.jpg)
G'Pa Me and Lisa (Henry's Mom)
Vote for Biden and kiss it all goodbye.
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Buddy get's it!
Buddy get's it!
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STATE OF DELUSION
I went to the House floor on Thursday night expecting to attend a State of the Union address. Instead, I ended up at a Washington Democrat campaign rally – or, at least, that was how President Biden treated it.
The president needed to tell the American people three things during his speech: his plan to secure the border, an outline of his budget, which was due February 5th, and his national security strategy. Unfortunately, he missed the mark on each of these points, choosing party politics over the needs of the American people, who are sick and tired of begging this president to do his job.
The America that President Biden described was not one I, my constituents, and hardworking taxpayers nationwide recognize. At every turn, this President is putting America last. His policies have kneecapped our oil and gas industry, spiked grocery store prices, killed jobs, left our border wide-open, and made many American cities unsafe to live in, work in, or even visit.
Take the border, for example. Here we have a president who has taken 64 documented actions to weaken our border security, has full authority to shut down the border today, and yet used his final State of the Union address to pass the buck – which used to ‘stop with him’ – by falsely pushing the blame onto House Republicans. Nothing could be further from the truth. H.R. 2, the best bill out there to secure our border, is proof of that.
That wasn’t the only time he massively missed the mark during his speech. I was especially disappointed by his call to expand government-controlled drug pricing mandates.
The drug pricing mandates in his so-called Inflation ‘Reduction’ Act are some of the worst pieces of legislation I’ve seen during my time in Congress. To hear this president, once again, tout this law as a success – and even call for it to be expanded – is unconscionable and proves that he is completely out-of-touch with patients’ needs. American innovation cures the world. Instead of incentivizing more research and development, this administration is choosing to push unworkable price controls that have already resulted in patients losing access to several cancer drugs. What other cures and treatments will be excluded from patients because of this? The cure for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s? Patients can’t afford to find out.
As a pharmacist my top priority has always been, and will continue to be, ensuring that all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care. We need lower prescription drug costs, there’s no question about that; but we can do it without sacrificing research and development by reining in the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the middlemen that are responsible for many prescription drugs being unaffordable and inaccessible. I welcome conversation with the White House about this issue and sent them a letter last week explaining exactly how PBMs rob patients blind and what it will take to fix it.
President Biden said the state of our union is strong. As much as I wish he were right, that’s simply not the reality for everyday Americans. Under President Biden, we are less free, less safe, and less likely to experience economic freedom. The state of our union, like the state of our border, is weak.
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This tiny nation is fighting a two front war, they are trying to balance the need to win versus the need to satisfy a president who is running against all odds while demanding a political pound of flesh and yet, Israel remains resilient.
America once had that kind of "can do" spirit but then "we the people" allowed neo-Marxists to invade our society and infiltrate our critical institutions and everything has gone to hell.
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Up and Running - Israel's Positive Newsletter
Five months after Oct 7, Israel is certainly Up and Running - even stronger than before. Residents have returned to battered communities in the south and rehabilitation hospitals and charities have successfully been getting the wounded back on their feet. Meanwhile, an Israeli NGO has even been helping get the devastated Ukrainian healthcare system back up and running.
On International Women’s Day, the Israeli news includes the first woman to run an Israeli Air Force base, the women in charge of several Israeli NGOs, and the woman who runs one of Samsung’s Israeli subsidiaries.
Israelis have developed material for putting up buildings and remove greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, up in the air, synchronized Israeli drones extinguish wildfires.
Things are also looking up for Israel’s economy. Employment is up, as is confidence in the Shekel and in the Israeli bond market. Israel’s gas revenues are on the up, and even the avocado harvest is at a record high. The Israeli foldable electric car now can be seen running around town, and Israeli startups ran some 2,000 business meetings at the Mobile World Congress.
Finally, Israeli women and men have again been climbing up on sporting podiums, many more Jews have been going “up” on Aliyah, and even the Kinneret has been filling up, thanks to benevolence from above.
In the 10th Mar 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- A massive project to rehabilitate southern Israel’s farms.
- He trained the IDF medic who later saved his life.
- Israeli hospitals are recognized as First Class.
- Israeli women are a beacon of light to the nations.
- An Israeli bedtime story-telling app is now a global educational tool.
- Huge confidence in Israel’s economy.
- The 13th Jerusalem marathon was an especially moving event.
- The Israeli wedding(s) of the year.
- Please click here, to donate (a small or large amount) to help me publicize VeryGoodNewsIsrael
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com
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Gap-year students mentor displaced kids. Israeli high school graduates in a pre-army volunteer program are supporting children evacuated due to the war. 60 joined NGO Bakehila (see here previously) mentoring Jewish and Arab kids relocated from Kiryat Shmona to Haifa. Others helped at Bakehila’s Jerusalem’s communes.
https://www.israel21c.org/gap-
Son of Chabad emissary surprises parents. (TY Sam Kramer) Chabad emissaries, who thought that their son was fighting in Gaza, were overjoyed when he was invited to join them on stage at a dinner in Florida. Join Israel Good News Only WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/
https://www.
Residents of Shlomit return. (TY WIN) Residents have returned to the Israeli village of Shlomit, just a few kilometers from Gaza, five months after having been evacuated following Oct 7. They are building a daycare center, funded by JNF-USA., to show that life has restarted and give strength to all the families in the region.
https://israfan.com/2024/02/
Regrowing Israel. Prior to Oct 7, the 40,000 hectares of western Negev agricultural land supplied 70 percent of Israel’s fresh produce. Regrow Israel (see here previously) intends to help farmers rehabilitate the land. It has support from the VIP non-profit, Israel’s Volcani Center, Ben Gurion University. and the MIGAL Institute.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Aid for the war wounded. After Oct 7, Israel’s largest volunteer organization Yad Sarah went into war mode. It filled container loads of equipment and relocated them outside hospitals where Yad Sarah didn’t have a branch. It then opened “The Soldier Rehabilitation Unit” to aid disabled soldiers physically and socially.
https://www.israel21c.org/war-
Massive land purchase discounts to IDF veterans. IDF soldiers leaving the war can qualify for a discount on the land in the Galilee or Negev regions to build a home. A soldier who does not own an apartment will receive a 90% discount and a combat veteran will receive a 95% discount – making it almost free.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Ohad goes to Wembley. (TY Yanky) Freed hostage Ohad Munder (see here previously), who spent his 9th birthday in Gaza, travelled to Wembley to watch his favorite UK team, Liverpool, play Chelsea in the cup final. He also met Israeli international and Tottenham striker Manor Soloman.
https://www.thejc.com/
So many heroes. The Middle East forum mission to Israel met a country of heroes. They included Nova massacre survivors who were in uniform a week later to help clean up houses, feed pet fish, find missing cats and dogs, and empty refrigerators and freezers of rotting food. And the resilience of Israelis was everywhere.
https://www.jns.org/israels-
Saved by paramedic who trained in his methods. Yonati is CEO at Extreme Solutions that trains elite units and emergency organizations to handle extreme emergency situations. On Jan 8, in Gaza, he was hit by six bullets, one piercing his lung. Luckily, IDF medic Litav had taken an Extreme course and saved Yonati’s life.
https://5townscentral.com/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Predicting response to cancer therapy. Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) are successful in 40% of cancer patients but are invasive and time-consuming. Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have developed a tool that predicts the response based on the metabolic activity in the immune system cells. (See also here previously)
https://technionuk.org/news-
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
Lowering the cost of treatments. The US FDA has approved SIMLANDI – a biosimilar to (and less costly than) Humira for the treatment of adult rheumatoid arthritis and many other autoimmune diseases including IBD. SIMLANDI is a product of the partnership between Israel’s Teva and the multinational Alvotech.
https://www.tevapharm.com/
Predicting epileptic seizures. Israel’s NeuroHelp (see here previously) has developed a brain scanner that gives a one-hour warning of an upcoming epileptic seizure. It is working on a more compact device that can be worn during the day and a system called Neurofeedback that can help prevent the seizures.
https://nocamels.com/2024/02/
Sleep on it. James Leinhardt at Levitex Sleep knows how to get the best night’s sleep. It’s all about posture. Protect your spine and neck, reduce back and shoulder pain, prevent snoring, and increase lung capacity by reading his advice. His specialist mattresses and pillows can also help. James is relocating from UK to Israel.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.levitexsleep.com/
US approves smart skin patches. The US FDA has approved the Smart Skin product from Israel’s X-trodes (see here previously). The patches have embedded electrodes and can be attached anywhere on the body, to measure brain activity (EEG), heart activity (EKG), eye movements, muscular activity, and other signs.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Sheba again at number 9. American magazine Newsweek in together with global data company Statista has again ranked Israel’s Sheba Medical Center as the nineth best hospital in the world. Key factors were the 98% survival rate for battlefield injuries, plus Sheba’s leading role in integrated physical and mental rehabilitation.
https://israfan.com/2024/02/
And Hadassah is one of the smartest. Newsweek magazine also named Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center as one of the world’s leading hospitals in oncology, cardiology, and smart technologies. It is the sixth consecutive year that Hadassah has been recognized.
https://www.
Rehab with VR. Tel Aviv’s Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital uses virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) to rehabilitate patients after injury or debilitating illness, even PTSD. It displays a VR or AR scenario, so that the patient performs exercises while immersed in a game or other enjoyable activity or experience.
https://nocamels.com/2024/02/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Israeli women. (TY Sharon) International Women’s Day is a farce at the UN, but in Israel it is a time to be proud. Fleur Hasson Nahoum (ex-deputy mayor of Jerusalem); the Presidents of Hadassah, Naamat & AZF; leaders of WZO, Health-tech, scientists, patent lawyers, One Family, survivors, MKs, athletes and soldiers.
https://rjstreets.com/2024/03/
The first female Airforce base commander. Lieutenant Colonel "Gimmel" is to lead the Ovda Airbase – the first woman to command an Israeli Air Force base. She enlisted in the IAF pilot training course in 2003 and will now be promoted to the rank of Colonel. See also here previously.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/
The woman at the top of Harman. Michal Geva is the general manager of Harman Automotive Israel (a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics) and the general manager for OTA (over the air) and cybersecurity at Harman International. 30% of her employees are women in an industry that is predominantly male.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Girls in hard hats. (TY Nevet) David Biggio and his daughters Shirel, Lael, Selah, and Sara, are construction workers from Shvut Rachel in Samaria. They specialize in plastering. Their religious employers were originally concerned about modesty, but now they are impressed with how hard the girls work.
https://tps.co.il/articles/
Ukrainian healthcare workers train in Israel. (TY Nevet) Israeli NGO One Heart has facilitated the training of surgeons, physiotherapists, mental health professionals, and ocularists at leading Israeli medical centers.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/
Aid orgs share $1 million. Israel’s answer to the Nobel Prize, the $1 million Genesis Prize, has been jointly awarded to five organizations helping the Hamas-held hostages in Gaza and their families. They are JAFI, Lev Echad, Natal, One Family, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.jewishagency.org/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Revealing the earliest galaxies. International scientists including those at Israel’s Ben Gurion University, have analyzed spectra from the James Webb Telescope that reveal very low-mass galaxies less than a billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery represents a breakthrough in human knowledge of the cosmos.
https://www.eurekalert.org/
A great story. Israel’s Storywizard.ai has evolved, in one year, from an app intended for the personal use of parents telling bedtime stories, into a teaching tool used in 1,500 schools worldwide, winning a Global EdTech Startup Award. It makes use of generative AI and supports English, Hebrew, Arabic and six other languages.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.storywizard.ai/ https://www.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Climate-friendly construction material. A video about the 3D-printed cyanobacteria-derived building material developed by scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute (see here previously). Not only does it avoid the polluting manufacture process of concrete, but the new bio-based material removes carbon dioxide from the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Plastic waste has been sent packing. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Oceansix (see here previously) has just patented its revolutionary packaging material made from recycled plastic waste that can be reused up to 100 times.
https://cdn.getmood.io/
Fighting fires with drones. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has a two-drone solution for fighting wildfires, for presenting at the XPRIZE Wildfire Competition in the US. One UAV sees through the smoke to locate the source of the fire before it gets out of control. The other UAV sprays a flame retardant at that source.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Micro screens for AR/VR. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Tower Semiconductor has partnered with China’s Tianyi Micro to develop the next generation OLED micro displays for Augmented and Virtual Reality systems.
https://towersemi.com/2024/02/
https://towersemi.com/
The next Israeli university. Israel has announced the establishment of the University of the Galilee. It will transform Tel-Hai College into the University of the Galilee in the city of Kiryat Shmona, based on Tel-Hai College and the Migal - Galilee Research Institute.
https://www.telhai.ac.il/en/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Things are looking better. OurCrowd’s Jon Medved discusses Israel's economy on "Wall Street Week" daily. It helps that many of Israel’s hi-tech workers have returned from the IDF. Israel is good value for investors. Meanwhile, Israel’s annual inflation rate fell to 2.6% from 3% and job vacancies have soared.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Israel raises $8bn in overseas bonds. (TY Yanky) In a staggering show of support for Israel’s economy Israel raised $8 billion in its first sale of bonds since Oct 7. Demand was so high that the issue was oversubscribed by 4.75 times – Israel could have sold $38 billion. 400 different investors took part, from 36 different countries.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Shekel needs no support. After Oct 7, the Bank of Israel planned to sell up to $30 billion in foreign currency to support the Shekel if Israel’s currency came under pressure. Confidence in Israel is so high that no sales have been necessary for several months and Israel’s currency reserves increased by over $700 million last month.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Record gas revenues. Israel’s revenue from natural gas royalties reached NIS 2 billion in 2023, over 23% higher than 2022. Production increased as the Karish field came online. Israel also benefited from a strong Shekel, plus a 25% increase in exports to Egypt and Jordan.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
A record avocado harvest. (TY Yanky) Despite the war in Gaza and the difficulties in farming in certain areas, Israel's avocado yield is expected to reach 250,000 tons this season compared to about 150,000 tons in 2023, according to the Agriculture Ministry. The previous record was about 210,000 tons in 2022.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Proud to be at mobile congress. The Startup Nation was well received at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The 32 Israeli companies arranged some 2,000 business meetings. Israeli innovations included infrastructure, network IOT (Internet of Things), Cloud solutions and AI.
https://www.
Nvidia’s success in Israel. (TY Yanky) US tech giant Nvidia has 3,300 employees in Israel - 13% of its global workforce. In 2019 Nvidia acquired Israel’s Mellanox, now with annual sales of $13 billion, plus Israel-1, the world's strongest supercomputer. Some 1,000 Israeli AI tech companies participate in Nvidia's startup program.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Vegan “meat” for Mexico. Israel’s Chunk Foods (see here previously) is partnering Spanish/Mexican Better Balance, bringing the co-branded Chunk plant-based products to Mexico. Chunk Foods will also launch new products that cater to the vibrant tastes and lifestyles of Mexicans.
https://www.israel21c.org/in-
Get ready for the foldable car. The CT2 from Israel’s City Transformer (see here previously) is scheduled to hit the roads in July. The foldable Electric Vehicle can seat two adults or one adult plus two children and will cost $17,400. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Team8’s new half-a-billion-dollar fund. Israeli fund Team8 has announced the closing of new funds totaling $500 million. Team8 has built 20 companies, invested in an additional 21, and achieved eight exits (including the recent cyber exits of Dig and Talon for a total of around one billion dollars.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Castor seeds for Africa and Brazil. Casterra (see here previously) a subsidiary of Israel’s Evogen, has signed strategic agreements with existing and new seed producers in Brazil and Africa to increase its production of high-yielding, high-oil castor seeds. Casterra’s seeds are a vital source of biofuels and animal feeds.
https://evogene.com/press_
Retirement? Maybe not now. Investment advisor Doug Goldstein reports that since Oct 7, Israeli Anglos may wish to re-assess their retirement strategy. Like younger Israelis, many have been invigorated and have no intention to put their feet up. Volunteering, charity, supporting family, travelling; it’s a whole new world now.
https://profile-financial.com/
Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 10/3/24: Israel’s Deel is acquiring Africa’s PaySpace for around $100 million. US giant CrowdStrike, which already has acquired several Israeli startups has just acquired Israel’s Flow Security for around $200 million. Israeli phage therapy company BiomX is to merge with US-based Adaptive Phage Therapeutics.
Startup investment – to 10/3/24: Axonius raised $200 million; Claroty raised $100 million; Sweet Security raised $33 million; Healthee raised $33 million; Vessi Medical raised $16.5 million; FreezeM raised $14.2 million; Utila raised $11.5 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Film festivals mark International Women’s Day. LiaFEST at the Jerusalem Cinematheque honors Lia van Leer, the founder of that cinematheque, the Haifa Cinematheque, the film festivals in Jerusalem and Haifa, as well as the Israel Film Archive. The Tel Aviv Cinematheque is also featuring a women’s film festival.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Jerusalem marathon’s Bar Mitzvah. The 13th edition of the race featured a record 40,000 participants, including 15,000 IDF soldiers and 1,800 international runners from more than 70 countries. Many runners participated in full IDF uniform, or with Israel flags, and shirts supporting the hostages.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Gymnastic successes. (TY Hazel) At the Gymnastic International 2024 in Germany, Israel’s Daniella Munits won the gold medal in hoop and bronze with ball. In the juniors’ competition, Israel’s Alona Tal Franco won gold in hoop and clubs, while Meital Sumkin won gold in the ball and the ribbon.
https://twitter.com/nachal_
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Other Israeli medalists. (TY Hazel) Elizabeth Tkachenko and Alexei Kiliakov won silver in the ice dance at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei. Judoka Baruch Shmailov won silver at the Tashkent Grand Slam event. And 2nd-placed go-karter Yam Pinto held up a poster at the CEE Rotax Max Championship.
https://wjc2024taipei.com/en/
https://www.goldenskate.com/
https://www.judoinside.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
Rare Judean coin discovered. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have discovered a rare coin in the Judean desert from 132 CE with the name “Eleazar the Priest” in ancient Hebrew script. The reverse has the text “Year One of the Redemption of Israel,” again in ancient Hebrew script.
https://israfan.com/2024/03/
Useful Aliya sites. (TY EEJH) Jacob Richman’s latest updates include Israel Traffic Signs, Customs, Etiquette and Behavior, Doing Business in Israel, Megavolt - Electrical Information in Israel, Aliyah FAQ, Lighting FAQ, Tips and Info. https://jr.co.il/links/#aliyah
10 IDF couples wed in one wedding. In a remarkable display of unity ten IDF soldiers married their partners at a mass wedding in the Tel Aviv Port. It was part of Chabad of Savyon’s “Marrying the Warriors” initiative and included 10 wedding canopies. Each couple invited 100 guests. 10 glasses were simultaneously smashed.
https://www.jns.org/ten-idf-
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://matzav.com/ten-idf-
A gift from Heaven. This winter in Israel could be one of the wettest in the country’s meteorological history, reviving nature in the process. The Kinneret is less than 90cm from being full and the ancient reservoir at Tel Megiddo National Park is full. Jordan, despite its hostility to Israel post-Oct 7, has asked Israel for more water.
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Dear Dick,
Israel conducted a targeted operation to eliminate one of Hamas' top leaders.
The IDF cleared the airstrike for publication today, but is still trying to confirm whether Marwan Issa was successfully killed. The strike targeted an underground complex in the Nuseirat refugee camp where Issa was suspected of hiding.
Issa is Hamas’ third in command and serves as the deputy of Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’ military command. Together with Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, they masterminded the October 7 massacre.
In a video published today, Prime Minister Netanyahu said: "We are on our way to complete victory. We have already killed number four in the Hamas; three, two, and one are on the way."
Number four refers to Saleh al-Arouri — a founding commander of Hamas’ military command and its top military commander in the West Bank — who was killed in January in Lebanon.
"We will reach everyone," Netanyahu concluded.
Also, earlier today, Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets from Lebanon at the Mount Meron area in Israel. In the first barrage, some 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon, of which one was intercepted. In the second barrage, seven rockets were fired, of which six were intercepted, according to the IDF. Israel is now training for logistics supplies under fire as part of its preparations for a possible escalation with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, the IDF captured a cache of weapons at a Hamas hideout in a high-rise residential complex in Khan Yunis. The soldiers seized mortars, explosive devices, assault rifles and ammunition (pictured below). The IDF also struck a Hamas site in the area that was used by terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught. The strike killed four Hamas terrorists.
In the West Bank, Palestinian terrorists wounded seven Israeli soldiers with an improvised explosive device. The soldiers were carrying out a counterterrorism operation when they came under attack.
General Petraeus on Hamas threat, IDF success
Today, former CIA Director General David Petraeus spoke about the immense challenge facing the IDF at the Institute for National Security Studies’ (INSS) 17th Annual International Conference in Tel Aviv.
"What we did during the surge in Iraq is nowhere near as fiendishly difficult as Gaza is, nowhere near as large an enemy in aggregate, nowhere near the tunnels, the subterranean, the knowledge of the neighborhoods, all of this, the support of the people… I see Hamas as the equivalent of the Islamic State. They are not reconcilable."
"I think the IDF soldiers have done a magnificent job on the ground. There has to be much more as I have described, but the key is, I believe, not to stopping until Hamas has been destroyed, rendered incapable of accomplishing its mission without reconstitution, and then a plan is implemented that keeps them from being able to reconstitute."
Sincerely,
Alisha Tischler
AIPAC Southeast Regional Director
Alisha Tischler
AIPAC Southeast Regional Director
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Biden has officially, publicly and formally turned on Israel
Biden also appeared to suggest that he might pull offensive weapons from Israel’s resupply package.
By Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Magazine
The State of the Union, strangely enough, was the point at which the Biden administration decided to roll out its public anti-Israel campaign beginning with the staged ‘hot mic’ moment.
There had been a drumbeat of leaks and anonymous statements in the weeks leading up to it, but now Biden has gone on record that…
1. He’s opposed to Israel’s government
2. He wants a ceasefire
3. He’s preparing to pull the resupply of weapons
Some of these revelations came in an MSNBC interview. It’s no coincidence that this was prepped for an interview with the most leftward cable channel and the one that is the most opposed to Israel.
Biden told MSNBC that he wants a “6-week ceasefire” and that Israel going into Rafah to finish off Hamas would be a “red line”.
He criticized Netanyahu and claimed that he’s hurting Israel by continuing to fight Hamas.
Biden defended the pro-Hamas Arab Muslim campaigners in Dearborn claiming that, “What they said was that they’re very upset, and I don’t blame him for being upset… They want something done about it. They’re saying, ‘Joe, do something.’”
Biden Administration official refuses to mention who will rule Palestinian state
“That’s why I’m doing everything I can to try to stop it.”
He also appeared to suggest that he might pull offensive weapons from Israel’s resupply package.
Biden blamed Israel for the carnage saying that, “There are other ways to… deal with with the trauma caused by Hamas.”
Kamala, as usual, was worse, giving an interview to CBS News in which she stated that, “our work as always as the United States is to do what we must, and what we always have, to stand for the security of Israel and its people, and also to do what we have done behind closed doors and in public around forcing a better path forward in terms of what’s happening currently in Gaza.”
She noted that “it’s important for us to distinguish or at least not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people.”
This is the same language that the administration used toward the so-called “Palestinians” and Hamas.
Kamala also noted that, “the Israeli people are entitled to security – as are the Palestinians. In equal measure.”
The equal measure is a clear withdrawal of any special relationship with Israel or support for it.
Biden gives Israel deadline to submit human rights report, conditions military aid
After this things are only going to get worse. The Israeli government erred in the same familiar way by thinking that if it did everything possible to meet the demands of D.C., it would be allowed to fight the terrorists.
That was always a mistake. And it was a mistake this time.
Instead of finishing quickly, Israel assumed that if it focused on avoiding civilian casualties and harm, it would retain the support of the White House.
But that support was always going to go away.
The government now has a limited window in which to finish the job before the combination of political, economic, and even potentially military pressure makes that prohibitive.
Appeasing Biden will no longer work. He’s under too much domestic political pressure. The time to finish the job is now. There will be no later.
And:
Biden Draws an Odd ‘Red Line’ for Israel
He ignores the Jewish state can’t defeat Hamas without taking Rafah.
The Editorial Board
President Biden likes to say that no President has been a better friend to Israel, but of late he doesn’t sound like it. He beat up Israel’s leaders in his State of the Union speech, criticized its war strategy in Gaza with regularity, and on the weekend called Israel’s plans to clear Hamas from its last stronghold in the city of Rafah a “red line” that Israel shouldn’t cross.
“It is a red line, but I am never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. So there is no red line I am going to cut off all weapons, so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them,” Mr. Biden said on MSNBC. “But there’s red lines that if he crosses,” without finishing his train of thought, before adding “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.
As is often the case, it’s hard to tell what Mr. Biden means. He wants fewer civilian casualties in Gaza, but so does Israel since the diplomatic consequences fall on the Jewish state, not on Hamas. That’s why Israel has held off on its Rafah campaign until it can put together a plan to let civilians find refuge to the city’s north.
The best way to protect civilians would be for Egypt to let them cross the border into Sinai until the fighting stops. But Mr. Biden hasn’t been willing to lean on Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, despite some $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Cairo.
Israel can’t avoid a Rafah campaign if it wants to achieve its war aim of destroying Hamas. Surely Mr. Biden knows this. The U.S. didn’t let ISIS retain its stronghold in Mosul in Iraq, and the siege of that city also had unintended civilian casualties.
Mr. Biden and the White House are also letting everyone know they’re especially unhappy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Biden was overheard saying after his State of the Union speech that Mr. Netanyahu needs a “come to Jesus moment” with the U.S. President. Mr. Netanyahu should bring his whole war cabinet. As our Elliot Kaufman reports from Israel (see nearby), Mr. Netanyahu’s domestic political opponents also want to clear Hamas from Rafah.
Mr. Biden’s vocal criticism of Israel can’t be separated from his desire to appease his party’s increasingly insistent anti-Israel wing. He wants to avoid a protest spectacle at the Democratic convention in August, and he’s worried about losing Michigan as young people and Arab-Americans defect. It sounds like his Israel policy increasingly runs through Dearborn, Mich.
This also explains the urgent efforts to negotiate a cease-fire and hostage swap that Israel keeps accepting but Hamas rejects. Mr. Biden’s new proposal to have U.S. troops build an offshore pier to deliver aid to Gaza is also in part a U.S. domestic political play.
There are costs to this Dearborn strategy toward Israel—not least its message to Hamas and its backers in Iran that their strategy of putting civilians in harm’s way is working politically. Why agree to a hostage swap if their current strategy is driving a wedge between Israel and the U.S.?
Mr. Biden’s red-line threats don’t help Israel or his political standing at home. The best way he can help himself politically is to let Israel win the war as rapidly as possible.
Finally:
PM says at officer's course graduation ceremony that anyone who tells Israel not to go into Rafah is telling Israel to lose the war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant participated this afternoon in an officer's course graduation ceremony.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the ceremony that the goals of the war are the elimination of the evil of the Hamas regime, the return of the hostages. and the removal of any future threat from Gaza to the State of Israel.
Netanyahu also said at the ceremony, "We will operate in Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas, whoever tells us not to operate there is asking us to lose the war - it will not happen."
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, "We are achieving the goals of the war - the dissolution of Hamas as a military and governmental body and the return of all the hostages. The results of this just and important war will mark a new chapter in the history of the State of Israel, and they will be the starting points for processes that will last for many years, in everything related to the strategic position of the State of Israel in the Middle East - the treatment we will receive from our friends, and the deterrence we will create against our enemy."
"This is a war for our home, this is a war for our values as a people - this is a war for our right to exist as a Jewish and democratic society, in the heart of a hostile area," Gallant said.
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If it were me I would drop the J Street crowd in Gaza on the food pallets and let the get a good taste of how brainless and corrupt they are.
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J Street Jerks Manipulate Wiesel’s Words
TJV news
By Phyllis Chesler- Published First in The Spectator
On Monday, a J Street and Democrat party operative posted a piece at her Substack. I am choosing not to name her or to link to the piece because I don’t want even more people to read it. The piece is titled in this way: “Elie Wiesel on indifference. A child killed in Gaza every 15 minutes. Two mothers every hour. Seven women every two hours. Are you OK with that?”
The piece then proceeds to trot out a series of mainly fake news talking points about the deaths of women and children in Gaza, hour by hour, day by day. How many J Streeters have expressed similar moral outrage about the much larger body counts in Ukraine (an estimated 30,457 civilians and 31,000 combatants, or 61,500 all together) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (an estimated 5 to 6 million civilian deaths thus far)? We cannot trust the estimates of civilian and/or combatant deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, China, North Korea, Sudan, Somalia, and so on.
To the best of my knowledge, few J Street–style journalists have presented the much larger body count in Ukraine and warned us against being indifferent to it — at least, not again and again, day after day.
The above-mentioned Substack piece is in gruesome lockstep with the New York Times, which, on the very same day, had five full pages of photos of murdered Gazans, all identified by age, name, and profession. In the paper’s pages, murdered Israelis rarely appear, nor do the many hundreds of thousands of displaced Israelis. They remain nameless and faceless, as do the Israeli hostages who’ve been hidden in Gaza for five months while they’ve been beaten, raped, tortured, starved, and murdered.
I sometimes wonder whether both the New York Times and J Street are on the Hamas/Iran payroll, whether they are simply funded by Soros — or whether they are true-believing Jew haters. One damning piece of evidence that they are Jew haters is their refusal to acknowledge Hamas’ complicity in civilian deaths. Hamas doesn’t just hide behind civilians when they are available; Hamas operates and maneuvers mostly in civilian areas, a clear violation of international law. Given this, and despite Israel’s almost suicidal efforts to prevent civilian deaths, J Street argues that Israel has no right to fight back against those trying to destroy them. (READ MORE from Phyllis Chesler: Silence of the Feminist Lambs: Not a Word on Hamas Horrors)
The piece up at Substack essentially dares to turn Elie Wiesel’s moral authority into a sock puppet in order to use his Holocaust-era perspective to condemn Israel and to warn us against our own “indifference” to Gazan civilian suffering. What Wiesel said, however, was far more relevant than the phrase quoted at Substack. Please allow me to quote from an interview given by him to Merle Hoffman in 1991, as reported in On the Issues magazine (full disclosure: I was the magazine’s editor at large at the time):
HOFFMAN: You have been severely criticized for not condemning Israel about the intifada. What is your current position on the Palestinian situation?
WIESEL: I have been criticized for many things… Yes, I refuse to systematically condemn Israel.
H: For anything?
W: There are certain red lines that I will not cross. If I had known at the time that Israel was involved in torturing I would have spoken out, but it was too late. When I found out, a commission had already been formed and justice prevailed, but I don’t feel I have the right to apply public pressure on Israel.
H: But you have the moral authority.
W: But what if I’m wrong?
H: Can’t you afford to be wrong?
W: Yes, but only if I pay the price. What if I am wrong and they pay the price? What if I apply such pressure on a decision and that decision may bring disaster or at least tragedy to Israel? Do I have the right to do this? It is their children who will pay the price, not mine. I do go to Israel and speak to the leaders there[.] I can say what I feel. But here, especially here, I have no right to speak out publicly…. I am offended when I see Jewish intellectuals who all of a sudden remember their Jewishness only to use that Jewishness to attack Israel. These are men and women who have never done anything for Israel [and] all of a sudden they remember they are Jews.
I hope and pray that J Streeters and Democratic Party operatives pay attention to these words of Weisel as well as to those they manipulate in order to condemn Israel.
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This was sent to me by a very dear friend and fellow memo reader.
When Carson was on, it was a different America and he personified the period when America was at it's best.
Now we have "late nighter's" who I no longer watch because they put me to sleep.
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The last few memos, as is this one, are devoted to our expanding family. I am proud of each and every one and only wish my parents and grand parents were here to get as much pleasure as they give me.
This is from Emma, our granddaughter who is a very talented graphic designer for The Marriott Corporation.
her art work is very stylized and reminds me of Alex Katz's work.
She allowed me to post this.
Her husband, Scott, is a master carpenter and also a well regarded Museum Installation maven.
He can do just about everything with wood and is now rebuilding their kitchen.
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Emma Darvick
Overall Summary
Manager Rating
Manager Comments
Associate Comments
I am proud of the work that I have done this past year, but along with the actual work; I'm proud of how
I have grown as a person. Rebecca's departure forced me to take on more responsibility, with less oversight
and I rose to the challenge. In the past year I
have developed my communication skills and am more comfortable taking lead, speaking in meetings,
sharing my views and knowing my opinions are valued. This has not only improved the work itself, but improved my satisfaction at work as well.
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Evaluation Topics
Manager Comments
I have only been Emma’s Manager for a few months. In light of this I will keep my comments brief, and allow her
glowing peer reviews to speak for themselves.
Emma is brimming with creative talent. It’s obvious that she’s an exceptional illustrator. But she also has an untapped
gift for concepting and developing ideas across various formats. I was very impressed with Emma’s contributions during our one-day design team workshop.
Tasked with developing creative graphics for a social campaign, she took the brief and ran with it. Emma developed a millennial-forward, engaging, humorous social campaign. Every creative decision worked in harmony: from photo selection to copywriting to adapting for channels.
I see that her strengths and capabilities go beyond the projects she’s often tasked with. She is a creative powerhouse who should be tapped not just for her excellent illustration and design skills, but also for her sharp conceptual thinking and awareness of the cultural zeitgeist.
On an inter-personal level, Emma is incredibly supportive
of her colleagues and teammates. She’s eager to offer help, to celebrate wins, and to give time and space to everyone’s point of view. She is a proactive collaborator, planner and
problem solver. She is a consistent (and very eloquent) voice of reason.
Emma truly sets an example for others. I am personally grateful for her partnership as I ease into my role at Marriott. I’m so looking forward to making excellent work with Emma this year.
2023 Performance Review
General Feedback From Others
“Emma is a gift! Her collaborative spirit and creative vision always manage to align with brand while feeling unique to individual asks and projects.”
“Emma is an incredibly talented designer and illustrator, both in her ability to produce custom work herself and to provide art direction for others. She skillfully captures Marriott Bonvoy’s
branding, while adding her own stylistic flare and distinguishing touches to her illustration work.
She designs and illustrates from a considered and intentional point of view, tailoring work to fit each task while also elevating it beyond initial proposed concepts. She is great at providing
thoughtful feedback and direction, and she can articulate her reasoning and thinking well. She handles receiving and applying feedback well. A great communicator, she is proactive in seeking clarification or a second opinion when needed. She also readily helps her coworkers in dividing up projects, ensuring bandwidth is evenly distributed and manageable for all parties “
“She is adaptive, kind, and secure in her abilities.”
Project Shout Outs
Travel by You Quiz – When we were left without a Design Director, Emma was a key collaborator and helped to solidify a final look and feel for the quiz illustrations. She curated a
color palette using colors from Traveler’s illustration library, determined how the icons would appear on the quiz questions, and created a set of 36 unique icons. (Yeji designed the ones for the outcome pages.)
MBV x Rolling Stone Mural – This project required significant lift and arose unexpectedly, and Emma met the challenge. What started as an initial ask to create three city illustrations
became a full mural wall piece and ground graphics with only a few weeks to complete and print.
Emma not only created the city illustrations but also illustrated other key components, including landscapes and landscape elements, that were used throughout the full activation
design. She dedicated a huge amount of time to prioritize this project both within normal working hours and overtime hours, ensuring timely completion against an already tight deadline.
The final product was far better than what Rolling Stone initially proposed and was successfully displayed at the Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas in 2023.
YouTube Redesigns – I was not heavily involved in this project, but Emma was the primary designer for this. She updated all YouTube thumbnails and banners, working with Riotthaus Art Director Jess Menk to come up with design templates for each series that could easily be leveraged for future videos. She has been the primary designer handling YouTube design asks.
17th Floor Mural – Emma was critical in providing considered, specific feedback and direction that helped Yeji iterate and improve on her illustrations until the final product was produced.
2023 Performance Review
F1 —
“A major win for Emma is her ability to take ownership on asset creations for F1. Her desire to create beautiful and
engaging assets led us to adapting and creating a clear briefing process which led to team growth as we all
became more efficient in our Review process as well.
All F1 assets were great, but I do have to highlight how the F1 asset had multiple rounds of feedback given that all MGM teams needed to give input on how their brands were showcased and Emma was not only able to adapt, but predict their needs and deliver content that was shared far and
wide amongst the stakeholders as they were so proud to see their brands showcased.
The work she has done for F1 is not only beautiful and inspiring it is worthy of award submissions (which
we have now done for Shorty Awards).”
Areas/ Opportunity for Improvement
I love hearing Emma’s insights – she has a really valuable perspective and I’d love to hear it voiced more as we work together on bringing editorial to life through design.
I would love to see Emma take on creative liberties with the work I brief her on, because when she does the work turns out even better than what we imagined it could be.
Associate Comments
Adaptability
My adaptability was truly tested this year when after less than 4 months of starting on the Content Design team, my boss abruptly quit with no notice and left us completely in
the dark. The first few weeks/months after Rebecca left were a time of extreme stress that forced me to confront my place at Marriott. Instead of getting discouraged and succumbing to the stress I turned to my team for support.
What followed was a test of creative, personal, and professional bravery; collaboration, innovation, and trust.
I am extremely proud of the work that I produced during those tumultuous first few months, specifically the Travel By You quiz. When Rebecca left, the design team met with Annie to discuss the upcoming projects and what we could handle on our own vs what we would need push until there was a new CD. We were asked if we felt comfortable taking on the Travel By You Quiz without a CD; and while all of us were internally extremely hesitant, we said bring it on let’s give it a shot.
Ordinarily in a large project like this, Rebecca would have done the mood boarding, set the art direction, presented all ideas, and given us specific instruction on what to create. At the time of her departure all we had to go on was a color palette and a few images on a mood board. I took the mood board ideas, and developed the concept for the
polaroid/sticker effect with Kia and Yeji.
I recall the palette she had set was not at all to my liking and I was questioning my “authority” to change it, but I realized that I need to reframe the way I see myself here, and step confidently into my role as a senior designer- and change the palette
I did! I was so proud, when I presented the work to Annie, Robin, Zac and Kristen and everyone responded so positively to the palette.
Especially the risky shock of neon green that I included which really helped give the quiz the youthful and sophisticated quality that Annie wanted; I believe the word she
used was “zing.”
None of this would have been possible if I was not able to take my situation, look at it head on and find the confidence needed to not only continue making great art, but to use my voice, trust in my artistic knowledge and rely on my incredible team mates, because all of our success is dependent on one another.
All of this is to say I absolutely take initiative and am able to work with all different levels/styles of management, and can roll with the punches even when; especially
when, it's a challenge.
Communication
I make it one of my top priorities to make myself available and respond to people quickly and keep communication open.
I have no qualms with feedback, and take is a sign that we’re one step closer to landing on the right “answer”, (answer is used loosely in a design setting). I also am able to
deftly communicate our preferences as a design team and when/how to respectfully push back on feedback.
Whenever I learn something new I am eager to share it with the team, and am NEVER one to gate keep knowledge.
I am a very thoughtful person, which translates into my
communication where I strive to be welcoming, open, genuine and always respectful.
Quality of Work
2023 Performance Review
To talk about me and not talk about my incredible follow through on deadlines would be a miss! When there is work to be done, I do not mess around. I have never missed a
deadline, and usually aim to get things done ahead of schedule. While this is an incredible quality, this year I have also come to see the value in using the time that I
have. I see that often, when I give the work a rest and come back the next day with fresh eyes, I’m able to make the piece even better than it was the day before. I come
from 5 and a half years in publishing where tight deadlines are king; but we have more wiggle room here, and I’m glad that I can see that now because I’m a better artist for it and it shows in the work.
Team Work & Building Relationships
Before Rebecca left I didn’t really feel like I was on a team; we hardly met, rarely talked, and would never share what we were working on/bounce ideas; I understood work to be a
solitary venture, and it was fine. But what happened after she left was the coolest; we actually became a team. And it’s not just with design; it’s Traveler, it’s everyone!
The in person weeks go such a long way in making me feel like I am apart of something and I make sure to use that time to connect with people, because I am really feeling the
benefits of knowing one’s colleagues. The benefits are not just having a better time at work (which is so important) but because of that, how much the work itself improves and
expands. For example Sandy Sirriat and I connected on one of the in person trips and realized we want to work together more; fast forward some months later and we just
wrapped up work on the amazing Moxy x Sanctuary collab.
That kind of collaboration, is so exciting and I look forward to even more of that in the year to come.
Technical Acumen
I am a rockstar illustrator, and I find it intolerable to submit work I am not proud of. I do not settle, I love to improve and will never stop learning. My thirst for knowledge is what
ensures that I won’t get stale. If I don’t know how to do something I google and figure it out; I take classes, I learn from my coworkers and am determined to improve my
already incredible skill.
While working on the Mystic Moxy stickers I really wanted to animate an eye opening and closing seamlessly, something I had no idea how to do…now I do! Linked here I might get a bit intimidated by a task, but I never let that stop me from conquering it.
Before this year I had never designed a mural; I can’t say that anymore! I have over 250 feet of mural, both wall and floor under my belt and the photos from Las Vegas to prove
it. It was a shining moment of my career when someone asked me to take a picture of them in front of my design; they had no idea I was the designer, but I knew, and it was a
feeling of accomplishment like no other.
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