• Iran Keeps Trying to Crash U.S. Ships and Aircraft - Alex Lockie
  As a U.S. Navy fighter jet returned to the deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian drone got way too close for comfort. "Despite repeated radio calls to stay clear," the Iranian drone went out of its way to complicate the jet's landing, said Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon. This was the 13th unsafe and unprofessional interaction between the U.S. Navy and Iran's maritime forces this year. (Business Insider)
      See also Iranian Drone that Harassed Navy Fighter Jet Is Capable of Carrying Missiles - Andrew deGrandpre
  The pilot of the Navy jet was forced to make a sudden maneuver to avoid striking an Iranian drone on Tuesday and they passed within 100 feet of each other. Cmdr. Bill Urban, a Navy spokesman, said the drone can carry weapons, though this one was unarmed. (Washington Post)
• McMaster Is Aware of Iranian Threats - Dore Gold
  In recent days, some groups have targeted U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster as insufficiently supportive of Israel and insufficiently tough toward Iran. In response, Dore Gold, former director-general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, emailed us: "With Tehran unveiling new centrifuges for enriching uranium, like the IR-8 that operates 15 times more efficiently than the old IR-1, I cannot imagine that a serious senior officer like McMaster is not disturbed about Iran. Moreover, I cannot imagine that a former CENTCOM planner would be oblivious to Iranian troops creating a corridor for themselves from their border with Iraq to the Mediterranean in order to dominate the Middle East."
      "Today, being concerned about this doesn't make him pro-Israeli alone, it would make him pro-Saudi, pro-UAE, pro-Egyptian, etc. Since we are all Washington's allies, it would make him pro-American as well. Thus, my sense is that these charges are baseless and we need to sit down and deal with more serious matters."  (Jewish Insider)
• Palestinian Authority Slashes Financial Support for Sick Gazans
  Just 477 Gazans were given financial approval by the Palestinian Authority in June to travel outside of Gaza for medical treatment, down from 1,883 in June 2016, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. Last month, the UN's top humanitarian official in the territories, Robert Piper, said, "The Palestinian Authority has been taking certain measures to at least slow access to proper health care."  (AFP-Al-Monitor)
• Senators Concerned about Extremist Summer Camp for Palestinian Americans - Rafael Medoff
  U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are raising questions about an American-funded school in Ramallah that is running an extremist summer camp for Palestinian teens including many who are American citizens. The "Go Palestine" summer program, run by the Ramallah Friends School, includes anti-Israel films and lectures by militants, some with terrorist connections. Schumer said, "If true, this school should be cut off because entities that receive USAID should be teaching about democracy and coexistence - not intolerance or extremism."
      Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said, "I endorse the calls by Senators Schumer and Cardin for an investigation to make sure that no U.S. government funds are being used, directly or indirectly, to support a camp that promotes BDS or other anti-Israel extremism."  (JNS.org)

• Israel's Underground Barrier with Gaza to Extend into the Sea - Anna Ahronheim
  The underground barrier that Israel is building to prevent infiltration into Israel from Gaza via tunnels will stretch into the Mediterranean to stave off Hamas infiltration by sea. During the 2014 Gaza war, five Hamas naval commandos tried to infiltrate Kibbutz Zikim by sea, and since then Hamas has significantly expanded its naval commando unit. The head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, said Wednesday that the barrier is expected to be completed within two years and that no tunnel will be able to cross it.
      Zamir said many of the tunnels run under civilian homes in Gaza, and he presented two residential buildings used by Hamas. "Any civilians who stay in these buildings endanger their lives and the lives of their families....Every building over a tunnel is a legitimate military target."  (Jerusalem Post)
• Cape Verde to Keep Voting Against Israel - Herb Keinon
  Cape Verde's President Jorge Carlos Fonseca issued a statement on Tuesday denying that the small island state off the coast of West Africa had pledged not to vote against Israel at the UN. Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said they believe that Fonesca's about-face is the result of pressure by Arab countries who oppose the inroads Israel is making in Africa. (Jerusalem Post)

• How Much of Iran's Nuclear Deal Relief Funds Terrorism? - Ariel Ben Solomon
  Russia's military support for Assad is far more important for Iran than the limited economic benefits the Iranians have gained from sanctions relief and trade deals since the nuclear agreement, said Meir Javedanfar, a lecturer on Iranian politics at Israel's IDC Herzliya college. Javedanfar estimated that Iran has received less than $20 billion of the $150 billion in sanctions relief it secured in the nuclear deal.
      While the released funds have aided the Iranian regime, Javedanfar said President Rouhani's government is plagued by $100 billion in debt carried over from former President Ahmadinejad's tenure. The new sanctions leveled by the Trump administration will hamper Rouhani's ability to attract foreign investment.
      Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said, "sanctions relief coupled with the campaign to 'normalize' Iran has enabled its fighters, money and weapons to go largely unchecked throughout the region."
      Ronen A. Cohen, an Iran expert and the chair of the Department of Middle East Studies at Israel's Ariel University, asserted that "Iran will promote terror with or without the sanctions."  (JNS.org)
• Canadian Tax Dollars Shouldn't Subsidize Palestinian Terrorists - Casey Babb
  19-year-old Palestinian Omar al-Abed will now be paid more than US$3,120 a month by the Palestinian government for killing three members of a Jewish family in the West Bank in their home on July 21. The Palestinian government has made terrorism the most lucrative job in the West Bank. To put the $3,120 payment to al-Abed in perspective, consider that the minimum wage in the Palestinian territories is $397 a month.
      According to a new study by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the 2017 PA budget has committed $154 million for salaries of imprisoned and released terrorists and $192 million for the families of those "martyred" in the conflict against Zionism, for a total expenditure of $346 million. This figure amounts to 49.6% of all foreign aid to be received by the Palestinian government in 2017.
      It is abhorrent to think that any money from North America governments might be rewarding terrorism, yet it's hard to conclude otherwise. The compensation of terrorists is deeply immoral and incomprehensible in and of itself. But it is most problematic because it undermines peace. In addition to directly violating the 1995 Oslo Peace Accords, paying terrorists incentivizes terrorism and further entrenches Palestinian intolerance and extremism. The writer is a former policy advisor to Canada's Minister of National Defence. (National Post-Canada)

Israel Developing Ways to Survive Nuclear Radiation - Lt.-Col. (ret.) Dr. Arik Eisenkraft (RealClearDefense)

• Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) may be the result of an accident with diagnostic and therapeutic devices, or with a nuclear facility (Chernobyl, Fukushima).
• It may also be the result of an intentional act of terrorism, involving the use of a radiological dispersal device (i.e., dirty bomb), an improvised nuclear device, an attack on a nuclear power plant, or any number of potential scenarios.
• The major goals of a response plan to a radio-nuclear emergency are to protect the public, as well as the emergency personnel while performing their duties.
• A novel protection device that recently reached the market is the StemRad 360 Gamma wearable shield, which allows the protection of enough bone marrow tissue among first responders and all those who may be exposed to high radiation levels in a way that will ensure their survival.
• The first 36-48 hours following exposure are critical. There is a time window allowing for treatment even in a mass casualty scenario.
• Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. is developing cell therapy products that release a mix of therapeutic proteins in response to signals from cells and tissues that have been damaged by conditions such as inflammation, ischemia, hematological disorders, or exposure to radiation.
  
  The writer was former Head of Medicine for the Israel Ministry of Defense, where he led studies and product development for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures.