In-Depth Issues:
Video: 600 Holocaust Survivors and Their Families Sing "The People of Israel Live" (Koolulam)
600 Holocaust survivors and their families gathered at Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem to sing "The People of Israel Live (Am Yisrael Chai)" together in three-part harmony prior to Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018 (with English subtitles).
See also below Observations: Torchlighters on Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2018 (Yad Vashem)
New Israeli "Snake" Robot Is Lightweight, Small and Inexpensive - Brian Blum
David Zarrouk, head of Ben-Gurion University's Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab, has developed a robot that moves like a snake that he says would be ideal for agriculture (picking fruit), industry, search-and-rescue and even fixing, docking or refueling satellites in outer space. Zarrouk's next project is a robotic pill that moves through the intestines like a worm and can be remote controlled.
(Israel21c)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- The IDF Observers Who Monitor the Gaza Border - Yoav Zitun
The IDF Gaza Division's observers regularly monitor the border, but now have to step up their game to prevent thousands of Palestinians from crossing into Israel. Over the past four months, the IDF observers have had to deal with explosives being planted near the border fence; armed terrorists making their way to the border; and main instigators trying to sabotage the border fence and enter Israel.
Lt. Kerem Aviner, a Gaza Division observers officer, explained:
"The observer can see the entire area, she can identify who is dangerous and who isn't." The observers thwarted a terror attack last week when a terrorist armed with an AK-47, grenades, and an explosive belt was spotted advancing toward the border fence under cover of darkness. After five hours of monitoring, the terrorist was eliminated by an IAF aircraft. "We're called 'the country's eyes,'" Lt. Aviner explained. "We advise the fighting forces where to take position, and we know how to direct fire from tanks, aircraft and infantry forces." (Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
- International Community Decides Palestinian Violence at Israeli Border Was Peaceful - Amb. Alan Baker
On March 30 and April 6, 2018, the world was witness to a series of Friday marches by thousands of Palestinian residents of Gaza toward the border fence with Israel. The organizers of the marches publicized them as a peaceful political demonstration. However, Hamas fighters embedded among the demonstrators commited a series of acts of violence including lobbing incendiary devices at Israeli soldiers, placing explosive devices on the border fence, using firearms against the soldiers, and attempting to cut the fence to cross the border.
Despite witnessing the violence organized by Hamas, the leaders of the international community appear to hold the strange belief that what they saw was a peaceful demonstration that was forcefully frustrated and disturbed by the Israeli army.
Calls for an international inquiry have become a routine and automatic phenomenon whenever Israel dares to defend itself.
The writer served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israel’s ambassador to Canada.
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
- What the New York Times Isn't Telling You about Israel's Gaza "Blockade" - Ira Stoll
Nearly every New York Times dispatch about the recent violent pre-planned riots in Gaza has used the word "blockade" to describe Israel's treatment of the territory. Some Times accounts mention Egypt's participation in the "blockade," while others omit it.
Webster's dictionary defines a blockade as an "action designed to isolate an enemy and cut off communication and commerce with him."
Yet in one week in March 2018, 2,728 trucks entered Gaza from Israel, carrying 74,202 tons of supplies. In addition, Israel supplies electricity to Gaza via ten power lines. And Israel supplies water to Gaza via two pipelines. Some "blockade."
Accusing Israel of a "blockade" of Gaza is inaccurate. It gives Times readers a false impression of what is actually happening, uncritically echoing Palestinian propaganda. Blame for the situation in Gaza lies with Hamas, not with Israel or some "blockade" imagined by Times journalists. (Algemeiner)
- No Country Would Tolerate What Hamas Is Doing at Israel's Border - Vivian Bercovici
Peaceful protests do not encourage participants to overrun an international border, or use weapons, while threatening to conquer the country and murder its people. Peaceful protests are not organized by terrorist organizations and led by terrorist leaders, some of whom show up with Molotov cocktails and other weapons.
If a group like Hamas was to carry on in Europe as it does on the Gaza-Israel border, it is difficult to imagine Europeans would sit back in deck chairs with binoculars and just watch.
The global community should be asking: why are Hamas' "peaceful protesters" carrying weapons and calling for the destruction of Israel?
The writer is a former Canadian ambassador to Israel.
(National Post-Canada)
Observations:
Each year, six Holocaust survivors are chosen to light torches at Yad Vashem on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins Wednesday evening, in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.
- Mirjam Lapid was born in 1933 in Deventer, the Netherlands. In 1943, her family was deported to the Westerbork detention camp and in 1944 was sent to Bergen-Belsen. She returned to the Netherlands in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1953. Since 1960 she has run the secretariat of Kibbutz Tzora.
- Shmuel Bogler was born in Bodrogkeresztur, Hungary, in 1929.
In 1944, Germany invaded Hungary and the village's Jews were deported to Auschwitz. His parents and three cousins were sent immediately to the gas chambers. Shmuel and his brother Chaim were sent to a labor camp. In January 1945, the two brothers were sent on a death march to Buchenwald, where the U.S. Army liberated them.
Shmuel arrived in Israel in 1947 and joined the Palmach. He was taken prisoner by the Jordanian Legion when the Etzion bloc fell in May 1948, and became second-in-command of the POWs. After nearly a year in captivity, Shmuel was freed and joined the Israel Police, becoming Southern District Deputy Commander.
- Dr. Thea Friedman was born in 1924 in Chernovitz, Romania.
In December 1942, Thea fled the ghetto but was caught, eventually freed with the help of a bribe paid by the Jewish community. She was arrested again in 1943 but was released in 1944 and started medical school in 1945. In 1958 she immigrated to Israel with her family and is an emeritus professor of the Faculty of Ophthalmology at Tel Aviv University.
- Raul-Israel Teitelbaum was born in 1931 in Prizren, Yugoslavia (today Kosovo). His father Josef, a physician, was arrested in 1942 by Italian occupation authorities and sent to a detention camp in Albania, where he was put in charge of the camp infirmary. In 1943, Raul and his mother Paula moved to Albania to visit Josef. When Italy surrendered in September 1943, Albanian partisans liberated the camp where Josef was being held, and the family joined the partisans.
In May 1944, the Teitelbaums were caught by the Germans and sent to Bergen-Belsen. Raul and his mother immigrated to Israel in 1949. As a journalist, Raul has published hundreds of articles and reports about the Holocaust and Holocaust survivors.
- Yisaschar Dov Goldstein was born in 1929 in Bratislava, Slovakia
After Germany occupied Slovakia in 1944, his family was deported to Auschwitz and murdered, while Dov was transferred to a factory in a satellite camp of Buchenwald. In 1946, Dov boarded in illegal immigrant ship and reached Israel after a seven-month incarceration by the British in Cyprus. He was one of the first members of Kibbutz Ein Tzurim and fought in the War of Independence.
He taught Talmud and Bible for many years, and guided students and tourists around Israel.
- Abba Naor was born in 1928 in Kovno, Lithuania.
In 1944 his little brother Berale and his mother Chana were deported to Auschwitz. "The moment I saw my mother and brother heading towards the train, I realized that was it," he recalled. Abba was put to work in construction at a satellite camp of Dachau. He reached Israel in 1947, fought in the War of Independence and later worked in the General Security Service, the Weizmann Institute and the Mossad. in 1984-85 he participated in bringing 5,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel from refugee camps in Sudan. He is Vice President of the World Organization of Former Prisoners of Dachau.
No room today for:
Palestinians Are Welcome to Protest But Not Infiltrate Israel En Masse - David Keyes interviewed by Gamal Fahnbulleh
Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman David Keyes was interviewed by Sky News presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh last week.
Q: How do you justify the deaths of 18 Palestinians on the Israel-Gaza border?
Keyes: Israel found itself in the unfortunate situation where a mob of tens of thousands was encroaching towards the border. People blew up the security fence. People launched Molotov cocktails. And Hamas' stated aim, which it repeated in recent days, is the total and utter annihilation of Israel. They even go so far as to advocate genocide of Jews and genocide of Americans. Ahmad Bahar, the deputy speaker of the parliament, called to "kill every single Jew." Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, called to "eat the livers of the Israelis."
So when Israel found itself in a situation where it was being shot at, where people were trying to infiltrate en masse, it took the steps that any state would have taken and defended its people. The full onus is on this genocidal terrorist organization which is theocratic, dictatorial, doesn't care one wit about its people, and that's why it is stealing so much money, hiding behind children and women. They took a 7-year-old girl and sent her to Israeli soldiers so if she was shot it would be a victory for Hamas. This is insane. This is outrageous. This is an abomination and it should stop right now.
Q: You say no Israeli soldiers have been injured or killed. Where is the proportion?
Keyes: The way to judge what is right and wrong is not to tally up the sides and have the exact number of people. If a criminal comes into a home and starts shooting people, you don't say, well, unfortunately not enough policemen died protecting the family, and that's the situation we're in today. There's no parity whatsoever. There's no moral comparison whatsoever. I think we should be a little bit smarter than to say, well, we want the exact same number on both sides to die. That's ridiculous.
Q: Aren't some people just protesting for their right to return?
Keyes: What does the right to return mean? It's a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. Hamas' leadership has been abundantly clear. Ismail Haniya and Mahmoud al-Zahar routinely call for the annihilation of Israel. People are welcome to protest as much as they want, anywhere they want, anytime they want. What they can't do is try to infiltrate Israel en masse, which is exactly what they said they would do. (Sky News)
Israeli Medical Humanitarian Work along Syrian Border Deserves UN Recognition - Randy Hultgren and Aviv Ezra
On recent visits we each have taken to Israel, we witnessed both the horrors of war and the compassion of healers. Israel has implemented a good neighbor policy since 2013 that calls for medical treatment of all Syrian civilians seeking care. More than 4,000 Syrians have been treated in Israel, including 1,000 children. Israel has even opened up a maternity hospital on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
Syrian children are also receiving necessities to improve their quality of life, such as eyeglasses and hearing aids. Israel treats any Syrian who needs it, free of charge. In addition, the Israeli Army has an official program, Operation Good Neighbor, that provides food, clothing, fuel, equipment and medical supplies to 250,000 Syrians.
We call upon the UN Human Rights Council to acknowledge that Israel has saved thousands of Syrian lives during one of the largest human rights atrocities in the world. Administering medical care to any injured person, regardless of whom they are, is a standard Israelis and Americans live by - and is who we are as nations.
Randy Hultgren is a U.S. Congressman (R-Ill.). Aviv Ezra is the Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, based in Chicago.
(Chicago Sun-Times)
Israeli Nutrition Analytics Firm Nutrino Raises $8 Million - Gali Weinreb
Israeli nutrition-related data services and analytics technology provider Nutrino announced Tuesday the completion of a $8 million financing round. Nutrino CEO Yael Glassman said, "Our proprietary technology, FoodPrint, uncovers the previously invisible connections between people and their food. Nutrino is where data meets nutrition, and as we've demonstrated in our work with multinational partners around nutrition and diabetes, the opportunity is vast."
Nutrino's database, which collates data from millions of food items globally, is one of the largest in the world. Pereg Ventures managing partner Ziv Ben Barouch said, "Digital Health is predicted to be worth several hundreds of billions in the coming decade. With skyrocketing consumer demand for increased information about what they eat and growing health awareness, nutrition data is the largest untapped sector of this industry." (Globes)
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