 3.3%, down from 3.7% from the 12 months to the end Oct. Unemployment in Israel fell to 2.8% in Nov from 3.1% in Oct.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Debt clemency for war-affected Israelis. Israeli President Herzog is to pardon monetary fines for war-affected families who face severe financial hardship. The scheme was advanced in response to Druze leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif’s request during Herzog’s visit to bereaved families in the Druze and Bedouin communities.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Microsoft Israel in 2023. Microsoft is one of 370 multinationals with development centers in Israel. It has some 2,700 employees and earned a whopping NIS 3.5 billion for Microsoft in 2023. The Israeli R&D team has just announced its new real time automatic attack disruption security platform that took two years to develop.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Airlines resume services. (TY Hazel & Atid EDI) German airline group Lufthansa plans to resume 20 weekly flights to & from Tel Aviv from Jan 8. Austrian Airlines and SWISS will also restart their services. Meanwhile, El Al and Delta have formalized a long-term codeshare agreement to combine frequent-flyer schemes.
https://www.timesofisrael.
Back in business. Businesses such as fashion store chain Castro had put 30% of its 4,500 employees on unpaid leave in October due to falling sales at the outbreak of the war. Castro has now re-engaged 90% of those furloughed staff, as shoppers have been coming back to its stores and online sales have also started to recover.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Resilience Fund beneficiaries (Dec). (TY OurCrowd) Global digital investment platform, OurCrowd, has approved the first 8 investments from its $50 million Resilience Fund (see here previously). The companies include BlueTree, Carrar, Edgybees, and Verobotics.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Creating 400 tech jobs in Western Negev. Israeli social impact high tech venture Place-IL (see here previously) is leading an $15 million initiative, along with Google, Nvidia and others to create 400 high-tech jobs in war-affected Gaza border towns. Hi-tech will be crucial for building resilience and hope.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Monitoring wastewater in Phoenix. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Kando (see here previously) has begun a six-month pilot project to monitor municipal wastewater systems and facilities in Phoenix Arizona. Kando’s sensors will detect irregularities caused mainly by illegal dumping at industrial sites.
https://www.signalsaz.com/
Exits, takeovers, and mergers – to 24/12/23: US Okta is acquiring Israel’s Spera Security for $100 million;
Investment in Israeli startups – to 24/12/23: ScaleOps raised $15 million; Salvador Technologies raised $6 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
When classical meets klezmer. The Jerusalem Street Orchestra Ensemble is performing on Dec 27 at the Menahem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem, as part of the Spectacular World of Jewish Music.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
Party to aid orphaned kids. After escaping the Nova music rave, Arad, a young Israeli, and Ari, his “Dead Sea Revival” activist father, have organized “Echoes of Hope” - a fundraising event on Dec 31 to benefit the Israeli Children’s Fund. The Jaffa Hotel has donated its entire venue. https://zygo.co.il/event/
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.
Soccer successes. (TY Hazel) Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Gent 3-1 to clinch first place in its Europa Conference League group and advance to the round of 16. Maccabi Haifa with a 2-1 win over Panathinaikos advanced to the Europa Conference League Playoffs. https://jpost.pressreader.com/
Other sports results. (TY Hazel) Timna Nelson Levy won a silver medal at the European judo championships. Israel’s women’s goalball team have qualified for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. At the World Junior Sailing Championships in Brazil, Maayan Shemesh and Emilie Louviot won silver medals and Mika Kafri won bronze.
https://www.ijf.org/judoka/
https://ibsasport.org/
THE JEWISH STATE
Birthright trips to restart. Birthright Israel is resuming its free, 10-day educational trips to Israel in the first week in January. 350 participants (mostly from the US) are anticipated. Summer trip registration will begin mid-Jan. https://www.jns.org/
Jewish presence in the Land of Israel (part2) The second part of the very useful recent summary of the history of the Jews in the holy land. This episode is from the Ottoman conquest to the 18th century. Part 1 can be read here. https://aish.com/jews-in-the-
Christians refurbish Israeli bomb shelters. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has paid $775,000 to renovate 140 underground bomb shelters in the Upper Galilee - 73 in Shlomi and 67 in Ma’alot-Tarshiha. The shelters, last used in the 2006 2nd Lebanon War, needed new lighting, ventilation, and plumbing.
https://www.jns.org/
$1 billion for Israel. American Jewry raised $1 billion for Israel in the first month of the war. Over $600 million of that was raised by the Jewish Federations of North America. In that same month, North American communities held 143 rallies in support of Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
How to help Israel. Here are some sites where newsletter readers can donate to Israeli organizations that provide vital help to Israelis at this difficult time. Many thanks to those who have already contributed and to those who are helping by donating their own valuable time and resources.
Friends of the IDF (US donors): https://www.fidf.org/
or IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel: https://www.ufis.org.il/en/
American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/
or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/
Zaka (US donors): https://donate.zakatelaviv.
or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/
United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/
Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/
JNF USA - https://my.jnf.org/gaza-
Orthodox Union - https://www.charidy.com/
Schneider Children’s Hospital: https://www.fos.org.il/en/
https://system.smartgiving.
https://chaischneider.org/
Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/
Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/
And many more charities here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B)
https://www.
USA - https://www.israelbonds.com/
Europe - https://israelbondsintl.com/
Canada - https://www.israelbonds.ca/
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