Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, April 17, 2020

04/17 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: Pandemics, Palestinian incitement and peace; 7 deaths take virus toll to 150, including 8th resident of J’lem nursing home

From Ian:

Caroline B. Glick: Pandemics, Palestinian incitement and peace

Since the onset of the pandemic, all democratically elected governments have made their share of mistakes in contending with it. But the struggles of the governments of Italy, Israel, Taiwan, the US, and all the rest share a common key feature: Their top priority is to protect the lives and wellbeing of their citizens.

In contrast, we see that like the Palestinian regimes, authoritarian regimes in China, Iran, and beyond have busied themselves with principally trying to exploit the pandemic for their own benefit.

China, the source of the coronavirus, is hiding much of what it knows about the origins of the pandemic and vastly underreporting their virus infection and death rates. The Chinese hide this vital information to present themselves as more competent in handling the virus than the "bungling democracies" struggling to contain it. And to build their conspiracy theory that the US is the source of the pandemic. At the same time, China has ratcheted up its threats against Taiwan and has allegedly tested another nuclear weapon.

Iran is also publishing false data about its coronavirus infection and death rates. Whereas the official numbers claim that 4,700 Iranians have died from the coronavirus, Iranian opposition forces allege that thirty thousand Iranians have died.

Like the Palestinians and the Chinese, the Iranians accuse Israel and the US of inventing and spreading the virus. After they rejected a US offer for humanitarian assistance to fight the coronavirus, the Iranians began using the pandemic as a fundraising tool.

They demand assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union and exploit the political cleavages in the US to pressure the Trump administration to cancel the US economic sanctions on Iran. All the while, Iran is threatening US forces in Iraq and continuing its uranium enrichment activities.

Through their behavior, the Palestinians show that peace is a dead issue. Israel has permanent, vital interests in Judea and Samaria. It needs to secure those interests by applying its sovereign laws wherever it deems necessary, and bar the PA from operating in its territory.

More broadly, through their conduct, the Palestinians, like their authoritarian brethren in China, Iran and beyond, drive home the difference between democracies and dictatorships.

There are good guys and bad guys in this world. In the future, when we get confused about who is on which side, all we will need to do to figure out where justice lies is look back at how the each behaved during the coronavirus pandemic.

7 deaths take virus toll to 150, including 8th resident of J’lem nursing home

The death toll in Israel from the coronavirus rose to 150 Friday afternoon, an increase of seven from the previous evening.

One of the victims, a 96-year-old woman, was the eighth fatality from the Maon Horim assisted living facility in Jerusalem, the Walla news site reported.

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

In addition, a 76-year-old woman succumbed to the coronavirus at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, the hospital said, adding that she had preexisting illnesses.

An 84-year-old woman died at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, the hospital announced, adding that she also suffered from preexisting medical conditions.

A 66-year-old man from Haifa died at the city’s Carmel Medical Center, the hospital’s first fatality from COVID-19.

A man, 70, died at the Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak and a 90-year-old woman died in the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan.

There were no further details given on the identities of the victims.

Test error: 14 nursing home residents in COVID-19 hospital wards never had virus

The positive coronavirus test results for 14 nursing home residents who have been in isolated hospital wards were mistaken, Hebrew-language media reported Friday, with second test results coming back negative.

The elderly residents of an old-age home in Ashdod had been tested at the Weizmann Institute, and the test results of 29 further residents of the “Beit Hadar” assisted living facility in the coastal city are now also being re-examined, Channel 13 news reported.

The Health Ministry told the broadcaster in a statement that an investigation has been opened and that the elderly residents have been isolated in the hospital to reduce the possibility of them becoming infected while a decision is made about their future care.

“There was a suspicion of a problem in one of the stages of the laboratory diagnostic process. The issue is currently undergoing a thorough investigation. Repeat tests on additional patients and caregivers will be made as needed,” the ministry said. “The patients who have been transferred to the hospitals are now in isolation, and the appropriate place for their continued care is being examined so that they do not become infected.”

Nine of the patients confirmed to not have COVID-19 were hospitalized at Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod and the rest at Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon and Kaplan hospital in Rehovot.

They were in special quarantined wards for coronavirus patients alongside confirmed carriers.

Israeli-Russian Philanthropist Donates 3 Million Surgical Masks to Israel

3 million surgical masks for Magen David Adom (MDA) and other essential institutions arrived in Israel on Thursday from China, donated by Israeli-Russian tech investor and philanthropist Yuri Milner and his wife Julia.

Now based in Silicon Valley, Milner made a fortune as an early investor in many giants of the tech industry.

Israel's Consul-General in San Francisco Shlomi Kofman said, "It is moving to see Israelis across the ocean supporting their country during this difficult period."

A US citizen in Gaza tries to scam the US to give his fake kid a passport

The summary of this lawsuit between Mohammed Sabra and his wife Pomm, US citizens living in Gaza, makes you want to learn exactly what happened:

In June 2019, Mrs. Sabra applied in person at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem (the “Embassy”) for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (“CRBA”) and U.S. passport as proof of Baby M’s U.S. citizenship, citing a need for urgent medical treatment in the United States. Mrs. Sabra did not provide any travel plans for Baby M’s urgent medical care, and Baby M did not attend the in-person interview because she was hospitalized. Because Mrs. Sabra failed to provide written medical records to substantiate Baby M’s medical condition, the Embassy did not excuse Baby M’s personal appearance. Given Mrs. Sabra’s “advanced age,” the Embassy requested documentary evidence establishing that Mrs. Sabra was Baby M’s mother. Due to the indicia of fraud and inconsistencies in the submissions, the Embassy extended the deadline for the submission of additional evidence to establish Baby M’s claim to U.S. citizenship. Litigation ensued. After Baby M’s health became stable, Mr. and Mrs. Sabra declined the Embassy’s offer to apply in person with Baby M for the CRBA and U.S. passport. In October 2019, the Embassy denied Mrs. Sabra’s
applications.

Reading further, it looks like Baby M either does not exist or is someone else's baby who is paying the Sabras to make her a US citizen.

For a baby to become a citizen, he or she has to show up in person. The only exception is if they are ill, in which case evidence must be brought to prove both the birth and the illness.

It gets interesting:

Mrs. Sabra presented a “Pediatric Admission Form,” which was primarily written in English, as evidence of Baby M’s medical condition, but Vice-Consul Woda determined that the document did not appear to be prepared “in the regular course of [Baby M’s] medical treatment.” Vice-Consul Woda observed that the form did not indicate the hospital that generated the form and concluded that the form was “prepared specifically for presentation to the Embassy” because it is “written entirely in English.”

Evidence that the entire thing was a scam accumulated:

According to Vice-Consul Woda, Mrs. Sabra claimed that Baby M was born at a private clinic during the June 12, 2019 interview. Mrs. Sabra did not provide any documentary evidence of post-natal care. Neither did Mrs. Sabra provide information about the Sabra family’s travel plans to the United States for Baby M’s medical treatment. Vice-Consul Woda avers that “[Mrs.] Sabra could not explain how [Baby M] would be able to take a transatlantic flight to the United States, which would first require overland travel to Amman, Cairo, or Tel Aviv, when [Baby M] was not well enough to appear for the interview at the Erez crossing, and appeared to have no plan [for] the child’s travel or subsequent treatment.”

At some point, the Embassy received a discharge record indicating that Baby M was born in a “private clinic.”...stating that “the attached Exhibit A is the discharge record from the clinic where [Baby M] was born, issued and stamped by the Palestinian National Authority, which shows [Mrs.] Sabra and [Mr.] Sabra to be the parents of [Baby M]”). The machine-printed birth certificate contains white-out and a handwritten alteration at box 5 “Place of birth.” The words “private clinic,” in Arabic, were written by hand over the whiteout.

Given Mrs. Sabra’s claims that Baby M’s life was in danger, the Embassy offered to assist the family with obtaining a permit for Baby M in order for her to receive medical treatment in Israel. The Sabra family declined the Embassy’s offer.

On June 25, 2019, the Embassy’s ACS Unit received an e-mail from Plaintiff’s counsel. Plaintiff’s counsel “asserted that DNA testing is against [Mrs.] Sabra’s sincerely held religious beliefs as a practicing Muslim and that [Baby M] could not withstand ‘either the trip to the Embassy for a DNA sample or the thirty (30) day wait for results articulated by U.S. Embassy officials in Jerusalem – without urgent medical treatment which she cannot receive in Gaza, Baby M is not likely to survive another thirty days.’” In response, on June 28, 2019, the Embassy reiterated its offer to assist the Sabra family to obtain permits from the Israeli government for Baby M’s urgent medical treatment. Id. Again, the Sabra family declined the Embassy’s offer.

The family also claimed that a doctor had delivered and taken care of the baby, with a letter in English. When the US officials called the doctor, he said he doesn't speak English, and through a translator he said he did not deliver the baby nor had he ever treated her. He was called to their house after the baby was already born, it is unclear if he ever saw her.

Moreover, the family claimed that they could not submit the baby to a DNA test or provide photos of Pomm while pregnant because of their religious beliefs. I can find no evidence that Muslim law disallows either DNA testing or showing photographs of a pregnant woman.

After the US denied the attempt to give the baby a US passport, Mohammed Sabra sued, and this lawsuit was dismissed in light of the evidence.

What makes this more interesting is that it appears that it was quite easy for the Sabras to obtain Palestinian Authority stamps and documentation for what is probably a fictional baby.

(h/t Bill P)

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Palestinian "human rights" group posts a blood libel

On this Palestinian Prisoners Day, the explicit support of terror and terrorists as well as explicit lies by Palestinian media and NGOs is the norm, as they demand Israel release terrorists.

Some of the memes being tweeted glorify terrorists:

On the 16th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi, co-founder of Hamas Movement.#FreePalestine #WeAreWithYou #PalestinianPrisonersDay pic.twitter.com/COfZ5YnrnP
— Palestine Live (@pallive_en) April 17, 2020

Some pretend that Israel imprisons pre-teens, which is a lie (as is the "12,000" figure and the "violence" statistic.)

Others openly lie - there are a total of 4500 prisoners, 40% of them aren't sick:

And none of them are murdered, nor is there medical negligence:

And yet other memes are accidentally funny:

But the most offensive meme comes from Addameer, which describes itself as a "Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association." It tweeted this video showing an Israeli soldier tossing a COVID-19 "grenade" into a cell of a cowering Palestinian.

Addameer is widely respected, with its bogus statistics quoted by the UN, Time magazine and Jimmy Carter. They are the source of the lie of "over 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned" as well as "40% of Palestinian adult males have been arrested."

Now they are posting blood libels as memes. And none of the so-called "Jewish" anti-Israel groups will say a word.

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Today, people are demanding that Israel release terrorists to be free to kill Jews again

Today is Palestinian Prisoner Day, and people from the far Left as well as Palestinians are demanding that Palestinian terrorists be freed.

Mahmoud Abbas said that he would refuse to sign any peace agreement with Israel that didn't free every Palestinian terrorist, no matter what they were convicted of.

But the far-left is saying the same thing, pretending to care about human rights.

This particular group says that the prisoners must be freed "for public health."

They care so much about the health and safety of the people! Except for the hundreds of Jews who were murdered by these terrorists. Their health and safety aren't on the radar of these supposed humanitarians.

Out of the 4500 current Palestinian prisoners, over 500 of them are serving life terms. Life terms are only given to those who were found guilty of murder of Israelis, directly or by directing terror attacks by others.

If these far-Leftists people would be advocating for Israel to release those in administrative detention, or those who are serving short prison terms, then perhaps they could argue that they care about humanitarian issues. But they are demanding that people behind the deadliest terror attacks be freed unconditionally - and many of them would then turn around to plan their next attacks on Israeli Jews as soon as they could.

Which makes them hypocrites and terror supporters.

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Lessons from the Pandemic (Vic Rosenthal)

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

We went on a shopping expedition yesterday. Masked up, we walked to the supermarket and pharmacy and then returned home by way of the greengrocer. We made a special stop at a small market that was said to have eggs. There was a long line in front; but we got our eggs. Although I couldn’t tell for sure, I believe that these eggs were among those airlifted in from Portugal and Ukraine to meet the demand at Pesach time.

Israel still produces a lot of eggs, and this particular shortage was probably caused by hoarding by people who were afraid that the disruption caused by the coronavirus would prevent them from getting eggs for Pesach.

Eggs really aren’t a problem. We produce them, we can import them from multiple sources, and in the final analysis, we can live without them. Yes, even at Pesach, if we had to. In case you are wondering, there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of toilet paper, at least in Rehovot.

But what about other things? “Hi-tech” is supposedly the jewel in the crown of Israel’s economy, and semiconductors – microprocessors and countless types of simpler devices – are the building blocks of electronic devices. There are numerous semiconductor companies operating and headquartered in Israel, but – with the exception of Intel, which has manufacturing facilities for advanced microprocessors in Kiryat Gat – as far as I can tell, none of them actually make their products here. Chip designs created here are sent to “fabs” – fabricators – in East Asia, India, and elsewhere where they are manufactured. Other components that are necessary for building electronic devices are all manufactured elsewhere. Indeed, it is normal for a device to be designed in one country, assembled in another from parts made in still other countries, and then marketed worldwide.

Rice is apparently something that Israelis eat a lot of, but it is all imported. Israel exports irrigation systems that make it possible to grow rice with far less water than by traditional methods, but apparently we don’t use them at home. Ptitim, the tiny chunks of pasta that are so popular here, sometimes called “Israeli couscous” although they are not couscous, were developed by the Osem company as a rice substitute at the request of David Ben Gurion in the 1950s. During the first decade of Israel’s existence, not enough food was produced internally for all the immigrants – refugees from the Holocaust and Jews forced to leave Arab countries. In addition, there was little foreign currency available for imports like rice. Ptitim are cheap and easy to make.

There are numerous other products and raw materials that are essential to our daily lives or for our economy to function that must be imported. And we’ve developed complex systems that make this possible. But suppose these systems stopped functioning.

The coronavirus outbreak has made me think about this possibility. Suddenly we’ve noticed that things needed to respond to the epidemic, like protective equipment, diagnostic supplies, and ventilators, were not manufactured domestically. Drugs and ingredients for them come from overseas, often from only one country, usually China. Just-in-time manufacturing and inventory procedures mean that it’s difficult for the system to deal with a sudden spike in demand. Worldwide competition drives prices sky-high.

Israel made use of its Defense Ministry and even the Mossad spy agency to locate and procure urgently needed equipment. Defense facilities are now manufacturing ventilators locally. Thanks to this, and if current models are correct, Israeli doctors will not face the decisions their counterparts in northern Italy had to, in which they must choose which patient will get the ventilator that will allow him or her to live, while another is left to die. If we’re lucky.

But our highly leveraged technological civilization is not out of the woods yet. There is room for significant skepticism about the numbers of dead and sick coming from China. Economic and political instability there are not out of the question. In addition, some have predicted a deep worldwide economic depression caused by the pandemic and the lockdowns. If this comes about, and especially if it is accompanied by political instability – wars, revolutions, and the collapse of states – it could be enough to break some of the weak links in the chain that makes up the global economy. I could imagine widespread food insecurity in countries that until now have been considered highly developed.

Of course this could all be what my wife calls my “3 AM paranoia.” Maybe the coronavirus will quickly burn itself out, and economies around the world will recover quickly. Maybe the Chinese are telling the truth, or maybe they do have 21 million dead and it doesn’t matter. But whether or not this particular crisis is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, or if mankind wriggles out of this one only to be impaled upon the next (I love mixing metaphors), there are lessons to be learned for the people who make policy decisions for the nations of the world.

It is not possible for a nation the size of Israel to be self-sufficient in all things (although one like the US could be). But every nation should strive to be able to grow enough food to sustain its population. The trend toward agricultural monocultures is worrying. In other areas too, self-sufficiency should be a goal. Medical supplies are one. And many countries, including the US, are dependent on China. If something were to happen to China, or if the Chinese were to decide to deliberately act against countries it sees as enemies, it’s easy to imagine the result.

There are other reasons to worry about single sources for critical items. In 2007, Chinese manufacturers sold adulterated food ingredients to pet food manufacturers in the US and elsewhere, causing numerous animals to die. A year later, the same dangerous substance turned up in milk and baby formula, killing six infants in China.

A different kind of “adulteration” affects computer chips. In 2015, a Chinese subcontractor producing server motherboards for an American company secretly added an additional chip to them, one that would allow a hacker to bypass security in any network containing a machine with this board in it. The company’s servers were in use in American warships, drone operation centers, and more. In this instance, the trick was discovered. But it is even possible to modify a standard chip to include a “back door” on its own silicon. Such a hack would be much harder to detect.

The Chinese company Huawei makes 4G and now 5G equipment for cellular phone and data networks. US security officials claim (Huawei denies it) that there is a “back door” in this equipment which makes it possible for Huawei, and of course the Chinese government, to intercept traffic on networks using this equipment.

All this points to the risks in depending on outside suppliers for critical items, whether they be food or computer chips. We should diversify our agriculture and our manufacturing. Self-sufficiency is a worthwhile goal, even if it can only be attained partially. The coronavirus pandemic should be a warning that the worldwide system is not as stable or trustworthy as we have assumed. If we get through this relatively unscathed, we may not be so lucky next time.

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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.

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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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How Have The Media And The Palestinian Arabs Changed Over The Last 50 Years? (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Have the attitudes of Palestinian terrorists and of the West itself changed over the last 50 years?

Last week, I came across a collection of old articles that illustrate some of the attitudes following the Six Day War.

All 3 articles are by Yehoshafat Harkabi, the chief of Israeli military intelligence from 1955 until 1959 before he became a professor of International Relations and Middle East Studies at Hebrew University. Along the way, he changed from a hardliner to a supporter of negotiations with the PLO. The collection is entitled "Three Articles on the Arab Slogan of a Democratic State."

The first article, "The Slogan 'Democratic Palestinian State'," translated from a piece he wrote for Ma'ariv in April 1970, shows how the Arabs wrestled with their image as terrorists so as not to turn world opinion against them.

Back in those days, world opinion was actually a source concern.

After the Six-Day War, when the Arabs became aware that by making extreme statements they had prejudiced their position in foreigners' eyes, they commenced to seek a way of evading the trap of politicide [calling for the annihilation of a State] that entails genocide that is, a way of lending a moderate tone to their position calling for the annihilation of Israel.

This was actually a problem that forced some Palestinian Arab leaders to twist their words in order to appear 'moderate' -- a problem that does not seem to exist today.

For example, Ahmed Shukeiry, the first Chairman of the PLO, from 1964 to 1967, said that he had never advocated throwing the Jews in the sea -- that was a Zionist libel.

He explained that what he meant was that the Jews would return to their countries of origin by way of the sea: "They came by the sea and will return by the sea" (Palestine Documents for 1967, p. 1084). Thus, from a means of annihilation the sea was metamorphosed into a simple means of transportation.

Thanks to a compliant media, such gymnastics are not required today.

Hamas has no problem declaring their intent to destroy Israel, just as they are able to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians without the West saying a word, let alone invoke international law.

As far as the Palestinian Authority goes, Abbas knows what to say in Arabic and what to say in English, secure in the knowledge that the media will obligingly focus only on the latter.

In fact, after the Six Day War, the Arabs began to catch on to how easy it was to lead the West and its media by the nose.

Arab spokesmen began to brandish the slogan of "a Democratic Palestinian State in which Arabs and Jews will live in peace." Indeed, this slogan was well received among many circles in the world at large as evidence that the Arab position had become more moderate. Many people overlooked its ambiguity and disregarded that fact that it by no means contradicted the basic Arab position of the past, for the slogan may still mean that Jews would be reduced to an insignificant minority which would be permitted to live in peace.

The problem, of course, was that the Arabs had no intention of living side-by-side with Jews in a democratic state. The idea was discussed at the Sixth Congress of the Palestinian National Council in Cairo in September 1969, where the consensus was that the slogan was purely a propaganda device.

Making the slogan anything more than that was dangerous.

That is, if this slogan is taken literally, the Arab character that the country must have after its "liberation" will be undermined, for a large group of Jews would be permitted to remain. the Palestinian National Covenant stipulated that only the Palestinian Arab people has the right of self-determination in the country, whereas the slogan "Democratic State" makes the Jews partners. Moreover, this slogan may imply reconciliation with the Jews rather than a war a l'outrance [out-right war].

So much for proposals for a 'one state solution' today.

The Democratic Front went so far as to offer that

The Palestinian State, which will eliminate racial discrimination and national persecution, must be based on a democratic solution of the existing conflict resting on coexistence between the two people, Arab and Jewish.

However, Harkabi notes that the implied recognition of "a Jewish people" is misleading, because Jews were seen as a people with no right to a state of its own -- and instead would have to settle for participating in a state with a Palestinian Arab nationality. Jews were to be accepted on a cultural level, not a national-political one.

Keep in mind that the same 'Democratic Front' that offered the possibility of a bi-national state with Jews is also known for the 1974 Ma'alot massacre in which 25 schoolchildren and teachers were killed. Not surprising, since this same 'Democratic Front' was accepted in the PLO's Command of Armed Struggle, which required it to accept the Palestinian National Covenant.

As for Fatah, Harkabi quotes from a public statement on January 1, 1970, on the 5th anniversary of their activity. Fatah had high hopes for guerrilla activity in the heart of Israel, attacking civilians and not just military targets, in the hope that the Israeli

will find himself isolated and defenceless against the Arab soldier in his house, on his land, on the road, in the cafe, in the movie theatre, in army camps and everywhere, far from the area under control of the Israeli Air Force and mechanical equipment which assures him protection and security of life. These acts will force him to consider and compare the life of stability and repose that he enjoyed in his former country and the life of confusion and anxiety he finds in the land of Palestine. This is bound to motivate him towards reverse immigration.

Fatah was unduly optimistic.

But the same can also be said for Harkabi.
He trusted the media to do its job:

The article in the Palestinian National Covenant which is so extreme regarding the Jews is becoming known in the world. A number of foreign journals recognized the importance of this document and reproduced the English translations of my article which explains the Covenant. There will most likely be pressure among the Palestinians to change the Covenant and make it more moderate and palatable.

Harkabi could hardly have been expected to foresee the degree to which those foreign journals would come to take sides and exhibit the kind of bias and outright support for Palestinian terrorists and against Israel that we see today.

And the Palestinian National Covenant remains unchanged.

He concludes his article optimistically, seeing the Arab adoption of the slogan "Democratic State" -- even as pure propaganda -- as a stage in the retreat of the Arab position:

The contradictions contained in the slogan "Democratic State" will bring about many inner struggles, debates, forums and symposiums. This slogan will become another subject over which the Arabs will be divided. The Jewish community will increase and the possibilities of digesting it as a minority will become smaller. For some time now they have been non-existent. The retreat in the Arab position will continue, for the meaning of the Arab position is becoming more apparent, and the attitude which stemmed from ambiguity and euphemistic expressions, which the Arabs used to define their aims, is becoming restricted. The difficulties involved in a politicidal position will become more obvious. From the Arab point of view, brandishing the slogan "Democratic State" creates more problems than it solves.

True, Israel has flourished and its population has grown.

But as it turns out, many of those "inner struggles debates, forums and symposiums" that Harkabi anticipated among the Arabs are these days taking place among Jews, especially as divisions develop between the Jewish communities in the US and Israel.

The retreat in the Arab position has developed -- but it is the position not of the Palestinian Arab but the Arab world that has changed, in ways that Harkabi could not have imagined.

Those negotiations he encouraged with the Palestinian Arabs came to pass, and brought about Palestinian territories, but have only become a greater source of danger for Israeli security.

Harkabi could hardly have been expected to anticipate the cynical world of today.

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04/13 Links Pt1: 8 new fatalities take Israel’s COVID-19 death toll to 113; The Mossad: Israel's Not-So-Secret Weapon in the Coronavirus Fight

From Ian:

8 new fatalities take Israel’s COVID-19 death toll to 113

Eight people died overnight and during Monday morning from COVID-19, bringing the coronavirus death toll in Israel to 113.

An 80-year-old resident of a senior living home was the 12th person from the assisted living facility in Yavne’el, in the north of the country, to die from the virus.

Additionally, an 81-year-old woman and a 96-year-old woman died at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, while a 78-year-old man with preexisting medical conditions died of the disease at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem.

A 41-year-old woman succumbed at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. The hospital said she had suffered from preexisting illnesses and that it shared the family’s grief.

In addition, an 80-year-old man died Monday afternoon at Laniado Hospital in Netanya, and an 85-year-old woman succumbed to the virus at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

No further information on their identities were initially released, and there were no immediate details on the eighth fatality.

Former Sephardic chief rabbi Bakshi-Doron succumbs to coronavirus, aged 79

Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, the former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, died due to complications from the coronavirus at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center on Sunday. Israeli leaders mourned his passing, hailing him a great spiritual guide.

Bakshi-Doron, 79, who served as chief rabbi from 1993 to 2003, succumbed to the virus five days after checking into the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms. He was tested shortly upon his arrival and found to be a carrier.

The hospital said his condition deteriorated during the day and efforts to revive him in the evening were unsuccessful.

With his death and that of another woman, Israel’s toll rose to 105 Sunday night.

Born in 1941 in Jerusalem, Bakshi was first chief rabbi in Bat Yam and then Haifa, before rising in 1993 to become the Rishon Lezion, a title given to the chief Sephardic rabbi.

During his time as chief rabbi, he devoted efforts to interfaith dialogue, and together with Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, met with Pope John Paul II during his 2000 visit to Israel.

NYTs: The Mossad: Israel's Not-So-Secret Weapon in the Coronavirus Fight

The Mossad, the storied Israeli spy service, has been deeply involved in Israel's fight against the virus, and has been one of the country's most valuable assets in acquiring medical equipment and manufacturing technology abroad, according to Israeli medical and security officials.

Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, the director general of Sheba Medical Center, said, "It is only in Israel that Sheba hospital could have enlisted the help of the Mossad. Can you imagine Mount Sinai Hospital going to the CIA for help?," referring to the New York medical center.

According to Israeli officials, the Mossad used international contacts to avert shortages that might have overwhelmed Israel's health system, enabling Israel to acquire ventilators and testing material that the health ministry had been unable to secure. In some instances, Mossad Director Yossi Cohen personally contacted his counterparts to expedite the purchase of goods. In other cases, Cohen spoke directly to the rulers of particular countries.

On this Passover, anti-Zionists should be ashamed.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that while they pretend to be tolerant, they cannot tolerate a Jewish state.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that while they pretend to be liberal, they support the most illiberal Arab politicians - leaders who are misogynist, anti-gay and intolerant of any dissent.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that on the very holiday where Jews celebrate their freedom from oppression, they want Jews to go back into exile.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that they claim to want people to be free but they are against the self-determination of only one people.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that they claim to be against antisemitism but they publicly and proudly support the world's worst antisemites.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that they pretend to hate racism, but in fact they hate people, and then justify that bigotry by labeling their opponents as racist.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that their supposed love for Arabs and Muslims disintegrates past Israel's borders.

Anti-Zionists should be ashamed that their arguments against "Zionists" echo centuries-old arguments against Jews, and that their cause is just the newest twist on the oldest hatred.

If you are anti-Zionist, you are against the fundamentals of the lessons of Passover - the freedom of a people to be a nation, to be unique, to chart their own course in history, to be a beacon of hope to the world.

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