Elder of Ziyon 03/27 Links Pt2: Hope Is Nice, but After Coronavirus, Demonization of Israel Is Unlikely to Change; Caroline Glick: Israel and the demise of the global village
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin recently tried to provide some optimism amid the gloom and doom of the corona epidemic. Noting the cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), he tweeted: "I just spoke to PA leader Mahmoud Abbas. Our ability to work together in times of crisis is also a testament to our ability to work together in the future for the good of us all."
This peaceful scenario is worthy of the Jewish prophets, particularly Isaiah and Micah.
Unfortunately, the reality now, as it was then, is quite different. In contrast to Rivlin's optimism, the Palestinians and their allies are currently moving at full speed to continue their campaign of demonization against Israel.
Most notably, Palestinians, in coordination with an army of NGOs, are pressing the effort in the International Criminal Court(ICC) to take the false "war crime" accusations to the next stage — a pseudo-investigation of Israel.
Over the past week, a number of these groups have submitted briefs (many of which go beyond the absurd in stretching historical truth) to prop up ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's weak attempt to justify this travesty. The NGO list includes Al Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which work very closely with the PA in this campaign and are funded by European governments.
Among their Israeli allies, the Israeli left-wing group B'Tselem wrote a report accompanied by a media campaign (also enabled by European funders). As usual, B'Tselem blamed Israel exclusively for the conflict, erasing the long history of Palestinian rejectionism and terror, and even accused Israel of exploiting the Holocaust in rejecting the ICC prosecutor's arguments.
Breaking the Silence, Gisha, and other NGOs continued to blame Israel for not doing enough to stop the spread of the coronavirus among Palestinians, repeating their one-line agenda — "occupation, occupation, occupation" — even in Gaza, where the "occupation" ended almost 15 years ago.
This culture of denial is the product of a century of demoralization in which the west lost belief in itself and decided that it stood for nothing worth fighting for. Instead, the world had to be changed.
Unable to accept the impossibility of their utopian ideals, progressives are particularly prone to magical thinking. They believe they can banish prejudice and bigotry from the human heart, end war and usher in the brotherhood of man.
They pretend the world is not how it actually is but how they want it to be. They pretend to themselves that, because they are idealists, they are immune from bad thoughts or deeds; and they pretend that anyone who contradicts them is not just wrong but evil.
Often, though, there aren't clear choices between unalloyed good and bad. The available options may present a choice between terrible and worse.
Israel, caught between assorted rocks and hard places, has to make these tough choices between evils all the time. And yet even super-realist Israel got sucked into the China illusion.
Last month, Israel's cyber directorate issued a directive requiring Israeli companies to bar all Chinese-made systems and components in communications and security systems used in sensitive infrastructure.
An earlier directive, issued after the Trump administration blew a collective fuse over Israel's acceptance of Chinese technology, was voluntary.
Israel's reluctance to comply with the United States over this isn't surprising. Chinese investment in Israel has reached an estimated $11.7 billion over the years. But now, like other countries, Israel is in lockdown and its economy hugely damaged as a result of Chinese negligence and malevolence.
The virus crisis is a wake-up call to all who chose to substitute short-term self-interest for realism about the Chinese Communist party, and now find themselves reaping the whirlwind.
An accelerating sense of crisis now engulfs our society. As the impact of Coronavirus deepens and the death toll mounts, the scale of the emergency is unprecedented in peacetime. Yet there is a silver lining to this black cloud. It can be found in the growing ethos of selfless compassion across the country, with millions of citizens feeling a new concern for their neighbours and the vulnerable.
During the Second World War, our nation became renowned for its unity and self-sacrifice, an outlook known as the 'Blitz spirit'. Today we can see a reawakening of that same community spirit, reflected particularly in local neighbourhood schemes, where people volunteer to check on the elderly, organise essential home deliveries and support imperilled businesses.
That mood of compassion should now be harnessed more systematically for the good of the nation. Yesterday Lord Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, called for the urgent mobilisation of retired coppers in order to relieve the huge current burdens on the police, the NHS and other emergency services. Pointing out that there are at least 100,000 former officers, Lord Stevens rightly said that their experience and enthusiasm is a 'golden resource' that 'we cannot afford to waste'.
While I welcome his admirable suggestion, I would go even further. I believe that, in response to the crisis, we now need a national citizens volunteer force to help maintain the civic infrastructure which is under unique strain. This new organisation would capitalise on the yearning of so-many people to do their bit, as well as giving the public a defiant sense of purpose in these dark times. There is a vast range of tasks that could be carried out by these volunteers, like performing basic duties in the NHS, cleaning and sanitising public buildings, transporting goods, and providing cooked meals and groceries to the housebound. Former teachers could organise childcare for key public workers.
In many ways, regardless of how long it lasts, the pandemic has already taken a permanent toll on the European Union. EU members have taken one another's measure and realized that when push comes to shove, they have only their own peoples and governments to rely on. The Italians and Spaniards aren't likely to care what the feckless bureaucrats in Brussels or the selfish Germans have to say about their national policies after this is over.
The same goes for the UN and other major international governing institutions.
UN Ambassador Danny Danon wrote Wednesday in Israel Hayom that this is the UN's finest hour. In his words, "UN institutions, particularly the World Health Organization, are proving that the organization remains the main body that the world needs in its struggle with Corona."
Danon is mistaken, however. The WHO has played an unhelpful, indeed destructive role in this crisis. As Geraghty and others have shown, the WHO was a full partner in China's dissimulation efforts. The WHO waited until January 21, after the first coronavirus patient was diagnosed in the US, to admit that it is transferred between people despite the fact that WHO officials knew that humans infected one another in early January. This week an Oxford-based research group announced it will no longer base its coronavirus assessments on WHO data, which it considers not credible.
This week Walter Russell Mead noted in the Wall Street Journal that international organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization are playing no significant role in the global fight against the coronavirus. National leaders and agencies, who are directly responsible for protecting their people are calling the shots irrespective of WHO rules and IMF spending guidelines.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the critical failings of the global village model for international integration. International labor markets, global trade and international governing institutions have proven vulnerable to shocks, unreliable and of limited use. It has also reminded us of foundational truths that have been shunted aside since the end of the Cold War. National borders protect nations. National authorities and fellow citizens are far more reliable and helpful in times of crisis than transnational, and international organizations.
To survive and protect themselves from global shocks, nations must have autarkic agricultural and manufacturing capabilities. China is not a reliable industrial base.
Israel's ability to protect itself today, and adapt its economy to the new post-global village reality will in large part determine how it survives and prospers in the post-global village world now taking shape.
While the Israeli government took a very aggressive response to stem the flow of coronavirus in the country — perhaps the first to take tough steps in the West – Israel is facing a political crisis in forming a new government which the Speaker of the Knesset is defying an order from the Israeli Supreme Court to allow lawmakers to vote on a new Prime Minister.
On March 24, 2019, Center for Security Policy President Fred Fleitz moderated a virtual panel discussion with two outstanding experts: Senior Analyst David Wurmser, who also is director of the Center's Project on Global Anti-Semitism and the U.S.-Israel Relationship and Center Senior Fellow Caroline Glick. Glick participated in this virtual panel from Israel.
Caroline Glick, an Israeli journalist who served in the Israeli military and ran for a seat in the Knesset, said Israel is all but in full lockdown mode right now, with businesses closed and internal travel severely reduced. She noted that the government very early on banned flights from China, and again very early on then banned flights from other countries, while placing all remaining arriving travelers for hot areas in quarantine.
Glick noted that The Israeli government has taken a publicly dire tone, at one point even warning that Israel may in the end suffer one million cases with thousands dead. Israel currently has over 1,800 cases, with a little over 30 in critical condition. Three Israelis have died thus far. The curve for both is still in sharp acceleration in Israel, so there is no sign yet of a leveling off.
Prime Minister Netanyahu succeeded in convincing Blue & White leader Benny Gantz to join an emergency coalition government and stop the dangerous political plan Gantz had put into action; relying on the anti-Israel Joint Arab list, with the assistance of the Supreme Court in damaging Israel's democratic system.
Caroline Glick has a fabulous short analysis of the breakup of Blue & White and Benny Gantz's agreement to join a coalition with Netanyahu. For her full analysis see the full interview below.
I have been extremely critical of Benny Gantz and his Blue & White party in their evil plan to form a government with the support of the anti-Israel Joint Arab list at the same time as damaging Israel's democracy, hand in hand with the judicial establishment by allowing them to usurp the powers of Israel's legislative branch, the Knesset. He ran three election campaigns focused on one promise – to get rid of Netanyahu from the Israeli political scene, it was called the "anything but Bibi" coalition, and he was willing do anything to accomplish it, even partnering with anti-Israel forces.
When I mention Marcel Marceau, what do you think of? A guy in white face paint pretending to be a waiter? Or inside an invisible box? Or having the only speaking part in Mel Brooks's "Silent Movie"? Well, apart from being the world's most famous mime, it turns out the great French-Jewish performer was nothing short of a hero during World War II.
The new film "Resistance," written by the Venezuelan-Jewish filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz, explores Marceau's younger years, in which the budding artiste (with a bit of a chip on his shoulder at first) joined his brother and cousin in aiding Jewish orphans. It was there where he used his clowning skills for good, and eventually these talents were essential to calm children as he smuggled them through occupied France to Switzerland.
The movie, which will be available for on-demand streaming in North America on March 27, certainly amplifies the truth a bit for dramatic purposes. I doubt Marceau had quite as many face-to-face encounters with the "Butcher of Lyon," Klaus Barbie. And there's no way he used his "circus powers" to breathe a fireball on Gestapo guards, breaking people out of a police van. But the underlying story, especially the Switzerland crossings, are true.
I had the good fortune to speak with Jakubowicz some weeks ago — well before Covid-19 turned all our lives upside-down — and below is an edited transcript of our conversation.
I just learned that "Resistance" is going to play the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. This is significant because, I don't have to tell you, stories about Jewish history and the Holocaust do not often get a lot of play in the Arab world.
I received a very moving message from the festival director, Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh. He spoke about using art to break historical barriers between cultures. I know how huge Holocaust denial is in some parts of the Arab world, so there is likely no region of the planet that needs the message of this movie more. I do not think any Holocaust movie has screened in the Arab world, certainly not Saudi Arabia.
Jakubowicz had long been a fan of Eisenberg's and wrote the script with him in mind. "Jesse's mom was a professional clown. He literally grew up watching his mother paint her face white to go to work," he said. "He also lost a ton of family in the Holocaust. So I knew he was going to connect." In preparation for the role, Eisenberg spent seven months training with professional mimes, including one who had studied with Marceau. "He taught him a lot of what you see in the film," Jakubowicz said.
Eisenberg's pantomime skills shine through with particular force in the scenes where Marceau engages with the children, both to brighten their days and to induct them into the art of silence (a matter of life and death for them). "What feels so authentic and real is that Jesse is really communicating with the kids," said Jakubowicz. "When you see the reactions of the kids, they are not acting: They are truly laughing and being entertained by this mime."
With the notable exception of a main character, Elsbeth, played beautifully by Bella Ramsey (Lady Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones), Jakubowicz cast most of the children from among students of the Lauder Jewish school in Prague. "A lot of those kids are also descendants of Holocaust survivors, so they felt the story as their own," he said.
One of the reasons Marceau so rarely spoke of his Jewishness is that he considered himself an artist with universal humanistic appeal. He believed that human sentiments conveyed through facial expressions and physicality are universal, while religions, nationalities, and languages divide. He emphasized that during the war, he helped save not only Jewish children but also non-Jewish French teenagers, to prevent them from being shipped off to work in Germany when they turned 18. (He forged their paperwork and used his drawing skills to alter their photos to make them look younger.) In the speech he gave on accepting the Raoul Wallenberg Medal for his work in the Resistance, he dismissed any notions of heroism on his part: In his view, he had done very little compared to others, especially considering how many more could not be saved.
Marceau performed in Israel several times—the first time in 1949, shortly after the country's founding. He died on Yom Kippur in 2007 and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris' 20th arrondissement, in a Jewish ceremony. The rabbi read several Hebrew psalms in French and said Kaddish. At Marceau's request, the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, his favorite piece of music, was also played. "I have the impression Mozart wrote it for me," he once said. His headstone is carved with a Star of David.
Biden has repeatedly proclaimed his strong support for Israel. But nearly forty years ago, during a Senate Foreign Relations hearing, he warned Prime Minister Menachem Begin that if Israel continued to establish new settlements American aid might be terminated. An infuriated Begin sharply responded: "Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats."
By 2008, Biden proudly claimed that his support for Israel "begins in my stomach, goes to my heart and ends up in my head." Indeed, he referred to Israel as his second home. He would not have joined Obama as vice president "if I had any doubt, even the slightest doubt, that he shares the same commitment to Israel I share." When that proved false Biden loyally embraced his leader's repeated chastisement of Israel, claiming that "no nation, including Israel, is immune from legitimate criticism."
More recently, at the 2016 AIPAC Policy Conference, Biden insisted that the "Israel's government's steady and systematic process of expanding settlements, legalizing outposts and seizing land is eroding . . . the prospect of a two-state solution." Shortly after a Palestinian terrorist bus bombing in Jerusalem, Biden told a J Street gathering that the Netanyahu government's "steady and systematic expansion of settlements" were "moving Israel in the wrong direction."
Last November, on "PBS NewsHour," Biden told Judy Woodruff that while he would not reverse President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, "I wouldn't have done it." A month later he insisted that Israeli leaders "must recognize the legitimacy of Palestinian aspirations for statehood," adding, "It's not possible to have a Jewish state in the Middle East without having a two-state solution" — as though Israel's existence for the previous seven decades had not happened.
In a recent campaign stop, Biden imaginatively reminisced: "I'm so proud of the Obama-Biden administration's unprecedented support for Israel's security." In a strong expression of moral equivalence he declared: "Palestinians need to eradicate incitement on the West Bank" and Israel "has to stop the threats of annexation and settlement activity." Such words and deeds "are taking Israel further from its democratic values." Biden pledged: "I will insist on Israel, which I've done, to stop the occupation of those territories, period."
To be sure, Biden has often spoken kindly, and reassuringly, about Israel. But Biden was a loyal follower of Obama, who headed the most hostile administration toward Israel since its birth. Their insistence that Israel return to its pre-1967 boundaries, if implemented in a Biden presidency, would be catastrophic for Israel.
Could a Biden presidency be good for Israel? Unlikely.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, has drawn the ire of many Jews during her first term for making statements that some saw as anti-Semitic. Now, she has a serious primary opponent in her Detroit-area district — who may have anti-Semitic baggage of her own.
Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones announced Wednesday that she would be running in the Democratic primary against Tlaib. Jones narrowly lost in the 2018 primary against Tlaib 31% to 30%, with multiple other candidates getting the remainder of the votes.
Jones, who has served on the Detroit City Council since 2005, has long been an outspoken supporter of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has been accused of anti-Semitism for decades.
Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This article will be updated should the Forward receive a response.
The Nation of Islam holds an annual "Saviour's Day" convention, and Jones has frequently participated in these events when they have been held in Detroit.
Farrakhan singled out Jones for praise and invited her on stage during his 2018 speech, according to the Detroit News. And Jones told participants in 2014 that Farrakhan had addressed the council and shared "awesome words."
WHITEWASHING is often also an important motif used in denying antisemitism. This is frequently used together with "minimizing" it. The UK Labour party is a prime example. A majority of its members are antisemitism whitewashers and minimizers. A recent poll by YouGov for The Mail on Sunday showed that 53% of Labour members believe that the problem of antisemitism in the party is exaggerated. Another 25% believe there is no such problem at all. Yet, a detailed study by scholar Alan Johnson, himself a Labour member, has shown that the party is institutionally antisemitic. The whitewashing/minimizing by the majority of Labour members can be considered part of this institutional antisemitism.
Becoming familiar with these examples of the whitewashing motif enables comparison to other contemporary issues. One almost classic example from Congress was a statement by the Jewish liberal Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois), about several of her colleague Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota)'s antisemitic remarks. She said "As a Somalian refugee from a different culture, Omar has things to learn." The uninformed reader might think that Omar arrived recently in the United States. In fact, she has lived in the US since the 1990's. During that time Omar learned to run successfully for Congress – a challenge far more difficult than avoiding the use of antisemitic comments.
In March 2020, Marie Newman defeated the incumbent Democrat in a hotly contested primary in a Democrat-leaning Illinois district. A rapid look at her website shows that Newman opposes the violence of both Israelis and Palestinians. Besides that, there are no further demands of the Palestinians and many demands of Israel. Newman is an extreme whitewasher of the Palestinians by not mentioning any of their anti-democratic actions and crimes.
US presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) is a multiple purpose whitewasher. Even today, he is still not willing to condemn outright the Cuban leader and mass murderer Fidel Castro. Sanders also speaks about respecting the dignity of the Palestinians, yet, they have voted in their parliamentary elections to give the genocidal Hamas movement a majority. The Palestinian Authority leadership glorifies murderers and has "a pay for slay" policy rewarding them or their families for murdering Israelis. Sanders also calls the Israeli government racist. He whitewashes himself saying that he is a democratic socialist in favor of "justice, decency, and human dignity." Yet, democrats do not vilify other democrats while at the same time dignifying murderers.
Teaching how the whitewashing motif is applied is important for those opposed to antisemitism. Yet, it is also helpful for anybody interested in enhancing their understanding of what is behind the news. Teaching this and other motifs by providing extensive examples will also be most helpful for schoolchildren. This will enable them to better understand the increasingly opaque and confusing society they will live in.
In a scathing attack on Americans battling COVID-19, Senator Bernie Sanders accused the 60,000 Americans diagnosed with the novel coronavirus of rigging the system to prevent all Americans from experiencing the disease.
"We keep hearing about how America is leading the world in new coronavirus cases, and how there have never been more Americans with a fever and dry cough, but for most citizens it does not feel that way," Sanders said at a recent rally. "It is not fair that one tenth of one percent of the population owns 100% of the coronavirus diagnoses, while 99% of Americans have no coronavirus at all."
On Thursday, the Sanders campaign released a plan to redistribute the virus equally across the population. He has also sponsored Covid4All legislation, calling chills, body aches and loss of taste and smell a "human right."
"If Tom Hanks, Kevin Durant and Prince Charles all get to experience this disease, then there is no reason why low-income Americans should not have the same opportunity," he declared. "When I am elected president, there will be coronavirus for the many, not the few."
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International regularly attack Israel for alleged abuses, and their reports frequently generate headlines in the international press. These groups do monitor Palestinian behavior, to the extent they're allowed to by the authorities, but the abuses they find are rarely publicized.
Every year, the US State Department publishes a human rights report that documents Palestinian abuses, but have you ever seen it quoted in the press? As a public service to those who might genuinely care about the lives of Palestinians, let me share some of its findings.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas: - Have engaged in unlawful or arbitrary killings, torture, and arbitrary detention. - Hold political prisoners and detainees. - Interfere with the independence of the judiciary. - Restrict freedom of expression, the press, and the Internet through violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests, and prosecutions against journalists, censorship, and site blocking. - Interfere with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of non-governmental organizations. - Restrict political participation and have not held a national election since 2006. - Engage in corruption. - Are responsible for violence and threats of violence motivated by antisemitism. - Are responsible for violence and threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons (which you would think would be of interest to the "Queers for Palestine" group and others).
The report goes into greater detail. For example, it refers to the "systematic and routine abuse in PA prisons," which includes "forcing detainees to hold painful stress positions for long periods, beating, punching, and flogging."
You can find in this entry this statement: Palestinian police are forbidden from reacting to acts of violence by Israeli settlers, a fact which diminishes their credibility among Palestinians.
The confirming footnote directs you to page 292 of a book by Daniel Byman, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press/Saban Center, Brookings Institution, published in 2011. Byman at the time was professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.
I do not know if Byman notes it but if one reviews the Oslo Accords, signed and agreed upon by the PLO, specifically Article XIV - The Palestinian Police, and others, you can learn a few additional things.
For example, at 3 there it reads Except for the Palestinian Police and the Israeli military forces, no other armed forces shall be established or operate in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
and in the previous Article X Redeployment of Israeli Military Forces, 4 it reads Israel shall continue to carry the responsibility for external security, as well as the responsibility for overall security of Israelis for the purpose of safeguarding their internal security and public order
In the Security Annex, it is quite apparent that the Authoritys police force is restricted to areas A and B as in Article V Security Arrangements in the West Bank, at sub-paragraph 3. Areas B and C, (2), where it reads The Palestinian Police shall be responsible for handling public order incidents in which only Palestinians are involved.
At a time of a global pandemic, Israel is taking drastic measures to prevent COVID-19 from potentially killing thousands of its citizens. But while the world is changing — and changing fast — Israel's critics aren't. At a time of crisis, the usual suspects are seeing an opportunity to single out the Jewish state for opprobrium.
Take, for example, the Global Opinion page in The Washington Post, and a March 19 op-ed by Gershom Gorenberg, entitled "With a pandemic as cover, Netanyahu is carrying out a coup in Israel." And the inflammatory and sensationalized headline is only the beginning.
Gorenberg charges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "carrying out a palace coup. Under the cover of a pandemic, he is transforming himself from lame-duck prime minister to unelected strongman. He and his henchmen have shut down parliament, enacted extreme 'security' measures without legislative oversight and shelved the courts just as Netanyahu was about to go on trial for corruption."
Taking a conspiratorial tone, he claims that "the coronavirus arrived at just the right moment to provide pretexts for seizing authoritarian powers."
Elsewhere, he adds that the "exponentially rising number of confirmed coronavirus infections" gives "Netanyahu new opportunities."
It is perfectly reasonable — indeed it is imperative — for all citizens to continue to question their government's actions and to continue to voice their criticisms and concerns. A global pandemic mustn't stop that. And it's perfectly reasonable to ask if the actions of the Israeli government, or any other government, are for the best. That is part of a well-functioning and healthy society.
The chief problem with Gorenberg's argument, aside from his reckless and hyperbolic language, is that he fails to place Israel's actions in either global or local perspective. To be sure, Israel's political circumstances are unique: the Jewish state has held three democratic elections in the last year, each with inconclusive results. It has been unable to form a government. And Netanyahu is facing corruption charges — charges that the Israeli premier and his supporters argue are flimsy at best, and politically motivated at worst, but which others, including some of his political opponents, believe to be legitimate.
These examples reveal, at best, a disturbing professional neglect in which its "ideological compass" guides the view that the newspaper presents to its readers.
The result is the paper's well-known anti-Israel bias. So well-known, that in the year 2009, 14 members of the US Congress sent a letter to the Spanish government denouncing the "articles and cartoons conveying crude anti-Semitic canards and stereotypes" in the pages of El País.
After that, the newspaper made some changes, and — despite a never-ending anti-Israeli trend — it managed to present more professional coverage of the news originating in the region. But unfortunately, for a couple of years now, we have once again witnessed an undisguised position against the state of Israel.
Objective, uncontroversial facts are frequently altered to fit into an ideological narrative that portrays Israelis as right-wing settlers.
El País' ideological agenda is so strong, that even to report about a commemoration of the Holocaust, the newspaper decided to introduce its own anti-Israeli position in the very headline: "Israel and the US are taking advantage of the Holocaust forum to attack Iran " (January 23, 2020).
There are many examples of this "journalistic drifting": from the lexicon it uses, to the recurrent omissions and factual errors. What is the paper's motivation? Mere neglect? Lack of knowledge? It's hard to discern the motives, but it's easy to see the results.
As a result of its switching to a digital-subscription model, El País has launched a campaign to increase, if possible, its prestige. As part of the campaign, an enlarged cartoon by the newspaper's cartoonist, El Roto, was painted in the newspaper's headquarters: a Batman-style superhero with two pens as ears, and a phrase: "Always with the readers."
With its readers — maybe. With the truth — it doesn't seem so.
The coronavirus pandemic has spurred anti-Semitic chatter connected to Lakewood, a New Jersey township with a large Orthodox population, on social networks.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy responded by condemning racism connected to the coronavirus.
"Scapegoating, bullying, or vilification of any community is completely unacceptable – today or ever," Murphy wrote on Twitter. "There is a special place in hell for the small minority that do this during this crisis."
As of Thursday, Lakewood had 198 COVID-19 cases, by far the most in Ocean County, according to the county Health Department, the Asbury Park Press news site reported. Officials have not said which parts of town or particular communities are experiencing cases.
An online petition that was circulated Thursday called for Lakewood to be "shut down" during the pandemic. It received thousands of signatures but appears to have been removed.
On Facebook, groups for residents of Ocean County and Jackson Township, which borders Lakewood in the southern part of the state, featured maps showing Lakewood spreading the disease.
An Italian painter whose work has been honored by the Catholic Church for its devoutly Christian themes and masterful baroque style unveiled his latest canvas this week — a grotesquely antisemitic depiction of hook-nosed Jews engaged in the "ritual murder" of a terrified Christian infant.
Giovanni Gasparro, an artist based in the Adriatic port city of Bari, uploaded images of the 7ft X 5ft painting that revives the antisemitic blood libel of medieval times onto his Facebook page on Tuesday.
That the painting is replete with the basest antisemitic tropes is instantly apparent. Titled "The Martyrdom of St. Simon of Trento in Accordance With Jewish Ritual Murder," it shows an infant boy surrounded by a crowd of sinister Jewish men, variously wearing side-curls and religious items, who strangulate him, cut him open and drain his blood.
Gasparro's brush purposively accentuates the stereotypes of classic antisemitism: large hooked noses, yellowing uneven teeth, blood-stained fingers and visceral pleasure at forcing a non-Jewish child to suffer in a manner reminiscent of Jesus on the cross. As the child in the painting weeps with fear, the Jewish figures cackle and laugh with manic energy.
The historical event on which Gasparro's painting is based occurred on March 21, 1475, when the disappearance of a two-year-old child named Simon in the northern Italian city of Trento sparked one of the most notorious episodes in the 900-year history of the blood libel. When the body of a little boy was discovered later that week — according to local rumor, in the cellar of a Jewish man named Samuel — a storm of anti-Jewish fanaticism erupted during the Christian holiday of Easter. The entire Jewish community was arrested and forced to confess under torture to having murdered Simon in a bloody ritual, with 15 of its leaders burned at the stake.
In later centuries, Simon was regarded as a martyr by the Catholic Church. That status was removed by Pope Paul VI in 1965 when the Vatican issued "Nostra Aetate" — its historic repudiation of antisemitism and the "deicide" charge that held the Jews collectively responsible for the death of Jesus at the hands of the Roman Empire.
Rick Wiles, virulent #anti-Semite, bigot, and conspiracy theorist says that God is spreading the #coronavirus in #synagogues because he is "dealing with those who oppose his son, Jesus Christ." pic.twitter.com/Cge8CYcpOm
The anti-Israel hostility of senior British diplomats during the Attlee years was quite something. #OnThisDay 1949 the British Minister-Resident in Lebanon on mobilising Catholic opinion to prevent the admission of "the Jews" to membership of the United Nations. pic.twitter.com/FMGmtzHNnI
On behalf of the whole country, I want to thank all the incredible nurses, doctors, NHS support staff & carers who are working flat out to fight coronavirus 👏 #ClapForOurCarers#ClapForNHS
— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) March 26, 2020
Just beautiful! From their windows, balconies and porches all across #Israel tonight, people came out to show their support and appreciation for our amazing doctors, nurses & medical teams fighting the #CoronaVirus! 🙏 👩⚕️ 👨⚕️ 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/9pKovbwoSI
The leaders of the three Abrahamic religions – Christians, Jews and Muslims – prayed together in Jerusalem on Thursday amid the global Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.
The initiative, taken by the Mayor of the Holy City, took place at 12.30 pm local time at Jerusalem City Hall and saw the presence of representatives of other faiths as well, including Druze and Bahai.
Speaking to Vatican Radio before the common prayer, the Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, highlighted the significance of this moment and explained that every religion was to recite a prayer according to its own tradition. Listen to Franciscan Fr. Francesco Patton
"We will be together to pray to the Almighty God that this pandemic may stop," Fr. Patton said explaining the initiative has a deep spiritual significance.
"It is important in itself because we are all believers with the same roots; and thanks to this same root we can express with faith and with confidence our prayer to God the Almighty," he said.
The common prayer comes on the heels of a joint communiqué, issued on 21 March, in which the leaders of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Latin, Greek Orthodox and Armenian) expressed their hope that "in this dangerous situation all the children of Abraham could pray together to the Almighty to ask for protection and mercy". (h/t Zvi)
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Another of my series of re-purposing single-panel cartoons for more immediate topics:
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Four more Israelis have died of the coronavirus, bringing the country's death toll to 12, as the number of infections nationwide climbed to 3,035.
The Soroka Medical Center on Friday morning said 93-year-old Avraham Aroshas was brought to the hospital from the nursing home where he lived. He had a fever and shortness of breath and had "complicated and difficult underlying illnesses," the Beersheba-based hospital said. He tested positive for the virus and hours later succumbed to the illness, according to the statement.
A 76-year-old woman with preexisting health conditions also died of the virus, the Sharon Hospital in Petah Tikva announced Friday morning.
Hours later, a 73-year-old man was pronounced dead as a result of the virus at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. He was identified as Shaul Farhi. He reportedly caught the virus on a trip to Tenerife in Spain.
On Friday afternoon, the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon said that an 80-year-old man had died. He had been in a serious condition for several days.
The number of Israelis diagnosed with the coronavirus has risen to 3,035, the Health Ministry said Friday morning. Of them, 49 are in serious condition and 60 are in moderate condition.
Some 45 Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus, while 4,156 are in quarantine, the IDF said on Thursday.
Of the 12 fatalities in the country, three died on Thursday.
One of the three was an 89-year-old woman being treated at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem.
"This is a patient with preexisting conditions who a week ago already was categorized as being in critical condition and was treated with devotion during her entire hospitalization by the department staff, who did everything possible to ease her suffering," the hospital said in a statement.
Another was an 83-year-old man from Bnei Brak who had preexisting conditions. Wolfson Medical Center in Holon said earlier that the third victim was a 91-year-old woman.
It's come to this: The whole country on lockdown, the civilian population locked away in their homes, hiding from a deadly and invisible enemy. The only people on the street are police officers and IDF troops. It's World War C.
The coronavirus crisis, a global pandemic on a level not seen since the Spanish flu in 1918, reminds many of the 2013 zombie movie World War Z. For Israelis, the "Jerusalem scene," in which healthy Jews and Arabs are quarantined in the Old City singing songs of peace until zombies breach the walls, is extremely poignant.
It is as though the movie has come to life, but instead of the enemy being zombies, Israel is afraid that the invisible enemy - Coronavirus - could breach its walls and infect the population, as it did in Asia.
Israel had quickly closed its borders and quarantined all travellers returning to the country for two weeks. But the virus seeped in, and slowly the numbers of those infected with coronavirus started to rise. At the time of this article's writing, 2,000 are reported sick and five are dead.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett warned that Israel is facing "severe morbidity levels" in the coming days. "We are in accelerated growth in patients in serious condition; the number of positive tests is increasing. Severe morbidity levels are approaching," he said. "Within 10 days there will be a significant rate of serious patients, but this is not a matter of fate. We can work to change the situation."
The Mossad intelligence service on Thursday helped bring another 400,000 coronavirus test kits to Israel from an undisclosed foreign location, the Prime Minister's Office said.
That was in addition to the roughly 100,000 test kits the spy agency brought to Israel last week.
The Prime Minister's Office, which is responsible for the Mossad, said the intelligence service had imported the chemical reagents needed to perform approximately 400,000 tests. The swabs needed to carry out the task are being sourced both internally and from a number of foreign countries.
The PMO refused to comment further on the matter, specifically on the country or countries that sold it the testing components, leading many to assume that it was a country that does not have strong or formal ties with Israel.
The Mossad's first operation to bring the chemical reagents needed for 100,000 coronavirus tests sparked a minor controversy last week, after Health Ministry officials lamented that what they'd actually needed were more swabs. After a small flurry of accusations and reversals, the ministry released a statement affirming that the test kits were "important" and "necessary" in the fight against the disease.
Israel has significantly stepped up its testing over the past week, performing several thousand each day, with the goal of increasing that level further.
The other arms of Israel's defense establishment have also enlisted in recent days to tackle the virus threat.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave instructions on Friday to further tighten restrictions on movement that will reduce the number of people who are able to be outside and help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. "If we do not see a change in the proportion of infections over the next two days, there will be no escape from a full shutdown of the country," the prime minister said following meetings about the pandemic on Friday. He said that the Finance Ministry is working on a plan for handling a further reduction of the country's labor force.
Netanyahu ordered stepped up enforcement in supermarkets and pharmacies to ensure that the Health Ministry's directives - no more than 10 people and each person 2 meters apart from the next - are adhered to. Additional restrictions, the prime minister said, should be expected within the next 48 hours. Netanyahu's proclamation came on the backdrop of an announcement by the Health Ministry that it will increase the number of people it tests for coronavirus to 30,000 per day within the next month. On Friday, some 6,000 tests were taken and that number is expected to increase to 10,000 by next week, a decision that Defense Minister Naftali Bennett called "tremendous news.
"I congratulate the prime minister on the important decision," Bennett said in a statement. "Locating virus carriers and isolating them is a cornerstone of the campaign against coronavirus. We will immediately locate new patients, send them to isolation and thus cut off the infection chain." He predicted that by taking so many tests "Israel to exit from the economic stranglehold."
For the past 12 days I have been under effective house arrest in Jerusalem. That's because, just over two weeks ago, Israel started requiring everyone arriving in the country, even if they were citizens, to self-isolate for 14 days. Now all foreign visitors with no place of permanent residence are banned. My husband joined me in isolation at our place here a week ago.
When I emerge into the world again this week I will be allowed out only for a limited range of activities such as obtaining essential food and medicines, taking a short walk round the neighbourhood or participating in an "unorganised sport activity of up to two people". The police have opened more than 270 investigations and handed out dozens of fines over breaches of social isolation directives and quarantine restrictions.
Soon after the first few cases of Covid-19 appeared in Israel at the end of last month the government stopped arrivals from China and subsequently from Italy and other hotspots. It has steadily increased restrictions over the past two and a half weeks.
In the most controversial development, the domestic security agency the Shin Bet, using hitherto secret anti-terrorist cyber-technology, is collecting location data from the mobile phones of virus carriers and sharing it with the health ministry. Officials use this data not only to track whether quarantine is being obeyed but also to match it with the mobile data of everyone with whom the sufferer has come into contact. The result is that people suddenly get a message pinging to their mobiles to say they have been exposed to a virus carrier and must immediately self-isolate for 14 days.
Covid-19 has thrown the world into a life-threatening crisis created by an invisible enemy. Israel, however, has long experience of a life-threatening crisis caused by visible enemies. So when coronavirus struck, Israel went into proactive, no-messing-about crisis mode faster than countries like Britain which have had the luxury of living in peace and tranquillity for decades.
As the coronavirus crisis envelops the global community, the flow of information becomes increasingly difficult to follow, especially in the age of social media. When it comes to Israel's evolving situation, CAMERA hopes to provide some much-needed insight during this confusing time.
On March 26, 2020, Sean Durns, senior research analyst for CAMERA's Washington D.C. office, sat down with CAMERA on Campus staff members to discuss the coronavirus and its impact on Israel. Durns answered questions including:
- What is Israel doing to combat spread of the disease? - How has the media been addressing the topic? - How are anti-Israel activists exploiting the crisis to demonize the country?
— פלר חסן נחום Fleur Hassan-Nahoum (@FleurHassanN) March 27, 2020
"Our diplomats are on the frontline, representing Israel in very difficult circumstances." Israeli Ambassador to the UK @MarkRegev is asked about his fears and concerns surrounding #COVID19 after other Israeli diplomats had unfortunately contracted the virus. Listen to his reply. pic.twitter.com/s5ZGwe6SeM
Brooklyn caterer Israel Frischman is continuing to prepare dozens of meals for elderly Holocaust survivors even though the Jewish community center that provides them owes him money.
The Nachas Health and Family Network in Brooklyn has been forced to suspend its counseling services, exercise classes and Torah lessons due to the coronavirus outbreak. But it's relying on the kindness of Frischman and volunteers to continue delivering vital kosher meals to survivors, many of whom live in poverty, and are in their 80s and 90s and at a high-risk of the contagion.
Frischman and volunteer Freida Rothman are united by their roots and their cause. Their grandparents survived the Holocaust, and they say it's their duty to help others who suffered unspeakable horrors in concentration camps and who are now isolated at home, fearing the impact of the fast-spreading virus.
Brooklyn caterer Israel Frischman is continuing to prepare dozens of meals for elderly Holocaust survivors even though the Jewish community center that provides them owes him money.
The Nachas Health and Family Network in Brooklyn has been forced to suspend its counseling services, exercise classes and Torah lessons due to the coronavirus outbreak. But it's relying on the kindness of Frischman and volunteers to continue delivering vital kosher meals to survivors, many of whom live in poverty, and are in their 80s and 90s and at a high-risk of the contagion.
Frischman and volunteer Freida Rothman are united by their roots and their cause. Their grandparents survived the Holocaust, and they say it's their duty to help others who suffered unspeakable horrors in concentration camps and who are now isolated at home, fearing the impact of the fast-spreading virus.
"People have to do what they have to do. They have to be kind," Frischman said via videoconferencing. "Sometimes it doesn't suit our pockets the right way, but it's not about what goes into our pocket. ... We have to make sure that people have what they need to continue to survive."
The Middle East is poised to experience a severe outbreak of the coronavirus, given the population density in certain cities and the millions of refugees scattered throughout the region.
The virus is likely to severely disrupt even states that enjoyed relative stability prior to corona.
States that were engulfed in armed conflict are the most handicapped, and the least transparent, in responding to the virus. The same can be said for states with large concentrations of refugees, such as Lebanon and Jordan.
In countries that have experienced mass protest movements since last year, congregating in large groups suddenly posed a health risk and, by now, most protests have dissipated, offering governments a temporary reprieve.
The remaining states may be marginally better equipped to handle the outbreak. Still, even in sturdier countries like Turkey and Morocco, the very integration with the global economy facilitating that stability will make them all the more vulnerable to economic shocks reverberating from containment measures.
Faced with an existential threat, EU member states, far from joining together to confront the pandemic as a unified bloc, instinctively are returning to pursuing the national interest. After years of criticizing U.S. President Donald J. Trump for pushing an "America First" policy, European leaders are reverting to the very nationalism they have publicly claimed to despise.
Ever since the threat posed by coronavirus came into focus, Europeans have displayed precious little of the high-minded multilateral solidarity that for decades has been sold to the rest of the world as a bedrock of European unity. The EU's unique brand of soft power, said to be a model for a post-national world order, has been shown to be an empty fiction.
In recent weeks, EU member states have closed their borders, banned exports of critical supplies and withheld humanitarian aid. The European Central Bank, the guarantor of the European single currency, has treated with unparalleled disdain the eurozone's third-largest economy, Italy, in its singular hour of need. The member states worst affected by the pandemic — Italy and Spain — have been left by the other member states to fend for themselves.
The European Union, seven decades in the making, is now unravelling in real time — in weeks.
A dramatic reduction in air pollution might seem like a silver lining in global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, but the world could see a "huge backlash" in emissions once the crisis comes to an end.
That is the warning delivered by Dr. Orr Karassin, a senior lecturer in public policy and environmental regulation at the Open University of Israel, based on evidence from the 2008 global financial crisis.
"Everything that we are currently seeing, the improvements in environmental conditions, are possibly - and regretfully - very temporary," Karassin told The Jerusalem Post. "The great concern has to be that, with the deterioration in economic conditions, we might actually see a huge backlash after the current crisis is over."
Karassin points toward the 5% increase in global carbon emissions following last decade's downturn, compared to before the financial crash. As governments sought to boost their economies, concessions were increasingly granted to industries previously being phased out, including coal and oil shale.
"It is of great concern that we will not actually be able to sustain any environmental improvements that we make," she said. "There is a need to talk more about how we can shift our economic patterns to ensure that regrowth, and we will need a lot of economic regrowth, is conducted in a more sustainable way than in the past."
Earlier this month, significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were detected over China by NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) pollution monitoring satellites, as the country sought to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.
One NASA air quality researcher said she had never "seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event," as motor vehicles and industrial facilities ground to a halt.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus and is self-isolating at his Downing Street residence but said he would still lead the government's response to the accelerating outbreak.
Johnson, 55, experienced mild symptoms on Thursday, a day after he answered at the prime minister's weekly question-and-answer session in parliament's House of Commons chamber, and received the positive test result at around midnight.
"I've taken a test. That has come out positive," Johnson said on Friday in a video statement broadcast on Twitter. "I've developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus. That's to say - a temperature and a persistent cough.
"So I am working from home. I'm self-isolating," Johnson said. "Be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fightback against coronavirus."
British health minister Matt Hancock said later on Friday morning that he has also tested positive and is self-isolating at home with mild symptoms.
A group of Nobel laureates announced Monday in a letter sent to the United Nations that the rulers of Islamic Republic of Iran have failed take measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus and engaged in a cover-up over the deadly disease.
"As a result of the regime's inaction, there has been a serious lack of preventive measures to control and ward off the spread of the novel coronavirus in Iran. For example, according to experts, the initial epicenter of the virus outbreak, the central city of Qom, was not quarantined, due to the regime's parochial political considerations," the 21 Nobel laureates wrote in a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The laureates added that, "We are asking for your urgent intervention in the situation that is unfolding in Iran, as a means of preventing the further expansion of this catastrophe. We request that, with the help of the international community, all of the medical resources and treatment be taken out of IRGC's [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps] control and instead be allocated to treatment and prevention efforts that can halt further spread of the coronavirus."
The United States classifies the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.
"There are various reports that indicate that the clerical dictatorship ruling Iran has engaged in a cover-up, preventing the free flow of crucial information about the spread of coronavirus in that country.
"It covered up the truth in support of its political motives and agenda, including its intention to draw as many people out as possible so they attend its sham parliamentary elections and the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, which included street marches," the letter noted.
Medical personnel in Spain and the Czech Republic have reported that the coronavirus rapid tests their respective countries have received from China are faulty and have a high error rate.
Several labs in Spanish hospitals have reported that the test kits they purchased, manufactured by Chinese company Bioeasy and based in Shenzhen, have a sensitivity of 30% when the sensitivity should be above 80%, Spanish newspaper El País reported Thursday. Due to the test's lack of reliability, medical personnel in Spain have switched back to the PCR test, which takes up to four hours for a diagnosis, while rapid tests take between 10 to 15 minutes. (RELATED: Chinese Propaganda Has Infected Daily Mail's Coronavirus Coverage)
The Spanish government purchased 340,000 tests from the Chinese company, a similar quantity to the tests ordered by the Czech Republic, where medical personnel also report an 80% failure rate. China has been attempting to deepen ties with Europe by supplying countries like Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Slovenia with medical equipment and testing amid the outbreak.
Prague Morning reported Thursday that the Chinese tests, worth over $2 million, were showing false positives and false negative results. Health officials determined the failure rate was too high and the tests were unreliable.
"We used the tests on those who came to the testing station. Fortunately, we also took samples for further testing and thus learned about the error rate of the tests," Pavla Svrčinová, a hygienist from the Ostrava region of the country said according to the Prague Morning.
Israel Resilience party leader Benny Gantz told his erstwhile partners early Friday that he was splitting off from them, seemingly to forge a unity government with bitter rival Benjamin Netanyahu, in order to save the nation from another round of elections during "such a challenging time," as his shock decision continued to reverberate through the political sphere.
The statement capped a stunning 24 hours that saw Gantz shed his partners in Blue and White and appear set to join Netanyahu in a unity government, ending a year of political deadlock and keeping the indicted Likud leader as prime minister for at least the next year and a half, while essentially dismantling Gantz's former party.
"At the end of the day, I believe we must not drag Israel to a fourth election at such a challenging time, when the country is dealing with the coronavirus crisis and its fallout. We disagree on that point," Gantz wrote in a tweet addressed to Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Telem leader Moshe Ya'alon, who had been his No. 2 and No.3 in Blue and White.
Gantz thanked both of them for their partnership over the last year.
"In my eyes, you will always be patriots who love the country and act on behalf of it wherever they are," he wrote.
Gantz had come under vociferous criticism from his former partners for his apparent about-face, following a year in which he vowed Blue and White would not sit in a government under a prime minister who had been indicted.
Joint Arab List lawmakers, among them faction leader MK Ayman Odeh and faction chairman MK Ahmad Tibi, a veteran parliamentarian who has seen his share of political stunts, knew nothing about the move to nominate Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz to the post of Knesset speaker.
On Thursday, in the afternoon hours, most of the Joint Arab List's MKs were still on social media, writing about their support for Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen as next Speaker, based on the understandings between the Joint Arab List and Blue and White representatives MKs Ofer Shelah and Avi Nissenkorn.
Just a little while later, however, the rumors that had spread were verified and the shock and dismay in the faction's offices quickly turned to outrage and condemnation of Gantz.
Odeh said, "We won't lend a hand to a government headed by [Benjamin] Netanyahu. Blue and White will decide if they want to win together or surrender alone."
Another senior Joint Arab List official lambasted Gantz, saying that he "betrayed us time after time. We went against our principles and the red lines we set for ourselves, to give him the support to remove Netanyahu and the right-wing government, and in return, we got a finger in the eye and a knife in the back."
The official added: "First and foremost we need to ask forgiveness from our constituents. Nissenkorn and Shelah, at the behest of Benny Gantz, threw sand in our eyes and used us.
On this day in 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a historic peace treaty that changed the Middle East's geopolitical landscape. What's behind the agreement's endurance?https://t.co/nElOCnVWfD
The government approved new emergency regulations on Friday, initiated by Minister of Defense Gilad Erdan, to release approximately 400 offenders from prisons across Israel for a 30 day house arrest starting this coming Sunday, after which they will be released.
The measures are a part of an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, coming only a day after an officer serving at Neve Tirza prison tested positive for the coronavirus.
The prisoners who are found eligible under the new regulations will go on a special 30-day "vacation," under house arrest conditions, at the end of which they will officially be released from prison.
The regulations that stipulate which prisoners are selected for early release says that they must currently be serving no more than a 4-year prison sentence, and must not have been convicted of either sexual offenses or domestic violence.
Minister Erdan said in a statement that "prisons are the most vulnerable and sensitive place for the spread of the virus. And so, since the beginning of the crisis, I have been taking emergency measures to reduce the congestion among prisoners and reduce the chances of infection."
"The inmates who will be released will remain in house arrest conditions until the end of their imprisonment, while the police will monitor their compliance with house arrest conditions," Erdan added.
The Defense Ministry declared it wants to rent 20 more hotels to house Israelis returning from abroad for Passover under quarantine.
In the statement, the ministry wrote to the hotels that, "as Passover approaches, many efforts have been made to bring home Israelis from abroad," adding that the Defense Ministry, the Health Ministry, and the IDF are all committed to the mission and that everyone, in their own field, is called on to participate.
The ministry is looking for hotels with at least 200 rooms in Tel Aviv and Gush Dan, the Sharon area, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Hotels have been asked to submit proposals.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Thursday that, starting from Saturday, anyone returning to Israel from abroad will be checked immediately for coronavirus and then be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, the PA asked Israel to deliver the withheld funds (650 million shekels, according to Palestinian sources). This request was refused, but instead, on March 22, Israel transferred to the PA 120 million shekels of arrears, whose status had been disputed. Clearly, if the PA lacks the financial resources to combat the epidemic, they can stop paying salaries to terrorists.
The law is implemented by the Ministry of Finance, but the preparation of the data and many additional activities are performed by the relatively new National Bureau of Counter-terror Financing at the Ministry of Defense. The bureau is headed by advocate Paul Landes, formerly the head of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority at the Ministry of Justice. In addition to following the PA payment of salaries to terrorists, the bureau issues decrees authorizing the confiscation of the money paid as salaries through the banking system to Israeli citizens and Jerusalem residents. So far, about 350,000 shekels have been confiscated from accounts or from funds prisoners received in prison.
Some lessons can be learned from the 2019 experience with payments to Palestinian terrorists: - The Palestinian Authority still insists on paying the salaries in line with its law and narrative that consider the terrorists as heroes and the fighting sector of Palestinian society. - The many warnings by certain Israelis and Americans, who prefer to ignore the mind-boggling phenomenon whereby the PA solicits Palestinians to kill Israelis by promising them handsome salaries and other benefits in advance, proved baseless. The PA did not collapse and did not stop its security cooperation with Israel. I predicted several times in the past that none of these threats are real, since the existence of the PA is the most important achievement of the Palestinian national movement and since security cooperation with Israel is much more beneficial to the PA due to its confrontation with its political opponent, Hamas, than it is for Israel.
The Israeli government has to abide by Israeli law and deduct the Palestinian payments of salaries to terrorists from the money transferred to the PA. The new Security Cabinet should affirm the amount spent by the PA in 2019 on salaries to terrorists and start deducting it immediately from the money transferred to the PA on a monthly basis.
More countries should follow the United States by conditioning their aid to the PA on abrogating the PA law according to which these payments are made and stopping the practice of "pay for slay." If European donors adopt this policy, the chances increase that something will change.
Despite multiple wars and incessant smaller conflicts, Unipal 2000 has produced clothing in the Gaza Strip for more than five decades.
Its designs have appeared in stores across Israel, including in Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Ashkelon, but also to a lesser extent in markets in the Palestinian coastal enclave.
Following the global outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus, however, the Gaza City-based company has taken a break from manufacturing garments, and instead thrown all its resources into producing surgical masks and other protective gear.
Nabil Bawab, Unipal 2000's 59-year-old chairman, said the company made the transition at the beginning of March and was already producing thousands of masks and protective suits daily.
"We never stopped making clothing, even during all the difficult times," Bawab, a fluent Hebrew speaker, said in a phone interview. "But when the virus came, we decided to do something to provide people with protection."
Egypt expels @guardian reporter for casting doubt on its official coronavirus statistics.
The March 17 nomination of Adnan al-Zurfi as Iraq's prime minister-designate highlights the extent to which Iran's stranglehold on Iraqi politics could be eroding. As such, Zurfi's nomination holds out both the promise of a restoration of Iraqi sovereignty that aligns with U.S. interests, as well as the danger of escalating violence by an Iranian regime desperate to prevent such a strategic defeat.
Zurfi's nomination by Iraqi President Barham Salih came on the heels of the failed effort of Mohammed Allawi earlier this month to replace the caretaker government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Abdul-Mahdi was forced to resign in late November under pressure from a mass protest movement demanding an overhaul of Iraq's post-2003 political system.
Allawi's February 1 nomination was almost entirely engineered by Iran, operating in conjunction with its Iraqi allies and Lebanese Hezbollah. It reflected a concerted effort by the Islamic Republic to shore up its position in the face of two fundamental challenges: first, the January 3 U.S. drone strike that killed both Qassem Soleimani, the mastermind of Iranian strategy in Iraq since 2003, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, Soleimani's most powerful Iraqi agent; and second, the anti-government protests that have roiled Iraq since October, centered in the country's Shiite heartland and propounding a distinctly nationalist narrative deeply resentful of Iranian interference.
Allawi's failure to gain parliamentary approval marked a profound defeat for Iran. A surge in violence against protesters, ordered by extremist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (eager to prove himself as Iran's new post-Soleimani enforcer), only bolstered the protest movement's unambiguous rejection of Allawi. Sadr's efforts to intimidate Kurdish and Sunni politicians into providing a parliamentary quorum for Allawi's appointment also cratered.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is quickly sending the world into the biggest economic crisis in decades. Here in Israel, we're witnessing how almost all the macro-economic strides the country has made in the last decade are quickly eroding. It's hard to look beyond the next few hours.
With all the threats that this crisis delivers, it also brings a severe security risk to Israel and the Middle East from the North; Hezbollah is trying to take advantage of the current financial distress of Lebanon.
Usually we hear about Lebanon when tensions escalate on the border. In its prime, Lebanon was a European oasis in the heart of the Middle East. Lately, we neglect to observe that it is going bankrupt and on the fast track to being declared a failed state.
In recent years, Lebanon has become the third country in the world that is the most in debt in terms of debt to GDP ratio. Overly dependent on its banks, Lebanon is now defaulting on its debt. Most recently, on March 9, it failed to pay a $1.2 billion payment to Eurobond. At this rate, official bankruptcy seems all but inevitable.
The Israel Defense Forces said it shot down a drone that was flown by the Hezbollah terror group into Israeli airspace from Lebanon on Thursday morning.
The military said the small drone was retrieved by Israeli troops. The IDF refused to comment on the nature of the device, and whether it carried explosives, implying it was a reconnaissance drone.
On Thursday afternoon, IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters that the military was on "high alert on a number of fronts," without elaborating.
"The IDF works constantly on the borders of the State of Israel using multi-tiered defense systems to detect and intercept aerial infiltrations," the military said in a statement.
"The IDF will continue to thwart any attempt by the Hezbollah terror group to violate the State of Israel's sovereignty, using various defensive and offensive tools in order to protect the citizens of Israel," the IDF said.
In recent days the military has said that it noticed a marked decrease in activity by Israel's enemies in light of the coronavirus — notably Iran, which has been dealing with one of the world's worst outbreaks of the disease.
The Trump administration on Thursday designated a vast network of front companies and entities tied to Iran's terrorism operations in Iraq, where U.S. personnel have been under near-constant attack by militia groups armed and funded by Tehran.
The new designations target "Iraq-based front companies, senior officials, and business associates that provide support to, or act for or on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), in addition to transferring lethal aid to Iranian-backed terrorist militias in Iraq, such as Kata'ib Hizballah (KH) and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH)," according to the Treasury Department.
The companies and terror groups have organized a series of rocket attacks and bombing on U.S. positions in Iraq, including one earlier this month that killed two American troops and one British soldier. At least two rockets struck inside Baghdad's Green Zone early Thursday, with no casualties reported at the time of this writing.
The Trump administration has been engaged in a growing conflict with Iran in Iraq since its killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. The new terror designations are meant to disrupt Iran's financial networks and deal a blow to these militia groups' capabilities.
"Iran employs a web of front companies to fund terrorist groups across the region, siphoning resources away from the Iranian people and prioritizing terrorist proxies over the basic needs of its people," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
These sanctions do not impact the import of food and medicine needed to help Iran combat the spreading coronavirus, which has ravaged the Islamic Republic.
Under the Trump sanctions, the Iranian economy has cratered. Official unemployment rose from 14.5 percent in 2018 to 16.8 percent in 2019, and unofficial employment rates are far higher. GDP has plummeted. The cost of basic goods has doubled since 2016. Two years ago Iran was exporting 2 million barrels of crude a day. It's now down to around 300,000. The IMF was forecasting zero growth in 2020 even before coronavirus hit. As a result, the regime has needed to respond to increasing economy-driven unrest at home. Demonstrations starting in November elicited a major crackdown, with at least 1,000 killed and many more imprisoned.
Do the Iranian people blame the United States for their economic hardship? Despite shifting attitudes toward the United States (which has generally enjoyed substantial popularity with the Iranian people), polling shows the public places fault squarely at the regime's feet. Why? Because they aren't fools. They are well aware what their government is up to, both at home and abroad. Abroad, Iran's costly commitment to Syria's Bashar al-Assad has exhausted resources. The war in Syria is estimated to have cost the regime from $30 billion to $100 billion. Then there's Iran's arming, payment, and sustenance of Hezbollah, which costs an estimated $700 million a year. Iran also transfers cash to Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to the tune of $100 million per annum. And don't forget Iran's arming and support for Yemen's Houthis, another several million dollars a year. Finally, there are Iran's costly adventures in Iraq, the scope of which was revealed in a series of leaked intelligence reports published by the New York Times and The Intercept last fall. (Indeed, the Islamic Republic is so committed to its anti-Western agenda in Iraq that on March 12—in the midst of its coronavirus crisis— it allowed its proxies to launch an attack on Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, resulting in the death of two U.S. and one British servicemen.)
At home, another persistent fly in the Iranian economic ointment is outright theft. In this, the regime's mullahs resemble the run-of-the-mill regional kleptocrat. It's not just that current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's holdings alone are estimated at $200 billion: Food and medicine budgets—for goods which are exempt from sanction—have been plundered by the regime. In 2012, the then (and promptly sacked) health minister complained that of $2.4 billion allocated for medicine imports, only a quarter had been delivered, while subsidized dollars had been used to import luxury cars.
Then there's the Cuba-style scandal of stockpiling key medicines for regime friends and officials. And the false stories blaming sanctions for deaths. Not to speak of the rejection of an offer of U.S. assistance during the coronavirus crisis. And finally, in reaction to an aggressive campaign of disinformation from the supreme leader himself, yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that the regime has plundered over a billion euros slated for food and medical assistance.
Over the past week, we heard cries from Ilhan Omar, Linda Sarsour, the U.N.'s Michele Bachelet & Iran lobby group NIAC to end sanctions on the oppressive Tehran regime.
Yet regime now admits: ? They have medicines ? There are no shortages ? This was a PR campaign by FM Zarif https://t.co/MPPvPEfCoC
In a March 22, 2020 speech broadcast live on Iranian television, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reiterated that the U.S. created the coronavirus and is spreading it worldwide, and explained to the public that "demons are assisting the enemies." Iranian news agencies omitted this quote from their reporting on the speech. [1]
Following criticism of this omission by the news agencies, the Telegram channel of the Cyber Division of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) posted, on March 22, a full video of Khamenei's statements. As support for his assertions about the demons, the Cyber Division also posted two video clips showing two seminary lecturers who are well-known in regime-affiliated ideological circles, Ali Akbar Raefi-Pour and Hojatoleslam Valiollah Naghi-Pour, claiming that Israeli and American espionage agencies are using "demons" to carry out intelligence operations against Iran and against the resistance organizations affiliated with Iran.
Associates of Khamenei have previously accused Jews of using sorcery. Mehdi Taeb, head of the Ammar Headquarters think tank that advises Khamenei and a close Khamenei associate, said in 2013 that the Jews' sorcery is the most powerful in the world and that they are using it to attack Iran. Also in 2013, the Rasanews website, which is associated with the seminaries in the city of Qom, published an article arguing that the Jews hand down their knowledge of sorcery from generation to generation in order to use it to control the world, nature, and even God's decisions (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5288, Iranian Official: The Jews Use Sorcery Against Iran, April 28, 2013).
In Islamic and Iranian folklore, the world's sentient beings are divided into ins (mankind) and jinn (demons). Jinns, which are mentioned in the Quran, are supernatural beings with free will, and can be either good or evil; evil jinns can lead humans astray. According to Shi'ite tradition, when the Mahdi, the Hidden Imam, is revealed, he will bring all the jinns under his command.
The following are the main points of the statements by Khamenei and the statements by the two lecturers claiming that Jews and Israeli espionage organizations are using witchcraft against Iran:
Iranian Political Activist Heshmatollah Tabarzadi Slams Khamenei, Calls to Bring Down Presidential Palace on Rouhani's Head Because of Irresponsible Handling of COVID-19 Pandemic: We Might as Well Die an Honorable Death pic.twitter.com/TltD2GP2cy
An interesting offer from Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi to Saudi Arabia. Houthi offers a captured Saudi pilot in exchange for imprisoned #Hamas members in Saudi Arabia. Seems like the Axis of Resistance is coming to the rescue of one of its members in #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/46GFRDYhh1
Canadian Islamic Scholar: We Must Not Ally with Jews, Christians – It's More Dangerous than COVID19
In a Friday, March 20, 2020 sermon at Muslim Youth of Victoria, Canada, Sheikh Younus Kathrada, asked why Muslims do not take Allah's commands to distance themselves from sin as seriously as they are taking medical professionals' guidelines about social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that Muslims should distance themselves from fornication by lowering their gaze, wearing the hijab, and avoiding events where men and women can mingle freely, and he advised his audience to audit themselves and see if their closest friends are Muslims or non-Muslims, explaining that this matter is more dangerous that the coronavirus or any other plague. Sheikh Kathrada cited verses from the Quran that said that Muslims should not take infidels, Jews, or Christians as allies and that the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with the Muslims until they follow their religion. He emphasized that non-Muslims are still human beings that should be treated justly and called to Islam, but added that Allah has warned the Muslims regarding what is in the hearts of the non-Muslims. In addition, Sheikh Kathrada criticized prominent English-speaking Muslim preachers who advise Muslims not to object to gay marriage. This statement may have been a reference to a recent lecture by prominent American scholar Omar Suleiman that was titled "Alliances and Coalition Building." Sheikh Suleiman had delivered this lecture at the LGBTQ+ Conference that was hosted by the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas, and he has drawn some criticism from the Muslim community (for one example, see MEMRI TV Clip No. 7878). Sheikh Kathrada's lecture was uploaded to Muslim Youth Victoria's YouTube and Facebook pages.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה