Covid-19
Israel saw a significant jump in Covid-19 cases with 10,946 testing positive for the virus, the highest number since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Israel. This puts Israel at #6 per capita in the world. However, health officials were upbeat since the numbers of seriously ill was dropping and indication that the vaccine was still having an effect on the virus. Israel is only 57th in the world in deaths per capita.
Israel’s Health Ministry reported that those 60+ who were unvaccinated were 13x more likely to get seriously ill than those vaccinated. So far in Israel, there have been 1,066,352 cases, an infection rate of 7.5%, with 738 in serious condition, 160 on ventilators, 80,183 active cases, and 7049 deaths. In August alone over 500 people died of the virus.
Israel is now involved in a massive campaign for those who have had two shots to take the booster. PM Bennet has called on all eligible Israelis to take the booster. Nachum Ash, director-general of the Health Ministry, has said the booster is the way to quell the fourth wave outbreak. Israel Corona Cabinet has now opened up the booster to everyone over 12 years of age.
The cabin also ruled that once someone has received the booster they no longer have to go into isolation when returning from a trip abroad, unless they're returning from a "red" country. Because of that ruling reservations to travel abroad in September have skyrocketed)
So far, 2,157,299 Israelis have taken the third ‘booster’ shot. 5,482,062 have received two shots, 5,974,921 have received the first shot.
But are booster shots really necessary? This was the question New York Times columnist David Leonhardt asked in a recent piece. Leonhardt questioned the Israeli study that showed a decrease in the Covid vaccines’ effectivity as time went on thus necessitating a 3rd ‘booster’ shot.
According to Leonhardt, who interviewed a number of scientists in the USA, the Israeli study was flawed and the necessity for a booster was far from certain. Leonhardt also hinted that some of the results may have been influenced by companies like Pfizer and Moderna who stood to make a nice profit from the sale of the booster shots.( https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/briefing/vaccine-immunity-booster-shots.html )
“Leonhardt’s article is very interesting,” said one observer, who added, “Questioning the Israeli research and even pointing fingers at the drug companies who are touting the booster to raise their own profits makes sense.” Another pointed to an Israeli article that also raised questions about the booster. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-study-claims-major-drop-in-vaccine-protection-experts-dont-believe-it/
However, skewing results would assume that those who carried out the Israeli research were influenced somehow in their work and manipulated the results to the benefit of big pharma, said an observer.
Other pundits doubt that those involved in the push for the booster are being paid off by big pharma. “Some, perhaps, but all?” asked one observer. “Not unless those ‘some’ are the decision makers, does the taint of corruption hold.”
Another wrote, “I doubt Bennett is on the take. Or Prof. Ran Balicer, considered one of Israel’s top coronavirus experts and head researcher for Clalit, Israel’s largest HMO. Balicer led the recent study that showed that the vaccine didn't cause heart problems but C-19 did.
In another article in Haaretz, Prof. Balicer is quoted as saying, that infection rates among Israelis 60 and over are "slowing down, as a renewed COVID outbreak has triggered soaring infection rates… In fact, over the past two days we see a curb in the number of new cases in 60-year-olds and over, who are mostly inoculated with a third dose," said Balicer. So far 80% of those 70-79 have received a third dose, according to the Health Ministry.
In addition, one of Israel's health maintenance organizations (HMOs), Maccabi, on Wednesday released its findings on the effectiveness of booster shots. According to the study a third shot of the coronavirus vaccine is 86 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infection among 60-year-olds and over.
“The outbreak hasn’t been stopped but there is definitely a drop in the rate of serious infections,” said Dr. Eran Segal of the Weizman Institute.”
While some critics agree with the NYTimes article most agree that the Israeli studies may have faults, but strongly doubt the Israeli scientists are completely wrong.
Bottom line, said one health expert, why take the chance, take the booster. Just stay aware that the virus is still rampaging, wear a mask, stay out of crowds, keep your
hands clean, and be careful.
Meanwhile, school starts in Israel on September 1st. Over 91,000 students have tested positive for C-19 and are in isolation. The Corona Cabinet ruled that if 70% of a high school class have received a vaccination than remote learning is not necessary. Less than that and classes must be held remotely. The cabinet also ruled that teachers must be vaccinated or take a C-19 test twice a week to be allowed to enter a classroom. Students are also undergoing rapid serology tests and must show a negative result before entering school.
Israel’s Coronavirus czar Salman Zaka said, “There will probably be a fifth wave. We have to learn to live with the virus. To find a balance.” But Galia Rahav, head of Sheba Medical Center’s Infectious Disease Center said, “We have to be very careful as school starts. Not complacent.”
GAZA
Israeli border policeman Bar El Shmueli, 22, has died of his wounds. Shmueli was shot in the head at point blank range during a riot at the Gaza/Israel border 10-days ago. Riots broke out again on Saturday night and have continued for the fourth consecutive night. This even as Israel has loosened restrictions of goods entering Gaza and allowed for the transfer of some disputed funds. According to reports, 1,000 Gazans were involved in the riots, throwing stones and firebombs. Palestinian sources report that 14 Gazans were injured during the riots.
ARAB ISRAELI MURDERS
A rash of murders that one critic says is starting to resemble that on the South Side of Chicago continues in Israel. So far 71 Arabs have been killed this year mostly by gunfire as rival gangs carry out targeted assassinations. The Israeli police have been harshly criticized for their inability to control the street. Arab lawmakers have long called for a stronger police presence in Arab towns and villages.
Iyad Shalabi at Tokyo Paralympic Games
PARALYMPICS
Israeli athletes have garnered 7 Paralympic medals, six in swimming. Iyad Shalabi, 34, a Muslim who is both deaf and paraplegic, was the first Arab-Israeli to win a gold medal. He already held the record for the same event, 150-meter medley.
Mark Malyar won two gold medals and one bronze, setting two world records in the process. Ami Dadon won a silver in the pool.
HURRICANE IDA AND LOUIS (LOUIE) ARMSTRONG’S 2nd ‘JEWISH’ HOME
According to theweek.com Hurricane Ida destroyed a New Orleans landmark, the 2nd home to a young Louis Armstrong. “The storm also felled the Karnofsky Store on South Rampart Street, one of the last remaining landmarks from early New Orleans jazz history.” The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “The Karnofsky Store was, beginning in 1913, the shop, with residence above, of the Jewish family that provided a second home to the young Louis Armstrong…He worked for the Karnofskys on their coal and junk wagons, tooting "a small tin horn," and ate meals with the family, either in their earlier home on Girod Street or here, or maybe both. The Karnofskys loaned Armstrong money for his first cornet. ... Morris Karnofsky, the son of the family and Armstrong's boyhood friend, opened the first jazz record store in town, Morris Music.”
ALEXANDER HAMILTON WAS JEWISH
For all those Hamilton fans, researcher Andrew Porwancher, who had written “The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton” before the hit Broadway play ‘Hamilton’ was ever written, turned up an interesting fact. Alexander Hamilton’s father was Jewish and his mother, who converted to Judaism, sent the young Hamilton to a Jewish day school when he was growing up in the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Experiences, says Porwancher, in an interview with the TimesofIsrael, that influenced Hamilton in colonial America. Other sources mention that Hamilton attended a school in Saint Kitts with a Jewish headmistress. So far, there has been no other mention a Jewish father or mother that converted to Judaism.
