Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

Goodman, a political philosopher, has rocketed to public prominence in Israel and beyond for his contrarian thesis on how not to solve the long-running conflict.

Goodman himself is bemused by all the newfound interest from politicians, diplomats and generals. Earlier in his career he wrote books analyzing ancient Jewish texts, which he says was exactly the right training for tackling an issue as contentious as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The foundational idea of the Talmud is to always listen to two sides of the argument," Goodman tells CNN. "The Talmud admires people who ask 'why are we wrong?' Thinking only one side, or only your side, is correct is anti-intellectual."

Goodman deployed this approach in his 2017 book, "Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War," which wrestled with the internal Israeli debate about the conflict with the Palestinians and the fate of the territory Israel captured during the 1967 war.

"I showed both sides' argument, just like in the Talmud: If Israel stays in the territories [like the right wants] it threatens its future as a Jewish and democratic state. If it leaves the territories [like the left wants] it threatens its future due to security concerns."

The book, Goodman says, "caught fire," becoming a surprise bestseller in Israel that was quickly translated into English.

In Goodman's telling, the older approaches by the Israeli left and right only put forward ideologically pure ideas about how to end the conflict with the Palestinians. This is a "false dichotomy," he adds, that led to paralysis and the perpetuation of the status quo in the occupied West Bank. According to Goodman -- who himself lives in a West Bank settlement, although he describes that as irrelevant to his work -- the left wants an immediate end to the military occupation of the territory, while the right wants to continue Israeli settlement construction and the simple "management" of the conflict in perpetuity.

"We can make things much better [in the West Bank] even if it doesn't end the conflict," Goodman said -- hence "shrinking" the conflict. Goodman focuses solely on the West Bank in his analysis and leaves out the thornier issue of the Gaza Strip, which Israel unilaterally withdrew from in 2005 -- and has fought four wars since against the Hamas militant group that controls it. "It's a much more complicated situation there," he said sadly.

"We need to quantify the conflict and decrease the quantity of the conflict -- this is the paradigm shift," Goodman adds. "Look at the Covid-19 pandemic: We're no longer talking about 'Zero Covid,' we're talking about a certain level of Covid, of 'shrinking Covid' so it doesn't collapse the health system."

In practical terms, Goodman's approach entails a host of steps Israel can take to improve Palestinian economic life, security and self-governance in the West Bank. They range from more conservative moves -- such as increasing Palestinian work permits inside Israel and improving Palestinian trade access or building roads and bridges that bolster the territorial contiguity between Palestinian cities -- to more domestically controversial measures, such as freezing settlement building outside of the main Israeli West Bank population centers and granting Palestinians more land for their own construction.

In recent weeks, Israel has begun adopting some of these measures, including issuing 15,000 new work permits inside Israel for Palestinians, floating the Palestinian Authority a $500 million loan, re-establishing Joint Economic Committees to discuss future projects, allowing reunification (i.e. legal status) for Palestinian spouses in the West Bank, and tentatively approving 2,000 new housing units for Palestinians in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control.

As one senior Israeli official told CNN last week, echoing Goodman: "We have to make every effort to shrink the conflict and start shaping the solution, beginning with infrastructure and economics."

Yet the more far-reaching measures outlined above are extremely unlikely given the make-up of the current Israeli coalition. This doesn't deter Goodman, however -- in his mind it only bolsters his thesis.

"There is no consensus in the government about the end game, but they can agree about the game. This is this government's entire approach on all issues," Goodman says. "The important thing is to agree on the action, not on the narrative surrounding it."

For Goodman, "shrinking the conflict" can readily fit into a left-wing narrative about a two-state solution, since most of the proposed initiatives can be viewed as important steps on the road to building a Palestinian state. Right-wingers, Goodman asserts, can feel the same, since the approach -- for now -- only bolsters Palestinian autonomy and doesn't imply statehood or preclude Israel from annexing the rest of the West Bank, as Bennett has argued for years.

Goodman's critics from both the right and the left aren't as sanguine.

For the right, the steps Goodman is promoting likely run a higher security risk than he appreciates, and in any case miss the larger point.

"This conflict is not due to 'friction' between Israelis and Palestinians. It was there before and it'll be there after, even if the left makes us leave [the West Bank]," says Ran Baratz, a public diplomacy director for former Prime Minister Netanyahu. "You think you're shrinking the conflict, but for the other [Palestinian] side it's just a lull between wars where they're improving their position."

The left, at best, doesn't see much new in Goodman's thesis and at worst is suspicious that "shrinking the conflict" is the same approach adopted in the past by the Israeli right -- "managing the conflict" or "economic peace" -- only rebranded.

According to Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst at the Century Foundation think tank, Goodman's approach appears to "perpetuate the paradigm of Israel giveth and Israel taketh away, and it's unclear if it's sincere regarding genuine Palestinian self-determination." The new Israeli government, she adds, "latched onto a slogan, but I don't know what content behind the slogan they're actually going to implement and what their intention is behind it."

Palestinians appear bemused by this wholly Israeli debate about what is fundamentally their future too.

"It's nice that Goodman is analyzing what can bring 80% of Israelis to consensus about the conflict, but can this issue be resolved if only one side agrees? I doubt it," says Samer Sinijwali, an activist and internal dissident from the ruling Palestinian Fatah party. "I'd prefer if one Israeli and one Palestinian talked about what 80% of Israelis and Palestinians can agree on."

Goodman, for his part, argues that increasing Palestinian self-governance is a good unto itself that will only improve Palestinian lives and increase Israel's options in future. After all, he says, the old approaches haven't delivered.

"We won't get to peace through big diplomatic pushes, it'll only be through small steps until the Palestinians achieve a critical mass of self-governance. At that point the positions of many Israelis and Palestinians will likely change. Right now our imagination is so limited."

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Israel's new plan is to 'shrink,' not solve, the Palestinian conflict. Here's what that looks like - CNN

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

Anyone who speaks with the chairman of the United Arab List these days and its not easy to speak with Mansour Abbas, because the party adopted an especially miserly media policy hears a man on the brink. We cant go on any longer the members of the coalition have already received what they wanted, they are ministers, they have ministries, we have not yet received anything. If we dont get too, we wont vote for the state budget in the final votes; and yes, I understand that the government will fall and well have another election.

They say in the UAL that already a month ago, the order was given to get ready for an election. Is it possible that all this is just the sound of Hold onto me or Ill jump? Of course. Is it possible that UAL only wants to improve its negotiating position against the Finance Ministry before the final votes on the budget in early November? Without a doubt. But in the same breath the frustration in the UAL is enormous.

If we were in a government with extreme rightist Bezalel Smotrich and Benjamin Netanyahu, it wouldnt have happened, a senior party official told me. They simply dont understand what we are facing; they are always trying to preserve the connection with the Joint List, and the Knesset members of the center-left are fantasizing about the voters of the Arab community, so for the very few achievements there are for now, Meretzs Esawi Freige and his colleagues have made sure to announce that the UAL had no part in the accomplishment.

How can it be? After all, they and them in other words, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Justice Minister Gideon Saar understand that their political existence depends on Mansour Abbas, so how can they not worry 24/7 that hes not happy? And they are. Lieberman knows the problems and says he is on it, Bennett intervenes, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev was proud that all the first trips he made were only to the Arab community.

The thing is that a 100 percent effort will not satisfy Abbas in the face of the huge opposition to his moves. He needs results. And results in politics is a complicated matter. Quite a few politicians learned the hard way that the voters sent them to power with a certain mandate, and they supposedly fulfilled it only to discover that in the next election the voters were already interested in something else, and that past results were a pretty weak hand.

Ex-wonder boy Moshe Kahlon can give a lecture on this, Netanyahu also felt it in 1999 when the public forgot that during his term, suicide terror bombings dropped significantly after he rose to power based on the hope he would end them. In other words, even if during the Bennett-Lapid government the number of murders in the Arab community drops in an amazing way from 100 to about only 50 a year, there is no certainty that Abbas will be rewarded for it at the ballot box. People point to the hatred for the present more than the gratefulness for the past. Even more so than if there are no results, and in the meantime the number of murders in the Arab community is only rising.

The Bennett-Lapid government has two real purposes. The better known is replacing Netanyahu. The other: that the attempt to bring an Arab party into the coalition will succeed. Abbas has said recently in closed conversations that if the attempt fails, he will go home. He doesn't intend on remaining there like Joint List head Ayman Odeh and No. 2 Ahmad Tibi and give 20 speeches a year.

Abbas case, in my opinion, is one of those in which the singular figure made history, and not the opposite. I hope I have not been too captivated by his charms as other journalists were captured by the charms of maverick Shlomo Lahiani in his time, but my impressions are that only Abbas was capable of bringing an Arab party into a coalition with hardline right-wingers Zeev Elkin, Saar and Bennett. Odeh and Tibi do not think much differently than Abbas, but were unable to lead such a process.

If Abbas revolutionary attempt fails, he is not the only one who will go home. His entire camp will suffer a fall. It will be similar to what happened to the peace camp after Camp David. When the expectations reach the heavens, the crash and burn is much more dramatic. Abbas attempt must succeed. In this case, this is not smart politics. To spend billions on the Arab community is also justified and smart.

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Israel's Arab kingmaker is on the brink - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

Israel's 8,691 new COVID cases on Monday were propelled by the unvaccinated population, according to data from the Health Ministry. Although the group make up approximately 17 percent of Israelis eligible for the vaccine, they accounted for67 percent of the recorded cases on Monday.

There are currently 710 patients in serious condition, including 187 on ventilators and 257 in critical condition. This represents a decrease from the previous two days, when the figures stood at 733 and 711 respectively, but still amounts to one of the highest caseloads this month.

Israel only reported a single death on Tuesday, taking the total to 7,567 since the pandemic struck Israel in March 2020.

On Monday, none of the nine people who died from the virus had received three doses. Seven had not received a single jab.

About 16,500 Israelis got a third COVID booster shot on Monday, with the total number of Israeli receiving all three doses surpassing 3 million. Over 6 million Israelis have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine.

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Two thirds of new COVID patients in Israel are unvaccinated - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became a millionaire through his hi-tech ventures, but he might need to be more humble when it comes to managing the countrys health.

Last weekend, the prime minister wrote a column about why Israel decided to administer a third booster shot to all citizens over the age of 12, in which he accused public health experts of being conservative and risk-averse.

Public health professionals, however, say they are not risk-averse but cautious and that is exactly what citizens deserve.

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The hi-tech industry prides itself on taking risks, not being put down by failures, but this is not the case in health, said former Ben-Gurion University of the Negev president Prof. Rivka Carmi. When we launch a campaign to introduce a new drug, or in this case a vaccination, we have to be extremely careful.

In public health there is a concept called the precautionary principle, which means that when there are threats of serious damage, scientific uncertainty must be resolved in favor of prevention, according to an article published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Another concept is do no harm.

Even before you know you are helping a situation, you have to be fairly confident that you will not harm the patient, Carmi explained.

These principles exist because sometimes taking actions without enough evidence can cause irreparable damage.

In clinical medicine, for example, if a pharmaceutical is given or a procedure is done without waiting for all the test results to come in and it turns out that the physician gave the wrong treatment, sometimes you can backtrack and sometimes you cannot, said Prof. Yehuda Neumark, director of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health.

He said the need for caution is even greater when dealing with the health of whole communities or populations.

If it turned out that getting a booster was not a good idea, what would we do now? Neumark asked.

Our children suffered for quite a long time because of that. I think it will take these kids a long time to catch up with what was lost, he said. When we are talking about the health of the entire population, it behooves us to move forward carefully.

Bennetts article was specifically about why he rushed to open up boosters to everyone. He said in the case of COVID-19, not making risky decisions can be more damaging than taking a calculated risk.

Carmi said she does not completely agree.

We are doing a nationwide experiment here a medical, clinical experiment and the only thing is that we are not following the rules of a clinical trial.

She said she does not believe, and the advisers of the US Food and Drug Administration said, that there is enough evidence yet to give third shots to younger people.

At the FDA meeting, It was repeatedly argued that there is not enough data on this topic neither from the clinical study nor from the data from Israel, Carmi stressed.

SHE SAID even if it turns out that Israel made the right decision, and even if with additional data the US decides to administer booster shots to everyone, This does not change the fact that in Israel, for more than a month and a half, a treatment has been given that is not approved by the worlds largest regulatory bodies, even for emergency use, and is not based on efficacy and safety data.

She said people under 65 who are asked to get a booster shot should be given full information to be able to make their decision and asked to sign a consent to participate in this national experiment.

Our booster campaign is actually a campaign of enforcement, she said. It is about the Green Pass, which on October 1 is going to require three vaccines for anyone not vaccinated within the last six months. If you dont get the third shot, you will lose the Green Pass. This is a kind of coercion.

Carmi did not question the efficacy or safety of the vaccine itself, which has been fully approved by the FDA. She also said that she stands behind the decision to give the third dose to people over the age of 65 who are at greater risk for severe disease, as well as to administer it to other high-risk populations. But she does not believe it should be given to the young until more evidence is available.

This is not some hi-tech start-up where the more risk you are able to take the more you can really go forward, the more opportunity you have to be successful, she said. This is a matter of health and sometimes life and death. So, we have to be extremely cautious.

The way to be cautious is to base decisions on evidence.

The general approach of public health professionals is to collect data, use tools to analyze and interpret that data and then to come with recommendations that are evidence-based, explained Prof. Daniel Cohen, the former head of the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University.

When complete evidence does not exist, this does not always mean that public health professionals have to sit and wait for it. Sometimes, said Neumark, We have to act in situations of uncertainty, and we do that all the time. But it is a kind of balancing act between how long it will take to accrue the relevant evidence versus how quickly we have to act to protect the people.

The first vaccines were meant to prevent serious disease and death and they have done that. They were first offered under emergency use authorization and now they are fully approved.

The chance of a child or teen, especially one who has already been vaccinated with two shots, dying of COVID-19 is extremely small, Carmi said, noting that the government should keep this in mind over the number of positive daily cases.

Most of Israels serious cases are among the unvaccinated. Some 80% of those hospitalized in serious condition in the last month were over the age of 50. However, around 40% of new daily cases are children under 11.

I do not see being conservative as criticism of the public health sector, Neumark said. I think that we are the guards of public health and therefore it is our responsibility to proceed cautiously.

He said that sometimes politicians move faster than public health officials think is correct or diligent. Other times there is a feeling that the politicians are not acting quickly enough to enact needed policies.

Politicians would do well sometimes taking a moment to listen to the experts, Neumark continued. That has not always been the situation in this pandemic.

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Bennett must learn that Israel can't be a Start Up-Nation for COVID-19 - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

Brig. Gen. Nir Barkan, Israeli Air Force Chief of the Air Staff and Vice Commander, seen during a December visit to the US. (U.S. Air Force/Skyler Combs)

TEL AVIV: Israels air force has asked the US to allow greater access to the core avionics of the F-35 joint strike fighters, with the goal of installing new Israeli-developed systems onto the stealth fighter, according to a top Israeli officer.

The effort is to find the right balance between the US restrictions and the Israeli operational demands, Brig. Gen. Nir Barkan, Israeli Air Force Chief of the Air Staff and the number two officer for the IAF, said in an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense.

Barkan, who is in charge of building the future capabilities of the IAF, said that a special F-35 test aircraft has been used extensively to test more Israeli made systems on the stealth jet.

While he would not go into details about what Israeli-made technologies the IAF would want to add to the F-35, sources here say they include a new electronic warfare system, a new communication system that will allow a two-way flow of real time data, and the addition of highly-classified weapon systems to be loaded into the weapons bay when operating stealthily.

Israel has a program of record for 50 of the conventional take-off and landing F-35A models. Israeli officials have started that its F-35 fleet has been used in different combat operations in close and far away arenas, and the country is known for being more willing to use the jets in combat situations than some other F-35 operators.

Asked to respond to Barkans comments, Brandi Schiff, a spokesperson for the F-35 joint program office, said The F-35 JPO will continue to meet all of Israeli sovereign requirements within the United States Governments security and release policy, and will strive to balance U.S. restrictions with Israels requests.

Israel is also in discussions with the US about procuring a new tranche of advanced F-15s, with the request having been carried to the White House during Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennetts August visit to Washington. Asked why Israel needs more F-15s given its large F-35 buy, Barkan noted the F-15s ability to serve as more of a weapons truck compliments the F-35, and that the special connectivity systems we use allows the two jets to operate together very closely.

During the interview, Barkan also raised concerns about Irans ballistic missile program, and gave insight into what a joint Israeli-US response might look like.

Israeli F-35Is in action. (file)

Recent joint ballistic missiles defense exercises of the US and Israeli air forces may, under certain circumstances, become an operational reality part of the regional plan to defend Israel from ballistic threats, he said. The US and Israel are further strengthening their ballistic missile defense capability.

Barkan says a recent joint exercise between the two countries played out how quickly the US could respond if an Iranian ballistic missile was launched at Israel and intercepted by the countrys missile defenses. In that scenario, it would take roughly 24 hours before the US would land C-17s at Israeli military bases and offload defensive systems likely to include the THAAD missile defense system, first deployed in Israel in 2019 as part of a joint exercise and prepare for a potential counter-attack.

The following is a translated, edited, and condensed Q&A from the interview.

After signing contracts for 50 F-35 fighters, what is the reason for seeking a new tranche of advanced F-15s?

We build our aerial force according to a future scenario, based on different assumptions. We try to foresee our operational needs in five to ten years ahead, in such a way that it will answer the potential needs in different fighting arenas. Saying that, we understand that an aerial platform purchased now may be in service in the next 40 to 50 years. But things may change, and therefore when we select a platform we look at its capability to operate with other aerial platforms. We think that the mix of F-35 and advanced F-15 will answer our future requirements and will enable us to trim the capabilities of these two aircraft to changing challenges.

Time and again, the foreign media reports on Israeli armed UAVs used in different arenas. Officially the IAF never confirmed the use of armed UAV. But surprisingly, last month the IAF announced the formation of a UAV weapon systems department. No details were added to the short official announcement. Can you please explain the need for this department?

The vector of an increasing use of UAVs continues, and that requires certain adaptations. I cannot go into details, but like we continuously enhance the capabilities of our manned platforms, we have to do the same with our UAVs. (Barkan refused to give more details.)

The IAF has been firm from the beginning that it will not perform heavy maintenance of its F-35 outside Israel. Is that still your policy?

Yes. This is our firm decision to perform all levels of the F-35 maintenance in Israel, and we are building this capability in our 22 main maintenance unit.

The IAF has made a decision to purchase up to 8 KC-46A aerial refueling aircraft. This to replace the old 707s that are currently used. Are you trying to get at least some as early as possible, by getting US Air Force approval to use some of its production slots of this aircraft ?

Yes, we make every effort to shorten the time until we can get these advanced aerial refueling aircraft and gradually phase out the old 707s.

The IAF has selected the Lockheed Martin CH-53K as the replacement for its old CH-53s. This, after a fierce competition with the Boeing CH-47, which carries a much lower price tag. What is the basis for this selection?

The selection was made with the Israeli defense forces ground forces command. We made the final decision based on the overall operational requirements, together with operational costs and other factors. I fully support the selection.

The Israeli navy decided to use Seahawk helicopters on its new SAAR 6 corvettes. Is that program moving forward?

These used helicopters that we will get from the U.S will replace the currently used Eurocopter AS-565 helicopters. They will be equipped with systems that will enable them to serve the very big operational needs of the Israeli navy. They will be operational in the coming years. They will enhance the capability of the Israeli navy to get a more detailed picture of its operational arena.

The plan to form an IDF ground-ground missiles unit has been delayed again and again. Has the IAF objected to the plan, assuming that it will affect the IAFs procurement budget?

We are not against this program. We see a dedicated groundground missile unit as a complementary capability that, with the IDFs high level of operational connectivity, may be very useful.

In recent years, the Israeli Ministry of Defense, with some of the defense industries, are working on laser systems that will be capable of intercepting aerial threats. Does the IAF see such a capability as one that will work in conjunction with systems like Iron Dome and Davids Sling?

This capability will become operational in the five to ten years time frame. Some progress that can be considered as breakthrough has been made, but I cannot go into details.

In the recent meeting between the Israeli prime minister and the US president, an Israeli request for an extra procurement budget on top of the annual FMF grants was submitted. Is this to replenish the Israeli Air Force stock of munitions that was heavily used in the recent Guardian Of The Walls operation in Gaza?

The IAFs munitions stocks are at the required levels. In the framework of the IDFs multiyear Swing growth program, it is clear that while we increase to number of our aircraft, in parallel, we have to acquire more weapon systems as the rate of locating targets is increasing continuously. This is a routine adaptation and does not stem from a shortage.

The IAF is a heavy user of different types of UAVs. These unmanned systems perform up to 80% of the total flight hours in the force. Does that mean that manned combat aircraft will be replaced by UAVs?

In recent years we have transferred different missions from manned to unmanned platforms. But I dont see a situation where UAVs will fully replace manned aircraft. Such technology of enabling UAVs to fully replace manned aircraft is very expensive. The world is looking this way, but I dont see it happening in the foreseeable future.

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Israel Wants To Put New Equipment Inside The F-35: Exclusive Q&A With Top Officer - Breaking Defense

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

The number of coronavirus patients in serious condition has remained stable, according to data released by Israel's Health Ministry on Friday.

There are 658 patients in serious condition, compared to 654 a day earlier. Unvaccinated Israelis who account for 17 percent of the population eligible for a vaccine make up about two-thirds of the total number of serious cases.

Meanwhile, more than 3 million people in Israel have received a third COVID shot, according to the Health Ministry.

A panel of independent expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is holding a debate whether Americans should receive a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, 3,008,511 people in Israel have gotten the booster shot.

There are 658 patients in serious condition, compared to 654 a day earlier. Unvaccinated Israelis who account for 17 percent of the population eligible for a vaccine make up about two-thirds of the total number of serious cases.

The difference is even more pronounced when booster shots are taken into account. In the over-60 age group, 222 of patients in serious condition are unvaccinated, while 101 have received two doses of the vaccine and 46 have received a booster shot. Among those under 60 who are in serious condition, 200 are unvaccinated, 49 have received two doses, and seven have received a booster shot.

The death toll has reached 7,465, with 703 people dying in the past month, 322 of them unvaccinated.

The rate of positive tests on Thursday was 6.33 percent, up from 5.93 percent, and 3,121 new cases were diagnosed. The number of tests was relatively low, however about 54,000 because testing sites were closed for Yom Kippur.

The R number, which represents the average number of people that each infected person will go on to infect, and which is calculated based on data from 10 days prior, dipped to 1.05 from 1.14. An R number above one means an outbreak is growing.

According to a new Israeli studypublished in The New England Journal of Medicine,coronavirus vaccine booster shots increase protection from infection over tenfold in those over 60.

The study used data on 1.14 million Israelis aged 60 and up who had received two doses of the vaccine by the end of August. It divided cases into two groups: one consisting of people who received two doses of the vaccine, and another consisting of people who received a third dose. The researchers found that at least 12 days after thebooster shot, the rate of infection in the non-booster group was 11.4 higher than the booster group, while their rate of severe illness was 19.5 times higher.

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Israel's unvaccinated 17% now account for nearly half of COVID deaths - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

It has been more than a year since the implementation of one of the biggest social and economic changes in Israel, and most Israelis still have no clue about how this is supposed to affect their future whether its under their control or not. The establishment of the credit information database at the Bank of Israel, along with the credit rating of every one of us, flew relatively quietly under the radar of public discourse, in a period when the endless rounds of elections and a worldwide pandemic took up most of our attention.

Supposedly, in a country where accumulation of debts and bank accounts in the red have become routine parts of life, there is a lot of sense to a process to incentivize borrowers (to repay and on time) and lenders (to offer attractive interest rates). However, at a time when it hasnt yet been proven that these advantages are materializing as promised, not enough has been done to raise awareness of the disadvantages of the credit information database especially for weaker populations, whose fate the new system is liable to determine.

The new credit database includes the financial information of most of the adult citizens in the country, whether they are aware of it. The information is transferred from the banks and non-banking credit organizations to private businesses that analyze the data. Every credit line and the conduct within it, every debt large or small, every loan and the way it is repaid, every check, every standing order and more everything is gathered in the reports, along with a rating for every individual that summarizes his or her financial conduct.

A rating the existence of which, as noted, most Israelis are not aware, even when now, and then it is confirmed in passing in the context of complex paperwork. This sensitive information is available afterwards to those granting credit, and they supposedly can use it to identify good customers and compete for them.

This was precisely the declared aim of the Bank of Israel: to transfer the information from our bank to others giving credit, which will be able to offer us lower interest rates. Two years later, the Bank of Israels figures do not show that this vision has materialized. However, the other side of the coin is definitely beginning to show: loan refusals and high interest rates for clients with low credit ratings.

This week, for example, Jenya Volinsky reported in TheMarker that R., a 48-year-old woman from the north, was on one occasion late in paying her mortgage, by less than a day and she became someone who is refused loans. When she sought the explanation, she found out for the first time in her life what her credit rating was. This is not an isolated case, of course. Volinsky has been documenting similar cases for quite a long time.

For example, S., an accountant who lives in the center of the country, went to the bank with his daughter to apply for a mortgage and was surprised to find an especially high interest rate because of a lien he didnt know existed and a rating he didnt know existed. It will take more time until this (low interest rate) is manifested in the long term, the person formerly in charge of the databank at the Bank of Israel admitted in June. The former bank official added that the damning information accumulated during the coronavirus period will not be eradicated because we considered that, and we concluded that it isnt justified. Are the masses of Israelis who found themselves in debt during the pandemic aware of this?

To make the new systems advantages outweigh its disadvantages, the Bank of Israel must do much more to make it accessible to the public. This is so especially among populations that in any case are destined to be discriminated against in the granting of credit among them Arab citizens.

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Israeli banks are rating us, and most of us don't even know about it - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

If Israel was going to kill a top Iranian official, an act that had the potential to start a war, it needed the assent and protection of the United States. That meant acting before Mr. Biden could take office. In Mr. Netanyahus best-case scenario, the assassination would derail any chance of resurrecting the nuclear agreement even if Mr. Biden won.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh grew up in a conservative family in the holy city of Qom, the theological heart of Shia Islam. He was 18 when the Islamic revolution toppled Irans monarchy, a historical reckoning that fired his imagination.

He set out to achieve two dreams: to become a nuclear scientist and to take part in the military wing of the new government. As a symbol of his devotion to the revolution, he wore a silver ring with a large, oval red agate, the same type worn by Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and by General Suleimani.

He joined the Revolutionary Guards and climbed the ranks to general. He earned a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Isfahan University of Technology with a dissertation on identifying neutrons, according to Ali Akbar Salehi, the former head of Irans Atomic Energy Agency and a longtime friend and colleague.

He led the missile development program for the Guards and pioneered the countrys nuclear program. As research director for the Defense Ministry, he played a key role in developing homegrown drones and, according to two Iranian officials, traveled to North Korea to join forces on missile development. At the time of his death, he was deputy defense minister.

In the field of nuclear and nanotechnology and biochemical war, Mr. Fakhrizadeh was a character on par with Qassim Suleimani but in a totally covert way, Gheish Ghoreishi, who has advised Irans Foreign Ministry on Arab affairs, said in an interview.

When Iran needed sensitive equipment or technology that was prohibited under international sanctions, Mr. Fakhrizadeh found ways to obtain them.

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The Scientist and the A.I.-Assisted, Remote-Control Killing Machine - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

Israel's national baseball team lost 9-4 to the Netherlands on Sunday in the final of the European championship, surprising many with their homegrown roster.

Ostensibly, this was the same team that represented Israel in the Tokyo Olympics this summer. But in reality, only a handful of players who were in Tokyo stepped onto the field in Italy.

Israels Olympic roster was comprised almost entirely of Jewish Americans who were naturalized especially for the Games. After the Olympics, most of them returned to the United States, apparently finished with their job representing the blue and white.

So for the European tournament, Israel had to build a new roster, made up mainly of players born and raised around the country. On Friday, this squad defeated Italy 11-5 in the semifinals, making history before ultimately losing to a heavily-favored Dutch side.

Speaking by phone from Turin, where the tournament is taking place, starting catcher Tal Erel is one of the few Israelis to play both in Tokyo and Turin.

Erel says that just like anywhere else around the world where baseball is popular, Israeli children learn the game at a local little league. The good ones may be invited to represent the national team at different age groups.

The highlight of the year for an Israeli player are the tournaments in Europe, usually in Italy or the Czech Republic, said Erel, who grew up on youth teams that reached the European finals. But now its the adults, an achievement even more incredible considering that the team isnt relying on U.S. ringers.

The local baseball scenes ability to develop players at this level may also seem surprising considering the facilities available back home. The country has only one regulation baseball field, in Baptist Village near Petah Tikva. The rest are makeshift.

Erel, who saw far better conditions when playing professionally in Europe, thinks that in some ways this may be an advantage.

In Israel there isnt even a pitching machine, and we have a big shortage of balls and bats, he says. But the fact that theres only one field brings all the best players in the country to practice with the best coaches.

The hope is that the successes in Tokyo and Turin, along with the construction of new fields in Beit Shemesh and Raanana back home, will attract more young people to the diamond.

The Orange have won the tournament now for the 24th times, the fourth year in a row. Despite the loss, Erel and his teammates proved many doubters wrong by taking Israel as far as they did.

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Israels real national baseball team finished second in the European final - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

The Sri Lanka Air Forces (SLAF) five Israeli-made Kfir fighter jets will reportedly get a $50 million upgrade with new sensors, electronics, and avionics from the planes maker itself the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The enhancement of operational capabilities of the fighter jetwill allow the SLAF even more complex missions than it is currently capable of, which includes rapid air interdiction and ground strike. It has been using the Kfirs since 1995-96 when it first acquired the six Kfir C.2s and a single-seat trainer TC.2.

The all-weather, multirole, and Mach 2-capable jet was Israels second domestically produced fighter, an evolution of the first IAIs Nesher, itself an evolution of the largely based on the French Mirage 5.

The Israelis had studied, reverse-engineered, and obtained detailed technical details and blueprints to eventually develop heavily improved and capable fighters often considered a symbol of the Jewish nations techno-industrial capability.

The Kfir instantly resembles the Indian Air Forces (IAF) Mirage-2000, with the delta-wing design. But it also sports swept-back canards over the engine air-intakes and a non-protruding exhaust.

The project involves installing highly advanced electronics, radar, sensors, networking and data linking devices, communication systems, and new helmets, which are believed to have Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) visors.

These upgrades push the aircraft to the 4+ generation category that makes a single plane quite capable of undertaking a multitude of roles and operational flexibility.

IAI is also expected to impart technical skills and knowledge to SLAF personnel with handling and maintaining the new equipment in the island nations local facilities. In 2012 and 2018, the Colombian Air Forces Kfir fleet participated in the United States Red Flag exercise, alongside the US Air Force and other air forces.

The Kfir displayed exceptional capabilities throughout the exercise, going toe to toe with the F-15, F-16, and other participating aircraft. The Colombian jets themselves had undergone an extensive overhaul recently by the IAI itself.

I am proud that IAIs Kfir has been chosen by customers around the world, including in the United States and as the Colombian Air Forces primary fighter jet. I am grateful to Sri Lankas Air Force for choosing to renew their Kfir selection and continue using the Kfir as their Multi-Role Combat Aircraft.

I believe this deal is an early step in preparing for future upgrades to the advanced model KNG (Kfir New Generation), said Yossi Melamed, IAI Executive VP and GM of IAIs Aviation Group.

IAIs Aviation Group has many years of experience upgrading military and commercial aircraft. The group undertakes projects on aircraft including executive jets, avionics, structural assemblies, Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO), conversion of passenger airplanes to freighter configuration, etc for air forces, airlines, and major defense companies.

Some of its clients include the Israel Air Force, US Air Force, Lockheed Martin and Boeing. A similar project was undertaken with the Indian Air Force (IAF), where its 1960s Russian-origin vintage MiG-21 Bisons were upgraded with advanced electronics and HMDs, marking the companys specialization in being able to work on foreign origin planes with its own top-of-the-line systems.

The Kfirs predecessor, the Nesher, was a co-development project with the French, after the highly regarded Mirage-3CJ which saw successful service with the IAF in the 1960s.

However, under pressure to replace the 60 such jets it had lost to the 1967 Six-Day War and the War of Attrition that took place until the 1970s, Israel had pursued the development of a Mirage 3 advancement called the Mirage-5.

Israel was willing to settle for an aircraft with an inferior radar and a compromised all-weather capability, in exchange for higher payload and range a pressing need those days to counter Egypt and Syria with deep strikes.

However, France imposed an arms embargo on Israel in January 1969 in retaliation to the Israeli air raid on Lebanon, which halted delivery of the first 30 of the 50 Mirage-5 jets Israel had ordered and already paid for.

Worse, it also cut off all support for Israels existing Mirage-3CJs, forcing it to mount domestic research and development and international espionage to obtain technical, industrial, and manufacturing details about the plane.

Israel, however, is said to have possessed the basic schematics and blueprints of the airframe, basically making the Nesher an unlicensed version of the Mirage-5.

Details on the Atar engine were acquired from Swiss manufacturer Sulzer, which had manufactured the engines for Switzerlands air force. Using these details and many Atar engines on Israels existing fleet of Mirages, it reverse-engineered the power plant and began manufacturing them.

The Neshers airframe had many Israeli-made components, avionics; a Martin-Baker ejection seat and, a capability to fire a wider range of air-to-air missiles like the Israeli Shafrir heat-seeking missile.

The Kfir on the other hand saw a redesigned nose and an Israeli-made General Electric J-79 engine that could provide an improved dry thrust of 49 Kilo Newtons (KN) and an afterburning thrust of 83.4 KN. A distinctive feature of the Kfir was an air-inlet at the base of the vertical stabilizer for additional cooling for the afterburner.

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Developed By Israel, Designed For Asia Meet Re-Engineered Kfir Fighter Jet That Resembles The Mirage 2000 - EurAsian Times

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