Israel's Headless Humanoid

Israel’s Mentee Robotics has just unveiled its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled household chore robot, Menteebot. After two years of research and development, the new robot certainly looks impressive.

Developed by Amnon Shashau (the former founder of Mobileye), Professor Shai Shalev-Shwartz, and Professor Lior Wolf, the new robot is gearing up for official orders in the first quarter of 2025. The unit’s price is still a mystery, but it is being marketed as “affordable.”

“We are on the cusp of a convergence of computer vision, natural language understanding, strong and detailed simulators, and methodologies for transferring from simulation to the real world,” explains Mentee Robotics.

“Menteebot represents a significant leap forward in humanoid robotics, designed for comprehensive functionality across diverse environments,” Mentee Robotics explains in a promotional video on LinkedIn.  READ MORE...

Iran Soon Can Send Nuclear Bomb to Israel

Iran is drawing closer to possible conflict as it simulates attacks on an Israeli base and signals that it could create a nuclear weapon if officials ordered it..

"Iranian braggadocio about their nuclear program is reaching new and unprecedented levels," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

"Iran’s former atomic energy chief is essentially hinting that Tehran has all the pieces of a nuclear weapon in place but disassembled," Taleblu said. "This commentary should be raising red flags for anyone who thought diversion of fissile material was the only thing that needed to be prevented and accounted for with international monitoring."  READ MORE...

Israel Advances Further into Gaza

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli warplanes heavily bombarded an area around Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Monday as the military ordered mass evacuations from the town in the face of a widening ground offensive that is pushing Palestinians into a progressively shrinking portion of the besieged territory.

The expanded assault posed a deadly choice for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians — either stay in the path of Israeli forces or flee within the confines of southern Gaza with no guarantee of safety. Aid workers warned that the mass movement would worsen the already dire humanitarian catastrophe in the territory.

“Another wave of displacement is underway, and the humanitarian situation worsens by the hour,” the Gaza chief of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Thomas White, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.   READ MORE...

Global Happenings

Israel, Hamas swap 16 hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners in sixth and final day of temporary cease-fire deal amid talks over another possible extension (More) | See updates on the war (More)

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passes away at age 100 (More) | 

US life expectancy rose in 2022 to 77.5 years from 76.4 years in 2021, according to latest government data; rise is still below prepandemic levels and mainly due to waning COVID-19 pandemic (More) | Record high of 49,449 people died by suicide in the US in 2022, up 3% from 2021 (More)

More Hostages Freed

A four-day pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip began Friday as Hamas  released 24 hostages (13 Israeli women and children, 10 Thai nationals, and one Filipino citizen) while Israel released 39 Palestinian women and children detainees. The exchange is part of a short-term cease-fire deal brokered by Qatar and marks the first time fighting has temporarily halted between the two sides since Hamas captured more than 240

people during a surprise cross-border attack seven weeks ago.

During the duration of the pause, Hamas is set to free at least 50 hostages in exchange for the release of at least 150 Palestinians held in Israel's prisons. Israel has said the truce could be extended for an extra day for every 10 hostages released. At least 137 trucks carrying aid and fuel also entered Gaza Friday through the Rafah crossing as part of the agreement, with UN officials calling the humanitarian convoy the biggest since Hamas' Oct. 7 raid.

Calls For a Humanitarian Pause

G7 foreign ministers on Wednesday called for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas conflict to allow in aid and help the release of hostages, and sought a return to a broader peace process.

Ending a two-day meeting in Tokyo as Israeli forces continued to pound the Gaza Strip, the Group of Seven wealthy nations said in a joint statement that Israel had the right to defend itself. But they also underscored the need to protect civilians and to comply with international humanitarian law.

G7 members are committed to preparing long-term solutions for Gaza and a return to a broader peace process in the Israel-Palestinian conflict “in line with the internationally agreed parameters,” the statement said.   READ MORE...

Hezbollah's Leader to Speak

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah meets leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups at an unidentified location in this handout image released on October 25, 2023 [Hezbollah Media Office/Handout via Reuters] --  Image on Left

Lebanon is on edge in advance of Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah’s anticipated Friday speech on Israel’s war on Gaza, which residents and experts fear could inflame regional tensions if he pledges to escalate attacks against Israel.

Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has escalated along their fraught border in recent weeks. The Lebanese armed group claims to have lost 47 fighters while Israel says that six of its soldiers have been killed. At least six civilians have also been killed.  READ MORE...

Iran Will Destroy Israel

The New York Times is facing intense backlash for a report focusing on whether Iran will "live up to its fiery rhetoric" and follow through with its vow to "destroy Israel."

The Times suggested Iran was at a crossroads, running the headline, "After Years of Vowing to Destroy Israel, Iran Faces a Dilemma."

"With Israel bent on crushing Iran’s ally Hamas, Tehran must decide whether it and the proxy militias it arms and trains will live up to its fiery rhetoric," The Times report said Wednesday.  READ MORE...

Biden Wants a Pause

President Biden said there should be a "pause" in the Israel-Hamas War to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans and get those trapped in the Gaza Strip released.

The comment came during a campaign event in Minnesota on Wednesday evening, when a member of the audience shouted: "As a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire right now.”

The president — who has not supported a ceasefire since the war began on October 7 — said that he would support a "pause."

“I think we need a pause," Biden began. "A pause means give time to get the prisoners out.”     READ MORE...

Monumental Ancient Structure in Israel

Beit Guvrin, Israel. Courtesy of Wikimedia commons.

For decades, archeologists in Israel believed they had discovered an ancient synagogue on a road to Beit Guvrin National Park. But new research suggests the structure was actually a Roman temple.


This is the second such time a building excavated at the site was wrongly identified as a synagogue, as experts have worked to better understand the history of the region and the pagan populations that once called it home.


The edifice was discovered in 1991 in central Israel, according to Haaretz. Though the exact location hasn’t been disclosed by the country’s Nature and Parks Authority for fear of vandalism, the structure isn’t hard to spot for those who know what they’re looking for: sections of its walls can be seen sticking out from the weed-covered ground.


The summer marked the latest in a series of excavations conducted at the site since 2015. The effort led experts to upend previous theories about the building, including one, postulated in a 1991 book by archaeologist Zvi Ilan, which argued that the structure bared similarities to monumental synagogues in northern Israel from the Late Roman and Byzantine periods.


The leaders of the recent dig now believe the building was erected by the Romans in defense of the Bar Kochba revolt of 132 C.E.


“It certainly doesn’t have clear religious iconography like a menorah, for example, that would be typical of a synagogue,” Gregg Gardner, a University of British Columbia researcher who joined the excavation in 2017, told Haaretz. 

“Neither the layout of the structure nor decorations indicate it might have been a synagogue. Instead, it has several characteristics of a non-Jewish ritual complex—it has a raised paved court leading to a hall at the far end that was elevated on top of a vaulted substructure.”  READ MORE...

Rare Ancient Papyrus

Israel has acquired a previously unknown ancient papyrus bearing a Hebrew inscription dated to around 2,700 years ago that had long been in possession of a Montana resident, the country’s antiquities authority said Wednesday.

The scrap of papyrus — scarcely larger than a postage stamp with four lines of angular script — is one of just a few from the region in the Late Iron Age, archaeologists said. The Israel Antiquities Authority said it authenticated its age using radiocarbon dating, which corresponded with the age of the text’s writing style.

Joe Uziel, director of the Judean desert scrolls unit, said the matching radiocarbon date and paleographic style makes him “very certain” that it is not a modern forgery.

The papyrus, which bears the Biblical name Ishmael, was likely looted sometime in the last century from a cave in the Judean Desert, he said.

Its provenance and journey from the desert to Montana six decades ago and now to Jerusalem remain nebulous.

The antiquities authority declined to name the Montana resident but said the man’s mother obtained the artifact during a visit to what was then Jordanian-occupied east Jerusalem in 1965 and brought it to the United States.

Jordanian law that was in force at the time severely restricted the sale of antiquities and prohibited the export of artifacts without a permit from the minister of antiquities. It wasn’t clear whether the woman possessed such authorization.  READ MORE...

Two Biblical Heroines Uncovered

The Israelite commander Barak depicted in the Huqoq synagogue mosaic. Several BYU students 

were part of the team to help excavate at the ancient Jewish village site. Credit: Jim Haberman

As they brushed the last layer of dirt from a small section of mosaic on the synagogue floor, the archaeologists were momentarily baffled by the odd image beginning to emerge.

"Then we realized we were looking at the story of Jael pounding the stake through the head of Sisera the Canaanite," said BYU ancient scripture professor Matthew Grey. "We brought out a phone and pulled up Judges 4 to read the story while we uncovered the scene."

Almost every summer since 2011, BYU faculty and students have joined a consortium of universities led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to excavate the synagogue in the ancient Jewish village of Huqoq, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. This year's work on the building's beautiful mosaic floor, which dates from the late fourth—early fifth century C.E., yielded a unique discovery: fragments showing Jael and the prophetess Deborah.

"This is the first time we've seen a depiction of the biblical heroines Deborah and Jael in ancient Jewish art," said project director and UNC professor Jodi Magness.

Situated in the southwest corner of the building just to the left of the synagogue's entrance, the panels highlight how the women helped save Israel through their gifts and intrepidity. One patch shows Deborah sitting under her palm tree, giving instructions to the Israelite general Barak to guide her people in battle (Judges 4:4–10). 

Below that, another patch shows Jael driving a tent stake through Sisera's temple, taking out the Canaanite general to help Israel defeat their enemy (Judges 4:17–22).  READ MORE...

DNA Analysis of Micronesians

Micronesia is defined as a country and has been a much-ballyhooed friend in need for Israel at the United Nations. It actually consists of roughly 2,000 small islands spread over a vast region in the Pacific. 

Micronesia should not to be confused with the neighboring nations of Polynesia or Melanesia, which also consist of small islands in the Pacific. Now, a new study casts light on the origin of early Micronesians and it is more complicated than had been assumed.

It had been thought that Micronesians shared origins with southwest Pacific peoples, and that Micronesians likely stemmed from a single origin. 

Now, analysis of ancient and modern Micronesian DNA has detected five separate waves of migration to Micronesia in antiquity: three streams from eastern Asia, one from Polynesia, and one of people related to mainland Papua New Guineans, Yue-Chen Liu and David Reich of Harvard Medical School reported with colleagues last week in Science.

The three streams of “first remote Oceanian” migration into Micronesia included a previously unknown lineage, the team adds.

The study is based on genomic analysis of 164 people who lived 2,800 to 500 years ago at five sites around Micronesia, and 112 genomes of present-day people from the same areas.  READ MORE...

The Eastern Mediterranean Changing

Image courtesy of Aris Messinis / AFP

Earlier this month, the United States surprised Greece and its two primary partners in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, Israel and Cyprus, by withdrawing its backing for a natural gas pipeline that would have connected them to Europe. 

The American change of heart was ostensibly justified by the need to focus on clean energy sources and that this project did not align with Europe’s green energy plan.

Instead, Washington urged the countries to consider two alternative electricity transmission projects; the EuroAfrica interconnector intended to deliver electricity from Egypt through Cyprus and then onwards to Greece and Europe via Crete, and its sister EuroAsia project that starts in Israel and connects to Europe through Cyprus. 

Both projects integrate these countries’ electricity grids with Europe’s.  The EastMed gas pipeline idea emerged after significant findings of gas deposits in the territorial waters of Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel. 

The pipeline, which would have cost an estimated $6-7 billion, was seen by many as an unrealistic project given the potential changes in the European energy consumption patterns, its sheer complexity and cost and the financing needs. Chances were that it would not get off the ground much less be completed by 2025 as projected.

The US State Department withdrew support for the project through the delivery of a non-paper – an informal manner of expressing a government’s preferences or requirement without direct attribution. Presumably the content could have been delivered orally except that Washington may have tried to avoid a situation where its message was diluted.

Even if the US may have thought it had a responsibility as part of the 3+1 mechanism of meetings with Cyprus, Greece and Israel designed to encourage regional cooperation, the fact remains that the decision to build a pipeline rests with those three countries and the Europeans and not Washington.  READ MORE...

World's Most Expensive City

REUTERS...Tel Aviv's climb to the top of rankings was attributed mainly to the soaring value of Israel's currency


Tel Aviv has been named as the most expensive city in the world to live in, as soaring inflation and supply-chain problems push up prices globally.


The Israeli city came top for the first time in a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), climbing from fifth place last year and pushing Paris down to joint second with Singapore.


Damascus, in war-torn Syria, retained its place as the cheapest in the world.  The survey compares costs in US dollars for goods and services in 173 cities.


The EIU said the data it collected in August and September showed that on average prices had risen 3.5% in local currency terms - the fastest inflation rate recorded over the past five years.


Transport has seen the biggest price increases, with the cost of a litre of petrol up by 21% on average in the cities studied.


Tel Aviv's climb to the top of the EIU's World Cost of Living rankings mainly reflected the soaring value of Israel's currency, the shekel, against the dollar. The local prices of around 10% of goods also increased significantly, especially for groceries.  READ MORE...

Ancient Fishing

Ancient fishing is one of the hardest human activities to study. Since many of the materials used, such as plant fibres and wood, are perishable, much of the physical evidence has been lost to time. However, one of the largest ever collections of early fishing technology has given researchers an unparalleled insight into the ancient techniques used.

The team, led by Antonella Pedergnana of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Archaeological research institute in Germany, studied 19 bone fish hooks and six grooved stones.These were found in the Jordan River Dureijay (JRD) in the Hula Valley, northern Israel.

Researchers believe that the grooved stones were used as weights for the rods.  The groundbreaking research study was explored in BBC Science Focus magazine.

Archaeology: Researchers found the ancient fishing tools in Hula Lake, Israel 

(Image: GETTY/BBC Science Focus )

Ancient humans: Humans have fished for thousands of years (Image: GETTY)


Here, Professor Gonen Sharon of Tel Hai College, Israel, told the publication: "The hooks are amazingly similar to modern hooks – in size, in features (like barbs) and in dexterity of making.

"Moreover, the hooks present features that are rarely found in modern-day hooks – for example, an outer lower barb aiming to function as a ‘point of no return’ to prevent the fish from escaping the hook."The sophisticated methods are believed to have risen during a seismic shift in human history.  READ MORE...

Iran's Nuclear Program

AN OPINION BY Abu Yehuda...

Recently I have been hearing that Israel can’t stop Iran’s nuclear program, and America is our only hope. 

For example, here is Daniel Gordis:

[Former PM Ehud] Barak wrote that Israel no longer has a viable military option for preventing Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold, and that the Mullahs are marching steadily forward on their quest. Israel needs the US to develop military plans to stop Iran (Barak said that not only does the US have no such plans, it also has no interest in developing them); furthermore, he said, Israel is going to have to recognize its increased dependence on the US, and to work hard to deepen its ties to America.

But Barak does not draw the appropriate conclusion from the facts that he presents, and neither does Gordis, who thinks that Israel must “mend fences with American Jews” to help influence the US “to do the right thing” and act against Iran. Barak’s argument (Hebrew link) actually implies that we cannot depend on America.

Barak wrote that Iran’s “breakout time” – the time it will take to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb once Iran has decided to do so – has been reduced to about 30 days. Of course there are other technological hurdles to pass before that uranium can be made into a deliverable weapon, but still, Israel’s moment of decision is closer than ever.

There is a lot of discussion of whose fault this is, with Barak and others placing the blame on Netanyahu and Trump. I don’t want to expend too many words on this, but I disagree. Trump is accused of precipitously ending the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (with Netanyahu’s encouragement), which allowed the Iranians to increase their uranium enrichment activities significantly. But Iran was already violating the too-weak deal, and Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” – both economic and covert, as in the assassination of Qassem Soleimani – was causing the regime great distress. The policy’s failure was assured by its early termination: Trump was not reelected, and Biden chose to scrap it. But it doesn’t matter who’s to blame; the question is what to do about it.  TO READ MORE OF THIS OPINION, CLICK HERE...

Vaccine No Worky

FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL...


The South African variant of the coronavirus is notably more adept at “breaking through” the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than other variants are, Israeli scientists have found, in a first-of-its-kind real-world study.

Israel has used the Pfizer vaccine almost exclusively to vaccinate millions of citizens, with a version by Moderna, based on similar innovative mRNA technology, used minimally.

A team from Tel Aviv University and the Clalit healthcare organization sequenced the swabs of 150 Israelis who tested positive for COVID-19 despite having been vaccinated.

In their study, the prevalence of the South African strain among vaccinated individuals who were infected despite their inoculation was eight times higher than its prevalence in the unvaccinated infected population. Though the number of such infections among the vaccinated was relatively small, the findings indicated that this variant was far more successful in getting through vaccinated individuals’ defenses than other strains.

“Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected just one case of the South African variant, but we saw eight,” Prof. Adi Stern, who headed the research, told The Times of Israel. “Obviously, this result didn’t make me happy.”  READ MORE

https://www.timesofisrael.com/real-world-israeli-data-shows-south-african-variant-better-at-bypassing-vaccine/

First 3-D Steak

By Janine Puhak | Fox News

The steak was produced using 3D bioprinting technology and real cow tissue, the food-tech startup explained in a news release. From there, scientists incubated the cells to grow, differentiate, and interact, ultimately replicating a real rib-eye.

With muscle and fat similar to a traditionally slaughtered steak, the futuristic food features "the same organoleptic attributes of a delicious tender, juicy rib-eye steak you'd buy from the butcher." Aleph Farms says it can produce any cut of meat with this method, as the company sets its sights on expanding its meat portfolio.

"With the realization of this milestone, we have broken the barriers to introducing new levels of variety into the cultivated meat cuts we can now produce," said Shulamit Levenberg, a professor at Technion and Aleph’s co-founder. "As we look into the future of 3D bioprinting, the opportunities are endless."

A price point has not yet been announced for the sizzling steak, but the Daily Mail reports it will take a few years to hit shelves.

"We are executing a clear plan to achieve cost-parity for cultivation of meat products at scale," said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, in a statement obtained by the outlet. "We expect to achieve this goal within five years from our 2022 soft launch, which is faster than the new generation of plant-based meat substitutes."