VFI News Jul 20, 2021

The Israeli military has reportedly asked for a major budget increase so that it can strengthen its attack capabilities should it need to attack Iran’s nuclear program.

The request, worth billions of shekels, was made during preliminary discussions on the budget.

Israel considers Iran’s nuclear program as the number one concern and, according to recent intelligence assessments, if the Islamic Republic does decide to renege on the agreement, it would take one year for it to produce enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb.

According to Israeli assessments, Iran is less than a year away from a nuclear weapon and has accelerated its nuclear enrichment activity.

(JPost/ VFI News)

“God, we ask that you guide Israel as we strengthen our barricades against evil and persecution.”

The articles included in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vision for Israel. We try to provide accurate reporting on news pertinent to Israel, the Middle East, the diaspora, and Jewish issues around the world—and we hope that you find it both informative and useful for intercessory prayer.

Iran is not prepared to resume negotiations on coming back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal until Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi's administration has begun, a diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iran had conveyed this to European officials acting as interlocutors in the indirect US-Iranian negotiations.

The current thinking, added the source, is that the Vienna talks will not resume before mid-August.

"They are not prepared to come back before the new government," said the source, saying it was not clear whether this meant until Raisi formally takes over on August 5 or until his government is in place.

"We are now talking probably not before mid-August," added the source.

Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 but has been holding indirect talks with the Biden administration on a return to the agreement. (INN / VFI News)

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. - Matthew 24:6

The research group of Prof. Yael Yaniv of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa joined forces with the research groups of Prof. Alex Bronstein and Prof. Assaf Schuster of the Taub Faculty of Computer Science to create an AI-based system that automatically detects disease based on hundreds of electrocardiograms, which are currently the most widespread technology employed for the diagnosis of cardiac pathology.

The new system automatically analyzes electrocardiograms (ECGs) using augmented neural networks – the most prominent tool in deep learning today. These networks learn different patterns by training on a large number of samples, and the system developed by the researchers was trained on more than 1.5 million ECG segments sampled from hundreds of patients in hospitals in various countries.

The system is sensitive enough to provide alerts regarding patients at risk of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) – even when the arrhythmia is not shown on the ECG printout. In addition, the rate of false alarms is very minimal. The new system also explains its decisions using the accepted cardiology terminology. (i365 / VFI News)

From 2016 to 2020, the United Nations (UN) has funneled at least $40 million to radical Palestinian Authority (PA) NGOs.

"As with most rabidly anti-Israel NGOs, their names are innocuous and mislead people into thinking they promote human rights, but in reality, they peddle malicious anti-Israel agendas," said Eytan Meir, director of external relations and development for Im Tirtzu.

The report further notes that the UN is not entirely transparent in its reporting. The UN reporting "often omits the 'implementing partners' that receive the funding to carry out the programs. This creates a situation in which millions of dollars in funding are unaccounted for," Im Tirtzu asserted.

As a solution, Im Tirtzu advocated increased transparency and the passing of a UN-equivalent Taylor Force Act. (INN/VFI News)

“Lord, we pray that you would expose the injustice and corruption of the Palestinian terror groups, and the fact that funds that have been given for humanitarian aid were used for terror. We pray that those in need within the Palestinian community will receive the aid and that terror groups will not receive these funds.”

Thanks to wonderful supporters like you, hundreds of families all over the country received financial aid from VFI for Passover. Among them were: terror survivors, lone soldiers, families in need (including many single-parent families), Holocaust survivors, new immigrants from Ethiopia and other nations.

Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) last week released information regarding the seizure of cryptocurrencies that had been transferred to the Hamas organization.

The report detailed that this was the first time such a wide variety of cryptocurrencies was seized, as the seizure also included cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin - Tether, Ether, XRP, and more.

The sum which was seized reportedly included funds meant for, but not limited to, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades (the Hamas military wing).

Noa Mashiach, CEO of the Israeli Bitcoin Association, also responded to the seizure in a public statement, saying that "The seizure and forfeiture of Hamas's donations prove that Bitcoin is a safe currency."

"Criminals who make use of this financial system will find out the hard way that the open transaction log, the blockchain, will expose them and allow law enforcement agencies to act against them," Mashiach said. (JPost/ VFI News)

“No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” - Isaiah 54:17

Israel and Morocco signed their first-ever cyber-defense accord to signal that fledgling relations between the two countries have continued to advance.

The Israeli Defense Ministry was also involved in the deal.

"The accord is for operational cooperation, research and development, and the sharing of information and knowledge," the Foreign Ministry said.

Israel and Morocco have long held secret ties, but have only held low-level diplomatic ones from 1994-2000.

Last year, the two re-established ties at a higher level, under the rubric of the Abraham Accords in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan also normalized relations with Israel. (JPost / VFI News)

“God, we ask that You would continue to foster true ties between the nations and Israel.”

A recent study shows a 912% increase in antisemitic content on TikTok.

Led by Dr. Gabriel Weimann of the University of Haifa and Natalie Masri of IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism, the two found that the rapid increase consisted of both antisemitic tropes, images, and rhetoric.

The 912% refers to the number of antisemitic comments which grew from 41 antisemitic comments in 2020 to 415 in 2021.

In October of 2020, TikTok updated its terms of service but Weimann worries that the platform is failing to take proper action. He explains that “They certainly should apply their own Terms of Use and they’re failing to do so properly. Moreover, their algorithm just promotes hate by sending such messages to those who expressed interest, sending a user down a rabbit hole of hatred.” (JPost/ VFI News)

"Lord we ask that You would continue to expose antisemitism and uproot it from the world".

An inscription dating back some 3,100 years ago bearing the name of a biblical judge Jerubbaal was uncovered in the excavations at Khirbat er-Ra‘i, near Kiryat Gat in the Southern District of Israel, the Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday.

The researchers highlighted that while there cannot be any certainty on whether the inscription refers to the figure mentioned in the Book of Judges, this discovery offers important insights into the connection between the biblical text and historical reality.

Inscriptions from that period – the 12th-11th century BCE – are extremely rare. All the dating has been carried out through both pottery typology and radiocarbon of organic samples found in the same archaeological layer.

The writing, inked on a jug, marks the first time that the name Jerubbaal has been found outside the biblical text. It is believed that the owner penned his name on the jug. (JPost / VFI News)

The suggestions, opinions, and scripture references made by VFI News writers and editors are based on the best information received.

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