Setting new records.
The USA is, according to the website https://ncov2019.live/ , still # 1 in the world with the most cases, now standing at 6,335,244, 19,120 per million, leading the world with 191,058 deaths, 577 per million, 15,042 critical cases, and 2,569,090 active cases. Next are Brazil, India, Russia and then Peru.
Speaking on Israel TV’s Channel 13, Israel’s Corona Czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu, said Israel has become the leader in overnight infections with 199.3 per million, ahead of Brazil with 188.8, Spain with 178.5 and the USA with 129.2.
Ynetnews reported that overnight infections crept up to just over 3,000 for the last two nights running. As of now, Israel is #26 in the list of the most cases, up from 35 a few weeks ago. Israels currently has 124,555 cases, with 13,531 per million; deaths stand at 991 with 107 per million, 417 cases are in critical condition, 24,825 active cases, and 117 on ventilators.
Ynetnews also reported that Gamzu said there was a “probable chance” that Israel would be placed under lockdown during the High Holidays later this month. Gamzu said, “We are at war..this is a message to the entire State of Israel: no weddings, no mass events, don’t flout the rules at a restaurant or anywhere.” According to Ynetnews, Gamzu also stated that the COVID-19 rates in the Ultra-orthodox and Arab sectors was exceptionally high. Ultra-Orthodox politicians have demanded the synagogues remain open for the High Holidays.
Israel has responded to the rise in cases with a partial lock-down of 30 cities around the country, closing off entry to the cities, limiting the number of people allowed in an indoor venue to 10 and outdoor venue to 20, and limiting the range a person can walk from their home to 500 meters.
Most of the 30 cities were either ultra-Orthodox Jewish cities, or Israeli Arab. Speaking on Reshet Bet radio yesterday, Attorney Adel Badir, mayor of the Israeli/Arab town of Kfar Kasem, said that this was the wedding season and the city, and Arab towns around the country, was hard-pressed to keep the celebrations small and observing social distancing. Israel TV’s Channel 12 aired footage of wedding in Israeli Arab villages and towns where hundreds of people were celebrating without social distancing or masks.
To further complicate matters, 93-year-old Ultra-orthodox rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky, considered a leading authority in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish society reportedly instructed heads of Israel’s yeshivot (religious seminaries) not to test students for Corona. According to the website The Yeshiva World. Rabbi Kanievsky said the testing could lead to “mass Bitul Torah,” (damaging Torah study) as the students would be forced into isolation.
The Yeshiva World website also said that, Prof. Gamzu “chastised the Gadol Hador” (giant of the generation) saying his words could “endanger the Haredi public.” Yeshiva World continued, “A few hours after Gamzu chastised Rav Kanievsky, the Chareidi representatives resigned from participating in the Coronavirus Advisory Committee. Shas representatives claimed that the committee was simply a decoration and had no power or effect. Ashkenazi representatives, Deputy Mayor of Yerushalayim Yossi Deutsch and Head of Ezer M’Tzion Hananya Cholak both resigned as well, and claimed that they were strongly disappointed with the way that the committee was being run and felt that they had no voice in deciding issues that mattered.”
The Times of Israel reported that back in march, Rabbi Kanievsky’s spokesman announced that study halls should remain open as “canceling Torah study is more dangerous than the coronavirus.” The Times of Israel wrote that Rabbi Kanievsky later rescinded the edict but he was partially blamed for the high infection rates in ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel.
The ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva World website reported that “recent statistics have shown there has been a large sparke in the number of Chareidim who have contracted the virus, especially in Yeshivos. One Yeshiva in Carmiel (a norther Israeli city) had 200 students test positive for the virus on Tuesday.”
Benyamin Cohen, Director of the Yeshiva Committee Control Center told Israeli media that @500 Yeshiva students have been diagnosed with COVID-19 out of 25,000 students countrywide.” But other media reports dispute the low number saying as many as 800 tested positive, and thousands were put in isolation.
Media sources also reported that, according to Prof. Gamzu, 28% of the infections were in the Arab sector and 22% in ultra-Orthodox communities. However, Prof. Gamzu said that 80% of the new cases of infection are in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.
Visiting the ultra-Orthodox town of Beitar Ilit on Wednesday, Prof. Gamzu told the media that 14% of the population of the town tested positive for COVID-19. The country average is @9%.
Following Prof. Gamzu’s criticism of Rabbi Kanievsky, ultra-Orthodox voices called for Gamzu’s resignation. Gamzu also found himself criticized for vehemently objecting to the annual pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine, burial site of Reb Nachman of Breslav, a mystic and holy man. The ususal carnival atmosphere in Uman worried Prof. Gamzu. He stated that the many of the estimated 50,000 Israelis who travel to Uman for the High Holidays would return to Israel with COVID-19 and spread the virus.
Gamzu wrote to the Volodymyr Zelensky President of Ukraine asking him to stop Israelis from entering that country. Ultra-Orthodox community even labeled Gamzu an anti-Semite and called for his resignation. Zelensky, who is Jewish, honored Gamzu’s appeal, some say because he thought Gamzu was speaking for Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. Even so, media reported that many Israelis managed to sneak into Ukraine and head for Uman. United Torah Judaism’s Yaacov Litzman called on Gamzu to resign because of his interfering with ultra-Orthodox going to Uman.
Prof. Gamzu now finds himself nearly alone in the fight over curtailing the ultra-Orthodox communities. PM Netanyahu, who appointed Gamzu, has not come out publicly and backed Gamzu’s positions.
Neftali Bennet, former Defense Minister and leader of the right-wing Yamina party, is a harsh critic of Netanyahu. He told Channel 12 news that Netanyahu has not taken over leadership of the fight against COVID-19 but was too busy arguing about petty political interest, the budget, and worried about his trial.
Some analysts say that PM Netanyahu’s silence is caused by his fear of new elections. Should he back Gamzu and incur the wrath of the ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, and Shas, those parties could bolt the coalition and force new elections. This would not be in Netanyahu’s game plan, say the analysts. Should the government fall then Defense Minister Benny Gantz would automatically become interim Prime Minister, something Netanyahu wants to avoid.
Rather, Netanyahu wants to wait until the end of December, say the analysts, when the 100-day extension on the budget ends. No new budget has been yet been drawn up nor, according to Shaul Meridor, Finance Ministry head of the budget department, and son of Likud veteran Dan Meridor, who resigned this week, said that no work has even begun on a new budget. Finance Minister Israel Katz dodged the question of the new budget when pushed by Channel 12’s anchorman Danny Kushmaro.
With no budget by November 23, 2020, the government automatically falls. Then Netanyahu stays on as interim Prime Minister. This is because the coalition agreement states that if there is a budgetary issue that causes the government to fall Netanyahu, not Gantz, becomes interim Prime Minister. This is important to Netanyahu, according to analysts, because he is afraid that once out of the PM’s chair, a bill can be passed by the Gantz preventing Netanyahu from running for Prime Minister as long as he is under indictment.
However, Channel 12
political analyst Amit Segal said that Netanyahu needn’t worry
about Gantz passing any legislation preventing him from serving as PM
while on trial. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said in a
statement on Thursday that Netanyahu could stay as PM even while on
trial. This, according to Amit Segal, takes the pressure off of
Netanyahu to go to new elections. Mandelblit also specified that Netanyahu cannot deal with any legal or judicial or police issue that affects his trial as this would be a conflict of interest.
Meanwhile, the protests outside the PM’s residence are expected to continue even though the ultra-Orthodox parties complain that they should be allowed in their study halls and synagogues if fifteen thousand protesters can gather in front of the Prime Minister’s residence on a weekly basis.
A new issue arose this week after the historic flight of the El Al plane carrying Israeli diplomats flew over Saudi Arabia and landed in Abu Dhabi. According to the New York Times, PM Netanyahu secretly agreed to the US sale of advanced F-35 fighter planes, drones, and anti-radar equipment to the Emirates, ostensibly in exchange for the normalization of ties between Israel and the Emirates.
Netanyahu staunchly denies any such secret agreement.
Avi Issaroff, a veteran military and security reporter, also one of the creators of the popular Israeli TV series “Fauda,” writing in the Times of Israel, said that the “UAE deal shows Arab-Israel conflict starting to come apart before our eyes.” He wrote: “Israel finds itself in a place of honor in the moderate Sunni camp against the extremist Shiites: there are even signs of a certain shift in Hamas.” Issaroff said this was a sign of “a profound change in the Middle-East.”
So, even if Netanyahu did make a secret deal to get normalization, asks some pundits, was that so bad?
Some skeptics wrote of the danger of selling weapons to the Emirates as these weapons could be transferred to a third party, and be used against Israel. Neri Zilber, writing in foreignpolicy.com implied that the planes were the quid pro quo for the normalization. The article said that normally a large weapons deal like the one proposed with the UAE would take almost a year to process.” But, “the Trump administration wants to get it underway within two to five months, ideally by the time of the US election in November.”
Congress, Foreign Policy said, would need to be provided with details of a proposed sale by October so lawmakers could have time to consider it and raise objections. The UAE wants to deal to happen fast. “They read the tea leaves, and they know things will change for them in the next administration.”
And, should Joe Biden win, “This (deal) is never going to happen.”
According to Foreign Policy, “the UAE has wanted for years to buy the F-35, a sophisticated stealth fighter plane that only Israel among countries in the Middle East has been allowed to purchase. U.S. presidential advisor Jared Kushner, who mediated the UAE-Israel deal, said in a recent interview with CNN that the ‘peace agreement should increase the probability of them getting it.’”
Some analysts say
that between the F-35’s, COVID-19, and political motives, both from
Israel and the USA, we’re in for some very interesting times. Meanwhile, Israel has to content itself with setting dubious records, and the USA with the also dubious distinction of being the number one COVID-19 country in the world.
