Hello all, this weekends news round-up is a bit more of what you have been hearing about Gaza for weeks, but with more truth than you have seen so far. We have also lightened up the mood with some stories about Muslims standing up against Anti-Semitism, fun Shavuot facts, baseball and a promising cure for cancer! Read on friends!
Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas, gestures to demonstrators at a a protest camp during clashes with Israeli forces along the border with the Gaza Strip east of Gaza City on May 18, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)
Interestingly enough, Hamas leaders were absent from the protests this past Monday, but they made sure to send their operatives in their place, using thousands of civilians as their shields, of course. When they acknowledged that of the 62 people killed, 50 were their own operatives, and 3 were claimed by Islamic Jihad, no one seemed to care.
Even more, Hamas planned all of the activity at the border, down to what weapons they should carry, how they should act and where to meet once they broke through the fence. They have been trying to present this as a citizen-driven, popular protest, but it was anything but that.
Lt. Cl. Akhsan Daksa, commander of the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade, recounted how he communicated with the protesters from about five meters away through the fence. He told demonstrators to head back from the fence. “This won’t help, this isn’t the way,” he recounted telling them. Their answer was to throw grenades.
Photo of the Old City walls by Sasson Tiram courtesy of the Jerusalem municipality.
“Guatemalan Embassy, welcome home!” said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. “I thank President Jimmy Morales Cabrera of Guatemala for his courageous decision and am honored that we will be opening the embassy in the capital of Israel.” (israel21c.org) Guatemala’s embassy was originally in Jerusalem and had moved to Tel Aviv in 1980. Moving back to its original home just 2 days after the US Embassy move, was exciting and the walls of Jerusalem were lit up with a big “thank you” to the Guatemalan President, Jimmy Morales Cabrera.
An ad in the Telegraph newspaper, May 17, 2018 (Board of Deputies of British Jews/Twitter)
On May 17th, 2 days ago, Muslim leaders in Great Britain took out a full-page ad in a major British newspaper condemning anti-Semitism. “We understand that many in our country empathize with the Palestinians and their right to a sovereign state,” said the ad Thursday in the Telegraph, signed by a group called Muslims Against Anti-Semitism. “However, we must be ever vigilant against those who cynically use international issues to vilify Jews or promote anti-Semitic tropes.” (timesofisrael.com)
The Board of Deputies of British Jews took to Twitter to applaud the ad and thanked the group for their stand. The Board had also stood with Tell MAMA, a clearinghouse for complaints about anti-Muslim attacks, earlier when it posted about anti-Muslim attacks in Britain. Solidarity is especially hard to come by between Jews and Muslims, but this brings hope.
Israel celebrates its 4-1 victory over Cuba in the opening game of the 2017 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.. (photo credit: MARGO SUGARMAN)
Okay, so it isn’t like in the movies, where the scrappy, come from behind team, wins it all in the end, but it was inspiring and hopefully, the beginning of a new sports story for Israel. In their minds, they achieved what they wanted. To bring awareness to Israeli baseball in the U.S. and to rally support and funding for the sport to be able to grow in Israel.
Many of the Jewish-America major leaguers on the team had almost no relationship with Israel or their own Judaism, but through this experience, and visiting the Holy Land, a new connection was formed.
In the baseball world, Israel’s surprising firstplace Pool A and overall 4-2 record will likely become a distant memory. But rest assured it will not be forgotten by the American Jewish community, by a new generation of Jewish kids inspired by this team, by Israelis who perhaps had never watched baseball before and by the Israel Association of Baseball, which hopes to take this spark and build it into a fire for the sport back home. (jpost.com)
Israeli researchers say they have found a way to stunt the growth of cancer cells!
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz (Courtesy)
A group of researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has developed a new molecule that they say inhibits the growth of cancer cells and also reprograms them to be noncancerous.
The new treatment is based on inhibiting the production of a protein, the voltage-dependent anion-selective channel 1 (VDAC1), highly increased levels of which are found in many solid and non-solid tumors. (timesofisrael.com)
Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz led the research and tells Time of Israel,“Cancer cells have hundred times more VDAC1 than normal cells,” in a phone interview. “So we said, let’s prevent, down-regulate its formation.” The result was the development of a molecule that stopped the growth of the cancer cell and also caused it to shrink. This is huge for cancer research but what is even more exciting is that another effect of the molecule was that the cells were found to return to their normal state.
Read more about this exciting discovery in the link in the title. Israel never ceases to amaze us!
Shavout is celebrated in Israel this coming Saturday night and Sunday. In Israel it is one day and commemorates the day when the Israelites received the Torah during their desert wanderings approximately 3,327 years ago. It is the only Jewish holiday mentioned in the Torah without a specific calendar date. Rather, it is to be celebrated 50 days after the second day of Passover. The rabbis say that Passover and Shavuot are really one holiday – the Exodus from Egypt was only complete with the giving of the Torah.
Another fun fact is that in many places around Israel, there are water gun fights and water ballon fights taking place in the neighborhoods. Why? Because the Torah is associated with water, and it was on Shavuot that the Torah was given to the people by G-d. So get those water buckets and balloons ready! Read more fun facts by clicking on the link in the title! Have a happy weekend all!
A Shavuot water fight in Beersheva. Photo by Dudu Greenspan/FLASH90
