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Child Terror Victims
Mark B'nai Mitzvah
On Dec. 5, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and his wife,
Nechama, continued a 15-year tradition of Israel's presidents
by hosting victims of terrorism who were celebrating their bar
and bat mitzvahs.
All the youngsters wore white sweatshirts with a print of a
large blue Star of David accompanied by the logo of the Terror
Victims Association. The girls also wore floral garlands in
their hair.
Rivlin and other speakers noted the children had matured
beyond their years because of the suffering they endured —
through the loss of a parent, a sibling or another close relative
and, in some cases, because of the physical injuries that con-
tinue to plague them.
Thanking Rivlin on behalf of all the children was Noa
Meir, one of the daughters of Dafna Meir, who in January was
stabbed to death by a teenage Palestinian terrorist at her home
in the West Bank settlement of Otniel. Meir, 38, was survived
by her husband and six children.
In Israel, Kulanu Member of Knesset
Michael Oren shows a "Made in
Europe" label he prepared in response
to the European decision to label
President Reuven Rivlin and his wife, Nechama, (center) host
victims of terrorism celebrating their b'nai mitzvah.
For years, scientists have been trying to find ways to block angiogenesis, the
process by which cancerous tumors give off chemical signals to stimulate the
formation of new blood vessels that bring them the nutrients and oxygen
they need to grow.
Angiogenesis inhibitors are now the standard therapy for many cancers,
including of the colon, brain, lung and liver. Scientists, however, are still
seeking more effective medications with fewer side effects.
Enter the Israeli company Vascular Biogenics Ltd. (VBL), which believes it
has found a way to target these vessels and impede their growth.
"Tumors are smart," said VBEs CEO Dror Harats, a professor at Tel Aviv
University and a doctor at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. "They
have 20 agents they can excrete to stimulate the buildup of new blood ves-
sels.
"For this reason, trying to block one or two of these factors will not be
potent enough. We took another approach — when the tumor tries to build
these new vessels, we activate a deadly gene, targeting only the angiogenic
blood vessels:'
If scientists succeed in their efforts to better target blood vessels, patients
will be able to live with cancer, just as HIV patients now live with the virus.
— Shoshanna Solomon, Times of Israel
Vascular Biogenics"VBL-111 targets glioblastoma multiforme, a form
32
December 15 2016
Oren suggested Israelis think twice
about buying French products.
Noa was very close to her mother, planning her bat mitzvah
with her for more than a year.
Noa said, "The tremendous spirit of my mother beats inside
me and will help me to grow, to rise and to spread my wings;
and I will be her living monument."
— Greer Fay Cashman, Jerusalem Post
Israeli Cancer-Buster?
of brain tumor.
products made in territories Israel
captured in the Six Day War in 1967.
Shari Arison, Israel's wealthiest citizen,
is worth an estimated $4.7 billion.
Millionaires And
The Average Joe
According to a report by Credit Suisse
bank, the number of millionaires in Israel
stands at 105,000 people, of which 18 are
billionaires.
This constitutes an increase of 17,000
millionaires, roughly 19 percent, since
2015. According to the report, in the last
16 years, the average Israeli citizen's wealth
(including money, housing and invest-
ments) has doubled to $176,263.
Unfortunately, income inequality has also
risen. The median wealth of Israelis (the
point at which half the population is above
or below) stands at only $54,384. This
means that vast numbers of Israelis possess
wealth far below the $176,263 average.
As for the very rich, Shari Arison is
both Israel's and the Middle-East's rich-
est woman, with an estimated wealth of
$4.7 billion, much of it from controlling
interest in Carnival Cruise lines and Bank
Hapoalim, which she inherited from her
father, businessman Ted Arison.
— Roi Bergman, Ynet News
ADL CONDEMNS
FRENCH LABELING
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
condemned new regulations by France
mandating that all Israeli products from
the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the
Golan Heights be labeled as originating
in these areas and — in parenthesis —
"(from an Israeli settlement)" and not as
products of Israel.
The announcement by France relates
to European Commission Guidelines
issued in November 2015 that called for
products from the West Bank and the
Golan Heights to be given unique labels.
ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt
said, "France's decision to label Israeli
settlement products will serve to
embolden campaigns to delegitimize
and isolate Israel, which risk further
undermining good faith efforts to nego-
tiate a two-state solution to the conflict.
As we said following the European
Commission decision, regardless of their
intention, these types of actions send an
unconstructive political message that the
onus for the complex Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is on Israel alone, and that settle-
ment construction is the central obstacle
to resuming a political process.
All of this is wrong and such steps
risk spurring the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which
is deeply hostile to the Jewish state and
clearly opposes the two-state solution.
"Despite the fact that French officials
have denounced BDS and French legisla-
tion makes such boycotts illegal, this
move is particularly unhelpful given
the hands-on role French officials have
sought to play in Israeli-Palestinian
peacemaking.
"If anything, this new regulation will
be perceived by Israel as part of the sin-
gle-minded campaign to pressure Israel
in its negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israelis, therefore, will inevitably ques-
tion France's evenhandedness and inten-
tions:' *