By: Nathan Jeffay – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Hadassah hospital gave three people a new drug made from antibodies from people who had had coronavirus; they are all now home after ‘astonishing’ recovery

The world’s first clinical trial for a coronavirus drug made from antibodies got off to a promising start in Jerusalem, with all three patients involved released from the hospital days after receiving it.

The patients were in moderate condition, with COVID-19-induced pneumonia, when given the drug, manufactured from antibodies found in the plasma of recovered coronavirus patients, earlier this week.

“The response was, in my eyes, it was almost a miracle — they received it and they are now home,” said Zeev Rothstein, director of Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, which worked with the biopharmaceutical firm Kamada to develop the drug, and is now running the clinical trial.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/worlds-1st-trial-for-covid-antibody-drug-off-to-flying-start-in-jerusalem/

By: Times of Israel Staff – Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Cyber criminals from Lazarus group built fake LinkedIn accounts, tried to woo Israeli officials with lucrative job opportunities to gain access to their networks

The Defense Ministry on Wednesday said hackers from a group linked to the North Korean government targeted Israeli defense officials, luring them with fake job offers in a failed attempt to gain access to the databases of the country’s top defense industries.

In a statement, the ministry said the attempted cyber-attack by the Lazarus Group was thwarted and no sensitive information was compromised.

“Members of the group used various hacking techniques, including ‘social engineering’ and impersonation,” and built fake profiles on LinkedIn, said the Defense Ministry.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-says-it-fended-off-north-korean-hack-attempt-against-defense-industry/

By: Brandon Showalter – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

A new survey shows that the majority of Americans no longer believe that Jesus is the path to salvation and instead believe that being a good person is sufficient.

As part of the ongoing release of the Arizona Christian University-based Cultural Research Center’s American Worldview Inventory, the latest findings — exploring perceptions of sin and salvation — from George Barna, the group’s director, show that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that having some kind of faith is more important than the particular faith with which someone aligns. 

Sixty-eight percent who embrace that notion identify as Christians, including 56% of self-described evangelicals and 62% of those who identify as Pentecostals. Sixty-seven percent of mainline Protestants and 77% of Catholics also embraced that idea, the findings show.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/us-christians-increasingly-departing-from-core-truths-of-christian-worldview-survey-finds.html

By: Ariel David – Haaretz; haaretz.com

Floor tiles from house burnt down by the Babylonians 2,600 years ago yield data that could help better understand the erratic behavior of the planetary shield protecting us from cosmic radiation

Archaeologists joke that nothing makes them happier than finding signs of destruction. Ancient sites that slowly declined or were simply abandoned are hard to date and often contain a confusing jumble of remains from different periods. But when an entire city gets suddenly buried by a volcanic eruption, demolished by an earthquake or burned down by a brutal invader, the tragedy freezes a single moment in time, giving experts a clearer picture of how people lived in that period, right up until disaster struck.

This archaeological schadenfreude is now taking on a new dimension, as researchers are increasingly using ancient ruins left over by violent conflagrations for an unexpected purpose: trying to understand the enigmatic and unpredictable behavior of Earth’s magnetic field. 

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-ruins-of-ancient-jerusalem-help-unravel-enigmas-of-earth-s-magnetic-field-1.9052751

By: Shoshana Bryen – Newsweek; newsweek.com

It was hard to miss the videos of the double explosion in Beirut. The first one was really big; the second was eye-poppingly enormous! And in horrific color. The damage was truly terrible, and the casualty count is rising. So, first, it should be said that thoughts and prayers should be with the people of Beirut.

But it created a conundrum for the Hezbollah-dominated Lebanese government. If it claimed the damage was done by Israel, it would be admitting that Israel could target the country with impunity. Which it can, but that is not something Hezbollah wants to admit because it would create pressure for a military response—a war it cannot win. In addition, it would be admitting that Hezbollah—a proxy of Iran—was storing rockets, missiles and rocket fuel in the middle of capital of Lebanon. So, first the government said the warehouse near the waterfront was a “fireworks factory” that had exploded. Then they said it was a wheat storage silo.

Finally, Lebanese Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi admitted to the presence of highly explosive materials at the port, saying, “We have to wait for investigations to know the cause of the explosion, but preliminary explanation indicates materials seized years ago exploded in the Beirut Port warehouse.”

https://www.newsweek.com/saving-lebanon-opinion-1522840

By: Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

“It’s a shame that people will die for no reason.”

The heads of several Israeli hospitals have reached out to Lebanese officials and the United Nations offering medical support to the country’s wounded.

“It hurts to see the children – little children – crying and injured,” Dr. Masad Barhoum, director-general of Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya told The Jerusalem Post. “People without children – their lives destroyed in an instance. They need medical and psychological help.”

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/a-shame-that-people-will-die-for-no-reason-637586

By: Tzvi Joffre – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

Strengthening winds in the area have caused the fire to intensify.

Some 24 firefighting teams and six firefighting planes reported that they were battling a large, wind-driven fire near Hadassah-University Medical Center, in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem on Monday.

Teams from the Jerusalem, Dan and central divisions and the Israel Fire and Rescue Service’s special Lehava unit are working to stop the fire from spreading to public buildings located nearby.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/large-fire-breaks-out-near-hadassah-ein-karem-medical-center-637299

By: Leah Marieann Klett – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

A member of China’s Early Rain Covenant Church says the Chinese Communist Party continues to persecute members of the church by threatening to send their children to government re-education camps or forcibly remove adopted children from their parents.

In a video released Wednesday alongside a new report by International Christian Concern, Liao Qiang, a member of ERCC in Chengdu, said that despite shuttering the church and jailing Pastor Wang Yi in December of 2018, the CCP continues to harass its members.

Qiang said in the video accompanying ICC’s new report on Religious Suppression in China that his family was forced to leave China and flee to Taiwan with his extended family “because the Chinese Communist Party is limitless in its persecution.”

https://www.christianpost.com/news/china-seizes-children-from-christian-parents-threatens-to-send-kids-to-re-education-camps.html

By: Marcy Oster – Jewish Telegraphic Agency; jta.org

The remains of 286 Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust were found in two basements in a town in southwest Ukraine.

The remains, mostly women and children, will be buried in a mass grave in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Sataniv, Ynet reported.

The town had an organized Jewish community for about 500 years before the Nazis captured it in 1941 and began systematically killing its Jews, according to the Yad Vashem website.

By: Leah MarieAnn Klett – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, poor Christian villagers in China have been ordered to renounce their faith and replace displays of Jesus with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping or risk losing their welfare benefits.

Religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter reports that in April, officials with China’s Communist Party visited believers’ homes in Linfen, a prefecture-level city in the northern province of Shanxi. While there, they ordered residents who receive social welfare payments from the government to replace crosses, religious symbols, and images in their homes with portraits of China’s communist leaders.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/china-orders-christians-to-take-down-crosses-images-of-jesus-worship-communist-leaders-not-god.html