Another great sadness has beset our lives:

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the loss of

Paula Fisher,

wife of Paul Fisher.

Funeral service will take place at Bonaventure cemetery on

Tuesday April 2th at 11:00 a:m.

The family will be sitting shivah

Tuesday afternoon ,Wednesday and Thursday 9-5

with Mincha at 6:pm

May God comfort all who mourn for Paula and

may her memory always and forever be a blessing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Benny Morris has been conflicted but he may finallybe seeing the light.

To the victor belongs the spoils has been supplanted by the perpetrator becoming the victim. The world is upside down in it's view of morality. History means nothing, right versus wrong is out the window and relativism dictates just about everything as education and sane reasoning sink to new lows.

Newspapers have been replaced by diverse mass media messaging and billionaire globalists seek to rule the world. Politics has been weaponized and those who believe in a higher being have been trashed as racists.

Law and order no longer prevails in America and our elections have become suspect.

The Neo-Marxists have infiltrated our society and gained the upper hand.

Americans are miserable and grumpy and have a dim view of their future.

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History Goes to War in the Holy Land

Israel’s leading historian, Benny Morris, long exposed his country’s sins. Then he began to hold the Palestinians to account. His erstwhile admirers aren’t happy about it.

Elliot Kaufman

The dogs of the neighborhood perk up to greet me at Benny Morris’s front gate in this middle-of-nowhere town in central Israel. The great historian, shaggy-haired, in T-shirt, open flannel and socks, has recently returned home from the U.K., where the barking did not cease.

He was there to debate a hard-line anti-Israel scholar and speak at the London School of Economics, where some students tried and failed to shut down his lecture with droning, preplanned slogans. “You’re actually quite boring,” Mr. Morris, 75, told them, at which point he was called a racist, doubtless in the expectation that he, a liberal, would be cowed by the slur. He wasn’t. “I’d rather be a racist than a bore,” he replied.

Mr. Morris was once the toast of the campuses. “I was sort of a symbol on the left,” he says on his back porch. “I don’t want to say ‘icon.’ ” If he won’t, I will. Mr. Morris was foremost among the “New Historians” who shook Israel in the 1980s and seemed to triumph in the 1990s with their revisionist accounts of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His 1988 book, “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49,” was a landmark in Israel’s self-criticism and understanding. That same year, Mr. Morris spent 19 days in Israeli military prison for refusing to serve on reserve duty in the West Bank.

How did he go from there to the shouting match at LSE? To many on the left, Mr. Morris says, “I seem to have turned anti-Palestinian in the year 2000,” when Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton offered a two-state solution and Yasser Arafat rejected it. “I thought this was a terrible decision by the Palestinians, and I wrote that.” When the Palestinians, in response to the offer of peace and statehood, then launched a wave of terrorism and suicide bombings unlike any before it, Mr. Morris disapproved of that, too. “I began to write journalism against the Palestinians, their decisions and policies,” he says, “and this was considered treachery.”

Mr. Morris was suddenly out of step “because people always forgive the Palestinians, who don’t take responsibility,” he says. “It’s accepted that they are the victim and therefore can do whatever they like.” Mr. Morris doesn’t contest the claim of victimhood but sees it on both sides. “Righteous Victims” is the title of his 1999 history of the conflict.

Israel is viewed as “all-powerful vis-à-vis the Palestinians,” he says. “But as we see it, we are surrounded by the Muslim world, organized in some way by Iran, and the West is turning its back on us. So we see ourselves as the underdog.” Try that on a college campus. “Now, the Palestinians are the underdog, and the underdog is always right, even if it does the wrong things,” he says, “like Oct. 7.”

The West hasn’t reckoned with Oct. 7. Not the massacre itself, which is at once too hard to fathom and too easy to condemn, but the broad support for it among Palestinians. “They were joyous in the West Bank and Gaza Strip when 1,200 Jews were killed and 250 were taken hostage,” Mr. Morris says. Palestinian support for the atrocities has remained constant, at over 70%, in opinion polls.

Mr. Morris tries to see it from their point of view: “700,000 Palestinians had become refugees as a result of Israel and its victory in ’48. They’d been living under occupation since ’67. I understand their desire for revenge and to see Israel disappear or very badly hurt.”

But that’s too easy. “In addition to those history-based grievances, there is Muslim anti-Semitism, terrorism and a level of barbarism, which for Israelis felt like more than revenge for bad things we’ve done,” he says. “It was a sick ideology and sick people carrying out murder and rape in the name of that ideology.”

Mr. Morris stresses the costs of that Palestinian decision. “There was never destruction like what has happened in Gaza over the past five months in any of Israel’s wars.” In 1967, “Israel conquered the West Bank with almost no houses being destroyed,” he says, “and the same applies in ’56 in the Gaza Strip, and the same applies in ’48. Israel didn’t have the firepower to cause such devastation. This is totally new.”

He doubts the scale of the suffering will move Palestinian nationalists. “Probably they’ll look back to Oct. 7 as a sort of minor victory over Zionism and disregard the casualties which they paid as a result,” he says. That’s the historical pattern.

“Not only has each of their big decisions made life worse for their people, but they ensure that each time the idea of a two-state solution is proposed, less of Palestine is offered to them,” Mr. Morris says. “In 1937, Palestinians were supposed to get 70% of Palestine or more.” The Zionists were willing to work with the plan, but the Arabs rejected it and chose violence. “Then, in 1947, the Palestinians were supposed to get 45% of Palestine,” with much of Israel’s more than 50% comprising desert. The Zionists accepted the partition, and, again, the Palestinians chose violence.

“And then in the Barak-Clinton things,” in 2000, “the Palestinians were supposed to get 21%, 22% of Palestine.” Instead they launched the second intifada. “Next time,” Mr. Morris predicts, “they’ll probably get 15%. Each time they’re given less of Palestine as a result of being defeated in their efforts to get all of Palestine.”

Mr. Morris says 1947 was the best chance for peace, but the Arabs instead tried to block and then crush the new Jewish state. Though they came to see the war as the nakba, or catastrophe, and as the final stage of a Zionist invasion, at the time “they thought they were going to win,” Mr. Morris says. “They have a problem explaining to themselves why they lost the war with twice as many Arabs as Jews—100 times as many if you include the Arab states.”

One day, Mr. Morris admits, the Palestinian strategy could work. “Somebody coming from Mars would say, ‘The Arabs have the numbers. They have the potential for much greater economic and military power, so they’re going to win here if they persist in their resistance.’ ”

Mr. Morris lets that hang in the air. “And yet, one never knows,” he says. “Unusual things happen here. Peace might also break out, which would be even more unusual.”

Especially now. “Over the decades,” Mr. Morris says, “left and center in Israel were willing to go for a two-state solution.” Oct. 7 has accelerated the process of convincing those Israelis they were misguided. “Israelis today don’t want to look at the two-state solution. Most Israelis fear Hamas would take over the West Bank”—a fear Mr. Morris says is amply justified by Hamas’s popularity—“and that it would be a springboard for attacks on Israel, as the Gaza Strip was.”

If Oct. 7 pushed Israelis further away from a deal, “internationally, Oct. 7 put the two-state solution back on the table,” he observes. “It had been removed from the table. Nobody cared about it. Nobody talked about it. Now it’s back on the agenda.”

Thus Mr. Morris says the massacre worked. “The terrorism told the international community that a solution must be found, otherwise this will keep going on and on.” As if to punctuate his point, the sound of distant Israeli bombing in Gaza makes its way to us. “But,” he says, “I don’t think anyone can impose a two-state solution, because the Arabs don’t want it and the Jews don’t want it.”

It wouldn’t work, anyway. “Palestinians might tactically agree to a two-state solution, but it would never be enough for them. Because they need more territory than the West Bank and Gaza, especially to absorb refugees from Lebanon and Syria. They’re too big.” They would also need Jordan, as he advocated in “One State, Two States” (2009), or the rest of Israel, as they have always demanded.

The Oct. 7 attack also succeeded by undermining Israeli-Saudi rapprochement, Mr. Morris says, but Iran shouldn’t get away with that. “Israel should have used this war to destroy the Iranian nuclear project, and I hope we still will. But this guy, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, is incompetent,” he says. “I don’t know if the word ‘weakling’ is right, but he’s cowardly in relation to taking big decisions.”

Mr. Morris adds that “Western public opinion over the past 20 years has gradually seen Israel in Netanyahu’s image, which has cast a pall over the Jewish state.” Israel has suffered a “major turn” in global public opinion, he says, “and it’s largely, in my view, because of Netanyahu.”

Yet when I ask about the Netanyahu position that is now drawing President Biden’s ire, the determination to invade Hamas’s last stronghold in Rafah, Mr. Morris’s answer is instructive. “The Israeli public, myself included, thinks that we’ve begun the job and we must finish the job. We must destroy Hamas, and that will include taking Rafah,” he says. “In this, Netanyahu is right and in this, most Israelis agree.”

Perhaps Mr. Biden has misread Israelis. “If you like Cicero, think of Carthage,” Mr. Morris says. “Hamas must be destroyed after what it did. We can’t allow that on our southern border, in addition to having Hezbollah on our northern border and Iran, God knows where—we just can’t.”

Mr. Morris prefers to see the Palestinian movement on its own terms. Thomas Friedman’s writing in the New York Times about the Palestinian “dream of independence in their homeland in a state next to Israel” earns a chuckle. “I think the Palestinians regard the Zionist enterprise and the state of Israel which emerged from it as illegitimate, a robber state,” Mr. Morris says, “and that the Jews have no right to it. This, I think, all Palestinians believe.”

The real conflict “boils down to whether the Jews were right and had the right to come here and settle here and establish a sovereign state,” he says. “It’s not so much about Israeli behavior at any given point in time.”

Mr. Morris made his name exposing the dark side of Israel’s founding, but at the end of the day, “I’m a Zionist—I use the word,” he says. “I believe that the Jews had a right to establish a state here. The Arabs had a right because they were indigenous here, and the Jews had a right because they were here many, many years before the Arabs and always looked to this land as theirs.”

He puts Israel in context: “The Arabs had Arabia, and then another 24 states which emerged afterward. And the Jews have this little sliver of territory which used to belong to us. There’s something fair about that,” no matter how often it is denounced as a world-historical injustice.

While “most of the Arabs up to the 20th century understood that this had been the Jews’ land,” Palestinians have radicalized in their denial of Jewish history. “When Clinton mentioned the ancient Jewish temple at Camp David in 2000, Arafat said, ‘What temple?’ ” Mr. Morris recounts. “He basically argued there was no connection of the Jews to the Holy Land at all.”

This is also the claim today from Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat’s successor, who told the United Nations in 2023, “They dug everywhere and they could not find anything.”

Mr. Morris will criticize the Palestinians in moral terms, but he isn’t sure he knows what’s in their interest better than they do. When I ask what a true friend of the Palestinians would advise, he is conflicted. “A true friend might say, ‘Stop killing Israelis and you’ll get a deal and you’ll get the West Bank,’ ” he says. “But maybe a true friend, another one, would say, ‘The West Bank isn’t really enough for the Palestinians. The Jews stole Palestine from you. Just fight on, lose as many people as you can, kill as many Israelis as you can. You’ll ultimately get the rest.’ ”

When I ask what a true friend of Israel would say right now, Mr. Morris doesn’t hesitate. “Finish off Hamas,” he replies.

Even if one has problems with Israel—occupation, settlements?

“Get rid of Hamas.”

Mr. Kaufman is the Journal’s letters editor.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

United Nations Resolution a Throwback to Obama Era

History has an interesting way of repeating itself. Op-ed.

DR. JOSEPH FRAGER

On March 25th, the United States abstained from voting for a UN resolution demanding “an immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable cease-fire.”

Although mentioned in the resolution was the demand for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages, it does not make its ceasefire demand conditional on the freedom of the over 100 hostages held by Hamas.

Nowhere in the resolution is Hamas condemned for its murder, rapes and atrocities. Similar resolutions had been submitted but America vetoed them each time. What happened?

President Obama entered the scene. It has been reported that President Biden met at the White House with former President Obama on the Friday before the resolution that will go down in infamy.

President Obama convinced President Biden to do exactly what he did towards the end of his second term. Resolution 2334, which called Israel’s settlement activity a “flagrant violation” of international law, passed on December 23, 2016, when America abstained. The pro-Israel community was furious. It was clear that President Obama was trying to shove a two-state solution through the United Nations on his way out. It doomed Hilary Clinton’s bid to become President. It may well do the same to President Biden’s attempt to win a second term.

America’s abstention gave Hamas a victory for perpetrating one of the worst acts mankind has witnessed in its history. It was reported that Hamas “ welcomed the Security Council resolution. “ That should send shivers down anyone’s spine.

The fallout for President Biden for copying President Obama is just beginning to be felt. The real loser in all of this are the hostages that President Biden is so determined to help. This took away a great deal of leverage Israel had achieved by its military action. It makes going into Rafah that much more necessary than ever.

Israel is in a fight for its very existence. On top of that, Israel is waging a war against evil whose defeat will help not only Israel but the entire Western world. The United Nations has become an echo chamber for Hamas. The fact that Hamas was not condemned for its blot against humanity proves the point.

It must be remembered that President Obama gave his first major speech in Cairo, setting the stage for the so called “Arab Spring”. As a result of his speech Egypt was taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is aligned with Hamas. It was only because of a miracle that Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took over Egypt - otherwise Hamas would be much more powerful than they are today. President Obama had no problem with the Muslim Brotherhood, nor did Hilary Clinton at the time.

Resolution 2334 and the UN resolution of March 25th are stains against the United States. They will never be forgotten nor should they be. The United States does better when it supports its most important and only reliable ally in the Middle East. Anytime America wavers from its commitment, it encourages not only Hamas but all of the West’s enemies. This is an unworkable and untenable approach. Hopefully, America will not repeat the mistake.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the 31st Mar 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

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POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR

Reserve IDF commander has life-changing surgery. (TY OurCrowd) 57-year-old Motti Ben-Lulu served 4 months reserve duty as a platoon commander in Gaza. But he was unable to hold a weapon due to tremor. Now, after MRI-guided focused ultrasound treatment from Israel’s Insightec (see here previously) he is a new person.
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/hk65ad406

“Superhero” cocoa seedlings. Ellen Graber, a soil chemistry expert at Israel’s Volcani Center expected her experimental cocoa seedlings growing near Gaza had perished after 3 months of neglect. But 20 plants survived and flourished. A recent NIS 20 million government investment could make Israel a cocoa plant global supplier.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-surviving-oct-7-israeli-cocoa-plants-could-help-stave-off-world-shortage/

Brothers for Life. (TY Sam Kramer) The BFL Medical Project was created to address the needs of IDF soldiers suffering from complex injuries and chronic pain. It invited two highly skilled and specialized doctors from the USA to come to Israel to perform complex reconstructive surgery on many injured soldiers. See video.
https://www.brothersforlife.com/bfl-emergency-progress-report-240216/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZjtzF54I0s

Remarkable Resilience – BGU Webinar. Register for this free May 8th webinar from Israel’s Ben Gurion University. BGU was heavily impacted by the Oct 7 events but now stands as a beacon of hope for the future of Israel and a vital part of Israel’s rebuilding and recovery efforts. See how BGU is leading the Way Forward.
https://americansforbgu.org/events/rr4/   https://americansforbgu.org/events/rr4/#speakers

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Repairing the spine via the nose. Some 500,000 spinal cord injuries are sustained annually. Israel’s NurExone takes exosomes (nanoscopic particles released by cells to pass messages to one another) from bone marrow, adds siRNA to help regenerate cells, and delivers them via the nose and blood brain barrier to heal the spine.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/nasal-therapy-that-could-help-people-with-spinal-injuries-walk-again/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLEi98oE4RU   https://nurexone.com/

Artificial veins for successful transplants. Israel’s Bonus Biogroup (see here previously) has developed microscopic biodegradable tubes that run through an engineered transplant organ, supplying a steady flow of blood. This vastly increases the viability of artificial organs and the success rate of transplant operations.
https://www.israel21c.org/organ-transplant-advance-artificial-veins/

War of yeast infections. Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered a benign species of yeast named “Kazachstania weizmannii” in homage to Chaim Weizmann. It prevents the spread of Candida albicans, a strain of yeast which causes candidiasis, a fungal infection responsible for around 200,000 deaths per year.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-fungus-discovery-could-stop-deadly-yeast-infections/

AI-driven cell therapy. Israeli-founded Somite.ai can revolutionize stem cell therapy. Its first target is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. When muscle stem cells are injected into an existing muscle, the muscles can rebuild and regain function. Somite will then move on to creating brown fat cells for the treatment of diabetes.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-stem-cells-meet-ai-1001472419  https://somite.ai/index.html

Developing treatments since 1949. (TY Atid-EDI) Rafa Laboratories is one of Israel’s oldest pharmaceutical companies. For example, it has been supplying autoinjectors for over 30 years, for global medical conditions including seizures and now (partnering USA’s BARDA) to counter nerve agent and pesticide poisoning.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/enhancing-national-preparedness-rafa-laboratories-partners-with-barda-to-advance-the-development-of-a-new-design-for-rafas-pediatric-atropine-autoinjectors-302094562.html
https://www.rafa.co.il/en     https://www.rafa.co.il/en/therapeutic-areas

Better than before. (TY Nevet) Scientists at Israel’s Technion have developed a robotic hand that allows the wearer to play the piano and type on a keyboard. The device is intended to be used as a prosthetic for those who have lost limbs, e.g., in the War, and can give the wearer skills that they never had before.
https://ats.org/our-impact/giving-prosthetics-a-hand/

Wearable devices to fix mobility problems. (TY Nevet) Zuckerman Faculty Scholar Dr. Arielle Fischer runs the Fischer Biomechanics and Wearable Technology Lab at Israel’s Technion Institute. Her lab develops biomechanical tools and wearable devices to detect, prevent, and correct musculoskeletal movement disorders.
https://www.zuckerman-scholars.org/lab/fischer-biomotion-lab/

Hebrew University Trauma Institute. A new Trauma Institute has been established at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It will design new clinical approaches to and train therapists to deal with the nationwide traumas following the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. The new Institute has raised 25% of its budget and is seeking support.
https://www.afhu.org/2024/03/16/new-hebrew-university-trauma-institute-established-to-design-new-clinical-approaches-and-train-therapists-following-october-7th-attacks/  https://www.afhu.org/weareone/ (US donors)

Innovative trauma treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Madrigal Mental Care is based in Kibbutz Reim – one of the communities devasted by Hamas on Oct 7. So, it is remarkable that it has just announced the successful completion of its pivotal nanotechnology research on using Ketamine as a treatment for PTSD & depression.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/madrigal-announces-groundbreaking-ketamine-research-for-ptsd-treatment-and-upcoming-in-human-clinical-trials-302088144.html

New treatment for depression.  (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s PsyRx has developed a radically new treatment for depression. It combines an approved medicine from the SSRI family with a low dosage of ibogaine. PsyRx has just completed a successful lab toxicological safety study for the treatment to help it progress to human trials.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/psyrx-advances-clinical-trial-exploration-with-successful-completion-of-toxicological-safety-study-in-rats-302098275.html   https://www.psyrx.co/

Addressing women’s health. Israeli-founded Impact.51 is the first startup studio in the world to focus solely on women’s health. 51% of the world receives insufficient funding, research, & support. Impact.51 aims to create inventive solutions addressing critical gaps in women’s health. After Oct 7, the priority is trauma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVktA8EihyU   https://www.impact-51.com/

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Purim fun for kids in wheelchairs. (TY Rachel) 30 children with disabilities at Israel’s Beit Issie Shapiro in Ra’anana were able to enjoy the Purim festivities as they were transformed into their favorite characters. Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) students customized their costumes to seamlessly incorporate their mobility aids.
https://themedialine.org/top-stories/hit-students-bring-joy-to-disabled-children-with-dream-costumes-project-for-purim/

Disability-focused travel. Israel’s accessibleGo is the world's first full-service, disability-focused travel site. It provides the booking of accessible travel options, with services and amenities verified and hand-picked for travelers with diverse needs. AccessibleGo is a one-stop shop for all disability travel needs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkixj3y1-Zo   https://accessiblego.com/

A woman of many firsts. (TY Nevet) Technion alumna Neta Blum heads the Cyber Section of Israel’s Defense Ministry. Before that, she was the first woman and youngest person to lead Aviation Sciences in the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D). And much more (see link).
https://ats.org/our-impact/neta-blum-a-woman-of-many-firsts/

Making a global impact. Israel’s Impact Nation helps startups with the potential for global impact to promote themselves and drive their technology forward. These companies can change the world in the areas of food security, climate, health, water, equality, and economic empowerment.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/telling-the-story-of-israeli-innovators-trying-to-save-the-world/
https://www.impactnation.tech/

Sign up for the IAC Summit. Save the date Sep 19-21 for the IAC National Summit in Washington DC. Sign up for updates and be first in line for early registration.
https://iac360.org/summit/    https://iac360.org/wartime-community-resources/

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

New reservoir to help revive Southern Israel. As the world marked World Water Day on Mar 22, thousands of displaced residents returning to Israel’s Gaza border communities are benefiting from the recently completed 14 million cubic foot Holit Reservoir made possible by Jewish National Fund-USA and its donors.
https://www.jnf.org/menu-3/press-releases/press-release-stories/march-22--2024

Preventing overwatering. The water sensors developed by Israel’s Treetoscope (see here previously) can reduce water consumption in agriculture by to 40 percent. Overwatering can also flush fertilizer before it has finished benefiting the crop. Treetoscope is working with water industry leaders including Israel’s Netafim.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/simple-sensor-for-what-plants-drink-helps-preserve-precious-water/

Beware the bloom. (TY OurCrowd) On World Water Day (Mar 22) Israel’s BlueGreen Water Technologies (see here previously) launched its “Beware the Bloom!” campaign to raise awareness of algal blooms from. cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. BlueGreen removes the algae and its dangerous toxins.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/beware-the-bloom-harmful-algal-blooms-increasing-in-frequency-and-intensity

Using AI to check program code. Israel’s Codium (see here previously) has developed an AI “team member” to test and review computer code to make sure it is all working as it should, rooting out any potentially catastrophic missteps. Codium’s plugins have been installed by over half a million global developers.
https://nocamels.com/2024/03/ai-assistant-smooths-out-mistakes-in-maze-of-code/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqQweiqkao

Greener construction material. Israel’s EVA Greentech has developed a novel building material using demolition waste. It is designed to partially substitute non-environmentally friendly cement in concrete, significantly reducing its carbon footprint while preserving concrete’s essential physical properties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkQBLc4R1q4   https://www.evagreentech.com/

Sustainable aquaculture. Israel’s AquaculTech (see here) promotes sustainable technologies to produce fish, algae, and other products from the sea, making Eilat into a national and international knowledge center. It aims to help Israel’s 160 aquaculture startups, combat overfishing, and preserve the ecological balance and diversity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW6HJX4nFhc   https://www.aquacultech.org/

Top nano-scientist recognized. Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Ehud Gazit has won a 60,000 Euro Meitner-Humboldt Research Award for his extensive academic achievements. The award is given to international researchers who have had, and are expected to achieve in the future, a substantial impact on their domains.
https://english.tau.ac.il/news/congrats-prof-ehud-gazit
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/apply/sponsorship-programmes/humboldt-research-award

Detecting nanoparticles. (TY WIN) Researchers at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have developed a nano filter that can detect harmful molecular residue in water. The device, the size of a small coin, is based on an ion microscope with tiny holes that amplify the electromagnetic field to detect low concentrations of molecules.
https://tps.co.il/articles/new-nanofilter-technology-targets-harmful-contaminants-in-drinking-water/

Intercepting multiple drones. Israel’s Elbit has unveiled its 3G ReDrone anti-drone system. It uses Actively Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) DAiR 3D multi mission radar with advanced capabilities, sensors for detecting communications signals and COAPS-L advanced electro-optics systems.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-elbit-unveils-3g-redrone-anti-drone-system-1001475042

The first to analyze a supernova. Astronomers from Israel’s Weizmann Institute are the first scientists to chronicle the earliest stages of a supernova. A star in nearby galaxy Messier 101 exploded 30 million years ago but the light only reached Earth in January. And the Israelis got NASA to reposition the Hubble telescope.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientists-become-first-to-chronicle-earliest-stages-of-supernova/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07116-6  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6megAXDxo2Q&t=1s

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Saving the harvest. (TY Atid-EDI) The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has approved the FieldProtect pre-harvest treatment from Israel’s Save Foods (see here previously). It should help California reduce food waste, plus it paves the way for Save Food’s commercial expansion in the State.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/03/13/2845446/0/en/Save-Foods-Received-Regulatory-Approval-in-California-for-its-Pre-Harvest-Product-Supporting-its-Expansion-in-California.html
https://igrownews.com/save-foods-latest-news/

Learn about Israeli business culture. ESRA (English Speaking Residents Association) is hosting a free Zoom lecture by Arona Maskil entitled “Understanding the Israeli Business Culture”. Apr 1 at 8pm Israel time. Registration required. Part of the series of fully subsidized zoom lectures by “Get it Right in Israel”.
https://esra.org.il/events-listing-view/details/2024-04-01/901-understanding-the-israeli-business-culture-with-arona-maskil.html    https://www.jpost.com/author/arona-maskil
For other events:  https://esra.org.il/social-culture/activities-events.html    https://getitrightinisrael.org.il/

El Al buys 3 more dreamliners. Israel’s El Al airlines has raised $100 million to help it finance the purchase of 3 new Boeing 787 “dreamliners). El Al plans to expand its 16-plane 787 fleet to a total of 28 by 2030.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-el-al-to-raise-100m-and-buy-3-dreamliners-1001474601

Mobileye is on the move. Mobileye’s 2,700 Jerusalem employees are moving to a new NIS 1 billion low-energy campus at the Har-Hotzavim Hi-Tech Park. In addition to the usual high-tech perks such as a gym, it will also include a convenience store, running track, hair salon, and nursing rooms.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sijgxxd0f

Maintaining Czech radar for 20 years. The Czech Ministry of Defense has awarded a 20-year contract to Israel Aerospace Industries to maintain the Czech MMR radars. The MMR radar is the ‘brain’ behind the Barak, Iron Dome, and David’s Sling. To date, over 200 systems have been sold to customers around the world.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-aarospace-signs-czech-radar-maintenance-deal-1001473955

Hi-tech funding up. Investment in Israeli startups in the first quarter of 2024 is $1.6 billion so far. That is 10% higher than the fourth quarter of 2023. Also, there was a 34% increase in the number of funding rounds.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/by6qv6fjc

Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 31/3/24: Israel’s Nexa3D has acquired US-based 3D-Fuel.

Startup investment – to 31/3/244: Coro.net raised $100 million; FundGuard raised $100 million; Zafran raised $30 million; Nominal raised $9.2 million; Foundational raised $8 million;

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

Pakistani Muslim holds book launch in Jerusalem. (TY Nevet) Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah launched his new book, “Whispers in The Stones, A Sufi’s Quest Through Time” via Zoom at Jerusalem’s Center for Public Affairs research institute. It is about holy sites in Pakistan and includes a chapter on Pakistan’s Jewish history.
https://tps.co.il/articles/pakistani-religious-leader-holds-historic-book-launch-in-jerusalem/

How archeologists date the Tower of David. An in-depth description of the renovated Tower of David in Jerusalem. It includes a video (see 2nd link) of how modern Israeli archaeologists use the latest technology to date the various sections of the tower, compared to the techniques used during the British Mandate.
https://www.israel21c.org/sleek-renovation-at-tower-of-david-blends-old-and-new/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbrSxxfGSUY

THE JEWISH STATE

Celebrating Purim in Gaza. There are many videos circulating showing IDF soldiers in Gaza reading the Megillat Esther. Here are a few. The command to obliterate the name of the evil Haman was carried out with much enthusiasm, noting the close association between the names of Haman and Hamas.
https://www.jns.org/idf-soldiers-read-purim-megillah-in-gaza-watch/

Purim parade in Jerusalem. The Purim Unity Parade in Jerusalem was led by families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and featured a giant yellow ribbon, representing the call for their safe return. The procession included displays designed by Jerusalem cultural institutions, local children, and children of evacuees.
https://www.jns.org/purim-unity-parade-kicks-off-in-jerusalem/
https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/en/newsandarticles/municipalitymessages/purimeuhadim/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpdTUbiD0wY

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/donation-en/ (select the English speakers’ option)

American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/
or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/donation

Zaka (US donors):  https://donate.zakatelaviv.org/give/525578/  or (Israeli donors): https://charidy.com/zaka
or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/bellevue-foundation/

United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/campaign/israel-at-war-2/  or Canada https://www.uhcanada.org/
Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/
JNF USA - https://my.jnf.org/gaza-emergency/Donate  or Canada https://jnf.ca/
Orthodox Union - https://www.charidy.com/ouisraelcrisis

Schneider Children’s Hospital: https://www.fos.org.il/en/donate (Israelis)
https://system.smartgiving.org.uk/charities/8530/make-donation (UK)
https://chaischneider.org/donate/ (USA)

Rambam Medical Center (Haifa) https://aforam.org/ways-to-give/ (US)
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/support_rambam/donate_now/ (Rest of the World)

Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/
Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/fundme/EmergencyLaniado

And many more charities here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/where-people-abroad-can-donate-to-israels-hospitals-troops-survivors-and-more/  https://chesedtoday.com/campaigns/soldiers/ (Warm winter clothes for Israeli soldiers)

Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B)
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/state-of-israel-bonds
USA - https://www.israelbonds.com/
Europe - https://israelbondsintl.com/
Canada - https://www.israelbonds.ca/

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The West Needs a War Footing

FDR enlisted William S. Knudsen in 1940 to ramp weapons production up. As Russia continues pounding Ukraine, it’s time to do it again.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Two years after Russia invaded, Ukrainian forces are outgunned. Russia has a 6-to-1 ammunition advantage along the front lines. If this persists, Vladimir Putin’s ambitions will become a reality.

The imbalance in weapons supplies is a major failure of Ukraine’s allies in the West. North Korea delivered as much artillery ammunition to Russia in one month as the European Union has been able to deliver to Ukraine in one year. Russia produces three million shells a year, while the U.S. and Europe combined are able to produce only 1.2 million for Kyiv. Despite the vast economic might of the democratic world, we are being outproduced by an arsenal of autocracy in Russia, Iran and North Korea.

If Western allies don’t immediately ramp up the supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, the future will be bleak. If Mr. Putin isn’t stopped in Ukraine, it will mean decades of instability and conflict in Europe. We need to wake up to that danger and put our economies on a war footing.

Turning the tide requires political decisions. Congress must approve the stalled $60 billion in aid for Ukraine—with haste. Yet such change also requires leadership from industry. If we are to defend freedom and democracy, CEOs must step up as they did during World War II.

In the late 1930s, Western democracies were dangerously unprepared for the threats posed by the rapidly arming autocracies of Germany and Japan. In May 1940, this complacency was brutally exposed. Nazi forces stormed into the Netherlands, Belgium and France, soon leaving Britain alone in the fight for democracy in Europe. In the White House, President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized that the U.S. urgently needed to ramp up military production and put the economy on a war footing. To do so, he knew the man to call: William S. Knudsen.

Knudsen was CEO of

General Motors

, a man with vast experience in the automobile industry and one of the best-paid business leaders in the U.S. Roosevelt tasked him with transforming America’s industrial production, making it the arsenal of democracy. For his efforts, Knudsen would receive the token sum of $1 a year.

Knudsen threw himself into the task. He made lists of the required weapons and ammunition: 50,000 planes, 13,000 mortar shells, 33 million artillery shells, 300,000 machine guns with ammunition, 1.3 million rifles with ammunition, 380 warships. He then traveled across the country to meet with industry leaders, visit factories and sign contracts.

Knudsen recognized that speed was crucial. In meetings with company and union leaders, he applied maximum pressure to ramp up production. His message was clear: “We are here to help you, and all we ask in return is that you give us speed and more speed. We need every machine running at full speed. . . . We must outproduce Hitler.” Within five months, Knudsen had signed 920 contracts with some 500 companies.

All of American society was mobilized to fight, and within a year the economy was on a war footing. Knudsen’s methods were controversial, and his direct style often led to confrontation with politicians and unions. But thanks to his network, his understanding of factory-floor conditions, and his ability to organize workers and machines, he got his way. He was pivotal in turning the tide against Germany and Japan.

If we could do it once, we can do it again. In the face of the renewed threat from a militarized autocracy, we must replicate Knudsen’s achievement and put our economies on a war footing. This will require action from politicians, industry and labor unions—as well as leaders who can cut through endless discussions, red tape and long delivery times.

Here are five ideas to get the ball rolling:

First, governments should enter into long-term contracts with the arms industry, to ensure that companies have the necessary capital to expand capacity swiftly.

Second, the contracting process should be simplified and shortened. A signed letter of intent should be enough to get production up and running quickly, leaving legal details to be sorted along the way.

Third, we should temporarily relax the rules on tendering defense contracts, so that production can begin with direct orders to companies that are able to deliver weapons or ammunition immediately.

Fourth, the defense industry should be allowed to depreciate investments in new production facilities faster than normal, to reflect the hopefully shorter horizon for war and conflict.

Fifth, sovereign wealth funds, as well as private pension and investment funds, should set up special pools for defense-industry investments. This will attract the private capital needed for rapid expansion of our defense industries.

We need to embrace a new mind-set. We need politicians who dare to tell the truth—including that defense and military-equipment investments are an essential element in the defense of freedom and peace. We need business and labor leaders prepared to take responsibility beyond the interests of their individual companies. Ultimately, we need a new William S. Knudsen.

Mr. Rasmussen served as secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (2009-14) and prime minister of Denmark (2001-09).

Two years after Russia invaded, Ukrainian forces are outgunned. Russia has a 6-to-1 ammunition advantage along the front lines. If this persists, Vladimir Putin’s ambitions will become a reality.

Knudsen was CEO of General Motors, a man with vast experience in the automobile industry and one of the best-paid business leaders in the U.S. Roosevelt tasked him with transforming America’s industrial production, making it the arsenal of democracy. For his efforts, Knudsen would receive the token sum of $1 a year.

Here are five ideas to get the ball rolling:

First, governments should enter into long-term contracts with the arms industry, to ensure that companies have the necessary capital to expand capacity swiftly.

Third, we should temporarily relax the rules on tendering defense contracts, so that production can begin with direct orders to companies that are able to deliver weapons or ammunition immediately.

Fourth, the defense industry should be allowed to depreciate investments in new production facilities faster than normal, to reflect the hopefully shorter horizon for war and conflict.

Mr. Rasmussen served as secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (2009-14) and prime minister of Denmark (2001-09).

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Maybe One Day We’ll Get a President We Feel Good About

He’d be someone with honor, courage and genuine desire to unite the country. It could be a long wait.

JosephEpstein

Now that the presidential candidates of both parties are locked in, we can look forward to nearly eight full months of put-downs, insults and general vituperation. Donald Trump and Joe Biden genuinely despise each other, and, many would say, rightly so. Watching them go at each other over an extended period, the attacks growing deeper and darker, might be amusing, were not the fate of the nation, quite possibly the world, at stake.

As an older player, my first memory of a presidential election was the second election campaign between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson in 1956, when I was 19. A few months before that election, I happened to run into the comedian Mort Sahl on Rush Street in Chicago’s nightclub district. He asked if I had heard that the then-traditional pre-election campaign conference between candidates had to be canceled. When I asked why, he replied that they couldn’t find a translator. Less than adept at the English language, Eisenhower was parodied by the journalist Oliver Jensen, who had Eisenhower rewrite the Gettysburg Address to read:

“I haven’t checked these figures but 87 years ago, I think it was, a number of individuals organized a government set-up here in this country, I believe it covered certain Eastern areas, with this idea they were following up based on a sort of national independence arrangement and the program that every individual is just as good as every other individual.”

I recall asking my father for whom he was going to vote in that election. He responded that he wasn’t sure but was awaiting the opinion of Walter Lippmann before he decided. Lippmann, it turned out, supported Eisenhower, though he doubtless would have enjoyed lunch more with the intellectually better-endowed Stevenson. Lippmann thought Eisenhower could do more than Stevenson to ward off the political depredations brought on by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his minions, which Eisenhower did. Witty parodists, powerful columnists, effective politicians—those were the days.

As no one in Dante’s “Purgatorio” asks: How did we get here, to our days? How has it come about that our two political parties can do no better than offer two richly flawed presidential candidates that a majority of Americans, if the polls are to be believed, would prefer just disappeared?

I wonder if the road downhill in American presidential politics didn’t begin in 1960, the first election in which television played a significant role. The telegenic John F. Kennedy stood for little apart from wanting the job, and Richard Nixon might not have stood for anything more.

Eisenhower, a Republican, sent in federal troops to safeguard the children integrating Central High in Little Rock, Ark. Kennedy, a Democrat, was always chary of going too far in support of civil rights lest he lose votes by doing so, and did little to aid the civil-rights movement. Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize for a book, “Profiles in Courage,” that was ghostwritten for him. His most famous words—“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”—were likely written by his chief speechwriter, Ted Sorensen. Difficult to know what Richard Nixon believed in, apart from wanting to hold power.

The presidential lineup over the years since has been less than impressive. After Kennedy, we had Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford (briefly), Jimmy Carter, the Bushes (father and son), Bill Clinton, the disappointing Barack Obama (disappointing because he could have done so much to heal the gaping national wound of race in American life, but didn’t), then on to Messrs. Trump and Biden. Ronald Reagan is for many an exception—he was exceptional in having true political beliefs, such as that communism was evil—but those of us who remember his time in the White House will recall he was regarded by nearly half the nation as a second-line Hollywood actor who all but sneaked into office.

The sad fact seems to be that we haven’t had an American president that the country has been able to feel good about for more than half a century. What would such a president be like? He would in his person convey honor, courage, generosity of spirit. He wouldn’t try to unite the extreme factions of both parties—the Bernie Sanderses and AOCs, the Chip Roys and Matt Gaetzes—but through his own example and regular demonstration of what is best for the country he would show the absurdity of both left- and right-wing extremes. A member of one of our two major political parties though he would be, he would somehow make clear that as president, he was hostage to no political party but president of all the people.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan might been such a president. So, too, J. William Fulbright, Robert A. Taft, or Paul Douglas. Dwight Eisenhower, whatever his shortcomings, was such a president. I wish I could supply the name of a contemporary politician who I think is qualified for the job, but, sadly, I can’t. Meanwhile, if you wish to be in touch with me about this on Nov. 5, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll be home all day.

Mr. Epstein is author, most recently, of “The Novel, Who Needs It?”

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Meddlers for RFK Jr.

Democrats may get bitten by a tactic they use to great effect in GOP primaries.

By Kimberley Strassel

Democrats are finally alive to the threat of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—and it’s about time. They worry not only that the gadfly might pull crucial votes away from Joe Biden. They worry more that Republicans will help make that happen—by running the same playbook Democrats honed in GOP primaries. And why not? All’s fair in love and meddling.

Mr. Kennedy’s announcement this week of a running mate—tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan—was met with louder-than-usual howls of “Spoiler!” The Democratic National Committee is assembling a team dedicated to the destruction of Mr. Kennedy and other third-party candidates, led by veteran strategist Mary Beth Cahill. Left-wing groups are already working to block Mr. Kennedy from the ballot in key swing states, rolling out liberal legal titan Marc Elias to file complaints of campaign irregularities.

It’s shaping up to be a banner year for independent candidates, and for that the major-party pols can blame themselves. The public is as excited about a Joe Biden-Donald Trump rematch as they are septic repair, one reason recent polls show Mr. Kennedy with double-digit support. Green Party contender Jill Stein is in the mix, as is leftist academic Cornel West. No Labels is on the ballot in 18 states, if still desperately seeking a candidate (anyone?). And the Libertarian Party—which consistently manages to get on all 50 state ballots—will choose a standard bearer at its national convention in May. It’s even flirting with the idea of nominating Mr. Kennedy.

None of these minor candidates have a shot of winning. But dread is now building among Democrats that these third-party campaigns are dangling in front of Republicans a ripe and tempting new tactic—one Democrats know all about, having perfected it. For more than a decade, left-wing groups have interfered in GOP primaries, boosting the candidates they consider most beatable in a general election. Only this month, a group associated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dumped millions into highlighting the “too conservative” Ohio businessman Bernie Moreno, who won the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

Modify this strategy for a general election and a third-party campaign. How long before GOP super PACs are running ads in swing states highlighting, say, Mr. Kennedy’s proposal to ban fracking (something Mr. Biden hasn’t done), labeling him an “extreme environmentalist”? How many young climate activists might like the sounds of that label? Imagine an ad reminding young voters—frustrated by Mr. Biden’s collapsed promises on college debt—that Ms. Stein was for student-loan forgiveness before it was cool.

And those are the subtle scenarios. Why not a GOP-funded ad on urban radio stations that directly slams Mr. Biden for his failure to help minorities and touts Mr. West? A recent article in Mother Jones posited such a “sneaky” and “weaponized” move by the GOP, under the headline: “Will RFK Jr. and Other Third-Party Candidates Help Doom Democracy?” The piece somehow failed to note that it was the Democrats who mainstreamed such tactics.

Recent elections have come down to a handful of voters in key states. Mr. Biden in 2020 eked out his Electoral College victory by 10,000 votes in Arizona, 12,000 in Georgia and 21,000 in Wisconsin. What Republicans surely understand is that they don’t necessarily need those Biden voters suddenly to pledge fealty to Mr. Trump. They simply need them not to vote for Mr. Biden a second time. It helps to flag some palatable alternatives.

Mr. Trump has already cottoned on to the potential, aided this week by Mr. Kennedy’s choice of a solidly progressive running mate. “RFK Jr. is the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is even more ‘Liberal’ than him, if that’s possible. . . . He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine. I love that he is running!” No doubt. Message to conservative voters: This guy is toxic and unacceptable. Message to progressive voters: Hate Biden? Feast your eyes!

The Trump comments will add to Democratic paranoia, already in evidence in their reaction to the news that a little-known heir and political donor, Tim Mellon, has this cycle given $20 million to an organization supporting the RFK Jr. campaign and $15 million for pro-Trump efforts. The donations might mean nothing, as Mr. Mellon has a history of giving money to Democratic rebels, including Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. But the DNC has already branded it meddling, declared Mr. Kennedy a “stalking horse for Trump,” and thrown up billboards in Michigan that read: “RFK Jr. powered by MAGA/Trump. Same biggest donor Timothy Mellon.”

That looks to be the Democratic strategic response for now—to drive home that any vote for a third party is a vote for Mr. Trump. And there is a risk that Republicans—if they’re too blatant—could underline that point. Then again, as Democrats have so capably proved with their own meddling, a lot of voters don’t calculate beyond top-line impressions. And so the third-party games begin.

Middle East and Other Musings

Sunday, March 31, 2024

RIP Paula. Benny Morris. U.N Throwback. Good News Persists. WSJ Op Ed's