Elder of Ziyon 03/13 Links Pt2: Jonathan S. Tobin: Pandemic panic a breeding ground for Jew-hatred; Melanie Phillips: Will a microbe seal the fate of Iran's virulent regime?; Caroline B. Glick: What happened to the Israeli Left?
What happened during the period when the bubonic plague through Europe from 1347 to 1351 has been burned into the historical memory of the Jewish people. The "Black Death" was one of the greatest demographic catastrophes to afflict the human race in recorded history. Historians estimate that up to 50% of Europe's population died in the pandemic with death rates as high as 75% in Italy, Spain, and France, where the disease was present for four years.
The tragedy for Jews was not just the risk of a deadly contagion. In the midst of unimaginable suffering, many European Christians wanted a scapegoat. The Jewish minority – often set apart in ghettos, and subject to demonization from both church and state – was an easy choice, and massacres and pogroms targeting Jews across Europe followed.
Though the world changed a great deal in the following centuries, the impulse to find someone to blame for diseases or other calamities is still embedded in the human psyche. It's hardly surprising to learn that there has been a surge of anti-Semitic activity in which anti-Semites have sought to tie Jews to the creation and/or spread of the coronavirus.
As JNS reported on Monday, a group of George Washington University students attended the AIPAC policy conference and, due to fears of an affected person being at the event in Washington, DC, were briefly quarantined. Some of them found themselves being targeted on social media by other students who spread the lie that people would get the disease because of the actions of "white supremacists" and "Zionists." Another student, who wears a kipah, reported that he was surrounded and taunted by a group who called him "yahood" (Arabic for "Jew") and asserted that Jews had "started" and "produced" the virus.
The presence of an infected person at AIPAC also drew an unhealthy interest from many Israel-haters with none other than Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) reportedly retweeting (and then subsequently deleting) an account of what happened – either out of a sense of schadenfreude or to please fans of the hate she's spread about Israel and its Jewish supporters.
The disturbing reactions to the AIPAC story weren't isolated incidents. The Anti-Defamation League reported in early February that neo-Nazis and white supremacists were using the Internet to spread conspiracy theories about Jews being behind the disease. Since then, the contagiousness of anti-Semitic bile has kept pace in parallel with the spread of the virus and likely will continue to build, as frustration over the increasing shutdown of communal life gives idle minds even more time to waste staring at the screens of computers and smartphones.
There are some obvious conclusions that can be drawn from this depressing example of humanity's weaknesses.
This week, the International Atomic Energy Authority has reported that Iran is accelerating its production of enriched uranium and is blocking its nuclear inspectors from inspecting Iranian activities. Some analysts suggest that Iran has dramatically shrunk its theoretical "breakout" time to acquire a bomb's worth of weapons-grade uranium to less than four months.
The regime's failure to protect Iranians against the virus has provided a fresh outbreak of public protests. More ominously for the regime, the people are openly mocking it. Since mockery is a sign of condign disapproval in Iran, the regime will be well aware that its already fragile hold on power over the public is slipping further.
This all adds to the increasing pressure the regime has been under through the resumption of sanctions, not to mention the grievous blow it suffered from the US drone killing of its principal military strategist, Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
In addition to all of the above, having empowered the Shia from Beirut to Baghdad, the regime is now finding that these people are also turning against it. They are blaming its corruption, ineptitude and foreign adventurism for causing their many woes. In Iraq, the Shia are literally praying for the coronavirus to kill the mullahs.
This week, two Americans and one British soldier were killed after the Taji military camp hosting US and UK troops in Iraq was hit by a rocket attack. No one has claimed responsibility, but the most plausible suspect is Iran.
If so, this suggests that the regime is panicking. For when fanatics feel cornered, they are likely to lash out on the basis that if they're going down, they'll take down with them the enemies they believe are their Divine mission to destroy. Perhaps that's also why it's not fanciful to suggest that the coronavirus is "a blessing" they wish to magnify.
This microbe might just achieve what humankind has failed to do and seal the fate of the regime itself. With the pandemic predicted to reach its peak around Passover, the coronavirus may thus lay claim to becoming the 11th plague.
This week, with the liberal mass media providing wall-to-wall support for Blue and White's efforts to form a post-Zionist government dependent on the anti-Zionist Joint Arab List, it appears that over the past 19 years, Shelah's post-Zionism has moved from the margins to the mainstream. The media's energetic attempts to defend Blue and White's efforts show that post-Zionism is the predominant position of the Israeli left.
How did this happen?
Dozens of leading lights of Israeli society signed the Kinneret Charter in July 2001. The next month, the ideals they embraced were bludgeoned by the international community. In late August 2001, the UN convened its anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa. At Durban, UN member states and the most prominent non-governmental organizations in the world came together to libel and criminalize the Jewish state and people with unprecedented brutality.
Just ten years before, in 1991, the US used its post-Cold War clout at the UN to repeal UN General Assembly resolution 3379 from 1975. Resolution 3379 defined Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement as "a form of racism." At that time, it was still taken for granted in the Western world that it is anti-Semitic to deny the Jewish people's right to self-determination in their homeland.
Two conferences were convened at Durban – a conference of UN member nations and a conference of non-governmental organizations. In both, Resolution 3379 was not merely brought back from the dead. It was transformed into the cri de coeur of the UN and the international NGO community. The NGO conference produced a shocking resolution that called for Israel's destruction as a Jewish state and accused Israel of being a Nazi, Apartheid regime that was committing genocide and other war crimes. UN member states and NGOs were directed to enact a total boycott of Israel.
The international boycott campaign against Israel was initiated shortly thereafter.
One of the groups most responsible for the diplomatic pogrom at Durban was an Israeli Arab legal advocacy organization called Adalah. The heads of Adalah played leading roles in drafting the resolution. Adalah, which is funded by the EU and anti-Israel foundations in the US set about organizing the Israeli Arab community around the NGO resolution. Arab MKs all parrot the language of hatred and rejection of Israel and Jewish peoplehood that was so violently expressed in the Durban resolution.
Together with other subversive, anti-Zionist NGOs, Adalah works through the post-nationalist Supreme Court to block elected officials in the government and Knesset from enforcing the laws of the state towards Arab Israelis. In accordance with the Durban NGO resolution, they demand that Israeli Arabs be accorded "communal rights," and so effectively undermine Israel's ability to operate as a democracy governed by the rule of law. Internationally, Adalah is actively involved in boycott efforts against Israel whose goal is to criminalize Zionism, Israel's supporters abroad and Israel's very existence. The anti-Israel portion of the Black Lives Matter charter was reportedly written by Adalah.
Among Israeli Jews, views like Adalah's have long been dominant in many universities. Already at the outset of the Palestinian terror war against Israel, professors from Israel's premier universities signed petitions calling for IDF soldiers to refuse to serve in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and calling for the economic boycott of Israel.
Jews visiting the Temple Mount "defile" the Al-Aqsa Mosque according to the Palestinian Authority. The entire Temple Mount belongs to "Muslims only" and Jews have no rights there because it is an Islamic "waqf"- an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law. Moreover, the PA repeatedly lies to its people that there is no Jewish history in Jerusalem, nor in the entire "Palestine" – despite extensive and conclusive archaeological evidence that testifies to the Jewish history in Israel. The PA needs to maintain this false narrative to justify its rejection of Israel's right to exist.
The following are some recent examples of the denial of Jewish history and the antisemitic notion that Jews on the Temple Mount "defile" the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – all disseminated by official PA sources:
PA: Jews "are defiling our Al-Aqsa Mosque" Official PA TV narrator: "The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., the Temple Mount) is being subjected to many methodical forms of Judaization, including almost daily invasions of herds of settlers supported by the occupation authorities and under the protection of the Israeli police… They are defiling our Al-Aqsa [Mosque]." [Official PA TV, filler named Jerusalem, Nov. 13, 2019 and Jan. 28, 2020]
Official PA TV rebroadcast this filler on Jan. 28, 2020 on the day US President Trump revealed his Middle East peace plan.
The PA and its leaders misrepresent all of the Temple Mount as if it is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore, they vilify any presence of Jews on the mount as an "invasion" as stated by the PA TV narrator. It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. Israeli police ban Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount because of threats of violence by Palestinians.
PA denies Jewish history: Israel looking for "proof of the alleged Temple," invents "imaginary history… in Jerusalem" Official PA TV narrator: "The occupation authorities intended to excavate a number of tunnels under the surroundings of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to find proof or artifacts of the alleged Temple. A search for Jewish archaeological artifacts is likely to constitute proof of the historical presence of Jews in Jerusalem, as the occupation authorities are striving to invent an imaginary history while claiming the connection of the archaeological finds to the Hebrew period in Jerusalem." [Official PA TV, filler named Jerusalem, Nov. 13, 2019 and Jan. 28, 2020]
There were antisemitic carnival floats in three European cities. They have once again drawn substantial attention to the hard core Jew-hatred which has been an integral part of European culture for more than a thousand years. One such event occurred in Aalst in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Two others took place respectively in the city of Badajos and the village of Campo de Criptana in Spain.
Aalst, a sizable town with almost 300,000 residents, is located less than 30 kilometers from Brussels. In Belgium under the Nazi occupation, 50% of the Jewish population was murdered. There was substantial local collaboration. This is the second year where there have been antisemitic floats in Aalst. In Spain, no Jews were murdered or persecuted by the Franco regime. The awareness in Aalst of Nazi antisemitism should be far greater than in Spanish cities.
These expressions of discrimination against Jews should be viewed in a much broader context. After the Second World War, Nazi-type antisemitism open and crude, was no longer politically correct. It is even prohibited in many countries. The reappearance of antisemitic hatred in a carnival indicates that this type of antisemitism has been pushed to the margins of society. During carnival festivities the normal is replaced by the abnormal.
The offensive 2019 Aalst carnival float is described by Cnaan Lipshitz of JTA, posted on Arutz Sheva "Two huge puppets depicting pink-clad Haredi Orthodox Jews. One of them leers while smoking a cigar, a rat perched on his shoulder. Against a synagogue facade, the puppets have money bags at their feet. A platform following the float carried revelers dressed like the puppets who danced to a song about 'bulging coffers."
Lipshitz described the antisemitic floats in Aalst of this year as having people dressed as Haredi men wearing "an ant's abdomen and legs attached to their backs and a sticker that read 'obey' on their lapels… Another group wore fake hooked noses and Haredi Jewish costumes as protest. Their float had a sign labelled 'regulations for the Jewish party committee,' and it included: 'Do not mock Jews' and 'Certainly do not tell the truth about the Jew.'" Representing Jews as insects was at the heart of Jewish demonization by the Nazis.
Belgium with its horrible antisemitic war past is not comparable to the United States. The U.S. is easygoing on extreme hate-mongering. Comparing Jews to insects can be done in the U.S. due to the obsolete and inadequate American concepts of freedom of speech.
The country's leading antisemite, Louis Farrakhan, is the leader of the Nation of Islam. This extreme hatemonger can freely call Jews 'termites.' Various Democrat politicians including Barack Obama before he became a presidential candidate did not mind being seen with Farrakhan. He even had a photograph taken with Farrakhan, both laughing. This photo was suppressed when Obama became a candidate for president.
And where was Mr. Sanders when Jews needed him during the battle to free Soviet Jewry? In all those decades he never said a word of support, since his Soviet comrades could not be racists. Only Israel is racist.
And most urgently, Mr. Sanders has refused to voice support for the Jews of his former Brooklyn who remain under daily attack by blacks, since blacks can not be racists, only Jews are racists.
But, if Mr. Sanders really wants to seek out truly dangerous racists, all he needs to do is look into the faces of those antisemites he has gathered around as campaign staff and supporters. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Jeremy Corbyn, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Cornel West, Rep. Ilhan Omar and so many other antisemites who publicly support and work for Mr. Sanders' bid for the Democratic nomination.
And, painfully, there's much more: In 1994, Sanders voted against a Congressional resolution condemning remarks by Khalid Abdul Muhammad, a leading member of Farrakhan's Nation of Islam movement, who gave a speech saying Hitler must have had a good reason for exterminating European Jewry.
However, the always-moral Bernie Sanders voted against condemning Muhammad, since blacks could not be racists, according to Mr. Sanders. Only Jews are racists.
Again, calling Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government and AIPAC racists is part of Mr. Sanders' well-worn playbook to silence those who do not ascribe to his warped leftist views of the world.
In Bernie's world, leftist antisemites must not be condemned, black antisemites must not be condemned, congressional antisemites must not be condemned. In Bernie's world, only Jews are condemned as racists.
But, as we all know, if Mr. Sanders wants to really expose the number one racist who reflexively applies an antisemitic double standard to Israel and always turns a blind eye to those seeking to destroy the Jewish state and the Jewish people, all Bernie Sanders needs to do is look into the mirror.
And remember that we need to maintain some perspective about Sanders' libeling Netanyahu about being a racist. For long, long after the self-hating Jew Bernie Sanders has returned to dust, never to be remembered, the legend of Benzion, Jonathan and Benjamin Netanyahu will be told and retold.
MI-Based Imam Mustapha Elturk, Who Endorsed Bernie Sanders: Islam Is Far Superior to Man-Made Systems of Government; I Immigrated to U.S. Because Here, People Can Freely Spread Islamic Ideology pic.twitter.com/xTwrktBgfJ
The Anti-Defamation League has released a guide to contemporary antisemitism for candidates running for national office.
"Antisemitism Uncovered: A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era," identifies some of the most persistent tropes about Jews, explains why they are dangerous, provides the backstory behind the myths and shows how they have evolved to today," according to the league.
"As violence against Jews is already at historic levels, we call on all public leaders, particularly during this heated political season, to avoid invoking antisemitic tropes," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. "The tropes this guide explains are the roots of anti-Semitism, and have led to violence against Jewish communities around the world over centuries. Today, they are still modern drivers of anti-Semitic violence, finding voice in the tweets and public statements of elected officials, or resonating with the extremists who carried out violent attacks against Jews in Pittsburgh, Poway and Jersey City."
Each chapter of the guide addresses a well-known antisemitic trope, including that Jews have too much power, are disloyal, killed Jesus, and use Christian blood in religious rituals. The guide also addresses Holocaust denial, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel.
Do you think the AZ State Senator who wears the Hamas scarf to the LUCHA event will vote FOR or AGAINST the bill in the AZ Senate today defining antiSemitism as openly calling for the extermination of Israel—like Hamas?
The Green Party co-leader and mayoral candidate, Sian Berry, has expressed her "frustration" that her Party has still not adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Speaking at a campaign briefing for the Jewish community, Ms Berry observed that motions to adopt the Definition have been placed before the Party's conference twice, but blamed the failure to adopt it on other priorities for the membership. She also noted that she sponsored another motion for the Party's Spring conference this month but that it was ruled "out of order". She said: "That's really frustrating to me because we didn't get another chance to rewrite it to be in order. So it isn't going to the current conference that we're about to have in March."
(The Green Party's Spring conference has now been cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19.)
Ms Berry noted that she supported the adoption of the Definition by Camden's local authority, where she is a councillor, and hopes the Greens will eventually do the same, as the Definition "gives you clarity on what is prejudice and where the line is". She rejected the criticisms of the Definition on free speech, declaring them to be "unfounded". "There is quite a lot of clarity in the definition," she said.
Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes Ms Berry's remarks, her support for the adoption of the Definition in Camden and her continued efforts to secure adoption of the Definition in her Party.
A leading journalist has revealed that Labour's antisemitism crisis is so "toxic" that he feels he must declare that he is Jewish before reporting on it.
Robert Peston, ITV's political editor, made the remark at the annual Cudlipp Lecture, saying that "in the current febrile political climate, it matters – and I say this with regret – that I am Jewish," as he described the "toxic question of antisemitism in the Labour Party."
Mr Peston, who is the son of a Labour peer (although he has not been a member of a political party since he was 24 years old) and who recently moderated the Labour leadership hustings of the Party's Jewish affiliate, describes himself as secular, and explained that "I feel I have to say [that I am Jewish] – because although I strive to be as impartial in covering this issue, as I would a general election, or reporting on a corporate takeover, I cannot shed my Jewish identity in the way that I can cease to be a member of a political party or can dispose of shares in a company."
He went on to explain that "there is an argument, that because antisemitism is a personal issue for me, I should not report on it," adding that he is "someone who believes in the importance of impartial journalism."
According to Mr Peston, Seamus Milne, Jeremy Corbyn's head of communications, criticised his reporting, saying it had "not been remotely fair or balanced and included a high degree of slanted editorialising." The "low point" was Mr Peston's interview with the Chief Rabbi following his courageous intervention in the general election, which Mr Milne cited as a reason not to permit ITV news to interview Mr Corbyn, Mr Peston said. Mr Peston maintains that the interview was "impartial".
Palestinians without Israeli citizenship come through Allenby Bridge, in Jordan. They never arrive through Ben Gurion. The criteria for entry haven't changed due to coronavirus. They can return to their homes as usual. This is deliberate misinformation. https://t.co/dJoIPTiNZG
Rick Steves, the beloved producer of travel shows for PBS, has a pretty explicit agenda for his journalism. He wants to promote empathy for people who live in other countries, especially countries that many Americans regard with fear and hostility. "I think it's good character to know people before you bomb them," he said to great applause before a TedX Rainier audience in Washington state in 2009.
Steves offered this bromide to explain why he went to Iran in 2008 to produce a softball travel segment about Iran that aired on PBS stations in 2009. The way Steves tells it, he was approached by the "local people from the United Nations" (whoever they might be), who were concerned about a rush to war and the saber rattling that was going on in the US at the time. They asked him if there was anything he could do to "help calm things down."
"I said really the only thing I could do of any consequences would be to produce a TV show on Iran," he said. Steves told the unnamed UN officials who approached him that he was too busy to do the paperwork necessary to visit Iran, but that if they did it for him, he'd bring his camera crew to Iran, produce an hour-long show, "and get it run on public television."
Lo and behold, the folks from the UN got the Iranian government to give Steves and his crew permission to film there. Upon arriving in the country, Steves made it perfectly clear to Iranian officials that he wasn't there to challenge the mullahs who run the country.
"I made it very clear in my presentation to the Iranian government that we are not interested in politicizing it," he said in a lecture he gave in 2009. "I didn't want to deal with their funding of terrorism. I didn't want to deal with their treatment of homosexuals or Baha'is. I didn't want to deal with nuclear issues. I just wanted to be a travel writer and go there and understand the culture because it's a rich culture and it's 70 million people."
In sum, Steves marketed himself to the mullahs as a human billboard for a country whose leaders murder gays and lesbians, brutally oppress women, and terrorize religious minorities under their control.
Listeners would learn little more from Foster's conversations with a student, market vendors, a hotel manager and a mother of two and her closing observation that "a whole community is suffering" could of course have been made in many other locations around the world. As in Foster's previous report on the topic, listeners heard nothing about Israel's efforts to help the Palestinian Authority deal with the outbreak of Coronavirus.
Given the BBC's long record of highly limited interest in reporting internal Palestinian affairs, it was not surprising to see that Foster showed no interest in reporting a story that began with televised remarks made by the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas concerning a recent doctors' strike.
"Some trade unions, like the doctors' union, have declared a strike. […] Why? They want a raise. What raise? They want to double their salaries. I can't pay their original salaries, so how do they expect me to pay for a raise? Nevertheless, I told them that if we overcome our financial crisis, and if our money stops being confiscated [by Israel] and things get better, we can talk about it. I met the people at the doctors' union, and their secretary-general. They had made me promises that they later recanted and declared a strike. Why a strike? Is it reasonable for the doctors' union to strike today when we are being confronted by the coronavirus? Even if there were no other [problems], once the coronavirus appeared, they should have dropped everything and went to work. The measures taken by the doctors are irresponsible. To declare a strike at a time like this, when we have the Deal of the Century on the one hand, and the economic and financial siege on the other hand, and on top of that, we have the coronavirus…"
Half of the scientific committee of Belgium's national Holocaust museum resigned over the institution's plan to host an event that was to honor a promoter of boycotts against Israel.
The resignation Tuesday of nine historians from the Kazerne Dossin memorial followed an outcry over its plan from December to host the awarding of a prize by the Pax Christi Catholic aid group to Brigitte Herremans, the Belga news agency reported.
Herremans has said that Israel's supporters inflate anti-Semitism to distract from its actions and called for the European Union to sanction both the country and its citizens when they enter European soil.
The plan to host the award ceremony was canceled amid protests by Belgian Jews. Kazerne Dossin, which at first said it was merely serving as a venue for Pax Christi rather than a co-organizer, did not explain the cancellation.
The controversy showed that "Kazerne Dossin, as a memorial site, cannot become a place where the current policies of the State of Israel are placed on the agenda," the nine historians wrote in a joint statement.
A Louisiana man has been arrested for allegedly vandalizing a synagogue in September 2018.
Caine Zander Brown, 20, was arrested on Tuesday and will be charged with damage to property by spray-painting two swastikas and a cross, in addition to the words "burn" and "synagogue of satan," on the exterior of the Northshore Jewish Congregation in Mandeville.
"Brown stated he had traveled to Mandeville during the time frame of the graffiti incident. Additionally, Brown was discovered to have made numerous social media posts espousing Nazi beliefs, including denial of the Holocaust and use of the term 'synagogue of satan,' law enforcement said," reported the local affiliate Fox 8.
An informant placed Brown near the synagogue at the time of the graffiti.
The Arab states are known for their sweeping and brutal violations of human rights. It is no wonder that where human life is given little value, the dead too are accorded no dignity. This phenomenon is now being demonstrated in Aden, where the main burial place of Yemeni Jewish dead is being systematically destroyed.
The Jewish (and English) cemetery in the Yemenite city of Aden is being systematically destroyed. This action is in keeping with the long tradition of imperial Islamic conquest, when Arab/Muslim occupiers rushed to construct mosques above churches and synagogues in order to obliterate all evidence of a non-Islamic past.
The current desecration of the cemetery in Aden is being done in the service of a huge construction project in a much-sought-after neighborhood in the city, not far from the sea. The buildings are to be erected on top of the ruins of the cemetery.
This is contrary not only to the accepted values and ethics of the Western world, but to Islamic values and Muslim law as well.
This does not appear to be a limiting factor in the minds of the "Transitional Council" in Yemen, established in 2017 under the leadership of Gen. Aidarus Zubeidi. The Council views its control over Aden as a springboard for the establishment of an independent state in southern Yemen, and it does not intend to be thwarted by ethical or religious reservations.
The construction project will bring about the final erasure of the last remnants of the Jewish community in Aden, whose roots are considerably older than Islam itself.
Doron Shaziri was 20 when he lost his left leg to a landmine in Lebanon. While in rehab, Shaziri got into wheelchair basketball and started playing professionally. He won his first two Paralympic medals in Atlanta in 1996 and has participated in five Paralympics since.
Now 53, Shaziri's other passion is fitting athletes with customized wheelchairs compatible with their chosen sports. "A regular chair mostly needs stability to be able to go over challenging terrains like grass," he said. However, in basketball, the terrain is a smooth parquet floor and speed is what matters most. That is why wheelchairs built for basketball have angled back wheels offering better maneuvering capabilities. He also makes chairs for tennis, badminton, and rugby.
In his day-to-day life, Shaziri said he does not feel like he has a disability. "I walk, I drive a stick, and even ride a bike."
Worldwide disruption to supply chains and manufacturing caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak is likely to accelerate exports of Israeli digital innovation, according to Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute chairman Adiv Baruch.
Nearly half of Israel's record-breaking exports in 2019, totaling more than $114 billion, were services, primarily hi-tech exports that do not rely on the physical shipment of products.
"Most of the technology companies acting in the digital space, for example, digital healthcare and financial businesses, are increasing their activities because all those exporters are relying on existing ecosystem channels in their geographic locations," Baruch, a veteran of the country's hi-tech sector, told The Jerusalem Post.
"We are ready and moving into the digital space much faster," he said. "We will see an increase because Israel is a hub of innovation to the world in some sectors."
Baruch highlighted the field of digital health, where Israel has led the way in gathering electronic medical records, at-home healthcare and digital hospitals. When it comes to monitoring vital signs without physical contact, Israel is in "a very advanced position in the world," he said.
Service exports have soared 160% during the past decade, from $21.5b. in 2009 to almost $56b. in 2019. Recent years have seen significant shifts in the destination of exports, with sales to China rising 402% over the past 10 years. There were major leaps in sales to the United Kingdom (286%), Poland (162%), Japan (73%), Turkey (66%) and Brazil (61%). (h/t Zvi)
As tens of thousands of Israelis find themselves in a 14-day self-isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, not to mention the millions forced to stay at home all over the world, a pressing question is how to deal with the situation without surrendering to anxiety, boredom and a whole host of negative emotions.
If people think massive amounts of binge-watching and social-media time will do it, they should think again, Prof. Julie Cwikel, director of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Center of Women's Health Studies and an expert in social epidemiology, told The Jerusalem Post.
There are different populations who are experiencing the crisis, and they might have different needs: people who were forced to enter isolation after traveling abroad or coming in contact with someone who was infected, people who have suspected symptoms but are not sure whether they are ill, families with children, the elderly and people living alone, she said.
For everyone, the key to remain in shape, both physically and mentally, is to stay active and to fight the sense of isolation while avoiding spending too much time just occupied with screens. Here are seven tips to do so effectively: 1. Maintain principles of self-care, i.e. take care of yourself 2. Reach out to people, talk, express how you feel 3. Do what helps you relax 4. Limit the time looking at screens 5. Be playful with your children 6. Don't feel embarrassed 7. Keep physically active from your living room using online resources
Wow - Natan Sharansky spoke to Jewish kids and parents about remaining productive amid isolation. He emphasized the importance of a sense of humor and of finding intellectually stimulating things to do.
— Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt (@avitalrachel) March 12, 2020
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Israelis eager to end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's career won a slim majority in last week's election.
But one thing has kept them from uniting to send him packing: A sizable chunk of the anti-Netanyahu majority consists of Arab lawmakers, and the Jewish ones cannot agree on whether to consider them partners or the enemy.
Mr. Netanyahu says the Arab bloc includes lawmakers who support terrorism and oppose Israel's self-definition as a Jewish state.
His opponents, led by the former army chief Benny Gantz, who held coalition talks with Arab party leaders on Monday, say a vote is a vote, and that Mr. Netanyahu is happy to rely on those same lawmakers when it suits him.
But even some of Mr. Gantz's supporters balk at teaming up with Arab politicians, saying that a state established to protect the Jewish people, and still in conflict with the Palestinians, cannot entrust weighty policy decisions to people whose sympathies may be with the other side.
The roiling debate, which has set back the effort to depose Mr. Netanyahu and could force Israel to hold a record fourth election, turns on a question at the heart of the country's existence as a democratic and Jewish state:
Are the votes of Arab citizens worth as much as those of Jews?
No, that is not the question. And it is insulting to say that is the question.
The question is whether a political party that is against the founding tenets of Israel, that is against the existence of an Arab state, should be considered a partner in a governing coalition of a state whose reason for existence fundamentally oppose.
The major parties in Israel have had Arab members. No one has a problem with that.
The "Joint List" includes the Israeli Communist party Hadash which has one current Jewish member of Parliament. That doesn't make its positions as part of the Joint List any more palatable to most Israelis.
Here's the thought experiment that proves that the NYT thesis that assumes Israeli racism is wrong: Imagine a moderate Arab party that accepts the concept of a Jewish state and that seeks to join a coalition to push an agenda of helping fight for equality for all Arabs in Israel. Not only would Labor eagerly work with it, not only would Kachol Lavan work with it, but even Likud would negotiate with it to be part of a coalition. The fact that they are Arabs is not the issue - as long as they accept that Israel is the Jewish state, no one would have a problem with that.
Yes, Israeli politicians have an unfortunate tendency to lump all Arabs as voting for the "Arab party." But Israel is some 20% Arab and the Joint List gets about 13% of the vote, which means that (assuming that Arabs vote in roughly the same proportion as Jews) plenty of Arabs are voting for Zionist parties.
I would welcome a moderate Arab party being active in Israeli politics. I think most Israelis would. If they were racist, they wouldn't.
(h/t David B)
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The walls went up, and Israel is now a fortress. In a dramatic decision the government made this week, all those entering the country from abroad – regardless of where they have been – must be quarantined for two weeks to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Many other Western countries have begun taking similar measures, including the US, which barred entry from Europe on Wednesday night.
But when Israel first started pulling up the drawbridges, it was taking the most extreme measures in the West to contain COVID-19. After the government announced it was stopping flights from China, there was talk about adverse diplomatic effects.
China is very sensitive to its image in the world, and as a result, Israel made efforts to show that its problem was with the virus, not all of China. Those efforts included a video, produced by the Foreign Ministry, of Israelis saying that they stand with the Chinese in this difficult time; it was such a success that major Chinese newspapers and official TV channels reported on it. Israeli aid organizations also tried to send supplies to Wuhan, where COVID-19 first broke out.
The challenge is to try to maintain economic ties as normally as possible, even when people are not moving between the countries because of steps necessary to maintain the public's health, sources in the Foreign Ministry said. (h/t Zvi)
The Israeli Health Ministry confirmed that 2,479 healthcare workers had entered quarantine as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 127 people on Friday.
Some 1,174 hospital workers are in quarantine, as well as 171 MDA employees, 24 IDF healthcare workers, 93 psychiatrists, 128 geriatric care workers, 106 east Jerusalem healthcare workers, 20 administrative workers and 763 community staff.
Furthermore, the ministry reported that 949 doctors, 635 nurses, 127 assistants, 81 lab technicians, 64 logistic workers, 40 administrators, 83 pharmacists, 14 dietitians, 31 social workers, 108 physiotherapists, 171 paramedics and 176 others have entered quarantine.
Two of the coronavirus patients are in serious condition, five are in moderate condition and 119 are in fair condition. The others have recovered and been released.
The Health Ministry shared the epidemiology of many of the sick patients Friday morning, including four new cases - siblings between the ages of six and 18 - who had been in "close contact with a known coronavirus patient." These four, numbered patients 119-122, have gone to their respective schools and preschools before being put into isolation, those being the "Orot" school in the town of Or Yehuda, and the "Tzivoni" and "Dekel" kinder-garden, as well as the "Ulpana Tzfira".
Nobel laureate Michael Levitt, an American-British-Israeli biophysicist who teaches structural biology at Stanford University and spends much of his time in Tel Aviv, unexpectedly became a household name in China, offering the public reassurance during the peak of the country's coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. Levitt did not discover a treatment or a cure, just did what he does best: crunched the numbers. The statistics led him to the conclusion that, contrary to the grim forecasts being branded about, the spread of the virus will come to a halt.
The calming messages Levitt sent to his friends in China were translated into Chinese and passed from person to person, making him a popular subject for interviews in the Asian nation. His forecasts turned out to be correct: the number of new cases reported each day started to fall as of February 7. A week later, the mortality rate started falling as well.
He might not be an expert in epidemiology, but Levitt understands calculations and statistics, he told Calcalist in a phone interview earlier this week.
The interview was initially scheduled to be held at the fashionable Sarona complex in Tel Aviv, where Levitt currently resides. But after he caught a cold — "not corona," he jokingly remarked — the interview was rescheduled to be held over the phone. Even though he believes the pandemic will run its course, Levitt emphasizes his support of all the safety measures currently being taken and the need to adhere to them.
Levitt received his Nobel prize for chemistry in 2013 for "the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems." He did not in any way intend to be a prophet foretelling the end of a plague; it happened by accident. His wife Shoshan Brosh is a researcher of Chinese art and a curator for local photographers, meaning the couple splits their time between the US, Israel, and China.
When the pandemic broke out, Brosh wrote to friends in China to support them. "When they answered us, describing how complicated their situation was, I decided to take a deeper look at the numbers in the hope of reaching some conclusion," Levitt explained. "The rate of infection of the virus in the Hubei province increased by 30 percent each day — that is a scary statistic. I am not an influenza expert but I can analyze numbers and that is exponential growth." At this rate, the entire world should have been infected within 90 days, he said.
The latest U.S. proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was rejected by the Palestinian side before it was even tabled. It is the Palestinians who have the most to gain from securing a deal. The Jewish people have their national home, but the Palestinians remain stateless.
In rejecting the U.S. offer, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said, "It is nothing but a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause." Herein lies the answer as to why a people that claims they want nothing more than a home of their own have rejected five comprehensive offers of statehood. The conflict is not a territorial dispute to be settled by delineating borders.
The "Palestinian cause" seeks no precise outcome beyond thwarting its rival, and holding out, digging in, struggling on, resisting. So shameful to this "cause" is the notion of compromise, so inconceivable is a life beyond conflict and grievance, that it is impossible to contemplate any offer.
We hear how unbearable life is under "Israeli occupation," and yet the idea of reaching a fair bargain to change that condition is evidently more unbearable still.
Meanwhile, the Kurds, the Assyrians, the Tibetans, all stateless peoples with unimpeachable claims to their ancestral lands, who don't benefit from dedicated UN agencies or billions in foreign aid, would do anything for a single shot at statehood, let alone a perpetual flow of White House peace proposals to scoff at.
Sympathy for the Palestinians is not the only reason behind the UN's bias against Israel, says Ron Prosor, Israel's former ambassador to the UN. The race for prestigious positions and anti-Semitism are what push many countries to vote against the Jewish state.
"There are countries in Africa, former Soviet territory and Asia that would vote in favor of Israel at the UN on some of the issues but they are afraid of certain blocs that would gang up against them and prevent them from getting any positions at the organization if they dared to do so," he explained, referring to the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference or the Non-Alignment Movement.
Prosor believes that the UN accepts this behavior because of its "triple standards." "There is one standard for democracies, one standard for dictatorships, and one special standard for Israel." "I am not worried about the 'bad guys'," said Prosor referring to the undemocratic states that make up the majority at the UN. "I am worried about Europe. They need to understand that they are giving legitimacy to this behavior and are not standing up to calls to delegitimize Israel."
On February 27, The Guardian published a letter titled "Grave Concern about the US plan to resolve the Israel Palestinian Conflict." It was signed by 50 European former senior politicians. These included many previous prime and foreign ministers. The signatories called themselves "Europeans dedicated to promoting international law, peace and security worldwide." If this were truly the case, one would be able to find many letters by them in the media in view of the problematic state of these issues in the world.
Yet as far as can be reasonably checked, these 50 have only signed this one letter recently, an act which qualifies them as hypocrites. In their letter they warn that if the Trump peace plan goes ahead, Israel will be an apartheid state. Many of the signatories can be characterized as veteran anti-Israel inciters. If one applies the most common definition of antisemitism, that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, some even fit that definition and can be labeled antisemites.
The one name which catches the eye immediately among the signatories is Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland and past United Nations high commissioner for human rights. In 2014, she co-signed an op-ed in The Guardian with former US president Jimmy Carter suggesting that Europe and the US should recognize that Hamas is also a political movement. They did not mention that it is also an organization with genocidal intent. This was a showcase of a top human rightist promoting the interests of an organization that wants to commit mass murder.
A further rapid look at the signatories shows that at least 20 of them are socialists. This reflects their parties' frequent sizable incitement against Israel and sympathy for the repressive, corrupt, anti-democratic and murderous Palestinian leadership. Those who are anti-Israel often think that having a Jewish supporter helps. The socialist former Swiss president Ruth Dreyfuss played this role in the letter. The former Dutch and UN Ambassador Robert Serry, also a socialist, is the son of a Jewish father, which he discovered only after the latter's death. This, however, is not widely known. In 2014, when he was special envoy of the UN for the Middle East Peace Process, Israel's then-foreign minister Avigdor Liberman threatened to declare Serry persona non grata when he offered to help transfer Qatari funds to Hamas.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife has tested positive for the new coronavirus, his office announced Thursday night.
It said Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was felling well and would remain in isolation.
"The Prime Minister is in good health with no symptoms. As a precautionary measure and following the advice of doctors, he will be in isolation for a planned period of 14 days," the statement added.
His office said the doctor's advice to the prime minister is to continue daily activities while self-monitoring, given that he is exhibiting no symptoms himself.
"Also on the advice of doctors, he will not be tested at this stage since he has no symptoms. For the same reason, doctors say there is no risk to those who have been in contact with him recently," the statement said.
The office said he would resume his duties Friday.
Taiwan's remarkably low number of coronavirus infections – less than 50 in total despite the island's proximity to the outbreak area and extensive travel and commerce with China – has been credited to swift and effective action when the epidemic began, starting with a firm travel ban on China and the semi-autonomous territories of Hong Kong and Macau.
Deutsche Welle noted on Wednesday that experts initially predicted Taiwan would be one of the hardest-hit victims of the epidemic, but it achieved one of the lowest rates of coronavirus infection in the world.
Many factors placed Taiwan at high risk, including dense urban populations, a high number of travelers from China, the coronavirus outbreak erupting during the Lunar New Year holiday, and a large population of Taiwanese citizens living or working in China. Taiwan gets about 2.7 million visitors from China annually and has well over a million citizens either working in China or living there full-time, measured against a total Taiwanese population of 23 million.
Taiwan benefited from its National Health Command Center (NHCC), an agency established after the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic and explicitly intended to help contain future disease outbreaks.
Riddle me this: how do you swear-in 120 parliament members when only 100 people are allowed in the room? On Wednesday, Israel restricted public gatherings of over 100 people as part of the country's efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). This naturally poses some problems for the Israeli parliament, the Kenesset. Now, Israel is looking for solutions for the swearing-in ceremony that is scheduled for Monday, following the country's election held earlier this month.
Traditionally, the Kensset's swearing-in ceremony consists of parliament members being called on one after another, with each one standing and taking an oath in turn. While Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman has stated Wednesday that some situations would be exempt from the new restriction, and he could have certainly meant the ceremony, there are other solutions possible, such as swearing in the new members in groups.
While the parliament is struggling with that, it may as well attempt to solve a second problem. The centrist party Blue and White party, led by former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, called for the replacement of parliament speaker Yuli Edelstein of the Likud party. Sixty-two members are expected to vote in favor, while 58 are expected to vote against. However, the new restrictions on gatherings mean the parliament will have to find another method for voting on new motions as well.
Israel's political quagmire and the global coronavirus pandemic have dovetailed into one chaotic situation with a potential death toll. More drastic steps need to be taken to help Israelis overcome the spread of the disease, but a thrice-interim government does not have the ability to do what it takes.
When the coronavirus crisis began, Israel took the most extreme steps in the Western world, stopping flights first from China, then more countries in Asia and then much of Europe. Self-quarantine orders have kept tens of thousands at home to ensure that they don't spread the disease.
The plan looked like it was working. Up until a few days ago, there were no cases of unknown origin, meaning that there was no community transmission. And we still have no deaths from the virus.
But Israel passed 100 patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus on Thursday. Containment was not a failure, because it was never really attainable, and Israel has done a good job in fighting the odds.
Now, we need to move from containment to mitigation. Major action needs to be taken.
Though this is not yet the Health Ministry's stated policy, we see that more and more people with light cases of COVID-19 are left at home instead of taken to hospitals.
This might be needed when the number of sick people is overwhelming, but for now it seems like a mistake that can make the difference between quelling the contagion or spreading it.
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said on Friday that the formation of an emergency unity government to deal with the burgeoning coronavirus crisis "is the right thing for the State of Israel at this time," but that he is currently waiting for an answer from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on beginning negotiations.
On Thursday evening, Netanyahu reached out to his political rivals to form an emergency government to fight the spread of the virus, inviting Gantz for talks. In a prime-time televised speech from the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, the premier called on the Blue and White leader to take the step following a year-long political deadlock during which neither has succeeded in forming a governing coalition.
"It would be an emergency government for a limited time, and we will fight together to save the lives of tens of thousands of citizens," Netanyahu said in his statement to the press, during which he issued dire warnings of a high potential death toll from the virus and announced that Israeli schools would be shut down starting Friday.
Gantz subsequently said he was willing to discuss an emergency government, but added that it would have to include elements from all political sides, an implication that he would insist on the inclusion of the majority-Arab Joint List.
Writing in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon, Gantz said that Blue and White "intends to join the fight against the coronavirus, just as we have always enlisted for the State of Israel. Since the outbreak of the crisis, we have given full backing to the government's actions and so we will continue to do so, whatever the political circumstances."
But turning to the possibility of a unity government, Gantz, knocking the prime minister for "addressing me via the media, as usual," said he had not received a serious response to his request to begin formal negotiations.
A lawmaker from the Arab-majority Joint List on Friday accused the IDF of an "atrocity" by spraying Palestinians "with an unknown substance," before acknowledging the video clip of the incident actually shows Palestinian Authority forces disinfecting a West Bank checkpoint.
"Another atrocity [being committed] by the occupation under the cover of the coronavirus — the IDF is spraying Palestinians at the Qalqilya checkpoint with an unknown substance. Everyone agrees the spraying method is not effective in the fight against the virus," Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman wrote on Twitter
She added: "The horrors being committed under the cover of the crisis can't be ignored."
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett quickly responded that the video was from the Palestinian side of the Eyal checkpoint near Qalqilya and that it was the Palestinian Authority who decided on disinfecting the area.
"You're a liar, anti-Semitic and contemptible," Bennett said. "It's unbelievable that Bogie [Ya'alon], Yvette [Avigdor Liberman, [Benny] Gantz, Gabi [Ashkenazi] and [Yair] Lapid are ready to form a government with your finger [on it]."
Bennett, head of the national-religious Yamina alliance, was referring to lawmakers from the Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu parties, who since last week's elections have been holding talks on replacing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government — potentially with outside support from the Joint List.
Touma-Sliman later deleted the post and said she had been "misled" about the video.
Security guard checking people's temperature at entrance to Rami Levy supermarket. It used to just be for suicide bombers. #Israel. pic.twitter.com/Chv76L6VHE
Already buffeted by political gridlock and facing a shuttering of key industries over the coronavirus threat, Israelis were informed on Thursday they should brace themselves for yet another storm — a literal one this time.
Local authorities issued warnings Thursday over winds set to surpass 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph), dense dust clouds, and enough rain to cut off outlying cities and threaten large cities with severe flooding.
Israel's southwestern neighbor Egypt announced it was shuttering schools and universities on Thursday over fears that the storm will cause severe flooding, local media reported.
The weather warning by Israeli authorities begins at 8 p.m. Thursday, when winds are expected to pick up and reach 100 kph in mountainous areas in the center and north of the country, from the Judean hills to the Carmel range above Haifa. The storm-affected area will then expand to include much of the densely populated coastal plain.
"Wind damage is expected," the warning says. The expected gusts will be almost twice as strong as the average winter-storm maximum of 50-60 kph (31-37 mph), and "are expected to cause damage: fallen trees, electricity poles, traffic lights, roofs and solar water heaters." (h/t Zvi)
On March 3, 2020, Isma'il Haniyeh, head of Hamas' political bureau, was interviewed by the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Mayadeen TV channel in Lebanon. Some of the topics he related to were Hamas's perception of a lull arrangement, Hamas' military buildup, Hamas' position on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's (PIJ) attacks and a long-term lull arrangement which would require Hamas to disarm. Haniyeh's main message was that Hamas is prepared for a limited arrangement to help ease the humanitarian hardships of the Gazans, but rejects a long-term lull which could force Hamas to abandon its fundamental positions, among them continuing the buildup of its military force and keeping its weapons.
Three subjects were focused on in the interview: The upgrading of Hamas's military capabilities since Operation Protective Edge (2014): Haniyeh boasted that Hamas' military force had greatly improved since Operation Protective Edge. He claimed Hamas (and the other organizations) had held out against Israel for 51 days and attacked many targets in Israel (including imposing an "aerial closure" on Ben-Gurion International Airport). He added that Hamas' capability to attack Israel today, if [Israel] "does something foolish to Gaza," is far greater than it was in the past. In ITIC assessment his intention was to deter Israel from initiating a broad military operation, in view of recent statements from senior Israeli officials ("…the threats don't end…"). In addition, Haniyeh's statements may reflect the self-confidence Hamas has gained from improving its military capabilities after Operation Protective Edge.
Hamas perception of an arrangement: Hamas seeks understandings that will lift the "siege" of the Gaza Strip and provide humanitarian assistance for the Gazan civilian population.[1] He claimed it was acceptable to the other Palestinian organizations ("an understanding in return for an understanding"). However, Hamas has no interest in a long-term lull agreement which will force it to abandon its fundamental positions or disarm. Haniyeh said that regardless of the contacts for an arrangement, Hamas continues its strategy of military buildup and will not agree to abandon that strategy as part of a lull arrangement. His statements about the nature of the arrangement are consistent with those made previously by senior Hamas figures, who said Hamas is prepared to accept a short-term, minimalist arrangement, in which Hamas will receive humanitarian aid and practical measures will be put into operation to "ease the siege."
Providing media support for the PIJ: Although the latest round of escalation was initiated by the PIJ, challenging Hamas' policy, and despite the fact that Hamas did not participate in the rocket fire, Isma'il Haniyeh again gave the PIJ media support without specifically mentioning it by name (after giving the PIJ media support during and after the latest round of escalation). He accused Israel of acting against the PIJ, from the killing of Bahaa Abu al-Atta (one of its senior commanders) to using an "occupation bulldozer in a terrible way" to remove the body of a PIJ operative who had been killed, to attacking the PIJ's bases in Damascus. Therefore, said Haniyeh, the "resistance" [i.e., the PIJ] has the "right" to respond to Israel's "aggression." In ITIC assessment, Hamas' media support and its lack of effective restraint of the PIJ may encourage it to continue challenging Hamas by attacking Israel, including sporadic rocket fire into Israeli territory.[2]
Terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip are on high alert amid fears that the current calm could deteriorate, reported Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Friday.
Checkpoints have been set up throughout the Strip where security forces are inspecting passing cars in measures that have only been used twice in Gaza: once after the head of Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades was assassinated and again after the failed Khan Younis operation.
Even though the situation is currently relatively calm, the terrorist groups believe that Israel intends to surprise Gaza. The groups are considering a number of difference scenarios, according to Al Araby. Training exercises in the Strip have also increased recently.
The terrorist groups, especially the Al-Qassam Brigades, have called on members to be cautious and raise the level of their personal security and not to approach the border with Israel. The groups fear that assassinations could be carried out by Palestinian collaborators or that "other infiltrations" into Gaza could occur, according to Al-Araby. The groups fear that Israel could carry out kidnappings of Gaza officials as well.
Security measures along the coast and the borders have been increased as well amid fears of an Israeli infiltration.
Yahya Sinwar, a leader of the Hamas terrorist group, has remained out of sight for over four months, according to Al-Araby, excepting a meeting with the Qatari envoy Mohammad Al-Emadi about three weeks ago which was not covered by the press.
According to Al-Araby, this could indicate that Hamas is concerned about Sinwar and other leaders being targeted.
In terms of ideology, we know the PIJ originates from the same breeding ground as Hamas and shares a similar foundational identity. More ominously, though, the PIJ has identified with the path of the Iranian Islamic Revolution since 1979 and created strong reciprocal relations with Tehran. The Iranians extend financial credit lines to the PIJ, funding that it uses to build up and activate its forces. It also enjoys ties with Hezbollah, which acts as an influencing factor in the PIJ's force build-up and training. The PIJ's has headquarters in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon, which strengthens the radical ties between this Sunni organization and the Shi'ite axis.
This situation has created a growing dilemma for Hamas in recent years. Under the leadership of Yayha Sinwar and Ismail Haniyah, Hamas has sought to buy time for its long game, without changing ideology. This stance has created a widening gap between Hamas and the PIJ. For the first time, during two rounds of fighting Hamas sat on the sidelines and refrained from joining in. The PIJ also has delivered results that Iran wanted to see, and thus considers itself an equal party to Hamas, one whose goals must be taken into full consideration.
All of this means that Hamas has reached a critical juncture. It must decide whether to enforce its rule in Gaza or co-opt the PIJ as a partner. The latter course could ruin its current strategy and drag Hamas back to the world of terrorism and armed conflict much sooner than it planned.
Israel, too, is at a crossroads and must decide if it wants to continue to extend the periods of quiet or, if that fails, launch a broad military operation in Gaza. It also needs to decide whether it will allow the PIJ to continue to strengthen its forces. Alternatively, Israel could launch a targeted campaign against the PIJ, striking its leaders, infrastructure and rocket developers, and blocking its funding sources.
Given the stakes, activating a comprehensive campaign against the PIJ would allow Israel to realize a truce far more definitively than would continuing the status quo.
If Israel is trying to commit a genocide:
WHY would Israel provide the Palestinians with 250 testing kits, disinfectant material and joint training sessions to fight coronavirus? pic.twitter.com/4X0NLTJZ6Z
Pray for Palestine. - 27 cases of Corona - Major churches & mosques closed - No visitors allowed in - city of Bethlehem locked down - Border/Highways closed - No School/Public gatherings
A prominent Iranian cleric has said it is permissible to use a future coronavirus vaccine developed by Israel if "there is no substitute."
The Iranian regime views Israel as a mortal enemy. But Iran has also faced one of the most severe outbreaks of the COVID-19 coronavirus outside its origin and epicenter in China.
"It is not permissible to buy and sell from Zionists and Israel," Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, 93, told the Iranian daily Hamdeli on Wednesday.
"Unless the treatment is unique and there is no substitute," he added, "then this is not an obstacle."
Shirazi, one of the highest authorities in Shiite Islam and a former member of the regime's Assembly of Experts that appoints the supreme leader, is considered among the regime's more hard-line ideologues.
He has called the Holocaust a "superstition," opposed owning pets and objected to efforts to allow women to attend soccer matches.
A journalist for the Tehran regime's official English-language mouthpiece was widely mocked online on Thursday after he said he would prefer getting the coronavirus over using an Israeli-produced preventative shot.
Roshan Salih — of Press TV — tweeted a Haaretz article about an expected announcement by an Israeli research center that it had developed a vaccine for the disease currently spreading around the world with the comment, "I'd rather take my chances with the virus than consume an Israeli vaccine."
The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland replied, "You are already infected with a virus. It's called Hatred."
The avalanche of negative responses prompted Salih to tweet, "Looks like I've activated the Israel lobby."
Three basic factors underlie Turkey's stance in the confused military situation in northwest Syria. The first is that Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a Sunni Muslim while Syria's President Bashar Assad adheres to the Shia branch of Islam. Despite any occasional accommodation between Erdogan and the Shia Iranian leadership that is backing Assad, they are far from natural allies. This is why Erdogan has been supporting Syria's anti-government forces, and explains how the opposition have recently brought Assad's apparently inexorable advance into Idlib Province to a shuddering halt.
Last week, Turkey deployed dozens of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) as well as heavy artillery, and with their help, opposition factions managed to recapture a number of villages in southern Idlib Province, stopping the advance of Syrian government forces toward the M4 highway linking Latakia to Aleppo. In the East, the government also lost control of the strategic M5 highway linking Damascus to Aleppo.
This was the first time that Turkey had deployed its Turkish-made UAVs in the battle against Damascus. They backed their drones with fighter jets flying along the Syrian-Turkish border and powerful ordnance, and so far this has successfully frozen Assad's advance. The drones have not only hit positions and convoys of government forces along the front line, but they have also penetrated deep into Damascus-controlled areas, and reportedly targeted military airports near the cities of Aleppo and Hama. They have also successfully targeted high-ranking officers in both Syrian government forces and allied militias.
Of course, a counter-offensive has begun. Government forces reinforced with Iran-backed militias, Russian regulars and mercenaries are already attempting to fight their way back into Saraqeb.
Turkey insulted the memory of the Holocaust this week in comments directed against Greece. Turkey has sent thousands of refugees to the border with Greece after preventing refugees for years from fleeing Turkey. After Greek border police fired tear gas at refugees Turkish officials compared the Greeks to Nazis. "There is no difference between what the Nazis did and those images from the Greek border," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
It is one of many comments over the years where Turkish officials compare every adversary to "Nazis" in various public spats. Online many pro-government Turkish nationalists take their cue from government propaganda, using the "Nazi" tag against others. Turkey has also claimed that Israel is like the Nazis during Erdogan's speech at the UN in September.
The rhetoric is part of the rising militarist and nationalist extremism in Ankara that has led to Turkey invading Syria, forcing hundreds of thousands of Kurds to flee and jailing dissidents and journalists.
In the last month Turkey sent its army into Idlib where a Russian-backed Syrian regime offensive killed more than a dozen Turkish soldiers. In reasons Turkey sought to punish the European Union for Russia and the Syrian regime actions because Ankara was afraid to fight a war with Russia. To distract from its failures in Idlib it decided to create a new crises by opening the border with Greece in late February and encouraging Syrian refugees to go to Europe.
Turkey told European powers that until Turkey's "expectations" were met it would leave the border open. It demanded more financial support from Europe. Since 2015 when more than 1 million refugees fled Turkey for Europe the European Union has paid Turkey to keep migrants away from Europe. Turkey has provided refugee camps and been paid billions by the EU.
On January 23, 2020, Syria and Iran signed a memorandum of understandings in the sphere of education which includes, inter alia, an Iranian pledge to renovate 250 schools in Syria, assist in the training of educational staff, assess Syrian curricula and support vocational training in the country.[1] Following the signing of the MoU, Syrian journalist 'Abd Al-Razzaq Diab warned, in an article on an opposition website, that it would enable the Iranians to inject their "sectarian drugs" into the minds the Syrians, as well as the Iranian philosophy, which champions "killing, death and weapons." He said that Syrians should not be surprised if courses in mechanics and electricity are replaced with courses on making explosives, and if women's weaving and embroidery classes are replaced with classes on making explosive vests.
It should be mentioned that, throughout the Syria war, oppositionists have been warning about the spread of the Shi'a and of Iranian ideology in the country.[2]
The following are translated excerpts from Diab's article: [3] "The Education Ministry of the [Syrian] regime's government signed a memorandum of understanding a few days ago with its Iranian counterpart, which authorizes the latter to supervise the overhaul of [Syria's] school curricula, to print [Syrian textbooks] in Iran, and to renovate 250 schools, [and includes] additional aspects involving Iranian participation in [teacher] training and instruction, in [administering] and marking exams, and in supporting vocational education.
"This means that the [Syrian] regime is handing over to the Iranians not only the keys to the Syrian economy, but also the keys to the Syrian minds, so they can damage them, inject them with their ludicrous sectarian drugs and create new generations that believe in the Rule of the [Shi'ite] Jurisprudent and in [Iran's] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp which champions resistance and loyalty to the Holy Islamic Republic [of Iran].
"Under Iranian patronage our children will learn how to chant 'Death to America and to Israel,' and to attend Husseiniyyas [Shi'ite religious centers] to weep over those abandoned and killed in the Battle of Karbala.[4] They will plan revenge against the descendants of the criminals who carried the head of Hussein [ibn 'Ali] to Yazid ibn Muawiyah,[5] and each morning they will sing the eternal Khomeinist anthem of the [Iranian] Revolution, instead of the [Syrian] national anthem…
US airstrikes carried out in Iraq just after midnight on Friday may have killed an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general supposedly named Siamand Mashhadani. Reports online in Arabic and in other local media have claimed he was killed in the attacks on five locations of pro-Iranian Kataib Hezbollah warehouses that the US carried out in retaliation to a rocket attack that killed three Coalition personnel on March 11.
According to Al-Ain media the Iranian officer was killed in the US airstrikes that took place. Reports of his death circulated around one in the morning in Iraq. He was an officer in the Quds Force of the IRGC, the same force once headed by Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed by the US on January 3 in a drone strike in Baghdad. An Iraqi official told Al-Ain media that Mashhadani was killed near the town of Jufr al-Sakhar, one of the sites of the airstrikes. The town is north of Karbala in Babil Governorate. Supposedly four other members of the Quds Force were also killed. They were in a command and control headquarters for Kataib Hezbollah when the airstrike hit.
The name "Siamand Mashhadani" may be a nickname, code name or kind of Arabic kunya war name because it is not a common name. Siamand is a Kurdish first name, the same as Iranian Kurdish Paralympic powerlifter Siamand Rahman. Mashhadani indicates someone from "Mashhad," a city known for Shi'ite pilgrimages. A few people in Fallujah in Iraq have the name Mashhadani, but these are generally Arabic Shi'ite families. That an IRGC officer would be named Siamand Mashhadani, appears strange. His name has never appeared in Arabic or Farsi media before, according to sources consulted for this article.
According to reports, Mashhadani supervised the command and control of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Iraq. The PMU is a paramilitary group of militias that are part of the Iraqi Security Forces. Kataib Hezbollah has several brigades within the PMU. The US airstrikes targeted warehouses of those brigades. The US has struck the units before, in December after the same group fired rockets near Kirkuk that killed a US contractor. On March 11 the group fired more rockets at Camp Taji where US and Coalition forces are based. Mashhadani was influential in advising the PMU, as Soleimani once did. "He was one of the planners of attacks by the Hezbollah militias against the US military in Iraq," an Iraqi force told Al-Ain.
UnWatch: Iran's Human Rights Record Reviewed by UNHRC
Adoption of the universal periodic review outcome of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the 43rd session of the U.N. Human Rights Council on March 12th, 2020.
At the UN, the #Iran regime, like its lobbyists @tparsi@NIACouncil, blames its catastrophic failures on U.S. sanctions. The people now suffering in Iran know better. They want to know why all their money and resources get sent abroad to weapons for Hezbollah & other terrorists. https://t.co/Le0GDd6sPg
In an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Islamic State is advising its suicide bombers to avoid large crowds and densely packed areas while carrying out their operations.
"As we look to mitigate the harm caused by COVID-19, we are adjusting our operations to protect our mujahideen against the threat of the virus," ISIS leader Amir Mohammed al-Salbi said in a memo to employees. "Suicide bombers and other prospective martyrs should avoid crowded locations and be sure to wash their hands before and – if possible – after each attack."
Wednesday night, an ISIS attack at a rock concert in London killed only the suicide bomber, who waited until the venue had been cleared of all attendees to enter and detonate his vest. And a mass shooter in the US arrived at a local mall hours before it opened and unloaded clip after clip into empty storefronts in order to avoid contact with shoppers.
"We realize that these new guidelines will limit the impact of some operations, and we may see less infidels killed than we would like in the coming weeks," al-Salbi's memo stated. "Our top priority, however, is your safety, and we are committed to not putting any of our terrorists at risk until this virus is under control."
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