Is Something Rotten In Denmark?

When IKEA, the popular furniture chain, was allowed to reopen in Israel during the COVID-19 crisis,  other superstores and small shops who were still shuttered demanded also to open. This brought about an easing of restrictions. Even beauty parlors and barbershops reopened this week. All employees and customers were to maintain social distancing, wear masks, and check for fevers.  The pressure then mounted on the government to open the schools and other shops while the indoor malls remained open.

On Monday, the government announced that kindergartens and grades 1-3 in schools would reopen on May 3rd. By May 15th most of the restrictions on the population are expected to be lifted.
HMO's are expected to assume the task of performing the COVID-19 tests. A reporter on Channel 12 TV news asked how were those people who suspected they had the virus but did not have a car were expected to arrive at the HMO? If these people took public transportation and it turned out they were infected they may infect everyone on the bus.

Channel 12 health commentator Dr. Barabash said that the wisdom of opening up the country wouldn't be determined for at least ten days, the incubation period of the virus. Barabash hoped a new wave of the virus wouldn't appear.

As for IKEA, the furniture chain's Israeli franchise is owned by a partnership between Matthew Bronfman, a son of Edgar Bronfman (former CEO of the Seagram's company), and Yacov Shalom Fisher, an Israeli businessman.

Yediot Achranot, the Israeli daily, connected the IKEA opening to Health Minister Yacov Litzman, a member of the Gur Hassidic movement, the world's largest Hassidic sect. According to that newspaper, Shalom Fisher, as he is called, is a Gur Hassid. Other websites dispute that Fisher is a Gur Hassid, but confirm that IKEA has donated 1.3 million shekels (@$400,000) in recent years to the Gur movement.

According to the blog Ashdod Net, Bronfman and Fisher are the biggest donors to the Gur Hassidic movement. Ashdod net claims that IKEA's controlling shareholders Bronfman and Fisher contributed over 1 million shekels (@$300,000) to the Gur Institutions Association in 2017. Between 2014-2016 IKEA-Israel donated 283,000 shekels(@$80,000) to Gur. The website claims that the Admor, Yaakov Aryeh Alter, the head of the Gur Hassidim, his family and his entourage, spends his annual holidays in Shalom Fisher's home.

According to that website, Litzman's Gur Hassidic movement also received donations from the Tempo soft drink company, Strauss, Tnuva and others. Both Litzman's Health Ministry and IKEA deny any favoritism in allowing IKEA to be one of the first stores to open in Israel. This, when pictures of shoppers at IKEA were lined up waiting to get into the stores, albeit with masks and at a safe distance, and other shops were shuttered.

Yesterday, Yaacov Litzman has resigned from his position as Minister of Health and been given instead Minister of Housing.  As Minister of Health Litzman resisted restrictions of large gatherings at weddings and in synagogues until, according to pundits, he realized the error of his ways.
If the reports are true, Litzman was acting under orders from the head of the Gur Hassidic movement, since among the ultra-orthodox, especially Hassidim, the Rebbe of the group gives orders and those who follow these orders ignore them at risk of expulsion from the group or community.

Now, Litzman has been handed the Housing Ministry. Reportedly, he was advised to take this ministry by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, head of the ultra-orthodox Shas political party. (Deri is a convicted felon who served time in prison for graft and corruption while Interior Minister in a previous government, also run by PM Netanyahu.) With Litzman as Housing Minister contractors within the ultra-orthodox community, analysts say, may receive favorable terms for housing developments. And, say these analysts, the ultra-orthodox community will receive priority when new housing becomes available.

Yesterday, Israel's Ministry of Finance allowed a grant of 6 billion shekels (nearly $2B) to several large chain stores who claimed they should be compensated for the forced closure due to the virus.  One of the demands of the businessmen was that the companies should be paid 10,000 shekels (@$3,000) per employee. However, TV news commentators stated that most employees worked at minimum wage or part-time, and only very few received 10,000 shekels a month in salary. The commentators claimed that these businesses were trying to recoup losses they'd suffered not by the COVID-19 but by internet competition that undercut their often high, sometimes outrageously high, prices. Some cynics speculate that these businessmen contribute to PM Netanyahu's Likud party.

Then there is the question of Netanyahu's upcoming trial for three felonies. The trial is to be held on May 27th. However, Attorney General Mandelblit, who brought the indictments, said in the media that he fears that Dan Eldad, the temporary state prosecutor appointed by Netanyahu acolyte Justice Minister Amir Ohana, is trying to ignore the rule of law. Mandelblit claims that Eldad has been subverting Mandelblit. And worse, shortly after taking office, launched an investigation into a company then run by Benny Gantz, coincidently the candidate who was running against Netanyahu for Prime Minister. Mandelblit also said that Justice Minister Ohana is bent on ousting him,  perhaps with the help of Netanyahu, and has asked Eldad to reopen an investigation about a case where Mandelblit was under suspicion of misdeeds but was cleared.

The new coalition agreement between Netanyahu's Likud party and Benny Gantz's Blue and White gives Netanyahu veto power over the appointment of a permanent state prosecutor as well as the successor to Mandelblit as attorney general. Likud will also control the committee appointing high court judges. According to reports, this has led Mandelblit to believe that Netanyahu is behind the efforts of Ohana and Eldad to oust him. Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, bribery, and breach of trust. Pundits believe that having influence over the Knesset judicial committee, and the appointment of both the state prosecutor and the attorney general might allow Netanyahu to somehow slip out of the charges against him.

Historian and political commentator Yuval Harari said in a recent op-ed piece in Yediot Achronot that at the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Netanyahu had tried to stage a coup under the guise of managing the health crisis.  "An unelected prime minister...tried to close down parliament and rule by emergency decree without any parliamentary supervision," Harari said. Harari tweeted that his move was turning Israel into a dictatorship. 

In an interview with the Times of Israel Harari said the coup failed because there was enough resistance from other parties, the media, and public demonstrations against dissolving parliament. According to Harari, Netanyahu realized he had to make a deal. Had there been no resistance he would have kept on ruling under emergency decree without any parliamentary supervision. "Very often coups try to hide their real nature," said Harari. Tanks in the streets and taking over TV stations are not always necessary.

Where is Benny Gantz in all of this? observers ask. The man who said he would never sit in a government with a thrice indicted prime minister has seemingly turned into a powder puff, say these observers. Netanyahu has control of all the major judicial posts. Gantz is slated to become the Minister of Defense. His Blue and White partner Gabi Ashkenazi will become Foreign Minister.

Former prime minister Ehud Barak has called on Gantz to leave the coalition before it is formalized by the Knesset. According to Barak, Netanyahu will never fulfill promises he made to Gantz. Or the public. Hopefully, said one observer, should Gantz stay with Netanyahu, he will be a better minister of defense, protecting the country, then he was as a candidate for prime minister.

To underline the gravity of the present situation, historian Harari is concerned that not only will the virus return but will return in a mutated version, creating even more havoc worldwide. Given this dour prediction, said a pundit, an honest stable government seems an enviable, if not essential, alternative.





 

Did You Ever Hear Of The Dorr Brothers?

Aspersions are easy to toss around. According to an article in Huffpost.com, quoting research by the Washington Post and NBC News, the Dorr brothers-Chris, Ben, Aaron, and Mathew, have formed the largest Facebook groups organizing protests around the country. The brothers have a history of exploiting far-right causes to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars. The groups were “Against Excessive Quarantines” in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota.

The groups have over 200,000 members. The Facebook group steer people to websites to donate money for various right-wing causes, like anti-abortion or pro-Trump causes. The brothers pocket the money, according to the news reports.

But the groups incite far-right and white-supremacist groups to action. An anti-shutdown rally in Michigan was organized by the Michigan Liberty Militia, a white nationalist group. They Dorr websites also spur anti-vaccination extremists to attend or organize anti-shutdown demonstrations.

So have far-right organizers like the radical Proud Boys and the Three Percenters have heeded the call, as seen in San Diego, Tennesse, and New Hampshire. Another demonstration was held in Idaho by Diego Rodriguez, a pastor and former Republican candidate for the state senate. Rodriguez recently held an Easter church service with Ammon Bundy, a militia leader.

The Three Percenters have been implicated in multiple anti-Muslim terror plots. They coined the code word “boogaloo,” a term used by white supremacists, militia and far-right circles to describe the bloody civil war they hope is coming to America.

The infamous cartoon of Jews as the source of the COVID-19 was pasted on a placard at a recent anti-shutdown demonstration.

But the aspersions are not limited to white-supremacist groups. Palestinians have blamed Israel. According to the New York Times, Chinese agents amplified messages that sowed panic in the USA, copying Russian tactics. The messages warned the Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country. Iran has blamed both Israel and the USA, and Jews in general for the virus. And in India, Muslims are blamed for causing the virus.

Meanwhile, the virus seems to be abating. Israel has begun to ease the restrictions, but not until the Veterans Day and following Independence Day holidays have passed next week. Then some schools will reopen as well as more stores, but not malls and theaters.

In Israel, the virus spurred Blue and White chief Benny Gantz to join an emergency coalition with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Gantz was harshly criticized for the move. His former partners in Blue and White have filed lawsuits with the High Court against the unity. Should the High Court disqualify Netanyahu from serving because of the three criminal indictments against him, then Gantz has agreed to dissolve the government and go to new elections, the fourth is a little more than a year.

The economy is dragging with over one million Israelis unemployed. Former Shin Bet (Israel’s FBI) head Yuval Diskin has castigated Gantz for forming a coalition with a “thrice indicted” politician. Diskin said Netanyahu was only interested in avoiding justice.

As if to underline this point, Attorney General Mandelblit has come to a verbal duel with the temporary state prosecutor Eldad, who he accuses of, essentially, being a lackey of the Likud. Eldad started an investigation into B&W Benny Gantz for fraud while the election campaigns were raging. In an unusual move, prosecuting attorneys and others in the Justice Ministry have complained that Eldad was unsuited for the position.

Also, the Likud is angling to control the judiciary committee that will approve new judges. This, pundits say, is a move by Netanyahu to appoint judges who will keep him out of prison.

In any case, the rate of infection seems to have slackened in Israel, with 14, 882 infections, 193 fatalities, and 107 on ventilators. Experts warn there may be a new outbreak in the winter that will create difficulties should testing not be in place. Experts say it is essential for the the virus to be detected in the flu season, something so far difficult to accomplish. Especially since the IDF’s intelligence division says the COVID-19 may last until the fall of 2021.

While the Dorr brothers continue their incitement and radical right-wingers agitate for no lockdowns, health officials say the virus will be around for a while and the safest way to avoid illness is to stay indoors, maintain social distancing, and keep your hands clean. Especially those who are in the most at-risk sectors.

Films for Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah

As this is Holocaust Memorial Day, anyone who would like to see either of these films please let me know and I'll try to provide free access code. Otherwise, they are available to rent at pricecominc.com as Vimeo on demand for a couple of bucks. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/hitlersjewishsoldiers
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/rescuetraineng
There's also one about the rescue of the 6th Lubavitch Rebbe from Warsaw in 1939 by a half-Jewish German spy working directly for the German military intelligence.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/therebbethenaziofficer
And, one about a guy who helped save nearly 300,000 Jews from vicious pogroms after the war ended.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/tomanheroorthief

FIlms for Yom HaShoa, Holocaust Memorial Day

As this is Holocaust Memorial Day, anyone who would like to see either of these films please let me know and I'll try to provide a free access code. Otherwise, they are available to rent at pricecominc.com as Vimeo on demand for a couple of bucks. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/hitlersjewishsoldiers
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/rescuetraineng
There's also one about the rescue of the 6th Lubavitch Rebbe from Warsaw in 1939 by a half-Jewish German spy working directly for German military intelligence.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/therebbethenaziofficer
And, one about a guy who helped save nearly 300,000 Jews from vicious pogroms after the war ended.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/tomanheroorthief

Some More Equal Than Others

In Israel, everyone is equal but some more equal than others. As the lockdown continues the country

is facing a surreal scene: empty roads, beaches, parks, playgrounds, bike paths, hiking trails and of course bars and restaurants, theaters and all places of entertainment including sports halls and gymnasiums. Fines are imposed for those caught breaking the rules. Or, for most caught breaking the rules.

Over the Passover holiday, rules were imposed to restrict family gatherings. While this the rule created hardship for many, distancing children from their parents, and grandparents from their grandchildren, cousins from cousins, siblings from siblings, these rules apparently didn’t apply to a few of Israel’s leaders.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted his son Avner and his girlfriend at the Passover Seder. His excuse was that his son lived next door. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Leiberman hosted his family at his home in the settlement of Nokdim. Almost as bad as the Prime Minister was Israel’s President Ruby Rivlin who hosted one of his daughters and her children for the seder. Immigration Minister Yoav Galant also flouted the rules and hosted a daughter for the entire seven day Passover holiday.

Not to mention President Trump’s daughter Ivanka who flew from her Washington home to one of her father’s golf resorts in New Jersey for the holiday with her husband Jared and their children.

Only President Rivlin apologized, twice, for his ignoring the rules. Rivlin is 80 and recently widowed. Still, no excuse. Israel has many elderly citizens who are alone.

So far, Israel has over 12,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and 140 deaths. This makes Israel #18 in the world of those countries infected. While some think Israel has acted quickly and effectively to combat the virus, critics say that the country was caught unprepared just as the country was in the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Then, tank crews called up for reserve duty jumped in their tanks to find rats and mice and rust with gas masks unusable or missing.

This time it was the lack of tests and labs and ventilators. Only in the last few days has Israel been prepared to begin testing 10,000 people a day. This, when experts say the key to fighting this COVID-19 is testing and more testing so those infected could be isolated from the main population.

Still, fears that the ill would overwhelm the health system have not come to fruition. Israel expected as many as 4,000 on ventilators, so far the number hasn’t reached 200.

New York’s Governor Cuomo has also expressed hope that the worst is over. New York seems to be one of those places that epitomize unpreparedness. The NYTimes reports that the city received mixed signals from the governor and the federal government over how to respond to the pandemic. The results made the state one of the countries hotspots and contributed to the USA holding the unenviable title of the most infected country in the world.

There are those who blame U.S. President Trump for the disaster claiming he refused to accept the evidence that the virus was a raging killer. With over 600,000 Americans infected and over 30,000 deaths, President Trump still seems to ignore reality, according to some observers. Critics say that Trump badly mishandled this crisis and that bumbling might cost him the election in the fall.

Meanwhile, in Israel, no progress has been made in the talks for a national unity government. Blue and White leader Gantz’s mandate to form a government ran out at midnight on Wednesday. President Rivlin turned to the Knesset that now has 21 days to come up with a candidate who can form a majority of 61 Knesset members. If no candidate is found the Knesset must establish a date for the fourth round of elections. 

Observers say that Netanyahu's talk about forming a national unity government was only a way to stall until his trial date while trying to get that date postponed or canceled. Now, with no government on the horizon, and new election probable in the early fall, Netanyahu remains Prime Minister until the new elections. Critics say that if he had been serious about a national unity government to fight this pandemic he would have agreed to the terms Blue and White demanded. Instead, say these critics, Netanyahu played a cynical game to stay in power ignoring the best way to fight the epidemic, like turning over testing to the IDF and his political rival Neftali Bennet.

One of the main sticking points between Netanyahu and Ganz was Blue and White’s insistence that a law be passed in the Knesset forbidding a Prime Minister from serving in the office if he was under indictment. Netanyahu firmly rejected that demand. Now pundits expect him to try to pass a “French Law” that allows him to stay in office and only face trial when his term expires.

Time will tell if Netanyahu’s strategy worked. Meanwhile, the battle against the virus goes on. And the only certainty when it comes to equality is that everyone is equal when death knocks at the door. By flaunting the rules that apply to the common man, those in power may have opened themselves up to the very problem the isolation was meant to prevent. At the very least, say the critics, they showed a lack of responsibility and leadership not to mention a breach of the public's trust.

Last, money. Israel has nearly a million people unemployed. This inability to go to work and earn a living is found around the globe. The pressure is on to open the gates and let the workforce go back to their jobs. The danger, warn the experts, is spreading the virus that has been contained during the period of lockdown and self-quarantine. Some economists warn that the effects of a continued lockdown will be worse than the pandemic creating a recession or a depression with calamitous results. So far the Health Ministry in Israel has prevailed over the Finance Ministry. How long can that resistance to economic arguments last?

One of the solutions suggested is that the lockdown will be lifted gradually and those with the highest immunity released first while those at the highest risk released last. Since health officials say many children under nine may be asymptomatic, a quandary arises as to when to reopen schools, a key factor in allowing parents to return to work. Experts say this pandemic is new and brings fresh problems never faced before. But, say some observers, plans should have been drawn up to account for these problems and prepare for an orderly “exit.” So far, there is no consensus, at least in Israel, how to proceed safely.

Quaranta

What you didn’t know about “quarantine.” According to an an exhibit entitled “plague” at the Museum of Archeology in Herne, Germany, (https://www.youtube.com/user/LWLLandesmuseumHerne/videos ) In 1377, in the Venetian port of Ragusa (today Dubrovnik) the first specially designated isolated areas was introduced for sailors, passengers and goods coming from supposedly plague-contaminated areas.

These people and shipments were kept in isolation for quaranta (forty in Italian),  40 days. Quarantine, the name we use today, is derived from that Italian word. The exhibit also talks about Christian communities which pledged to build churches should the plague spare their towns and villages.

That plague was not terribly merciful. Within seven years the Black Plague caused the death of 25 million people. A third of the European population at that time. Not until the turn of the 20^th century did a scientist named Vladimir Haffkine develop a vaccine for the bubonic plague (Black Plague). He first tested the virus on himself. (See previous Jerusalem Magazine post or that on our Facebook page.)

Today, labs around the world are frantically seeking a vaccine to prevent the COVID-19, or a cure for the disease. With nearly two million people infected worldwide, and over 100,000 deaths, the race is on.

A team at Oxford University in Britain, lead by Prof. Sarah Gilbert, has encouraging results. “We are 80% confident our vaccine will work,” said Prof. Gilbert,who expects the vaccine to be ready for human trials in two weeks. “This is not a hunch,” said the professor.

A company in the USA, Moderna, is already conducting clinical trials for a vaccine.

Another company in the USA, Gilead, has been successfully using an Ebola drug called remdesevir and seen improvement in 36 patients over several weeks. In Israel the Migdal Galilee Research Institute has said their vaccine would be ready for testing in a few weeks. Another Israeli company, Pluristem, has treated 7 COVID-19 patients with its PLX cells. All the patients were on ventilators and suffering acute respiratory failure and inflammatory complications from the coronavirus. So far three have been weaned from the ventilators. Four of the seven show signs of improvement. Usually, over 80% of those on ventilators never recover.

Another hopeful sign comes from the company Inovio, based in Pennsylvania. Inovio is packaging a section of the Conovirus’ genetic code inside a piece of synthetic DNA, then those cells are injected into the patient as a vaccine. These cells produce a harmless protein that make protective immune anti-bodies that lay in wait for a real coronavirus. Kate Broderick, Inovio R&D chief said, “it's like giving the body an FBI wanted poster so it can recognize the enemy.” And then destroy it.

Meanwhile, the plague has not abated. A recent study showed that commuters in New York City is still standing shoulder to shoulder on the subways. NYC has cut down the frequency of the trains but apparently that only meant more people were stuffed together in whatever cars arrived. Some analysts say that with New York the epicenter of the virus in the USA a more aggressive approach should be used.

One pundit said that as US President Donald Trump is now criticized for his making light of the dangers of the virus, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who once agreed with Pres. Trump, may have seen the error of his ways. Johnson admitted he was near death after contracting the virus and profusely thanked the staff of St. Thomas's hospital in London for saving his life. The British government had downplayed the extent of his illness.

Greece has turned out to be a leader in the pandemic fight, according to Takis Pappas, a political scientist at Helsinki University. Pappas said that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis closed down non-essential shops four days after the first case of the virus appeared, while Italy (pop. 60 million, 152,271 infected, 19,468 deaths) waited 18 days and Spain (pop. 47 million, 163,027 infected, 16,972 deaths) 30 days. In Greece, social distancing and the quarantine seem to be the most effective methods so far to contain the spread of the virus. Greece (pop. 10 million) has had only 2,081 cases of infection and 93 deaths.

Certain population groups seem harder hit than others. In Chicago, Black Americans account for more than 50% of those infected. In Illinois, 43% of the deaths are Black Americans.

In Israel, (pop. @9 million, 10,743 infected, 103 deaths) nearly half of the deaths are from the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. Israel has over 10,000 cases of infection. More than a quarter of the deaths are in Jerusalem, where 75% of those infected are from Haredi neighborhoods. There are over one million ultra-Orthodox citizens in Israel. Haredi women have an average of 7.1 children per household, according to a study by the Israel Democracy Institute. To exacerbate the COVID-19 situation, a recent study showed that one-third of the children in Israel under 9 years old was asymptomatic, carriers of the virus without symptoms of illness. Overcrowding at home and in the community spreads the virus. In the past decade, the percentage of ultra-Orthodox students grew by 141% compared to the general population. 114,000 ultra-Orthodox men attended yeshivas (religious seminaries for bachelors and married) in 2017.

Religious communities in Israel have banned public gatherings or limited them to 10 people in certain circumstances. In the Christian communities, even Easter Sunday was a fizzle compared to the usual elaborate festivities. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed for the first time since 1349 during the Black Plague. On a normal Easter Sunday many thousands would appear for prayers.

Lockdowns were enacted in ultra-Orthodox towns to stop the spread of the virus. 15 neighborhoods in Jerusalem, where 75% of those infected were ultra-Orthodox, were sealed off. Some Jerusalem residents received text messages they were restricted to their neighborhoods. No one was allowed to leave their neighborhood unless to go shopping or to work or some essential task. Similar restrictions were imposed on other ultra-Orthodox towns around the country.

On Channel 12 news, video footage showed police raiding a synagogue in Mea Sharim where a large number of men had gathered and arrested two men. Each was fined 1,500 shekels. In Tel Aviv residents were to stay within 100 meters of their homes. Police gave out hundreds of fines to those breaking the rules.

As NY State (pop. 19.5 million, 181,144 infected, 8,627 deaths) has the unfortunate lead as the most heavily infected place anywhere in the world, there is room for optimism. Dr. Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard epidemiologist said, in an interview on USA Today that there may be more infections than we think. And that most may be protected by their immune response. “So, we’re closer to a herd immunity than we think.” He urges caution in the push to go back to work. “There are things we don’t know and things we haven’t tested in those kinds of back to work approaches.” He stresses that a combination of interventions be put in place that will they may suppress the economy they still don’t blunt the impact enough on our health care system.” He said the main push was the need for social distancing and testing. He stressed that, in order to build a complete data base to plan stategies for the battle, “ Testing is the key.”

On the Israeli political front: Blue and White chairman Gantz was denied an extension to form a coalition. President Rivlin has tasked the Knesset to chose a PM or call a fourth round of elections.

A Locked Down Passover

A Locked Down Passover

When the Hebrews were camped in the desert, after fleeing from Pharaoh's chariots, they ate unleavened bread. Imagine, if you will, approximately 2 million people, men, women, children, plus livestock, and how far the camp must have stretched across the sand. Probably as far as Herzliya to Ashdod, the sea to Ramla. Quite a swath of land. Quite a concentration of people. Stuffed together. Breathing on each other. No internet. No telephones. No newspapers. No radio. Regulations and requests were passed, probably, by word of mouth. A messenger on a horse, mule, ox, rode from tribe to tribe with the news.

In the Haredi neighborhoods around the world not much has changed. Over-crowded. Cut off from the world. Locked into their own deep but narrow tribal structures. This, in an age when five people sharing a ski gondola riding up the mountain in Sun Valley, Idaho can get infected by a visitor from Seattle, Washington. The next morning Washington state confirmed 102 cases and its 16^th death.

Like the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Mono County, California which, according to the New Yorker Magazine, quoting the Adventure Journal, now has the highest per-capita rate of COVID-19 in the state. And in Europe, governments tracked hundreds of coronavirus cases to one Austrian ski resort.

The fact that the Jewish community in Britain has so far lost 115 people, about 2% of all those who have perished so far in Britain, while making up only about .3% of the population is not surprising considering that the British government was slow to institute social distancing. The Jewish communities around the world, like those in Britain, are usually as packed together as those five passengers on a ski gondola.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, like US President Donald Trump, and the Haredi population ignored the warnings of the COVID-19’s dangers. Johnson’s folly caught up to him, said one pundit. He was diagnosed with the virus and has become increasingly ill. So far PM Johnson is not on a ventilator. According to Israel TV’s foreign affairs commentator Yoav Vardi, 85% of those put on a ventilator does not survive the virus.

Like the tribes in the desert, said one analyst, Haredi communities live in a bubble. Communication is primitive. Posters on walls and along the streets are the common form of transmitting the information. Or the occasional visitor, like the messengers on the horse in the desert, bringing news. Haredi en concentrate on learning tractates of the Talmud and commentaries, buried in their books, or thinking about the writings when walking down the street, nearly oblivious to the outside world. Their wives concentrate on having babies, raising children, cooking and cleaning, unless, lately they’re sent out to earn money in hi-tech in a room with other women all on a computer while their husbands sit and “learn.”

By the time the warnings broke through their mental barriers and into their homes the damage was done. This was because the messengers didn’t come from inside the community, but from the dangerous outside that has always been critical of the ultra-orthodox and always trying to wrest them away from their books and insular way of life. Bring them into the “Godless” Western world.

Observers say, these people believe deeply that their way of life has been responsible for keeping the Jewish people together for thousands of years. But that they have built a fence not only around the Torah but around themselves,

Some pundits blame the Haredi leadership for not telling their followers how dangerous the virus was. But others point out that those leaders had the same mindset as their followers. Specifically, that outsiders were not to be trusted. Once the followers, and some of the leaders, began exiting the community on stretchers, the reality began to sink in. By then it was almost too late.

The Israel Defense Ministry issued a report stating that one-third of all virus cases in Israel centered either in Bnei Brak or Jerusalem. ZAKA, the emergency medical response organization geared to the Haredi population said the ultra-orthodox were completely confused by the virus and were looking for leadership.

Some Israelis pointed the blame at the Minister of Health, Yaacov Litzman, a Gerer Hassid, who refused for too long to support self-distancing and quarantines and closing yeshivot and religious schools. He reportedly flaunted the rules and went to a synagogue for Shabat services. He paid the price, too. Recently, it was announced that he was infected, in quarantine, but in good condition.

An opinion piece in the Times of Israel said that this pandemic might bring a change in the way Haredi sees the world and produces more independent thought. Other analysts thought this wishful thinking.

In the Haredi city of Benei Brak, 38% of the population was infected before the leaders stepped in, put up notices and posters urging the people to keep their distance. Still, many ignored the directive. Continued to gather in study halls and synagogues. The police came in and broke up the gatherings issuing fines up to $1,500. Skeptics said the fines would never be paid. Those who wanted to gather were like water finding a way to seep in between the cracks.

So, more people got sick. Ramat Gan, the town bordering Benai Brak, put up a fence at cross streets to keep Benei Brak’s residents from coming into Ramat Gan and infecting people there. The city of Benei Brak took the case to the High Court and the fences came down. Reluctantly, say observers. And not completely. So far in Israel, there have been 60 deaths from the virus with over 9,000 infections. 109 people are on life support due to the virus.

Yet, in Modiin Illit, a Haredi town with a population of 73,000, and 151 infected, a brawl took place when hard-line residents refused to obey Health Ministry pandemic rules. According to Channel 12 news, while protestors yelled “Help, Judaism is in danger,” and urged others to ignore the social distancing rules including a ban on public gatherings, other residents assaulted and chased them. The Kan TV network said two prayer services, each with 15 people, were broken up by the police. One of the parishioners told a reporter he does not recognize the State of Israel nor its regulations. The groups were part of the hard-line Jerusalem Faction that protests the draft of ultra-orthodox men into the Israeli army.

Officials fear that family gatherings for the Passover seder would result in another outbreak of the virus as happened during the Purim festival. Because it was mainly the Haredi towns and neighborhoods that were the most infected in the country, the government proposed to shut down 8 Haredi cities and 15 Jerusalem neighborhoods to stop the spread of the virus. Reportedly, Haredi Health minister Aryeh Deri and Health Minister Yaacov Litzman objected, playing to their constituency with both claiming the government was discriminating against the Haredi population. Both deny the claim.

Last night, a a compromise was reached that will not include the Arab population who does not celebrate the Passover holiday. On Tuesday, the Israeli cabinet approved closure and curfew over the Passover holiday to stem the spread of COVID-19. The cabinet issued a ban on all intercity traffic from 19:00 on Tuesday until 06:00 on Friday. Supermarkets, food deliveries, and essential services will operate only until 15:00 on Wednesday, but will resume Friday morning.

During the lockdown, Israelis will be allowed to only go 100 meters from their homes. All businesses will be shut. Jerusalem residents will be confined to their neighborhoods, especially those in the northern part of the city that has the largest number of virus cases. Public transportation will cease from 20:00 Tuesday until Sunday morning. All international flights will also be canceled during that period unless granted special permission by the government. As of Sunday at 07:00, face masks will be mandatory outside the home

One analyst said, ‘This will be a Passover for the history books, said one pundit. Except there was no parting of the Red Sea. Just a plague.’

The Deep State

The Deep State

Prime Minister Netanyahu believes the left is out to get him at any cost. According to reports, a close friend of Netanyahu has said that the Prime Minister believes there is a conspiracy of what he calls the Deep State to oust him from power. This close confident, unnamed in the report, said that Netanyahu has now succeeded in destroying his opposition, dismantling the Blue and White party, and postponed his trial, perhaps until early winter. Now that Blue and White has been broken apart Netanyahu may opt for another round of elections, the 4th, knowing he faces no real opposition. He may then be able to have the Knesset drop the charges against him. Should he not do that, and become deputy-prime minister, he may still be immune from prosecution. Some say Netanyahu is pondering a run for the Presidency, a position that also carries with it immunity from prosecution, although pundits believe the High Court will prohibit him from escaping justice through these means. His close associate said that Netanyahu will use every means at his disposal to avoid jail and stay in power.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Yaacov Litzman has been diagnosed with COVID-19 causing him and much of Israeli's cabinet to go into quarantine. Litzman never told anyone he may have been ill. Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party, once part of Blue and White, along with Meretz have demanded Litzman resign from the Health Ministry. They claim Litzman never took the virus seriously as evidenced by the fact that he continued to go to community prayers near his house in violation of the regulations. Infecting others along the way.

So far, Israel has over 7,000 infected with 39 deaths. The government is now focusing on the ultra-orthodox town of Benei Brak, pop @200,000, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Nearly 40 % of the population of Benei Brak have been infected. The police, with the help of the army, have closed off the town to incoming and outgoing traffic. 4,500 elderly residents are to be evacuated to hotel-type facilities outside the town where they are to be isolated.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/in-israel-theres-not-a-democracy-but-a-deep-state-pm-said-to-claim/

“In Israel there’s not a democracy, but a deep state,’ PM said to claim

“In Israel there’s not a democracy, but a deep state,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told confidants in recent months, according to a Haaretz report

The remarks have been made by the premier in the context of his upcoming trial in three corruption cases. Netanyahu is reportedly convinced that the justice system is intent on bringing him down.

“They want to see me sitting in jail,” Haaretz quotes the prime minister as having said of officials in the justice system.

The Man Who Saved Humanity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=268U0Odzcsg