Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 16, 2020

04/16 Links: Coronavirus death toll in Israel rises to 143, with 12,758 cases; Arab series depicting Jewish life in Gulf sparks outrage; The lessons of Bergen-Belsen remain unlearned

From Ian:

Coronavirus death toll in Israel rises to 143, with 12,758 cases

The death toll in Israel from the coronavirus rose to 143 Thursday evening, an increase of three from the morning.

The fatalities were a 76-year-old woman at Sharon Hospital in Petah Tikva with preexisting medical conditions, an 82-year-old woman at Poriya Medical Center in Tiberias, and an 86-year-old woman at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

The latter was the 15th resident of the Yokra nursing home in Yavne’el to die from COVID-19, the highest death toll at any senior living facility in Israel.

Roughly one-third of the COVID-19 fatalities in Israel were residents of elderly living centers.

According to the Health Ministry’s latest figures, there have been 12,758 confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel.

The ministry said 181 people were in serious condition, 137 of them on ventilators.

Another 158 people were in moderate condition and the rest had mild symptoms.

There have been 2,818 Israelis who recovered from COVID-19.

Coronavirus: Netanyahu approves preliminary plan to open the economy

Israeli leaders have agreed on a plan to begin opening the economy beginning as early as Sunday, the Prime Minister's Office reported.
After hours of heated debate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the principals for an exit strategy that was presented to him by the National Security Council on Thursday. The plan was drafted with the help of a team of scientific, medical and economic experts, and balanced between the opposing viewpoints of the Finance, Health, Economy and Defense ministries.

The government will gradually open a limited number of businesses, which would be subject to the rules and restrictions that the Health and Finance ministries would determine by Saturday night.

In addition, the plan calls for permitting exercise and sports up to 500 meters from home and re-opening special education programs for individuals with high needs.

The final plan will be drafted over the next 48 hours and brought to a vote by the cabinet on Saturday night.

IDF Intel Unit 81 achieved a technological breakthrough by finding a way to convert home-breathing devices (BiPAPs) into ventilators for #COVID19 patients.

After tireless work with Sheba Hospital, 100 ventilators will be delivered to @SHEBA_ & 1000s more are under production. pic.twitter.com/6mwr2AQOM7
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 16, 2020

Chag Sameach, again

The final days of Passover are upon us. I will not be blogging or tweeting until Thursday night - a very good reason to make aliyah, in fact.

Have a chag kosher v'sameach!

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04/14 Links Pt2: Will the coronavirus outbreak change the world forever?; Latma: Passover under Corona clouds - Let this virus go; Honoring Holocaust victims with personalized memorial candles

From Ian:

Will the coronavirus outbreak change the world forever?

The coronavirus global pandemic will have a lasting impact upon interpersonal, national, and inter-state dynamics long after it subsides.

The first area that has, and will continue to be shaken is the interpersonal web of relations among people. After the pandemic dies down, many will experience conflicting drives: After weeks or more in isolation, they will be hungry for company, for meeting and socializing. But they will also be keenly aware of the risk of close contact. A longing for the contact of others will clash with the wariness of being infected. It will be a time of contradictions.

The coming adjustment period may serve as a basis for hope that relationships, from people to states, will be more cordial and based more upon common understandings as a result of the shared, global trauma.

But the most dramatically affected sphere is the economy, of course. So many have lost their sources of income and customer base; particularly small business owners. The recovery period will be lengthy and painful.

Customers and clients of local businesses will be disappointed to discover that places familiar to them will have shuttered. For the businesses that do survive, a general worldwide restart will be required.

Internationally, many issues that appeared pressing prior to the pandemic will likely recede in prominence once the world begins its recovery.

Israel and annexation
In the Middle East, for example, the issue of Israeli annexation of West Bank territory, which was a highly divisive topic prior to the virus's spread, is now destined to take a back seat. The State of Israel will not be in a position to deal with the annexation issue in the coming six months. Every government ministry will be fully engaged with implementing a coronavirus exit strategy.

All non-coronavirus issues will be pushed aside, including former diplomatic hot topics that occupied the minds and the agendas of politicians and political parties busy in the pre-COVID-19 era.

A change can also be expected in the conduct between governments. The common global fate, an outgrowth of the pandemic, will create a new sense of worldwide identification; not only because of a shared experience, but also because of the mutual assistance that will be required. The experience of tragedies that have rocked countries such as the US, Spain and Italy may well change how international relations are conducted.

Could the coronavirus bring peace among Israelis and Palestinians?

In a region infamous for its sectarian tension, the coronavirus has catalyzed an unlikely alliance between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. Last Tuesday, the Palestine branch of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs praised “unprecedented cooperation on efforts aimed at containing the epidemic” between Israeli and Palestinian authorities in their preliminary emergency situation report. The respective governments of the Jewish State and Palestinian territories, in a seemingly eternal state of conflict, find themselves united for the first time as they battle against a common enemy.

Despite perpetual tension, the economies of Israel and Palestine are closely intertwined. Both rely heavily on international tourism to their world-famous historic and religious sites. 2019 was a record-breaking year for both economies' tourism industries; Israel welcomed 4.55 million tourists, the highest number to date, adding 23 billion shekels to the economy, while Palestine also saw record-breaking numbers, surpassing 3 million visitors. Millions of tourists travel to the countries’ holy sites each year, making a pilgrimage to Israel’s Jerusalem and Palestine’s Bethlehem, where Jesus is said to have been born. Just a few kilometers apart, these two cities have been the hardest hit in the region during the pandemic. Numbers of confirmed cases in Jerusalem are over 1,700, while Bethlehem has over 150, with much higher numbers of unconfirmed cases feared by both governments.

“Little is known about the collaboration of Israeli and Palestinian tour operators,” says Yossi Orbach, CEO of Israel’s leading tour operator, Tourist Israel, “we stay in close touch with our Palestinian partners and support them during these hard times. This crisis has many Israelis realizing now that we have much more similarities with Palestinians than differences.” Tourist Israel operates a daily Jerusalem, Dead Sea, & Bethlehem tour and an annual Christmas Eve in Bethlehem tour in close collaboration with a local Palestinian operator. Tourist Israel’s founder, Ben Julius, is proud to welcome tourists to experience the Israel and Palestine that the media doesn’t highlight. He points to the viral photograph of two Magen David Adom volunteers, one Jewish and one Muslim, taking a break from saving lives to pray together. “This photo is so moving and has rightfully attracted a lot of attention, but for many people, this is life in Israel. There is a lot of coexistence and interconnectedness that the rest of the world doesn’t see. The tourism industry has played a vital role in promoting collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians, and can serve as an example for other sectors as well”.

Economic cooperations are vital in other sectors as well: approximately 120,000 Palestinian laborers work in Israel in the fields of construction, agriculture and services. The travel restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus have forced Israeli and Palestinian government officials to work together to find solutions aimed at reducing the risk of cross-border transmissions while trying to minimize disrupting the jobs and labor that both economies rely on. To achieve this, Israel approved for the first time ever for tens of thousands of Palestinian day workers to stay overnight within its borders and even assists in arranging housing solutions for them.

Latma 2020 Episode 4 for Passover under Corona clouds - Let this virus go

Ali Gomaa, the former mufti of Egypt, said on a TV show that the coronavirus could be spread through 5G networks.

He added that "the launch of hundreds of thousands of satellites to build out 5G networks has created the atmosphere for the virus to spread because it changed the electromagnetism of the Earth."

5G networks do not use satellites, and the World Health Organization had to issue a statement that this rumor was nonsense, pointing out that COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not yet have 5G.

Facebook added a warning to the video, classifying it as "promoting false news."

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I noticed that the JVP's "seder" added an olive to the seder plate to symbolize Palestinian ties to the land and Israel's general awfulness.

So I put together a short webcast talking about the rich history of olive cultivation in Biblical Israel, many centuries before any Arabs were there, and where you can find these ancient Israelite olive presses today.

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.

04/14 Links Pt1: Coronavirus death toll rises to 121; Israel under lockdown as final days of Passover commence; WHO’s Anti-Israel Bias Raising Questions About Organization’s Direction

From Ian:

Coronavirus death toll rises to 121, with 11,868 infected

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Israel rose to 121 on Tuesday evening, with the Health Ministry also reporting a jump in the number of daily tests to nearly 10,000.

The latest fatalities were identified as an 86-year-old woman who succumbed to the virus at Ramat Gan’s Sheba Medical Center and an 81-year-old man who died at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, the ministry said.

Later Tuesday, a 71-year-old resident of a nursing home in Tiberias died due to complications from the coronavirus, the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in the northern city announced, adding that she suffered from preexisting conditions.

In Jerusalem, a 78-year-old man died at the Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and a man, 90, died at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

The updated ministry figures of 11,868 infections across the country represented a rise of over 600 cases in 24 hours. The ministry said 181 people were in serious condition, 136 of them on ventilators. Another 168 were in moderate condition, with the vast majority displaying mild symptoms.

The ministry said 2,000 have recovered from the virus.

Israel under lockdown as final days of Passover commence

Israelis are entering the final days of Passover under coronavirus restrictions similar to Seder night that requires the public to stay in their homes and celebrate only with their nuclear families.

The government unanimously approved that until 5 a.m. on Thursday, Israelis will not be permitted to leave their towns and cities. In Jerusalem, movement will be restricted within pre-defined neighborhoods.

Moreover, to prevent crowding following the conclusion of Passover on Wednesday evening, bakeries and supermarket bread departments will not reopen until Thursday morning.

As Passover ends, the government, the National Security Council, the Health and Defense ministries are supposed to hold a series of meetings to decide on the first phase of the country’s exit strategy.

However, even if the economy is opened more in general, it was reported that a Passover-like lockdown is likely to be implemented for Memorial Day through the end of Israeli Independence Day, the Hebrew website N12 reported.

Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron in Hebrew, starts April 27 at night and Independence Day ends April 29 at sundown.

The purpose of the expected move is to prevent people from attending memorial ceremonies in mass, holding large gatherings in cemeteries or throwing barbeques and other parties in large groups and in public spaces, as is common on Independence Day.

The decision to implement restrictions will be based in part on how well the public does or does not adhere to the Passover restrictions and if the number of people infected with coronavirus per day continues at its current rate or decreases or increases.

Deep Analysis Of Global Pandemic Data Reveals Important Insights

A massive amount of data about the pandemic is generated every day. Although organizations such as WHO, CDC, Johns Hopkins University, and Worldometers are disseminating important statistics daily, the data is not analyzed in an efficient way to provide insights. The COVID-19 pandemic is a complex system involving biology, human behavior, companies, and governments, and it’s influenced by healthcare, economics, governance, and geopolitics. Sophisticated analytical methods could help improve economic, societal, and geopolitical stability. Deep Knowledge Group has developed advanced analytical frameworks to analyze this data. The results are presented in the form of open source country rankings to help people and governments make informed decisions that maximize beneficial outcomes for humanity.

When the seriousness of the pandemic became clear, Deep Knowledge Group adapted its existing analytical frameworks, previously applied to complex domains such as as AI for Drug Discovery and NeuroTech, to the global COVID-19 pandemic landscape. A team of experts collected and analyzed data generated for 200 countries around the world. The results, based on deep analysis of 60 countries, was released today. To communicate the insights in a practical way, the analysts developed a ranking system. The rankings can be used as a tool for businesses and governments to aid in effective decision making and could assist response efforts in order to maximize health, stabilize economies, and help communities reopen for business. The analytical methodology will be adjusted over the next few months for advanced and qualitative assessment and AI may be used to analyze this data in the most efficient way.
Country Ranking Methodology

The COVID-19 analytical frameworks have been designed to rapidly assess the changing situation in countries as they strive to mitigate the health and economic consequences of the virus. Big Data Analysis is applied to quantified and relevant parameters. By comparing them in tangible ways, they are able to serve as practical tools for decision makers. The analytics are fact-based and unbiased and can be accessed free of charge. Proprietary metrics and analytical techniques may be disclosed to relevant organizations and responsible governmental bodies.

The analysis revealed that some countries proved very effective at combating COVID-19 early on. These countries focused on early prevention by deploying quarantine measures before the number of confirmed cases surpassed 50,000, and using efficient methods for treating hospitalized patients. For example, China and Germany rapidly mobilizing emergency efforts early on to contain the virus and increase hospital capacity. They utilized technologies including AI, robotics, and big data analysis, in combination with medical treatment and healthcare management techniques structured in a sophisticated way.

Professional liar Saeb Erekat (@ErakatSaeb) falsely claims Israel isn't cooperating on COVID-19, steals aid for Palestinians, spurns "international conventions" on prisoner release. All LIES.

From the official Wafa news agency:

Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said Israel has responded to Palestinian request to cooperate in fighting the coronavirus pandemic with incursions, killings and demolitions.

This is absurd and libelous. While Israel continues to enforce the law in Area C - as it must under international law - it has been cooperating with the PA, and even the UN praised their cooperation.

Saeb Erekat is a liar.

He said that Israel arrested Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem for carrying out work to implement health and awareness measures to stop the spread of the epidemic in the occupied city, and these leaders were prevented from carrying out their duties and responsibilities in protecting the residents of Jerusalem.
“What do you expect from a prime minister who arrests a minister, a governor and a member of the Executive Committee or a security officer for distributing food parcels in Jerusalem,” he said.

The second paragraph explains the first. The PA was trying to show it has sovereignty over Jerusalem so it sent its officials to "distribute food parcels" and to "sanitize" Jerusalem's gates. it was a cynical attempt to use the pandemic to act as if they control Jerusalem, and they intended to have their people get arrested so they can claim the evil Jews are stopping their valiant attempts to stop the spread of the virus.

Saeb Erekat is a liar.

“Even aid to the Palestinian people from abroad, either Israel takes half of it or confiscates it.”

Usually, Erekat at least pretends to have a factoid to hang his lies on. This is just an outright fabrication. I have heard and seen nothing about this accusation, and on the contrary, Israel has loaned the Palestinian Authority a half billion shekels because of its tax revenue shortfalls from the pandemic - and Israel doesn't expect them to ever repay the loan.

Saeb Erekat is a liar.

He said that Israel did not respond or heed demands for the release of the Palestinian prisoners as stated in international conventions at a time of an outbreak of disease.

There are no international conventions that say Israel must release prisoners. The UN Human Rights head called on countries to release political prisoners to help stem the spread of the disease in crowded prisons, but she did not refer to any international law or convention.

After @mbachelet urged governments to reduce overcrowding in prisons to prevent catastrophic rates of #COVID19 infection, we are encouraged to note that a number of countries have indeed been taking action 👉 https://t.co/sNojw9e59U #StopTheSpread pic.twitter.com/VBvp8QYbGe
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) April 3, 2020

Saeb Erekat is a habitual, unrepentant, professional liar.

And yet the international news media still treats him with respect, as if everything that comes out of his mouth isn't lies and propaganda.

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Palestinians scream that 222 prisoners have died since 1967. That's REMARKABLY good compared to the rest of the world.

Felesteen reports that some self-described "prisoner specialist," Abdel Nasser Farwana, says that that 222 Palestinians have been "martyred" inside Israeli prisons since 1967.

By his count, 75 were "deliberately killed," while 7 died from being shot (presumably before arrest,) and 67 from medical negligence, and 73 from torture.

Amazingly, not one died from illness or natural causes, according to Farwana.

But assuming that his total figure of 222 dead is not a fiction like his other statistics, that compares more than favorably with the death rate in prison against nearly every nation on the planet.

222 dead over 53 years is 4.1 deaths per year. If we assume a constant rate of 5000 prisoners (even though it used to be MUCH higher) that is less than one prison death per thousand per year.

In England and Wales, the rate averages 4 deaths per thousand annually. And worldwide, every single region has a significantly higher total prisoner death rate than the rate of Palestinians in Israeli prisons of less than 100 per 100,000:

One other fascinating statistic: the number of suicides by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons is apparently zero. For comparison, the rate of suicides in every Scandinavian country and many Western European countries is higher than the total death rate of Palestinians in Israeli custody.

If things are so desperate in Israeli prisons, then why aren't prisoners killing themselves as they do in Western countries with the most enlightened prisoner policies? And why is it easier to kill yourself in Scandinavian prison than to die of any reason in the supposedly horrible Israeli prisons?

It sounds like Israeli prisons are among the very safest prisons in the world, even if you believe the worst statistics of a biased Hamas pseudo-watchdog.

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Ken Roth of @HRW really seems to believe that Hamas can arrest anyone who talks with representatives from Israel's government

When the New York Times first broke the story of Hamas arresting Rami Aman and several other Gazans for the crime of "normalization" by speaking with Israeli peace activists, the head of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth, offered a curious response:

Roth seemed to imply that while it is indeed a human rights violation for Hamas to arrest people who want to talk to ordinary Israelis, if they would communicate with the "repressive Israeli government" then it would be OK.

Today, Human Rights Watch's Omar Shakir wrote a fairly good denunciation of Hamas that for the most part did not engage in the usual HRW and Amnesty motif of throwing in a bunch of anti-Israel stuff to make it look "balanced." The only exception was in this paragraph, where they did not put "repression" in scare quotes:

Authorities publicly stated that they had arrested Aman and the others for holding a “normalization” activity, a reference to activities held with Israelis that are not rooted in challenging the Israeli government’s repression. The statement likens normalization to “espionage” and “treachery.” Laws issued by Hamas authorities in Gaza criminalize all social, cultural, political, economic, sporting, or other activities with “the Zionist enemy.”

HRW gets the definition of "normalization" wrong. To Hamas as well as to the supposedly "liberal" BDS movement, any contact with Israeli Jews is forbidden, unless those Israelis are explicitly anti-Zionist. (No one in Hamas or BDS seems to have a problem with meeting with regular Israeli Arabs, only Jews, a bit of antisemitism that groups like HRW studiously ignore.)

But look at Ken Roth's tweet about this HRW article:

Worldwide governments are releasing prisoners to avoid coronvirus infection but Hamas is imprisoning peace activists for speaking by video conference with Israeli civilians, who are not the same as their discriminatory and repressive government. https://t.co/XtXD4yIvii pic.twitter.com/yGXn1c5GYk
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) April 14, 2020

The article doesn't distinguish between Gazans speaking with Israeli civilians and officials - only Ken Roth does.

This is twice in a row that Roth seems to be saying that the only problem with Hamas arresting Aman and his friends is that they spoke with "civilians" - and Hamas would be within its rights to arrest any Gazan who communicates with Israel's "repressive government."

Now, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosts some popular social media channels in Arabic that total millions of followers. They engage with Arabs online all the time, and their posts often make headlines in Arab media.

Is Roth really saying that any Gazan who responds to a post by the Israel MFA deserves to be arrested? Is he saying that it is not a human rights violation to arrest people who comment on the MFA site, since the Ministry is part of a "repressive government?" If the MFA would have set up this Zoom session, would Roth have condoned Hamas arrests?

Based on these two tweets, it is hard to see how his position is anything else.

It is a scandal that Roth is willing, even anxious, to minimize the crimes of the Hamas terrorist group. This is hardly the first time, as Roth has created an artificially limited and false definition of human shields to exonerate Hamas, to bring only one example of his consistent position of minimizing Hamas war crimes.

The leader of a human rights organization has a track record of making statements that are actually detrimental of the human rights of Gaza civilians.

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El Al helps ship millions of medical masks to Detroit

Homedics is a major manufacturer of home health products like massagers, air purifiers and fitness monitors. It was co-founded by Alon Kaufman, who has turned into a major philanthropist in the Detroit area.

Kaufman's wife Shari shared a video showing how Homedics has pivoted to now manufacture personal protective devices that are sorely needed in the US and around the world:

The video indicates that this manufacturing plant is in China.

The question is, how to get millions of masks from China to the US as quickly as possible?

On Sunday, Shari wrote on her Facebook page that the only airline they could find to do the job was El Al:

I just wanted to let my friends know that our first shipment was loaded and left China on El Al airlines last night in order to come to Detroit w millions of masks! They just landed ten minutes ago! I am so moved. So meaningful that it was El Al! Israel, once again, comes to the rescue when every other airline couldn’t commit.
Welcome to Detroit El Al!
Mission accomplished!!
History in the making !!

Here's a video of the masks being loaded onto the plane (presumably) in China.

Kaufman also noted in her earlier post:

If anyone is looking for a large quantity of masks, thermometers or pulse ox, please PM me. Please share with those who need. There is so much junk that is being sold as good equipment. Homedics stands behind the quality of our products and everything is FDA approved.

So these aren't junky Chinese masks - they are made under contract to a US-based company to stringent standards.

Yasher koach to the Kaufmans and to El Al!

(This story is pieced together based on the two Facebook posts, some research and a little bit of conjecture, but I'm pretty sure I got it right.)

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04/13 Links Pt2: PLO Continues to Denigrate Trump Peace Plan and Ignore Elections; Does Progressive Judaism have an anti-Zionism problem

From Ian:

David Singer: PLO Continues to Denigrate Trump Peace Plan and Ignore Elections

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has cranked up its propaganda machine to continue denigrating President Trump’s deal of the century – as a joint US-Israel Mapping Committee is finalising those areas in Judea and Samaria on Trump’s map where Jewish sovereignty can be restored after 3000 years.

The PLO rejected Trump’s plan on the day it was published – 28 January 2020 – even though it provided for the creation of a second Arab State in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan – for the first time in recorded history.

WAFA – the Palestinian news and information agency – has attacked Trump’s move to start implementing his plan in an article headlined: “PLO official warns of Israeli plan to annex parts of West Bank” – which headline itself is false and misleading for the following reasons:
- It is not an Israeli plan – but Trump’s plan being applied by Israel in tandem with Trump
- Trump’s plan does not involve annexation by Israel – rather the restoration of Jewish sovereignty after 3000 years in the Jewish people’s ancient and biblical heartland – in areas authorised by the San Remo Conference and Treaty of Sevres in 1920, the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine in 1922 and the United Nations Charter.
- “West Bank” was only coined in 1950 to replace the 3000 years old geographic place name “Judea and Samaria” – after all the Jews living there had been ethnically cleansed by Transjordan during the 1948 War of Independence – and Judea & Samaria was unified with Transjordan to form a new territorial entity – renamed Jordan.

Wafa’s report references a statement by Ahmad Majdalani – member of the PLO Executive Committee and Minister of Social Affairs:
“Uncovered reports that Washington and Tel Aviv are about to agree on the maps of annexation [of parts of the West Bank] – at a time the world is preoccupied with the war on coronavirus – falls within the framework of the US plan to implement the “deal of the century”

Note:
- No uncovered reports are produced
- Repetition of the false and misleading terms annexation and West Bank
- The world might be preoccupied with the war on coronavirus but Governments – including the US and Israeli Governments – have not stopped governing and making decisions – and to suggest they should is arrant nonsense

A disingenuous debate about annexation

The list of signatories to a new letter organized by the Israel Policy Forum protesting the possibility of Israel passing legislation in the upcoming months to annex parts of the West Bank is full of familiar names to those who have followed American Jewish organizational life in the last few decades. Some on the list – like current Reform movement leader Rabbi Rick Jacobs – are still important players in contemporary Jewish life. But many of the big donors and veteran activists mentioned could have been recycled from a host of similar efforts by liberal groups in the distant past.

The letter is a direct response to the latest news about the terms of a still not finalized coalition agreement to form a unity government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Benny Gantz.

But the tone and the language used seem straight out of the early 1990s, when some of the same people were speaking up in favor of the Oslo Accords and its promise of land for peace, or later in the decade when they were disingenuously protesting Netanyahu's policies during his first term as prime minister for being too slow to make concessions to PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Then, too, they were admonishing Israelis not to defend their rights because doing so would alienate the tender sensibilities of Americans.

Indeed, if a Jewish Rip Van Winkle were to have dozed off during the Clinton administration and awakened in the last week, he would feel right at home with the rhetoric admonishing Israelis not to alienate Americans or to sabotage hopes of peace with the Palestinians.

The push to annex parts of the West Bank, where hundreds of thousands of Jews currently live in settlement blocs, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley divides Israelis. Yet the notion that formalizing Israel's control over these lands is an obstacle to peace is as much a relic of the past as some of the IPF letter's signatories.

Don't give in to Jordan's scare tactics

After the Hashemite kingdom let the Jordan Valley go in the 1967 Six-Day War, and 32 years after it announced that it was cutting ties with the "West Bank" and even gave up its claims to sovereignty there, Blue and White is trying to drag Jordan into its own "annexation dispute" with the Likud.

Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, as part of negotiations to form a government, are claiming that annexation without agreement from Jordan will endanger our special ties with the kingdom, and the long-term quiet on our eastern border in particular.

But this argument ignores the hidden aspects of Israel's relations with Jordan, especially the fact that there is a wide discrepancy between how Jordan openly conducts itself in regards to Israel – using critical, sometimes inciting, rhetoric aimed at pacifying its Palestinian majority – and how the kingdom acts behind the scenes.

Jordan has swallowed a lot of toads over the years to maintain the informal relationship with Israel that is vital to its own continued existence. Jordan enjoys economic, military, and intelligence cooperation with us that is often critical to its interests. Jordan also holds special status on the Temple Mount, and has in effect become Israel's silent partner in managing affairs there. The way Jordan sees it, that status is of almost existential importance, given the place Al-Aqsa holds in the narrative and consciousness of the Hashemite dynasty and many of the kingdom's residents. Jordan will think twice before putting that at risk.

Israel gives loans, training to Palestinians for COVID-19 while the haters still scream "blockade!"

For weeks, the Israel haters have been almost salivating at the hope that the coronavirus would sweep through Gaza and kill thousands, just so they can blame Israel.

And that hope has not faded, as this article by inveterate Israel hater Jonathan Cook in today's National shows.

Not one of their warnings has panned out. Israel has allowed all medical equipment to go to Gaza, and the only cases in Gaza came from people who entered via Egypt, not from Israel.

Gaza, and the West Bank, are now far safer from the virus than Israel is. But this doesn't stop the haters from beating their drum, itching for a breakout so they can say "I told you so!"

Meanwhile, the media that was falling over itself to call on Israel to lift restrictions on medical aid that have never existed is ignoring some other stories.

Like Israel allowing a sophisticated COVID-19 testing device into Gaza yesterday.

The machine, costing tens of thousands of dollars, was donated by an international organization with the help of the @WHO and will be sent to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where it will process samples for detecting the coronavirus, doubling the rate of examinations in Gaza. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/HsA9JJ7iG0
— COGAT (@cogatonline) April 12, 2020

Like Israel reportedly loaning a half billion shekels to the Palestinian Authority to help it battle the virus as tax revenues that they rely on dry up because of the crisis.

Like Israel providing direct training to doctors and other health care workers from Gaza on how to deal with the virus.

The only people who will celebrate a coronavirus outbreak in Gaza are the ones who are itching to use it as ammunition against Israel. To these immoral cretins, the more Palestinian deaths that they can blame on Israel, the better.

Conversely, when Israel actually helps people in Gaza, these people are disappointed.

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