Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 20, 2020

04/20 Link Pt2: Netanyahu and Gantz agree to form a government; Trump-hatred divides American Zionists 100 years after San Remo; Thomas Friedman's political fantasy

From Ian:

After more than yearlong impasse, Netanyahu and Gantz agree to form a government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz signed a coalition deal during a meeting Monday evening, bringing to an apparent end a nearly year-and-a-half-long political stalemate.

A joint statement from Blue and White and Netanyahu’s Likud party said the agreement was to form a “national emergency government,” apparently to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

“We prevented fourth elections. We’ll safeguard democracy,” Gantz tweeted shortly after the announcement was made. “We’ll fight the coronavirus and look out for all Israeli citizens. We have a national emergency government.”

The deal will be signed formally after Independence Day next week, reports said, after which Likud’s right-wing religious partners are also expected to sign on to it.

The parties are then expected to move forward with legislation to cement the premiership rotation agreement that will see Gantz take over from Netanyahu as prime minister after 18 months.

The final agreement dovetails with most of Netanyahu’s demands, including on the the annexation of parts of the West Bank, a process that it says can begin in July 2020. (h/t messy57)

David Singer: Trump-hatred divides American Zionists 100 years after San Remo

President Trump’s Peace Plan – released on 28 January 2020 – provides the first realistic opportunity in 100 years since the San Remo Resolution to restore Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria – and create a second Arab state in Mandatory Palestine never contemplated at San Remo.

The PLO and the Arab League have rejected Trump’s plan out of hand.

President Trump nevertheless has decided to proceed, with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restore Jewish sovereignty in about 30% of Area C. A joint US-Israel mapping committee is presently finalising details identifying the particular areas.

Trump’s decision has been opposed by many Israeli political leaders – notably Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi – who are currently struggling to form a Government of National Unity with Netanyahu – in which Gantz will succeed Netanyahu as Prime Minister after18 months.

Until recently Gantz has opposed any alteration to the current status of Judea and Samaria unless the international community and the Arab States agree. It is now being reported that Netanyahu and Gantz have agreed that Gantz’s party can – as members of a National Unity Government – vote against any such Trump-Netanyahu action.

American Zionist groups have similarly attacked this Trump-Netanyahu historic move. One such group – the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) – has written to Gantz:
“We write to you as American Jewish communal leaders who are proudly Zionist, unquestionably pro-Israel, and who have devoted our lives to supporting the State of Israel and ensuring an ironclad relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.”

IPF proclaims:
“We have strongly objected to Israel unilaterally annexing West Bank territory and applying sovereignty to Jewish settlements, whether according to the parameters of the Trump plan or any other similar proposal, at any point in time.”

IPF couches its plea in the language of the enemies of the Jewish people – “unilaterally annexing West Bank territory and applying sovereignty” – rather than “restoring Jewish sovereignty in 30% of Judea and Samaria”

138 prominent American Jewish communal leaders including Charles Bronfman and Sir James Wolfensohn have signed this letter.

Other American Zionist groups such as J Street and T’ruah use the identical anti-Zionist language to vent their opposition to Trump’s decision.

These Zionist naysayers opposing long-lost Jewish sovereignty being restored in partsof Judea and Samaria are repudiating the miraculous resurrection of this entitlement recognised at San Remo 100 years ago.

Trump-hatred seems to be driving these American Zionists to sacrifice the Jewish People’s long-term national interest for short term partisan American politics.

MEMRI: Saudi Columnist: A Real Bid For Peace With Israel Requires Acknowledging The Jewish Tragedy In The Holocaust

In a January 23, 2020 column in the Saudi Al-Riyadh daily, Saudi author and journalist ‘Abdallah bin Bakhit wrote that a true bid for peace with Israel requires transcending politics and acknowledging that the Holocaust was a “tragedy” and an “unforgivable crime.” The column was published following the visit of Mohammad Al-'Issa, secretary-general of the Mecca-based Muslim World League, to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp on January 23, 2020.[1] In the column Bin Bakhit also rejected the claim that the Palestinian problem was a result of the Holocaust, explaining that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its roots much earlier, in the beginning of the 20th century.

The following are translated excerpts from his column:[2]
“If we are [really] interested in peace, it is not enough to talk about peace, brandish slogans of peace and demand that others listen to the peace initiatives. In our world [which abounds with] conflicts, no one pays attention to subtle messages like these that [merely] echo in space unless they are preceded by a message of peace on the ground…

“The Jews have a right to live in peace, just like the Muslims and the Hindus. Just as the conflict between certain groups of Hindus and Muslims does not negate the right of either side to live in peace, so the conflict between Muslims and Jews over the Palestinian issue does not negate the right of either side to peace and justice.

“Many of us don’t realize that what happened to the Palestinians in Palestine was not the result of what happened to the Jews in Germany. The British colonialist did not give Palestine to the Jews as a gift to appease them after what happened to them during World War II [i.e., the Holocaust]. The Arab-Israeli conflict began at the start of the twentieth century, while the crime of the Jewish Holocaust took place in the middle of that century.

“The visit of Dr. Mohammad Al-'Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, to Auschwitz, where the Nazi Holocaust took place and where more than a million people were killed, mostly Jews from Poland, was a moral gesture unrelated to the pending political issues. This visit highlights the Saudi perception of Islam, which does not distort the facts or exploit them [to serve] its interests. Mixing [unrelated] issues and using them for political [ends] only fills mankind with more hatred and violence.

“This historic visit proves that Saudi Arabia, aided by its moderate Islam, does not adopt contradictory messages in striving for peace. What is happening to the Palestinians in Palestine is a tragedy, and what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany is also a tragedy. When we defend the rights of the Palestinian people, it must not be [accompanied by] efforts to ignore the rights of others. What happened to the German Jews and to several other ethnic groups [during the Holocaust] is an unforgivable crime.

Tired of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Riyadh to Press Sides on U.S. Peace Deal

Having been hostile to Israel for decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seems to be changing its policy, thinks an official with close ties to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Although full diplomatic relations are not yet possible, he believes this is only a matter of time. A Saudi official said Riyadh had come to acknowledge "the positive part Israel has played in the region" and started to realize that "cooperation needs to replace the constant clashing" so typical of the Middle East.

The source in Riyadh, who is connected to the highest echelons in the government, including the crown-prince himself, confirmed the Saudis' satisfaction with the U.S. peace plan, designed to put an end to the conflict. "Mohammed Bin Salman thinks the Palestinians have wasted too many opportunities thrown their way," he states, referring to a number of initiatives that have been offered to the Palestinians throughout the years.

"The problem is that Palestinians are hard to please. We also have a tendency to believe that some elements of their leadership are interested in keeping the conflict alive to continue to get our generous donations.... When the Coronavirus is behind us, Mohammed Bin Salman plans on telling the Palestinians to either take the plan or leave it. If they push it away, future opportunities - if they ever show up - will certainly be less profitable," the official said.

Students for Justice in Palestine tweeted this thread:

It was 84 years ago on April of 1936 when Palestinians began what we now call the 1936 Arab Revolt. In opposition to the British enforcement of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which prioritized Jewish immigration to Palestine and displaced indigenous Palestinians, the revolt began as a general strike. Rural Palestinians in the 1930’s lived during a debilitating economic depression. Their struggle was only worsened by British colonial policies and heightened anti-Semitism in Europe resulting in an increase of Jewish immigration to Palestine.

In response, the Arab Higher Committee led a general strike against the British and Zionist opposition. As the action progressed, however, the Arab Higher Committee had been accused of betraying the cause after agreeing to the request of the Arab kings to end the strike.

The general strike lasted for six months making it one of the longest general strikes in history and marking the start of the Arab Revolt that lasted until 1939. Today we want to honor this collective resistance as we continue our joint struggles for liberation!⁣

5000 Arabs were killed in the Arab Revolt, many by the British but perhaps most by infighting. Wikipedia summarizes:

The revolt weakened the military strength of Palestinian Arabs in advance of their ultimate confrontation with the Jewish settlement in the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and was thus counterproductive. During the uprising, British authorities attempted to confiscate all weapons from the Arab population. This, and the destruction of the main Arab political leadership in the revolt, greatly hindered their military efforts in the 1948 Palestine war, where imbalances between the Jewish and Arab economic performance, social cohesion, political organisation and military capability became apparent.

The Mufti, Hajj Amin al-Husseini and his supporters directed a Jihad against any person who did not obey the Mufti. Their national struggle was a religious holy war, and the incarnation of both the Palestinian Arab nation and Islam was Hajj Amin al-Husseini. Anyone who rejected his leadership was a heretic and his life was forfeit. After the Peel report publication, the murders of Arabs leaders who opposed the Mufti were accelerated. Pressed by the assassination campaign pursued by the rebels at the behest of the Husseini leadership, the opposition had a security cooperation with the Jews. The flight of wealthy Arabs, which occurred during the revolt, was also replicated in 1947–49.

Thousands of Palestinian houses were destroyed, and massive financial costs were incurred because of the general strike and the devastation of fields, crops and orchards. The economic boycott further damaged the fragile Palestinian Arab economy through loss of sales and goods and increased unemployment.

Clearly, the revolt did not achieve its goals, although it is "credited with signifying the birth of the Arab Palestinian identity."

The revolt killed thousands of Arabs, destroyed the Arab political and economic leadership in Palestine, and the results were disastrous for any Palestinian national aspirations since there was no leadership or unity in 1948. There is a direct line from the 1936-9 Arab Revolt to what the Palestinians call the naqba.

So why would anyone who pretends to be pro-Palestinian celebrate this huge failure?

Because there was a single positive result for the Palestinians. The British, cowed by the threat of further Arab violence, agreed to severely curtail Jewish immigration to Palestine a was agreed previously. This occurred on the eve of the Holocaust, meaning that hundreds of thousands - or perhaps millions - of Jews that would have loved to flee Nazi occupied Europe for Palestine could not do so.

That White Paper was the only result that could be considered positive to the antisemitic Palestinian Arabs of the time. And today, that is still the only concrete result of the revolt that anyone can point to.

Which means that anyone who celebrates the Arab Revolt is either unaware of its results, or they are thrilled with the only result - that Jews fleeing antisemitism could not find safety in the Jewish ancestral homeland.

It is true that the Mufti originally rejected the White Paper, because he felt it didn't go far enough:

The Arab Higher Committee initially argued that the independence of a future Palestine government would prove to be illusory since the Jews could prevent its functioning by withholding participation, and in any case, real authority would still be in the hands of British officials. The limitations on Jewish immigration were also held to be insufficient since there was no guarantee immigration would not resume after five years. In place of the policy enunciated in the White Paper, the Arab Higher Committee called for "a complete and final prohibition" of Jewish immigration and a repudiation of the Jewish national home policy altogether.

In June 1939,Hajj Amin al-Husayni initially "astonished" the other members of the Arab Higher Committee by turning down the White Paper. According to Benny Morris, the reason that the advantageous proposal was turned down was entirely selfish: "it did not place him at the helm of the future Palestinian state."

But in the end the Palestinian leadership accepted it:

In July 1940, after two weeks of meetings with the British representative, S. F. Newcombe, the leader of the Palestinian Arab delegates to the London Conference, Jamal al-Husseini and fellow delegate Musa al-Alami, agreed to the terms of the White Paper, and both signed a copy of it in the presence of the prime minister of Iraq, Nuri as-Said.

In summary, the Revolt was a disaster for Arabs and an absolute catastrophe for the Jewish people. In the zero-sum world inhabited by Arabs, your enemy's loss is your gain by definition.

The only possible thing that SJP is celebrating is the the death of untold numbers of Jews.

⁣ (h/t Tasha)

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.

"Who Profits" and BDSers give a lesson in how to create anti-Israel propaganda out of COVID-19

The latest salvo of antisemitic garbage comes from "Who Profits," the same people that make lists of Jewish-owned businesses for the world to boycott.

Here, they are giving out a lesson in how to twist a news story into anti-Israel propaganda and, they hope, a meme:

They literally give a step by step guide in how to twist facts by putting everything into an anti-Israel "frame:"

While it is still too early to tell how the COVID-19 will impact the global and local economy, we can begin by posing the right questions with the following framing in mind:

The first lesson of anti-Israel brainwashing is to let them tell you how you should think.

COVID-19 is not operating in a vacuum. As it spreads through Israeli-occupied Palestinian and Syrian land, it is interacting with the structures of occupation which, while far from novel, are every bit as adaptive, resistant and continually mutating as any member of the corona family.

Translation: Zionism and Israel is a virus that must be eradicated. And even though we cannot tell you how, just try to think of ways that Israel is responsible for everything happening in areas under full Palestinian control.

COVID-19 will not function as a ‘Great Equalizer’ – The myth that a pandemic does not discriminate between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the dispossessed, is patently false. An occupied and besieged population and a systematically de-developed economy are particularly vulnerable to both COVID-19 and the economic fallout.

It's funny that Israelis are FAR more likely to get infected with COVID-19 than Palestinians. Somehow this prediction, which has been hammered over and over again from the loathe-Israel crowd, has still not come true. While Israel is under lockdown, Palestinians - especially in Gaza - are under fewer restrictions with very few cases of infections. So who is more vulnerable?

Desperate times legitimize repressive measures. Declaring a state of emergency often provides the pretext for the introduction of new repressive and exploitative measures and the entrenchment and legitimization of existing ones.

And these measures are...? In fact, Palestinian leaders have been closing down towns, installing checkpoints, blocking the borders - doing all the things that Israel is castigated for. Meanwhile, Israel has been working closely with Palestinian leaders and NGOs to forestall an epidemic in the territories and to plan responses if it happens.

But the facts don't fit the "framing" that is necessary to brainwash people into hating Israel.

What happens in Palestine does not stay in Palestine. A key reason Israel is continually looking to diversify its portfolio of repression is that it can later turn it outward for economic profit and political gains.

So, if Israelis develop a treatment or a vaccine, this is bad because they might profit from them?

This is a perfect example of how the modern antisemites create propaganda.

And make no mistake - the real analogy is between the coronavirus and the virus of antisemitism.

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.

04/20 Link Pt1: Israel publishes plan to protect elderly; death toll rises to 174; Israel Seeing More Recovering Coronavirus Patients than New Cases

From Ian:

Israel publishes plan to protect elderly; death toll rises to 174

The Health Ministry published a national plan to protect almost 90,000 elderly citizens living in residential facilities on Monday, as Israel seeks to tackle further outbreaks of coronavirus in nursing homes and assisted living.

Among the 174 Israelis who have died from the coronavirus to date, including two new fatalities on Monday, more than 60 were residents of nursing homes and assisted living.

The plan, developed by Sourasky Medical Center chief executive Prof. Ronni Gamzu, emphasizes that great attention and resources must be dedicated to institutions caring for the elderly "if there are aspirations for an exit strategy."

Ten "iron" principles are identified in the plan, including management of the crisis by one government body; the establishment of isolated beds in geriatric rehabilitation centers for sick residents; increased coronavirus testing; additional staff and protective equipment; and emotional support to combat the impact of isolation and reduced social activities.

Roni Ozeri, chairman of the Association of Nursing Homes and Assisted Living in Israel, welcomed the publication of the plan but emphasized that any assistance "must address the state's criminal neglect in recent years." The state must recruit and provide licenses to an additional 6,000 nursing staff to solve current shortages, he said.

"Nursing facilities, which suffered from a structural deficit of approximately one million shekels per year even before the crisis due to insufficient Health Ministry budgets, must receive an emergency budget with far greater amounts than currently being discussed," Ozeri said.

A total of 13,654 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Israel to date. Some 150 people are in serious condition, including 114 patients requiring ventilation. So far, 3,872 patients have fully recovered.

‘Nationwide Curfew Could Be Imposed During Israel’s Memorial Day’

A senior Israeli defense official warned on Sunday that the government may for the first time in the country’s history impose a nationwide 24-hour curfew during Memorial Day next week, to prevent a major coronavirus outbreak.

Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism, begins next Monday evening (April 27) and ends the following evening.

Usually, people gather at graves of fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism during Memorial Day eve and on the day itself, either spontaneously or during official state ceremonies.

The official said that even though no public events were planned this year, there is a fear that gatherings may take place nonetheless, leading to a spike in community spread of the coronavirus, undermining the lockdown measures that have been in place for the past month to fight the pandemic.

“This is a very delicate subject because of the various emotional matters involved; this is perhaps the most sensitive issue in Israeli society,” the official said, adding that “Defense Minister Naftali Bennett will make a decision after considering all aspects; we have to accommodate the bereaved families, but also take into account public health concerns.”

Bereaved families threaten to storm closed cemeteries on Memorial Day

The head of an organization representing relatives of fallen soldiers and terror victims has cautioned that bereaved families will not accept the shuttering of military cemeteries during Memorial Day next week.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the traditional commemoration events will take place on April 27-28 without crowds in light of the coronavirus pandemic, fearing a renewed outbreak if annual ceremonies are held as normal.

“Unfortunately, it is the first time since the country’s founding that military cemeteries will be empty [on Memorial Day],” Eli Ben Shem, chairman of Yad Labanim, wrote Sunday to Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi and other senior officials.

“Following the directive by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett canceling the ceremonies and the order not to come to the military cemeteries on Memorial Day, we are receiving hundreds of messages from families who don’t accept it and are threatening to force their way in,” he said.

Ben Shem said some bereaved relatives had even threatened to commit suicide on their loved one’s grave.

“I am convinced we must do everything to prevent difficult images of this kind on Memorial Day, the hardest day of the year for the families,” he wrote, asking Netanyahu to intervene.

He said that a “widespread public campaign” was necessary to avoid confrontations between bereaved families and police.

Traditional Independence Day IAF flyover cancelled due to coronavirus

The traditional Israel Air Force flyover to celebrate Independence Day will not take place this year to avoid gatherings amid the coronavirus outbreak, the IDF announced Monday.

Instead, a smaller flyover of four IAF aerobatics planes will take place over hospitals in a show of solidarity with medical crews. The IAF was conducting practice flights on Monday.

The IDF asked citizens to follow Health Ministry guidelines and not to gather. The flyover will be available on a livestream broadcast by Israeli media, it said.

Independence Day begins the evening of Tuesday, April 28. It will end on Wednesday, April 29.

The annual flyover is one of the most popular parts of Independence Day celebrations. Millions of Israelis watch combat jets, transport aircraft and helicopters fly over the entire country.

A short history of the Jewish/Zionist octopus in antisemitic cartoons

Antisemites liked to show Jews as octopuses with tentacles reaching the entire world:

Here's one of the earliest examples, from 1894:

Nazi Germany used the motif often. Mein Kampf referred to Jews as octopuses, and this Nazi cartoon portrayed Churchill as a Jewish octopus:

Another from the cover of a German magazine:

The transition from octopus-as-Jew to octopus-as-Israel is keenly shown here in a 1952 Syrian book cover:

The Soviet Union also freely used the octopus as both symbolizing Zionism and Jews:

Nowadays, the octopus is used for "Zionists," although it is very clear that they mean Jews, both the modern antisemites:

And Arab antisemites:

The octopus motif shows that that there is no difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

(h/t Tomer)

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.

Life is normal in Gaza during the worldwide pandemic

As Israel haters continue to warn about how Gaza is about to become a disaster area due to the coronavirus - which they have been warning about for two months now - Gazans seem to be doing OK.

They are shopping like normal, buying clothing and food for Ramadan, going to restaurants, with no social distancing, no face masks and seemingly no worries.

A new mall was opened in Gaza last week, and this is what it looked like:

Here is what the souk looks like.

The incomparable Imshin shows more of life in Gaza nowadays, and it sure seems more normal than life in the US.

And here is a video of the grand opening of the new Al-Danaf Hyper Mall (Meat City) in Nusseirat, made by 2 teenage #Gaza YouTubers, Saja & Sujud. Upload date 15 April 2020. #TheGazaYouDontSee
Source: https://t.co/YSdaUvzLxW https://t.co/Ru3XXhW5rA pic.twitter.com/0hPNIzgCFS
— Imshin (@imshin) April 16, 2020

Nedaa takes Adam and Yazan out in #Gaza to buy new clothes for Ramadan. #TheGazaYouDontSee
Source: https://t.co/PP2KnpsqHu pic.twitter.com/2qH7CRbLIS
— Imshin (@imshin) April 19, 2020

Going to AlSaj restaurant in #Gaza City for lunch. #TheGazaYouDontSee
Uploaded to YouTube on 18 April 2020.
1
Source: https://t.co/N1wiSLAaj2 https://t.co/mYCY4Fwh21 pic.twitter.com/KkV2T08IDW
— Imshin (@imshin) April 20, 2020

What about life in the "refugee camps"? Well, you can buy this apartment in the Jabalia camp:

Apartment for sale in Jabalia "refugee" Camp #Gaza #TheGazaYouDontSee
Source: https://t.co/y30fZKdyUX pic.twitter.com/QHiArqH4nL
— Imshin (@imshin) April 16, 2020

This is the sort of thing that journalists seem to miss - every day of every year.

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.

More Palestinian men are beating their wives while stuck at home for COVID-19

CARE Palestine WBG reports:

According to SAWA Organization, there has been a 20% increase in calls regarding mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and abuse/violence cases, online violence and digital stalking, as well as information requests regarding COVID-19. Specifically, from young men and adolescent boys that are calling the helpline to speak about abuse they are facing from their fathers, mothers and siblings at home. Women are calling less, possibly due to skewed gender roles, as mothers are bearing most of the domestic work and maintaining the family. For this reason, there is a lack of privacy, which allows very little time for some women to communicate with SAWA and other help lines during the day. It is worth noting that the highest number of calls are from Gaza.

Similarly, the Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development reported that there has been an increase in calls from people seeking support, especially from Gaza. The support needed centered around GBV related consultations, counseling and GBV (gender-based violence) related counseling.

In Gaza, Women’s Affairs Center states that the presence of men and children inside the house has created a new wave of violence against women, including verbal, physical, psychological, and sexual violence. This has increased the fear, tension, grievance and psychological stresses on women placing them under high risk as women are confined with their abusers in non-accepting households.

Palestinian women also noted that the police and justice systems do not consider GBV as a priority during the pandemic.

Similarly, the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) for Palestinians is concerned for women's susceptibility to gender-based violence (GBV) during the pandemic. Things were already bad for women before.

Even though this is a strictly domestic issue, even WCLAC can't stop themselves from blaming Israel for Palestinian women being beaten by their husbands:

The Israeli Military Occupation and Palestinian patriarchal society are a dual oppression which already leaves Palestinian women susceptible to many forms of GBV. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a third element that intensifies the threat of violence due to a lockdown forcing families to stay at home.

You have to dig deep to understand how, exactly, the "Israeli Military Occupation" leaves women susceptible to GBV, and the answer is that the existence of Israel frustrates Palestinian men who take their anger out on their wives. “Structural violence initiated and perpetuated by militarism enhances violence in all its forms.”

By that logic, if a football team that Palestinians root for loses and the men hit their wives in frustration, it is the football team's fault.

Palestinian misogyny is generally not reported by the media, in another example where what they choose to ignore is at least as telling as what they do choose to report on.

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.

Hamas replaces their normal masks with medical masks

Hamas is proud that its terrorists are continuing training during the pandemic.

But don't they usually wear masks anyway?

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.

04/19 Links: Corona death toll hits 172 amid drop in number of severe cases; ICRC Displays Bias on the Covid-19 Crisis in the Middle East; Iran shows off drones that can reach Israel

From Ian:

Corona death toll hits 172 amid drop in number of severe cases

The Health Ministry reported on Sunday morning that the death toll from the coronavirus was now 172 people, with 13,362 confirmed cases in the country.

As of 9 a.m. Sunday, the number of patients in mild condition was 9,378, and the number of patients in moderate condition was 140. The Health Ministry also noted that 156 people were in critical condition, a 6.6% drop compared to 24 hours ago. Additionally, 109 patients were on ventilators, a 7.6% decline from the previous day's figures.

The Ministry also presented its figures on the morbidity rates per town in Israel. Bnei Brak, with 2,307 confirmed cases, tops the list, followed by the Arab village of Deir el-Asad with 89 confirmed cases out of just 12,435 residents and then Kohav Ya'akov in Judea and Samaria, with 59 confirmed cases out of just 8,602 residents.

Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem said in a statement on Sunday that two female corona patients died overnight Saturday, including the youngest patient to date to succumb to the coronavirus in Israel, a 29-year-old woman who was already suffering from terminal cancer.

The medical staff was in continuous contact with her relatives, who were prohibited from visiting the hospital to bid her farewell. After her passing, her family members said the Kadish prayer – traditionally recited in memory of the dead – via a video call facilitated by the medical staff.

We're working to support the Ministry of Health & local authorities in responding to the #COVID19 pandemic.

These are the latest numbers: pic.twitter.com/9UbxRCrVSa
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 19, 2020

Israeli scientist: Two-thirds of the way toward COVID-19 vaccine

Prof. Jonathan Gershoni from Tel Aviv University's (TAU) School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday afternoon that the work his laboratory is doing on the corona family of viruses is "two-thirds of the way" through the process of developing a vaccine for COVID-19.

Gershoni, who was recently granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his vaccine design for the coronavirus – after studying the family of viruses for 15 years – explained that the vaccine intends to target the virus's Receptor Binding Motif (RBM), a critical weak point which allows the virus to attach itself and infect a target cell.

The RBM is a small feature of the virus's "spike" protein, meaning that the virus uses many different proteins to replicate and invade cells, but the "spike" protein is the "major surface protein that it uses to bind to a receptor – another protein that acts like a doorway into a human cell," according to TAU.

Once this protein binds to the cell receptor of a human cell, the viral membrane fuses with that of the human cell, which allows the genome, or genetic blueprint of the virus to enter human cells and begin infection.

"The idea is to recreate, to reconstitute, to construct an RBM of COVID-19 virus and use it as the vaccine," he told the Post. "That is to say, you would inject a small 50 amino-acid sequence and it would allow our immune system to focus on it and create antibodies that would directly target the virus at its weak spot."

New method of testing for coronavirus in under a minute, by Israeli tech

Experimentation of a new method using a breathing device that could potentially diagnose the coronavirus in under a minute has been approved by Institutional Review Board, otherwise known as the Helsinki committee.

The new method is based off a breathing machine developed by Israeli companies Next-Gen and Scentech Medical, and is similar to the breathalyzer machine that police use to find ethanol contained in the blood. Using a similar method to that of the breathalyzer, patients breath into the device, which should be able to distinguish between thousands of gas compounds in the breath, isolating that associated with the virus, allowing for a quick and simple diagnosis.

"A quick and simple diagnostic test can be done anywhere, from airports, hotels, tourist sites, and soccer stadiums," said Shulam Lapidot, chairman of Next-Gen. "Our success will help the community and the economy get back to full activity and to their normal routines as quickly as possible."

Next-Gen using the technology of Scentech Medical, which deals with the identification of volatile compounds, teamed up with Meir Medical Center in order to conduct the experiment, testing the new coronavirus-detecting breathing device. The trial will be conducted on coronavirus patients who have varying severity levels of the disease.

The companies explain that this type of examination has several benefits, including facing several difficulties that current medical teams face in diagnosing the virus. One of such examples being the possibility to quickly identify and diagnose asymptomatic patients, along with patients in the early stages disease, so as to enable more efficient quarantine methods.

Furthermore, the new breathing device can significantly reduce the amount of time to achieve results, being able to give a diagnosis in minutes in comparison to the current method which takes up to two days, allowing for an increase in the reliability of results.

My latest live EoZTV webstream is up on YouTube. I interview Adam Levick, of CAMERA's UK Media Watch, on various issues in UK media and politics, as well as more general media topics around the Israel and Palestinian issues - plus he has exciting news about UKMediaWatch and BBCWatch merging into one website!

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.

Financial Times more anti-Israel than Arab media

Here was an absurd headline from the Financial Times last week:

The article's bias is truly insane:

Arabs make up only a fifth of Israel’s population, but represent half the country’s pharmacists, a quarter of its nurses and just under a fifth of its doctors, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Some of the nation’s largest hospitals have Arab doctors heading major departments, and the country’s leading virologist is Arab.
...
In Kafra Qara, an Arab town south of Haifa with so many medical professionals that residents call it the city of doctors, Jameel Mohsen was more critical.

“As an Arab, other jobs are closed off to us, so we became doctors,” he said, peeling off layers of protective equipment after setting up a Covid-19 ward at the Hillel Yeffe Medical Center, where he is head of infectious diseases.

If anyone can find any minority group complaining that they are over-represented in the medical professions as evidence of discrimination, I'd love to see it.

Of course, there are no professions in Israel where Arabs are not allowed. There are lots of Arab police officers. There are many Arab engineers and programmers and research scientists. Once, the acting president of Israel was a Druze Arab.

While FT claims that the over-representation of Arabs in the health sector somehow shows how Israel is discriminatory, Gulf365 has a very good article for its Arabic-speaking audience about how Arab doctors are essential in battling the coronavirus in Israel. The article bullet points are:

* Coronavirus placed Arab doctors on the social and political map of Israel
* Dr. Shukri Awawdeh: The Arabs constitute a great professional force within the health system in Israel, where they constitute 20% of its employees.
* The Corona crisis faces the Israeli public, Jews and Arabs alike, with a higher common goal: eliminating the epidemic and saving lives
* Hundreds of Arab doctors hold high positions in the hospitals of the Hebrew state ... and the state of emergency confirms that there is no room for racism and exclusion, but for solidarity
* Since the virus outbreak, Arab doctors have turned into the most prominent segment of Israeli society
* Without medical and health employees from among the Arab community and without cooperation between them and the Jewish community, the endeavors to save lives in Israel would have received a fatal blow.
* Arab medical staff serving professionally and with dedication the general public are able to enhance the confidence and cooperation of the Jewish public towards the Arab public.
* Arab physician Heba Ziad: She saved 16 Coronavirus patients who arrived at the hospital in a critical condition

When European media is more anti-Israel than Arab media, there is a big problem.

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.

Israel-haters who pretend to care about Gaza hurt tens of millions of Arabs

I've seen lots of articles, retweeted hundreds of times by people who pretend to be humanitarian, about how Israeli prisons are going to be hotbeds of coronavirus because of crowding and lack of medical aid - both of which aren't true. Indeed, there are still no cases of COVID-19 in Israeli prisons with Palestinian prisoners.

But the prisons in the rest of the Arab and Muslim world? Practically no one cares:

Egyptian authorities have rejected pleas to free up overcrowded jails, continuing to imprison dissidents even as COVID-19 infections in the country rise.

One former detainee, who preferred not to be identified out of fear of repercussions, said there was a "catastrophe brewing in prisons" in the country because of unsanitary conditions and overcrowding.

He spent around two years in a cramped cell with some 25 other men in the Borg al-Arab prison, near the northern city of Alexandria, and recounted how a hole in the ground functioned as a rudimentary bathroom for showering and as a latrine.
"We had a tattered blanket that we used as a door for privacy, and the little running water we had... would wash away all the filth on an already dirty cement floor," said the former inmate, who was released in late 2015.

"We slept on our 'swords', meaning we lay on the floor next to each other on our sides. You couldn't sleep on your back, that was out of the question because of the lack of space," he added.

In war-torn Syria, the pandemic has put a spotlight back on the plight of political prisoners and long-term detainees.

In Iran, Reza Khandan, husband of jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, described on Facebook the situation in Tehran's Evin prison, where family phone calls have been limited.

"The crowded meeting room is an ideal place for the virus to spread," he wrote, since many families have been forced to visit in person.

Because so many reporters are covering a non-existent crisis in Israel, there is no oxygen for real issues in the Arab world to be publicized.

And prisons aren't the only issue. There have been scores of articles about how the water shortage in Gaza will inevitably bring an out-of-control epidemic - even though as of yet all cases in Gaza have been contained and there haven't been new cases in weeks.

But meanwhile:

Some 74 million people in the water-scarce Arab region are at greater risk of catching the novel coronavirus because they lack a sink or soap at home, the United Nations said Wednesday.

This includes 31 million people in Sudan, more than 14 million in war-torn Yemen and 9.9 million in Egypt, a UN report said.

An estimated 26 million refugees and displaced people are at greater risk of contracting the illness region-wide, as they lack adequate access to water and hygiene services, ESCWA said.

Why are there so many articles about 2 million Gazans who don't have adequate water and so few about the other 72 million people in the region who have the exact same (or worse) problem?

The answer, as always, is that if Israel cannot be blamed, the news media is not interested. And when they are not interested, there are far fewer stories being filed, and those stories get ignored by editors who prefer the "blame Israel" stories that fit the anti-Israel narrative.

So we see yet another op-ed, this one in the Washington Post, from a well-known anti-Israel liar, falsely claiming that Israel doesn't allow medical aid to Gaza, when no one can point to even a bandage that has not been allowed in:

If Israeli authorities do not act to immediately lift the siege and allow in more urgently-needed medical and other supplies, the virus will ravage not just Gaza, but Israel and other countries in the region as well. After all, viruses do not respect checkpoints or national boundaries. How can you put out a fire when gasoline is pouring on it from one side?

Israel must immediately lift restrictions on supplies and equipment entering Gaza and ensure Palestinian doctors and nurses have the resources they need to ensure the health and safety of their patients.

The massive coverage over the past five weeks of a crisis that never happened crowds out coverage for the actual crises in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and other Arab and Muslim countries who have far more people at risk than the total number of Palestinians. Limited aid dollars are disproportionately sent to the one place where people aren't dying of COVID-19 and not sent to NGOs that can actually help millions of other Arabs.

Anti-Israel propaganda helps people die.

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.