“In an effort to discredit AIPAC, its opponents and competition have begun falsely accusing AIPAC of practicing the politics of hate, immoral tactics and producing harmful effects all around the world”

TIMES OF ISRAEL
The Lies Told about AIPAC
by Uri Pilichowski
February 19, 2020

“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.” The well known words of American writer Ambrose Bierce seem to echo in the ears of AIPAC members like myself as we defend the organization we believe in and love. While the American political world moves to its extremes, AIPAC plays the bipartisan middle ground to ensure a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. Stuck in the middle, AIPAC gets run over by the left and the right…I’ve been reviewing op-eds and social media posts that have been disparaging AIPAC recently and found they accuse the organization of being Islamophobic and inciting hatred against Palestinians. There has never been anything AIPAC has ever done or said that is anti-Islam. READ MORE

HAARETZ AIPAC Confab’s Double Whammy: Israel’s Election and Super Tuesday Israeli politicians and Democratic presidential candidates will likely be no-shows at the pro-Israel lobby’s big policy conference, slated to begin March 1

JERUSALEM POST A strange place for AIPAC: The left of a peace plan The Kushner plan puts AIPAC in an odd place: For the first time in its history, the largest Israel lobby in the U.S. finds itself to the left of a Middle East peace plan. AIPAC has sustained its backing for a two-state solution, while the Trump administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have retreated from it.

AIPAC 2020 POLICY CONFERENCE Confirmed speakers

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Israeli company’s antiviral masks are headed to Hong Kong to combat deadly coronavirus

ISRAEL 21C
New antiviral masks from Israel may help stop deadly coronavirus
by Abigail Klein Leichman
January 28, 2020

Jerusalem-based Argaman is nearing commercialization of a reusable, washable, breathable antiviral facemask called Bio-Block. According to founder and CEO Jeff Gabbay, a textile engineer with a background in pathology and infectious diseases, Bio-Block is a layered mask. It’s made from a proprietary cotton embedded with accelerated copper oxide particles, and a nanofiber textile that blocks pathogens. “The pores of the nanofiber pad are so small that bacteria cannot go through it — nor a droplet that contains a live virus –and our EPA-approved 100% CottonX fibers destroy the pathogens that come in contact with it,” Gabbay says. READ MORE

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“Without mentioning names, Khamenei appeared to cite Democratic candidates like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren”

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Iran’s Khamenei says ‘Zionist-controlled’ US government will sink like Titanic
by Staff and AFP
February 20, 2020

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the United States will sink like the “Titanic,” blaming it on “wealthy Zionist individuals and corporate owners” who he said controlled the US economy. In a long series of tweets, Khamenei said the strength of the US economy was a “facade” and appeared to quote progressive Democrats saying that US President Donald Trump was overseeing the transfer of US wealth to a few billionaires. “Today, the epitome of rebellion, arrogance and tyranny is the US government, which is controlled by the wealthy Zionist individuals and corporate owners,” Khamenei tweeted. READ MORE

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“Jews from around the world will be able to land at Ben-Gurion and in a short amount of time be at the Western Wall to be spiritually uplifted”

JNS
Extension of high-speed rail to Old City Jerusalem expected to alleviate traffic, boost tourism
by Josh Hasten
February 20, 2020

In what is being dubbed as a historical development, Israel’s Transportation Ministry announced this week that is it moving forward with plans to extend the new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem high-speed rail line in order to connect Ben-Gurion International Airport directly to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The new route for the railway extension was approved by the National Planning and Construction Commission. It will feature a 1.8-mile underground tunnel with two new stations, including one adjacent to the Khan Theatre Complex in downtown Jerusalem and the other inside the Old City. READ MORE

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Deborah Lipstadt speaks on antisemitism at UC Berkeley: Pro-Palestinian student group held signs attacking Israel, though her talk had nothing to do with it

ALGEMEINER
Anti-Israel Protesters Disrupt Talk by Renowned Holocaust Scholar Deborah Lipstadt at UC Berkeley
by Benjamin Kerstein
February 17, 2020

Renowned Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt was disrupted by a group of anti-Israel activists during a talk on antisemitism at the University of California, Berkeley, last Thursday. In a Twitter thread posted on Sunday, Lipstadt pointed out that her lecture was on present-day antisemitism and had nothing to do with Israel, implying that the protesters had targeted her because she was a Jew speaking on Jewish issues. “My talk was about antisemitism here and now,” she said in a Twitter thread posted on Sunday. “Not about Israel. READ MORE

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“So many adoring fans are awaiting the arrival of Celine in Israel this August and we will not let hate and division win”

ALGEMEINER
Israel Supporters Urged to Show Solidarity With Celine Dion Who Is Facing BDS Pressure Over Tel Aviv Shows
by Shiryn Ghermezian
February 20, 2020

The pro-Israel education group StandWithUs launched a petition on Thursday calling on people to show support for and solidarity with Canadian singer Celine Dion, who is facing pressure by BDS activists to cancel her two upcoming summer concerts in Tel Aviv. “Music should never be politicized, and instead of bringing people together, the haters are trying to encourage division! One of Celine’s best well-known songs is ‘My heart will go on’ and in this case, the show must go on!” StandWithUs said. READ MORE

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Bernie Sanders looks forward to becoming ‘first Jewish president’

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Bernie Sanders releases new ‘proud to be Jewish’ campaign video
by Marcy Oster
February 18, 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has released a new campaign video in which he says he is “very proud to be Jewish” and that he looks forward to “becoming the first Jewish president in the history of this country.” The two minute and 40 second video also blames President Trump for a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and for empowering neo-Nazis in the US It includes footage of Trump saying things that many have interpreted as anti-Semitic, including comments about Jewish money at a Republican Jewish Coalition speech and his statement that Jews who vote for Democrats are “disloyal.” READ MORE

ALGEMEINER Bloomberg Campaign Aide Takes Aim at Sanders Over Ties to Jewish Community, Israel Views Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg will win the support of American Jewish voters over his rival Bernie Sanders because of his “long-standing ties to the Jewish community” and reputation as an “ardent supporter of Israel,” one of his campaign aides said this week.

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Former Likud MK Yehudah Glick: “Police officers are in my house at midnight after a day of harassing me”

JERUSALEM POST
Yehudah Glick tampered with evidence after Temple Mount arrest – Police
by Jeremy Sharon and Mayaan Jaffe-Hoffman
February 19, 2020

Former Likud MK and prominent Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick was detained during a visit to the Temple Mount on Tuesday morning. He claimed the arrest was due to walking “too slowly” during his tour, yet Israel Police contradicted him in a statement, saying he was walking in an unauthorized zone. He was later released. Then, on Tuesday night, Police came to his home and arrested him. The former MK tweeted, “Police arrived at my house with a warrant and started flipping things over.” According to Police, the search and arrest warrants were on suspicion that Glick took steps to disrupt the investigation into his detainment…READ MORE

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Israel and coronavirus

JTA
Israelis called to gather at Western Wall to pray for #coronavirus victims around the world
February 16, 2020

Hundreds of Israelis gathered at the Western Wall on Sunday evening after a prominent rabbi in Israel called for a mass prayer for those infected by the coronavirus. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed, and the Association of Community Rabbis, organized the service in Jerusalem’s Old City as reports surfaced Sunday that at least three Israelis on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Tokyo Bay have tested positive for the deadly virus…Several Chinese officials in Israel and Chinese visitors to Israel also attended the service. READ MORE a>

JERUSALEM POST Israeli invented ‘CoughSync’ machine to treat coronavirus in China A device invented by a doctor at ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem is at the most months away from being used to help treat patients with coronavirus in China, according to its inventor, Dr. Eliezer Be’eri…”It is a completely noninvasive method of clearing secretions that reproduces normal physiology”

MOBIHEALTHNEWS Israel’s Sheba Hospital turns to telehealth to treat incoming coronavirus-exposed patients Israel’s Sheba Medical Center is preparing to take custody of the 12 Israeli passengers onboard the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that has been quarantined in Japan for several weeks because of the COVID-19 coronavirus…Datos’s remote patient monitoring platform and Tyto Care’s connected devices will help the hospital treat and monitor patients in quarantine and at home.

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“The phones of dozens of Israeli soldiers were hacked through the scam, though the issue was detected early enough to prevent any major information from reaching the terrorist organization”

JNS
IDF foils Hamas plot to hack phones of soldiers by posing as attractive women
February 18, 2020

The Israeli military thwarted efforts by Hamas to hack the phones of soldiers by posing as young attractive women on social media, the Israeli Defense Forces said on Sunday. “Hamas created fake social-media profiles, using photos including this one, in an attempt to hack the phones of IDF soldiers,” the IDF posted on its official Twitter account, along with a photo of a woman taken from one of the fake accounts. “What Hamas didn’t know was that Israeli intelligence caught onto their plot, tracked the malware & downed Hamas’ hacking system.” READ MORE

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