Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Sohrab Amari: Mr. Ellison Goes to Dinner
The episode raises serious questions about Ellison’s judgment and his real ideological convictions.
Ellison has spent much of his political career running away from Farrakhan. His ties to the group almost derailed his first congressional run, in 2006. After it emerged that he had worked with the Nation of Islam for at least 18 months in the 1990s, Ellison wrote a letter to the Jewish community distancing himself from Farrakhan and denouncing his “anti-Semitic statements and actions.” Ellison reiterated his opposition to the group’s “anti-Semitism” and “homophobia” in 2016 when he contested the DNC leadership.
But revulsion at his former associates in the Nation of Islam didn’t stop Ellison from breaking bread with Farrakhan in 2013–bread that was provided by the Tehran regime. So which is the real Ellison: The one who drafts earnest letters of apology to Jewish groups? Or the one who, as recently as 2013, saw it fit to dine with Farrakhan under Iranian auspices?
The Ellison-Farrakhan-Rouhani shindig is also a reminder that progressive Democrats had no compunction about hobnobbing with representatives of an anti-American terror state–until recently, that is. Today, Ellison is among the party’s loudest tub-thumpers regarding claims of Trump-Russian “collusion.” Yet he met privately with the Iranian president two years after the Obama administration’s Justice Department uncovered a plot by the Tehran regime to assassinate the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil.
Ellison does not appear to have done anything illegal in meeting with Rouhani. Nor does this revelation neutralize or invalidate concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 election. But Republicans and conservatives can be forgiven for wondering if the Democrats’ newfound and highly selective hawkishness is a genuine effort to reckon with national-security realities or a ploy in a political game.
Qatar-Backed Spy Operation on U.S. Jews Puts Al Jazeera in Congressional Crosshairs
A months-long spy operation funded by Qatar's Al Jazeera news network targeting American Jews and pro-Israel groups is fueling a new congressional effort to force the Middle Eastern news outlet to register as a foreign agent under U.S. laws, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.27 years since the Gulf War - why didn't Israel respond?
Al Jazeera, the Qatari government's state-sponsored news organization, recently conducted a months-long spy operation on a slew of American pro-Israel officials and organizations as part of what Al Jazeera says is an upcoming documentary on supposed Jewish influence in the U.S. government.
The spy effort has prompted Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) to begin circulating a letter to his colleagues urging support for an effort to force Al Jazeera to register as a state-backed foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.
The effort is being fueled by Al Jazeera's effort to secretly record American Jews and Israel supporters, according to sources who familiar with the letter.
As part of the upcoming documentary, a mole paid for by Al Jazeera infiltrated these organizations and recorded pro-Israel advocates discussing efforts to combat anti-Semitism and boycotts of Israel.
Ahead of Al Jazeera running this production, it has sent several letters to subjects who were secretly recorded asking them to respond to a range of allegations that the Qatari outlet claims confirm that American Jews are working to influence the American government and block global efforts to boycott Israel, known as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS.
The release recently by the IDF and Defense Ministry archives of interviews with me and the late Lt.-Gen. Dan Shomron, who was defense minister and chief of staff at the time of the Gulf War, has rekindled the debate about whether Israel should have responded to the Iraqi missile attacks during the Gulf War. Thirty-nine Scud missiles were launched from western Iraq against Israeli targets during the five-and-a-half weeks of the war. Only six landed in populated areas, causing considerable property damage and the loss of a single life.
Throughout the war US president George H. W. Bush did his utmost to keep Israel from responding. US deputy secretary of state Larry Eagleburger and undersecretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz arrived in Israel four days before the aerial bombing of Iraq began, on a mission to convince us not to launch a preemptive attack and to stay out of the war. They assured us that the US armed forces would within days eliminate the danger of Scud attacks against Israel, while Israeli participation might well lead to a break-up of the coalition and ensuing difficulties. Should the US not be successful in eliminating the Scud threat to Israel, they said, the US would acquiesce to an Israeli response.
As it turned out, all American attempts to hit the Scud launchers failed, and throughout the war Scuds kept falling on Israel. Raytheon Patriot anti-aircraft missiles sent to Israel by the US, despite a number of attempts, failed to intercept a single Scud. Nevertheless, Bush in almost daily calls to prime minister Yitzhak Shamir urged him to keep Israel out of the war despite Iraqi “provocations.”
Israeli participation could lead to a break-up of the coalition, he insisted.
Ahmadi Muslims Are Among the Persecuted Mideast Minorities Given Religious Freedom in Israel
As a small Islamic sect of an estimated 20 million people — about one percent of the global Muslim population — the Ahmadiyya community is a persecuted minority across the Middle East. But at the southern entrance of the Israeli city of Haifa lies Kababir village, which is home to 2,000 residents — 70 percent of whom are Ahmadi Muslims.Europe, stop giving lessons to Israel
In Kababir, Ahmadis enjoy full religious and cultural freedom; they also pray at the only Ahmadi mosque in the Middle East, opened in 1934 and redone in 1979. The safe haven that the Ahmadis have found in the Jewish state mirrors that of the Druze, Bahá’í, and Israeli Christians.
According to Israeli Ahmadiyya community leader Muhammad Sharif Odeh, the Ahmadis have complete religious freedom in Israel. And this is different from the rights accorded to their brethren in the rest of the region and in Pakistan, where Ahmadis cannot use any religious symbols or even greet each other with a traditional Arabic salutation.
“Ahmadis in Arab countries in the Middle East suffer a lot,” Odeh said. “They are not allowed to have mosques or minarets, and they go to jail for their beliefs and are persecuted.”
Still, despite their safety and freedom in Israel, “there is a long way ahead” for Israeli Ahmadis in the realm of civil and political rights, said Odeh, who spoke of being discriminated against by Israelis for being Arab — as well as by other Muslims for being Ahmadi.
The Ahmadiyya movement was established in 1889 by Punjabi Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He claimed to have received revelations from Allah, who imposed the duty upon him to rejuvenate Islam through universal reformation using peaceful means. Ahmadi Muslims assert that they are true Muslims, but believe that the founder of their community is the Mahdi, the shadow prophet of Islam — and their messiah. They also believe that while the Koran is their final book of law, its inspiration and revelation continues with their caliphs.
Is it not wonderful to witness the silence of Europe on Iran's aggression against Israel and the self-defense of the Jewish State? Europe seems to have chosen the path of cowardice and disgrace, the road to progressive moral and political decadence.Europe has chosen Iran over Israel.Shmuley Boteach: Caitlyn Jenner’s proud defense of Israel against BDS enemies
The old continent is living through a great eclipse of reason, the end of which we do not see. Then we complain if Europe matters little: tomorrow and the day after tomorrow it will matter less and less. Israel will know how to defend itself, but Europe risks becoming the enslaved peninsula of the Middle East in chaos.
Iran, revived by pusillanimous Western money, beats on the war drum and attacks Israel through Hezbollah and Syria. What will European bureaucrats do? Will they ask for “calm on both sides”? Will the UN, which has already succumbed to the rogue states, condemn the “Israeli retaliation”?
What will those anxious about the Polish law on the extermination camps say in the face of a Holocaust denial regime, semi-nuclear, with long-range missiles and obsessed with the destruction of the “Zionists”?
Pacifism, appeasement and cowardice have never led to anything but one outcome: War.
Having announced that Caitlyn Jenner is one of the main honorees at our March 8 Gala at the Plaza Hotel in New York City celebrating Israel’s 70th birthday, I was inundated with criticism for giving a “Champion of Israel and Human Rights Award” to the world’s most famous transgender woman. As fortune would have it, at the very same time, Caitlyn was herself in Ireland, a country increasingly hostile to Israel, speaking publicly and proudly of the Jewish state.Newsweek’s Blatant Palestinian Propaganda Video
“I really judge a people and a country by the way they treat the LGBT community, I just have to say Ireland has done such a good job when it comes to these issues... There’s other countries around the world, in fact I’ll be in Israel, who have done a wonderful job in the face of civil rights.” Caitlyn went on to say that if you’re LGBT in countries that are not like Israel, “they’ll hang you; it’s an amazing thing.”
For her courage and incredible friendship to the Jewish people and Israel, and her preparedness to speak out from Hollywood, where even the Jews are almost completely silent on Israel, we will proudly proceed with a speech by Caitlyn on March 8 highlighting the State of Israel as one of the world’s great bastions of human rights and a country that protects LGBT citizens from the certain murder and brutality they would experience if they set one foot outside of Israel in the north, east, or south.
Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.
I understand that some members of faith communities have objections to the LGBT lifestyle. I recognize that some of my religious colleagues are uncomfortable with the gay rights movement. More than a few of my fellow Orthodox Jews have written to me about their disappointment. Seriously? You object to our simple message that every human being – regardless of religion, race, or creed – deserves to be protected and deserves to be treated like a child of God? What Bible were you reading?
Is there someone out there with a kippa, tzitzit and a beard who, if they saw a transgender man or woman brutally murdered in Tehran and hanging from a crane in a city square, wouldn’t see that as abomination and an affront to the living God?
When Newsweek’s Joseph Gedeon produced a short documentary video, he was at least open about his intentions if this tweet is anything to go by.German bank enables pro-BDS NGO that supports IDF deserters
Palestinian voices are rarely heard on mainstream media. Watch @YousefMunayyer explain history from the side you don't hear about in this short documentary I produced for @Newsweek https://t.co/NIAteo7fhF
— Joseph Gedeon (@JGedeon1) December 24, 2017
The claim that “Palestinian voices are rarely heard on mainstream media” is highly dubious to say the least. As for the “history” in the video, a viewing of the four and a half minutes shows it to be nothing more than blatant historical revisionism and Palestinian propaganda.
While Gedeon is open on Twitter that the video is one-sided, the video itself is presented not as opinion but as fact. Without any context, the video (available on YouTube and in the tweet below) is embedded in Israel-related stories on Newsweek and International Business Times content, including most recently the unrelated story of Israel’s interception of an Iranian drone.
A German bank has been catapulted into an anti-Israel scandal because it provides an account to an NGO that supports Israelis who desert from or refuse to serve in the IDF.MKs to honor U.S. anti-BDS legislator
The Jerusalem Post’s ongoing investigative series into the financial entities that enable a boycott of Israel revealed that the Cologne-based Bank for Social Economy (Bank für Sozialwirtschaft) operates an account for Connection e.V., a German nongovernmental organization that describes its mission as the “international support of conscientious objectors and deserters.” Connection e.V. rejects Israel as a national homeland for Jews.
The NGO has posted numerous articles on its website, as part of its campaign to raise money for Israelis who refuse to serve in the IDF, including a February electronic email campaign to write Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman in support of Mattan Helman, a conscientious objector. Helman, from Kibbutz Haogen, is serving prison time because of his refusal to be drafted into the IDF.
Connection e.V. advocates a full-blown boycott, divestment, sanctions campaign against the Jewish state. After Israel in 2010 intercepted the Turkish Mavi Marmara protest ship with jihadis on board, seeking to enter the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the German NGO published a call from War Resisters International for “companies to withdraw their investments in support of the Israeli state” and for a “boycott of Israeli products.”
Connection e.V. published a second BDS text on its website, apparently last year, in which BDS is termed “wonderful.”
The 2010 pro-BDS article stated that “it is clear that the Israeli state is not the legal inheritance of the millions of Jews who were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust. Israel is rather based on violence, denial of human rights and the violation of international norms of human decency.”
Connection e.V. declined to respond to Post press queries.
The MKs of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and World Jewish Congress (WJC) will give a lifetime achievement award to South Carolina State Representative Alan Clemmons, who drafted the first bill prohibiting boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning Israel. The award will be presented at a dinner at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel ThursdayPMW: UK MPs use PMW material to defend Israel
The bill was the model for legislation that has passed in 25 US states, and trillions of dollars have been regulated against the BDS movement as a result. He also authored and spearheaded the Israel plank of the Republican platform, which set the stage for US President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“It has been my great honor to lead the policy efforts of the tens of millions of pro-Israel Americans who stand with you as a matter of faith and principle," Clemmons said. "What I can promise with certainty is that our support for Israel’s well-being is of overwhelming concern, and will never be sold out or abandoned. We stand with Israel proudly, now and always.”
Additionally, the caucus, together with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, will present award-winning journalist and author Christine Darg with the “Night to Honor our Christian Allies” Tourism Award. Darg is the founder of Exploits Ministry and the co-founder of the media ministry Jerusalem Channel. Darg’s Exploits Ministry has been bringing Christian groups to Israel at least three times a year for over two decades.
Just two weeks after British MPs met with the Head of PMW’s Legal Department Maurice Hirsch, the MPs were actively using the PMW material in Parliament to defend Israel.
On Feb. 7, 2018, Parliament held a debate initiated to criticize Israel for alleged cases in which the Israeli Military arrested and detained Palestinian children. Three MPs spoke out on behalf of Israel, explaining why the Palestinian children were involved in violence necessitating their arrests, citing PMW material.
Labour MP Joan Ryan explained that while the Palestinian children’s plight is important - she countered citing PMW material that it was the PA itself that was inciting the children to hatred, Antisemitism, violence, and terror glorification, by naming schools after terrorists, naming sports events after terrorists, teaching Antisemitism on PA official TV and more. MP Joan Ryan even displayed an image from PMW’s bulletin regarding Fatah’s guide to stone throwing for children.
Is Denying Israeli Help Worth Suffering Drought?
According to South Africa’s Rumana Akoob, writing in the Daily Vox and Mail & Guardian, the answer is (apparently): yes.British Jews ‘Appalled’ by King’s College London Protest Against Former Israeli Minister
It’s a horrible fact: South Africa is running out of water. Cities like Cape Town are already cutting access, and more are set to follow. South Africa has already declared the situation a national disaster.
It’s also a fact that Israel has offered to provide vitally needed assistance in its role as a world leader in drought prevention through desalination.
But Akoob says:
This is not true. If Israelis have sufficient water, it’s only because they deny water rights to Palestine.
She then embarks on a screed about Israel’s supposedly harmful activities toward Palestinians in the area of water supply, referring to:
…the colonial, apartheid state of Israel which continues to use water as a method of colonisation and segregation.
There’s just one problem: the “water libel” against Israel is simply untrue.
The representative body of British Jewry said it’s “appalled” by a protest staged at King’s College London (KCL) on Monday against a lecture by a former Israeli minister, during which audience members “were barracked and intimidated in a completely unacceptable way.”Israel Advocates Defend Arizona’s Anti-BDS Law Following Setback in Kansas
The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned some 50 protesters who targeted individuals entering and exiting a talk with Dan Meridor — a former deputy prime minister and minister of intelligence in the Israeli government — with loud chants of “shame” and “criminal,” according to video footage.
“It was very aggressive,” recounted Tamara Berens, president of King’s College London’s Israel Society, which helped bring Meridor to campus. “The event was severely disrupted due to the amount of noise they were making throughout.”
“Even with double doors, we could still hear them screaming,” she told The Algemeiner. “Sometimes they weren’t even saying words, they would just scream at the top of their lungs.”
“I felt very unsafe throughout the event and especially when we had to leave and enter the room,” Berens said.
She indicated that KCL’s security officials had previously assured event organizers that members of the public would not be allowed to protest inside the building.
“They let us down by betraying their promise and allowing people to enter,” Berens explained. “There were protestors present who had previously seriously intimidated students at other events, at [University College London] for example.”
During the last few years, more than 20 US states have targeted the BDS movement with legislation aimed at preventing state entities from doing business with companies that seek to boycott Israel. Many pro-Israel advocates view the enactment of these state laws as a broader response to the multifaceted threat posed by BDS — including on college campuses and in mainline Protestant churches.The Role of Entertainers in BDS: Engine or Caboose?
But this success in pro-Israel advocacy has been met with some pushback. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and some pro-Palestinian legal groups have argued that anti-BDS legislation violates the Constitution’s free speech provisions. Now, for the first time, a Kansas Federal judge agreed with this argument — issuing a preliminary injunction against an anti-BDS law in Kansas that went into effect last July.
The case has highlighted a debate over the constitutionality of anti-BDS legislation, and with the ACLU filing another lawsuit against a similar law in Arizona, a showdown over the future of these state laws is underway.
In Kansas, the ACLU represented Esther Koontz, a member of the Mennonite Church USA, which last year passed a resolution to divest from Israel. Koontz, in accordance with calls to boycott Israel from her church, decided not to buy consumer products made by Israeli companies operating beyond the pre-1967 lines. Koontz, a contractor with the Kansas Department of Education’s Math and Science partnership program, said that she could not sign a form saying that she does not participate in a boycott of Israel.
I have corresponded with the heads of such companies as Billboard, CBS and BET when their events or news coverage have appeared to give unbalanced coverage to BDS propaganda.
I have witnessed ugly social media wars, followed news stories, written for international publications and created unique platforms for artists to express their support for Israel. As a result, I am often asked to employ my expertise on the topic.
This is how I have discovered that — even among the most well-informed hosts — there are misconceptions on the subject of the boycott. And one of the most common misconceptions surrounds the role that artists play in the cultural boycott campaign against Israel.
During an interview on The Mike Siegel show, we delved into this very question. Below is a video clip of the applicable segment.
Anti-Semitism in the European Left Wing Part 1 (Opening: David Gurevich - Simon Plosker)
Anti-Semitism in the European Left Wing, Part 2: Keynote Address, Dr. David Hirsh - VIDEO
Anti-Semitism in the European Left Wing, Part 3: Panel Discussion - VIDEO
Guardian condemns “antisemitic tropes” targeting George Soros. Pot, Kettle, Black.
On Feb. 8th, we were among those who tweeted our objections to a Telegraph headline accompanying an article about George Soros’s funding of an anti-Brexit group.BBC WS ‘Weekend’ airs a confused report on Iranian drone story
Whatever your views on Brexit, or your views on Soros, it's very unfortunate that @Telegraph editors evoked the "secret plot" trope to characterise the Jewish billionaire's (quite open) support for keeping Britain in the EU. https://t.co/irlUbvjrvO pic.twitter.com/Eoli2ZgN5V
— UK Media Watch (@UKMediaWatch) February 8, 2018
Though it’s troubling that the paper didn’t revise the headline, which falsely suggests that the Jewish billionaire’s activities are “secret”, and evokes tropes about ‘Jewish cabals’, we didn’t believe that editors (or the journalist who wrote the piece) intentionally evoked an antisemitic narrative. Further, the Telegraph, on the whole, is a responsible publication that’s usually on the right side of the debate about antisemitism, and is typically careful to avoid anti-Israel rhetoric which crosses the line to antisemitism. Perspective and nuance, when calling out media outlets on such matters, is important.
Equally important to those inclined to pounce on the Telegraph are the qualities of self-reflection, honesty and moral consistency – traits clearly absent when Guardian editors chose to publish an official editorial about the Soros row. The editorial (The Guardian view on George Soros: the best of the 1%, Feb. 12) didn’t condemn the Telegraph by name, but the ‘right wing’ paper was clearly their target when it complained that “Soros has…been the target of organised hate campaigns, often coloured with antisemitism”, and further called out, as “utterly unforgivable” such “antisemitic tropes in the attacks on his policies and his ideas.”
The hypocrisy of the Guardian calling out the Telegraph is staggering, as the use and legitimisation of antisemitic tropes by their editors and commentators has been continually documented on this site.
Since 2013 the BBC has been telling its audiences – inaccurately – that Israel is “involved” in the conflict in Syria. As has been noted here in the past:BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – January 2018
“In spite of the BBC’s suggestion to the contrary, Israel is not “involved in the conflict” in Syria. That conflict is a civil war between Assad loyalists (and their foreign allies) and anti-Assad rebels (and theirs) and Israel does not support one side or the other. Any actions which may have been taken by Israel are exclusively linked to the protection of its citizens.”
The BBC has also repeatedly downplayed the threats posed to Israel by the presence of Iran and Hizballah in Syria as well as their repeated aggressive rhetoric.
It perhaps therefore comes as no surprise to see that the BBC’s own journalists are unable to provide audiences with a lucid and informative account that distinguishes between the factors that lie behind the recent events in Israel and Syria and the separate topics of Iran’s supply of weapons to Hizballah in Lebanon and the civil war in Syria.
The Israel Security Agency’s report on terror attacks (Hebrew) during January 2018 shows that throughout the month a total of 118 incidents took place: 91 in Judea & Samaria, twenty-two in Jerusalem and five in the Gaza Strip sector.Somali Migrant Plotted to Kill Queen and Jewish Londoners, Court Hears
In Judea & Samaria and Jerusalem the agency recorded one hundred attacks with petrol bombs, nine attacks using improvised explosive devices, three shooting attacks and one vehicular attack. Also recorded were three separate incidents of missile fire from the Gaza Strip.
One civilian was murdered in a shooting attack near Havat Gilad on January 9th which was reported by the BBC. Three members of the security forces were wounded in attacks throughout the month: one in an IED attack on January 1st and two in a shooting attack on January 17th – neither of which was reported on the BBC News website. The missile attacks launched from the Gaza Strip likewise did not receive any BBC coverage.
In all, the BBC News website covered 0.85% of the terror attacks that occurred during January 2018.
A Somali migrant and Dutch national living in the UK discussed killing Her Majesty The Queen with a fellow Islamic State jihadist supporter, a court has heard.Wisconsin GOP dumps candidate who tweeted antisemitic statements
Aweys Shikhey also allegedly fanaticised about shooting Jewish people near his home in London and attacking Tottenham Hotspur football club with Kenya-based Somalian Abdirahman Idrissa Hassan in conversations dating back to May 31st, 2016.
“It is good to shoot them live,” Mr. Shikhey allegedly said in a chilling message, Court News reports, as well as discussing details of the plot including weapons and ammunition.
“May God bestow you in killing [former Prime Minister] David Cameron and the old woman [Queen] Elizabeth,” Mr. Hassan is claimed to have replied to Mr. Shikhey in another message.
The London-based terror suspect has a Somalian wife and children living in Holland and is accused of plotting to join jihadi fighters in Syria. Officers apprehended him at London’s Stansted Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey on May 23rd, 2017.
The Wisconsin Republican Party has dumped a candidate for who has tweeted anti-Semitic statements and ideas, and who identifies with the alt-right.NFL players land in Israel for tour a year after trip marred by controversy
Paul Nehlen, who is running to unseat Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the speaker of the US House of Representatives, in this year’s elections was permanently banned from Twitter last week for racist and anti-Semitic tweets, and also claimed in a private Twitter direct message group that his critics are “working for the Jewish media.”
Wisconsin Republican Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman said Tuesday that membership dues Nehlen paid last year to three Wisconsin county parties, which is where state residents join the Republican party, were refunded to Nehlen or donated to charity, the Associated Press reported. Zimmerman also said that Nehlan had not paid any dues in 2018 and if he tried, they would not be accepted.
“Paul Nehlen is not a member of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Nehlen and his ideas have no place in the Republican Party,” Zimmerman said according to the AP.
Nehlen asserted that he is still a member of the Republican Party in an email to the AP.
Seven current and former American football players arrived in Israel late Tuesday night for a week-long tour of the Jewish state, complete with meetings with the prime minister and president, the trip’s organizer said.EBay: Israelis are world's second-biggest online shoppers
The visit was organized by a group called American Voices in Israel, which has been bringing influential opinion makers — including actors, clerics, journalists — to the Jewish state since the early 2000s with the belief that by seeing the country up close “they will understand the complexities of the situation,” the head of the organization, Irwin Katsof, told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
It is the second year in a row that the organization is bringing athletes to Israel, though the 2017 trip did not go as planned, with several sportsmen dropping out at the last minute for political reasons.
The withdrawals from the trip, which garnered international headlines at the time, were led by Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, who pulled out saying he felt he was being “used” by the Israeli government after reading comments about the trip made by Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin in the days prior.
This time around, American Voices in Israel apparently attempted to avoid a repeat of last year’s events, keeping news of the trip quiet until the players touched down at Ben Gurion International Airport.
Israel was the world's second-largest online commerce consumer per capita in 2017, second only to China, according to e-commerce giant eBay.Anheuser-Busch Pays “Tens of Millions” of Dollars for Israeli App that Tracks Beer Sales
Israelis bought products on eBay every two seconds on average and sold items on eBay every three seconds in 2017, the company said.
Israelis bought 17 million items via eBay in 2017 – a 6% increase from the previous year – totaling $425 billion. The average purchase cost $25.
Israelis sold more than 10 million items over the course of the year – a daily average of 30,000 items – a 50% increase from 2016. Some 47,000 new buyers from Israel used eBay in 2017.
"A tail light for a Ford Focus, which costs 1,000 shekels [$283] in Israel, is sold on eBay for 450 shekels [$127]. Even the mechanics admitted they buy from us," said Elad Goldenberg, the head of eBay's Israel unit.
The world’s largest beer brewer has bought an Israeli beer startup for a price reportedly in the “tens of millions of dollars,” according to the Israeli business publication Calcalist.Israeli biotech company successfully grows bones in lab
In January, Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV acquired Tel Aviv’s Weissbeerger (weissbeerger.com/) for the latter’s beverage consumption analytics application, which Weissbeerger says creates a “connected bar.”
Weissbeerger’s “smart taps” can be placed on beer kegs to measure consumer drinking behavior in real time. They can tell a bar owner how much beer is being consumed, at what times, and which brands are the most popular. The data is analyzed and sent wirelessly to the cloud, where the bar owner can view what’s happening through a mobile iPad app.
The Weissbeerger system is also hooked up the bar’s cash register, so it can compare how much beer flows through the tap with the amount of money collected, reducing waste and minimizing the “freebies” given by bartenders to their friends.
ISRAEL21c first wrote about Weissbeerger’s “Google Analytics of beer” in 2013.
Beer is big business: the 40-person Weissbeerger team has raised $15 million, including from Israel Cleantech Ventures and a venture capital firm owned by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Haifa-based biotech company Bonus BioGroup has entered the second trial of a clinical study seeking to regrow bones in a lab. The first trial, which began four years ago and comprised 32 patients, was completed successfully, according to Dr. Shai Meretzki, CEO and founder of Bonus BioGroup.Israeli-Developed Bandage That Stops Bleeding Within Seconds Now Sold Globally
The process they have designed could come out of an an H.G. Wells novel. Liposuction is used to retrieve fat cells from the body, from which damage-controlling cells are isolated. The isolated cells are then grown in a bioreactor, a man-made simulation of the human body. After two weeks, the new bone, tailored to the patient’s needs, is injected back inside of the patient in the form of thousands of tiny, living bone particles called BonoFill.
According to Meretzki, the new bone is very much alive. It can be strengthened, and it can grow along with the patient, a particular point of interest when it comes to regenerating children’s bones. Elderly patients, as well as patients suffering from osteoporosis, infections, cancer, or trauma accidents, could find themselves with new bones up to seven times stronger than an original bone. Cleft palates, currently treated with a series of surgeries spanning over years, could be healed in infancy.
In addition, Meretzki estimates that the procedure, if and when it is adopted by hospitals, will cost less than the current bone regrowth treatment, which can cost up to $90,000.
In September 2016, two Israeli police officers were stabbed in a terror attack in Jerusalem, one of several dozen such attacks that year. One of the officers was seriously injured and bleeding profusely from a stab wound to the neck, which hit a major artery. A paramedic who rushed to the scene managed to save the officer’s life by applying a then newly available, Israeli-developed bandage that stopped the bleeding in under a minute.Remembering Ilan Halimi
That bandage was WoundClot, a plant-based gauze that stimulates the body’s coagulation process and stops blood loss. The bandage, made out of cellulose (plant cells), can absorb over 2500 percent of its own weight and can be applied in situations in which compression can be harmful, such as with stab wounds, head and neck injuries, and internal bleeding. It is also bio-absorbable, remaining biologically active for 24-36 hours and breaking down naturally in the body within a week.
When applied to an injury, the single-use bandage turns into a gel-state membrane, forming a “3D matrix [that] traps platelets [clotting blood cells] and coagulants…while retaining their mobility and activity to form a biological clot,” the company says.
In the case of the injured officer, her bleeding was stopped and further hemorrhaging was prevented even before she reached the hospital.
The WoundClot bandage made international headlines in 2016 when the Israeli medical company behind it, Core Scientific Creations (CSC), first launched it.
CSC now sells WoundClot and a number of other medical supplies to distributors in 32 countries including Italy, India, Vietnam, the UK, Poland, Romania, and France.
Remembering the tragic murder of Ilan Halimi - a horrific antisemitic attack in France. Ilan was murdered simply because he was Jewish. May his memory be a blessing.
