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Joe Biden is playing with fire in the Middle East and risking World War 3
By Michael Goodwin
Ever since the 1948 birth of Israel, American presidents have tried to avoid policies that could jeopardize the tiny nation’s existence.
Barack Obama, the most openly hostile one to Israel, came the closest with his misbegotten courtship of Iran.
The presidents followed the unwritten rule because each accepted an underlying fact: That if superpower America put too much daylight between itself and Israel, some of the Jewish nation’s Muslim neighbors would move to wipe it off the map.
That day-to-day reality was true then and remains true now, despite Israel’s powerful military and despite its treaties with Egypt and Jordan and the Abraham Accords, in which four Muslim nations recognized Israel and established commercial, diplomatic and security relations.
Those breakthroughs did not end the existential threat to Israel because the goal has been taken up by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and numerous other terror groups.
Their common patron, of course, is Iran, which finances and directs the groups’ endless assaults on what it calls the Little Satan.
This backdrop is crucial to understanding the unique and grave dangers posed by Joe Biden’s latest moves.
Notorious for consistently being wrong about world events, the president is embarking on a combination of ideas that would create an unprecedented threat to Israel.
And he’s doing it at break-neck speed because he wants to win re-election.
To appeal to Muslim-American voters and to radical young Democrats, many of whom are anti-Semites who side with Hamas, Biden is pushing Israel for a cease-fire in Gaza and then to accept the creation of a Palestinian state.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly objecting on both counts, Biden is offering him a sweetener that would have Saudi Arabia normalize relations with the Jewish state.
As its reward, the Saudis would get American civilian nuclear technology and a promise of military protection for the monarchy.
The Saudis would also likely be expected to pump more oil to keep the price of gasoline in America from rising during the campaign.
Biden aims to get all this done by summer so he can run as the president who stopped the war in Gaza, brought the Saudis and Israelis together and created a Palestinian state.
Leaving aside Israel’s objections and many practical hurdles, the biggest wild card is Iran, which has never given Biden a single reason to believe it will drop its quest for nukes and its goal of eliminating Israel.
The fact that its proxies are attacking and killing American troops proves it has not given up its jihadist resolve, which involves regional dominance and driving America out of the Mideast.
Issue’s a nonstarter
For Israel, the idea of a Palestinian state on its borders is wildly premature without the total destruction of Hamas.
Even then, a separate state is unthinkable without a Palestinian constituency for a peaceful two-state solution, which doesn’t exist.
Without that, a new state would be rewarding terrorists for Oct. 7 and guaranteeing repeats.
No government in Israel would dare trust the United Nations to govern a new state or provide security.
The near-certainty that Iran could fill the vacuum and gain control of a Palestinian state makes the issue a nonstarter for most Israelis, including opponents of Netanyahu.
Biden’s complicated moves expand a pattern I’ve noted, that his support for Israel since the Hamas attack has been a mash-up of contradictions.
With one hand he supports Israel militarily by sending weapons and dispatching two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region.
With the other hand, he undercuts the campaign against Hamas with public criticism about civilian casualties in Gaza and had aides sit in Israel’s war cabinet meetings to dictate some military decisions and veto others.
All the while, he refuses to hold Iran accountable for the actions of its proxies and still harbors fantasies of completing Obama’s goal of bribing the mad mullahs into a nuclear pact.
It seems not to have crossed the president’s mind that his lifting of sanctions and paying $6 billion in ransom for hostages enabled Iran to fund its aggressions against our closest ally and disrupt cargo shipping in the Red Sea — all while giving up nothing in exchange.
Soft on Tehran
Although Biden ordered the military to strike back Friday at proxy groups in Iraq and Syria a week after a drone attack killed three American service members in Jordan, he is still letting Iran off the hook.
By saying repeatedly he is trying to avoid a wider war, the president is sending Iran a message that it has deterred him from directly punishing its aggressions.
Out of fear, he treats the symptoms rather than the disease.
It’s a form of appeasement that will end the way appeasement always does.
Until that changes, Iran has no reason to stop waging terror against Israel and destabilizing the region.
Israel War Update
It is paying no direct price, with most of the dead proxy soldiers foreign Arabs.
The fact gives birth to the line that Iran will fight Israel to the last Arab mercenary.
Nonetheless, in another step to woo anti-Israel voters to his campaign, Biden on Thursday ordered sanctions against four Israeli citizens he said committed violence against Palestinians in the West Bank territories.
The actual significance is small, but the symbolism of an American president taking the side of Palestinians and punishing Jews is huge to both groups.
The separate state Biden envisions would include Gaza and most if not all of the West Bank, although it’s not clear what would happen to the nearly 500,000 Israelis who live there.
Past discussions have assumed no Jews would be welcome to stay, even though some 2 million Arabs are citizens of Israel proper.
Would the US endorse ethnic cleansing in a new state?
It’s also not clear what would happen in Jerusalem, with both Jews and Palestinians declaring it their capital.
Despite these enormous unknowns, the president ordered the State Department to study how a Palestinian state could be created after the war ends.
Reports say he also wants the UN to admit “Palestine” as a full member instead of just an observer, and plans to encourage other nations to recognize it immediately.
That would hardly be a problem, given how much vile Jew hatred there is around the world. Indeed, some in the European Union want to impose a Palestinian state, without giving Israel any say in the matter.
It’s not known if Biden would go that far, but he is desperate to defeat Donald Trump, so don’t rule it out.
Regardless, the ultimate problem is that neither Iran nor any of its proxies have given up their dream of eliminating Israel.
Their holdout is not about borders or trade or treaties, it’s about Israel’s right to exist.
It’s about Oct. 7 happening again and again, as Hamas has promised.
Under these circumstances, Biden is playing with fire, one that could consume the Mideast and mark the start of World War III.
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Biden seems totally unaware/oblivious his appeasement pronouncements are highly likely to bring about that, which he professes, he seeks to avoid, ie. an expanding war. Why? Because Iran is the real culprit and cares not what others deliver upon their surrogates. Consequently, Biden tragically is missing the true target.
Biden has a history of mucking up virtually everything he touches that is diplomatically critical. Others, far more prominent and public figures, have espoused no less, among whom is a former respected Secretary of Defense.
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Furthermore, it is equally possible, as I suspect, others currently control the actions or inactions of our physically and mentally challenged president.
Until Iran is dealt a serious blow that bloodies their nose and damages them economically, the Ayatollahs will continue to correctly conclude America is a pitiful Gulliver and Biden a rapacious weakling. To make matters worse, Biden's pusillanimity will eventually force Israel to do what Biden fails to and thus, exposes them to an additional dose of anti-Semitic hatred and for having a lethal intent.
Israel has no desire to be forced to defend themselves against further wars, to submit their children to endless rocket attacks, to the constant necessity of defending their homes, to perpetually disrupting their longing for a tranquil life, to undertaking exorbitant costs for defensive military expenditures.
The Torah commanded the Israelites to: "t your swords into plowshares -hooks: let the weak say, I am strong."
Time and again, corrupt leadership of the Palestinian's has been offered olive branches only to reject it or demand the unobtainable as alternative responses . Arafat shook hands and followed this false act with a host of wanton "intifadas."
This is the same persistent Palestinian leadership which has enriched themselves at the expense of peace, educating future generations to love rather than hate and to be rewarded for acts of martyrdom.
What drives demonic hatred of Jews? Is it jealousy? Is it based on anything rational or even remotely justified? How many thousands of years is anti-Semitism sustainable and, if so, show me the benefits it has brought the world and least of all Jews?
America is currently undergoing another challenging period of social indigestion based on a variety of reasons, none of which make sense. We are being enticed to renounce the vast benefits of freedom, our geographical and God given blessings of resources provided our blessed nation versus specious substituted promised rewards? None of these desolate offerings equate. Meanwhile, far too many seem willing to exchange the bird in the hand for proven failures.
Is this due to our current mush brain type education to our previous solid content? I believe it is but there is more to the story. Over 50 years ago Professor Moynihan warned government would do irreparable harm due to welfare. His own party rejected his thesis which ultimately proved prophetic.
As the distance between America's socio economic classes widened, the black segment of our population was particularly harmed. The family structure of our nation has been destroyed. Church connection has diminished, dependence upon government has led to food stamps and other demeaning dependencies, particularly among the black community.
Johnson's "Great Society" and "war on Poverty," did not bring the promises intended while welfare expanded in an uncontrolled manner.
Trump's economic policies began to lift the bottom of our society and this is why he should gain a larger per cent of the black and Hispanic vote which could tip the scales in his favor. The key is, Trump needs a workable plurality in Congress to truly be effective for 2 plausible reasons:
a)Trump has 4 years and becomes a lame duck the day of re-entering office,
and
b) Rabid D.C elites will continue to do everything in their power, as before, to assure themselves Trump fails. They seek the power Marxism provides and thus prefer Communism in preference to that of a free people. Levin was prescient in writing: " Why Democrats Hate America."
Once again, I repeat the wise words of POGO: "The Enemy Is Us!"
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I listened to Maria Bartiromo's Sunday's interview of former President Trump (Feb. 4.)
It was refreshing to finally return to hearing a president answer every question and in a more or less direct manner. There were a few questions she asked, I would have rephrased in a more penetrating manner but overall the interview was solid
A recent Op Ed by John Bolton, which I have posted, suggested Trump was a danger to America and, to the degree Trump allows his narcissistic ways to cause him to lose sight of the dangerous capabilities of our adversaries, I cannot dispute what Bolton wrote. That said, Trump does mean what he says and yet, he also leaves enough unsaid so as to leave our adversaries unsure what to really expect. .
Should Trump be the GOP candidate, as seems plausible, he gets my vote and I believe everything will be much improved notwithstanding, the rabid D.C elitist Trump Haters will continue to undermine his every act. Why? Because they are losers who hate losing and hate this country because a Marxist government is what they seek.
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Should Students Be Allowed to Yell
“Kill the Jews”? Yes, “Hate Expert” Say."
by Rafael Medoff
(Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His latest is Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America, a nonfiction graphic novel with artist Dean Motter, published by Dark Horse Books.)
Should college students have a right to shout “Kill the Jews” on campus? The director of a prominent Center for the Study of Hate thinks so.
Kenneth Stern, director of Bard College’s hate studies center, explained his controversial position during a January 31 webinar sponsored by the University of London’s Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism.
“If a student merely expresses something, like ‘I think all Jews should be killed,’ it should be condemned, but to say ‘you can’t say it,’ is a problem on many levels,” Stern asserted. In his view, universities should have rules only “about harassment, intimidation, and bullying, not political statements about Israel.” He also argued that “There’s a difference between saying it with a bunch of folks with baseball bats next to you, or just expressing it.
There are three serious problems with Stern’s position.
The first is that he implicitly puts slogans about killing Jews or “Zionists” in the category of “political statements about Israel.” But in the real world, chanting in support “more Intifadas” means calling for more suicide bombings, shootings, and stabbings of Jews. Chanting in support of “liberating all of Palestine” means urging the destruction of the State of Israel and the mass murder of Israeli Jews. October 7 has demonstrated that beyond any doubt. Such rhetoric is not “political.” It’s anti-Jewish hate.
The second problem is that Stern seems to think a hater needs to be flanked by comrades who are armed with deadly weapons in order for his hateful expressions to constitute a threat. That underestimates the danger posed by lone wolf haters.
The third problem with Stern’s formulation is that he is speaking in the abstract, instead of recognizing the reality at many universities today. He depicts those who are mouthing anti-Jewish hatred on campuses as isolated individuals, when in fact they often are part of mobs that are marching, threatening, and besieging Jewish students.
From a legal standpoint, Stern portrays this as a free speech issue, but it’s not. Every university has a code of conduct to which students must adhere. All such codes require students to refrain from taking actions that make other students feel threatened. Thus a university administration does not even have to regard “Kill the Jews” (or “More Intifadas!” Or “From the River to the Sea!”) as antisemitic in order to penalize students for yelling it—it’s sufficient that the slogan makes Jewish students feel threatened.
The broader problem with Stern’s perspective on “Kill the Jews” rhetoric is that he does not believe Jewish college students in America today are facing any serious or imminent danger.
He said in the webinar that incidents of Jewish college students being physically assaulted are “not ubiquitous, although one is too many.” They may or may not be ubiquitous, depending on how many attacks it takes to qualify for that designation. But Stern’s choice of words, and his overall tone, created the impression that the number of such incidents is not significant. In reality, there have been many reported attacks, and undoubtedly others that have not been reported.
Pro-Hamas students at Ohio State University spat upon Jewish students (Oct.18), threw pennies at Jewish students (Oct.20), assaulted two Jewish students while calling them “kike Zionists” (Nov. 10), and hurled bottles at a Jewish fraternity house while shouting anti-Semitic slogans (Dec. 3). Hamas supporters surrounded and pushed a Jewish student outside the Harvard Business School (Oct. 18) and beat up three Jewish students near the Tulane University campus (Oct. 26). They wrecked a hostages information table at the City College of New York, seizing its pamphlets and destroying its posters (Nov.2).
At the University of Massachusetts-Amherst on November 3, a Jewish student was setting up a symbolic Shabbat table at a vigil to call attention to the Israeli hostages. A pro-Hamas student in a nearby building began shouting vulgarities at him. “Then he charged out of the building and punched me in the head several times,” the Jewish student recounted.“I put my hands up to protect my face and he grabbed the flag and kicked me in the chest several times and shoved me.” The attacker then took out a foot-long knife, and “kept stabbing the Israeli flag until it was completely destroyed.”
In Manhattan, pro-Hamas students physically trapped Jewish students in a room at the Cooper Union library, and surrounded and taunted a Jewish student at the New School. They blocked a library entrance at the City College of New York and shoved a cell phone into the face of a Jewish student passing by, to record her against her protests. At Rutgers, Hamas supporters disrupted classes, study sessions, and meals, and at the University of California at Berkeley, they grabbed a Jewish student by the neck and tried to steal his Israeli flag. At a George Mason University fraternity house, they assaulted a Jewish student, ripping his Star of David necklace from his neck.
The list goes on and on—and all of these incidents go far beyond “expressions.” They are physical manifestations of the “Kill the Jews” sentiment that Stern believes all colleges universities should permit.
Numerous universities are now under investigation by the Biden administration because of the spread of antisemitism on their campuses. Regardless of their findings, it is clear that yelling “Kill the Jews,” or slogans which in practice mean the same thing, such as “More Intifadas!” and “From the River to the Sea!,” violate campus codes of conduct. The real-world impact of hate speech matters.
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House members press Biden to withdraw court nominee with ties to 9/11 hijacker sympathizers: ‘Grave concerns’
Adeel Abdullah Mangi advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this month in party-line vote
Biden judicial nominee appears incapable of defining basic legal terms
FIRST ON FOX — A group of House Republicans are urging President Biden to withdraw a controversial nominee who has ties to 9/11 hijacker sympathizers.
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, a group of 10 GOP members who represent districts over which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals presides wrote to the president about judicial nominee Adeel Abdullah Mangi, who has garnered significant criticism from lawmakers for troubling affiliations.
The "grave concerns" raised by Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., and nine of his colleagues from Pennsylvania and New Jersey stem from 2019 to 2023, when Mangi served as a member of the board of advisers for the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers Law School.
The center has a "deep history of amplifying antisemitic speech, terrorist propaganda, and anti-American rhetoric," the lawmakers said in the letter.
Adeel Abdullah Mangi testifies
"During his tenure as a board member, the Center supported efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel by pushing for the boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) movement and calling for resistance in Palestine," they wrote.
"In 2021, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey stated that one of the Center’s events sought to ‘delegitimize Israel and to push their antisemitic agenda into a mainstream discourse.’ The Jewish News Center, among other organizations, labeled a 2021 center event as ‘pro-Hamas’ and a ‘terrorist-whitewashing webinar.’"
The Coalition for Jewish Values, the Zionist Organization of America, Americans Against Antisemitism and others have thus opposed his nomination.
Additionally, the center has a record of sympathizing with radical terrorist organizations, the lawmakers said.
BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEE APPEARS STUMPED BY BASIC LEGAL TERMS: 'I'M NOT SURE'
On the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the center sponsored an event titled "Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001." The event, which sought to challenge the "exceptionalization" of the attacks, included speakers with ties to terrorist organizations, according to the lawmakers.
The Republicans informed the president that Sami Al-Arian, a convicted felon who provided support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), was a featured speaker. At the event, Al-Arian blamed the 9/11 attack on the United States and its support for Israel.
"As your Administration is aware, PIJ is a foreign terrorist organization and was involved in the atrocities committed against Israel on October 7, 2023," they wrote.
The lawmakers go on to argue that "while Mr. Mangi’s affiliation and financial support for the Center is cause for alarm, we also find it deeply troubling that he has failed to denounce the Center and its radical ideology."
"On numerous occasions in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Mangi was given ample opportunity to denounce examples of antisemitic rhetoric espoused by the Center," they said.
"He failed to do so in his written responses and oral testimony to the committee every single time."
Mangi advanced out of the committee on an 11-10 party-line vote. His nomination now proceeds to the full Senate for a vote.
Mangi, a New Jersey resident and partner at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, has been praised by Democrats for possibly being the nation’s first Muslim-American federal appellate judge.
"Mangi is a standout figure in New Jersey’s legal landscape. It speaks volumes that his exceptional legal abilities are only exceeded by his character and unwavering commitment to fairness in the administration of justice," Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in a statement.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital that "President Biden is deeply proud" to have nominated Mangi, calling him "an indisputably qualified and experienced attorney who has lived the American dream and is devoted to our Constitution and the rule of law."
He called the Republicans' criticisms "vile, unconscionable smears", noting that they have "been discredited by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, among many others."
Bates accused the GOP lawmakers of applying a "religious litmus test," targeting Mangi for his Muslim faith – which, he noted, the Constitution "forbids."
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Quit grasping at straws and blowing smoke.
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Will Biden Finally Deter Iran?
The U.S. begins to retaliate against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.
The Editorial Board
U.S. officials have been broadcasting for days that strikes would be coming after the weekend drone attack that killed three Americans at a U.S. base in Jordan. Biden Administration officials signaled that the strikes were likely to be against the militias and not against Iran. Leaks to the media even suggested the U.S. was waiting for the skies to be clearer in the Middle East.
Militia leaders can’t say they weren’t warned, and if any of them were still around the target areas they are the world’s dumbest terrorists. U.S. officials said the strikes hit 85 targets that included command and control centers, and storage facilities for rockets and missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers are likely to have vamoosed.
At least the Administration has signaled that the U.S. strikes could last for days or longer. “They have a lot of capability. I have a lot more,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday. The question is whether the U.S. will use enough of that capability to finally send a message of deterrence that sinks in.
The weak U.S. retaliatory strikes haven’t worked so far, despite more than 160 enemy attacks on U.S. bases or ships since mid-October. The multiple U.S. warnings this week send a message that the U.S. doesn’t want to do too much damage to the militias, who might consider that another sign that the U.S. fears escalation. The attacks on Americans are likely to end only when the enemy fears escalation more than President Biden does.
The real test will be whether these strikes, and covert U.S. actions such as cyber attacks, will deter Iran. The rulers in Tehran are the terror masters behind these militias, and so far they have paid no price for helping to kill Americans.
The White House has used its Boswells at the Washington Post and New York Times to suggest that President Biden is the wise voice of restraint in contrast to war-hungry Members of Congress. But that restraint has resulted in three dead and many wounded Americans, and this week a Houthi missile narrowly missed a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea.
There’s a time for restraint, and a time for using enough force against the right targets so that U.S. troops are no longer fodder for enemy target practice.
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Ordman: Resilient and Coming Back.
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Israel’s resilience in the wake of the Oct 7 onslaught has astounded many of its overseas supporters and opponents alike. Israel is making an astonishing comeback, as this week’s positive newsletter highlights.
On the Jewish New Year for trees, JNF-USA volunteers planted thousands of trees at the site of the devastated NOVA music festival. Israel’s largest printing press resumed operation 3 days after Hamas overran the kibbutz. The IDF brought back a tractor stolen by Hamas on Oct 7 from Gaza to its kibbutz owners. Wounded IDF soldiers are being brought back to health thanks to heroic rescues, surgeons using hi-tech medical technology, and empathic volunteers providing rehabilitation, respite, and emotional support.
Aside from the war, Israeli medical technology brought back the ability to communicate to a paralyzed Israeli woman. And an Israeli startup won an international award for regrowing human bone tissue. Meanwhile, two initiatives are restoring trust between Israeli Jews and Arabs.
Israelis are helping the USA bring its aging power grid back to life; and an Israeli startup is recycling waste into fashion products. Israel’s economy is certainly coming back, and a new Resilience fund is helping war-impacted startups make a comeback. Meanwhile El Al is increasing its flights to bring back tourists and to encourage international business.
The warm winter and welcome rains have brought back color into Jerusalem’s streets; Israel’s ice hockey team came back from being banned from a tournament, to winning all its 5 games; and Israel just celebrated the 20th anniversary of its greatest ecological comeback – the rehabilitation of the Hula Valley.
Finally, "they will all come to Jerusalem" – as the world gradually recognizes that the Jewish People have come back to their ancestral homeland, the Indigenous peoples of the world have opened an embassy in Jerusalem.
The photo is of the Netanya offices of Elbit Systems, which has helped Israel make a fighting comeback.
Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael.
In the 4th Feb 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Kibbutz Be’eri re-opened its printing press 3 days after the Hamas attack.
- Thanks to Israeli tech, a totally paralyzed woman is “virtually” cured.
- The first Arab Israeli delegation to visit Auschwitz.
- Lab-cultivated coffee cuts water used in production by 98%.
- An Israeli startup delivers the world’s first fully electronic truck.
- Israelis win international gold medals in ice hockey and fencing.
- An embassy for indigenous people is to open in Jerusalem.
- Please click here, to donate (a small or large amount) to help me publicize VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
- If someone wishes to be added to the free email subscription list, they should either click here or send a request (with their name) to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.
com
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Helping wounded soldiers recover. New York based NGO Belev Echad (With One Heart) supports wounded IDF soldiers, providing respite, rehabilitation, and emotional support. Volunteers who make hospital visits are mostly army veterans who were themselves wounded in battle and have been through the recovery process.
https://www.jns.org/soldiers-
IDF recovers tractor stolen by Hamas. One of the videos that Hamas broadcast on Oct 7 was of a tractor that they stole from Kibbutz Nir Oz and drove through the streets of Khan Yunis. The IDF have since found the tractor, repaired it, and driven it out of the Gaza strip. It will return to work in a rebuilt Kibbutz Nir Oz.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Christian group supports with visit and donation. A delegation from the Christian Passages group traveled to Netiv HaAsara and Kfar Aza in the Gaza Envelope - two of the hardest-hit communities on Oct. 7, to express their friendship. They gave a donation of $250,000 to help each community rebuild.
https://www.jns.org/wire/
JNF-USA plants trees at ground zero. More than 100 Jewish National Fund-USA volunteers planted trees at Kibbutz Re'im, near the site of the infamous NOVA music festival during Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for trees. It was part of JNF-USA’s broader efforts to revitalize and renew the battered region.
https://www.jns.org/wire/
He raised the flag he lowered 19 years ago. Zvi, an IDF reservist volunteer, lowered the last Israeli flag in Gaza when he was the last IDF soldier to leave in 2005. He kept that flag for 19 years and has now raised it again in Khan Younis. https://www.
Bar Mitzvah boy treats soldiers to dinner. Amichai Jackson, from Elazar in the Gush, canceled his Bar Mitzvah party and used the money to prepare a lavish dinner for 200 IDF soldiers. He wasn’t sad about missing his party, “When I saw the soldiers eating and enjoying themselves, that was 1,000 times more meaningful.”
https://thejewishvoice.com/
Showing reality to overseas students. The Maccabee Task Force fights against Antisemitism on college campuses. It brought 40 US student leaders (Jewish and non-Jewish) to see wartime Israel for themselves and then use the knowledge gained to make a difference on campus when they return to the USA.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Kibbutz printing press reopened in 3 days. Kibbutz Be’eri was famous for having the largest printing press in Israel. Despite the devastating Hamas attack, by Oct 10 factory workers were back at work and within the week, President Isaac Herzog officially reopened the press in a special ceremony.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Displaced volunteer EMT is still working. United Hatzalah volunteer paramedic Vicky was evacuated from the upper Galilee to escape Hezbollah rockets. Now in a hotel in Tzfat she is the first responder for all residents, treating panic attacks, pneumonia, etc. She also co-ordinates doctors, insurance, incident training, and more.
https://israelrescue.org/
We shall not be moved. (TY Hazel) The residents of Hurfeish, a Druze town of 7,000 in the Galilee just 1.5 miles from the Lebanese border, refused to be evacuated. As the commander of the first response team said, “We’ll fight to the end. Whoever tries to infiltrate or harm us or the State of Israel, we’ll stop them.”
https://www.tabletmag.com/
Amazing rescue. The remarkable story (could be a movie) of I24 News employee Noam, who was shot in his car on Oct 7 while his 9-month-pregant wife Noa was under attack in their Kibbutz Mefalsim. Noam was rescued by two men, both who were shot but survived. He woke up in hospital in time to hold his newborn son.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Partnering to develop solid tumor therapy. (TY OurCrowd) India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is partnering Israel’s Edity Therapeutics (see here previously). They plan to build a platform for developing intracellular proteins to destroy solid tumors. https://www.webwire.com/
“Locked in” woman can speak again. The Israel ALS Research Association IsrA.L.S. It has worked with Israel’s D-ID (see here previously) to develop a virtual avatar for Debbie, a woman with ALS who can only move her eye muscles. The AI technology recreated Debbie’s image, voice, facial and lip movements.
https://www.jpost.com/health-
3D printer helps rebuild shattered leg. (TY Yehoshua) Doctors at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital used a 3D printer from Israel’s Stratasys to reconstruct the fractured knee of wounded IDF soldier Shilo Segev. The printer model identified a lack of upper thigh bone which surgeons rebuilt using bone from Shilo’s pelvis.
https://www.jpost.com/science/
A better world for animals. University of Haifa’s Tech4Animals lab (see here previously) is developing AI-powered analysis of video, sensor, and audio data to determine animals’ emotional states. Its most advanced project is Cat Reader, a mobile app for detecting cat pain – initially for veterinarians, and later for cat owners.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.nature.com/
Israel’s first Advanced Therapies Award. Israel’s Bonus Biogroup (see here previously) is the first Israeli company ever to receive an Advanced Therapies Award, winning in the Cell Therapy Biotech Innovation category. Bonus Biotech has two products in advanced human trials – MesenCure and BonoFill.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
A home for graduates with disabilities. The "Line for Life" Association has completed a new NIS 6 million home for its graduates. Situated in Kibbutz HaGoshrim, it will house eight individuals aged 21+ who will integrate into the local community, study at Tel Hai College, and then work in the surrounding communities.
https://www.jpost.com/
Knights deliver rice to Israeli food charity. The order of the Knights of Malta (full title “Maltese Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem”) delivered 24 tons of rice to Leket Israel to support the people of Israel during the ongoing war. It was financed by Governor of the Nevada Commanderie David Flippo.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Israeli Arabs visit Auschwitz. It was a historic event when the first Arab Israeli delegation visited the Auschwitz death camp on Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day). Israel-Arab Yussef Haddad features on this special documentary of the emotional journey of dozens of Arab Israelis to Poland to learn about the Holocaust.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Bedouin eco-village turns desert into oasis. Project Wadi Attir in the northern Negev (see here previously) aims to show the world that proper land stewardship and technologies can turn an unlivable place into an oasis. It opened an agricultural school in 2018, grows medicinal plants and produces health and skincare products.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Promoting Arab-Jewish unity. The non-profit Tsofen (see here previously) has launched a new campaign to promote unity among Jews and Arabs working in Israel’s high-tech sector. Its slogan is “working together - right now we are making a voice of partnership.” Startups Intuit, Hailo, and Sanofi have joined the campaign.
https://nocamels.com/2024/01/
Helping protect ships in the Red Sea. This article mentions five Israeli startups that either are being used or could be used to help keep cargo ships safe from attack in the Gulf. Windward, and theDOCK hub startups WaveBL, Hoopo, ConboAI and DockTech. They all have previously been included in this newsletter.
https://www.israel21c.org/5-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Distinguished service award. Tel Aviv University Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, former head of Israeli Space Agency, is the first Israeli to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). It is for his outstanding contribution to astronautics (space sciences) and to the IAF.
https://www.aftau.org/news_
https://www.jpost.com/science/
Climate prizes. JNF-Canada, KKL-JNF and Startup Nation Central awarded their $1 million Breakthrough Climate Solutions Prize (CSP) to three Israeli projects: - two Technion professors (cyanobacteria in building), Tel Aviv University Prof Brian Rosen (green ammonia) and BGU Prof Menny Shalom (zinc-air batteries).
https://www.jns.org/1-million-
https://www.jpost.com/
EVs to be powered by nuclear fusion energy. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s NT-Tao (see here previously) plans to use mini fusion power generation facilities as charging stations for electric vehicles. It aims to manufacture demonstration facilities by 2029 and to commercialize them in the 2030s.
https://asia.nikkei.com/
Helping the US modernize its power grid. Israel’s Exodigo (see here previously) is working on the US Department of Energy’s GOPHURRS project to modernize America’s aging power grid using underground technologies. The US is also funding Exodigo to provide 3D maps of the country’s power lines.
https://nocamels.com/category/
Hydrogen-powered drones just got more powerful. Since last featured (see here) in this newsletter, Israel’s Heven Drones has launched several new models of its hydrogen-powered drones. The early model flew for 100 minutes with a 7kg payload. Its new HD250 carries 10kg for up to 8 hours and can travel 466 miles.
https://www.israel21c.org/
New tech saves lives on the battlefield. Israel’s Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense R&D (MAFAT) works with 200 startups plus universities to develop tech solutions to wartime challenges. New vehicles include remotely piloted troop carriers and bulldozers. New software includes AnyVision’s facial recognition system.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Cell-based cultivated coffee. Israeli biotech Pluri (previously Pluristem) has launched its cell-based coffee. It is estimated to cut water usage by 98% compared to traditional methods of production. Pluri plans to spin out its cell-based coffee as a new subsidiary focused on developing innovative products for the coffee industry.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Food-inspection system is now portable. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Neolithics (see here previously) has launched Neolithics Light. The portable, AI-powered, platform uses hyperspectral optics to automatically inspect fruits and vegetables for ripeness, nutrition levels, sweetness, and other indicators to eliminate waste.
https://www.food-safety.com/
Sustainable bags from fish skin. Israel’s Kornit Digital (see here previously) and Israeli design school Shenkar College, teamed up to create a way of transforming the waste into a useful everyday product – a handbag made from discarded salmon skin. The process used French maroquinerie leathercraft methodology.
https://nocamels.com/2024/01/
Tomatoes that use less water. Researchers at Tel Aviv University used CRISPR gene editing to reduce the time that tomatoes transpire - open their stoma to photosynthesis - which also causes evaporation. Less evaporation means less water needed for irrigation.
https://nocamels.com/2024/01/
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Tech salaries up, inflation down. Israel's tech sector continued to expand in 2023 with salaries increasing by around 3%. Although exports of services fell generally, in the tech sector they increased by 1.6%. Meanwhile Israel’s inflation rate fell to 3% - within the Bank of Israel's target range, allowing it to cut interest rates.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Google’s AI startup lifeline. Google is launching a $4 million fund to provide a lifeline to around 20 cash-strapped Israeli startups developing artificial intelligence technologies. Google is also offering mentoring support to the selected startups to help with development, strategy, and marketing.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
But most of the multinationals are fine. The top 10 largest multinationals (MNCs) including Intel, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, HP, Applied Materials, IBM, Philips, & Apple, employ 37% of Israel’s workers. 60% of all MNCs said the war had minimal impact on their Israeli business, with 30% reporting limited impact.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
El Al adds more US flights. El Al plans to add five weekly flights to Israel in the coming months. Two from Fort Lauderdale (pre-Passover); two to Los Angeles (to add to its current daily flights) and one more to Boston (to increase its schedule to four times a week). It will give El Al a total of 52 weekly flights to the US.
https://www.jns.org/el-al-to-
Rescuing vessels in the UK and Israel. Israel’s Sealartec (see here previously) is now plain sailing since it rescued its first floundering boat in 2019. It secured its first UK - giant BAe and now its ALR (Autonomous Launch and Recovery) system is used by several UK and Israeli companies with a US launch in progress.
https://nocamels.com/2024/01/
Drive by wire truck goes commercial. The P7-C Electric Commercial truck from Israel’s REE (see here previously) is now being delivered to customers. It is the first fully “by-wire” (i.e. electronic, not mechanical) vehicle certified by the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Environmental Protection Agency.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Keeping exotic mushrooms fresh. Israel’s StePac (see here previously) has customized its award-winning modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) films to preserve fresh whole exotic mushrooms, such as oyster, lion’s mane, shiitake, portabella and more. It slows deterioration and cuts waste of this highly perishable item.
https://www.stepacppc.com/
Exits, takeovers, and mergers – to 4/2/24: Israel’s Minute Media has acquired North America’s STN Video for an estimated $150 million.
Startup investment – to 4/2/24. Oasis Security raised $35 million; Aim Security raised $10 million; Joyned raised $8 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Jerusalem’s streets are blooming. (TY Sharon) Tu b’Shevat – the Jewish New Year for Trees - is always a more colorful spectacle in Jerusalem where the climate encourages the almond trees to blossom.
https://rjstreets.com/2024/01/
Tour Israel virtually. The Association for Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) is beginning its 2nd series of insightful, yet fun, educational Mini Virtual Study Tours. The next one “Ancient Synagogues in Israel” is on Mon Feb 26, guided by Aliza Avshalom. To register, contact Jeff Rothenberg at: conted@aaci.org.il
https://aaci.org.il/virtual-
Israel’s greatest ecological turnaround. The 1950s draining of Lake Hula was a huge environmental mistake. Now, a photo exhibit celebrates the 20th anniversary of the successful reversal of the damage. Agamon Hula’s success serves as inspiration for future conservation projects worldwide. (See live video cameras at 2nd link.)
https://www.israel21c.org/10-
https://www.kkl-jnf.org/
Wheelchair medalist. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Guy Hasson was runner up in the final of the Quad Wheelchair Singles at Australian Open 2024. Just watch what he says when he collects his trophy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
A whitewash! The Israel Under-20 National Team was reinstated to the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III Group A tournament in Bulgaria after being banned for security reasons. The Blue & White team took home the gold medal, winning all five of its matches and has been promoted to Division II Group B.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
Hatikvah in Qatar. (TY Hazel) Israeli fencer Yuval Freilich won the gold medal at the Epee Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar. Amazing to hear the Israeli national anthem in wartime in a country that doesn’t recognize Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
THE JEWISH STATE
Masa program for young volunteers. The Jewish Agency’s Masa Israel Journey is bringing Diaspora Jews to Israel to volunteer for six weeks, to support the country's south and evacuees. 100 have already arrived and are cooking for soldiers, packaging food, working in logistical centers, in agriculture, and teaching English.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Let’s talk. Nice article that combines Israelis caring for each other, messaging technology and transportation in Israel. A common experience in Israel, but quite rare overseas.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Indigenous embassy to open in Jerusalem. The Indigenous Coalition for Israel (ICFI) is opening an embassy in Jerusalem to recognize Jews as indigenous to Israel. ICFI includes Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, Native Americans, Papua New Guinea, Samoa Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Taiwan, and Tonga,
https://www.jns.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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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