Israel has decided to keep the borders closed to travelers until September, according to the Health Ministry. All travelers, including those vaccinated and/or recovered from C-19, would be required to self-quarantine for up to 24 hours upon arrival in the country, or until they receive a negative test result. This is because the Ministry of Health has linked the recent Covid-19 spike in Israel, almost all the cases reported have the Delta variant, to those coming from abroad and not undergoing the proper quarantine upon arrival.
Israel also decided to impose a fine of 5,000 shekels ($1,500) for those traveling to, or returning from forbidden ‘red’ countries. that have a high infection rate. The countries are: The UAE (United Arab Emirates), Seychelles, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Krygyzstan , Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, South Africa, India, Mexico and Russia. Last month, the Health Ministry required any Israeli leaving the country to sign a declaration that they would not visit countries on the ‘red’ list, and were warned they would be fined if they visited any of those 16 ‘red’ countries.
Israel reported 770 new Covid cases over the weekend, almost all from the Delta variant. Israel now has seen 845,811 cases with 6,435 deaths; currently there are 43 serious cases with 13 people on ventilators, and 4,108 active cases. Among three of the recent deaths, one was an 86-year-old man who had received both doses of the vaccine, another was a 75-year-old woman, also double vaccinated but with underlying health issues, and one 48-year-old man who had not been vaccinated. Israel’s Health Ministry has determined that the deterrent effect of the Pfizer and Modern vaccines begins to fade after six-months, and this slight but supposed continual degradation may be the cause of the upturn in serious cases.
On Sunday, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said that COVID booster shots are now available to at-risk adults “From now we’re giving a third shot to people who are immunocompromised,” Horowitz told national broadcaster Kan on Sunday morning. This might make Israel the first country to offer third vaccine doses. Horowitz also said that the Health Ministry is also evaluating whether to offer boosters to the whole population. However, according to reports, none of the HMOs have been informed of this decision to give booster shots to at risk adults and have yet to agree to give appointments for a third vaccine dose.
Israel is now 32nd in the world in the number of Covid-19 cases. The USA still leads the world with 34,726,111 cases, 622,821 feathers, and 4,868,360 active cases. California leads the USA in infections, followed by Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey and North Carolina to fill out the top ten.
Worldwide, there are 187,279,338 cases confirmed, with 4,043,020 deaths, and 78,382 in critical condition.
Israel’s Health Ministry is closely following the Pfizer research that would determine if it was safe to administer the vaccine to children from six-months-old to 12-years-old. As of now Israel is vaccinating anyone over 12, however only 29% of the 12-15-year-olds have agreed to be vaccinated. The deadline for receiving the first vaccine ran out on Saturday, since Israel did not have enough vaccines to provide a second dose within the four-week interval required.
Israel has sent the 300,000 doses, set to expire at the end of July, to S. Korea in a swap deal. In September, S.Korea will redirect to Israel the 300,000 Pfizer doses S. Korea was to receive. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been in direct contact with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and ordered another 200,000 doses of the vaccine that are to be delivered on August 1, 2021.
Meanwhile, The government approved the appointment of Nachman Ash as the new director-general of the Health Ministry. Ash, who has served as the national coronavirus czar since November, takes over for Chezy Levy, who is returning to be director of Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.
In another health development, Israeli researchers at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva have said they’ve found a way to remove “the greatest cause of organ rejection,” according to Ynetnews. This Israeli breakthrough could mean a “miracle for organ transplants.”
Dr. Shahar Cohen, who led a team of researchers who developed a new method to stabilize the blood supply to transplanted organs that could, he said, “pave the way for humans to receive kidneys, livers, lungs, hearts and pancreases from pigs.” Researchers have shown that pigs had organ sizes and functions similar to humans.
The research was released this week in the prestigious Scientific Reports journal. According to Cohen,”The idea behind the method is the understanding that the most significant trigger for organ rejection is the internal lining of the blood vessels…This lining is the point of contact between the transplanted organ and the recipient's body.” Cohen made it clear that implants from pig organs to other animals will first be carried out before any transplants on humans. Cohen also pointed out that should this method work there would no longer be a shortage of organs needed for transplants since “Pigs produce a large number of offspring each year, making them an inexhaustible source of organs.”
According to Ynetnews, in an interview with Dr. Eviatar Nesher, director of the Rabin Medical Center’s Department of Organ Transplantation, “The ability to produce an organ that is available and suitable for transplantation in humans will be a solution for the thousands of patients awaiting transplants.”
There has as yet been no comments from the rabbinical authorities about the religious implications of the new method.
In another development, the IDF has admitted that swarms of drones using AI (artificial intelligence) were deployed during the recent 11-day Gaza war. Small flocks of quadcopter drones flying over specific patches of land were used to identify missile launching sites in the southern Gaza strip and “send the coordinates to other armed aircraft or ground based units to destroy them,” according to the Walla news site. The report said that drone swarms were used dozens of times during the fighting.
Israeli drone expert Tal Inbar was quoted as saying this was one of the first times Israel officially acknowledged the use of drone swarms. According to Inbar, the technical definition of a drone swarm is “a number of aircraft flying together for a specific mission. That can be something military or it can be making a bunch of pretty lights in the sky.” Drones swarms are like a school of fish or a flock of birds, each talking to the other and coordinating movements, according to Walla news. The Israeli Elbit company produced the drones
According to Inbar: ““If you have five drones, you can control one, and the others just copy what it’s doing. That’s one level, a lower level of capabilities…
“But when you have a bigger swarm, how they carry out their mission, you or I as operators don’t necessarily know or control in real time. Say you have 50 aircraft in the air, one of the smarter ones can decide to send five of them to a certain street and another five to another place or to fly in a certain formation,” he said. “Artificial intelligence is not something that’s just for superpowers anymore,” according to Inbar.
The Gaza war also produced another surprising detail. According to Alex Fishman writing in Ynetnews, “The single most important non-military achievement of the fighting in the Gaza Strip in May is Egypt taking more responsibility for the enclave's economy…The more Israel distances itself from the entry of goods and money to rehabilitate the Strip, the more Egypt finds itself – against its will – more deeply involved in its management.” Fishman also wrote, “thanks to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's political short-sightedness, Israel might finally be able to free itself from the duty of care for Gaza's residents.” Fishman believes that when Sinwar gave the order to fire on Jerusalem, “he failed to predict this would lead to a fundamental shift in Israeli policy on Gaza.”
Egypt has reportedly promised $1 billion in aid to Gaza but so far has not provided anything. Israel has been involved for years supplying aid to Gaza even after Hamas’ repeated attacks. Critics say that international aid to the poverty-stricken residents of Gaza was routinely syphoned off by Hamas leadership for their own personal gain or to reinforce Hamas’ military capabilities.
Israel’s new prime minister Naftali Bennett has reached out to Jordan’s King Hussein in an effort to patch over differences between the two countries exacerbated during the Netanyahu administration. The two countries agreed that Israel would provide much needed water to Jordan. Bennett’s government has so far managed to survive turbulent political waters even while some of the new government’s legislation, like family reunification, granting citizenship to a Palestinian spouse of an Israeli citizen, has yet to be passed.
The Arab Israeli Islamist party Ra’am said on Sunday it was halting its parliamentary cooperation with the coalition, temporarily denying Bennett’s broad coalition a majority. Pundits believe Ra’am leaders are angry that Bennett has reached out to the other Arab party, the Joint List, in a move that could weaken Ra’am. The Joint List, while in the opposition, could still vote with the coalition on any given piece of legislation. Ra’am has also threatened to bolt the coalition should Israel decide to strike at Hamas in Gaza because of missile attacks or an increase in incendiary balloon attacks.
Former Prime Minister, now leader of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu has finally vacated the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. Netanyahu agreed to leave on July 10th, but for whatever reasons, perhaps spite opined one observer, the last moving van did not leave until after midnight. Prime Minister Bennett plans to live with his family in Ra’anana, just outside of Tel Aviv, and only use the Balfour Street’s Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem for official meetings and functions.
Israel’s detachment of rescue workers to the Surfside, Florida condo collapse were recalled after the search for survivors was declared over. 86 bodies were recovered, 43 residents were still missing. A ceremony was held Saturday to thank members of Israel’s National Rescue Unit for their help in trying to find survivors in the mountain of rubble left behind where the Champlain condo building collapsed.The ceremony was attended by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, and local fire and rescue chiefs.
