Friday, July 4th

Today is the Fourth of July. It’s America’s Independence Day as well as the anniversary of Israel’s successful Raid on Entebbe in 1976.

Now known as Operation Thunderbolt, the rescue of 102 hostages in Uganda was the kind of event that inspires, and did lead to, Hollywood thrillers. The Israeli Army swooped in, killing all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers helping them. Only one, instantly famous Israeli soldier was killed in the operation: Yoni Netanyahu, brother of the current Israeli Prime Minister, Bibi. (Little known fact: Because Kenya provided assistance to Israel, then President of Uganda Idi Amin subsequently issued orders to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda.  245 Kenyan-Ugandans were slaughtered, and about 3000 more left the country.)

It was a miraculous raid, a display of strategic brilliance, mind-blowing bravery, and Gd’s help.

Fast forward to today. We have all witnessed what is now being called “The 12-Day War” between Israel and Iran. (Not sure about the appropriateness of the name — it’s not really over yet.) It has been a war of some “constructive destruction”, ie. stopping Iran from nuking Eretz Yisrael and who-knows-who-else. And a war of some devastating destruction as well. In addition to the innocent lives lost, homes damaged or demolished, and the direct hit on Seroka Hospital, on June 15th one of Iran’s ballistic missiles hit the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. 

The Weizmann Institute is where my mother was employed as a research scientist in the department of plant genetics in the 1970s. My siblings and I played on the Weizmann campus, swam in the pool, ate in the cafeterias. As children, we didn’t know that to the rest of the world, the Weizmann Institute was, and is, known for its state-of-the-art research centre in the life sciences. The missile strike took a heavy toll on Weizmann’s 45 labs and destroyed entire labs in the Cancer Research Unit. It obliterated years and lifetimes worth of irreplaceable scientific research. Just horrible. How many cancer patients around the world might have benefited from, or even been cured with, developments from this lost research?!

And then came yesterday, July 3. Following – or maybe amid – the chaos of this war, two Weizmann scientists published an incredible breakthrough in leukemia diagnostics. Apparently, this is something that could change the future treatment of this cancer. Just one of the results of this discovery is that now, a simple blood test procedure could screen for leukemia non-invasively, before any symptoms are noticed. This testing will revolutionize the ability of doctors to target and treat the disease. That’s just one small part of this.  There’s more, and if you’re a science buff, I recommend that you Google it. It’s quite fascinating really.

Tonight, fireworks will light up the sky across the USA, just as they did a few days ago here in Toronto for Canada Day. As we celebrate independence and liberty and freedom, let us first remember that there are still Israeli hostages to rescue. Then, let us also remember that hostage rescue is possible as it was in Entebbe exactly 49 years ago today. And let the publication of this leukemia research be a sign for us that all is not lost, and that there is hope for the future of Israel and the entire world.

Am Yisrael Chai!