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Israel Establishes Formal Relations With UAE in U.S.-Brokered Peace Deal

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In a big win for Middle Eastern relations and a major victory for the Trump administration, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) officially established diplomatic ties Thursday in a peace agreement brokered by the United States.

The treaty comes as Israel agrees to forgo plans to annex parts of the West Bank and marks the first Gulf Arab country to open relations with the Jewish nation.

“This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential of the region,” the White House released in a joint statement with Israel and the UAE. “As a result of this diplomatic breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty over areas outlined in the President’s Vision for Peace and focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world.”

Israel’s prime minister celebrated President Donald Trump’s announcement of the agreement on Twitterm writing back “Historic Day” in Hebrew. (Read more from “Israel Establishes Formal Relations With Uae in U.S.-Brokered Peace Deal” HERE)

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Forget Israel — Americans Should Start a ‘BDS’ Movement Against China ASAP

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. . .So what would a BDS movement against China look like?

First would be a leveling of sanctions against all companies with ties to China’s military, to weapons of mass destruction, and to its persecution of Uyghurs and other minorities. . .

Sanctioning alone is not enough, however. Divestment must follow. We must ensure that America’s pension funds, college endowments and personal savings are not used by China’s proliferators and human-rights violators to continue doing business.

Here I have some good news to report. Forty percent of Americans now say they will never again buy a product “Made in China.” Like me, they would prefer to “use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without,” rather than fatten the coffers of the regime that has unleashed so much havoc across the world.

The other half of America needs to join in as well. Do it for the millions imprisoned in re-education camps by the CCP, for the tens of millions it murdered over its 71-year history, or for the hundreds of millions of women it forcibly aborted in the one-child policy. (Read more from “Forget Israel — Americans Should Start a ‘BDS’ Movement Against China ASAP” HERE)

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Iran Starting to Withdraw From Syria: Israel’s Outgoing Defense Minister; Iran’s Supreme Leader Releases Anti-Israel ‘Final Solution’ Poster

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By Al Arabiya. Iran has begun withdrawing its forces from Syria, Israel’s outgoing defense minister said on Monday, without offering any evidence to support his assertion.

Naftali Bennett also urged his successor, Benny Gantz, to maintain pressure on Iran, adding that the trend might otherwise reverse.

Iran, Israel’s archenemy in the Middle East, has been a key supporter, along with Russia, of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s civil war, sending military advisers as well as material and regional Shia militias that it backs.

Israel, which monitors neighboring Syria intensively, has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria targeting suspected arms and troop movements by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas it sponsors.

“Iran is significantly reducing the scope of its forces in Syria and even evacuating a number of bases,” said Bennett in his valedictory address. (Read more from “Iran Starting to Withdraw From Syria: Israel’s Outgoing Defense Minister” HERE)

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Releases Anti-Israel ‘Final Solution’ Poster

By The Jerusalem Post. Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Khamenei on Tuesday published an antisemitic poster evoking Nazi Germany’s “final solution” that destroyed European Jewry in order to advance Tehran’s quest to abolish Israel.

The poster’s language reads: “Palestine will be free. The final solution. Resistance is referendum.”

Khamenei displayed the antisemitic poster in English, Farsi and Arabic on his official homepage.

The picture shows a conquered Jerusalem with photos of the late Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani.

(Read more from “Iran’s Supreme Leader Releases Anti-Israel ‘Final Solution’ Poster” HERE)

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Chinese Ambassador to Israel Found Dead at Home; China Emerges as Potential Strain on U.S.-Israel Relationship

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By Fox News. China’s ambassador to Israel was found dead inside his home north of Tel Aviv on Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

Du Wei, 57, arrived in Israel in mid-February amid the coronavirus outbreak and was living in the coastal city of Herzliya on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. He previously served as China’s envoy to Ukraine.

Staff found Du unresponsive in his bed with no signs of violence to his body, the Haaretz daily reported. Initial media reports said Du’s cause of death appeared to be from a cardiac incident. (Read more from “Chinese Ambassador to Israel Found Dead at Home” HERE)

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China Emerges as Potential Strain on U.S.-Israel Relationship

By The Hill. Increasingly close ties between China and Israel risk straining the special relationship Israel has with the U.S., especially as Washington ramps up its feud with Beijing over the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The historic alliance narrowly avoided a diplomatic fallout this week with Israel relenting to U.S. concerns and delaying a Chinese infrastructure project in the country, coinciding with a whirlwind visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Jerusalem.

While the U.S. has long expressed concern to Israel over its ties with China, Israeli officials have signaled they are not stepping back from relations with Beijing entirely.

Pompeo used his latest visit to highlight the risk of doing business with the Communist Party.

“We do not want the Chinese Communist Party to have access to Israeli infrastructure, Israeli communication systems, all of the things that put Israeli citizens at risk,” Pompeo said in an interview Thursday with an Israeli news channel, “and in turn put the capacity for America to work alongside Israel on important projects at risk as well.” (Read more from “China Emerges as Potential Strain on U.S.-Israel Relationship” HERE)

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Iran Calls Israel ‘Rabid, Predatory Dog’ as Jewish State Swears in New Government

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By Newsweek. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Khamenei railed against Israel this weekend as the Jewish state’s parliament approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new unity government.

“The Zionist regime & its criminal supporters recognize no bounds in brutality & trampling of moral norms,” Khamenei wrote in a series of tweets on Saturday evening local time. “They consider genocide, destruction, the massacre of children & women, & any oppression permissible in #Palestine. This rabid, predatory dog attacks innocent ppl [sic].”

Khamenei also accused the Zionist regime of failing to abide by any treaty. They do not “understand any language but the language of force,” he wrote. “Israel has proven it only knows force. It cannot be spoken to except with the Palestinian nation’s language of power & the Islamic nation’s global power.”

(Read more from “Iran Calls Israel ‘Rabid, Predatory Dog’ as Jewish State Swears in New Government” HERE)

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Airstrike Attributed to Israel Said to Kill 7 Iran-Backed Fighters in East Syria

By The Times of Israel. Unknown warplanes attacked Iran-backed fighters in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border, killing several of the Iraqi militiamen, Syrian opposition activists said Sunday.

The strikes late Saturday targeted a base near the border town of Boukamal, killing seven fighters, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.

Omar Abu Laila, a Europe-based activist from Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zour province, confirmed that a strike hit Iran-backed Iraqi fighters in the area, but had no exact word on casualties. The strikes came days after reinforcements were brought into the area from Iraq, the Observatory and Abu Laila said.

Abu Laila, who runs Deir Ezzor 24, an activist collective that reports on news in the border area, said Israel was most likely behind the attack, but gave no evidence. (Read more from “Airstrike Attributed to Israel Said to Kill 7 Iran-Backed Fighters in East Syria” HERE)

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Israeli PM Suggests Microchipping Kids

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Cyber experts slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his proposal to “microchip” children who return to schools and kindergartens as the coronavirus lockdown is lifted, Ynet reported on Friday.

While speaking at a press conference on Monday, Netanyahu suggested the Health Ministry use new technology to help Israel adjust to its new routine as the state is lifting the coronavirus lockdown. “That is, technology that has not been used before and is allowed under the legislation we shall enact,” he clarified.

“I spoke with our heads of technology in order to find measures Israel is good at, such as sensors. For instance, every person, every kid – I want it on kids first – would have a sensor that would sound an alarm when you get too close, like the ones on cars,” the prime minister said.

“It will be hard to do it to more than a million schoolchildren who return to their educational institutions in order to ensure one student sits at the distance of two meters from another. It is fictional and dangerous,” cyber resilience expert Einat Meron told Ynet. . .

The Prime Minister’s Office responded to the report, telling Ynet Netanyahu’s suggestion “is not to be implemented through databases, but through simple technology notifying [the citizens] about their distance. It is a voluntary option that is designed to help children keep their distance, like Mobileye with vehicles.” (Read more from “Israeli PM Suggests Microchipping Kids” HERE)

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Israel Threatens to Pull Evangelical Christian TV Station Aimed at Jews

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The Israeli government is threatening to take off air a Christian television channel that launched in the country to preach to Jews, warning that it will be barred if it breaks strict rules around proselytising.

GOD TV, an evangelical media network that broadcasts across the world, signed a seven-year deal with a major Israeli cable television provider, HOT, to host its new Hebrew-language channel that began airing last month.

In a video message, Ward Simpson, the CEO of God TV, said: “God has supernaturally opened the door for us to take the gospel of Jesus into the homes, and lives and hearts of his Jewish people.”

Many in the Jewish state see the conversion of Jews as a threat to the relatively small global population as well as their majority status within Israel. While the country’s laws do not place an outright ban on proselytising, it is forbidden to preach to a person under 18 without the consent of a parent. . .

Communications minister David Amsalem threatened last week to shut down the channel if it was confirmed to have broken the rules. “We won’t allow any missionary channel to operate in the state of Israel, not at any time and not under any circumstances,” Amsalem, a member of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party, said in a statement. (Read more from “Israel Threatens to Pull Evangelical Christian TV Station Aimed at Jews” HERE)

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COVID-19 Patient Treated With New ‘Passive Vaccine’; Israeli COVID-19 Treatment With 100% Survival Rate Tested on U.S. Patient

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By The Jerusalem Post. A 29-year-old haredi (ultra-Orthodox) coronavirus patient who is being treated at Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital has improved from serious to serious but stable condition, after receiving multiple doses of plasma over the weekend from a donor who recovered from coronavirus, a spokesperson for the hospital told The Jerusalem Post.

On Friday, “with the assistance of Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman and his assistant, a suitable donor, a resident of Jerusalem, was found,” explained MDA director-general Eli Bin.

MDA brought her in an ambulance to its blood service center before Shabbat. A special team was waiting for her and transferred the plasma units to the laboratories to perform all required tests and prepare them for transfusion. (Read more from “COVID-19 Patient Treated With Israel’s New ‘Passive Vaccine’” HERE)

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Israeli COVID-19 Treatment With 100% Survival Rate Tested on U.S. Patient

By The Jerusalem Post. Israeli-based Pluristem has treated its first American patient suffering from COVID-19 complications under the country’s compassionate use program.

The news comes days after a report by the company showed that six critically ill coronavirus patients in Israel who are considered high-risk for mortality were treated with Pluristem’s placenta-based cell-therapy product and survived, according to preliminary data provided by the Haifa-based company.

In the US case, the patient was treated with the company’s PLX cell therapy at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey, where Pluristem is already running a Phase III critical limb ischemia study. Like the patients treated in Israel, this patient was critically ill with respiratory failure due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and was intubated in an intensive care unit for three weeks. (Read more from “Israeli COVID-19 Treatment With 100% Survival Rate Tested on U.S. Patient” HERE)

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Israeli-Made Oral Vaccine for Coronavirus on Track, but Testing Will Take Months

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An effective Israeli-developed vaccine for coronavirus is on track to be ready for testing within “a few weeks,” though it won’t be available for months because of the lengthy and sometimes bureaucratic testing and approval process, a member of the development team said Tuesday.

Chen Katz told The Times of Israel that the new oral vaccine for adults and children could “turn this disease into a very mild cold.” He said that for many people who are inoculated and then infected by COVID-19, “potentially it will not affect them at all.”

The rapid potential progress by the state-funded Migal Galilee Research Institute stems from the fact that the institute has been working for four years toward a vaccine that could be customized for various viruses, and has now adapted that work to focus on the coronavirus, he said.

Nonetheless, while Israel’s science ministry made headlines last week by touting the institute’s work and saying that its vaccine could be three months away, Dr. Asher Shalmon, the Health Ministry’s director of international relations, has warned against placing “false hopes” in it.

The vaccine will consist of a specially produced protein, and Katz said he expects to be clutching a bottle of it within “a few weeks.” But then comes clinical testing, which will take place in conjunction with a partner, and the paperwork, both of which will take time. (Read more from “Israeli-Made Oral Vaccine for Coronavirus on Track, but Testing Will Take Months” HERE)

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Two-Week Isolation Ordered for All Who Enter Israel (VIDEO)

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All people entering Israel from abroad will be required to spend 14 days in home isolation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. The measure became effective at 8 p.m. Monday night.

“After a day of complex discussions, we have made a decision: Whoever arrives in Israel from abroad will enter quarantine for 14 days,” Netanyahu said in a video statement Monday as 50 Israelis were diagnosed with coronavirus. “This is a difficult decision but it is essential to maintaining public health, which takes precedence over everything.

The message came less than an hour after Israel’s Health Ministry announced that three more people were diagnosed with coronavirus: patients No. 40, 41 and 42. It also came two hours before patients No. 43 through 50 were announced. . .

The Health Ministry is asking that these tourists follow five guidelines: 1) Call Magen David Adom if they experience any symptoms; 2) pay careful attention to their personal hygiene; 3) stay away from public gatherings; 4) understand that they cannot leave and then return to the country and; 5) report on their whereabouts while in Israel.

The quarantine does not apply retroactively, explained Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov. Though he cautioned that any Israeli or tourist who has landed in the country in the last 14 days and shows symptoms of the virus – fever, cough or difficulty breathing – should call MDA and be tested. (Read more from “Two-Week Isolation Ordered for All Who Enter Israel” HERE)

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