2018: Disruption and Destruction
The mainstream media's relevance as a dominant newsmaker and source of social activism has been effectively destroyed. Read in browser »++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Year end:
Israel's Good News Newsletter Dec 30th '18 (See 1 below.)
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Dave Barry Summarizes 2018. You thought 2016 and 2017 were bad? Let’s look back at this past year.
https://www.washingtonpost.
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From a usually reliable source. (See 2 below.)
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Dick
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1) As 2018 comes to a close, there is no slowdown in the pace of Israeli life-saving
breakthroughs, innovations to benefit humanity, global partnerships, social / humanitarian
activities and discoveries of Biblical proportions.
In the 30th Dec 18 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- An innovative Israeli melanoma diagnostic device has already saved seven lives.
- An Ethiopian-Israeli has qualified as an Israeli Air Force pilot.
- Israelis are (again) helping survivors of a natural disaster in Indonesia.
- Israelis have invented bio-degradable, sustainable, non-polluting plastic.
- Israelis are solving Ireland’s (and the world’s) cow pollution problem.
- Intel have agreed to a $5 billion expansion in Israel.
- Archeologists found a ring lost in a Jerusalem ritual bath 2000 years ago.
- Click here to see the 23rd Dec newsletter on IsraelSeen, Ruthfully Yours, Janglo, and United With Israel with extra feature on Health. Also promoted by SCICC.
- Also (TY Sandra) in German and (TY Zachy) in Hebrew. Please pass on these links to German and Hebrew-speaking contacts. Also (TY Esty) please visit (and “like” and “follow”) the www.facebook.com/
VerygoodnewsIL Facebook page.
- Please click here, to donate (a small or large amount) to help me expand the reach of VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
- Click here, to SEARCH the IsraelActive archives of over 13,500 previous news articles.
- 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
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
New treatment for Glioblastoma. I reported previously ((11th Nov) the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s breakthrough in glioblastoma (aggressive brain cancer) treatment. Now Sheba Medical Center researchers have developed SIXAC, a new six-amino-acid-based compound, that restricts the progression of glioblastoma.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Blood test for lung cancer. I reported previously (see here) on two Israeli startups (Nucleix and Medial EarlySign) developing blood tests for diagnosing early stage lung cancer. Here is another – Savicell, achieving a 91% success rate. Early detection gives the patient a 50-80% recovery chance. At late stage it is only 4%.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
https://link.springer.com/
Device to spot melanoma. (TY WIN) Israeli startup Scade Medical has patented a prototype scanner, to diagnose early stage melanoma. BlueSky is based on DOSI (differential optical spectro-polarimetric imaging) technology invented by Ofir Aharon, whose mother contracted melanoma. It has already saved seven lives.
https://www.israel21c.org/
US approves cervical cancer diagnostic device. I reported previously (25th Sep) that Israel’s Biop had raised $2.2 million to fund its cervical cancer diagnosis device. Biop has just received US FDA approval for the device, which maps the cervix and identifies cancerous and precancerous cells in epithelial tissues.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Home diagnosis kit. (TY Arutz Sheva) Israeli startup Diagnoz.me has a smartphone system that can detect infections from home and send results to your doctor. Founder and CTO Tamir Epstein described the system on ILTV. Diagnoz.me just won the dHealth 2018 Summit and its NIS 3 million prize money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://diagnoz.me/2018/12/17/
The Origin/als aim to end ALS. A team of students at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University competed in the 2018 International Genetically Engineered Competition (iGEM) at MIT in Boston. The group presented findings on a new therapeutic approach for Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), known also as Lou Gehrig's disease.
http://www.
Novatis backs Israeli anti-cancer biotech. I reported previously (see here) on Israeli biotech Ayala and its personalized cancer treatment. It is already partnering with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Now multinational Novatis has made a $|10 million investment in Ayala, focusing on the aggressive blood cancer multiple myeloma.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Lonza opens center for Israeli cooperation. (TY Calcalistech) Swiss biotech multinational Lonza has opened an innovation center in Haifa. Its aim is to partner “with Israeli talent in academia, medical institutions and early-stage innovative companies”. Lomza sees Israel’s technologies providing new healthcare solutions.
https://www.lonza.com/about-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Amgen partners Israeli biomed. (TY Calcalistech) I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s Entera Bio and its treatment for hypoparathyroidism. Entera Bio has just signed a research and licensing agreement with US multinational Amgen to develop a new oral molecule-based treatment that currently is given via IV or injection.
https://investors.enterabio.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
The first Ethiopian-Israeli pilot. Lt. “Yod” has become the first Israeli citizen of Ethiopian heritage to complete the military’s prestigious 3-year pilot’s course. Lt. “Yod” (for security reasons, all pilots are referred to by an initial letter) will serve initially as a jet navigator.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-
Forbes top 50 tech women includes 5 Israelis. Five Israeli women were named among Forbes’ lists of “Top 50 Women In Tech” including three to the inaugural global list and two to the European round-up. They are Adv. Limor Shmerling Magazanik, Dr. Michal Tsur, Dr. Tal Rabin, Galia Benartzi and (see here) Danit Peleg.
http://nocamels.com/2018/12/5-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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Hi-tech conference for Arab-Israelis. The US Embassy in Israel and Israel’s Ministry for Social Equality held in Nazareth, the first high-tech conference that introduced Arab entrepreneurs to US and Israeli investors. In his speech US Ambassador David Friedman praised Israel as a “place where we are all enriched by our diversity”
http://www.israelnationalnews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
More Arab-Israelis in hi-tech. New data from Israel’s Innovation Authority show that Israeli-Arabs fill about 3% of high-tech R&D positions - up from under 1% in 2015. There are now 50% more Arab-Israelis studying hi-tech subjects at Israeli universities and colleges than five years ago.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israel’s growing Christian population. Israel is the only Middle East country where its Christian population is growing - by 2.2% in 2017. Today they number around 175,000. In Gaza less than 1,300 remain of the 30,000 before Hamas took over. Israel issued 700 of them (over 50%) with Christmas permits to visit Israeli holy sites. Meanwhile, Israel welcomed an estimated 150,000 Christians from overseas for the festive season.
https://www.jpost.com//Israel-
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Israel’s top search and rescue expert. Yehiel Magnus is head of Israeli-based Magnus International Search and Rescue. Magnus and his 15-person team have conducted thousands of humanitarian rescue operations over the last 25 years. They also retrieved kidnapping victims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
World’s 3rd most educated nation. (TY Jacques) According to a 2017 report from the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), Israel ranks number three on the shortlist for the most educated countries worldwide. About 50.9% of 25-64-year-old Israelis hold a 2 to 4-year higher degree. Video from 3:30
http://israelbetweenthelines.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israel-Greece-Cyprus Summit. The 5th Israel-Greece-Cyprus Summit began on 20th Dec in Beersheba. The leaders of each country are to sign agreements on cyber defense, civilian space-related issues and meteorological cooperation. https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/
NATO conducts maritime medical exercise with Israel. NATO’s flagship for its Sea Guardian Operation has conducted a medical response exercise with Israeli Navy corvette INS Eilat. The exercise, “MEDEX Crystal Sea” is designed to develop medical support around the Mediterranean Sea for Operation Sea Guardian.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.
Israelis help Indonesia after deadly tsunami. Volunteers from Israeli NGO IsraAID have flown to Indonesia (a Muslim-majority country having no diplomatic relations with Israel) to provide safe water and psychological support in wake of the tsunami disaster. Some IsraAID workers were still there since the last earthquake!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://worldisraelnews.com/
http://www.jewishpress.com/
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Biodegradable sustainable plastics. Tel Aviv University scientists have invented a process to make bioplastic polymers from bacteria that feed on seaweed. No need for oil, fresh water or land and there are no toxic waste products. The plastic is bio-degradable and can be recycled into organic waste. (see publication here)
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Israeli imaging startup wins Chinese innovation award. Israeli startup Newsight Imaging won second place (and $72,000) at the 2018 Optics Valley of China International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. Newsight develops chips containing 3D imaging sensors for robotics, drones and the automotive industry.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Now everyone wants Israeli anti-drone technology. Israel’s Skylock is another Israeli tech company that disables intruder drones by “jamming” them or disrupting their frequencies. Skylock’s passive, selective and active solutions are operational in several countries. Since the |Gatwick airport incident, enquiries have soared.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.skylock1.com/ https://www.youtube.com/
Irish Republic enlists Israelis to reduce pollution. The 2 million cows in Eire (Republic of Ireland) have polluted the land and water reservoirs. So, the Irish Government-backed Ireland Ag-tech Fund has funded Israel’s CropX to use its soil measurement system to identify where to place Eire’s cows to do least damage.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
CES Las Vegas. (TY WIN and SCICC) 22 Israeli companies will be officially exhibiting at CES 2019 (8-11 Jan) – the big technology expo in Las Vegas. Many more will be exhibiting in a personal capacity.
http://israeltradeca.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The first cell-grown minute steak. Israel’s Aleph Farms Ltd. has produced the first cell-grown minute steak. It is said to have the full experience of meat with the appearance, shape, and texture of beef cuts. Aleph Farms’ slaughter-free steak requires no pasture, water, feed, antibiotics or other resources to raise cattle for meat.
https://www.nbc-2.com/story/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Israeli economy improves again. Israel’s Composite State of the economy index increased by another 0.3% in November. There were significant increases in imports of inputs, also in industrial production, in retail trade and in October’s services revenue.
https://www.boi.org.il/en/
IKEA to open 5th Israeli store. Swedish retail giant IKEA currently has mega stores at Netanya, Rishon Lezion, Kiriyat Ata (near Haifa) and Beersheva (see here). It now plans to open a fifth - in the small community of Eshtaol, near Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem. The new branch is set to open in early 2020.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Virgin Atlantic to start UK-Israel service. (TY WIN) UK aviation giant Virgin Atlantic plans to launch a route to Tel Aviv next September. It also won the contract to transport British Eurovision fans on a special flight to Israel in May 2019. Earlier in Dec, Israeli-born Shai Weiss was named as Virgin Atlantic’s new CEO.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
KPMG choses Israeli fintech partner. KPMG Fintech has chosen Israel’s Binah.ai as a technology partner, supplying its out-of-the-box, data science-based use cases to predict trends, FX rates, profits, risks etc. KPMG Global Fintech comprises professionals in more than 45 hubs around the world. (KPMG at Israeli conference.)
https://www.prnewswire.com/
Intel to spend $5 billion on Israeli expansion. Intel Corporation will receive a $185 million grant from the Israeli government in exchange for a massive expansion of its production operations. Overall, Intel will spend an estimated $5 billion on the project, including an upgrade for its Kiryat Gat plant in southern Israel.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Gong.io wins AI and Big Data competition. I reported previously (Jul 2017)on Israel’s Gong.io which uses AI to analyze sales conversations and help train sales and customer service staff. Gong.io has just won Calcalist’s and Microsoft’s second annual artificial intelligence and big data startup competition.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Putting Israelis to work. Israel’s Tigbur is a recruitment agency that specializes in both the hi-tech and the homecare sectors. It also supplies security guards and cleaners. See Tigbur’s CEO Orit Benbenisti on ILTV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Securing digital securities with blockchain. The blockchain platform of Israel’s Securitize allows investors and issuers to manage their digital securities from one convenient dashboard. It ensures the digital securities can be traded compliantly across all marketplaces and exchanges. See Securitize’s CEO Carlos Domingo on ILTV.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Hebrew Language Day. 27th Dec was Israel’s Hebrew Language Day - a celebration of the revival of Hebrew as the only language to return as the spoken first language of an entire nation. This year’s theme was “Hebrew - an innovative language” stressing that modern Hebrew is qualified for research and scientific study.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Maimonides Exhibition. Jerusalem’s Israel Museum has opened an exhibit showcasing original manuscripts and writings of Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides / the Rambam) - one of Judaism’s most revered rabbis. Until 27th Apr, visitors to “Maimonides: A Legacy in Script” can see many of his original writings and signature.
https://www.jns.org/new-
Bon Jovi will return to Israel. The famed Bon Jovi band has scheduled a Tel Aviv performance on July 25 at Hayarkon Park. Israel is their final stop on their “This House is Not for Sale Tour” and will be their second appearance in Israel. Their October 2015 performance attracted some 50,000 fans.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tel Aviv Jazz festival. (TY UWI) The Tel Aviv Jazz Festival (TLV JazzFest) is one of the most important jazz events in Israel. For 28 years, the Festival has garnered a prestigious reputation in Israel and abroad, as a magnet for stellar jazz performers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.europejazz.net/
Israeli Wins Prestigious Jazz Award. (TY Jacques) Israel’s Tom Oren was granted with a prestigious prize for young jazz artists in Washington DC. The 24-year-old received the first prize award during the International Piano Competition from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which included $25,000 and a record deal.
http://israelbetweenthelines.
Brazilian soccer superstars to play in Israel. Brazil’s Soccer legends Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and others are scheduled to play a “peace match” on 26 March in either Haifa or Jerusalem. The friendly will be against Israeli legends including Eyal Berkovich, Haim Revivo and Walid Badir.
https://jewishnews.
THE JEWISH STATE
IDF receives 70 new Torah scrolls. I reported previously (Feb 2014) about the hundreds of Torah scrolls that have been presented to IDF bases. Now, Mizrachi Canada has donated 70 Torah scrolls to the Israeli Defense Ministry for distribution to IDF bases all over Israel.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
Zionist innovation initiative. Nefesh B’Nefesh (NbN), which promotes and assists immigration to Israel has launched the 2019 Initiative for Zionist Innovation. It includes funding projects of Olim (new immigrants) that make positive changes in their communities and immediate surroundings.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
2000-year-old ring lost in the bath. A 2000-year-old ring with a solitaire gem stone was uncovered recently in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem. It was found in a mikvah (ritual bath) on the Pilgrimage Road that dates to the time of the second Temple period.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Where Judah the Prince may have bathed. Excavations at the Zippori National Park have unearthed a public bath which may have been used by famed Jewish leader and scholar Rabbi Judah Hanasi (Judah the Prince). Tractate Megillah states the rabbi, who redacted the Mishna early in the 3rd century CE, bathed on a fast day.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
From Nazi to Jew. 18 months ago, Yonatan was called Lutz, had been indoctrinated by extremists and was a member of a karate group with a neo-Nazi coach. Then he had a life-changing dream. After studying Kabbalah, he converted to Judaism. He now puts on Tefillin every day and plans to make Aliya in two months’ time.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
330 Ukrainian Jews arrive at end of 2018. Thanks to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), 330 Olim (new immigrants) have landed in Israel from the Ukraine. The IFCJ has brought about 4,800 Olim to Israel this year alone (750,000 in 20 years). The immigrants include Jews from 29 different nations.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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2) How the FBI Ran an Illegal Counterintelligence Masquerade in Plot to Get Trump
In examining the cast of FBI and senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials fired, retired, resigned and under investigation since May 2017, the breathtaking scope of the FBI’s unprecedented criminal efforts to steer a presidential election and frame a newly elected president serves as Exhibit A for the organization’s disbandment. The “leadership” that willfully and corruptly ignored Hillary Clinton’s criminal mishandling of highly classified information had no problem faking a counterintelligence investigation to smear and destroy President Trump.
A recitation of the FBI/DOJ Litany of Shame is called for: Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Baker, Ohr, Yates, Priestap, Rybicki, Kortan, Campbell, Turgal, Bower, Steinbach, Giacalone, Laufman, Carlin, McCord — there are more, and eventually we’ll learn their names. Some took unlawful action draped in the American flag and smarmy self-righteousness. Some were careerists craving a retirement paycheck and a strong resume, standing by and doing nothing — negligent or complicit with guilty knowledge
The group dubbed the “Secret Society” by FBI lawyer Lisa Page in a text to self-anointed FBI “Super Agent” Peter Strzok had a clear goal: Stop Trump. But how to do that “legally”? How does one manufacture a phony Russia hoax and hang it around Trump’s neck when you’re constrained from going after his campaign, organization and staff?
The FBI is specifically prohibited from penetrating and subverting U.S. organizations under the provisions of Executive Order 12333, Section 2.9: “No one acting on behalf of agencies within the Intelligence Community may join or otherwise participate in any organization in the United States on behalf of any agency within the intelligence community without disclosing his intelligence affiliation to appropriate officials of the organization, except in accordance with procedures established by the head of the agency concerned and approved by the attorney general.” That’s tough for the “secret society.”
Could they — would they — rely on Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and have her office generate a legal finding memo? An actual, discoverable, legal record detailing and authorizing an operation against a presidential candidate? Too risky on a few levels.
But there’s more to Section 2.9: “Such participation shall be authorized only if it is essential to achieving lawful purposes as determined by the agency head or designee. No such participation may be undertaken for the purpose of influencing the activity of the organization or its members except in cases where: (a) The participation is undertaken on behalf of the FBI in the course of a lawful investigation; or (b) The organization concerned is composed primarily of individuals who are not United States persons and is reasonably believed to be acting on behalf of a foreign power.”
That second portion of Section 2.9 was exploited by Strzok & Co to create the predicate for a foreign counterintelligence investigation overseas that would then be “imported” back into the United States — circumventing the prohibition on “Undisclosed Participation in Organizations Within the United States.” Using this technique, Strzok & Co wouldn’t be offensively targeting the Trump operation to subvert his election and presidency. The FBI would now be “reacting” to a foreign intelligence threat.
Hence, we have the widely reported (FBI designed and orchestrated) events surrounding Carter Page, George Papadopolous, Stef Halper, Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, et al. Super Agent Strzok even traveled to the United Kingdom (the safest “Outside the Continental United States” [OCONUS] operating environment for the FBI) to grease the skids for a counterintelligence “dangle” operation. The reader will recall Lisa Page’s December 2015 text message: “You get all our oconus lures approved? ;),” to Strzok.
Having personally run double-agent operations as a counterintelligence case officer, I’m not guessing at this language and intelligence tradecraft.
Thrilled with the initiation of their foreign counterintelligence investigation implicating Trump “associates,” (and laundering the criminality of their end-run of “undisclosed participation”) the secret society could launch full-bore with an array of techniques and tradecraft. Keep in mind that the FBI/DOJ never gave Trump a “defensive security briefing” that is standard when FBI/DOJ comes upon a foreign counterintelligence threat to a U.S. organization or corporation. Never.
Not coincidentally, the “Trump Dossier” appears on the scene — thanks to Hillary Clinton and Democratic National Committee funding, via a couple of cut-outs, to actual Russians (a crime actually worth investigating). Next come the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants, predicated on Hillary’s mercenary’s lies. Now we know the FBI went so far as to phony-up investigative reports (“302s”) in the related framing of LTG Mike Flynn. Is there anything the FBI/DOJ leadership wouldn’t do to stop Trump?
Here’s the big picture: there are the crimes described above — and there are the crimes to facilitate and then cover-up the underlying activity. That’s where the FBI got lost. It’s gone. No sensible American believes in the organization anymore. The DOJ is right there with them. Compromised, arrogant, ruthless, vindictive, detached, self-righteous, hypersensitive to criticism and largely immune. A fish rots from the head down. Go back and read the FBI/DOJ Litany of Shame. Review Comey’s arrogant, smug, Flynn-interview statement: “something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more … organized administration.”
The answer is to create an investigative division within the U.S. Marshals Service and laterally transfer over vetted, honest FBI agents. Collapse the decayed wreck of the FBI within six months and hope the American public can once again believe in “Equal Justice Under the Law.”
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