“As a nation, we face a difficult two weeks as we approach that really important day when we’re going to see things get better, all of a sudden. And it is going to be like a burst of light, I think, or I hope,” – said President Donald Trump. The White House released its first official models of the course of the coronavirus, and the C.D.C. said it was reviewing its guidance on wearing masks as new data suggests people with no symptoms are infecting others. The top government scientists battling the coronavirus estimated that the deadly pathogen could kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans. (NYTimes, Mar. 31, 2020)
“What the President—his denial at the beginning was deadly. … his delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly. And now I think the best thing would be to do is to prevent more loss of life, rather than open things up. … When did this President know about this and what did he know? What did he know and when did he know it? … But as the President fiddles, people are dying.” – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said (WSJ, Mar. 30, 2020)
“… she’s blaming the president of the United States for people dying because of the way he’s led the country. That’s the most shameful, disgusting statement by any politician in modern history. Let me tell you, we have seen the best of America from our citizens helping each other, delivering groceries, having special shopping hours for senior citizens. She’s the first politician to blame another politician for people dying,” – Republican Senator Lindsay Graham told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” He responded to Nancy Pelosi’s comments that the president was “fiddling” at the onset of the crisis. (RealClearPolitics, Mar. 29, 2020)
“He did promise ‘America First,'” – Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tweeted. She was blasted on social media for her swipe against President Trump amid the growing coronavirus outbreak within the U.S. (Fox News, Mar. 27, 2020)
“Forget the politics, we have a national crisis. We are at war, there is no politics. There is no red and blue, it’s red, white and blue. Let’s get over it and lead by example,” – NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said responding to President Trump’s praise of him and statement on Fox & Friends that he would make a better Democratic presidential candidate than “sleepy Joe” Biden. (RealClearPolitics, Mar. 30, 2020)
ISRAEL IMPOSES SEVERE NEW RESTRICTIONS, ANNOUNCES $23B AID PACKAGE (Jerusalem) — Speaking from quarantine in his own house after one of his staff members tested positive for the virus, Prime Minister Netanyahu said the government was imposing additional restrictions, including a ban on meetings of more than two people who are not in the same immediate family. (WIN, Mar. 30, 2020)20 DEAD, 5,358 SICK: COVID-19 TIGHTENS GRIP ON JEWISH STATE (Jerusalem) — In the sharpest spike in a single day, the number of Israelis with the COVID-19 coronavirus skyrocketed by 663 cases on Tuesday to a total of 5,358 people with the illness. That figure included 76 critically ill patients currently on ventilators and eight others in serious condition. (Jewish Press, Apr. 1, 2020)
HEALTH MINISTRY ASKS ALL ISRAELIS TO WEAR MASKS, AMERICA MAY FOLLOW SUIT (Jerusalem) — Citing the conclusion of the World Health Organization that the virus is transmitted “through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks, Health Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman Tov advised all Israelis to wear protective masks when leaving their homes as a tool in fighting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Bar Siman Tov said there was no need to rush out and buy masks. “You can improvise at home. You can cover your face with a piece of cloth, for example. We will guide you.” (WIN, Mar. 31, 2020)
HEALTH MINISTER CALLS FOR CURFEW ON ULTRA-ORTHODOX CITY WITH SERIOUS OUTBREAK (Bnai Brak) — Health Minister Yaakov Litzman called for a total curfew to be imposed on the city of Bnei Brak, whose mostly ultra-orthodox population has one of the highest infection rates in Israel. Bnei Brak is home to dense populations of ultra-orthodox. As of Tuesday, Jerusalem had 650 people sick with the virus and Bnei Brak 571, but its population is less than a quarter of the capital city giving it much higher per-capita infection rate. (WIN, Mar.31,2020)
CORONAVIRUS INFECTION RATE DECLINING, EXPERT SAYS (Jerusalem) — Prof. Gabi Barabash, former director of the Health Ministry and former director of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv told Channel 12 News that since last week, there was a consistent decline in the rate of coronavirus infections in Israel, which are now doubling at a rate of once every eight days compared to once every three days. It could, hopefully, indicate a trend. (Israel Hayom, Mar. 31, 2020)
TWO ISRAELI HOSPITALS LAUNCH AI-BASED TELE-ICU TO SUPPORT COVID-19 PATIENTS (Tel Aviv) — Predictive analytics platform CLEW is working with two Israeli hospitals to manage and treat patients infected with the COVID-19 virus, while protecting frontline care workers. Its TeleICU solution CLEW-ICU is being deployed at Sheba Medical Center and the Ichilov Hospital at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. Using artificial intelligence (AI) based predictive analytics, its algorithms are trained to identify respiratory deterioration in advance, enabling early interventions that might change the clinical outcome, especially in COVID-19 patients. This allows healthcare workers to identify disease severity from a remote command center. (HealthcareITNews, Mar. 27, 2020)
ISRAEL DELIVERS RESPIRATORY MACHINES TO ARAB HOSPITALS IN EASTERN JERUSALEM (Jerusalem) — Medical officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA) are warning of a severe lack of respiratory machines for the treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients while Israel has transferred several machines to Arab hospitals in eastern Jerusalem. The PA’s Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein A-Sheikh announced that an effort is being made worldwide to purchase corona testing kits, but the main problem facing the PA is the lack of respiratory machinery, a scarcity that pervades many countries around the world. (United With Israel, Mar. 30, 2020)
WESTERN WALL PRAYER NOTES REMOVED, STONES SANITIZED TO PROTECT WORSHIPERS (Jerusalem) — Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and Israel’s other holy sites, supervised the removal of prayer notes to make sure it was done properly, using gloves and disposable wooden tools. They were cleared out of its walls and buried along with other sacred papers on the Mount of Olives. (WIN, Mar. 31, 2020)
US AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL DONATES $50,000 TO NATIONAL FOOD BANK (Jerusalem) — Ahead of the Passover holiday, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and his wife Tammy donated $50,000 to Leket Israel, the country’s largest food aid organization. This donation is especially timely amid the coronavirus pandemic, as many Israelis have lost their livelihoods due to the lockdown. All businesses have been closed down, except for essential services such as grocery stores and pharmacies. (United With Israel, Mar. 29, 2020)
BLOOD LIBEL: PA ACCUSES ISRAEL OF ‘CORONA HOLOCAUST’ IN PRISONS (West Bank) — The Palestinian Authority (PA) falsely claimed that Israel is putting prisoners at risk of being infected by the Coronavirus, and has demanded Israel free all Palestinian terrorists. In fact, Israel has been taking measures to prevent the virus from reaching all Israeli prisons and to date there are no known Coronavirus infections there. (United With Israel, Mar. 31, 2020)
ISLAMIC WAQF TAKES ADVANTAGE OF TEMPLE MOUNT CLOSURE TO CONDUCT ILLEGAL DIGS (Jerusalem) — Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, a.k.a. the Waqf, a Jordanian agency which controls the Temple Mount compound with the approval of the Netanyahu government boasted on its Facebook page: “Despite the forced closure of al-Aqsa Mosque due to the spread of the virus, the staff, workers and guards of the al-Aqsa Mosque continue their hard work in the service of the mosque.” They enclosed several innocuous images of fixing up the old mosque (which was designed by a Jewish architect – just like the Temple). But the sharp folks from the Zionist watchdog Im Tirtzu detected at least two images the showed the Waqf officials conducting unauthorized digs on the Temple Mount. (Jewish Press, Apr. 1, 2020)
SYRIAN OPPOSITION WEBSITES: THE IRANIAN MILITIAS ARE THE MAIN VECTOR FOR MASS COVID-19 INFECTIONS IN SYRIA – AND THE SYRIAN REGIME IS KEEPING IT A SECRET (Damascus) – Despite Syrian President Bashar Al Asad’s insistence that the coronavirus hasn’t reached Syria, Syrian opposition websites stated that the virus had arrived in Syria weeks earlier, and that the regime was intentionally hiding the large number of cases in the country. These websites said that the main vector for the disease’s spread in Syria was the pro-Iran militias coming in from Iran and Iraq, where the disease is rampant. (MEMRI, Mar. 30, 2020)
HAS SYRIA REACTIVATED ITS CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM? (Damascus) — One of the targets hit by Israeli airstrikes in central Syria in early March is believed to have been a chemical weapons production facility. Tel Aviv University Professor Eyal Zisser states that if this report is true, it is a sign that the Syrian regime is still developing chemical weapons despite efforts by the international community to dismantle Damascus’ program. (Algemeiner, Mar. 27, 2020)
NYU CONDEMNS EX-STUDENT’S ‘SHAMEFUL’ AND ‘CALLOUS’ TWEET MOCKING FIRST ISRAELI CORONAVIRUS DEATH (NYC) — Upon learning of the death of Aryeh Even, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived in Jerusalem, Leen Dweik — ex-president of NYU’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter — tweeted, “Anyway should I paint my nails red or green today?” In response, NYU spokesman John Beckman issued a statement, saying, “… the reported Twitter post by a former NYU student about the first Israeli death from COVID-19 was shameful and callous. … NYU denounces such insensitivity; it is at odds with our campus’ values.” (Algemeiner, Mar. 26, 2020)
JEWS AND ISRAEL ‘MAIN TARGETS’ OF CORONAVIRUS HATE SPEECH, GERMAN ANTISEMITISM COMMISSIONER WARNS (Berlin) — Germany’s top official tasked with combating antisemitism warned that “Jews and Israel” have become the main targets in a flurry of hate speech that is grounded in the coronavirus pandemic. Antisemitic offenses in Germany reached a record peak in 2019, with 1,839 hate crimes targeting Jews recorded. (Algemeiner, Mar. 26, 2020)
HOURS BEFORE BORDER CLOSES, 72 ETHIOPIAN IMMIGRANTS LAND IN ISRAEL OVERNIGHT (Jerusalem)– Hours before Ethiopia officially closed its land borders to prevent further coronavirus spread, a group of 14 Ethiopian families — totaling 72 new immigrants — landed at Ben-Gurion Airport before dawn on March 24. Their arrival comes a week after the Israeli government had initially postponed the naturalization of a total of 250 Ethiopians whose immigration was promised prior to the March 2 national elections. (Times of Israel, Mar. 27, 2020)
CITING CORONA PANDEMIC, ICC DELAYS PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ISRAEL (The Hague) — Fatou Bensouda, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, announced that the decision on whether to launch a full-scale investigation into alleged war crimes by Israel will be delayed for at least a month, citing the global coronavirus pandemic. (Israel Hayom, Mar. 23, 2020)
VICTIM OF MONSEY ANTISEMITIC STABBING ATTACK DIES THREE MONTHS LATER (Monsey) — Josef Neumann, 72, had gone into a coma after suffering a head injury on Dec. 28 at the hands of a man who burst in on a Hanukkah celebration and began slashing attendees with a machete. The Monsey attack capped a string of incidents in which Jews were physically attacked or accosted in the New York metropolitan area — including a Dec. 10 shooting at a kosher supermarket in New Jersey that left two members of the Hasidic community dead. (Algemeiner, Mar. 30, 2020)
ITALIAN ARTIST GIOVANNI GASPARRO REVIVES ANTISEMITIC BLOOD LIBEL WITH GRAPHIC PAINTING OF MEDIEVAL CHILD ‘MARTYR’ (Bari) — An Italian painter whose work has been honored by the Catholic Church for its devoutly Christian themes and masterful baroque style unveiled his latest canvas this week — a grotesquely antisemitic depiction of hook-nosed Jews engaged in the “ritual murder” of a terrified Christian infant. Giovanni Gasparro uploaded images of the 7ft X 5ft painting that revives the antisemitic blood libel of medieval times onto his Facebook page. (Algemeiner, Mar. 26, 2020)
GERMAN COURT HANDS TUNISIAN 10-YEAR SENTENCE FOR RICIN BOMB PLOT (Dusseldorf) – A judge at Dusseldorf’s higher regional court sentenced Tunisian Sief Allah H, 31, to 10 years in prison for planning a biological bomb attack with the deadly poison ricin. The ISIS sympathizer had ordered castor seeds, explosives and metal ball bearings on the internet in order to build the toxic bomb. (Asharq Al-Awsat, Mar. 28, 2020)
NEWCASTLE MAN ADMITS INCITING TERROR ATTACKS IN GERMANY (Liverpool) –– Fatah Mohammed Abdullah, 35, bought more than 8,000 matches, fireworks, fuses, explosives precursors – or substances that could be used to manufacture explosives – and a remote control detonator. His intention was to help Omar Babek and Ahmed Hussein commit acts of terrorism in Germany, a video-link hearing at Liverpool crown court heard on Friday. The British-Iranian, from the Arthur’s Hill area of the city, pleaded guilty to inciting terrorism overseas and engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to an intention to assist others to commit terror attacks. (The Guardian, Mar. 20, 2020)
BOP AUDIT FINDS SECURITY LAPSES IN HANDLING OF TERRORISTS (Washington) — Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report on the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy, procedures, and practices for monitoring incarcerated terrorists and preventing radicalization in prison. Its alarming findings confirm a breakdown in almost every area including adequately identifying terrorists, keeping track of them after their release, and reviewing radicalized literature sent to them, among other issues. (IPT, Mar. 31, 2020)
WATCH: Israeli Singer Lifts Nation’s Spirits with Touching Corona Video: United With Israel, Mar. 31, 2020 — The new video from Hanan Ben Ari shows empty beaches, shuttered stores, and trains and buses with only a handful of passengers, images that communicate the ravages of the coronavirus on Israeli society.
Coronavirus Models of Uncertainty: Editorial Board, WSJ, Mar. 30, 2020 –– President Trump on Sunday said he was persuaded by coronavirus pandemic models to extend national social distancing guidelines through the end of April. The White House plans to lay out the data and assumptions behind the decision on Tuesday, and we look forward to that.Kiryat Yearim Successfully Kicks Coronavirus Out: Dan Zaken, Globes, Apr. 1, 2020 — The media are devoting great attention to infection in Israel’s haredi (ultra-Orthodox) communities. One such town, however, initially hit hardest of all, has halted the spread of the virus.
