A few things.
1.) Is Trump faking this infection? Michael Moore, the filmmaker, ranted a conspiracy theory on Facebook that Trump was faking the infection to help him in the polls. Now that he has “beaten” C-19 and shown it “wasn’t so bad,” he can justify not wearing a mask, and be a superhero to his followers. Trump declared himself “drug free,” and is going back on the campaign trail.
Analysts say that with the polls favoring Presidential candidate Joe Biden by as much as 10 points, it seems that President Trump needs all the help he can get to win the upcoming election.
2.) Another observer asked “When President Trump told the Proud Boys to “Stand by and Stay Ready” was he talking about using them when he lost the election to riot in the streets as the election was contested?
When the President asked William Barr, the attorney general, to change the rules that prohibited investigations into election fraud before an election?”
According to the NY Times, “For decades, federal prosecutors have been told not to mount election fraud investigations in the final months before an election for fear they could depress voter turnout or erode confidence in the results. Now, the Justice Department has lifted that prohibition weeks before the presidential election. The move comes as President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr have promoted a false narrative that voter fraud is rampant, potentially undermining Americans’ faith in the election.”
3.) In Israel, PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has slipped 40% in the polls over the last few months. Likud now, according to a Channel 12 TV poll, shows Netanyahu’s Likud party with only 26 seats while Yamina party’s Neftali Bennett, once a Netanyahu loyalist, is now his arch-rival. Bennett’s Yamina, with 23 seats in the polls is breathing down Netanyahu’s neck. Bennett’s votes, pundits say, were mostly taken from Blue and White. Analysts say Bennett may swing more to the center and merge his Yamina party with Likud while dumping far-right MK Smotritch from Yamina.
Avraham Rabinovitz, political commentator on Channel 12 news said that Blue and White, that tied Netanyahu in three previous elections, is now down to just 9 seats, and has to start being more proactive.“ And … about Gantz and Ashkenazi: what happened to them is exactly, but exactly what was predicted to happen to them.” (that they were shut out by Netanyahu, ignored, and marginalized) “This survey, might still benefit them. This poll and other polls should be a wake-up call for Gantz and Ashkenazi – but they seem to be sleeping so deeply that it is unlikely they will wake up.” Rabinovitz also said that Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid may lose more votes to Yamina. ”
Channel 12 tv’s poll figures show that the public’s opinion of how Netanyahu handled the Covid-19 pandemic is dismal. 64 % of those polled thought he did a bad job.
According to Rabinovitz, “the public understands that the corona crisis is being managed with a narrow personal prism, with a personal political prism.” In other words, Netanyahu is worried more about his trial, where he is scheduled to begin appearing in court on Jan 1, 2020 for three felonies, than with fighting the corona-19 pandemic. However, legal maneuvering has kept moving the opening court sessions farther and farther away. Netanyahu’s attorney’s are trying to get the Jan 1, 2021 date moved to at least the spring.
Analysts in Israel also ask what the American public thinks of Trumps performance?
According to the Pew Research Center’s September poll, 57% thought Trump was projecting the wrong message. A CNN poll published yesterday said the disapproval of Trump’s handling of the overall coronavirus outbreak reached 60 percent in the poll, while 37 percent approved.
4.) New elections in Israel? Pundits agree that Netanyahu does not want new elections now, not with his popularity lagging. And the sharks circling to take him out. Finance Minister Israel Katz, of the Likud party, publicly disagreed with Bibi, something previously unheard in the Likud hierarchy.
According to Rabinovitz, “It is very interesting what Gideon Saar, Israel Katz and Nir Barkat think at the moment, all those who thought they were Netanyahu’s successors – and it turns out to them that the one who may and may replace him is Naftali Bennett.”
Other observers say that Netanyahu may soon have a rebellion in his ranks. “But who knows?” they ask. “He’s one of the wiliest politicians to ever appear on the Israei scene.”
5. Some observers say that Defense Minister Gantz and Foreign Minister Ashkenazi, of Blue and White, may heed Rabinovitz’s call and wake from their deep slumber Ashkenazi has said that he believes what he and Gantz are doing is “biting the bullet,” keeping the government stable in a time of crises, which they, (both Gantz and Ashkenazi are former Army Chiefs of Staff,) consider their patriotic duty.
Still, they may oppose Netanyahu’s request to extend the budget deadline, again. It now stands as the end of December. If no new budget is passed by then, and another extension denied, then new elections will automatically be called. But will Gantz and Ashkenazi decide that opposing Bibi is the most patriotic thing they can do now? Pundits, in a wait and see mode, speculate that if the Blue and White party leaders stand up and oppose Netanyahu’s request for a budget extension, then there will be new elections, soon. As of now the analysts say March or June.
6.) Key point. The economy is going down the tubes. How long can business be frozen in place? According to the Jerusalem Post, by September 20, 2020, “The number of unemployed people in Israel passed 900,000.”
The Azrieli Modiin Mall was a veritable ghost town on Wednesday. Almost all the stores were closed. Only the bank and post office were open, with lines of people in masks, socially distanced, waiting their number to be called to enter the facility. A few take away restaurants.
were open. Businesses need income to pay the taxes that fuel the government. With the current regulations, experts say, the economy will slowly grind to a halt.
7.) Lockdown and protests. Israel entered a lockdown with only essential businesses open, travel limited to 1 km from home, and, over the Succot holiday, a rule against having visitors in the succah. Or at home. The lockdown seems to have some effect. The infection rate has fallen from a high of over 13% to a little over 9%. Still, Israel has the 6th highest deaths per capita in the world.
Protesters are forbidden to travel farther than a kilometer from home to attend a protest. Still, protests have sprung up in Tel Aviv and elsewhere that were broken up by the police. One protester in his twenties in Tel Aviv said he was unemployed, had no money, and was protesting so the government would do something about him and others like him. Protests continued Saturday night with thousands of anti-Netanyahu protester at hundred of locations around the country.
7.) “The Haredim in Israel and in NYC are going nuts,” said one commentator. “Small groups seem to steer the conversation.” In Israel the Peleg Yerushalmi, the ultra-conservative ultra-orthodox group, refuses to listen to Haredi leaders like Rav Chaim Kanievsky, now hospitalized in serious condition with Covid-19. Aryeh Deri, Sephardi Shaas party leader told Channel 13 tv news that a fringe of protesters was not listening to the leaders who were clear in saying, wear masks, keep a distance, and pray outdoors not in synagogues. Still, in Haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and places like Modiin Elite, the Haredi protesters ignore pleas to keep a social distance and stay out of enclosed places, like synagogues. The infection rate in the Haredi community in Israel is three times that in a non-Haredi community.
“Today we’re dealing with the Haredim instead of Corona,” said Moshe Shlonsky on Galei Zahal’s Army radio.
8.) Haredim in the USA.
Scenes of Haredim dancing in the streets without masks, or wearing masks with Trump’s name on them, were splashed across Israeli TV and media. Some protests were in Boro Park, led by Heshy Tischler, whose apparent agenda is to get elected to the city council it seems.
One protester said the police crackdown was aimed at Haredim because it was known they support Trump for president. The Haredi organization Agudas Yisrael is protesting the move to limit the number of worshipers in synagogues.
The infection rate in the Haredi community in the USA is three to five times that in the non-religious communities. In the Haredi town of Kyrias Yoel the Covid-19 infection rate is reportedly 28% of the total population whereas statewide the infection rate is only 1%. Some of the protesters told reporters that if Black Lives Matter protests could go on, why couldn’t they pray inside synagogues on the Succot holiday?
A similar refrain was heard in Israel regarding the protests on Balfour street against Prime Minister Netanyahu when complaining Haredim could not attend prayers inside the synagogues.
Analysts see that, as the crises goes on, a divide is widening in the USA between the Haredi community and the communities at large.
In Israel, said one analyst, the police and army can deal with the Haredim. Not a new thing. But the resentment aginst the Haredim is growing dangerously.
But in the USA? That’s even more worrisome.”
Another said that while those Haredim in Boro Park are legitimate American citizens, how well will they take the to the police using an iron fist, as both Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have warned?
Even if these Haredim in Boro Park don’t wear those Trump facemasks, analysts ask, how much support will they get from the non-Haredi Jewish population? Or the non-religious Jewish population? One pundit said that “Here’s where it gets dicey, will their eschewing the health regulations create a massive antisemitic backlash, even if they do wear Trump facemasks? A few Proud Boys raiding Boro Park could create a wave of such attacks, especially if the virus is placed squarely on the shoulders of the Haredim.”
9.) Hang onto your hats.
