Daily Briefing: WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW” (April 8,2020)

              WEEKLY QUOTES“

Next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, next week is going to be our 9/11 moment.  You’ve got to be Rosie the Riveter. You’ve got to do your part. It’s going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives,” — Surgeon General Jerome Adams told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”  He said that the next week or two will be the critical time for halting the spread of the coronavirus. (The Guardian, Apr. 6, 2020)

“I just want to make clear. There’s 150-plus countries working on this collectively together. It’s devastating for every single country. When we get through this, we can go back and look at what happened where, and what does this epidemic look like. Then, when you get through it, then you can validate every model there is known to man. When you’re in the middle of it, you have to concentrate on serving the needs of each American and what that need looks like,” – said White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx.  She shut down those, such as CNN’s Jim Acosta who were trying to score political points over the administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.  She pointed out how China hid critical information about the outbreak, and how the head of the World Health Organization offered poor advice on trying to contain the outbreak. (Daily Wire, Apr. 3, 2020)

“As the crisis is reaching its peak, Leader [Khamenei] adds demons to his list of perpetual enemies, and aid from Doctors Without Borders is turned away. While all citizens are forbidden from performing burial rites, military personnel under the leader’s command held a funeral for the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] general who died of the coronavirus, calling him a martyr, and misinforming citizens with the utter falsehood that the funeral was a spontaneous event,” – written in a protest letter signed by over 100 academics charging  Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as “the No. 1 culprit in the COVID-19 pandemic becoming a national disaster!” (Algemeiner, Apr. 2, 2020)

“If Israel finds a cure for cancer or for a virus, then there is no problem to cooperate with it,” said Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement in a video on Facebook.  (United With Israel, Apr. 6, 2020)

“Crises have a way of separating the leaderlike wheat from the opportunistic chaff. Coronavirus is the crisis of our time, and the political winnowing is something to behold. Example: The Trump administration spent this week distributing ventilators, standing up small-business loans, dispatching hospital ships, erecting alternate care facilities, explaining virus modeling, revamping regulations to keep truckers on the road, and plastering the airwaves with information about hygiene and social distancing. Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent this week setting up a new House committee to investigate Donald Trump,” – writes political columnist Kimberley Strassel who took House speaker Nancy Pelosi to task for exploiting the coronavirus crisis for purely political motives.  (WSJ, Apr. 2, 2020)

“We know that China knew about this virus as early as mid-December, we know that for a period of five or six weeks, they hid the dangers from the rest of the world, even as Chinese citizens were flying around, seeding the world with the virus.  But what it looks like from the data, during that interval China was basically attempting to corner the market in personal protective equipment, including masks. So they were buying large quantities of masks, gloves, respirators, goggles, from the rest of the world at a time when the world was still sleeping on the dangers of the virus,” — National Defense Production Act policy coordinator Peter Navarro told Fox & Friends.  (RealClearPolitics, Apr. 6, 2020)

“Allowing China’s oppressive and inhumane regime to choose the world investigators on freedom of speech, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief,” — said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.  He commented on China’s appointment to a United Nations Human Rights Council panel where it will play a key role in picking the world body’s human rights investigators — including global monitors on freedom of speech, health, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention.  (UNWatch, Apr. 3, 2020)

“Already struggling, we are not able to sustain the enterprise in an environment of almost complete economic shutdown. It is with deep sadness that we announce the closure of our beloved CJN, both in print and online,” — said Canadian Jewish News president Elizabeth Wolfe. After 60 years, CJN’s April 9 edition will be its last. Both its print and online editions will cease operations. The staff was informed on a videoconference on Thursday of the closure. (JNS, Apr. 3, 2020)

 SHORT TAKES

COALITION TALKS COLLAPSE, UNITY GOVERNMENT LOOKS FAR AWAY DESPITE PROGRESS (Jerusalem) — The issue that exploded the talks was the selection of judges to the High Court. The Likud had conceded the issue to Blue and White, giving it power over the court’s makeup, but reversed itself, apparently regretting the decision, and reopened the issue on Monday, causing Blue and White to pull away from the negotiating table. While Likud had conceded on judicial selections, Blue and White had conceded on the matter of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.  (WIN, Apr. 6, 2020)PROMINENT US JEWS PLEAD WITH GANTZ TO OPPOSE ANNEXATION OF JUDEA AND SAMARIA (NY) –– Over 130 American Jewish leaders signed a letter on Monday to Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, urging them to remain steadfast in their “opposition to unilateral West Bank annexation.” The letter was authored by the Israel Policy Forum, an organization that works “to shape the discourse and mobilize support among American Jewish leaders and U.S. policymakers for the realization of a viable two-state solution.” (WIN, Apr. 7, 2020)

ISRAELI-SPONSORED UN RESOLUTION TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC PASSED BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY (NYC) – A UN resolution called on the UN to intensify “international cooperation to contain, mitigate and defeat the pandemic” by “exchanging information, scientific knowledge and best practices.” It reaffirmed the General Assembly’s commitment to international cooperation and multilateralism, and called upon Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN system to “work with all relevant actors in order to mobilize a coordinated global response to the pandemic and its adverse social, economic and financial impact on all societies.” (Algemeiner, Apr. 3, 2020)

ISRAEL SEES ‘LIGHT AT END OF CORONA TUNNEL’: LOWEST MORTALITY RATE AMONG HIGH-INFECTION COUNTRIES(Jerusalem) — Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett expressed optimism over the country’s response to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis, stating that “there is light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel,” and there was no exponential growth in the rate of infections in Israel. Speaking at a press conference, Bennett noted that Israel had the lowest mortality rate “among countries with a high rate of infection … even less than Germany.” Israel on Tuesday was ranked the safest place in the world with regard to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) by the Deep Knowledge Group, a consortium of organizations and companies working in breakthrough technology and high tech engineering innovation through scientific advances. (United With Israel, Apr. 1, 2020)

ISRAELI SCIENTISTS: CORONAVIRUS VACCINE TO BE TESTED ON HUMANS BY JUNE 1 (Jerusalem) — A team of Israeli researchers says that they are days away from completing the production of the active component of a coronavirus vaccine that could be tested on humans as early as June 1. For the past four years, MIGAL (The Galilee Research Institute) have been developing a vaccine against infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which causes a bronchial disease affecting poultry. The effectiveness of the vaccine has been proven in preclinical trials carried out at the Veterinary Institute. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 2, 2020)

ISRAEL TO BEGIN TESTING EXPERIMENTAL JAPANESE CORONA DRUG (Jerusalem) — Avigan, which is also known as Favipiravir, reportedly cuts recover time in mild cases to just four days, dramatically reducing the amount of time it takes to eliminate the virus by about a week. While the drug was previously used in China and Japan, where officials say it prevented the patients from deteriorating, no clinical trials have been carried out. (WIN, Apr. 6, 2020)

ISRAELI HEALTH MINISTER YAAKOV LITZMAN TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS (Jerusalem) — Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, 71, and his wife, Chava, were diagnosed with coronavirus and will go into quarantine.  The ministry said that Litzman will continue to serve as health minister from home, in accordance with medical recommendations.  He is at high risk of developing complications and is being closely monitored.  (JTA, Apr. 2, 2020)

OPERATION LASER BEAM: BNEI BRAK UNDER DE FACTO COMMAND OF IDF (Bnei Brak) –– A large-scale operation named Operation Laser Beam began as soldiers of the 98th Division arrived in Bnei Brak and began assisting the local authorities. Soldiers are currently distributing food supplies for civilians and medicine to those in need. They will join 1,000 police who are enforcing a lockdown on the city that began on Friday. The goal is to prevent the spread of the virus outside Bnei Brak. Residents are not allowed to leave except for special circumstances. Non-residents are not permitted to enter. (WIN, Apr. 5, 2020)

MOSSAD BLAMED FOR ASSASSINATION OF TOP HEZBOLLAH COMMANDER, SOLEIMANI ALLY (Jerusalem) — London based Asharq al-Awsat reported that Hezbollah commander Ali Mohammed Younes, who was responsible for tracking down Israeli spies within Hezbollah, was working on a case on Saturday night when he was ambushed by three vehicles and killed. Arab News reported that the terror organization believes Younes was killed by Mossad agents. However, Anti-Hezbollah website Janoubia Newseditor Ali Al-Amin doesn’t believe this is the case because Mossad agents wouldn’t have been able to carry out such an operation without exposing themselves. (WIN, Apr. 6, 2020)

ISRAELI ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS QUICKLY ADJUSTED TO REMOTE LEARNING AND THERE IS NO TURNING BACK(Jerusalem) — It took a little over a week once campuses were shut down nationwide in mid-March for all academic institutions in Israel to shift their curriculum, almost in its entirety, to the web. All these institutions are now preparing for the possibility of finishing the semester without students having met with faculty face to face even once, and, for the first time in Israel’s academic history, no one is doubting the validity of this option. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem went from 30 to 3,000 online courses in a week, President Asher Cohen told Calclaist. Other institutions, including Technion Israel Institute of Technology and the Open University of Israel, report having shifted almost all of their courses to remote digital instruction. (Algemeiner, Apr. 3, 2020)PAKISTANI AUTHORITIES RE-ARREST FOUR TERRORISTS ACQUITTED FOR MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL (Sindh) — Pakistani authorities ordered the four men convicted of the 2002 murder of American-Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl to be detained for three months, despite a lower court’s ruling to overturn their convictions. The court’s decision was met with worldwide fury, including from Doctors Without Borders. The High Court in the province of Sindh acquitted the four. The group includes British national Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding Pearl’s murder. The other three were sentenced to life. (Algemeiner, Apr. 3, 2020)

PROPOSED NEW YORK HATE CRIMES LAW NAMED IN MEMORY OF RABBI MURDERED IN MONSEY ATTACK (NY) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has renamed a proposed domestic terrorism law after the late rabbi who was stabbed during an attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey. Rabbi 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. He passed away three months after the outrage. (Algemeiner, Mar. 31, 2020)

UK JEWISH CORONAVIRUS DEATHS RISE TO 115 (London) –– The number of Jewish people in Britain who have died from coronavirus has climbed to 115, according to the latest figures from the Board of Deputies on Monday – up from 85 announced.  (JC, Apr. 6, 2020)

UK LABOUR PARTY ELECTS NEW LEADER, WIFE ‘HAS EXTENDED FAMILY IN ISRAEL’ (London) — Lawyer and lawmaker Keir Starmer was elected leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party on Saturday by a decisive margin.  Starmer, 57, comes from Labour’s center-left wing, and his election marks a shift from the strongly socialist course set by his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, who was personally accused of anti-Semitism. In February, Starmer told Britain’s Jewish News, “My wife’s family is Jewish. Her dad is Jewish; their family came over from Poland. The extended family live in Israel.” (WIN, Apr. 4, 2020)

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON MOVED TO INTENSIVE CARE DUE TO ‘WORSENING’ CORONAVIRUS SYMPTOMS (London) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced ten days ago that he tested positive for the coronavirus, was moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his symptoms worsened. Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab to fill in for him “where necessary.” (National Review, Apr. 6, 2020)

COVID-19: CHINA’S SHENZHEN BANS THE EATING OF CATS AND DOGS AFTER CORONAVIRUS (Shenzhen) — The Chinese city of Shenzhen has banned the eating of dogs and cats as part of a wider clampdown on the wildlife trade since the emergence of the new coronavirus. Scientists suspect the coronavirus passed to humans from animals. Some of the earliest infections were found in people who had exposure to a wildlife market in the central city of Wuhan, where bats, snakes, civets and other animals were sold. (National Post, Apr. 2, 2020)

IRAN ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTING CYBER-ATTACK ON WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (Tehran) — Iran has been accused of attempting to hack into the personal email accounts of staff at the World Health Organization during a severe outbreak of coronavirus. The attempted cyber-attack, which appears to have failed, had several links with the Iranian regime.  (Telegraph, Apr. 2, 2020)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE 

Op-Ed: Lessons the Plagues of Egypt Can Teach Us in The Era of Coronavirus:  Rachel Avraham, JerusalemOnline, Apr. 6, 2020 — It is almost Passover in the State of Israel and yet, our world is plagued by another deadly pandemic.  Every day, people are dying across the world from coronavirus.

Happy Passover! A Musical Greeting from the Israel Philharmonic: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, YouTube, Apr. 6, 2020    

WATCH:  Across Israel, Israelis say Thank you to Medical Professionals Fighting Coronavirus: Avi Abelow, Israel Unwired, Mar. 24, 2020 — We must always be grateful and say thank you to all those who deserve our thanks. Today, we MUST all say thank you to all the medical professionals on the frontline for all of us. In Israel, we went out as a country to say thank you.

Coronavirus Explained: 22 Questions with Epidemiologist Guiding Israeli Response:  Times of Israel, April 2020 — Professor Yehuda Carmeli is head of the Department of Epidemiology at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and a professor at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. He is one of the medical professionals leading the Israeli Health Ministry’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Is Trump Right about Hydroxychloroquine?:  Josh Plank, WIN, Apr. 6, 2020 — Thousands of New York coronavirus patients are being treated with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, the New York Post reports.