In the historiography of Zionism, the San Remo conference – which anchored the Balfour Declaration in international law – has been neglected. We must study it, and celebrate it.

By Dror Eydar, ISRAEL HAYOM

A moment before the world was turned upside down by a tiny virus and our lives became one long day, I managed, at the start of February, to visit the little town of San Remo on the Italian Riviera. We in the Israeli Embassy had been planning to hold a big event there on Sunday, April 26, to be attended by world leaders, to mark the 100th anniversary of the famous conference. The mayor had even put the symphony orchestra of the famous Sanremo Festival at our disposal.

The idea was to highlight, in the global discourse, the main insight of all those who take an interest in the decisions made at the conference: in contrast to the conventions I frequently hear voiced in the world, international law is absolutely on our side.

We also planned an exhibit that would be shown in the Italian Senate, the European Parliament, and the Israeli Knesset, and display documents and items from that period. We visited the archives at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I saw files that bulged with documents from back then that might not have been opened since.

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By Victor Davis Hanson, TOWNHALL

Source: Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP

By Matt Vespa, TOWNHALL

Source: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

The world economy has ground to a halt. The travel industry numbers show it. They’re devastating. The Wall Street Journal reported that sixty percent of worldwide airline fleets are grounded, hotel occupancy in the US is down 68 percent, and there’s been a 93 percent drop in airline ticket sales for future trips. This is unsurvivable. And with most of the country still under stay-at-home orders, the time is ticking, not just for these businesses, but legions of others. In three-to-four weeks, scores of businesses will close for good. In four-to-six weeks, the butcher’s bill could be higher for American enterprise. Yet, with no vaccine, social distancing is key. These orders were done to curb the spread and prevent our hospitals from being overrun.
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NTV  Apr 20/2020

The Israeli coronavirus drug reportedly with a 100% success rate even among severely ill patients is being tested in the United States for the first time.

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., a biotech company based in Haifa/Israel, reported that seven patients who were at a high risk of death due to respiratory failure, multi-system organ failure, including heart and kidney failure survived after receiving this medication.

The seven patients were treated with Pluristem’s allogeneic placental expanded (PLX) cells. Essentially, these cells can potentially suppress or reverse the dangerous over-activation of the immune system that causes death in many coronavirus patients.
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T. Belman. Open the schools. Its not like the children are at risk.

TOI

The shutdown of the education system is costing the economy around NIS 2.6 billion per week, the Bank of Israel says.

The BOI’s calculation is based on the assumption that 408,000 households have to leave one parent at home to look after children. According to the BOI, Israel has 370,000 households with a child up to the age of four and a further 110,000 households up with children between the ages of five and nine, but without a sibling over the age of 15 who can look after them. The bank assumes that 15% of the total 480,000 households are able to provide a solution, thus leaving the number of 408,000 households.

In addition, the BOI says that the shutdown will cost a further estimated NIS 1 billion per week in future productivity as a result of skills that remained untaught.
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Medics and engineers can make ventilators with basic parts costing $500 and a downloaded blueprint designed in Israel

By NATHAN JEFFAY,TOI

A woman and her daughter wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus sell fruit and vegetables at the taxi station in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, South Africa, April 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

With fears of ventilator shortages still growing, 300 businesses and nonprofit groups around the world are gearing up to produce breathing support machines using an Israeli DIY design they downloaded from the internet.

Its inventors, who are drawn from the tech, military and medical sectors, say they think their blueprint for a ventilator that can be produced for as little as $500 could avert a collapse of health care systems in Africa, where the coronavirus is expected to strike hard soon. Some of the parts can be 3D-printed straight from the online design.
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Con Coughlin, GATESTONE INSTITUTE  •  April 23, 2020

• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has tried to put a brave face on the latest setback to hit the regime, claiming that Iran is unlikely to suffer as much as other countries from the oil price drop because it is less reliant than others on crude exports.
• If that were truly the case, then Tehran would not be asking the IMF for a bailout, and Mr Rouhani, together with Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, would not be begging Washington to remove sanctions.
• The truth of the matter is, for all the regime’s attempts to claim it has everything under control, that the country is teetering on the brink of collapse, and the ayatollahs are fast running out of options to save themselves.

(Image source: iStock)

At a time when Iran’s Islamic regime is already facing unprecedented pressure over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, as well as its disastrous handling of the economy, the global slump in oil prices could well prove to be the final straw for the ayatollahs.

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By John McCormack, NATIONAL REVIEW  April 21, 2020

First responders evacuate sick crew members from two cruise ships, the Costa Favolosa and Costa Magica at the U.S. Coast Guard station at the Port of Miami in Miami, Fla., March 26, 2020. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Beware a second wave.  Although there is still much we don’t know about the coronavirus, we know enough to say that it is far more dangerous and deadly than the flu. It took twelve months and 61 million infections for the H1N1 swine flu to kill 12,500 Americans in 2009–10. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that the seasonal flu killed 34,200 Americans during the 2018–19 flu season. In 2019, car crashes killed 38,800 Americans.

As for the new coronavirus? On March 20, the death toll in the United States was 225. By April 20, the coronavirus had killed more than 42,000 Americans.

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AMERICANS FOR PEACE AND TOLERANCE

The COP — a coalition of over 50 Jewish organizations — was created to “advance the interests of the American Jewish community and fight anti-Semitism.” It was recently announced that the organization will elect a new chair of the board.

Shockingly, the only person selected to run for that office is Dianne Lob, former chair of the board of HIAS.

HIAS was founded to help rescue Jews fleeing from horrific persecution and mass murder, mostly in Europe, and historically it has done a good job.

Today, however, HIAS, despite its name — Hebrew Immigrant  Aid Society — is not a Jewish organization. For the past few decades it has focused its efforts to assist Muslim migrants.

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Start at 2:50

By Mark Moore, NY POST  April 22, 2020 |

President Trump said he authorized the US Navy to “destroy” any Iranian gunboats if they hound American vessels.

“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” the president said in a tweet on Wednesday, without providing more details.

The post comes a week after 11 Iranian gunboats harassed US Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Navy called Iran’s maneuvers “dangerous and provocative.”
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From The CoV Frontlines…4-20-20

By Dr Michael Hirt, MD

After more than six weeks of helping my patients successfully avoid and fight Covid-19 (CoV), I am writing to provide my perspective on what works, why it works, and how you and your family can stay safe.

Before the pandemic hit Los Angeles, I developed an in-office, infection control strategy to keep both ourselves and our healthy patients safe, while providing critical health care access to ill patients. Sick patients have a separate entrance into the office, are masked and gloved before entering, and then are placed in private waiting and treatment rooms. Industrial air scrubbers were placed in all exam rooms and communal areas to prevent cross-contamination.

As a testament to the effectiveness of this operational strategy, my staff and I have remained healthy while caring for all of our patients.
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If the emergency unity government is indeed sworn in, Israel will have been spared its fourth elections in 16 months. But what does the coalition stand for? And will it hold?

By DAVID HOROVITZ, TOI 

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sign their unity government agreement on April 20, 2020. (GPO)

Week after week amid the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for an emergency unity government to help battle the crisis. On March 26, his three-time election rival Benny Gantz heeded the call, and on Monday night, after protracted on-and-off negotiations, the two men signed a 41-clause coalition deal. If their government is approved by the Knesset in the coming days, as anticipated, Israel’s 16-month political deadlock will have finally been broken, and the country will have been spared a fourth round of elections amid the pandemic.

Snap opinion polls suggest most of the Israeli public is pleased by the prospect of finally having a fully functioning government, but does not widely believe Likud leader Netanyahu will actually go through with a central feature of the deal — handing over the prime minister’s post to Gantz after 18 months of the coalition’s scheduled three-year lifespan. There is also mounting criticism of the size of the incoming government — projected to number 32 ministers at first, and grow to 36, with up to 16 deputy ministers, which would make it the largest in Israel’s history.
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