NO. 594 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART TWO

by Epiphany Bible Students


JEWS

"And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God" (Amos 9:15)

Let all those nations, such as Iran and Syria, beware for God also says: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." (Zech. 12:9) And to Abraham the father of the Jews He said: "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 12:3) Also, see Jeremiah 30:11.

In the following items you will see how the Jews are already blessing the world with their medical breakthroughs, advances in agriculture, science and technology. All of these they are using to help the developing nations, and it will eventually come to the whole world. What other nations are doing these things? The Gentile nations are only talking about how bad things are in the underdeveloped nations. And the Muslim nations are doing nothing but making plans for war.

“THE NATIONS COMING TO LEARN HOW THE DESERT BLOOMED: Ben Gurion University of the Negev is hosting a major international conference this week on combating desertification, with experts coming to study Israel's successes in ‘making the desert bloom.’ The conference, entitled ‘Deserts and Desertification: Challenges and Opportunities,’ is sponsored by the Blaustein Institute of Desert Research (BIDR), Ben Gurion University, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

“Desertification, according to BIDR's conference Web site, is responsible for the loss of agricultural productivity, famine, and population displacement, as well as the escalation of poverty; it affects about 400 million people in developing regions, especially Africa.

“Israel was selected as a unique and uniquely appropriate venue for the desertification conference due to its rich history of rolling back the desert through innovation and tenacity.

“When the state was established in 1948, much of its semi-arid regions were degraded and the Negev Desert had expanded northward all the way to the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem corridor. Since that time, a combination of intensive dryland agriculture, afforestation, and economic initiatives [has] reclaimed tens of thousands of hectares for farming, residential construction, and industrial parks.”   (By Arutz Sheva, IsraelNationaINews.com, November 7, 2006)  

“ISRAEL AGRICULTURAL KNOW-HOW HELPS THE DEVELOPING WORLD BLOOM: They used to grow opium poppy, but farmers in Afghanistan are now growing new 'energy crops' to create biofuel, thanks to the work of Israeli company Agroproject. The agricultural development consultancy company is involved in dozens of projects worldwide from the rainforests of Cambodia, to war-torn Angola. Using unique expertise in agritechnology. Agroproject helps farmers in develop-ing countries identify and cultivate new sustainable crops that will improve standards of living, help the economy grow, and bolster regional development. The aim of Agroproject's directors is to give back hope to some of the world's poorest people.”

(Israel21c Newsletter, October 9, 2006)

“MOVER: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the sale and use of a wireless, computer-controlled device developed in Israel, the NESS L300 system, that enables a person with a paralyzed foot due to stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, or cerebral palsy to walk safely.

“The cellular-phone-sized device, which works by electrical stimulation, can be installed and operated by the patient.” 

(World Jewry, October 2006)

“LIGHT THE WAY: A team of scientists at Israel's College of Judea and Samaria, in association with Bar Ilan University, has for the first time combined two innovative techniques to target leukemia cells, as reported in the British Journal of Cancer.

“The new technique combines photo-dynamic therapy, which delivers a light-sensitive drug to specific cancer cells with a compound called luminal to produce light inside the targeted cells, thereby activating the drug which kills the cells.”  

(World Jewry, October 2006)

“GREECE: While in Athens for Holocaust commemoration ceremonies, an EJC delegation held meetings with Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, President Karolos Papoulias and Opposition Leader Giorgos Papandreou. The delegation held talks on strengthening Israel-Greece relations; anti-Semitism in Greece; and the return of Jewish Property from the Thessaloniki’s former Jewish cemetery.”

“WJC HOSTS DINNER HONORING CHRISTIAN ALLIES: In appreciation of the increasing support for Israel by Christian evangelical factions around the world, the WJC hosted the second annual ‘Night to Honor Our Christian Allies in Israel.’

“Awards were presented to several Jerusalem-based Christian organizations and participants discussed the threat of Protestant divestment from Israel and charitable projects sponsored by Christian groups in Israel.”

“HONOR WITHHELD: On the one-hundredth anniversary of the rehabilitation  of French Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, unjustly convicted of treason in 1894 in a case that revealed an institutionalized anti-Semitism in 19th century France. President Chirac has declined requests to move Dreyfus’ ashes to the Pantheon, Paris’ most hallowed burial place.

“Some Groups had urged that Dreyfus’ remains be placed alongside those of author Emile Zola, whose impassioned defense of Dreyfus in a famous essay entitled J’Accuse…! led to his rehabilitation.”

“HERZL SQUARE: A Paris square has been named in honor of Theodor Herzl, the father of political Zionism and founder of the World Zionist Organization, in what the city’s mayor Bertrand Delanoe called a ‘clear stand showing our attachment to Israel.’

“Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian journalist, was the Paris correspondent of the Viennese Nue Freie Presse from 1891 to 1895.  The Dreyfus Trial in 1894 led to his conviction that the only solution to anti-Semitism was the mass exodus of Jews to a territory of their own.”

“THE MILLIONAIRES: The number of Israeli millionaires per capita is twice the world average, according to the Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report 2005.

“The number grew by 12 percent and the number of multimillionaires by 20 percent over the past year, with about 7,400 people living in Israel showing liquid assets of over $1 million, and 84 multimillionaires listed with fortunes valued at more that $30 million.”

“HOMELAND SECURITY: Twelve highly-placed U.S. law enforcement officials have spent nine days in Israel studying the country’s latest security technology, in what is the third mission of this kind.

“In the last four years, some 70 U.S. law enforcement officials have visited Israel for counter-terrorism training in Israel as part of the program.”

(The above six items are from World Jewish Congress Report, Summer 2006)

“MOVING ISRAEL FROM NIGHT TO LIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD: No longer a 24/7 news reality, the images of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have diminished and nearly passed.  Once again though, the image of Israel in the world is one formed by pictures of Israel in conflict. They show Israel as war-torn.  They show Israel as militaristic.  Because of the time difference, most Americans saw Israel at night, increasing a sense of darkness and hopelessness surrounding their country at war.

“But what of the Israel by day?  The Israel that goes to work and provides the answers to every security challenge imaginable for buildings, airports and businesses? The Israel that makes medical discoveries that diagnose illnesses earlier and treat them more effectively?  The Israel that contributes more to high tech innovation and progress than just about any other country in the world?  What about the Israel that brings light to the world, in every way, every day through environmental and agricultural innovation, through music, dance and film?”

(By Israel 21c, September 27, 2006)

“ISRAELI MEDICAL TEAM TRAINS ETHIOPIAN DOCTORS TO BATTLE AIDS: A group of Ethiopian doctors and health care professionals were recently in Israel to learn about a unique approach to treat AIDS patients that Israeli doctors have developed. The 'multi-disciplinary approach' developed by Dr. Shlomo Ma’ayan, director of the Hadassah AIDS Center, provides AIDS patients with a team of health care professionals, all working together to ensure that patients show up for clinic visits, and follow drug regimes at home. This is the fourth group of Ethiopian health care professionals to visit Israel, and they will return home to train groups of doctors, nurses and case managers.”  

(Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“SPREADING THE WINGS OF RELIEF AROUND THE WORLD: Wherever in the world people have needed help in the past five years, there has been an Israeli humanitarian organization with an outstretched hand. Israeli volunteers helped victims of the deadly tsunami in South Asia, pitched in after Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf region of the United   States, and are involved in numerous ongoing efforts to battle disease and poverty around the world. Come see the true face of Israel.”  

(Israel 21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“A new book by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter accuses Israel of being an ‘apartheid’ state. The Forward reports that, judging from an advance review manuscript of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid Carter ‘places the bulk of the blame on Israel for its continuing conflict with the Palestinians.’ The book is published by Simon & Schuster and set for release on November 14.”

(The Jerusalem Post, November 3, 2006)

“ISRAELI AMD DISCOVERY LICENSED BY PFIZER: With over 15 million Americans over the age of 50 suffering from the sight-threatening disease age-related macular degeneration (AMD), pharmaceutical companies are pulling out all the stops in search of an effective drug. After eight years of research, Israel's Quark Biotech Inc. has identified a novel human gene RTP-801 that could form the basis of an effective treatment. Now U.S. pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer has licensed this gene in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and together, the two companies hope to turn Quark's research into a new drug that will help turn darkness into light.” 

(Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“ISRAELI WATER-TREATMENT SYS-TEM TAKES THE FEAR OUT OF LEGION-NAIRES DISEASE: Since the outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in 1976, almost 30,000 Americans have contracted the ailment, and a further 4,000 have died of it. Legionnaires is caused by bacteria that thrive in air-conditioning systems. Current methods used to destroy the bacteria that cause this disease rely heavily on chemicals and additives which can pose alternative risk to health. Israeli company Elgressy has developed a new electrolyte system which it claims can eradicate and control the bacteria in all hot and cold water systems, without the need for any harmful chemicals.”  

(Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“ISRAELI INNOVATION PREVENTS NEED FOR FREQUENT CATHETER RE-PLACEMENT: Nothing about staying in the hospital is comfortable, but Israeli company Flexicath hopes to help relieve one of the most annoying and painful experiences of an extended hospital stay ─ having an IV repeatedly inserted into your arm. Currently, in order to prevent inflammation and infection, IV lines need to be changed every three days. Flexicath has solved that problem by developing an IV catheter ─ the FirmGrip ─ that can be left in place for up to 20 days.”  (Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“ISRAELI STARTUP FIGHTS BIO-TERRORISM ─ IN REAL TIME: An Israeli start up has developed a unique bioterrorism detecting system that works like a smoke detector to discover anthrax and other biological hazards released into public places. What sets the BAS101 apart is the technology which responds instantly, setting off an alarm the moment it detects a biological agent in the air. It then identifies the agent on the spot, enabling officials to take appropriate action instead of waiting for tests to come back from a lab. This is the first early-detection biodetector to be developed specifically for civil applications.”

(Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“EXCESS FREEDOM: The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ruled, on procedural grounds, that Canadian access to U.S.-based hate web sites may not be blocked, even when they contain messages promoting violence.

“The sites, run by a white supremacist group, provide the home address of an Ottawa human rights lawyer and call for his murder, urge the violent overthrow of the Canadian government, and call for the streets to "run red with blood of Jews."  

(World Jewry, October 2006)

“NOT AMUSED: Well known comedian Jackie Mason is suing the Christian missionary group, Jews for Jesus, saying that he was damaged by the group's use of his name and likeness in a Proselytizing pamphlet.

“The $2 million lawsuit seeks the immediate destruction of the pamphlets, which are being handed out by Jews for Jesus activists at various points in New York City.”

(World Jewry, October 2006)

“BRITAIN TOO: According to the British Community Security Trust, a Jewish community defense organization, British Jews are facing "a wave of intimidation" connected with the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

“Recently-released figures show a 100% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in July, as compared with same period one year ago.”  (World Jewry, October 2006)

“CAMPUS HATE: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has released a 76-page report detailing disturbing incidents of anti-Semitism on many college campuses throughout the United States.

“The report, which gathered evidence presented by a panel of experts, concludes that campus anti-Semitism is ‘a serious problem which warrants further attention.’”

(World Jewry, October 2006)

“ISRAEL PROGRAM HELPS ALLE-VIATE POVERTY IN BRAZILIAN STATE: After years of spiraling poverty and economic inequality, the Brazilian state of Ceara, population eight million, is finally on the road to economic recovery and prosperity. At the heart of the transformation, lies Israeli professor Raft Bar-El, one of the world’s leading experts in economic region development. Over the last six years Bar-EI and his colleagues at Ben-Gurion University have used their knowledge of Israel's own former economic troubles to spearhead an ambitious program funded by the World Bank, which has spurred regional development and transformed the way the government of Ceara and its citizens interact.”

“ISRAEL STILL A STRATEGIC AS-SET FOR THE U.S.: There is no other Middle East state where an American airplane can count with certainty on being welcomed.”

(Above 2 articles from Israe121c Newsletter, October 2006)

“OPENING BOOKS: The Vatican has opened 1922-39 archives on Cardinal Eutenio Paccli, who in 1939 became Pope Pius XII and is accused of having done too little during World War II to save European Jews from the Holocaust.

“The archives are believed to include notes of what Pacelli said in strategy sessions about Jewish issues, his private views on the 1933 Concordat with Nazi Germany and on Hitler’s 1938 annexation of Austria.” 

(World Jewry, November 2006)

“HATE BAN: The leader of a banned extremist Black nationalist group was ordered by a Paris judge to close down his Internet website because of its anti-Semitic content after a lawsuit against the site was brought by several French Jewish groups, including the Union of Jewish Students in France.

“The Tribu Ka group was outlawed by French authorities after its members descended on a crowded Paris Jewish neighborhood wielding baseball bats and shouting anti-Semitic slogans.”

(World Jewry, November 2006)

“FOOT-DRAGGING: The Canadian Jewish Congress and other Jewish groups are accusing the government of dragging its feet on Holocaust-era war crimes after two former Nazi concentration camp guards, who lied on immigration papers about their past, were found to be freely living in the country, despite a Federal Court ruling that their citizenship be revoked.

“Critics say that the government is ‘at best, lackadaisical’ in acting on the court’s recommendations, and that years have gone by with no official action in a number of similar cases.”  (World Jewry, November 2006)

“BIBLE WEEK: As part of the academic activities at a Bible Week organized by Rio de Janeiro’s Pontifical Catholic University, Osias Wurman, Vice-President of Brazil’s Jewish community representative body, CONIB, participated in a debate on The Role of Sacred Texts in Religion.

“Participants at the symposium ─ Jews, Catholics, Muslims and Lutherans ─ all spoke about the importance of the Pentateuch as the common basis of all monotheistic religions.”

(World Jewry, November 2006)

“L’CHAIM: A third generation Israel farming family, founding members of Moshav Kerem Ben Zimra, has produced the first pomegranate wine designed for the inter-national market.

“Pomegranates are one of Israel’s oldest indigenous fruit, and are mentioned in the Bible.  Pomegranate-based products have be-come one of the fastest growing trends in the food industry, partly due to growing medical interest in the fruit’s health benefits.”

(World Jewry, November 2006)

“NEW TREATMENT: A team of researchers at the Hebrew University’s School of Pharmacy has developed valrocemide, a new drug to treat epilepsy, and the American drug company Shire Pharmaceuticals has signed a worldwide licensing agreement for development, production and marketing of the medicine.

“One third of patients are therapy-resistant to existing medications for epilepsy control, and as a result, continue to suffer from periodic epileptic seizures.”

(World Jewry, November 2006)

“For Israeli Researcher, a Cancer-Sniffing Electronic Nose is Just Another Puzzle: As a child growing up in the mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli city of Nazareth, Hossam Haick loved  to do puzzles. Now as a 31-year–old faculty member of the Technion, Haick is still using his inquisitive sense to develop an artificial olfactory system (an electronic nose) that can sniff out cancer even before tumors appear. Haick was recently awarded the Marie Curie Action excellence grant totaling $2.2 million from the European Union (EU) to pursue his dream.”

(Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“ISRAEL BOUNCES BACK: As a small country in a very hostile neighborhood, Israel has to use its resiliency muscles often.  (Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“‘The clash we are witnessing around the world is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century… The Jews have come from the tragedy of the Holocaust and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists… We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people.’ Arab–American psychologist Wata Sultan, on Al-Jazerra TV.”  (Middle East Media Research Institute, July 2006)

“ISRAEL: BLOCK PIUS XII’S BEATI-FICATION: Pope Pius XII should not be made a saint until the full facts of his activities during the Nazi era are disclosed, Israel has told the Vatican.

“‘I am asking the Vatican to block the beatification process for Pius XII,’ Oded Ben-Hur, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, told reporters last month. His remarks came at a reception in Rome for the publication of La Santa Sede I la questione evraica (1993-1945) ‘The Holy See and the Jewish Questions (1993-1945),’ a study of  the Vatican’s diplomatic and humanitarian efforts on behalf of European Jewry during the Nazi era. The book was written by Alessandro Duce, professor of history of international relations at the University of Parma.

“Based on five years’ archival research, Duce’s book paints a mixed portrait of the wartime pope. While the book reveals new information on Vatican attempts to help Jews emigrate to the Americas and details its attempts to block anti-Jewish legislation in East and Central Europe, it also paints Pius XII in a less than heroic light.”

(The Jerusalem Post, November 24-30 2006)

“I stand amazed over God's mysterious and wonderful ways.  Taking the worst of the worst ─ me ─ out of a life of bigotry to a heart filled with love for Jews. From wishing them harm to defending them from harm. From the deception that Christmas was something ‘un-Jewish’ to the truth that its all Jewish. Jewish towns and country, Jewish prophecies, Jewish maiden stunned at the news of an angel, Jewish John the baptizer, Jewish Yeshua, Jewish disciples, Jewish fellowships, Jewish missionaries, Jewish good guys, Jewish bad guys. But all ─ EVERYTHING  ─ Jewish.”

(By Frank Eiklor,Shalom International, December 1, 2006)

“STROKE REHAB IN A GLOVE: Writing, cooking, driving ─ they all depend on hand function, a crucial element in maintaining quality of life, and one of the hardest for victims of strokes to overcome.  But now, Israeli company MediTouch has developed the HandTutor ─ an innovative new exercise device that can help rehabilitate stroke patients suffering from impaired hand functions, and also children born with motor or developmental disorders that impact hand functionality.”

“WORKING TOGETHER ─ Israelis help Palestinian veterinarians fight avian flu: Deadly viruses like the avian flu know no borders or politics, and Israeli researchers are making sure their neighbors are acquiring the knowledge and tools needed to deal with the threat.  Last week four veterinarians from Gaza spent five working days with counter-parts at The Israeli Agriculture Ministry’s Division of Avian Diseases laboratories near Tel Aviv, studying techniques for diagnosing and dealing with the disease among animal populations. Due to their cooperation, the two sides are confident that bird flu is unlikely.”

(Above two items from Israel21c Newsletter, December 4, 2006)