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Sunday, July 17, 2022

07/17 Links: Saudi Arabia and Israel: Clouds on the new horizon; David Collier: The BBC – Bowen, his lies, and the spread of antisemitism; Tehran: ‘Capable of Building Nuclear Bomb’

From Ian:

Saudi Arabia and Israel: Clouds on the new horizon
During Biden's visit, the Saudis repeated that mantra in demanding the two-state solution be implemented before normalizing relations with Israel. I would respectfully suggest that our two countries look over the horizon using wisdom that may appear uncommon, but which I believe stands to better serve us both.

Although I do see a potentially bright future with my Palestinian Arab neighbors once they truly reject terror and cease their demonization of Jews, I do not think it wise to condition regional peace agreements on their choices. Most Saudis know that the Palestinian Arabs have never been friends of the Kingdom or her citizens.

-When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, with his appetite set on the Saudi peninsula as a second course, frenzied Palestinian crowds cheered his bombing of Riyadh and lionized him as their champion against the pro-American Saudis.

-While a nuclear-minded Iran foments regional and global terror, seeks to destabilize the Saudi Kingdom via its proxy war in Yemen, and insults, threatens, and attacks the Saudi people at every opportunity, the Palestinian Arabs still side with the Ayatollahs. Both Hamas and the PLO share fealty to Iran and are strongly supported by a local Palestinian Arab populace which demonstrates little care for the welfare of the Arab states that support them.

Given these realities, why do the Saudi people continue to subordinate their core national interest to Palestinian Arabs who not only have no gratitude for their brothers’ beneficence, but would also surely cheer yet again if the Iranians were to conquer the Arabian Peninsula?

While current Saudi policy is to support the creation of ‘Palestine’, a strong case could be made for how such a development would be profoundly antithetical to essential Saudi interests. 'Palestine' would both maintain the goal of destroying Israel as well as destabilize other states in the region. This vector was always clear but was further enhanced in 2020 when Islamic Jihad proclaimed that it wished to join the PLO on the basis of jointly continuing the terror war against Israel. Going back to the brutal Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007 it is clear a similar fate would befall the 'West Bank' if Israel were to leave. Although Jordan would likely be the first to suffer from a radically Islamic 'Palestine', Saudi Arabia would also be rocked by harsh seismic activity along existing regional and national political fault lines. Saudi policy demands the creation of 'Palestine', yet 'Palestine' would be no friend of the Saudis.
Jeddah summit proves Arabs haven't dumped the Palestinians - PA officials
A Palestinian official told The Jerusalem Post that the Palestinians were “more than happy” to see the Arab monarchs and heads of state reiterate their support for the Palestinians and the two-state solution.

“[Egyptian] President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi emphasized in his speech that the Palestinian issue is the Arab’s number one case,” the official noted. “This is a blow to all those who have been claiming that the Arabs have abandoned the Palestinians and that the Palestinian issue was no longer at the top of the Arab world’s list of priorities.”

Likewise, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, said in a speech at the Jeddah summit that the Palestinian issue “occupies a central position among the peoples of our Arab and Islamic worlds and the forces of peace worldwide.

Another Palestinian official praised Jordan’s King Abdullah, who called in his speech for including the PA in “regional partnerships.”

Abdullah went on to reaffirm the importance of reaching a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the two-state solution, warning that there can be neither security, stability, nor prosperity in the region without a solution guaranteeing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 lines.

“The Arab leaders have again emphasized the significance of the Palestinian cause,” the official told the Post.

“The Jeddah summit has put the Palestinian cause back at the top of the Arab world’s list of priorities. It has also shown that the talk about the establishment of an Arab-Israeli security alliance is not true. We hope that the nice words we heard from the Arab leaders will be translated into deeds.”
Fallout from Biden’s Visit Undermines Israel in Area C, Eastern Jerusalem
Meanwhile, the Al Quds reported the content of the secret meeting President Biden conducted last Friday with the Arab heads of the eastern Jerusalem Hospital Network behind closed doors at the Augusta Victoria Hospital. The Biden delegation banned all Israeli officials from the meeting which lasted 25 minutes.

According to Al Quds, the network’s managers stressed to the visiting president that “Jerusalem is an occupied city and that its people are part of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip living under occupation, and they yearn for a day of salvation from it and living in freedom and dignity in the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Biden heard from Abdul Qader Faisal Al-Husseini, the hospital network’s secretary, the General Executive Director of the Insider Hospital, Dr. Fadi Al-Atrash, and the directors of Eastern Jerusalem hospitals, Dr. Adnan Farhood, Dr. Abdullah Sabri, Dr. Ahmed Maali, and Jamil Koussa. and Mrs. Violet Mubarak.

Abdul Qader expressed his hope that this visit and the statements made by the US President on the two-state solution give rise to hope and a new horizon, and said: “Our people want to end the occupation and do not want to improve life under the occupation, nor accept any forms of infidelity against the Palestinian people who yearn for freedom and independence and building their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

That’s the PA Arab bourgeoisie telling the visiting Americans they prefer to let their population continue to live in poverty rather than be disloyal to the folks in Ramallah.

One hopes Biden brought along a proficient translator.

Abdel Qader pushed this point further, declaring: “I stressed in my conversation with Secretary Blinken that the issue is not aid to the six hospitals and support for certain sectors in Jerusalem, but rather the need to stop the violations and the Israeli occupation’s Judaizing the city through the demolition of homes, the uprooting of Jerusalemites, the settlements, and the Judaization of the city, and the necessity of stopping this racist regime that targets our existence as Palestinians yearning for freedom and independence and building our state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Someone should remind President Biden real soon that US Law prohibits the division of Jerusalem. He can’t do it with a presidential executive order, he can’t do it at all.


David Collier: The BBC – Bowen, his lies, and the spread of antisemitism
On Thursday night Jeremy Bowen reported from Jerusalem on BBC One News at Ten. The segment lasted for four minutes and three seconds. It is 243 seconds in which Jeremy Bowen gave a masterclass in anti-Israel propaganda.

Make no mistake – this type of ‘news reporting’ is not accidental. Every image – each word, is inserted or removed to deliver a message. There is also no doubt at all that the level of distortion we saw on Thursday – delivered on a BBC flagship news programme – helps to spread antisemitism.

Bowen’s segment on President Biden’s visit to the region was introduced by Huw Edwards. In the lead-in Edwards tells the viewers that Biden and Israeli PM Lapid signed a join declaration ‘to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons’.

Bowen begins. He is not interested in the declaration at all. He quickly tells viewers “it has all been said before“, explaining that Israel just “needed him to say it again” (because obviously Israel is attention seeking and craving of indulgence like that).

With this dismissal Bowen sidesteps the actual news of the visit completely. There is no need to mention the Abraham accords, the growing new alliance in the region, the changing face of geo-politics. Not even potential growing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Bowen doesn’t care about that. He just wants to get on with demonising Israel.

To begin his masterclass Bowen takes us to the Northern border. Where Israel faces Hezbollah – one of the most lethal radical Islamic terror groups on the earth. Hezbollah is only described as “Iran’s strongest ally and client” and viewers are told that Hezbollah is a “friend of Iran”. In fact – although BBC viewers wouldn’t know this – the terror group has not only been proscribed by many western democracies – it is even considered a terror group by the Arab league.

Careful editing then does its work. Bowen talks to an Israeli soldier who is stationed on the border. We are told that “when Hezbollah appeared they were in Israel’s sights” and as he said this we are show three clips. The first was an Israeli soldier clearly aiming his weapon. We are then shown the view through the soldier’s scope – and finally we are given the image of two guys being targeted (in civilian clothes).

Israelis pointing guns at a couple of people with binoculars is all we see. No mention of the 150,000 rockets pointed towards Israeli citizens.
BBC’s Bowen promotes ‘apartheid’ smear and unproven Abu Akleh claim
Moving on, Bowen amplified the opinions of Palestinians described as being located “on the other side of the wall Israel built to separate Jerusalem from the Palestinians in the West Bank”. In a similar audio report aired earlier in the day on the BBC World Service radio programme ‘Newsday’ (from 12:47 here), Bowen likewise described himself as having “just driven through the gate in the twenty-foot wall that the Israelis have built to separate Jerusalem from the Palestinians in Bethlehem”.

The anti-terrorist fence, including its minority walled sections, was of course constructed in order to reduce the number of terrorist attacks – in particular suicide bombings – against Israelis during the second Intifada. The BBC’s Middle East editor however elected to erase the relevant issue of that terrorism from audience view, in line with his overall presentation of Palestinians devoid of all agency and responsibility who are just waiting for a solution to what he described as “the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

Viewers saw unexplained footage of Palestinians burning a poster of Joe Biden but Bowen did not bother to inform them of the demonstrations against Biden’s visit or the calls from various Palestinian factions to cancel Biden’s meeting with Mahmoud Abbas.

Against a backdrop of no fewer than four different shots of banners put up by the political NGO ‘B’tselem’, Bowen chose to amplify politically motivated ‘apartheid’ smears.

“Along Joe Biden’s route into Bethlehem – his next stop – are accusations that Israel is guilty of apartheid. Denied by the Israelis and the US, widely accepted by Palestinians and human rights groups.”

Bowen then proceeded to make an entirely unproven claim concerning the death of Shireen Abu Akleh:

“And he’ll see many portraits of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist killed by Israeli troops in May.” [emphasis added]

As we see, the BBC’s senior reporter on Middle East affairs was perfectly happy to abandon editorial guidelines on accuracy and impartiality in order to promote as fact speculation for which neither he nor anyone else has any proof, but which supports the politically motivated narrative to which he has obviously whole-heartedly self-conscripted.


Michigan Democrats Might Kick ‘Anti Occupation’ Congressman Andy Levin Out of Office
So I checked out Andy’s position on the Middle East – here it is:
“Only a two-state solution can both ensure Israel’s survival as a democratic state and a national home for the Jewish people and fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own. In September 2021, I introduced my Two-State Solution Act which defines the United States’ role in making meaningful progress towards peace in Israel and Palestine and discourages steps that push this out of reach. This bill helps both parties move down the path of peace and coexistence.”

So far, nothing out of the ordinary, most of the Democratic party is convinced that the lesson from Israel’s pulling out of the Gaza Strip to make room for the Arabs there to freely shell Israeli civilians while impoverishing their own people is that the same must be done in Judea and Samaria. But then there’s this:
“I have used my position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to advocate for diplomacy and avoid more needless war. When it became clear that the Trump administration was considering a war with Iran, I introduced the bipartisan Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) Clarification Act, a bill to reaffirm that the Trump administration would have to receive an explicit authorization from Congress before engaging in military action against Iran.” And, naturally, “I strongly support the Biden administration’s efforts to reconstitute the JCPOA, a step that would promote not just U.S. and Israeli security, but global security.”

Stevens, on the other hand, writes: “I had the opportunity to visit Israel for the first time in 2019, where I experienced its deep history, cultures, and natural beauty. I was also able to learn more about the innovative technologies Israel has created that Americans depend upon for agriculture, energy, healthcare, commerce, transportation, and national security, among many others. I look forward to finding new ways to develop strategic plans to build on these technological successes.”
Gaza airstrike significantly sets back Hamas rocket production, says IDF
An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday has significantly set back the Hamas terror group’s weapon production capabilities, military officials said.

The major strike against the Hamas underground facility came in response to rockets launched from the coastal enclave at southern Israel, which caused no injuries or damage.

The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that the targeted facility was “one of the largest and most important sites in the Strip for the production of base materials for rockets by terror groups,” asserting that the attack would significantly impede the terror group’s rocket-making.

On Sunday, speaking to the Ynet news site, military spokesperson Ran Kochav said the underground site was also used to manufacture drones.

“In this specific case, [the IDF struck] 16 tons of explosives in an underground UAV production hall and facility,” Kochav said.

Without citing a source, Channel 12 news claimed that the missiles used in the strike were GBU-28 bunker buster bombs. The laser-guided weapon, with a payload of 286 kilograms (630 pounds), has the ability to penetrate fortified bunkers deep underground.
Greek Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarch warns Biden of 'extremist Jewish' threat
Extremist Israeli forces are escalating tensions in Jerusalem's Old City, bringing daily life to a strain and harming worshipers, warned Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, the current Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, when he met with US President Joe Biden, Channel 12's Yaron Avraham initially reported.

In a letter reportedly written to Biden, the Patriarch wrote: "The main way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is under serious threat from extremist Jewish forces who have targeted the Christian quarter with the goal of altering the historic, demographic and geographic nature and validity of the site and terminate the Christian presence in the city."

According to the report, the letter continues: "It is saddening that these groups are supported, in part, by right-wing figures in Israel's political sphere. They are, together, trying to disrupt the longtime status quo in the city."

This letter, or its allegations, have not been corroborated by Israeli sources.

The tension between Christians and Jews in the Old City
This is not the first time that the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem made such claims. In January, right after Christmas, he accused radical Israeli groups of threatening the presence of Christians in the Old City. Israeli officials, at the time, rejected these claims as baseless.

"Our presence in Jerusalem is under threat," he wrote at the time in a Times of London column, explaining he believes that the aim was to drive the Christian community from the Old City.

"Our churches are threatened by Israeli radical fringe groups. At the hands of these Zionist extremists the Christian community in Jerusalem is suffering greatly," he said. "Our brothers and sisters are the victims of hate crimes. Our churches are regularly desecrated and vandalized. Our clergy are subject to frequent intimidation."
PMW: PA TV serves as platform for promotion of Martyrdom-death for youth
To “die a Martyr” while “fighting” Israel – i.e., carrying out a terror attack and trying to murder Israelis - is an admirable thing to do in the Palestinian Authority. It is something to strive for and a source of immense pride for the relatives, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented at length. Recent cases show that official PA TV continues to highlight this pride and strengthen it by providing a platform for it, thereby encouraging yet more terrorist “Martyrs.”

After an 18-year-old Palestinian terrorist and member of the Hamas terror organization was shot and killed while participating in violent clashes with Israeli forces southwest of Jenin on July 3, 2022, official PA TV showed one of his brothers explaining that Kamel Alawneh had in fact wished to “become a Martyr.”

According to the brother Mutaz, Kamel “always said: ‘I want to die as a Martyr.’” Apparently he wanted to emulate another brother – his namesake - who “died a Martyr” while on his way to carry out a suicide bombing. Mutaz explained that the recently deceased brother “always tried to imitate his brother the Martyr”:
Mutaz Alawneh, brother of terrorist Kamel Alawneh: “Our brother Kamel was studying for the matriculation exams... He had a firm character and was cheerful. He always mentioned his brother Martyr Kamel (i.e., would-be suicide bomber), whom he didn’t know because he was born after him. He heard about his demeanor from people, about his good and praiseworthy behavior. He always tried to imitate his brother the Martyr, and always said: “I want to die as a Martyr.” He asked God for this. Allah willing, He will receive him as one of the Martyrs and the righteous.”

[Official PA TV News, July 3, 2022]

The father of another dead terrorist, this one a man in his 20s, expressed pride in his son on PA TV for dying a “Martyr” and praised the fact that since childhood he had “fought” Israel:




Khamenei Adviser Says Tehran ‘Capable of Building Nuclear Bomb’: Al Jazeera
Tehran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has yet to decide whether to build one, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Al Jazeera’s Arabic service on Sunday.

“In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium … Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” Kamal Kharrazi said.

In 2018, former US President Donald Trump withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, under which Iran curbed its uranium enrichment work, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Tehran has since violated multiple limits imposed by the accord.

Indirect talks between Iran and President Joe Biden’s administration, which aim to bring both Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the nuclear pact, have stalled since March.

Kharrazi said Tehran would never negotiate over its missile program and regional policy, as demanded by the West and its allies in the Middle East.


Anne Frank Trust invited speaker who said Israel commits Holocaust against Palestinians
The Anne Frank Trust opened an internal investigation after a guest speaker that had in the past asserted that Jewish Israelis were committing a Holocaust against the Palestinians was invited by the charity to lead a workshop for children, the United Kingdom-based Trust announced late Saturday night.

"It has been brought to our attention that a freelance arts practitioner we employed in one of our educational workshops last week may have views that are not consistent with our values."
Anne Frank Trust

Nasima Begum claimed Israel committed Holocaust
According to social media screenshots curated by antisemitism and Holocaust denial watchdog GnasherJew, Poet Nasima Begum made comments in 2011 and 2012 comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

"What's sad is that the Jewish population faced genocide themselves in Hitler's Germany but they've implemented the same on Palestine for years," Begum said on Twitter in 2011.

Just after 2012's Pillar of Fire (amud anan) military conflict with Gaza, Begum told a pro-Israel Twitter account that Hamas rocket fire into Israel was legitimate, as "exiling a people from their own land justifies anything. It's the Holocaust all over again except this time it's innocent Palestinians and ironically the perpetrators are you Zionist scum."

In another tweet, Begum told the same Twitter user, "you will always remain an illegal state. Death to you Zionist scum."
Do campus BDS campaigns endanger US-Israel relations?
Why does anyone care about BDS campaigns on American college campuses?

One reason is that it makes Jewish students uncomfortable. Some say it creates a hostile environment that makes them feel unsafe. An increase in anti-Semitism on campus often accompanies BDS resolutions.

As snowflakey as our kids have become, they will get over their discomfort.

The more significant concern is that Israel's detractors will impact non-Jewish students and turn them against Israel, adversely affecting US policy over time.

As I've argued repeatedly in columns, the current situation is no worse than the campus climate of the past. It seems more serious because of the constant media attention and the almost total absence of any reporting on the positive developments on campus (e.g., the growth of Israel studies, exemplified by the program at Berkeley, a longtime hotspot for Israel's detractors).

Even when you look at the worst campuses, the anti-Israel activists are typically a minute fraction of the student body. To give a few examples from this year, BDS resolutions adopted by student governments at Ohio State (the president did not sign it), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (killed due to irregularities), the University of California, Riverside and Louisiana State University received 14, 17, 11 and 36 votes, respectively.

The press also uncritically reports the latest anti-Semitism statistics and fails to distinguish between the nearly non-existent cases of physical attacks on Jewish students and the majority of incidents, which are vandalism. You may have heard, for example, that anti-Semitic incidents increased on campus by 27% last year, but you were not informed that the number decreased 24% from its 2017 high. Also, consider the 155 total incidents ADL reported in 2021 were spread over an entire school year and thousands of schools across 50 states.


Facing antisemites and beating them at their own game
‘I receive a lot of threats,” says Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, matter-of-factly. “The antisemites try to intimidate me, but I’m not going anywhere.” Though she dismisses the threats with a chuckle, antisemitism in the United States, says Rez, is no laughing matter.

StopAntisemitism is a watchdog organization dedicated to calling out antisemites and antisemitic behavior across the United States. Rez co-founded the organization as a response to the antisemitism she had encountered in her professional life and the frustration she felt in dealing with the phenomenon. “I have been working in the digital space since 2012,” she says. “My social media handle that I was using identified me as Jewish, and I received atrocious comments – everything from ‘baby killers’ to ‘you’re like Nazi Germany – you guys are doing to the

Palestinians what was done to you,’ to ‘Hitler should have finished the job.’”Rez says she also felt frustrated that expressions of antisemitism from the extreme Right seemed to attract more attention than comments made by members of the extreme Left. “It was very frustrating to have those that espouse hatred toward Jews get a pass,” she says.

Antisemitic behavior is occurring everywhere in the United States today, says Rez, adding, “This is what makes it extremely frustrating and extremely frightening.” To prove her point, Rez cites events that have occurred over the past few years, from the neo-Nazi white supremacist movement that resulted in the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018 and the shooting in Poway, California, in 2019 to the taking of hostages by a radical Muslim in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, in January 2022.

“We see explosions of antisemitism and violence on college campuses from the Free Palestine movement,” adds Rez. “We see Louis Farrakhan and his crew spewing their hatred. Antisemitism is erupting all around us, and this is why our work is so vital – we spotlight every single one of them. We don’t cherry-pick based on ethnicity, religion or political affiliation.”
French Holocaust survivors mark 80 years since mass Vel d’Hiv roundup of Jews
Family by family, house by house, French police rounded up 13,000 people on two terrifying days in July 1942, dispatching them to Nazi death camps simply because they were Jewish. Eighty years later, France is honoring the victims, and trying to keep their memory alive.

For the dwindling number of survivors of France’s wartime crimes, commemoration ceremonies Sunday are especially important. At a time of rising antisemitism and far-right discourse sugarcoating France’s role in the Holocaust, they worry that history’s lessons are being forgotten.

A week of ceremonies marking 80 years since the Vel d’Hiv police roundup on July 16-17, 1942, culminates Sunday with an event led by President Emmanuel Macron.

The raids were among the most shameful acts undertaken by France during World War II, and among the darkest moments in its history.

Over those two days, police herded 13,152 people — including 4,115 children — into the Winter Velodrome of Paris, known as the Vel d’Hiv, Vel d’Hiv before they were sent on to Nazi camps. It was the biggest such roundup in western Europe. The children were separated from their families; very few survived.

In public testimonies over the past week, survivor Rachel Jedinak described a middle-of-the-night knock on the door, and being marched through the streets of Paris and herded into the velodrome, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
Macron to speak at ceremony marking 80th anniversary of WWII round-up of Jews
French President Emmanuel Macron will on Sunday mark the 80th anniversary of the wartime round-up of Jews in France at a former railway station used to deport them to Auschwitz.

With him at Pithiviers station, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Paris, will be some of the handful of the survivors of those deported on the eight convoys sent to the Nazi camp.

Macron’s speech will express his concern over the enduring threat of antisemitism, which “still lurks and sometimes in an insidious way,” said an official from his office.

He will denounce “historical revisionism” — in particular over the role of France’s war-time leader Philippe Petain, who collaborated with the Nazi regime, the official added.

Also at ceremony will be historian and renowned Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, as well as a survivor of the camps, Ginette Kolinka.

The head of France’s rail network, Jean-Pierre Farandou, will also attend.

Macron is expected at the former station of Pithiviers at around 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).

The building, which has not served passengers since the end of the 1960, has been converted into a memorial to the Holocaust which opened earlier this month.

“This station is the place where the French event becomes European genocide,” said Jacques Fredj, the director of the Shoah Memorial, which commemorates the French deportations.

“It is a place of memory unique in France.”
Moon oxygen startup stumbles on 'green' iron production method
Israeli space tech startup Helios has announced a recent infusion of $6 million will help fund its ambition to create an emission-free future for the steel industry.

Current methods of steel production emit large quantities of carbon dioxide through the reduction of iron ore with carbon. Each ton of steel produced results in the emission of approximately two tons of CO2, making the industry responsible for 8% of humanity's carbon footprint. Additionally, the US steel industry relies on natural gas and coal coke and breeze for fuel, accounting for roughly 6% of total energy consumed by manufacturing.

But Helios scientists have discovered that the technology created for the reactor it has developed to extract oxygen and iron from regolith could also be used to extract 99% pure iron from iron ore, using an entirely novel chemical process. The method requires 50% less energy than what is currently used in the industry, while operating at temperatures so low that a household oven would suffice to initiate the process.

Unlike other green steel technologies, Helios does not require steelmakers to make major changes to their existing processes. The company is designing a module that can be integrated into Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI) furnaces. This approach will reduce cost and facilitate faster adoption.

"The steel industry is extremely cost-sensitive," explains Prof. Raúl Topolevsky, a senior advisor to steel makers and an industry expert. "Many companies are now committing to reducing emissions with targets to achieve carbon neutrality across all operations by a certain date. But 'green steel' often comes at a premium price, and if their costs increase, it negatively affects the entire economy."

Helios, led by founder and CEO Jonathan Geifman, was not founded to green steel at a lower cost. The company's original goal was and remains to produce oxygen to sustain recurring missions to the moon by producing it on site. Their proprietary technology extracts oxygen from lunar regolith, the mixture of powdery dust and broken rock on the surface of the moon.
David Friedman and Mike Pompeo Travel Through Original Bible Belt for New Documentary
You can get your kicks on Route 66, or you can travel through history on Route 60. It’s a road trip through the Bible, both old and new.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently traversed Israel’s Route 60. The highway connects the Torah’s most famous events and people, along with the founding events of Christianity. Episodes that took place along the Biblical road date all the way back to the Jewish forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Jewish Kings Saul, David and Solomon.

The tour by two of America’s top diplomats whose policies helped strengthen the State of Israel, is for a new TBN-produced documentary called “Route 60: The Biblical Highway” that Friedman hopes will help educate people on a commonly misunderstood region.

“Over the course of being in government for four years and thereafter, there is a stark … I don’t want to call it … ignorance because it suggests something worse than it is, but a real lack of familiarity, especially in America, with what people refer to as the West Bank, which, of course, itself is really an inadequate description of Judea and Samaria. This road, Route 60, is really the biblical spine of Israel,” Friedman told JNS.

Friedman, an Orthodox Jew, and Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, spent five days filming in a number of locations, presenting the biblical and modern-day significance of each place. Flying to each location by helicopter, their stops included Nazareth, Shechem and Joshua’s Altar, located on Har Eval, where Friedman had never previously set foot.




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