For the past five years, Israeli Yuval Roth and his organization “On the Road to Recovery,” have been driving sick Palestinians back and forth across the border to Israeli hospitals so that they can get treatment for their illnesses. The West Bank understandably doesn’t have the greatest health care system. Israel does, so if a Palestinian can reach those hospitals, they have a much better chance of surviving:

It’s also expensive to make the trip to Israeli hospitals. Although the Palestinian Authority allows sick children and adults to leave the West Bank for treatment, Palestinians are not allowed to drive past the checkpoints. To get to Israeli hospitals, they’d have to take a taxi, which would cost at least $90 each way.

Fortunately, there is Roth and his organization, Derech Hachlama (“On the Road to Recovery”).| MORE ›

I thought there a lot of good in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress today. It very effectively presented Israeli as very generous while also being strong. But I thought that one of the requirements for peace that Netanyahu presented was rather peculiar: that Israel is it have a presence along the Jordan River.| MORE ›

Glenn Beck is on a roll. He recently traveled to Israel where he made clear that he stands with the Jewish nation-state. It may be surrounded by enemies, and Obama may throw it under the bus, but Beck isn’t about to abandon Israel – the only true democracy in the Middle East, by the way.| MORE ›

Pure comedy gold:

G: You believe that you’re at the center of American Jewish thought?

JB: I believe that we are at the center.| MORE ›

If this report is correct, calling it an interesting development would be the understatement of the century:

INTELLIGENCE chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site.| MORE ›

Editor’s note. Please welcome a new author to RATA: Chris Queen (U.S.). Chris and I worked together at David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog. I was so impressed with his writing that I asked him to join the team here when that blog was discontinued. Chris blogs at his own blog Random Thoughts From The Revolution. Follow him on Twitter here.| MORE ›

This article on China and Russia by Professor Barry Rubin, is the most interesting analysis of international politics I’ve read this week:

China is very much motivated toward development rather than ideology or geopolitical ambition. It wants to get along with everyone as much as possible and make lots of money.| MORE ›

You’ve got to be kidding me:

Western powers all appeared to be on the same page.

Behind their show of unity about Iran’s clandestine efforts to manufacture nuclear fuel, however, is a continuing debate among American, European and Israeli spies about a separate component of Iran’s nuclear program: its clandestine efforts to design a nuclear warhead.| MORE ›

Where Obama first demanded that Israel would agree to a total settlement freeze before resuming the peace process in the Middle East, he has now agreed to let Israel “restrain its settlement activities.

Additionally, Israelis, Palestinians and, yes, America won’t insist on any other preconditions.

That’s a major defeat for Obama.| MORE ›