Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center announced Tuesday evening the death of an 87-year-old man from the coronavirus, Israel’s third fatality in the pandemic.What the US can learn from Israel’s handling of coronavirus crisis
The man was brought to the hospital earlier this week from the nursing home where he lived, after testing positive for the virus, the hospital said. He had a series of underlying medical problems, including diabetes and dementia, it added in the statement.
The man was not immediately named.
He was the second resident of the Nofim Tower assisted living facility in Jerusalem to succumb to the illness. The first was Aryeh Even, 88, who passed away on Friday.
Earlier Tuesday, a 67-year-old woman, named as Malka Keva from the coastal city of Bat Yam, died of the coronavirus in Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center, the hospital said.
Keva suffered from “a serious preexisting medical condition,” according to the hospital. Several years ago, she fell ill with cancer and had been in a weakened state when she contracted the virus.
On Tuesday morning, the Health Ministry reported that the number of diagnosed cases of coronavirus in the country had risen to 1,656, an increase of 214 from the previous night.
While the United States has one of the largest and most powerful militaries in the world, most Americans don’t interact with the military in their daily lives.
In Israel, the IDF plays an important part in the country’s day-to-day life and has even been called to help when other countries faced natural disasters.
In places like Europe, militaries have stepped up their role augmenting police and security forces, and it looks like in New York and California this may be the case as well. Floating military hospitals are going to help treat the overflow of ill citizens and the National Guard has been put on call in many states.
Militaries by their nature prepare for any contingency, and, as we are seeing unfold across the globe, are taking an active leadership role.
As Abraham Ronen, a security expert from ActPro LTD Consulting & Project Management states, “The military is an integrated and familiar part of Israeli society. The challenge we are currently facing is how active a role the IDF will play in taking responsibilities from the police and other security forces, particularly as the coronavirus is also impacting other players in the region.”
It WILL be ok
For Israelis, optimism that all will be fine (“yihiyeh b’seder”) is not some vague hope that things will work themselves out. It means things will be okay because people will actively figure out solutions.
Given Israel’s security situation, one would think that its citizens would be in a constant state of depression or panic. The reality is that living with purpose, close family and peer connections (which are being tested to an extreme these days because of self-isolation) and finding meaning in struggle have made Israel’s citizens among the world’s happiest.
People in Israel understand hardships will happen, but that ultimately they will prevail. That is a lesson many in the United States are learning now.
No one knows where this will lead. But both the United States and Israel are learning more every day about the virus. The examples above prove ways in which we can be proactive on a national scale to battle the COVID-19 crisis.
Jonathan “Yoni” Frenkel heads a digital marketing agency, YKC Media, that focuses on engaging millennial and tech professionals through content. He’s been involved in the New York-Israeli tech community for many years and previously held roles as a nonprofit professional at both the IAC Dor Chadash and AIPAC.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020Elder of Ziyon
The director of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque Omar Al-Kiswani said that the Endowment Council’s decision to temporarily suspend the prayers at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque began to be implemented at dawn today, Monday 23/3/2020, and it is meant to preserve the lives and prevent the spread of the Corona virus among the worshipers.
Al-Kiswani said in radio statements that only certain numbers of endowments employees, the guardians of the blessed mosque and some workers will be present, where the full prayers will be held and he will be entrusted in front of the mosque with those present .
On the other hand, the director of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque held the occupation fully responsible for the lives of worshipers inside Al-Aqsa if the occupation forces opened the doors of the Moroccans to the settlers.If Jews happen to also be in the general area - they never go anywhere near the Muslim worshipers - then the Jews are suddenly the ones responsible for the Muslims' health, and not the Muslims themselves.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020Elder of ZiyonSchlesinger said that several members of the Orthodox community with pre-existing conditions had passed away from COVID-19. One of them was a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish sect in Williamsburg. Liba Ettel Silberstein leaves behind some 1,200 grand and great grandchildren, according to her great grandson Moshe Klein.
A 67-year-old woman died of the coronavirus Tuesday afternoon in Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center, the hospital said, confirming Israel’s second fatality in the global pandemic.Coronavirus cases climb to 1,656, up 214 from Monday night
The woman suffered from “a serious preexisting medical condition,” according to the hospital.
Israel’s first fatality from the virus, 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Aryeh Even, was buried overnight Saturday in a funeral service that was capped at 20 mourners. All present were required to stand at a two-meter (6.5 ft) distance from one another.
Hours before the announcement of the latest death, the Health Ministry reported that the number of diagnosed cases of coronavirus in the country has risen to 1,656, an increase of 214 from the previous night.
So far, 49 people have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the ministry said in its morning update.
Of those being treated, 30 are in serious condition.
Over 71,000 Israelis are in quarantine, down from nearly 75,000 reported on Monday morning. In total, over 135,000 have spent time in self-isolation, almost 6,000 more than the number reported on Monday morning.
The number of diagnosed cases of coronavirus in the country rose to 1,656, the Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning, showing an increase of 214 from the previous night.
So far, 49 people have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the ministry said in its morning update. One person has died.
Of those being treated, 31 are in serious condition.
Over 71,000 Israelis are in quarantine, down from nearly 75,000 reported on Monday morning. In total, over 135,000 have spent time in self-isolation, almost 6,000 more than the number reported on Monday morning, meaning more people are leaving isolation than entering it.
The rise in cases came alongside a boost in the number of tests for the virus, with 3,743 people tested in the previous 24 hours. On Monday morning the ministry said it had tested 3,230 in the previous 24-hour period.
Tuesday’s increase followed what appeared to be the biggest single-day jump on Monday, when the ministry reported 371 new cases for a total of 1,442. The ministry generally sends out two updates a day, in the morning and at night, and Tuesday’s 12-hour surge of 214 since the previous report could indicate the record will again go up by the end of the day.
Israel is in 21st place on a list of cases by countries hit by the virus, according to data from the John Hopkin University virus website, which collates information on the global pandemic. China remains at the top, followed by Italy, the US, and Spain.
Israel is reportedly set to announce drastic new restrictions on public movement it hopes will help stanch the spread of the virus, though policy experts expect any effect to only be seen in 10 days or more.
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assesses tightening social distancing measures aimed at stemming the coronavirus outbreak, the government is reportedly considering imposing a full lockdown on elderly Israelis.Natan Sharansky: 5 Tips to Get Through the Coronavirus Quarantine
The measure would forbid all men aged 70 and up and women aged 65 and up from leaving their homes, Channel 12 reported Monday.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, has the most adverse effects on the elderly and those with underlying conditions, while younger people often experience only milder symptoms.
As of Monday afternoon, the virus had killed over 15,000 people and infected over 350,000 worldwide, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Other options being considered by the government include closing all shops except food stores and pharmacies or placing further limits on what kind of workers can go to their place of employment.
“There is no choice but to step up the measures. This is still not a curfew — but it is the closest there is to it,” a source with knowledge of the deliberations was quoted as saying.
My name is Natan Sharansky. I was born in the Soviet Union and at the age of 29 I was arrested for my Zionist activity. I spent 9 years in prison, half of it in solitary confinement and 405 days in a punishment cell. So I have some experience of spending time in solitary confinement and I want to give you 5 tips to get through the quarantine.
Tip 1: In prison I always had to remind myself I am part of a huge, global battle. You also should remind yourself that we are at war with a very dangerous, though invisible, enemy. And whether we will succeed in the battle depends also on your behavior.
Tip 2: In prison, I didn't know when I will be released or if I will be released at all. Don't build your future plans based on the hope that in the next few days, or the next few weeks, it all will be finished. It does not depend on you. So try to build plans which fully depend on you.
Tip 3: Never give up your sense of humor. I remember how in prison I enjoyed telling anti-Soviet jokes to my prison guards.
Tip 4: Don't give up on your hobbies. I knew how to play chess without the board and in the punishment cell I could play thousands of games in my head. You can enjoy singing, playing music, drawing, or whatever you like to do.
Tip 5: Feel your connection. Remember that you are not alone. We Jews, for thousands of years, were scattered all over the world. But we always had this feeling that we are part of a great people, with our mutual past, with our mutual future, and with our mutual mission. Think about it. Feel your connection. Together we will succeed. Am Yisrael chai [The people of Israel live].
Tuesday, March 24, 2020Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, March 24, 2020Elder of Ziyon
Up until now, Palestinian refugees, who have been living in Lebanon for decades yet remain without rights, are not clear about what actions are being taken to protect and support their communities. In a recent interview, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) stated that an emergency room has been set up for Palestinians. It hasn’t, however, shared any information about an actual response plan beyond “awareness” campaigns. Awareness can be helpful but not necessarily effective to people who have no access to healthcare, or the right to access healthcare. Moreover, the Lebanese Red Cross recently refused to transfer a patient from a refugee camp to the RFUH, causing more anxiety amid camps residents.As of this morning there are 267 known cases of COVID-19 in Lebanon. I am not aware of any in the camps - yet.
Many Palestinians worry that they might be forced to pay for testing and hospitalization, money they don’t have. Making the situation worse, xenophobic discourses remain and intensify with no end in sight, even in a raging epidemic. Several Lebanese officials such as Samir Geagea, for instance, have called for greater control in refugee camps, places where Palestinians are already under complete surveillance and control. These practices separate those who are deemed “deserving” of treatment from those who are “not deserving.” Citizens, in cases of pandemics, are typically framed as sanitary subjects deserving to survive whereas the non-citizen, the refugees, are “un-sanitized” and a “burden” and, thus, not deserving of treatment or allowed to live. This is complicated by the normalized xenophobic treatment causing Palestinians to be wary of health services in Lebanon. In 2018, for instance, a three-year-old Palestinian boy died after hospitals across Lebanon refused to provide him with a bed in an intensive care unit because of his nationality.
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon lack health and other forms of social security, and those who live in camps face added challenges. Palestinians in refugee camps experienced health complications caused by deteriorating living conditions, low wages, 66% poverty rate and increasing deprivation. Without access to health care, anxieties and fear intensified as refugees face the increasing threat of a COVID-19 outbreak, even as many pertinent questions remain unanswered. Meanwhile, the UNRWA has been experiencing an ongoing drastic cutback, especially its health services.
Palestinians living in Lebanon are almost entirely dependent on the UNRWA and other humanitarian NGOs for most aspects of their lives because they are excluded from (Lebanese) public education, public health and other social services.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020Elder of Ziyon
Bailtulamaal, Inc. is a member of the Union of Good, a charity sponsored by radical Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi and tagged in 2008 by the U.S. Treasury as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group.In addition, the suit notes that "Baitulmaal has sponsored numerous AMP [American Muslims for Palestine] events including its conventions from at least 2007 until the most recent in November 2018. " The lawsuit shows that AMP is the successor, with the same members and goals, to the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the American Muslim Society (AMS). The IAP/AMS were shown in court to have been liable for David Boim's death and the $156 million judgment put them out of business. The leaders simply started the new group to avoid paying the judgment, and this is what the new lawsuit is meant to show.
The Gaza-based Unlimited Friends Association for Social Development (UFA) "is closely aligned with senior Hamas leaders" and "openly states that it channels funds from Baitulmaal to the 'families of martyrs of the Palestinian people,'" the complaint says.
"Baitulmaal has openly distributed meat to Hamas functionaries and government workers on Muslim holy days claiming that "it is a matter of principle for the charity to help [Hamas] officials who can't afford to buy meat," it adds.
Monday, March 23, 2020Elder of Ziyon
I’ve been flooded by examples of Israelis helping to buy tons of flowers from private farmers that would otherwise get dumped in the garbage. I’ve seen Israelis support small businesses from pet stores to herb stores, to help them from collapsing financially.
I’ve seen teenagers and students deliver groceries and medicine to senior citizens homes, right to their doors. NGOs have established ‘hot lines’ for emotional support, and privately owned Israeli businesses have donated laptops and computers to impoverished children.
And I’ve also witnessed Israeli families “adopt” Holocaust survivors, ensuring they have everything they need.
This deep sense of Israeli solidarity is heavily integrated into the current crisis as well as other life-threatening scenarios. It is who we are as people. It is based on the values our country was founded upon. It is something we will always cherish and pass on to our children.
And there’s another resemblance between the coronavirus crisis and terror attacks on Israeli soil. In both cases, we have a strong army. It is not only an army of jets, tanks, and submarines. It’s an army that first and foremost is based on brilliant minds, devoted spirits, who work around the clock to ensure the safety of Israel. It’s an army of researchers who spend long hours at scientific labs, searching for the best vaccine for the virus.
It’s an army of innovative minds who develop apps and sites for the individuals and families locked in communities, making information more accessible for them. It’s an army of teachers who keep our kids studying with long distance technologies, who don’t forget they are educators before anything else.
The best thing? These minds are an asset for the world. Israel is working closely with other countries to promote required solutions, not only on a vaccine for coronavirus, but on many aspects of daily life affected by this new enemy.
Today more than ever, please recognize that Israel is a strong power, not only militarily, but even more importantly, in the capacity of its people and the values they represent.
It’s time to look at Israel in a different way.
It is often the challenging times that we remember the best — and learn from the most. They are also our proudest moments, if we rose to the occasion, and our most shameful moments, if we failed the test before us.Nobel Laureate: Why Coronavirus Crisis May Be Over Sooner Than Many Think
For our kids, who now have lots of time with mom and dad, they may remember this time as the most memorable of their lives, the most fun. The time they were able to be with their family.
As parents, we may learn that the most valuable gift we can give our kids is not a new iPad or a cell phone, but rather an hour of undivided attention, an hour of fun adventure walking in a park or having a picnic, an hour of listening to what is truly important — what is on their mind and in their heart at this moment.
Children also rise to the occasion. During the Holocaust, it was the children who crawled through the sewers and the small cracks in the walls to escape the ghettos, and bring food back to their families. During the pogroms, it was the 13-year-old kids who made their way to America and worked in sweat shops to earn money to bring their families to America. During war time, it has been the 18-year olds who saved the world from tyranny. King David was a boy when he defeated Goliath.
Looking back, we may find that our kids are more resilient than we would have ever thought.
As we “teach our children diligently,” as the Torah commands, and they rise to the occasion as they often do, we may ask ourselves: Are we giving them the message that they need — or are we entrusting that to a school system to feed them, educate them, and teach them their values?
Stanford biophysicist and Nobel laureate Michael Levitt says that based on how the COVID-19 crisis has played out in multiple countries, the threat is less severe than the media has portrayed it to be and might be over sooner than most think. “The real situation is not as nearly as terrible as they make it out to be,” Levitt says, and, in the end, “we’re going to be fine.”
Levitt, who accurately predicted the slowdown of coronavirus cases in China, has been making the rounds with various media outlets to discuss his findings on the most recent data from nearly 80 countries involving the global pandemic. Like several other experts, Levitt maintains that the threat of COVID-19 is less severe than many reports make it appear.
In a report published by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Levitt assured the public that the world, and the U.S., are going to survive COVID-19, and that, as has occurred in countries first hit by the pandemic, the cases of the virus will begin to decline more rapidly than some are projecting.
Levitt, the L.A. Times’ Joe Mozingo notes, “correctly calculated that China would get through the worst of its coronavirus outbreak long before many health experts had predicted” and now “foresees a similar outcome in the United States and the rest of the world.”
In a report published on February 1, Levitt predicted with remarkable accuracy how China’s cases would end up, saying that around 80,000 would contract the disease and among those around 3,250 would die. Mozingo notes that as of March 16, China, which has nearly 1.4 billion people, reported a total of just 80,298 cases and 3,245 deaths related to the virus and the number of new cases has slowed down to around 25 per day.
Levitt says that after studying data from 78 countries, he sees a similar pattern. As occurred in China in February, the rate of case increases will begin to decline, signaling the downside of a spread curve. “What we need is to control the panic,” Levitt told the paper.
The important metric, Levitt explained, is the number of new cases, not the total number of cases. The new cases data allows one to see more clearly the rate of spread. He also stressed that only when the virus is not being detected will it spread “exponentially.” When countries are testing and responding aggressively, the growth rate tends to decrease significantly.
Monday, March 23, 2020Elder of ZiyonAfter two months of voting and an unprecedented surge in participation, Orthodox and right-wing groups dramatically increased their share of American delegates to the World Zionist Congress, according to the results released Monday.
More than a third of delegates will belong to the Orthodox Israel Coalition and Eretz Hakodesh, groups that will push the Congress for more funding for religious schools. Only around one in 10 American Jews are Orthodox.
Because voter turnout was so high, nearly every established party increased its raw vote total, but only the Orthodox and conservative organizations substantially increased their share of the overall vote, and thus the number of delegates they will send to the Congress.
While the slate of the Reform movement, the most liberal of the three major branches of Judaism, once again finished in first place, their share of the vote declined from 39% in 2015 to 25% this time. The Conservative movement, the more centrist of the three denominations, also declined from 17% to 12%. And Hatikvah, the coalition of progressive Jewish organizations that targeted disaffected liberal Zionist voters in a new voter turnout campaign, more than doubled the number of votes it received, their share of the overall delegation only grew from 5% to 6%.
When Hatikvah, the US progressive Zionist slate first asked me to join their list for the World Zionist Congress, I was deeply confused (wait, wasn’t that Herzl’s thing from 1897? That’s still around?) and deeply conflicted. As a candidate, I would have to sign the Jerusalem Program, a Zionist loyalty oath of sorts, when I had spent the past two years leading a campaign against Jewish communal loyalty oaths.
Hadar Susskind gets why some people might not want to click the button. Susskind—who is coordinating the liberal Zionist Hatikvah slate’s efforts to turn out unprecedented numbers of progressive Jews to vote for them—acknowledges that the language in the Jerusalem Program makes some potential voters uncomfortable. For instance, the final principle that voters must stand by is “[s]ettling the country as an expression of practical Zionism.” Most progressive Jews are well aware that the primary “settling” effort in “practical Zionism” today is the further establishment of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, in defiance of international law. Left-leaning Zionists—as well as non-Zionists and anti-Zionists—have railed against such settlements for decades. So how can these critics affirm the WZC’s platform in good conscience?Hatikvah has candidates like Peter Beinart, Jeremy Ben Ami and the New Israel Fund CEO Daniel Sokatch.
“Most people read that as a right-wing statement, right?” says Susskind. “They go, ‘Oh, my God. If I click this thing, I’m supporting annexation [of the West Bank].’ But it’s vague. It doesn’t actually say that.” In his eyes, the line could just as easily refer to development inside the UN-recognized borders of Israel.
...The struggle of Hatikvah in the WZC contest is, in many ways, the struggle of liberal Zionism everywhere today. Advocates of the ideology are attempting to remain a force within institutions increasingly dominated by the right, while alienated leftists say they cannot in good conscience participate in organizations like the WZC; for leftists, the moral dilemmas that liberal Zionists face today are emblematic of contradictions that have been present since liberal Zionism’s founding. After all, the kibbutzniks whom Susskind admires may have been egalitarian on their agricultural settlements, but there were many of them among the Jewish soldiers who spurred the Nakba—the mass expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians in 1948—and the kibbutzim themselves were often established on the sites of eradicated Palestinian villages.
Monday, March 23, 2020Elder of Ziyon
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