Ben Berman

Excited to present our latest @nanopore liquid biopsy paper! Here, we generate the first long-read survey of circulating DNA in patients with a diverse set of cancer types. Short 🧵 follows ... [1/5] biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

@afalkhatib if @RahmEmanuel truly cares about this issue, he should offer himself up to the Trump administration over the next 2 years to take a role in the Gaza peace plan. This is where the opportunity is at this point.

In a recent speech in Israel, Democratic Party veteran and presidential hopeful Rahm Emanuel made several remarks that drew attention, especially his claim that American attitudes toward the U.S.–Israel relationship have shifted and that Democrats will eventually have to adjust. This isn’t a novel or uniquely Democratic insight; a growing number of Republicans and conservative influencers, including Vice President Vance, have acknowledged that Israel no longer enjoys the unquestioned support it once did. Critics, however, argued that Emanuel flattened the relationship by portraying Israel as a simple aid recipient, ignoring how much the U.S. gains in return: industrial reinvestment, joint research, technological innovation, and deep military and intelligence cooperation. The partnership is far more complex than a $3.8 billion annual line item. Still, even Prime Minister Netanyahu has discussed plans to wean Israel off U.S. assistance, recognizing that a wealthy, capable state can thrive without it once American policy inevitably shifts. Where Emanuel truly missed the mark was in claiming that Arabs must be the ones to hold Palestinians accountable for their actions and failures. His core point, that Israel cannot credibly promote Palestinian accountability, is not entirely wrong. But the idea that Arab states will meaningfully champion Palestinian responsibility is, based on their record, implausible. It took nearly two years after October 7 for a handful of Arab governments to even whisper that Hamas should step aside to end the war it started. Even as some privately encouraged Israel to destroy Hamas, almost none publicly condemned the group, largely out of fear that their radicalized populations might turn against them. Across nearly two decades of Hamas’s destructive rule, blockade, political division, repeated wars, and the collapse of the Palestinian national project, Arab states offered virtually no public rebuke of Hamas, the armed‑resistance narrative, or the self‑defeating choices that kept Palestinians trapped in stagnation. The same silence applied to the Palestinian Authority’s corruption, paralysis, and inability to chart a credible path to independence, despite billions in Arab aid. And this pattern extends well beyond Arab governments. NGOs, academics, peace organizations, charities, the UN, and countless activists and politicians have long avoided holding Palestinians accountable, treating them as perpetual victims beyond critique, even when they make choices that harm their own interests, such as provoking the most extreme government in Israel’s history with the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Yes, the power imbalance between Israel and the Palestinians is real. But within that imbalance lies meaningful space for Palestinian agency, responsibility, and course correction. Acknowledging this is not “blaming the victim”; it is essential to empowering Palestinians to pursue a different future. That is what Emanuel and other Democratic leaders must grasp. The international community, including the U.S., Arab states, Europe, NGOs, and all who genuinely care about Palestinian well‑being, shares a responsibility to compassionately yet firmly promote Palestinian accountability. Expecting Arab or Muslim countries alone to shoulder that burden in a conflict with global implications is both naïve and ineffective.

Honored to share this beautiful encapsulation of the Oz Party ideas by by Robert Goldberg, PhD,  editor of the New Zionist Times substack platform (and an early Oz Party supporter!) based on a recent Zoom briefing: The Oz Party and the Recovery of Jewish Sovereignty - Einat Wilf’s party begins with a simple proposition: Israel cannot make peace, create prosperity or defeat its enemies while apologizing for its existence. Israel has no shortage of political parties. What it lacks is a governing idea. The right promises security, the left promises peace, and everyone promises that a different arrangement of familiar personalities will rescue the country from familiar failures. Einat Wilf’s Oz Party begins elsewhere. It begins with sovereignty—not as a flag or slogan, but as a governing discipline. A sovereign people accepts responsibility for its security, borders, institutions, economy, history and future. It does not wait for other nations to define its enemies, explain its existence or decide what sacrifices it may make to survive.This idea connects the Oz platform’s otherwise disparate proposals: defeating Palestinian rejectionism, requiring national service, reforming education and the economy, defining borders, limiting clerical power and restoring law and order. They all express a single proposition: A sovereign people takes responsibility for its fate. Only such a people can make peace. Peace is not a reward bestowed upon nations that make themselves sufficiently small. It is an agreement between peoples that accept one another’s permanence. A country uncertain of its right to exist does not negotiate peace; it negotiates the pace of its retreat. Prosperity requires the same national confidence. It does not emerge from subsidies and temporary fixes, but from functioning institutions, enforceable laws, serious schools, economic competition and citizens who understand that public benefits entail public obligations. Oz seeks to move Israel, in the platform’s phrase, “from exilic mindset to sovereign conduct. David Ben-Gurion understood the distinction before there was a Jewish state. In 1944, he supplied what could serve as Oz’s intellectual foundation:“Resisting fate is not enough. We must master our fate, we must take our destiny into our own hands.” For Ben-Gurion, independence meant ending Jewish dependence—political, military, economic and psychological. It meant transforming the Jews from the objects of history into its authors. What Wilf seeks to purge is not the Diaspora itself. The exilic mentality is not a geography but a habit of concealment. For generations, Jews operated according to an understandable theory: Visibility invites attack. Conceal your strength, soften your claims, hedge your history and hope good behavior purchases safety.That was a rational strategy for a powerless minority. It is disastrous for a sovereign state. Yet Israel built an army while remaining embarrassed to explain why Jews need one. It recovered Jewish power while apologizing for exercising it. After October 7, that theory should have been buried with the victims of Kibbutz Be’eri. Concealment did not protect us. Concession did not appease our enemies. Israel withdrew from Gaza, and the withdrawal was interpreted as proof that terrorism worked. Israel repeatedly accepted partition, yet Arab rejection was erased. The quieter Jews made themselves, the louder the libels became.Oz represents the opposite posture—not swagger, but assertion: This is who we are. This is what we built. This is why it was necessary. This is why it endures. The Other 70 Percent - Wilf calls her explanation of October 7 a “unified theory of this moment.” Hamas terrorists emerged from physical tunnels beneath Gaza. At the same time, an ideological army emerged from metaphorical tunnels excavated beneath Western universities, human-rights organizations, international bodies and media institutions. The two forces converged immediately. One carried rifles, rockets and body cameras; the other carried slogans, placards and accusations. One attacked Jewish bodies, while the other supplied the vocabulary through which the attack could be justified or blamed upon its victims. Wilf estimates that only 30 percent of the war since October 7 has been physical. The remaining 70 percent has been fought globally—in people’s minds, on screens and through words and images. In that theater, Israel has been largely absent. Israel can intercept a missile but not a blood libel. It can collapse a tunnel but not the intellectual structure that converts a massacre into “resistance,” a terrorist into a martyr and Jewish self-defense into a greater crime than the atrocity that necessitated it. Peace After Palestinianism - It is significant that the Oz platform begins by commanding Israel to “Pursue Peace.” In doing so, Wilf is not just attempting to rescue peace from fantasy. She wants to equip Israel with the weapons to fight and win in the 70 percent of the battleground.If the conflict concerns Israel’s borders, compromise is possible. If it concerns Israel’s existence, no map can solve it. Wilf calls the ideology driving the conflict “Palestinianism”—not Palestinian identity or self-government, but the conviction that Palestinian fulfillment requires the reversal of Jewish sovereignty .For decades, Israel and the West offered plans for two states while Palestinian leaders judged those plans according to whether they advanced or foreclosed Israel’s eventual elimination. The negotiators discussed borders; the rejectionists discussed history. Oz therefore proposes the long-term defeat of Palestinianism. This is not a call to defeat Palestinians as a people. It is a call to defeat the ideology that tells them dignity can be achieved only through the destruction of someone else’s state. Durable peace often begins only after such ideologies are discredited. Wilf proposes higher expectations: Build institutions, accept responsibility, abandon the fantasy of conquest and recognize the permanent legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty.Peace begins not when Israel discovers one more concession, but when its enemies abandon the hope of its disappearance. Sovereignty at Home - Oz applies the same demand for responsibility internally. Its platform proposes universal national service for men and women, religious and secular Jews, and Arab citizens. Not everyone would serve in combat; many could serve in hospitals, schools or emergency organizations. The essential requirement is participation. A welfare state is a compact, not an entitlement machine. A country cannot prosper when a shrinking portion of its population is expected to work, serve, pay and fight for everyone else. The same principle supports a common national education system, clearly defined civil borders, stronger democratic institutions, structural economic reform, limits on clerical authority and equal enforcement of the law. These are not disconnected policies. They answer the same question: Will Israel behave like a nation responsible for its destiny? Oz remains a long shot, and Wilf admits it. But its purpose is larger than preserving a party label. It is an attempt to restore a governing idea to Israeli politics.The tunnels beneath Gaza must be destroyed. Israel must also confront the intellectual tunnels beneath the West and the exilic habits still buried within itself. Ben-Gurion’s injunction remains the essential one: Resisting fate is not enough. Oz was created to master it.

Ask Haviv Anything podcast. Fantastic guest today @ShiraEfron! @havivrettiggur please continue these English discussions with people like this who get to actual heart of the issue rather than spin. Like @afalkhatib and maybe @EinatWilf .

Fresh from debating at Oxford I was honored to discuss the challenges of Israel and the coming elections on The Brink podcast.

Excited to announce: I will be hosting and moderating a vital conversation with Dr. Einat Wilf tomorrow, Jul 15, 2026, at 12:00 PM EST. As the Chair of the Oz Party and a former MK, Dr. Wilf offers a compelling vision for Israel's strategic future, Zionism, and democracy. Please join us for this special event by registering here to receive the meeting link. Get Outlook for iOS

Registration information for my Conversation With Einat Wilf tomorrow: Wednesday, July 15 · 12:00 – 1:30pm (EST) 9:00-11:30 am (Pacific) Video call link: meet.google.com/rbq-gkfx-mdf Or dial: (US) +1 928-793-1399 PIN: 510 574 822# More phone numbers: tel.meet/rbq-gkfx-mdf?p… See you tomorrow.

@VerminusM @RevesdeLiberte1 i am left wing but I can get behind Wilf. Why isn't she more popular if she can attract from the left and from the right? I only hear what she says in English, but i like it.

@RevesdeLiberte1 Right now, the candidate closest to my values is Liberman. However, he's old and stale. Feiglin and Wilf are great, but they have no chance at the moment, sadly.

No one is pushing more Israelis to the left than the Haredim right now. Then again, they were never really a part of the right, were they? They just found it easier to extort. To gain a few more months of life, this coalition is going to crown idiots like Yair Golan and Eisenkot.

@dansenor @RahmEmanuel I'm with Rahm on a lot of his answers. My only follow-up question for him would have been why didn't he give a twin speech in Abu Dhabi if the onus for a palestinian state is on the Arab league?

What does the future of the Democratic Party look like? @RahmEmanuel joins Call Me Back to discuss. Listen here: lnk.to/OFMtbI

@Nervana_1 No one can cross trump. you get banished to the cornfield. ask Zelensky.

Funny how so many pro-Israel voices are completely silent about Trump’s cosy relationship with hard-line Islamists like Erdogan, who attacks Israel 24/7, yet go into meltdown because one Egyptian out of 100 million waved a Palestinian flag at the World Cup. Now the same crowd is desperately rooting for Argentina to beat Egypt, as if a football result will somehow change geography or strategic alliances. How remarkably mediocre

I don't understand why AI companies don't make obvious sl dunk decisions. If @GeminiApp were to acquire @WisprFlow, it would instantly transform my Android experience and may keep me a loyal Android user for years to come. I would also be more likely to give @antigravity a try.

I went to an Israeli hospital. I wanted to make this video for the last 7 years. This is what I grew up seeing. Now, you can see it too. Thank you @Hadassah for giving me access!

@DataChaz @openacti1 all i want is better auto-predict of the next word, which is what LLMs are best at. Why can't Gboard and others manage to embed a small model and do that :( :(

WE HAVEN'T SEEN A REAL KEYBOARD BREAKTHROUGH SINCE APPLE PUT KEYS ON GLASS IN 2007. today, @openacti1 just dropped Acti, and it's a leap forward. Forget grammar checkers and voice dictation. This is the world's first agentic keyboard. I have been testing it, and the execution is flawless: → you type your intent into any text field → you hold the spacebar to execute → a background agent runs the task and drops the ready-to-send result right into your chat It essentially turns the standard text field into a universal command line. No more app-switching. No more copy-pasting between maps, browsers, and chats. Instead of just predicting your next word, Acti actually takes your next action 👀↓

At first glance, the agreement with Lebanon is excellent. It addresses the key elements that have been missing from every previous ceasefire agreement: 1) It has been conducted, and will continue to be conducted, directly, thereby breaking the pattern whereby Lebanon refuses to engage in direct negotiations with Israel. 2) It speaks clearly about the goal of achieving peace. 3) It places Lebanon and Israel on the same side, as two countries that both seek a sovereign, functioning Lebanese state that exercises control over all of its territory and is able to prevent attacks on Israel from its soil. 4) In doing so, it identifies Hezbollah and Iran as enemies of Lebanese sovereignty, which is exactly what they are. 5) It makes clear that the effort against Hezbollah and other actors will not be only military, but will also include economic and other means. 6) It speaks about the need to address the underlying structural problems (UNRWA? the issue of the “refugees”?). Of course, we have all learned, through years of pain and disappointment, to be cautious about Lebanon: a country held together by bandages, which has bled us for decades, while groups such as Fatah and Hezbollah have operated from its south, exploiting its weakness to attack Israel. Clearly, everything depends on implementation. We all have a huge and entirely justified question mark over whether there are enough people in Lebanon with the will, determination, and capacity to seize this moment. Thanks in large part to Israel’s actions, those who have systematically undermined Lebanon’s sovereignty, from the Palestinians to Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah, have been significantly weakened. The question is whether Lebanon’ people can finally take their country back. One final point: I very much hope that Israel’s official representatives will actively promote this agreement at every opportunity and work to firmly establish Israel as the principal actor with a clear interest in a sovereign, functioning Lebanese state that can prevent attacks from its territory by forces that seek to undermine its sovereignty. It is a simple, positive message that frames Israel’s actions as being directed toward that goal.

@seunosewa @OrganicGPT @theo i think Gemini 2.1 was the best go-to search engine for quite a while until openAI pulled ahead. Haven't tried 2.5 seriously yet. For someone in the Google/Android ecosystem, it doesnt have to be the best-just good enough with great integration. But when will it come to Gboard?

@OrganicGPT @theo They shipped Gemini 2.5 Pro. It was the best. They have the capacity. The issue is motivation. Google doesn't seem to need to have the best models at all costs. They make ridiculous money by providing cloud services to AI companies like Anthropic, from ads, etc.

Gemini’s current position reminds me of Llama’s position early last year

@blackwellboy @UnslothAI MacBook pro m5pro 48gb RAM

Drop your GPU below and I’ll tell you exactly what model and config to run on it. JOKES. No need. Qwen 3.6 27b @UnslothAI . All day. All night.

@JoshYoung Secret footage has emerged of the behind the scenes negotiations between JD Vance and the Iranians: youtu.be/Tt8DoNerIPY?si…

The end of this video is stunning. Trump signs the MOU, Macron says good job, everyone applauds and then Trump says "oil down, stocks up" - with hand motions!

@anjewla90 @benshapiro @JDVance Not to mention that after the photo op, Qalibaf and the IRGC will continue to embarrass Trump and the US as much as they can get away with throughout the 60 day period and up until the midterms.

Why is @benshapiro the only one talking about Vice President @JDVance having a photo op with Mohammad Ghalibaf this Friday? You know the same guy who cheers on terrorists in Lebanon and helped kill 42,000 innocent Iranian civilians.

Trump: "Qatar is the closest to Iran, physically. With other countries, I noticed they had to travel about 45 minutes to get there. With you, you could walk right across the border." There's no land border between Iran and Qatar. They're separated by the Persian Gulf.

@__Injaneb96 Trump shows his very bad judgement when he ignores Rubio. He has a foreign policy heavyweight at his disposal, and he prefers listening to others.

The most alarming thing right now is Secretary Rubio’s silence on this deal. Is he unhappy with it? No one in the administration understands the terrorist Islamic Republic better than he does. If he’s not satisfied with the deal, it’s almost certainly a bad one. Hoping to hear from him soon.