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The UN has betrayed Israel again
International institutions must stop shamefully giving succour to those who seek to destroy the West and all it stands for
Palestinian Permanent Representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, following the United Nations (UN) General Assembly vote on Friday
This has been another week of shame for the United Nations, which has again voted to reward terrorism and victim-blame Israel. The general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, a move that Israel’s envoy, Gilad Erdan, has warned will give “the rights of a state to an entity that is already partly controlled” by Hamas.
Shamefully, Britain abstained, though that was better than France, which voted in favour. The US, Argentina, the Czech Republic and others did the right thing and voted against.
The appalling savagery of October 7, which the Hamas leadership has stated it will repeat as soon as an opportunity arises, made clear what the terror group thinks of living peacefully alongside Israelis. A two-state solution is obviously the long-term aspiration, but is impossible as long as the Palestinian establishment – and not just Hamas – refuses to accept the legitimacy of Israel’s existence, continues to claim “a right of return” to Israel, and pushes a rejectionist vision of Palestinian nationalism “from the river to the sea”.
Palestinian membership of the UN will remain out of reach so long as the US continues to veto it. Yet America’s support for its long-standing ally is far less “ironclad” than Joe Biden vowed it would be last month. On Wednesday, the US president threatened to deprive Israel of certain military hardware if “they go into Rafah”.
Mr Biden seems to believe that he can micro-manage this conflict, and has delayed the Israelis for months, lengthening the war and reducing the hopes for the hostages. We ought to remember that only one group of people will benefit if the IDF is unable to achieve its strategic aims: Islamists who, given the chance, will destroy all the West stands for.
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10 necessary steps for the ‘day after’ in Gaza
They don't include a hostage deal 'at any price, or reestablish Gaza settlements, but they pave a way through this complex, dangerous situation
They don't include a hostage deal 'at any price, or reestablish Gaza settlements, but they pave a way through this complex, dangerous situation
The debate over the “day after” scenario for Gaza, once largely theoretical, is now bitterly and dangerously dividing Israel.
On one side of the controversy stands the security establishment — the IDF General Staff, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad — now led by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. In the absence of a third party capable of governing post-war Gaza, they contend, the IDF will be saddled with both counterinsurgency duties and caring for 2.5 million Palestinians, many of them now destitute. The military gains of Operation Iron Swords will be frittered away and ultimately lost. The world, already exasperated with Israel, will isolate it completely.
The only solution, the security establishment says, is to transfer Gaza’s governance to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA). Though far from ideal, a PA administration in Gaza is a lesser evil than military and diplomatic disaster.
Arrayed against the military echelon is the government, especially its more radical components, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I will not let Hamastan become Fatahstan,” he pledged, referring to the Fatah party that dominates the PA. Ramallah, he recalled, never condemned the October 7 massacre nor ceased its efforts to delegitimize and criminalize Israel. The PA educates Palestinian children to kill Jews and pays salaries to convicted terrorists. Thoroughly corrupt and widely unpopular, the PA would quickly be ousted from Gaza by a resurgent Hamas, much as it was in 2007, Netanyahu predicts.
The sole solution, the prime minister concludes, is an indefinite Israeli military occupation of Gaza. Only by destroying every Hamas cell can Israel’s security be assured. Efforts will meanwhile continue to enlist non-Hamas elements in Gaza and the Abraham Accord states to cooperate in running and reconstructing the Strip. None of these efforts, it must be noted, have so far succeeded.
Between these two opposing camps are the hostage families demanding any arrangement, even an Israeli declaration of defeat, to attain their loved ones’ release. Right-wing activists meanwhile insist on reestablishing the Israeli settlements uprooted in the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza.
Finally, there is the United States, which is offering to organize an inter-Arab force to administer Gaza, spearhead a regional alliance against Iran, and broker a Saudi-Israel peace. In return, Israel must refrain from invading Rafah, permit a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority to assume civil control over Gaza, and agree to discuss a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood.
Confronted with such patently irreconcilable poisons, can a middle ground possibly be identified? Are there policies that Israel can adopt in Gaza that will, to the greatest extent possible, guarantee our security, preserve our gains in the war, and safeguard our relations with America and the world?
There are. Here are the 10 measures necessary to achieve Israel’s short and long-term goals in Gaza while meeting our critical diplomatic and strategic interests. Security and dignity can be attained for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Israel retains total security control in Gaza, including control of all borders and crossings, until Hamas is demonstrably defeated. Operations continue in Rafah and elsewhere following effective civilian evacuations. Military and diplomatic efforts to secure the hostages’ release continue unabated.
Civil affairs, including health services and aid distribution, are administered by Gazans unaffiliated with Hamas. The model will be Area B of Judea and Samaria, where Israel is in charge of security and the Palestinians are responsible for the civil administration.
The civil administration is supervised by the Palestinian Authority once it is “revitalized.” The PA first meets benchmarks for ending corruption and establishing transparent institutions. The designation and fulfillment of the benchmarks is carried out in coordination with Israel.
The United States sends a greatly expanded and improved version of the Dayton Mission that trained PA police forces in Gaza after Israel’s disengagement.
Abraham Accord countries launch a major inter-Arab initiative to rebuild and modernize Gaza.
An international fund for developing Gaza’s economy is established.
Israel enters discussions with the US on future peace initiatives. These include, but are not restricted to, a pathway to a two-state solution. Exploratory talks with Palestinian representatives may also begin.
An Israeli-Saudi peace treaty is concluded.
A NATO-like regional defense alliance against Iran is forged.
Defense agreements guaranteeing the supply of vital US military supplies and intelligence to Israel during wartime are signed.
None of these measures is foolproof, risk free, or immune to criticism. They do not address the demands of those seeking a hostage deal at any price or the reestablishment of Gaza settlements. But the 10 steps do offer the best way forward through an unprecedentedly complex and dangerous situation. Implementing them requires vision, courage, and leadership.
And:
A UN Vote That Will Live in Infamy Peter O’Brien
Posted By Ruth King
On the 7th of October last year, the terrorist group Hamas, which rules in Gaza and purports to represent the state of “Palestine”, committed the most foul attack upon Jewish people since the Holocaust. Within days, that atrocity was celebrated all over the world, including in Australia. Polls have shown the majority of Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank supported that action by Hamas, which is still the nominal government in Gaza. Hamas has vowed to repeat the actions of October 7 as often as is necessary to achieve their aim of eliminating Israel. Does anyone believe that if an election were held in Gaza today, even under, say, UN supervision, Hamas would not win?
Israel is in the middle of defending itself against this future. Australia has now voted in favor of granting Palestine, that non-existent nation, UN membership. In God’s name, what could have convinced the Albanese government that this is the right time to muddy the waters on this vexed question and signal that our support for Israel’s right to exist is less than 100 per cent? To signal to Hamas that they are winning the propaganda war? To signal Hamas to hang in there, we’ve got your back?
Oh wait, I’m guessing Jason Clare and Tony Burke, inter alia, might have something to do with this appalling decision. The mealy-mouthed defense of this move, i.e., that it is in furtherance of a two-state solution, totally ignores the fact that Israel has offered a two-state solution, on generous terms, on at least three occasions and been rebuffed. From The Weekend Australian:
Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations James Larsen said Canberra had been “frustrated” by a “lack of progress” and wanted to signal “unwavering support for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security within recognised borders”.
So, in order to boost the chance of a two-state solution, our government has supported granting full UN membership to a non-existent state – an entity that does not possess the pre-requisites for nation status – that, under its current governance, repudiates that very same two-state solution. Regardless of the status of Palestine, I would have thought a non-negotiable pre-condition would be that all its neighbors unconditionally support Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself to the maximum extent required.
We now have the absurd situation that, within the UN only nine countries oppose the inclusion of Palestine. Yet at the same time, 30 countries do not recognize Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.
We now have the absurd situation that Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, has a permanent agenda item devoted to it at meetings of the UN Human Rights Council.
We now have the absurd situation in which Taiwan, a vibrant and prosperous democracy, is not even afforded observer status at the United Nations, whereas the dysfunctional ethnic rabble that calls itself Palestine now has all privileges just short of voting rights.
Let me try to parse this debacle. Our Foreign Minister Penny Wong is quoted in The Australian:
The Foreign Minister said the resolution was only the “extension of some modest additional rights” for Palestine to participate in UN forums.
“I want to be extremely clear again that this vote is not about whether Australia recognises Palestine,” Senator Wong said.
“We will do that when we think the time is right”.
“What it [the resolution] did do, consistent with the two-state solution, was to express the General Assembly’s aspiration for Palestinian membership of the United Nations, noting that this must be recommended by the United Nations Security Council, consistent with the UN Charter”.
The UN resolution in question is ES10/24. At the time of writing, I have been unable to get hold of a copy of the resolution itself. It is not even available on the United Nations website. It appears to have two elements. An overarching one – membership of the UN for Palestine. From the UN website:
Granting Palestinian membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council. At the same time, the Assembly determines that the State of Palestine is qualified for such status and recommends that the Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably”.
In other words, this was a vote for full UN membership. Absent a veto from the US, full membership is virtually guaranteed. Wong must be called out on her weasel words. This was not an expression of an ‘aspiration’, as she claimed. It was a recommendation for membership, pure and simple.
Certainly, Australian recognition of Palestine as a nation state is a separate question to UN membership. But if I were the people of Israel, and their Australian supporters, I would not be comforted by the assurance that Palestine would only be recognized by Australia when a clearly partisan Penny Wong ‘thinks the time is right’. And, regardless of that, if Palestine were admitted to full membership of the UN, a New York minute would seem like a year compared to the time in which an Albanese government would be signing off on the lease of the brand-new Palestinian embassy.
A country suitable for inclusion as a full member of the UN should be one which we are prepared to recognize. In voting for this part of the resolution – the State of Palestine is qualified for such status – Wong has effectively signaled that, as far as Australia is concerned, that ‘right time’ has actually come.
The second element, also from the UN website, is:
Here are some of the changes in status that Palestine will have a right to later this year:
To be seated among Member States in alphabetical order,
Make statements on behalf of a group,
Submit proposals and amendments and introduce them,
Co-sponsor proposals and amendments, including on behalf of a group,
Propose items to be included in the provisional agenda of the regular or special, sessions and the right to request the inclusion of supplementary or additional items in the agenda of regular or special sessions,
The right of members of the delegation of the State of Palestine to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly,
Full and effective participation in UN conferences and international conferences and meetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or, as appropriate, of other UN organs.
Doesn’t sound at all modest to me. Short of full voting rights, what is lacking? The key to the executive washroom? And why do they need voting rights when they can count on the mindless support, for their proposals, of 143 other countries.
Here is an excerpt from the speech by the Palestinian Observer, Mr Riyad Mansour:
The Permanent Observer said people have to make a decision: stand by the right of a nation to live in freedom and dignity on its ancestral land, standing with peace and recognising the rights of Palestinians or they can stand on the sidelines of history.
A nation ‘living in freedom and dignity on its ancestral land’. That phrase sounds familiar. Was he referring to Israel, do you think? No, I thought not. And no discernible mention in his speech of a two-state solution that I could detect.
In practical and humanitarian terms, this resolution achieves nothing. It is virtue signalling on a global scale. But it is a major propaganda victory for Hamas. The point will not be lost on Hamas that the US now stands virtually alone in opposing UN membership for Palestine. That it has been abandoned on this issue by its closest allies, in either voting for the resolution or abstaining. Hamas must conclude from this that its tactics are working. I imagine the point will not be lost on the USA either. This vacillation is not the message we should be sending to a possibly incoming Trump administration.
That said, however, the US does not escape scot-free. Its decision to withhold weapons and ammunition will also be seen by Hamas as a sign that 35,000 (claimed) deaths gets results.
This gutless decision is buttressed by the claims of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and many others, that Hamas cannot be defeated militarily, and therefore the civilian deaths occasioned by an incursion into Rafah would not be justified. If that is true, where does it leave their vaunted two-state solution? Hamas cannot be defeated at the ballot box, it cannot be starved financially (unless we first starve Iran financially), and despite the appalling atrocities of October 7 it is winning hearts and minds across the Western world. Now, apparently, it can’t be defeated militarily. Looks like we’re stuck with Hamas for the foreseeable future. We had better hope Blinken is wrong and Netanyahu is right.
This cynical vote by Wong also undercuts the government’s limp-wristed effort to rein in the mindless anti-Semitism that is infecting our streets and university campuses, and poisoning our social cohesion.
I don’t believe in the two-state solution. Not that it shouldn’t happen, just that it won’t, not in any meaningful sense. Let’s assume some Arab grouping, including representatives from Palestine, agreed to a two-state proposal. What guarantee do we have that it would hold? That the players would not just abandon any undertakings ‘when the time is right’ to resume hostilities on some pretext or other? And what would the UN do about that? Revoke membership? How has being a member state of the UN protected Ukraine? And, more to the point, how has being a member state of the UN inhibited Russia from its depredations on Ukraine?
But even if I’m wrong about that, I’d bet my house that these events have just made such a tenuous outcome even more unlikely.
As I intimated earlier, I have no doubt that this decision – the abandonment of long-standing bipartisan policy – by the Albanese government is driven by the demographics of Western Sydney, exacerbated by uncontrolled immigration. Don’t be fooled by the overwhelming international support for this move. The Albanese/Wong vote was driven purely by crass local political opportunism. Is there anything this government can’t stuff up?
UN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza
Posted By Ruth King
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/
The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revised its child fatality figure from the Gaza war sharply downward, reporting more than 14,500 deaths on May 6 but then 7,797 on May 8. OCHA also revised downward its figure for women fatalities from more than 9,500 deaths to 4,959 deaths. The Jerusalem Post first reported the changes on May 11.
The UN attributed its original, higher figures to the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza, whose figures OCHA has cited continually for the past two months. The UN gave no source for the lower figures in its May 8 update, but the figures precisely match those in a May 2 report from a different Hamas-controlled organization, the Gaza Ministry of Health.
“This change may signal that the UN has finally recognized the lack of evidence behind Hamas’s original claims that more than 14,000 children and 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza. If so, the UN should state clearly that it has lost confidence in sources whose credibility it has affirmed for months. While this change may only reflect the conclusion of one UN office out of the many operating in Gaza, it is a clear step forward.” — David Adesnik, FDD Senior Fellow and Director of Research
“For observers following the conflict, it should have been evident, since the war began, that data published by Hamas and its affiliates requires rigorous scrutiny. While the UN’s belated decision to rectify the casualty figures is welcome, it may come too late to undo the harm already caused. The delay has bolstered Hamas’s position and increased its chances of survival in the conflict.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal
Gaza Health Ministry Admits Flaws in Casualty Data
In early April, the Gaza Ministry of Health admitted it had “incomplete data” to document more than 10,000 of the deaths it had previously reported. Subsequently, the ministry indicated that it did not have names for more than 10,000 of the individuals it claimed to be deceased. As of April 1, the ministry also stopped repeating the claim it made since the first weeks of the war that 70 percent of the dead were women and children, even suggesting the media invented this number. Meanwhile, the GMO continues to promote the 70 percent figure while revising its own numbers upwards, to remain consistent with that claim.
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Totally agree.
Totally agree.
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Sue and defund schools that tolerate antisemitism
What happened at Haverford College is a case study in how respected liberal institutions are harming Jewish students. They need to be held accountable.
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
Haverford College is a small liberal arts school in the bucolic suburbs of Philadelphia. But its standing as an elite institution is long established. Acknowledged as among the most selective in the nation, it rejected 87.1% of those who applied for admission in 2023. Publications that rank colleges for their academic standing routinely place them among those at the top of the field. It is hardly surprising then that it cultivates an atmosphere of stereotypical smug elitism of prestigious higher education as well as a campus culture in which progressive ideologies dominate the administration, coursework and discourse.
As such, Haverford is, for all its Quaker origins and efforts to stand out as offering a unique educational experience, fairly typical of American universities in the spring of 2024. What has happened there in the seven months since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacres in southern Israel is likely not much different from what is going on at many other institutions of higher education, including those that still aspire to the sort of high standing that Haverford takes for granted.
And that’s why the lawsuit recently filed in federal district court about the school’s tolerance—and even encouragement—of antisemitic speech and actions gives us more than just a rendering of its violations of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that forbid that kind of discriminatory conduct. The accounts of what Jewish students have had to put up with at Haverford are, in and of themselves, scandalous.
They also paint a disturbing portrait of campus life that calls into question all the assumptions about the acceptance of Jews in the United States. It not only makes it clear that contempt for Jewish sensibilities and even outright hatred directed at Jews is something that is not confined to the fever swamps of extremists. Rather, it is considered acceptable in a venue where the sort of people who will run this country in the future get their college degrees.
Left-wing antisemitism on campus
What’s more, it also conclusively debunks the idea of antisemitism being predominantly, if not exclusively, a right-wing or conservative phenomenon that liberal elites consider not just normative but mandated by the dictates of contemporary academic culture. As such, it should force everyone—Jewish or non-Jewish—to confront the reality of contemporary antisemitism.
Just as important is the decision of the plaintiffs—a group of Jewish students, faculty and alumni represented by The Deborah Project, a Jewish public-interest law firm—to choose to directly sue the school. In most such instances where Jews speak up about antisemitism and violations of Title VI, they have merely reported them to the U.S. Department of Education, where they are added to the long list of pending investigations being conducted by the federal government.
Even if those investigations are not slow-walked by bureaucrats and lawyers not interested in imposing consequences on colleges violating the law, the nature of the process is such that real accountability is slow in coming, if it comes at all. Although the wheels of justice in the Haverford example may not grind as quickly as concerned citizens like, by putting the case in federal court rather than in the inbox of the Department of Education, the project is initiating litigation that arguably has a much better chance of bringing about far-reaching consequences for the school.
While a satisfactory conclusion to this fight is not a given, it raises the possibility that a verdict will be reached that could lead to the defunding of those institutions that have allowed their fealty to toxic woke ideas to unleash a storm of antisemitism on their students.
Administrators encourage Jew-hatred
The details of the lawsuit provide a harrowing triptych of post-Oct. 7 academic life. At the heart of it and what makes it particularly actionable is not just the hatred for Israel and Jews expressed by students and faculty after the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. It was the open acquiescence of the school administration to these incidents that constituted not merely inaction but could easily be understood as encouragement for bigotry.
Among them is the refusal of the school to allow Jewish students to set up a table at a basketball game where materials would be available to promote antisemitism awareness. Haverford dean John McKnight and the school’s athletic director, Danielle Lynch, told Ally Landau—the named plaintiff in the lawsuit and star player on the women’s basketball team—that she had to cancel the effort or else the game would be forfeited. Their reason was that the school believed that any talk about antisemitism on campus would provoke “pro-Palestinian students” and lead to a riot. While McKnight claimed that the decision to withdraw the proposal was Landau’s, she says that “is a lie.”
Other highlights of the suit include the reaction of Haverford president Wendy Raymond when she was confronted about a series of social-media posts by a professor at the college who reposted an image of a bulldozer used in the Oct. 7 attacks with the text: “We should never have to apologize for celebrating these scenes of an imprisoned people breaking free from their chains. This was a historic moment to be recorded in the history books.”
At a Jewish student event on campus, Raymond was asked whether the post by Tarik Aougab—who remains a Haverford math and statistics professor—should be considered antisemitism. Raymond answered that his statement “could be perceived in many ways.” When asked how she perceived it, she answered, ‘I hear people breaking free from their chains.’” The president of Haverford was not ashamed to admit to considering an image of the Oct. 7 orgy of mass murder, rape, torture and wanton destruction committed by Hamas and its Palestinian supporters to be something that she admired.
At stake here are not just egregious statements and actions by Haverford. It’s the blatant double standard used by the school to treat discriminatory speech and behavior.
Denying Jewish suffering
As is typical for contemporary academia, Haverford doesn’t tolerate speech and behavior considered disrespectful, let alone discriminatory, when it comes to various minority groups like African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians or those who identify as LGBTQ+. The school is notoriously intolerant when it comes to those who dissent from the current liberal fashion. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) list of American higher education ranks Haverford as 208 out of 248 schools when it comes to protecting free speech.
But as is the case elsewhere in academia, the hatred that is directed towards Jews with chants calling for Israel’s destruction (“from the river to the sea”) or terrorism against Jews (“globalize the intifada”) is defended as protected free speech. The lawsuit alleges that McKnight was asked about “the abundance of speech on Haverford’s campus that is virulently hostile to Jews and Israel,” and whether Haverford would “tolerate such speech directed at LGBTQIA students,” he said that the two groups are “not comparable.”
How is that possible?
The answer is that what goes on at Haverford is a perfect example of what happens when educators and students are indoctrinated with ideologies like critical race theory, intersectionality and the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). That mindset seeks to divide the world into two permanently warring groups of “white oppressors” and people of color, who are always their victims. True to its Marxist roots, these toxic ideas treat Jews and the State of Israel as inherently “white” and therefore always in the wrong, thus granting a permission slip for antisemitism. Only those who believe in these sorts of concepts could possibly ignore millennia of persecution, discrimination and violence against Jews to be insignificant when compared to those who embrace alternative sexual lifestyles.
What’s more, Haverford’s much-vaunted “honor code” specifically demands that its students adhere to a standard of conduct in which concerns about “anti-racism” and woke buzzwords like “privilege” and “microagressions” are treated as being as obligatory as refraining from cheating on tests.
Setting a precedent
That is why, in the words of Deborah Project legal director Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the lawsuit details “incident after incident of horrible, vile antisemitic statements, actions, activities, chants, disruptions, intimidation, harassment and oppression by members of the Haverford College community” that were “ignored, condoned or even praised” by top college administrators.
It is high time that behavior like that of Haverford’s was not just exposed but punished by demonstrating that it, as is the case in so many other colleges and universities, is in clear violation of Title VI. That ought to mean a judgment that will ensure that it loses all federal funds if it doesn’t fundamentally change its behavior.
Pushing for such an outcome is not a matter of repressing free speech. Private institutions don’t treat speech that they consider beyond the pale, such as racism against blacks and other minorities, to be protected. But they rediscover the First Amendment when it comes to antisemitism. A special carve out to protect Jew-haters isn’t just wrong, it’s a violation of the law.
The Haverford suit should therefore be treated as not just a wake-up call about terrible things going on at one privileged college. It must also serve as a call to arms for all those who care about halting the spike in antisemitism that is surging throughout the United States. It could mean the creation of a precedent that could help scare other colleges and universities into adopting policies that will prevent them from being put into the same position. In doing so, the litigation could, if successful, hasten the moment when left-wing antisemitism in the academy will truly be put on trial.
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Ordman - Good News (Edited.)
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There were so many positive Israeli news articles for public consumption last week, but you had to look beyond the negative front page headlines. Which is why you read this newsletter, of course.
Israelis savored the atmosphere that accompanied Yom Ha'Atzmaut - Independence Day, when the nation truly understands what it is fighting for.
Last week's positive news included a "feast" of medical breakthroughs, sweet news of diplomatic support from two European countries, healthy economic and investment progress to digest, scientific developments to combat world hunger, a succulent result in the Eurovision song contest, a rich supply of medals in sport, and a prolific survivor who demonstrated that the Jewish people will never be defeated.
In the 19th May 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Gaza border incubator is back in business. The attacks on Oct 7 took a severe toll on the SouthUp business incubator (see here previously). But now the Nir Am center has fully reopened. Four new startups have joined the portfolio of 27 companies working in the fields of agritech, food tech, medical tech, clean tech, and IoT.
https://www.israel21c.org/
75% of employees in the reserves. On Oct 7, 60 of the 80 Israeli-based employees at Israel’s Exodigo (see here previously) were drafted into the IDF reserves. The remaining Israeli office and overseas staff managed to close new deals but persuaded those customers to wait a while for implementation.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Raising funds for child survivors. Israel’s Valoo has launched a fund assembled to provide support for the child survivors of Oct 7. Operating with the social fund Tmura (see here previously), it will regularly distribute cash to these children over the next 10 years. The fund has already raised some $20 million in stock donations.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Another schizophrenia treatment. Israel’s Teva has reported positive results of the Phase III trial of its Olanzapine LAI schizophrenia treatment that it has been developing with France’s Medincell. The once-a-month injections met all endpoints. It is likely to be an effective remedy without any serious side effects.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Alzheimer’s researcher sees the light. More about the groundbreaking research of Prof. Shai Rahimipour of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University (see here previously). His Alzheimer’s disease target is a soluble amyloid protein that can be destroyed by nanoparticles that generate light when exposed to low-intensity X rays.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/
Edison award for cancer diagnosis. Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics (see here previously) was a bronze winner in the Diagnostic Technologies category at the 2024 Edison Awards. Ibex won the award for its Galen Breast HER2 platform, that identifies the protein responsible for the proliferation of cancer cells.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/
Diagnosing Endometriosis. Israel’s EndoCure (see here previously) is developing a diagnostic tool combining AI and ultrasound that would allow physicians to clearly see the tiny lesions responsible for Endometriosis. The disease causes pelvic pain and infertility for women. It can spread to other organs and is sometimes fatal.
https://www.israel21c.org/a-
Navigating the US health system. Israel’s Healthee (see here previously) helps employers and employees select and navigate the most suitable health plan. It also connects the user with round-the-clock telehealth services that are free of charge. https://healthee.com/
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Lasers to reduce pain. Doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center are using low-level lasers to treat soldiers and civilians for chronic pain caused from wounds sustained in the Oct 7 war. They stimulate mitochondria which releases ATP causing muscles to contract. Many patients experience up to 80% immediate improvement.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Gel helps bones repair faster. Israel’s OrthoTreat has developed ModulX - a gel containing both a known medication plus a plant-based compound. The gel is injected directly onto the bone as a bonding agent where it strengthens the bone and improves its psychological structure.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Bio-printing cells into the body. Technion Professor Shulamit Levenberg (see here previously) has made yet another medical breakthrough. She has developed a non-surgical medication delivery and tissue implantation technique using ultrasound waves. Live cells from injected biological ink are “printed” deep inside the body.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
10 new life-changing biomed innovators. The first graduates of the SHAAR Innovation Hub (see here previously) include BeCapio, CaleeTech, Gento Gel-LR (sustained release antibiotics), Luseed Vascular, Panacea-ml, Predicta Med, Sherman Diagnostics, Snipe Medical, Sorlis, and TechnoPulm.
https://www.israel21c.org/10-
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Ethiopian Israeli entrepreneur. The life story of 38-year-old Solomon Geveye reads like a movie script. He arrived in Israel in 1991 at the age of 6; Economics degree at Ariel University; 7.5 years in the IDF; 5 years in USA in finance & security, back to Israel to start international consultancy & Israel advocacy; and much more.
https://www.israel21c.org/
“Hurricane” in Arabic. Lebanese singer Carine Bassili, who grew up in Lebanon and now lives in the United States, decided to perform an Arabic cover of the Israeli Eurovision song “Hurricane” as an act of support for Israeli performer Eden Golan who was bullied and harassed in Malmö.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Romania’s Friendship and Solidarity day. The Parliament of Romania has adopted a law to establish May 14 as the National Day of Friendship and Solidarity between Romania and the State of Israel. (The State of Israel was officially established on May 14, 1948.) Knesset Speaker MK Ohana said, “Israel will thank you forever”.
https://main.knesset.gov.il/
Netherlands to move embassy to Jerusalem. The four political parties seeking to form the next Dutch government are planning to move the Dutch embassy in Israel from Ramat Gan to Jerusalem. Geert Wilders, whose party won the most seats in the recent election, is staunchly pro-Israel.
https://www.jns.org/amsterdam-
Five universities rise in rankings. UAE-based Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) has increased the ranking of five Israeli universities in its latest list. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is now 66th (was 70) and Weizmann Institute is now 74th (was 87). All nine Israeli universities were in the top 10% worldwide.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Growing dairy proteins in potatoes. Israel’s Evogene has partnered with the Kitchen Foodtech Hub to form Finally Foods. It is developing plant-based alternatives to meat, based on casein – the protein in dairy products, using potatoes to host cultivation. The proteins will then be used to make vegan milk, cheese, emulsifiers etc.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/
Detox Project certification for greens. The Detox Project, renowned for its scientific assessment of toxic chemicals in food and supplements globally, awarded quality certifications to GreenOnyx (see here previously). Its superfood product, Wanna Greens, is the first CleanScan-certified brand globally.
https://www.jns.org/wire/
Restoring the wetlands. This article describes the latest progress of the SPNI (Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel) project to turn 2,000 acres of unprofitable fish-farms, south of Haifa, back into swamp. Its environmental and tourism benefits will exceed those of the popular Hula Valley – another restored wetland.
https://www.israel21c.org/
AI institute launched. Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has launched 'The Institute' - an artificial intelligence initiative to promote Israel's leadership in implementing AI capabilities in cyber, medical, finance and education. Initially a mentoring team of Israeli AI experts will train the CEOs of leading companies.
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-
Security for GenAI. Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT are used in 80% of Fortune 500 companies. But they have risks including data breaches, malicious injections, and copyright violations. Israel’s Apex Security aims to protect those systems. Investors include Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Light up your life. Israel’s Solight channels natural sunlight from 8am to 4pm into indoor spaces using mirrors from a rooftop solar collector. It provides health benefits to those stuck inside and cuts exposure to artificial light. It also cuts the cost of providing artificial lighting in schools, hospitals and industrial buildings.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
https://www.solight-energy.
Satellite to honor Oct 7 victims. They destroy, we build. Israel’s Technion and Israel Aerospace Industries are building a communications satellite called NOVA-SAT in memory of the victims of the Nova festival. It also honors Captain (res.) Denis Krokhmalov Veksler who died in Gaza before he could start his Technion studies.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Autonomous bulldozer. (TY Yanky) The IDF has begun to deploy unmanned 50-ton D9 “Panda” bulldozers in Gaza. It is the world’s first significant involvement of such ground robotic tools in combat, reducing the risk to IDF personnel. The Pandas are built by ELTA Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Economy grows. Israel’s economy recovered sharply in the first quarter of 2024. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew an annualized 14.1% in the January to March period. Growth was led by a rebound in consumer spending and investment, particularly in residential building. 21% more new homes were sold than Q1/23
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Boosting hi-tech investment. The Israel Innovation Authority is investing $160 million over 20 months in the Yozma Fund 2.0 initiative. It aims to attract another $700 million from institutional investors such as Venture Capital funds, to encourage more Deep Tech startups (see here previously).
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
New tech park for Modi’in. The TechMod tech park in Modi’in will provide 10,000 jobs in the city that was originally built as a dormitory town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The NIS 1.5 billion cost will encompass 100,000 sqm of office and commercial space, saving time for 75% of residents who currently work elsewhere.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Victoria’s Secret opens in Israel. Despite the ongoing war, the famous lingerie company Victoria’s Secret has opened two stores in Israel, at shopping malls in Haifa and Petah Tikvah. They follow the launch of the Israeli Victoria’s Secret website which started operations last year.
https://www.israel21c.org/
A better vegan salmon. (TY OurCrowd). Israel’s Oshi (formerly Plantish – see here previously) is unveiling the latest version of its plant-based salmon filet, in Chicago. Oshi has secured US-wide distribution for its flagship alternative cooked salmon filet.
https://vegconomist.com/food-
Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 19/5/24: Israel’s Nuvo has merged with US-based LAMF Global ventures and is now trading on NASDAQ. Israel’s Travelier has acquired Brazil’s top bus ticket seller DeOnibus. Blackstone Growth Fund is to acquire Israel’s Priority Software at an $800 million valuation.
Startup investment – to 19/5/24: WEKA.io raised $140 million (new Unicorn); Agora raised $34 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
National Park revitalized. Nahal HaShofet (“Judge’s Stream”) in northwest Israel’s Ramat Menashe Park has reopened following extensive reconstruction. KKL-JNF has restored the stream following floods in 2020 and built walking trails, picnic areas, and accessible facilities for visitors of all abilities.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Five new hotels. Showing confidence in the future resilience if Israel’s tourism economy, five new Israeli hotels have opened in the last six months. They are David’s Harp Galilee Resort, Rothschild 69 (Tel Aviv), Albi Florentine (Tel Aviv), Almond Hotel (Neve Ilan), and The George (Tel Aviv).
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
Eurovision success. Israel’s Eurovision Song Contest entry “Hurricane”, sung by Eden Golan, achieved an overall fifth place. In the global public vote, it came second. Eden herself was a great advocate for Israel. You can watch her receive the “Hero Award” at the United Hatzalah NYC Gala on June 4.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://israelrescue.org/
Real life on film in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv’s annual DocAviv documentary film festival is celebrating its 26th year and running May 23 through June 1 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and other movie theaters around the city. The event offers a week of screenings of works from Israel and around the world.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.docaviv.co.il/
New Orleans Jazz in Tel Aviv. Experience the vibrancy of the 6th annual Tel Aviv New Orleans Jazz Festival (May 30 - June 1) at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Jazz artists from New Orleans, London, Amsterdam, Paris, & Berlin will perform alongside local talents, in a range of styles from Ragtime to Blues and Dixie.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://eng.hotjazz.co.il/the-
The Beatles in Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s first Beatles Festival takes place on May 30 at the Kfar Shaul hospital in Givat Shaul, near Har Nof. Beatles bands from all over Israel will perform the Fab Four’s famous hits.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://www.facebook.com/
Jerusalem Harmonica Festival. The Third Jerusalem Harmonica Festival is being held May 29 and 30 at Jerusalem’s Harmony Cultural Center. https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
More gold sporting medals. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Asaf Yasur (see here previously) won gold at the European Para-Taekwondo championships. Gefen Primo (see here previously) won gold at the judo Grand Slam event in Kazakhstan. https://www.instagram.com/p/
https://www.insidethegames.
https://www.facebook.com/
Last line of German defense. (TY Hazel) Israeli national soccer team goalkeeper Daniel Peretz made his debut for Bayern Munich. It was the eve of Israel's Memorial Day, and Daniel paid tribute to Israel's fallen soldiers and the victims of terrorism. It was emotional to see an Israeli Jew help the German champions to a 2-0 win.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
For the sake of the Survivors. (TY Yanky) In 2020, Israel’s Dr. Tamara Kolitz founded the non-profit LeMa’anam (“for their sake” in Hebrew), to provide timely healthcare free of charge to Holocaust survivors. Now, 1,500 physicians volunteer in their private clinics, patients’ homes, or LeMa’anam’s two mobile clinics.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
104-year-old survivor and her 400+ descendants. Shoshana Ovitz 104-year-old Holocaust survivor celebrated her birthday last week by gathering over 400 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
PM wears tefillin of fallen soldier. A rare photograph of Prime Minister Netanyahu wearing tefillin (phylacteries) was posted on Instagram. The PM promised the mother of Moshiko Dvino, who fell in battle in 2014, that he would put on Moshiko’s tefillin. The smell of gunpowder remains on the tefillin case.
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-
Celebrating 76 Years. An inspiring video, released to celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut - Israel’s Independence Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
How to help Israel. Here are some sites where newsletter readers can donate to Israeli organizations that provide vital help to Israelis at this difficult time. Many thanks to those who have already contributed and to those who are helping by donating their own valuable time and resources.
Friends of the IDF (US donors): https://www.fidf.org/
or IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel: https://www.ufis.org.il/en/
American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/
or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/
Zaka (US donors): https://donate.zakatelaviv.
or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/
United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/
Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/
JNF USA - https://my.jnf.org/gaza-
Orthodox Union - https://www.charidy.com/
Schneider Children’s Hospital: https://www.fos.org.il/en/
https://system.smartgiving.
https://chaischneider.org/
Rambam Medical Center (Haifa) https://aforam.org/ways-to-
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/
Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/
Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/
And many more charities here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B)
https://www.
USA - https://www.israelbonds.com/
Europe - https://israelbondsintl.com/
Canada - https://www.israelbonds.ca/
++++
Israelis savored the atmosphere that accompanied Yom Ha'Atzmaut - Independence Day, when the nation truly understands what it is fighting for.
Last week's positive news included a "feast" of medical breakthroughs, sweet news of diplomatic support from two European countries, healthy economic and investment progress to digest, scientific developments to combat world hunger, a succulent result in the Eurovision song contest, a rich supply of medals in sport, and a prolific survivor who demonstrated that the Jewish people will never be defeated.
In the 19th May 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- New Israeli treatments for Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia.
- Israel is developing non-surgical ultrasonic bioprinting of disease cures.
- At least two European countries show passionate support for Israel.
- Israel is naming a satellite in memory of Oct 7 victims.
- The city of Modi’in is to get a billion-shekel technology park.
- Israel’s Eurovision singer is a true star.
- 104-year-old survivor brings 400 of her descendants to the Western Wall.
- Please click here, to donate (a small or large amount) to help me publicize VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
- If someone wishes to be added to the free email subscription list, they should either click here or send a request (with their name) to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.
com
POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
Gaza border incubator is back in business. The attacks on Oct 7 took a severe toll on the SouthUp business incubator (see here previously). But now the Nir Am center has fully reopened. Four new startups have joined the portfolio of 27 companies working in the fields of agritech, food tech, medical tech, clean tech, and IoT.
https://www.israel21c.org/
75% of employees in the reserves. On Oct 7, 60 of the 80 Israeli-based employees at Israel’s Exodigo (see here previously) were drafted into the IDF reserves. The remaining Israeli office and overseas staff managed to close new deals but persuaded those customers to wait a while for implementation.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Raising funds for child survivors. Israel’s Valoo has launched a fund assembled to provide support for the child survivors of Oct 7. Operating with the social fund Tmura (see here previously), it will regularly distribute cash to these children over the next 10 years. The fund has already raised some $20 million in stock donations.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Another schizophrenia treatment. Israel’s Teva has reported positive results of the Phase III trial of its Olanzapine LAI schizophrenia treatment that it has been developing with France’s Medincell. The once-a-month injections met all endpoints. It is likely to be an effective remedy without any serious side effects.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Alzheimer’s researcher sees the light. More about the groundbreaking research of Prof. Shai Rahimipour of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University (see here previously). His Alzheimer’s disease target is a soluble amyloid protein that can be destroyed by nanoparticles that generate light when exposed to low-intensity X rays.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/
Edison award for cancer diagnosis. Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics (see here previously) was a bronze winner in the Diagnostic Technologies category at the 2024 Edison Awards. Ibex won the award for its Galen Breast HER2 platform, that identifies the protein responsible for the proliferation of cancer cells.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/
Diagnosing Endometriosis. Israel’s EndoCure (see here previously) is developing a diagnostic tool combining AI and ultrasound that would allow physicians to clearly see the tiny lesions responsible for Endometriosis. The disease causes pelvic pain and infertility for women. It can spread to other organs and is sometimes fatal.
https://www.israel21c.org/a-
Navigating the US health system. Israel’s Healthee (see here previously) helps employers and employees select and navigate the most suitable health plan. It also connects the user with round-the-clock telehealth services that are free of charge. https://healthee.com/
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Lasers to reduce pain. Doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center are using low-level lasers to treat soldiers and civilians for chronic pain caused from wounds sustained in the Oct 7 war. They stimulate mitochondria which releases ATP causing muscles to contract. Many patients experience up to 80% immediate improvement.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Gel helps bones repair faster. Israel’s OrthoTreat has developed ModulX - a gel containing both a known medication plus a plant-based compound. The gel is injected directly onto the bone as a bonding agent where it strengthens the bone and improves its psychological structure.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Bio-printing cells into the body. Technion Professor Shulamit Levenberg (see here previously) has made yet another medical breakthrough. She has developed a non-surgical medication delivery and tissue implantation technique using ultrasound waves. Live cells from injected biological ink are “printed” deep inside the body.
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
10 new life-changing biomed innovators. The first graduates of the SHAAR Innovation Hub (see here previously) include BeCapio, CaleeTech, Gento Gel-LR (sustained release antibiotics), Luseed Vascular, Panacea-ml, Predicta Med, Sherman Diagnostics, Snipe Medical, Sorlis, and TechnoPulm.
https://www.israel21c.org/10-
https://www.calcalistech.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Ethiopian Israeli entrepreneur. The life story of 38-year-old Solomon Geveye reads like a movie script. He arrived in Israel in 1991 at the age of 6; Economics degree at Ariel University; 7.5 years in the IDF; 5 years in USA in finance & security, back to Israel to start international consultancy & Israel advocacy; and much more.
https://www.israel21c.org/
“Hurricane” in Arabic. Lebanese singer Carine Bassili, who grew up in Lebanon and now lives in the United States, decided to perform an Arabic cover of the Israeli Eurovision song “Hurricane” as an act of support for Israeli performer Eden Golan who was bullied and harassed in Malmö.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Romania’s Friendship and Solidarity day. The Parliament of Romania has adopted a law to establish May 14 as the National Day of Friendship and Solidarity between Romania and the State of Israel. (The State of Israel was officially established on May 14, 1948.) Knesset Speaker MK Ohana said, “Israel will thank you forever”.
https://main.knesset.gov.il/
Netherlands to move embassy to Jerusalem. The four political parties seeking to form the next Dutch government are planning to move the Dutch embassy in Israel from Ramat Gan to Jerusalem. Geert Wilders, whose party won the most seats in the recent election, is staunchly pro-Israel.
https://www.jns.org/amsterdam-
Five universities rise in rankings. UAE-based Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) has increased the ranking of five Israeli universities in its latest list. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is now 66th (was 70) and Weizmann Institute is now 74th (was 87). All nine Israeli universities were in the top 10% worldwide.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Growing dairy proteins in potatoes. Israel’s Evogene has partnered with the Kitchen Foodtech Hub to form Finally Foods. It is developing plant-based alternatives to meat, based on casein – the protein in dairy products, using potatoes to host cultivation. The proteins will then be used to make vegan milk, cheese, emulsifiers etc.
https://nocamels.com/2024/04/
Detox Project certification for greens. The Detox Project, renowned for its scientific assessment of toxic chemicals in food and supplements globally, awarded quality certifications to GreenOnyx (see here previously). Its superfood product, Wanna Greens, is the first CleanScan-certified brand globally.
https://www.jns.org/wire/
Restoring the wetlands. This article describes the latest progress of the SPNI (Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel) project to turn 2,000 acres of unprofitable fish-farms, south of Haifa, back into swamp. Its environmental and tourism benefits will exceed those of the popular Hula Valley – another restored wetland.
https://www.israel21c.org/
AI institute launched. Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has launched 'The Institute' - an artificial intelligence initiative to promote Israel's leadership in implementing AI capabilities in cyber, medical, finance and education. Initially a mentoring team of Israeli AI experts will train the CEOs of leading companies.
https://www.bgu.ac.il/en/news-
Security for GenAI. Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT are used in 80% of Fortune 500 companies. But they have risks including data breaches, malicious injections, and copyright violations. Israel’s Apex Security aims to protect those systems. Investors include Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Light up your life. Israel’s Solight channels natural sunlight from 8am to 4pm into indoor spaces using mirrors from a rooftop solar collector. It provides health benefits to those stuck inside and cuts exposure to artificial light. It also cuts the cost of providing artificial lighting in schools, hospitals and industrial buildings.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
https://www.solight-energy.
Satellite to honor Oct 7 victims. They destroy, we build. Israel’s Technion and Israel Aerospace Industries are building a communications satellite called NOVA-SAT in memory of the victims of the Nova festival. It also honors Captain (res.) Denis Krokhmalov Veksler who died in Gaza before he could start his Technion studies.
https://nocamels.com/2024/05/
Autonomous bulldozer. (TY Yanky) The IDF has begun to deploy unmanned 50-ton D9 “Panda” bulldozers in Gaza. It is the world’s first significant involvement of such ground robotic tools in combat, reducing the risk to IDF personnel. The Pandas are built by ELTA Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Economy grows. Israel’s economy recovered sharply in the first quarter of 2024. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew an annualized 14.1% in the January to March period. Growth was led by a rebound in consumer spending and investment, particularly in residential building. 21% more new homes were sold than Q1/23
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Boosting hi-tech investment. The Israel Innovation Authority is investing $160 million over 20 months in the Yozma Fund 2.0 initiative. It aims to attract another $700 million from institutional investors such as Venture Capital funds, to encourage more Deep Tech startups (see here previously).
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
New tech park for Modi’in. The TechMod tech park in Modi’in will provide 10,000 jobs in the city that was originally built as a dormitory town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The NIS 1.5 billion cost will encompass 100,000 sqm of office and commercial space, saving time for 75% of residents who currently work elsewhere.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/
Victoria’s Secret opens in Israel. Despite the ongoing war, the famous lingerie company Victoria’s Secret has opened two stores in Israel, at shopping malls in Haifa and Petah Tikvah. They follow the launch of the Israeli Victoria’s Secret website which started operations last year.
https://www.israel21c.org/
A better vegan salmon. (TY OurCrowd). Israel’s Oshi (formerly Plantish – see here previously) is unveiling the latest version of its plant-based salmon filet, in Chicago. Oshi has secured US-wide distribution for its flagship alternative cooked salmon filet.
https://vegconomist.com/food-
Exits, takeovers and mergers – to 19/5/24: Israel’s Nuvo has merged with US-based LAMF Global ventures and is now trading on NASDAQ. Israel’s Travelier has acquired Brazil’s top bus ticket seller DeOnibus. Blackstone Growth Fund is to acquire Israel’s Priority Software at an $800 million valuation.
Startup investment – to 19/5/24: WEKA.io raised $140 million (new Unicorn); Agora raised $34 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
National Park revitalized. Nahal HaShofet (“Judge’s Stream”) in northwest Israel’s Ramat Menashe Park has reopened following extensive reconstruction. KKL-JNF has restored the stream following floods in 2020 and built walking trails, picnic areas, and accessible facilities for visitors of all abilities.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Five new hotels. Showing confidence in the future resilience if Israel’s tourism economy, five new Israeli hotels have opened in the last six months. They are David’s Harp Galilee Resort, Rothschild 69 (Tel Aviv), Albi Florentine (Tel Aviv), Almond Hotel (Neve Ilan), and The George (Tel Aviv).
https://www.israel21c.org/new-
Eurovision success. Israel’s Eurovision Song Contest entry “Hurricane”, sung by Eden Golan, achieved an overall fifth place. In the global public vote, it came second. Eden herself was a great advocate for Israel. You can watch her receive the “Hero Award” at the United Hatzalah NYC Gala on June 4.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://israelrescue.org/
Real life on film in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv’s annual DocAviv documentary film festival is celebrating its 26th year and running May 23 through June 1 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and other movie theaters around the city. The event offers a week of screenings of works from Israel and around the world.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.docaviv.co.il/
New Orleans Jazz in Tel Aviv. Experience the vibrancy of the 6th annual Tel Aviv New Orleans Jazz Festival (May 30 - June 1) at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Jazz artists from New Orleans, London, Amsterdam, Paris, & Berlin will perform alongside local talents, in a range of styles from Ragtime to Blues and Dixie.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://eng.hotjazz.co.il/the-
The Beatles in Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s first Beatles Festival takes place on May 30 at the Kfar Shaul hospital in Givat Shaul, near Har Nof. Beatles bands from all over Israel will perform the Fab Four’s famous hits.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
https://www.facebook.com/
Jerusalem Harmonica Festival. The Third Jerusalem Harmonica Festival is being held May 29 and 30 at Jerusalem’s Harmony Cultural Center. https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
More gold sporting medals. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Asaf Yasur (see here previously) won gold at the European Para-Taekwondo championships. Gefen Primo (see here previously) won gold at the judo Grand Slam event in Kazakhstan. https://www.instagram.com/p/
https://www.insidethegames.
https://www.facebook.com/
Last line of German defense. (TY Hazel) Israeli national soccer team goalkeeper Daniel Peretz made his debut for Bayern Munich. It was the eve of Israel's Memorial Day, and Daniel paid tribute to Israel's fallen soldiers and the victims of terrorism. It was emotional to see an Israeli Jew help the German champions to a 2-0 win.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
For the sake of the Survivors. (TY Yanky) In 2020, Israel’s Dr. Tamara Kolitz founded the non-profit LeMa’anam (“for their sake” in Hebrew), to provide timely healthcare free of charge to Holocaust survivors. Now, 1,500 physicians volunteer in their private clinics, patients’ homes, or LeMa’anam’s two mobile clinics.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
104-year-old survivor and her 400+ descendants. Shoshana Ovitz 104-year-old Holocaust survivor celebrated her birthday last week by gathering over 400 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
PM wears tefillin of fallen soldier. A rare photograph of Prime Minister Netanyahu wearing tefillin (phylacteries) was posted on Instagram. The PM promised the mother of Moshiko Dvino, who fell in battle in 2014, that he would put on Moshiko’s tefillin. The smell of gunpowder remains on the tefillin case.
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-
Celebrating 76 Years. An inspiring video, released to celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut - Israel’s Independence Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
How to help Israel. Here are some sites where newsletter readers can donate to Israeli organizations that provide vital help to Israelis at this difficult time. Many thanks to those who have already contributed and to those who are helping by donating their own valuable time and resources.
Friends of the IDF (US donors): https://www.fidf.org/
or IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel: https://www.ufis.org.il/en/
American Friends of Magen David Adom (US donors): https://afmda.org/
or Magen David Adom (Israel): https://www.mdais.org/en/
Zaka (US donors): https://donate.zakatelaviv.
or (Canadian donors): https://www.canadahelps.org/
United Hatzalah: https://israelrescue.org/
Leket Food Israel: https://www.leket.org/en/
JNF USA - https://my.jnf.org/gaza-
Orthodox Union - https://www.charidy.com/
Schneider Children’s Hospital: https://www.fos.org.il/en/
https://system.smartgiving.
https://chaischneider.org/
Rambam Medical Center (Haifa) https://aforam.org/ways-to-
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/
Hadassah Hospital Israel: https://www.hadassah.org/
Laniado Hospital (Netanya) https://my.israelgives.org/en/
And many more charities here:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Buy Israel Bonds to support the Jewish State. (TY Larry B)
https://www.
USA - https://www.israelbonds.com/
Europe - https://israelbondsintl.com/
Canada - https://www.israelbonds.ca/
++++
Biden and The West may wish to ignore what Obama created but Bibi cannot and , I hope, will not.
+++
‘Iran set to reach nuclear goal in 1 or 2 Weeks,’ say experts
In defiance of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Iran is set to produce weapons-grade uranium
IAEA CHIEF Rafael Grossi says Iran is not months but weeks away from possessing enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb, though he clarified that this does not signify that Tehran would avail itself of nuclear weapons at that poin.
Iran may be mere weeks away from developing nuclear weapons, according to the director general of the UN’s nuclear agency,
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear oversight organization, flew to Iran last week to strengthen the UN’s supervision of Iranian nuclear activities.
Iran has agreed to provide the agency with information about its nuclear facilities and access to cameras at its nuclear sights. Since 2022, many surveillance cameras have been removed, and traces of uranium have been found in unexpected locations.
While in Iran, Grossi met with Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s nuclear chief.
Iran nearly has nuclear bomb
“Iran has never been closer to achieving a nuclear bomb,” Grossi told the press after his visit to Iran. “It is estimated that it may be a matter of weeks and not months away if [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei chooses to go this way.”
In 2018, Donald Trump’s administration decided to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the US. Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its uranium stockpile and enrich uranium only to 3.67%, the purity needed to run nuclear power plants. In return, Iran received relief from sanctions imposed by the US, the EU, and the UN Security Council.
The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal has not stopped Iran’s nuclear plan. In fact, Tehran has used the withdrawal as an excuse to roll back cooperation with the IAEA and accelerate its uranium enrichment.
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. (credit: WANA/REUTERS)Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. (credit: WANA/REUTERS)
Darya Dolzikova, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute’s Proliferation and Nuclear Policy program, told The Media Line that Iran has achieved 60% uranium purity and is approaching the weapons-grade purity level of 90%.
“This is quite concerning,” she said.
Steven Biegalski, the chair of the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Program at Georgia Institute of Technology, said that 60% purity is “far beyond” the purity needed for nuclear power plants.
“It is, of course, a huge concern,” he said. “They are clearly staging themselves to reach their goal in one or two weeks without having any significant international sanctions against them.”
Dolzikova said that while producing sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon could take about a week, producing additional weapons would take longer.
“Once the uranium is enriched, it must be put inside a nuclear weapon, and then it is mounted onto a delivery system,” she said. “So, to produce more of them it actually takes longer, up from six months to a year.”
Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the US-based Arms Control Association, explained that monitoring Iran’s nuclear capacity has been difficult because the country has not provided the IAEA with all the necessary information.
“There are certain facilities that this institution has no access to since Iran has decertified its inspectors from some of them,” Kimball stated.
He called for the US, France, Germany, and the UK to push Iran to resume cooperation with the IAEA.
Iran becoming a nuclear power would set off a chain reaction in the Middle East and around the world.
“Several other countries may develop a clandestine military nuclear capability,” Simon Henderson, the director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington Institute, told The Media Line. “Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are regarded as the most likely. Moreover, Iran is clearly showing, by continuing the nuclear program, not only the impossibility to stop this through international policies but mainly the limits of the American power, its main enemy.”
According to Kimball, an Israeli or American strike on Iranian nuclear facilities would not bring an end to Iran’s nuclear program. “This can even escalate in the country’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to pursue in the long run a nuclear arsenal, which may protect the regime from foreign threats.”
Iran’s nuclear plant in Natanz is enriching uranium at a faster rate than ever before, and the country’s stock of uranium fuel continues to increase.
Iran started building the new underground facility in Natanz to replace the aboveground centrifuge assembly center, which was struck by an explosion in 2020. Iran claimed it was Israel’s responsibility.
Kimball said the new facility was built deep underground in order to avoid being targeted.
Biegalski said that Iran has clearly disobeyed the UN’s limits, installing additional centrifuges to reach higher uranium enrichment.
“Without military action and only the use of policies, it is almost impossible to stop this process,” he said.
The Iranian government has consistently stated that it has no intention of creating nuclear weapons, but after last month’s escalation between Iran and Israel, Kamal Kharazi, Khamenei’s adviser, took a different tack.
“If the Zionist regime [Israel] will launch an attack on our nuclear sites, our deterrence will change. We have the capability to create nuclear weapons, and we may use them in the future to protect ourselves,” Kharazi said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
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Adam O'Dell ++++ Gantz has always been a schemer and no particular ally of Bibi. +++ The 226th Day of War in Israel By Sherwin Pomerantz Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of four Israeli hostages who were taken captive as they fled a music festival during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, the IDF announced on Friday. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, identified the bodies as those of Amit Buskila, Shani Louk, Yitzhak Gelernter and Ron Benjamin. He said Israeli troops had recovered the bodies during an operation in Gaza on Thursday night and Friday, but did not say where they were found. All three had attended the Tribe of Nova trance music festival on Oct. 7, where at least 360 people were killed, Admiral Hagari said. Roughly 125 living and dead hostages abducted on Oct. 7 remain in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities. Ms. Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli citizen, became a symbol of the brutality of the devastating attack. Shortly after Oct. 7, Hamas released a video of a woman lying face down, mostly naked, in the back of a pickup truck in Gaza. Based on the dreadlocks and tattoos, Ms. Louk’s mother said she believed it was her daughter. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with “the Arab Six” at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh a few weeks ago to discuss a “day after” plan for Gaza that includes the release of the hostages and the establishment of a Palestinian State, as reported by Al-Ahkbar, a Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet. The “Arab Six” includes Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the Emirates, Qatar, and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The plan would require a ceasefire in the Gaza war, the return of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of a “technocratic government” consisting of PA members and a committee. According to some reports, Israel has offered the PA oversight of the Rafah crossing, but the PA refused. The second phase includes normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a process that was in its initial phase before the war began on October 7th. In addition, Gaza would undergo full reconstruction in this phase, and Israel and the Palestinians would reach agreements about the status of refugees and Palestinian territories with the implementation of a two-state solution. Also, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) would be revitalized, the Palestinian factions would be reconciled, and a demilitarized Hamas would join the Palestinian unity coalition. In February, Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas gave an initial agreement to the formation of a technocratic government for Gaza after the war and said it was open to joining the PLO. At the Arab League Summit, the king of Bahrain, the host country, called for a Mideast peace conference and the establishment of a Palestinian State. However, the Israeli cabinet rejected a UN Palestinian statehood resolution last week. “No reward will be given for the terrible massacre of Oct. 7, which 80% of the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, support,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initiated the proposal. “We will not allow them to establish a terrorist state from which they can attack us even more,” he added Israeli government minister without portfolio Benny Gantz said he would leave the government by June 8 unless a post-war 6-point plan for Gaza is implemented. Gantz accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being more concerned with personal and political considerations than with Israel’s security. Gantz gave an ultimatum that he will leave the government if the following six conditions aren’t fulfilled by June 8th. 1. The return of the hostages. 2. The defeat of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza. 3. Creating a governing body for Gaza that would be a coalition of US, European, moderate Arab, and non-Hamas and non-Fatah Palestinians. 4. Return of evacuees to their northern communities by September 1st and the reconstruction of the western Negev. 5. Taking steps towards normalization with Saudi Arabia, including moving towards a “treaty with the free world and Arab countries against Iran.” 6. Adopting a proposal for standardized national service that will enable all Israelis to “serve the country and contribute to the highest national goals.” After outlining the six criteria, Gantz said (about PM Netanyahu), “If you choose to lead the nation to the abyss, we will withdraw from the government, turn to the people, and form a government that can bring about a real victory. Prime Minister Netanyahu, I look you in the eye this evening and say – the choice is in your hands,” Gantz said. He added, “After speaking to you repeatedly, the moment of truth has arrived … I have known you for many years as a leader and Israeli patriot – you know very well what needs to be done.” Finance Minister and Chairman of the Religious Zionism party Bezalel Smotrich called for a permanent presence of the IDF in the entire Gaza Strip, total military occupation of the city of Rafah, and called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to issue an ultimatum to Hezbollah to stop firing on the North. He made this statement at a party meeting in the North, where he called on Netanyahu to set a long-term security policy that would guarantee Israel's security and victory. He also called for an immediate completion of the operation along the Philadelphi Corridor and total occupation of the whole city of Rafah. He argues that this "Is to prevent the continued smuggling from Egypt to Hamas and to cut off the lifeline to the terrorists." The only problem with this approach is that the population of Israel is overwhelmingly again reoccupying Gaza. Regarding the northern border with Lebanon, Smotrich called on the prime minister to issue an ultimatum to Hezbollah to completely stop firing at northern Israel and to "withdraw all its forces beyond the Litani River." Should Hezbollah continue to fire after such an ultimatum, Smotrich stated that the IDF should launch a defensive attack deep in Lebanese territory, including a ground entry and an Israeli military takeover of southern Lebanon. In response to Smotrich's statements, Yisrael Beytenu MK Avigdor Liberman asked which IDF soldiers would be fulfilling these duties. At least he realizes that we don’t have the resources to fight two major wars simultaneously. Sadly, civil unrest in Israel seems to be gaining momentum as there are, once again, large demonstrations throughout the country, most demanding the return of the hostages and the resignation of PM Netanyahu. Saturday night saw a massive outpouring of people in Tel Aviv and smaller but just as vehement occurrences countrywide. ++++ Hi Chuck, Hope you've been well.
Just wanted to let you know - Rich authored this letter and was able to get 104 co-signers. Please share with your folks. Thanks!
https://dailycaller.com/2024/ Ann Casas +++ A young Dutch woman's sobering wakeup call to Europe with similar implications for America following the ongoing and purposeful invasion of 10 million unvetted immigrants. This is 12 minutes long but she speaks perfect English and makes critical observations. It’s excellent and worth the investment of time. Bill THIS IS GREAT AND IT WILL TAKE YOU TO TWITTER - X ++++ Lunacy? +++ I am going to come to Biden's side on this one because I do not believe a former president can bind a future one to what the former commits to because circumstances change. A current president has to be free. On the other hand, commitments can be so momentous, like the Marshall Plan etc., this creates an entirely different situation. +++ Biden Breaks a 2004 Promise to Israel To facilitate withdrawal from Gaza, Bush pledged the U.S. would ‘lead efforts’ against terrorism. How much is the American presidential seal worth? The majestic eagle circled by stars was, until recently, highly valuable—a warranty backed by the world’s mightiest military, political and economic power. That’s why a letter of commitment bearing the presidential seal played a crucial role at a turning point in Israel’s history 20 years ago. In the spring of 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon encountered obstacles trying to advance his plan for a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. At the time, Gaza was home to thousands of settlers and several divisions of the Israel Defense Forces. The concerns were twofold: first, that the precedent of a withdrawal to the 1967 borders in Gaza might eventually be applied to Judea and Samaria, creating indefensible borders for Israel, and second, that the move would be interpreted as a retreat under fire, strengthening terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. President George W. Bush came to Sharon’s aid. He dispatched a letter that helped win the support of Israel’s ministers and Knesset members that Sharon needed. Many recall Mr. Bush’s implicit promise in the letter to Sharon—“It is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949”—meaning that Israel would be able to retain the parts of Judea and Samaria where the settlement blocs are. In recent discussions with high-ranking officials in Israel and the U.S., I was surprised to learn that some had forgotten another, far firmer commitment in the letter: “Israel will retain its right to defend itself against terrorism, including to take actions against terrorist organizations. The United States will lead efforts, working together with Jordan, Egypt, and others in the international community, to build the capacity and will of Palestinian institutions to fight terrorism, dismantle terrorist organizations, and prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat that would have to be addressed by any other means.” This principle, as outlined in the letter, was ratified by both houses of Congress with overwhelming majorities, lending additional weight to the commitment as follows: “Whereas Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism, including to take actions against terrorist organizations that threaten Israel’s citizens.” When President Obama took office in 2009, he quickly erased the commitment to recognize the settlement blocs. WikiLeaks documents reveal that officials in his administration were instructed to assert that this document wasn’t binding, all the while urging Israel to withdraw to a distance only a 15-minute drive from Tel Aviv’s main intersection. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. has failed in the efforts it pledged to uphold: to fight terrorism and prevent Gaza from becoming a threat to Israel. When Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, the U.S. did nothing. In the summer of 2014, President Obama withheld Hellfire missiles from Israel during its military operation against Hamas. In May 2021 President Biden pressured Israel to discontinue another military operation in Gaza. Now, with his announcement to halt the delivery of weapons, Mr. Biden has shredded Mr. Bush’s letter to Sharon. The consequences will be catastrophic even if Israel prevails in Gaza. The entire region and the world are closely watching leaders renege on commitments and strategic partnerships. An American statement used to be like the U.S. dollar—universally coveted and esteemed. But times have changed and the dollar’s value, much like presidential assurances, has diminished. It should come as no surprise that countries such as Saudi Arabia now have a new list of demands for Washington, from a nuclear reactor to a defense alliance. Now, instead of delivering promised support to an ally, the U.S. is hindering efforts. By halting the shipment of weapons to Israel, it is effectively sending Hamas the most potent weapon of all: hope. Mr. Segal is chief political commentator on Israel’s Channel 12 News and author of “The Story of Israeli Politics.” ++++
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