By: TPS Staff

Blue and White’s plan to rehabilitate Israel’s health system has been ridiculed by political rivals and slammed by physicians who warned of its consequences.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Sunday unveiled what he dubbed as Case 5000, a reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption cases, in which he alleged that “5,000 people die in Israel each year because of the collapse of the health system.”

He pledged to launch “an emergency plan” for the health system immediately after his government is established.

“For our children, for our parents. We must move forward,” he said on Twitter.

Blue and White’s plan includes the establishment of two new hospitals, one in the north and one in the south, and multi-billion-dollar investment in the system.

Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman ridiculed Gantz for his “sudden interest” in the health system.

“Good morning Benny Gantz! I am glad you remembered that there is a health system in the State of Israel. What you may have forgotten is that in July 2019, Yisrael Beiteinu announced that it would demand the Ministry of Health and for that purpose presented a candidate for the position who is not a politician, but a professional, Prof. Leonid Edelman,” Liberman wrote on Facebook on Monday.

“Your statements about budgets and reforms in the health system are a disrespect to the intelligence of the electorate, just as you did in the previous election when you stated that you would work to establish a secular government, while in practice you have only been courting the ultra-Orthodox parties ever since,” he charged.

Ichilov Hospital director Professor Ronny Gimzo attacked Gantz’s health campaign and said he was “the health system is being used as a political tool.”

“It bothers me the thought that people will see Gantz’s false campaign and be afraid to come to the hospital,” he added.

Officials dismissed Gantz quoted number of 5,000 dead and said it was outdated, and others noted that his budgetary demands were absurd.

Israel has a health system that is considered one of the best in the world.

In an unrelated development, TPS has reported that Gantz and members of his Blue and White party stormed out of the Knesset Plenum during a debate on Monday about the terrorism threat coming from the Gaza Strip, eliciting accusations that he was a “coward” who fled the scene.

The Knesset plenum convened for a special discussion on the “incessant terrorism from the Gaza Strip” following the request of more than 25 Knesset members, during which members of the Blue and White party departed the Knesset plenum before the government had a chance to responds to their accusations.

Before leaving the plenum Gantz asserted that rocket sirens in the south do “not really move [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” and that the residents of the south “are just boring him.”

“Anyone with his head in head understands that Netanyahu is busy with himself and not the citizens of Israel,” Gantz claimed.

He concluded by declaring that because the overwhelming majority of Knesset Members disrespected the meeting by not attending, he would do the same with his faction members.

Immediately at the conclusion of his remarks, Gantz left the plenum, followed by Knesset members from the Opposition.

(TPS)

By: TPS Staff

Israeli scientists have found that a rare and benign tumor, called LCH, was found in a young dinosaur that roamed the plains of southern Alberta, Canada, over 60 million years ago.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Dr. Hila May of the Department of Anatomy & Anthropology at the Faculty of Medicine, identified a benign tumor called LCH (Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis) in two fossilized tail vertebrae of a young dinosaur that lived in southern Alberta over 60 million years ago.

This type of tumor is a rare disease still found today in humans, especially children under the age of 10, and can cause significant pain, but often disappears by itself.

The findings indicate that the disease is not unique to humans, and has survived through the long evolutionary process, from dinosaurs to humans, for over 60 million years.

“Researchers in North America studying dinosaur fossils identified large cavities, evidently created by tumors, in two tail vertebrae of a young dinosaur discovered in southern Alberta,” May explained.

“The dinosaur belonged to the genus Hadrosaurus, also known as ‘duck-billed dinosaurs’ – herbivores common almost all over the world about 66-80 million years ago,” she said.

The specific shape of the cavities caught the researchers’ attention because they were very similar to cavities created by the rare tumor LCH, which still affects humans today.

The dinosaur’s vertebrae were sent to the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, for inspection with the institute’s advanced micro-CT scanner.

“The micro-CT scanner generates images with a very high resolution of up to a few microns,” said May. “Using it to scan the dinosaur vertebrae we were able to form a reconstructed 3D image of the tumor and the blood vessels leading to it. The image confirmed in a high probability that the dinosaur did indeed suffer from LCH.”

“The surprising findings indicate that the disease is not unique to humans and that it existed in different species over 60 million years – through the long evolutionary process from dinosaurs to humans,” she added.

“Research of this kind, made possible by current technology, contributes a great deal to Evolutionary Medicine – a relatively new field of research which investigates the development and behavior of diseases over time,” says Prof. Israel Hershkovitz from TAU’s Faculty of Medicine who has studied malignant tumors in dinosaurs and who assisted in the identification of the LCH tumor in this study.

“Evolutionary Medicine researchers try to understand why certain diseases have survived through millions of years of evolution and to discover their source, in order to ultimately develop new and effective ways to address them today,” he elucidated.

    (TPS)

By: Baruch Yedid

Israel has begun to confiscate the monthly stipends paid by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to convicted terrorists with Israeli citizenship and their families, the first time such action has been taken since Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced the move in December.

Israeli forces confiscated money and property from the homes of former security prisoners in eastern Jerusalem and ordered them to deposit the salaries they received from the PA into a designated bank account.

According to sources in Jerusalem, the police confiscated funds from the homes of Majdi Abbasi, Naji Odeh and Basel Abu Tia in Silwan, as well as from Ihab Bakirat in Tsur Baher.

NIS 25,000 were confiscated from Abbasi, and the family was required to deposit another NIS 19,800 received from the PA. NIS 1,000 was confiscated from Odeh, and they were required to deposit another NIS 17,000, and NIS 790 was confiscated from Abu Tia who was required to deposit NIS 46,000 received from the PA.

In addition, the police confiscated Ihab Bakirat’s vehicle, and the family was required to deposit NIS 60,200 received from the PA.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center reports that families of released terrorists were required to pay large sums of money received from the Palestinian Authority as salaries, based on information provided by the security system.

The police ordered the Intisar Hamed family to deposit NIS 37,600 and Muhammad Salman’s family was required to deposit NIS 12,400.

The police explained that these were funds “received from a hostile entity.”

The PA has a policy of paying the families of convicted terrorists imprisoned in Israel, including Arabs with Israeli citizenship. The payments have been criticized as a financial incentive to commit terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Bennett said he plans to use all the legal tools at his disposal to prevent the PA’s payments from reaching the terrorists.

“We have moved to actions. This is another step in the campaign against terrorists. We are working so that Jewish blood will no longer be profitable,” he said in December.

The PA has been paying monthly salaries to convicted terrorists imprisoned in Israel since its establishment.

According to the PA’s pay scale, the salary of an imprisoned terrorist begins at NIS 1,400 ($401) every month from his first day in prison, and gradually rises to NIS 12,000 ($3,435), in accordance with the amount of time he has been in prison.

Therefore, the more severe the attack was, the higher the stipend the terrorist is set to receive.

Terrorist prisoners who are married, have children or are Israeli citizens or residents of eastern Jerusalem receive a special addition to the base salary.

            (TPS)

By: Baruch Yedid

The Hamas leadership has been embroiled in recent days in the ensuing battle between Yahya Sinwar, the organization’s leader in the Gaza Strip, and Fathi Hamad, one of the most radical elements in Hamas’ leadership.

Sources told TPS that the conflict in the Hamas leadership is due to Hamad’s extreme positions, and mainly because of his opposition to a ceasefire with Israel, against Hamas’ policy on this issue.

“Sinwar ordered the establishment of a committee to investigate Hamad’s involvement in the embezzlement of the organization’s funds, including a case that led to the closure of Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV channel and an investigation into the takeover of land in the northern Gaza Strip,” the sources told TPS.

Hamad is considered one of the “rogues” in the Gaza Strip and heads an armed militia responsible for several attempted infiltrations into Israeli territory in recent months, contrary to Sinwar’s stance, and he is having a difficulty enforcing his authority on Hamad.

According to sources in the Gaza Strip, Hamad is also behind the theft of media equipment last week from the Pal Tel’s company’s warehouses to restore Hamas’s communications system.

The sources say that Hamad is also behind the allegations that the Palestinian Authority’s intelligence helped to eliminate senior Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Atta by Israel in November. His remarks against the PA’s intelligence angered Sinwar, and he instructed Hamad not to give interviews, and the Gaza Strip says that Hamad has not appeared in the media since but only at Hamas events.

Hamad also provoked a storm in Hamas’s leadership a few months ago when he announced in front of the media’s cameras that Jews should be killed and not just the Zionists, adding that Hamas has a factory for making explosive suicide belts. His remarks were criticized and the Hamas leadership demanded that he retract his statement.

A source who has access to Hamas’ leadership told TPS that the leadership has recently given the Turks and Qataris names of some of its senior officials who oppose a ceasefire with Israel and act contrary to the leadership’s decisions as a way to force the renegade elements into acting according to their decisions.

Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas met with Fatah’s regional commanders on Wednesday, scolded them and demanded to know why the Palestinian street was still lethargic and calm, a Fatah official told TPS.

Abbas urged them to generate a long line of incidents, adding that even if they are unable to mobilize thousands into the streets, he expects continuous events at multiple locations.

According to the source, Abu Mazen met with decision-makers in the various PA institutions and agreed to escalate the events vis-à-vis the IDF and Israeli citizens.

Abbas on Thursday convened all union and labor leaders to motivate them to arrange demonstrations.

Abbas has declared the PA will actively oppose the US’ Deal of the Century peace plan and has demanded actions, but his calls have been met with minimal responses from the Palestinian street.

It should be noted that Abu Mazen did not order armed attacks but rather widespread violent demonstrations which often include rock and firebomb throwing.

At the same time, various sources indicate that there is no change in the policy of the PA’s security forces and its cooperation with Israeli forces.

Meanwhile, senior Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi declared that the three million Palestinians in Judea and Samaria are “the Shahid project.”

             (TPS)

By: Aryeh Savir

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman stated that the US is against any Israeli unilateral annexation of Judea and Samaria as part of the Deal of the Century peace plan, backtracking from his initial support of such a move.

Friedman stated Sunday that President Donald Trump’s “Vision for Peace is the product of more than three years of close consultations” between Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their senior staff.

“As we have stated, the application of Israeli law to the territory which the Plan provides to be part of Israel is subject to the completion a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee,” a task the sides reportedly commenced.

However, he cautioned that “any unilateral action in advance of the completion of the committee process endangers the Plan and American recognition.”

Friedman initially stated after the unveiling of Deal of the Century plan that Israel was cleared to move forward with at least a partial annexation of areas in Judea and Samaria, even before any other phases of the peace plan commenced.

However, Friedman essentially adopted the position put forward by Trump’s senior aid and son-in-law Jared Kushner who said that Israel could not annex any areas before the March elections in Israel and the forming of a government.

Netanyahu on Saturday night state that Israel has begun mapping parts of the areas it intends to annex, apparently adopting the US’ line of action and stepping away from a pledge to immediately apply Israeli sovereignty over areas in Judea and Samaria after the publication of the Deal of the Century.

“We’re already in the process of mapping the territory that according to the Trump plan will be part of the State of Israel,” he stated.

Right-wing factions on Sunday continued to call on Netanyahu to move forward with the annexation unilaterally, claiming the time was now or never.

            (TPS)

By: Aryeh Savir

Israel’s ban on all agricultural produce coming from the Palestinian Authority (PA) took Effect Sunday morning, several months after the PA launched a boycott against Israeli produce.

The PA announced its ban on the purchase of Israeli livestock in mid-September. Israel has since issued several warnings and took action only on Sunday.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennet stated last Sunday that agricultural imports from the PA were halted “due to the boycott of the Israeli calves, which severely harms hundreds of Israeli farmers.”

The decision came after months of repeated attempts by the Israeli defense establishment to resolve the crisis, which has “led to severe and ongoing damage to the cattle breeders sector in Israel and the collapse of hundreds of farms in the industry,” the defense ministry stated.

“When the Palestinian Authority chooses to stop its unilateral moves and bring the situation back to normal, the defense ministry will reconsider its decision” it stated.

This includes a ban on all PA agricultural exports to world markets through Jordan.

Last week, the PA declared a ban on the entry of Israeli products into PA-controlled areas, including vegetables, fruits and other products, in response to Bennet’s decision to ban the entry of PA agricultural products into Israel.

TPS has learned that the PA’s boycott of the purchase of livestock from Israel is being promoted by senior PA and Fatah officials who stand to gain from a change in the market.

Sources within the PA have told TPS that while the boycott is being presented as a national struggle against Israel, the boycott is being promoted by Yasser Abbas, son of PA head Mahmoud Abbas, and by Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official, who have shown interest in importing calves from Portugal and Hungary, a shift that gave them control of the market.

An Israeli source told TPS that Yasser Abbas receives NIS 100 for every calf transferred into the PA. The Israeli security establishment is aware of this information, he noted.

“It appears that the objective of the crisis is to open the market to Palestinian importers who have connections and status in the PA,” a source in Ramallah told TPS. The boycott is also meant to inflict economic damage on Israel. However, a shortage of meat for slaughter in the PA has sent the prices sky-rocketing, and some sources say there has been a 25% markup.

The PA has announced over the past months that it intends to fully disengage from the Israeli economy, a move analysts warned could collapse the PA’s economy.

             (TPS)

By: Aryeh Savir

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett issued stern warnings to Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the escalation in attacks on Israel emanating from the Strip in recent weeks.

Netanyahu stated at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel is “prepared to take devastating action against the terrorist organizations in Gaza.”

“I want to make it clear: We will not accept any aggression from Gaza. Only a few weeks ago, we targeted the senior Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, and I suggest that both Islamic Jihad and Hamas refresh their memories,” the Israeli premier stated, relating to Baha Ab al-Atta who was assassinated in an Israel strike in November which was followed by 48 hours of intense rocket fire and Israeli counter strikes.

“I will not go into detail about all of our actions and plans for the media, but we are prepared to take devastating action against the terrorist organizations in Gaza,” Netanyahu warned. “Our actions are very strong and they have not yet ended, to put it mildly.”

Bennett held a situation assessment at the IDF’s Gaza Division headquarters, during which he warned that Hamas’ “reckless conduct is bringing us closer to deadly action against them.”

“We will not announce when or where. The action will be very different from its predecessors, no one will be immune,” he threatened.

“Hamas faces the choice: to choose life and economic prosperity, or to choose terror and pay an unbearable price,” he concluded.

Hamas responded by stating that if Israel “takes stupid steps it will bear the consequences.”

“These threats do not scare us and they will only cause us to continue the path of resistance and to continue the struggle by all means of resistance we have,” said Hamas spokesman Fouzi Barhoum.

The exchange of fire between Gaza and Israel has become routine in recent days. Gaza based terrorists have fired seven rockets at Israel in the past week and a total of over 20 in the past several weeks.

Balloons attached to explosive charges launched by terrorists from Gaza continue to land at several locations in Israel’s south and at other locations, over two weeks that Israel has been contending with this threat.

The explosive and flammable balloon attacks have returned to haunt Israel’s residents in the south in the past weeks after several months in which such attacks from Gaza ceased.

Several of Bennet’s political faction members also recently intimated that Israel was on the verge of a mass counterterrorism operation in Gaza.

Idit Silman stated last Monday that Bennett “is planning an action, which is more meaningful for the near future, in Gaza. Bennett is building, and I know, the next big thing.”

(TPS)

By: Baruch Yedid

The Palestinian Authority (PA) will not submit to the United Nations’ Security Council (UNSC) a proposal to condemn Israel and the US’ Deal of the Century peace plan, contrary to its original intent, sources in Ramallah have told TPS.

A PA sponsored resolution in the Security Council would have encountered a US veto and was doomed to failure.

Officials have confirmed in a conversation with TPS that the PA has made some amendments to the paper it submitted to the United Nations ahead of the vote on Tuesday and has erased the condemnation clause.

However, the amended version includes a paragraph condemning “all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terrorism, incitement, violence and destruction,” as well as the “condemnation of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories and East Jerusalem.”

In preparation for PA head Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the UNSC on Tuesday, the PA drafted a paper detailing a list of 300 alleged violations of the international law by the US in the Deal of the Century.

Abbas has been working to gain international support in recent days, especially from European countries, against the American plan while introducing an alternative plan.

Regarding Jerusalem, the amended PA document alleges that the US violated 20 UNSC and UN General Assembly resolutions. The document states that Israel has no sovereign rights in eastern Jerusalem, as it is “part of the West Bank and occupied land.”

Abbas will emphasize that the unilateral annexation of eastern Jerusalem in 1967 is also illegal and has not been recognized by the international community.

Regarding permanent borders and Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, the PA document claims that the US is violating international law 90 times. Among other things, the document states that Article 2 of the UN Charter (1945) prohibits annexation through the use of force and that UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) also emphasizes the unacceptability of taking over territories during wartime.

In the area of ​​security, the US also violates 36 international decisions and laws, and regarding the refugee issue it violates 18 other laws and decisions, the PA claims.

  (TPS)