Not So Fast

Disappointment is part of the human experience. We all have them and learn to adapt and live with reality. Sometimes it’s painful and sometimes it’s merely annoying.

One story from Israel last year fits both scenarios, and a recent one is being watched closely, in light of the Coronavirus weirdness sweeping the globe.

One year ago, an Israeli biotech company fairly promised a sweeping cancer cure within the year. From a Forbes article:

“At the end of January last year, the internet was awash with a flurry of viral news stories promising the almost-impossible. Cancer was going to be cured. Within just one year, by a tiny Israeli biotechnology company. A true fairy tale of miracle-like proportions that was going to change the world. So, one year on, is cancer cured?

“No.

“It would appear that it was all a PR stunt or perhaps (to be exceptionally kind) just blown out of proportion. After the original, uncritical article in the Jerusalem Post, other articles copying the unchecked information spread like wildfire on social media. As scientists, researchers, doctors, cancer organizations and a handful of reputable journalists, including myself, scrambled to douse the flames, a runaway train of shares, posts and retweets created a mushroom cloud of misinformation, perfectly analyzed here by HealthFeedback.org.”

Honestly and obviously, this story is worse because it’s from Israel. We all love the Jewish state and recognize that the failings of one boastful tech company don’t impugn the character of a miraculous nation. But this wasn’t good.

Cancer patients around the world told their oncologists that they were suspending treatments and heading to Israel “to be cured.”

Didn’t happen.

I contacted an Israeli journalist friend about this story and was told that there could be a variety of reasons for the announcement: hoped-for funding coming through being a main possibility. Here is the “ouch” ending to the Forbes article:

Could they still do it? As a scientist who must accept nuance and probabilities in almost anything – yes, if you subscribe to the way of thinking that ‘nothing is impossible.’ Would I bet on it? No, not a single cent. Being struck by lightning, winning the lottery and being struck by meteorites are all things that do happen to people, albeit rarely. I’d rate the chances that AEBi have the universal cure for cancer smaller than being struck by lightning whilst simultaneously being hit by a meteorite, seconds after finding out you’ve won the lottery.”

Ouch.

Now onto a new story, this one earlier in this month.

Coronavirus vaccine? From the Jerusalem Post (the same publication that touted the cancer cure):

“’All we need to do is adjust the system to the new sequence,’ he said. ‘We are in the middle of this process, and hopefully in a few weeks we will have the vaccine in our hands. Yes, in a few weeks, if it all works, we would have a vaccine to prevent coronavirus.

“’Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough,’ Akunis said. ‘I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,’ Akunis said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.’”

Supposedly, they plan to have this vaccine ready for clinical trials within a month, which means that by the time you read this, only a few more days.

Companies and researchers around the world are racing to find a vaccine. Keep in mind, it’s a “whole other” discussion about the origins of this flu strain—not to mention the motivations and agendas of unelected bureaucrats and Media types—and we don’t know yet how this will play out.

In the meantime, let’s remember not to get carried away with miraculous pronouncements maybe just because they come from a country we love. Let’s wait and see.

I’m talking to myself first and foremost.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

To Annex or Not Annex, That is the Question

Frontpage is a fascinating, indispensable site for conservatives. I consider David Horowitz to be one of the greatest thinkers of our time. He allows for a range of significant thinkers to opine on a range of issues. One especially caught my eye this week, related to Israel’s anticipated annexation of the Jordan Valley.

Notice I didn’t say annexation of the “West Bank.”

One key paragraph caught my eye in a piece written by Joseph Puder:

“Abdullah, like his father King Hussein, knows that Jordan’s prosperity and stability requires peace with Israel. Netanyahu too, is cognizant of the fact that the Hashemite Kingdom is an indispensable bulwark against a possible threat to Israel from east of the Jordan River. The collapse of Jordan’s monarchy would allow Israel’s enemies to use its long border with Israel as a base to attack the Jewish state.”

There’s rarely a dull day where Israel is concerned, and huge things going on geopolitically now have far-reaching implications. It’s possible there enough stupid people in America to vote Donald Trump out of office in November. And Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career is still fluid, given his indictment and a unity government with Benny Gantz.

All of this has implications for Bible prophecy, too.

Since 1967, Israel has moved into position to anger her rivals in the region, first gaining its biblical heartland in the Six Day War. And in just the last few years, the US Embassy has moved to Jerusalem and Trump has given Israel wide latitude in dealing with the Palestinians.

Now comes the opportunity for Israel to annex the Jordan Valley and most of the settlements. (My friend Bill Koenig points out in his latest newsletter that several key ones would fall outside the Israeli borders though and be in peril from any Palestinian government.)

Netanyahu is in a tough position. One can assume he wants to annex the Valley, thus strengthening Israel’s security, but the usual dark forces would make him pay in a variety of ways.

The Media accuse Netanyahu of intending to annex the entire West Bank—I wish he would!—but that isn’t on the table, at least officially. What has been discussed is the aforementioned Jordan Valley, between Israel and Jordan. The Kingdom’s ruler, Abdullah, is not the friend to Israel that his father was (and don’t forget, HIS father was prepared to make peace with Israel when he was assassinated on the Temple Mount in 1951), and while he is very well aware of how much he owes the Israelis, Abdullah’s wife is Palestinian and 70 percent of Jordan’s population is Palestinian. So he has to strenuously oppose annexation.

But the clock is ticking. If Netanyahu is going to do this, he’ll do it in the next few months, ahead of the American elections.

My friends, we are moving closer and closer to the day when the international community will have had its fill of an “uppity” Israel.

And will attack.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com