War And Peace And Terror

 Terror On The Streets

Five people were killed when terrorist  Diaa Hamarsheh, a 26-year old Palestinian from the West bank town of Ya’bad, near Jenin, opened fire with an M-16 automatic rifle at @8:20 on Tuesday evening, March 29th, in the Israeli city of Bnai Brak on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. 

The terrorist, who had been in and Israeli prison for security related activities as a teen, was in Israel illegally.  Reportedly, Hamarsheh was a member of the Palestinian terror organization Islamic Jihad.

This was the fifth terror attack in the last two weeks. A total of 11 Israelis have died and three injured in these attacks.  Unlike the terrorists in the other recent attacks Hamarsheh was clean-shaven and wore jeans and a t-shirt. 

                                                                                            Bnai Brak scene of terrorist attack

According to police, the terrorist arrived in Bnai Brak in a car with Israeli license plates. He exited the car with a M-16 automatic rifle that police suspect was smuggled either from Jordan or Egypt, and then opened fire at anyone he saw.

Hamarsheh shot and killed Ya’akov Shalom, 36, who left a wife and five children. Shalom, a resident of Bnai Brak, was the son of a prominent Yemenite rabbi who recently died of Corona. Shalom was shot as he was driving down Bialik street in Bnai Brak. His children were to have been in the car with him, according to Ynetnews, but his wife called to the children to come upstairs instead of joining their father and thus were saved. 

The terrorist also shot and killed Avishai Yehzkel, 29, a yeshiva student who was walking down the street pushing his 2 year old son in a stroller trying to get him to sleep. When the terrorist opened fire, Yehzkel reportedly bent over his son and was shot protecting him. Yehzkel is survived by his wife who is eight months pregnant with their second child.

Two of those killed were Ukrainian citizens, Victor Sorokopot, 32, and Dimitri Mitnik, 24, who were sitting at an outdoor table in front of a grocery store. Both were construction workers living in Bnai Brak, had been in Israel for a while, Sorokopot for four years with his wife, and were not war refugees. Mitnik recently told a friend he wasn't going back to Ukraine since he felt safe in Israel. 

The fifth victim was an Israeli policeman, Amir Khoury, 32, a Christian Arab from the Israeli Arab town of Nof Hagalil. Khoury’s father was also an Israeli policeman. Khoury was part of the motorcycle unit patrolling Bnai Brak. He chased the terrorist on his motorcycle with another motorcycle policeman. Khoury and the other motorcycle policeman dumped their motorcycles then got into a gunfight with the terrorist. Khoury and the other policeman killed the terrorist but Khoury was mortally wounded in the gunfight and died in Bellinson hospital in Petach Tikva..

Turkey, the UAE, and the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack. But Hamas chief Haniyeh praised the attack, as did spokesmen for Islamic Jihad. Israel TV showed footage of Palestinians in East Jerusalem celebrating in front of the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Celebrations were also reported in Hamarsheh’s village of Ya’bad.

Following the attack, police detained  Hamarsheh’s brother and other relatives for questioning. Also, to prevent further attacks, five other suspects were arrested on suspicion of being members of ISIS. Earlier in the week police arrested 12 other Palestinians on suspicion of belonging to ISIS. To try to prevent another attack, police have beefed up their presence in hotspots, like East Jerusalem.

According to Zvi Yehezkeli, the Arab affairs reporter for Channel 13 TV news, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for these terrorist attack by allowing incendiary anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish educational materials in Palestinian schools. 

Wednesday is the Palestinian observance of Nakba Day, the day that marks Israeli Independence in the Arabic calendar, according to Wikipedia. And also the day, according to Ynetnews, that commemorates an event in 1976, “when Arabs in northern Israel protested in response to the Israeli government’s plan to expropriate thousands of acres of Arab-owned land. Demonstrations led to clashes with Israeli authorities, resulting in the deaths of six Arabs, roughly 100 others wounded, and hundreds more arrested.”

On Saturday, or Sunday, depending on the day dictated by Islamic religious authorities, the holy festival of Ramadan begins. Because of the convergence of Nakba Day and Ramadan police expect an upsurge of violence.

However, various media outlets differ on whether Israel is in for a second Intifada. One commentator said the problem was there was “No clear enemy to attack in retaliation for the attacks or to strike at in order to contain a new outbreak.”  Another said that the situation today is much different from that of the previous Intifada. Israel, said a commentator on Channel 11 Kan TV news, has destroyed the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank.

Also, said the report, there is little or no coordination between the terrorist entities in the West Bank and Gaza and Lebanon. Israel’s war on terror, launched after the outbreak of the last Intifada, has stripped the Palestinian groups of much of their weaponry and means of communications. As such, there is no substantive worry about a new Intifada.

One Israeli commentators took exception to foreign media reports depicting Hamarsheh and the other terrorists as ‘gunmen’ when describing the attacks on Israelis. “What? They think these are some disgruntled teenagers with automatic weapons getting back at their teachers? Or lone gunmen who think they’re saving the world like that maniac on Norwegian island of Utoya who took out a whole summer camp of teenagers because he thought he was a Nazi? Those guys were also terrorists, not gunmen. This is not the wild west where gunmen take over a town, like in High Noon, and Gary Cooper has to go and save the citizens. These guys are terrorists not gangsters or gunmen and the New York Times and NPR and CNN and the Washington Post should describe them as such.”

On Thursday, 

Israeli troops raid West Bank city in counterterror operation

Over 30 Palestinians detained after troops enter Jenin and its refugee camp to arrest accomplices of Bnei Brak gunman, confiscate guns, flak jackets, M16 rifles, and ammunition; 3 Palestinians killed

War in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has entered the second month. The UN estimates that over 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country. Nearly 10,000 have immigrated to Israel and another 10,000 came in as non-resident tourists. 

Since the outbreak of the war, at least 1,179 civilians have been killed and 1,860 injured, according to OHCHR (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights). This includes 144 children killed and at least 220 injured. “Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” according to the OHCHR website.

  

                                                                                                    Mariupol, Ukraine

Russia has continued to attack Mariupol, reportedly bombing entire city blocks into oblivion. Russia has also issued statements that they are going to withdraw troops, however British and U.S. intelligence sources say that Russia is only rearranging the army’s positions.

Russia has kept up the attacks on Ukraine while at the same time agreeing to peace talks. Observers say this is a charade by Russia to obfuscate their long-term goal of occupying all of Ukraine. Russian troops are still outside of Kyiv firing missiles into the city and are also still fighting in other areas of Ukraine.

Thousands of Russian troops have apparently been killed in the fighting, although Russia has kept the news of the war from the Russian public, according to media reports. Also, reports are rife that Ukrainian civilians have signed up to defend their country. 

One volunteer took an unusual route, according to CNN. A computer expert, he attacked the Russian “ransomware gangs” and began publishing “the biggest leak ever of files and data from Conti, a syndicate of Russian and Eastern Europe cybercriminals wanted by the FBI for conducting attacks on hundreds of US organizations and causing millions of dollars in losses.”

The Ukrainian computer specialist said his motivation was seeking revenge after Conti operatives publicly came out in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine. “I cannot shoot anything, but I can fight with a keyboard and mouse," Danylo, (a pseudonym) told CNN

Israel has played a role in the peace talks acting as a go-between, conveying messages from Ukrainian President Zelensky to Russian President Putin. One of those involved in the negotiations is Russian oligarch Roman Abramovitch who reportedly delivered a message from Zelensky to Putin with conciliatory conditions for ending the conflict. Putin reportedly brushed aside the message replying “I will thrash him.” 

Abramovitch, a dual Russian/Israeli citizen, was reportedly poisoned by far right Russian players in order to diminish the oligarch’s impact on the talks. Last week Abramovitch was spotted in Israel but left within 24-hours. Some observers speculate the oligarch met secretly with Israel’s PM Bennett, and perhaps some other diplomats from other countries, before leaving for Russia to deliver messages from Ukraine’s president Zelensky. 

The idea that Israel would become the venue for peace talks has also been raised by both Ukraine and Russia.

CNN has also reported that “The US believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being "misinformed" by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing in Ukraine and the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy.”

Covid

According to the Reuters news agency, an Israeli study carried out by the Clalit Health Services, (an HMO) the fourth vaccine, also called the second booster shot, significantly lowers the COVID death rate. Seniors who received a second booster had a 78% lower mortality rate from those who received only one booster, according to the study of people aged between 60-100. 

"The main conclusion is that the second booster is lifesaving," said Ronen Arbel, Health Outcomes Researcher at Clalit and Sapir College. However, according to NPR (National Public Radio) health officials at the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in the United States said the elderly and those at risk ‘could’ get the fourth vaccine but did not say they ‘should’ get the vaccine.

The Biden administration’s FDA (Federal Food and Drug Administration) in the USA has given the go-ahead for the second booster for those aged 50 and older and some who are immunocompromised. Those eligible can now receive the second booster at least four months after their last dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna booster Pfizer also announced they are working on a new vaccine that will provide long term protection from COVID and the variants.

Worldwide there are 485,660,021 cases, with 6,157,342 deaths and 69,613,885 active cases. The USA still leads the world in Covid cases with 81,686,628 cases, 1,005,056 deaths and 15,804,598 active cases.  Israel is number 26 in infections with 3,894,141 cases, 10,485 deaths, 263 in serious condition, and 101,561 active cases. 

Experts say that while the number of daily cases in Israel has risen to 14,000 with a positivity rate of 18%, the R number continues to decrease and now stands at 1.15, a slower rate than previously this month. The number of serious cases has not increased nor have the number of deaths. Experts attribute the vaccination program to the lack of serious cases. Most of the cases are now from the BA.2 variant.

Diplomacy

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid initiated and hosted a first of its kind summit at the Kedem Hotel in the Negev desert at Sde Boker, the kibbutz where Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion retired to and lived out his last years. A horrific terrorist attack took place in Beer Sheva on the eve of the summit. Observers say the attack was partially aimed at disrupting the summit. However, those Arab leaders attending the summit condemned the attacks and continued on with the summit meetings.

 

The summit was attended by foreign ministers from the UAE (United Arab Emirates), Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United States. The unofficial reason for the summit was meant to strengthen regional cooperation against Iran amid increasing concerns of the U.S. retreat from the region, according to Barak Ravid in a Yahoo News article. 

According to Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, each of the countries had their own agenda. Some wanted to invest in clean energy, some sought maritime security, some education and agriculture consultations. Iran, according to reports, was not specifically mentioned by any of the visiting foreign ministers. 

This was the first time the six countries sat down together and the first visit to Israel by foreign ministers from UAE and Morocco. The group agreed to meet on an annual basis and continue to discuss security issues, energy, tourism, health, education and food and water scarcity. 

In other moves, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in efforts to create warmer ties between the two countries.  Herzog also visited Jordan and met with King Abdullah II in efforts to bring the two countries closer together. 

However, according to the TimesofIsrael, and other sources, Israel is reportedly working on deals with the Arab countries to provide measures to counter Iranian drone and missile attacks. The IDF also revealed that between 2017 and 2021 Israeli fighter jets had struck Iranian sponsored militia targets along Israel’s northern border with Syria in 408 missions. 

Iran has recently used proxies to launch missiles at Saudi Arabian oil facilities, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and even sent two suicide drones at Israel that were destroyed by Israeli defenses.

Snow

Israel experienced an unusual cold snap that brought snow to the highest peaks. The snow turned to slush and melted within a day as temperatures rose from 3° C ( 37° F) to nearly 26° C. (@80°F). 

Happiness

According to a survey that appeared in CNN, Israel is the 9th happiest country in the world. The top ten were led by Finland followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand. “Go figure,” quipped one observer, “with all that’s going on.”

A Glimmer of Hope

 WAR IN UKRAINE

Francis Fukuyama, a famous American political scientist, political economist and author, who teaches at Stanford University in California, recently added to his American Purpose newsletter. Fukuyama, who was writing from Skopje, North Macedonia, where he was teaching a course on leadership development, posited that “Russia is heading for an outright defeat in the Ukraine. Russian planning was incompetent, based on a flawed assumption that Ukrainians were favorable to Russia and that their military would collapse immediately following an invasion…Putin will not survive the defeat of his army.” A Russian defeat will make possible a “new birth of freedom, and get us out of our funk about the declining state of global democracy.”

                                                 Bohdan Khmelnytsky Monument, Kyiv

According to Wikipedia, “Fukuyama is best known as the author of ‘The End Of History and the Last Man’, in which he argued that the struggle between ideologies was largely at an end, with the world settling on liberal democracy after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The book was based on ideas from an earlier article, "The End of History?” In the article, Fukuyama predicted the coming global triumph of political and economic liberalism….”

Some, like author Raif Dahrendorf, dismissed Fukuyama’s ‘The End of History’ essay as Fukuyama’s 15 minutes of fame. Critics said Fukuyama’s ‘aggressive stance’ towards postmodernism was too extreme. Fukuyama argued that postmodernism undermined liberal democracy leaving the world weaker.  He thought that the fact that liberal democracy had outlasted Marxism and fascism was proof of his thesis.

Pundits point to Fukuyama’s miscalculation about the end of history as an indication that his optimistic outlook on the possible demise of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is equally as flawed. But it’s a nice thought, said one pundit. “It provides a glimmer of hope for the grim situation in Ukraine.”

So far, over 2.5 million Ukrainians have become refugees, according to media reports. Nearly 1.5 million of those have wound up in Poland. The Russian military juggernaught is poised to overrun Ukraine, and countries like Latvia, Poland, even the Czech Republic are worried they may also be targets of Russia’s ambition to claim those countries as part of Russia.

Surprisingly, Israel has become a major player in the diplomatic efforts to reach some sort of cease-fire. Ukrainian Prime Minister Zelensky has reached out to Israel’s Prime Minister Neftali Bennett and asked him to mediate between Ukraine and Russia. Israel has good working relationships with both countries. Bennett recently flew to Moscow to meet with Russian president Putin, and has also been in Kyiv meeting with PM Zelensky.

As of now, Israel has absorbed approximately 8,000 Ukrainians, including nearly 3,200 Jews seeking citizenship under Israel’s ‘Right of Return’ for anyone with at least a Jewish grandparent.  According to Israel radio’s Reshet Bet, Israel expects 100,000 new immigrants from Ukraine and Russia. Housing and medical facilities have to be prepared to deal with the expected immigration.

There has been a flap, however, caused by Israel’s Minister of the Interior Ayelet Shaked’s ruling that Israel would limit the number of refugees to 25,000. Israel’s liberal Meretz Party, joined by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk, and others, took Minister Shaked’s ruling to Israel’s High Court to have the limit removed. The court’s decision is expected next week.

A temporary compromise was reached on Sunday allowing Ukrainians who have relatives in Israel to come in as tourists. PM Bennet said the refugees are welcome to stay until it is safe for them to return home. Israel has also opened up two hotels to house these refugees.

Some observers remind Israel’s critics that there are still Jewish people in Ukraine, including Prime Minister Zelensky. Historians point out that the Jewish people have been in Ukraine for nearly 1,000 years. But some of that time witnessed cruelty and death The memory of Ukraine’s alliance with Nazi Germany and an even longer history of deadly pogroms between 1918-1921where nearly 100,000 Jews were killed, and entire villages and towns wiped out, still lingers in the minds of many Israelis.

Meanwhile, Israel has sent over 100 tons of medical and cold weather equipment to Ukraine but has avoided repeated Ukrainian requests for military supplies. “We need planes, not blankets,” one Ukrainian minister said. Still, some young Israelis, veterans of the Israeli army with family ties to Ukraine, have gone to the Ukraine to help fight the Russians. Other Israelis have gone to provide aid and comfort, setting up stands of food and drink and piles of clothing near crossing points from Ukraine to Moldova and Poland. The Israeli media is filled with opinions that are either supportive of Israel’s attempt at neutrality or critical of that position.

Both Israel and the USA are walking a tightrope, according to pundits. These pundits point out that Israel has a special relationship with Russia because of Israel’s ongoing fight with Iran. Iranian backed militias, high ranking Iranian army officers, and powerful Iranian weapons like anti-aircraft batteries and missiles are all being deployed in Syria along the Israeli border. These same weapons are sent regularly to the Hezbollah terrorist group who run a large part of Lebanon.

Israeli jets run sorties against these Iranian targets and convoys that travel from Syria to Lebanon. Russian forces control the skies over Syria and have so far allowed Israel to strike at Iranian targets. Israeli defense officials want to keep this arrangement with Russia going since stopping Iranian attacks, or Iranian sponsored attacks on Israeli civilians, is understandably a high priority.

Israel has also vowed not to become a safe haven for Russia’s Jewish oligarchs who are trying to avoid US sanctions. According to the Times of Israel, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, meeting with officials in Slovakia, has said Israel will not be a “route to bypass” sanctions on Russia. Some of these Russian-Jewish oligarchs hold dual Russian/Israeli citizenship. Victoria Nuland, the US under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said last week that Israel should bar Russian oligarchs and not become the “last haven for dirty money that’s fueling Putin’s wars.” 

          Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, (r), meeting Roman Abramovich (L)

The most obvious is Jewish billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich, whose wealth is estimated at $12.2 billion and who is reportedly a close confidant of Russia’s PM Putin.

Abramovich, a major donor to causes in Israel like Yad Vashem, also owns the English premier league’s Chelsea soccer club. Abramovich was sanctioned following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His private Gulfsteam G650 jet was said to have recently arrived in Israel although Abramovich’s whereabouts are presently unknown. Abramovich became an Israeli citizen in 2018. He is presently trying to sell the Chelsea soccer club.


COVID

“It aint over till it’s over,” said one commentator referring the the Covid pandemic. Speaking on American TV on Sunday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that everyone should get the ‘fourth vaccine.’ Bourla said that the efficacy of the vaccines drops after four to six months and the fourth vaccine is important. Pfizer’s Bourla said his company is working on an annual vaccination that covers all the Covid variants.

In Israel, the Covid reproduction number has been steadily rising in recent weeks after a precipitous drop. The r number is now 0.87 up from 0.66 two weeks ago. Israel has reported 3,471 cases on Sunday, a fraction of the nearly 30,000 a day in mid-February. Approximately 882 people are hospitalized with about 350 in serious condition and nearly 160 on ventilators.

Even with this drop in cases, health officials think that the 5th wave is over, but still advise caution.  As of March 1st, ‘Green Pass’ was canceled, tourists are now allowed in unvaccinated as long as they show a negative test before boarding and take a PCR test upon arrival in Israel, and remain in isolation until a negative test result is received. Indoor masks are still required although walking through Israeli malls one rarely sees a masked individual but does see masks strewn around the floor and on sidewalks and caught in bushes like fall leaves.

Health officials express concern over a possible spike in infections after the upcoming Jewish holidays of Purim and Passover since both celebrations take place amid crowds or extended family. Covid czar Salman Zarka said that the downward trend could reverse by next week, following the Purim holiday, and that cases in old age homes are rising as people are becoming less cautious.

According to Ynetnews, Health Ministry Director General Prof. Nachman Ash said it was still to soon to say that the pandemic is over. "The [Omicron] wave is behind us, but the confirmed cases are still not low. I really hope that this is the last wave. I don't know that there won't be another variant that will bring on another wave. We're preparing for such an option, but I hope it doesn't happen.” Ash said in any case another booster would probably be needed.

Much of the world has still not been vaccinated, according to World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom. He cited a 46% rise in Western Pacific, where 3.9 million people have been infected. Adhanom also said there has been a dangerous drop in testing for Covid. He said that 23 countries have not even vaccinated 10% of their population, and that 73 countries have a population where only 40% are vaccinated.

China has seen a worrisome rise in infections. A lockdown was imposed  in Shenzhen do to a rise in infections. Shanghai has restricted all but essential travel. In Hong Kong those non-Chinese who could flee did so. One Israeli working in Hong Kong reported that had any of his children tested positive they would have immediately been taken away by Chinese authorities to a state-run facility where parents were not allowed to visit. Rather than run the risk, this Israeli returned to Israel with his wife and children leaving the family possession behind.

World wide there have been 458,585,671 cases reported, with 6,066,254 deaths, and 67,554,136 active cases.  The USA still leads the world with 81,174,67 cases, 993,811 deaths, and 24,109,673 active cases.  Israel has seen 3,719,444 cases, with 10,379 deaths, and 41,619 active cases.

Also, Israel health officials reported one case of polio in Israel and two other suspected cases. Polio has disappeared from Israel since a serious outbreak in the 50’s.


SCIENCE

According to an article published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Aging Cell, Israeli scientists have reversed the aging process of female egg cells.  The research, led by molecular biologist Dr. Michael Klutstein of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem managed to successfully identify one of the aging mechanisms that prevent egg cells from successfully maturing. We found that this aging mechanism is reversible and we can treat it,” Klutstein said. His team said this would help women suffering from age-related infertility.