Beyond Balfour

 

 

13 % of all those tested for Covid-19 in Israel were positive for the virus. This makes Israel one of the more infected, per capita, in the world. Nearly 8,000 people tested positive over the last 24-hours. This was the third day running with numbers over 7,000 new infections. Israel is 24^th in the world with the total number of infections now standing at 215,273 or 23,405 per million. Germany has 3,360 per million, Italy 5,035 per million, the USA number one in infections at 7,187,179 has 21,684 per million.

Other heavily infected per million were Qatar with 44,394 per million, Bahrain, 39,434, Kuwait at 23,906. Coming in after the Middle East was South America, Peru with 23,851 per million, Chile with 23,579, Panama with 25,108.

Staring Friday Sept 25^th at 14:00 Israel went into another period of lockdown, called “seger” in Hebrew, that will last until after the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah on October 10^th. Israel is the first country to enter a second lockdown. However, the lockdown has been called unduly harsh by Israel’s corona czar Prof. Ronni Gamzo, who thought a graduated lockdown would be more effective by focusing first on the “red” zones where the infection was the highest, allowing most businesses to stay open and the general population to move about freely albeit with masks, social distancing and paying attention to hygiene. Gamzo’s recommendations were ignored by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who appointed him.

 

“The end of the previous lockdown was done too quickly,” Gamzo told the Associated Press. “The end had to be done gradually.” Gamzo did take responsibility for allowing the upper grades of the schools to open too soon. However, by going public with his criticism, Gamzo was obviously looking forward to the end of his term in the job on November 1, when he returns as CEO of Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital.

Pundits said that by publicly criticizing Netanyahu Gamzo had signaled he was through with the job of Czar.

A new amendment to the lockdown rules was brought up for a vote in the Knesset on Thursday but was sent to the Constitution and Law committee for approval. The amendment allowed protests only within a kilometer (0.6 mile) of their homes. This would effectively eliminate those who drove to Jerusalem from anywhere in the country to protest on Saturday night. The committee met on Friday and voted not to approve the amendment. Benny Gantz of Blue and White told his party members on the committee to vote against the amendment. This after Gantz had originally met with Netanyahu in a closed session with Blue and White’s Gabi Ashkenazi, the Foreign Minister, Aryeh Deri, the Interior Minister, Yuli Edelstein the Health Minister and Gantz to draft the amendment.

Gamzo also said he was “Sick to my stomach” by Netanyahu’s move for a total lockdown based solely on the Prime Minister’s desire to end the weekly protests outside the PM’s Jerusalem residence on Balfour street that has attracted over 10,000 people every Saturday night calling for his resignation, holding up signs calling him the “Crime Minister.” Netanyahu has been indicted on three felonies but has refused to step down as Prime Minister.

“Saying I’ve called for this lockdown to stop the protests is absurd,” Netanyahu said in a live speech to the nation on Thursday night. He went on to boast how well the pandemic was being handled in Israel. However, sources inside the cabinet, according to media reports, said every time the word “demonstrations” was mentioned, Netanyahu jumped.

Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi Shaas party, has said that allowing protesters to gather in huge numbers on Saturday night outside Netanyhau’s residence on Balfour street, but limiting the number of men allowed to pray in a synagogue, was anti-Democratic. Deri thought the continued protests would lead the ultra-Orthodox to ignore the regulations. Especially as the Yom Kippur holiday was approaching. One of the terms in the new amendment was that synagogues would be open on Yom Kippur. Deri had threatened to leave the coalition, forcing new elections, if his conditions were not met. They were, but still, in the end, were voted down in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Health Minister Edelstein said he would table a motion in the Knesset calling for a state of emergency in order to ban demonstrations which he considered a severe health hazard. This even though it was shown that no one was directly infected at any of the demonstrations but that ultra-Orthodox in the synagogues and yeshivot, and the Arab population, who also ignored the rules and held large weddings, were to blame for the spike in infections.

Netanyahu, in his Thursday night speech, blamed the Israeli public for not heeding the restrictions, blamed the opposition for eroding faith in the government, and others who disagreed with him. He reminded the listeners that he’d often been told by advisers what was right and wrong and had ignored them when he thought he was right. He emphasized that he’d always made the right decisions in spite of what the advisers told him to do.

Appearing on Channel 12 news just before Netanyahu’s speech, Yemina leader Neftali Bennet said that the government had no coherent plan to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition, also appeared in a televised speech before Netanyahu, using a graph to show the drastic spike in infections and blaming Netanyahu for the government’s failure in fighting the pandemic.

Following Netanyahu’s speech, Channel 12 TV news political commentator Karen Marciano said that Netanyahu blamed everyone else for the pandemic and the spike in infections except himself. As Prime Minister he was the one responsible for the war on Covid-19 and he should admit that.

Yuli Edelstein’s promise to table a motion to call a state of emergency, giving Netanyahu powers to ban demonstrations and set limits on those allowed in prayer halls, was met with skepticism by critics. Both Blue and White’s Benny Gantz and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit have come out against a state of emergency. Mandelblit reportedly said that the court would strike down such a move.

Whatever the next week holds, the Yom Kippur holiday is fast approaching. Protests will be held Saturday night. Synagogues will be open but with limited numbers Miki Zohar, Likud Party coalition whip, said in an interview on Israel’s Army Radio, that the protests would lead to a “Second Yom Kippur War.” (referencing the 1973 Yom Kippur war Israel fought against Egypt, Syria and other Arab states). Zohar said that by opposing the amendment canceling demonstrations, and limiting the numbers allowed in synagogues, the number of infections would surely rise.

While Yitzchak Yosef, son of Shaas founder, now Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv has said that synagogues should be closed for Yom Kippur. Deri and former Housing Minister Yitzchak Litzman, also former Health Minister, head of the ultra-Orthodox Degal HaTorah party, have said that it would be difficult to keep ultra-Orthodox men out of synagogue on the holiest day of the year.

One ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Benei Brak, a red zone with a large number of Covid-19 infections, has said as long as Israelis can demonstrate and go to the beach why should he and his people be kept out of synagogue.

Still, Covid-19 Czar Gamzo thought that the restrictions being put in place by the lockdown should see a downturn in infections within two weeks. The current spike, according to media reports, is based on the end of year parties among high school graduates, large gatherings at weddings in Jewish and Arab communities, and lack of attention to wearing masks and keeping a social distance.

A similar complaint is being heard against the ultra-Orthodox community in New York city’s Crown Heights and Borough Park neighborhoods, where a spike in infections has also been seen. City officials say that the ultra-Orthodox are ignoring the health recommendations of wearing masks and keeping a safe distance.

Whatever the outcome, as the Jewish New Year begins, unless the Covid-19 is brought under control, the physical and economic effects will, according to experts, bring countries like Israel to the brink of a cascading disaster. As Blue and White’s Gantz said, there are more important things to worry about than demonstrations on Balfour street.

Beyond Balfour

 

13 % of all those tested for Covid-19 in Israel were positive for the virus. This makes Israel one of the more infected, per capita, in the world. Nearly 8,000 people tested positive over the last 24-hours. This was the third day running with numbers over 7,000 new infections. Israel is 24^th in the world with the total number of infections now standing at 215,273 or 23,405 per million. Germany has 3,360 per million, Italy 5,035 per million, the USA number one in infections at 7,187,179 has 21,684 per million.

Other heavily infected per million were Qatar with 44,394 per million, Bahrain, 39,434, Kuwait at 23,906. Coming in after the Middle East was South America, Peru with 23,851 per million, Chile with 23,579, Panama with 25,108.

Staring Friday Sept 25^th at 14:00 Israel went into another period of lockdown, called “seger” in Hebrew, that will last until after the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah on October 10^th. Israel is the first country to enter a second lockdown. However, the lockdown has been called unduly harsh by Israel’s corona czar Prof. Ronni Gamzo, who thought a graduated lockdown would be more effective by focusing first on the “red” zones where the infection was the highest, allowing most businesses to stay open and the general population to move about freely albeit with masks, social distancing and paying attention to hygiene. Gamzo’s recommendations were ignored by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who appointed him.

 

“The end of the previous lockdown was done too quickly,” Gamzo told the Associated Press. “The end had to be done gradually.” Gamzo did take responsibility for allowing the upper grades of the schools to open too soon. However, by going public with his criticism, Gamzo was obviously looking forward to the end of his term in the job on November 1, when he returns as CEO of Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital.

Pundits said that by publicly criticizing Netanyahu Gamzo had signaled he was through with the job of Czar.

A new amendment to the lockdown rules was brought up for a vote in the Knesset on Thursday but was sent to the Constitution and Law committee for approval. The amendment allowed protests only within a kilometer (0.6 mile) of their homes. This would effectively eliminate those who drove to Jerusalem from anywhere in the country to protest on Saturday night. The committee met on Friday and voted not to approve the amendment. Benny Gantz of Blue and White told his party members on the committee to vote against the amendment. This after Gantz had originally met with Netanyahu in a closed session with Blue and White’s Gabi Ashkenazi, the Foreign Minister, Aryeh Deri, the Interior Minister, Yuli Edelstein the Health Minister and Gantz to draft the amendment.

Gamzo also said he was “Sick to my stomach” by Netanyahu’s move for a total lockdown based solely on the Prime Minister’s desire to end the weekly protests outside the PM’s Jerusalem residence on Balfour street that has attracted over 10,000 people every Saturday night calling for his resignation, holding up signs calling him the “Crime Minister.” Netanyahu has been indicted on three felonies but has refused to step down as Prime Minister.

“Saying I’ve called for this lockdown to stop the protests is absurd,” Netanyahu said in a live speech to the nation on Thursday night. He went on to boast how well the pandemic was being handled in Israel. However, sources inside the cabinet, according to media reports, said every time the word “demonstrations” was mentioned, Netanyahu jumped.

Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi Shaas party, has said that allowing protesters to gather in huge numbers on Saturday night outside Netanyhau’s residence on Balfour street, but limiting the number of men allowed to pray in a synagogue, was anti-Democratic. Deri thought the continued protests would lead the ultra-Orthodox to ignore the regulations. Especially as the Yom Kippur holiday was approaching. One of the terms in the new amendment was that synagogues would be open on Yom Kippur. Deri had threatened to leave the coalition, forcing new elections, if his conditions were not met. They were, but still, in the end, were voted down in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Health Minister Edelstein said he would table a motion in the Knesset calling for a state of emergency in order to ban demonstrations which he considered a severe health hazard. This even though it was shown that no one was directly infected at any of the demonstrations but that ultra-Orthodox in the synagogues and yeshivot, and the Arab population, who also ignored the rules and held large weddings, were to blame for the spike in infections.

Netanyahu, in his Thursday night speech, blamed the Israeli public for not heeding the restrictions, blamed the opposition for eroding faith in the government, and others who disagreed with him. He reminded the listeners that he’d often been told by advisers what was right and wrong and had ignored them when he thought he was right. He emphasized that he’d always made the right decisions in spite of what the advisers told him to do.

Appearing on Channel 12 news just before Netanyahu’s speech, Yemina leader Neftali Bennet said that the government had no coherent plan to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition, also appeared in a televised speech before Netanyahu, using a graph to show the drastic spike in infections and blaming Netanyahu for the government’s failure in fighting the pandemic.

Following Netanyahu’s speech, Channel 12 TV news political commentator Karen Marciano said that Netanyahu blamed everyone else for the pandemic and the spike in infections except himself. As Prime Minister he was the one responsible for the war on Covid-19 and he should admit that.

Yuli Edelstein’s promise to table a motion to call a state of emergency, giving Netanyahu powers to ban demonstrations and set limits on those allowed in prayer halls, was met with skepticism by critics. Both Blue and White’s Benny Gantz and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit have come out against a state of emergency. Mandelblit reportedly said that the court would strike down such a move.

Whatever the next week holds, the Yom Kippur holiday is fast approaching. Protests will be held Saturday night. Synagogues will be open but with limited numbers Miki Zohar, Likud Party coalition whip, said in an interview on Israel’s Army Radio, that the protests would lead to a “Second Yom Kippur War.” (referencing the 1973 Yom Kippur war Israel fought against Egypt, Syria and other Arab states). Zohar said that by opposing the amendment canceling demonstrations, and limiting the numbers allowed in synagogues, the number of infections would surely rise.

While Yitzchak Yosef, son of Shaas founder, now Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv has said that synagogues should be closed for Yom Kippur. Deri and former Housing Minister Yitzchak Litzman, also former Health Minister, head of the ultra-Orthodox Degal HaTorah party, have said that it would be difficult to keep ultra-Orthodox men out of synagogue on the holiest day of the year.

One ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Benei Brak, a red zone with a large number of Covid-19 infections, has said as long as Israelis can demonstrate and go to the beach why should he and his people be kept out of synagogue.

Still, Covid-19 Czar Gamzo thought that the restrictions being put in place by the lockdown should see a downturn in infections within two weeks. The current spike, according to media reports, is based on the end of year parties among high school graduates, large gatherings at weddings in Jewish and Arab communities, and lack of attention to wearing masks and keeping a social distance.

A similar complaint is being heard against the ultra-Orthodox community in New York city’s Crown Heights and Borough Park neighborhoods, where a spike in infections has also been seen. City officials say that the ultra-Orthodox are ignoring the health recommendations of wearing masks and keeping a safe distance.

Whatever the outcome, as the Jewish New Year begins, unless the Covid-19 is brought under control, the physical and economic effects will, according to experts, bring countries like Israel to the brink of a cascading disaster. As Blue and White’s Gantz said, there are more important things to worry about than demonstrations on Balfour street.

A New Horizon

As the world battles Covid-19, and Israel was seeing a startling 10% infection rate of those

(Hebrew text at bottom of the page””Ceremony: Rockets over Ashdod and Ashkelon)

tested, with a record 5523 infections in a 24-hour period, and 1137 deaths, a new horizon, barely discussed in the US press, a brief mention in the New York Times, was reached between Israel and some of her Arab neighbors yesterday when the United Arab Emirates signed a peace accord with Israel on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C.  agreeing to normalize relations and establish diplomatic ties. While both Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump were at the signing, according to pundits, these accords were a long time in the making.

(Neither Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum , PM of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, nor Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain, attended the ceremony sending their foreign ministers instead. PM Netanyahu did not include his FM Gabi Ashkenazi in the entourage traveling to the US).

Ehud Yaari, veteran political commentator now with Channel 12 news, said that this was an agreement between countries not individuals. Between Israel and the UAE not between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the UAE Foreign Minister who signed the accords. Israel also signed an understanding of agreement with Bahrain.

Yaari said this was a historic development in the history of the Middle East. Israel was now reaching a level of acceptance with her Arab neighbors. Other analysts said that this agreement bypassed the Palestinians demands to first have a state before any Arab nations would accept Israel’s legitimacy.

Both President Trump and Israel’s PM Netanyahu took credit for this historic agreement.

However, speaking on Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet, Yitzchak ‘Bougie’ Herzog, former head of Israel’s Labor Party, said that when he was running the Labor Party he met with the heads of Bahrain and the UAE and other moderate Arab countries, all Sunni, enemies of Iran’s Shiite branch of Islam, all of whom expressed a willingness to sign a peace agreement with Israel. Herzog said that Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair had been the conduit between Israel and the Arab nations.

On Tuesday, according to the Times of Israel, Blair said he understands Ramallah’s objection to the deals, but believes that “in time, the Palestinian people will understand that it is only by radically changing strategy that the legitimate aspirations for a viable Palestinian state can be realized.”

Yaari confirmed these claims and said that Israel has had unofficial relations with moderate Arab countries for years. It is well known in Israel that Israeli hospitals have treated Arab leaders who have no official ties to Israel.

However, just as the agreements were being signed on the White House lawn, Hamas fired rockets from Gaza to protest the new peace agreements. The rockets fell on the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod injuring two Israelis, one lightly, one still in serious condition. Hamas also sent another volley of rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday morning. The Palestinians reportedly view the agreements as a betrayal by the UAE and Bahrain.

The editor of Jerusalem Magazine received a letter from a friend asking for a comment on an article written by Dr. Philip Giraldi, executive director of the Council for National Interest, that had a headline “Democrats Go All-Out for Israel: Joe is a Zionist and Kamala panders to Jewish donors.” The letter took the position of the “progressives” in the Democratic party who lambasted Biden for, essentially, being a lackey of Israel, and Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, no better. Dr. Giraldi also called for the US to curtail aid to Israel and claims Israel is out to destroy the Palestinians.

In reply, Jerusalem Magazine’s editor wrote:

“1.) Isolationism didn’t work with Europe in the 20’s-late 30’s. Won’t work now. Bin Laden didn’t attack the Twin Towers because of Israel. With a powerful ally in the Middle East to prevent fundamentalists from sweeping over the moderate and liberal countries the USA can avoid a larger confrontation.

2. BDS was started by a Palestinian to further Palestinian aspirations. A Palestinian state would be a good thing but no Palestinian leader will step up and make and implement a peace agreement. Sources in the UAE and Bahrain have reportedly said the Palestinians have been obdurate for too long and are obstacles to Peace. Those against the recent Peace treaty with the UAE are countries like Iran and Qatar both fundamentalists, and Turkey, one of the main donors and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. And Russia’s Putin for his own ambition to make Russia a superpower once again. Would liberals want this axis of evil to stand up and take over the Middle East with Islamic fundamentalism running rampant? With Iran a nuclear power? I think this anti-Israel bias is short-sighted.
If Turkey and Qatar can support Islamic fundamentalists why can’t Saban support Israel? (Giraldi claimed that Billionaire Chaim Saban, who was born in Israel, had an inordinate influence over US policies.) The Middle East is undergoing a transformation. Other Arab countries are about to recognize Israel’s existence as a nation and a neighbor. The Progressive Democrats are singing an antiquated song. The Palestinians have just been made irrelevant by their obduracy. They still have the opportunity to get a State but recognizing Israel’s right to exist would be a good first step.

3.) Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have the right idea. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Bernie Sanders and other progressives are correct in the necessity for more social programs, health initiates and general equality for the poorer sectors of the USA, but in Foreign Policy the are misguided by others. Dr. Giraldi made a few interesting points but ultimately offered nothing new. Same song sung by the SDS back in the 60’s. And the Soviets who once Ben Gurion until he refused to make Israel a Soviet satellite in ‘48.

Old Communist party line. Hasn’t changed.

While I agree that there should be universal health care and support other progressive platforms when it comes to israel I’m afraid the progressives don’t have a clue what’s really at stake. In my opinion nothing less than the future of the free world.”

In Israel the peace accords made headlines and the entire signing ceremony was broadcast live on every tv station. Credit was given to PM Netanyahu and US President Trump for bringing the parties to the table. The quid pro quo, according to analysts, was Israel’s freeze of settlements in the West Bank, and allowing the UAE to receive advanced F-35 jet fighters, as well as other security measures, and advanced medical technology. Pundits say that both the UAE and Bahrain, as well as other Arab countries who are expected to also sign agreements with Israel, are seeking Israel’s backing against any Iranian aggression. Especially since the US has announced they are pulling troops out of the region. These Arab states are frightened by Iran and hope an alliance with Israel will dissuade Iran from any hostilities. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, as the Jewish High Holidays approach this weekend, the health ministry announced moves to try to stop the spread of Covid-19 across the country. Schools were closed for the next three weeks. As were restaurants, bars, and gyms. Synagogues were limited to 20 people outside and 10 inside, and all had to wear masks and keep a social distance. Residents were restricted to no more than 500 meters from their homes. Fines from $125 and up would be issued to those caught breaking the regulations.

This would be a completely different Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) than nearly any other. “Israel is at war,” said one observer. “In war everything is different. In this war rather than bullets we have microbes.” Dr. Israela Hirsch, a Jewish-based Ophthalmologist said, “The microbes are worse.”

With 167,000 cases and counting, with 18,135 cases per million, compared the the international average of 3824,  Israel has no  choice but to take drastic steps.

And the Peace accords, that coincidently fit in with President Trumps election campaign, and beleaguered PM Netanyahu’s legal troubles, as one man in the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth said, when asked about the UAE, Bahrain peace accords, “Who cares. We’ve got Covid-19 here, that’s where the government’s focus should be, not on some accord.” On that account, neither PM Netanyahu, nor President Trump have proved to be very good generals.

A New Horizon

 As the world battles Covid-19, and Israel was seeing a startling 10% infection rate of those 

 

(Left,Bahrain FM Abdullanif al-Zayani, Israeli PM Netanyahu, US President Trump, UAE FM Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on White House Lawn, Washington D.C.) (Hebrew text at bottom of the page””Ceremony: Rockets over Ashdod and Ashkelon)

tested, with a record 5523 infections in a 24-hour period, and 1137 deaths, a new horizon, barely discussed in the US press, a brief mention in the New York Times, was reached between Israel and some of her Arab neighbors yesterday when the United Arab Emirates signed a peace accord with Israel on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C.  agreeing to normalize relations and establish diplomatic ties. While both Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump were at the signing, according to pundits, these accords were a long time in the making.

(Neither Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum , PM of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, nor Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain, attended the ceremony sending their foreign ministers instead. PM Netanyahu did not include his FM Gabi Ashkenazi in the entourage traveling to the US).

Ehud Yaari, veteran political commentator now with Channel 12 news, said that this was an agreement between countries not individuals. Between Israel and the UAE not between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the UAE Foreign Minister who signed the accords. Israel also signed an understanding of agreement with Bahrain.

Yaari said this was a historic development in the history of the Middle East. Israel was now reaching a level of acceptance with her Arab neighbors. Other analysts said that this agreement bypassed the Palestinians demands to first have a state before any Arab nations would accept Israel’s legitimacy.

Both President Trump and Israel’s PM Netanyahu took credit for this historic agreement.

However, speaking on Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet, Yitzchak ‘Bougie’ Herzog, former head of Israel’s Labor Party, said that when he was running the Labor Party he met with the heads of Bahrain and the UAE and other moderate Arab countries, all Sunni, enemies of Iran’s Shiite branch of Islam, all of whom expressed a willingness to sign a peace agreement with Israel. Herzog said that Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair had been the conduit between Israel and the Arab nations.

On Tuesday, according to the Times of Israel, Blair said he understands Ramallah’s objection to the deals, but believes that “in time, the Palestinian people will understand that it is only by radically changing strategy that the legitimate aspirations for a viable Palestinian state can be realized.”

Yaari confirmed these claims and said that Israel has had unofficial relations with moderate Arab countries for years. It is well known in Israel that Israeli hospitals have treated Arab leaders who have no official ties to Israel.

However, just as the agreements were being signed on the White House lawn, Hamas fired rockets from Gaza to protest the new peace agreements. The rockets fell on the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod injuring two Israelis, one lightly, one still in serious condition. Hamas also sent another volley of rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday morning. The Palestinians reportedly view the agreements as a betrayal by the UAE and Bahrain.

The editor of Jerusalem Magazine received a letter from a friend asking for a comment on an article written by Dr. Philip Giraldi, executive director of the Council for National Interest, that had a headline “Democrats Go All-Out for Israel: Joe is a Zionist and Kamala panders to Jewish donors.” The letter took the position of the “progressives” in the Democratic party who lambasted Biden for, essentially, being a lackey of Israel, and Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, no better. Dr. Giraldi also called for the US to curtail aid to Israel and claims Israel is out to destroy the Palestinians.

In reply, Jerusalem Magazine’s editor wrote:

“1.) Isolationism didn’t work with Europe in the 20’s-late 30’s. Won’t work now. Bin Laden didn’t attack the Twin Towers because of Israel. With a powerful ally in the Middle East to prevent fundamentalists from sweeping over the moderate and liberal countries the USA can avoid a larger confrontation.

2. BDS was started by a Palestinian to further Palestinian aspirations. A Palestinian state would be a good thing but no Palestinian leader will step up and make and implement a peace agreement. Sources in the UAE and Bahrain have reportedly said the Palestinians have been obdurate for too long and are obstacles to Peace. Those against the recent Peace treaty with the UAE are countries like Iran and Qatar both fundamentalists, and Turkey, one of the main donors and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. And Russia’s Putin for his own ambition to make Russia a superpower once again. Would liberals want this axis of evil to stand up and take over the Middle East with Islamic fundamentalism running rampant? With Iran a nuclear power? I think this anti-Israel bias is short-sighted.
If Turkey and Qatar can support Islamic fundamentalists why can’t Saban support Israel? (Giraldi claimed that Billionaire Chaim Saban, who was born in Israel, had an inordinate influence over US policies.) The Middle East is undergoing a transformation. Other Arab countries are about to recognize Israel’s existence as a nation and a neighbor. The Progressive Democrats are singing an antiquated song. The Palestinians have just been made irrelevant by their obduracy. They still have the opportunity to get a State but recognizing Israel’s right to exist would be a good first step.

3.) Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have the right idea. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Bernie Sanders and other progressives are correct in the necessity for more social programs, health initiates and general equality for the poorer sectors of the USA, but in Foreign Policy the are misguided by others. Dr. Giraldi made a few interesting points but ultimately offered nothing new. Same song sung by the SDS back in the 60’s. And the Soviets who once Ben Gurion until he refused to make Israel a Soviet satellite in ‘48.

Old Communist party line. Hasn’t changed.

While I agree that there should be universal health care and support other progressive platforms when it comes to israel I’m afraid the progressives don’t have a clue what’s really at stake. In my opinion nothing less than the future of the free world.”

In Israel the peace accords made headlines and the entire signing ceremony was broadcast live on every tv station. Credit was given to PM Netanyahu and US President Trump for bringing the parties to the table. The quid pro quo, according to analysts, was Israel’s freeze of settlements in the West Bank, and allowing the UAE to receive advanced F-35 jet fighters, as well as other security measures, and advanced medical technology. Pundits say that both the UAE and Bahrain, as well as other Arab countries who are expected to also sign agreements with Israel, are seeking Israel’s backing against any Iranian aggression. Especially since the US has announced they are pulling troops out of the region. These Arab states are frightened by Iran and hope an alliance with Israel will dissuade Iran from any hostilities. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, as the Jewish High Holidays approach this weekend, the health ministry announced moves to try to stop the spread of Covid-19 across the country. Schools were closed for the next three weeks. As were restaurants, bars, and gyms. Synagogues were limited to 20 people outside and 10 inside, and all had to wear masks and keep a social distance. Residents were restricted to no more than 500 meters from their homes. Fines from $125 and up would be issued to those caught breaking the regulations.

This would be a completely different Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) than nearly any other. “Israel is at war,” said one observer. “In war everything is different. In this war rather than bullets we have microbes.” Dr. Israela Hirsch, a Jewish-based Ophthalmologist said, “The microbes are worse.”

With 167,000 cases and counting, with 18,135 cases per million, compared the the international average of 3824,  Israel has no  choice but to take drastic steps.

And the Peace accords, that coincidently fit in with President Trumps election campaign, and beleaguered PM Netanyahu’s legal troubles, as one man in the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth said, when asked about the UAE, Bahrain peace accords, “Who cares. We’ve got Covid-19 here, that’s where the government’s focus should be, not on some accord.” On that account, neither PM Netanyahu, nor President Trump have proved to be very good generals.