WATCH: An Ex-IDF Officer Explains His Journey from Injury to Triumph: i24NEWS, YouTube, Apr. 27, 2020 — Capt. (Res.) Ziv Shilon was injured while fighting in the 2014 Israel-Gaza War.
WATCH: The COVID-19 Miracle: Nas Daily, Facebook, Apr. 24, 2020 — It’s a very heartwarming story, but above all, it’s a very hopeful story. It’s about my friend Eli Beer from United Hatzalah of Israel. He, out of all people, got COVID-19…and the way everyone rallied around him is just so amazing.
WEEKLY QUOTES
“This year, we cannot cry together, this year we cannot look each other in the eye. We will remember and be reminded, and we will feel fully, even this year, the inconceivable price we must pay,” – said Israeli President Reuven Rivlin after opening the official Memorial Day ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall. He referenced the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on this year’s observance of Yom HaZikaron. (WIN, Apr. 27, 2020)
“In the past few weeks, the streets have been quiet and there has been silence outdoors. … But today, the silence is completely different in nature. This is a silence that erupts from deep pain and reflects the memories of soldiers whose voices were silenced between one explosion and another, and of the families who sat silently for several long minutes after being given the bitter news. This is the silence of an entire people, whose sons and daughters are all part of the ongoing battle for our independence and security. … We won’t see you, but we will feel your pain. We won’t stand beside you at a ceremony, but we will stand by you in every other sense. We stand at attention, bow our heads, and remember. We remember that we wear the uniform of the IDF, that we represent the values that the fallen embodied when they left us: commitment to the mission, devotion, comradeship and a courageous spirit,” – writes Aviv Kochavi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces on Yom HaZikaron. (JNS, Apr. 27, 2020)
“As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. That’s an Israeli decision. And we will work closely with them to share with them our views of this in (a) private setting,” — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters regarding Israel’s possible annexation of parts of the West Bank. (Reuters, Apr. 22, 2020)
“My friends, for decades I’ve been fighting those who’ve sought to deny the millennial connection of the Jewish people to our homeland. I’m proud to say that the decades-long struggle has borne fruit. Three months ago, the Trump peace plan recognized Israel’s rights in all of Judea and Samaria, and President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities there and in the Jordan Valley. A couple of months from now, I’m confident that that pledge will be honored. We will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism. A century after San Remo, the promise of Zionism is being realized.” – Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said in a video message to the evangelical Christian group the European Coalition for Israel. (Algemeiner, Apr. 26, 2020)
“In perhaps the most obscene defamation – akin to the infamously anti-Semitic blood libels – the Palestinian Authority accuses Israeli soldiers of deliberately spreading the virus among the Palestinian population,” – Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote in an op ed. He responded to Palestinian accusations that Israel was not helping them protect themselves from the virus, but rather the opposite, which they know is untrue. “The Palestinian Authority that governs much of the West Bank and the terrorist group Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip have been happy to accept massive amounts of Israeli assistance,” he wrote. (Fox News, Apr. 22, 2020)
“I don’t think that’s a timely thing because it doesn’t affect how we act today. You know, China did a lot of things right at the beginning, like any country where a virus first shows up. They can look back and say they missed some things,” – Microsoft founder and multi-billionaire Bill Gates told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. Gates made the case for cooperating with China rather than blaming them for spreading the virus internationally. (RealClearPolitics, Apr. 27, 2020)
SHORT TAKES
ISRAEL’S YOUNGEST CORONAVIRUS PATIENT, AGE 11, IN SERIOUS CONDITION (Tiberias) — An 11-year-old girl, who had been staying at a coronavirus hotel in Tiberias, was rushed to a local hospital on Friday after experiencing high fever and abdominal pain. Doctors found that the coronavirus had caused the girl’s heart to become inflamed. Her condition deteriorated further on Sunday, forcing the medical team to place her in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. According to Dr. Amir Hadash, a senior doctor at Rambam’s pediatric intensive care unit, the girl is in “stable condition.” Meanwhile, a recent rash of hospitalizations for coronavirus-infected children in the United Kingdom has caused the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) to issue an urgent alert. The children complained of stomach pains before being hospitalized. (WIN, Apr. 27, 2020)
NEW CORONAVIRUS TEST THAT IS EIGHT TIMES FASTER CAN HELP LOCATE ASYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS (Beer Sheva) — A team of Israeli researchers is using AI to develop an algorithm-based test that can speed COVID-19 testing eightfold and help locate asymptomatic carriers. The research team, which is using a laboratory robot to conduct the tests includes Prof. Angel Porgador and Dr. Tomer Hertz from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s (BGU) Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics and the National Institute of Biotechnology; Prof. Yonat Shemer-Avni, head of Soroka University Medical Center’s Virology Lab, and Dr. Noam Shental from the Open University’s Department of Computer Science. (EurekAlert, Apr. 20, 2020)
IN RACE FOR A CORONAVIRUS VACCINE, AN OXFORD GROUP LEAPS AHEAD (Oxford) — In the worldwide race for a coronavirus vaccine, the laboratory sprinting fastest is at Oxford University. Most other teams have had to start with small clinical trials of a few hundred participants to demonstrate safety. But scientists at the university’s Jenner Institute had a head start on a vaccine, having proved in previous trials that similar inoculations — including one last year against an earlier coronavirus — were harmless to humans. That has enabled them to leap ahead and schedule tests of their new coronavirus vaccine involving more than 6,000 people by the end of next month, hoping to show not only that it is safe, but also that it works. (NYT, Apr. 27, 2020)
ISRAELI CORONA VACCINE SET TO BEGIN HUMAN TRIALS THIS SUMMER (Jerusalem) — An Israeli company working on a COVID-19 vaccine will begin human trials this summer. MigVax, an affiliate of the Migal Galilee Research Institute, will conduct safety and efficacy assessment in rodents starting next month. Phase 1 of clinical trials in humans will start during the summer and last six to nine months, said Professor Itamar Shalit, senior MigVax researcher and director, during a webinar hosted by the Israeli crowdfunding investment platform OurCrowd. (United With Israel, Apr. 26, 2020)
MEMORIAL DAY TERROR ATTACK: WOMAN STABBED, SUSPECT SHOT (Kfar Saba) — Just before 1:00 p.m., a woman, 62, was stabbed in the city of Kfar Saba near a shopping mall. Hospital staff say her situation is now “stable.” Police confirm the suspect was a Palestinian, age 19, from Tulkarm, a town in Judea and Samaria. He had a security order forbidding him from entering Israeli territory. The suspect was shot and taken into custody. (WIN, Apr. 28, 2020)
ISRAEL’S HEALTH MINISTER TO STEP DOWN (Jerusalem) — United Torah Judaism party head Yaakov Litzman informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will step down from his position as head of the Ministry of Health. Litzman and his wife contracted the coronavirus about three weeks ago and have been undergoing treatment. In Litzman’s absence, Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov has appeared at press conferences with the prime minister, issuing directives and serving as the public face of the ministry. (WIN, Apr. 25, 2020)
ISRAEL’S SUPREME COURT RULES GOVERNMENT MUST STOP PHONE-TRACKING PROGRAM (Jerusalem) — Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the country’s Shin Bet security agency must halt its use of surveillance technology to track the movements of coronavirus carriers until the government can pass new laws to back such measures. (JNS, Apr. 27, 2020)
USAID BLOCKS CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUNDING FOR GAZA DUE TO HAMAS CONTROL OF STRIP (Washington) — The Trump administration will not be sending U.S. coronavirus assistance to the Gaza Strip due to concerns that funds could fall into the hands of the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas. Rather, its giving $5 million to the Palestinians to help them deal with the coronavirus pandemic. (JNS, Apr. 28, 2020)
NEW US LAW ALLOWS TERROR VICTIMS TO SUE PA (Washington) — The legislation that came into effect this week – the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019 – seeks to impose US court jurisdiction on Palestine so that American citizens can target the PA with lawsuits for suicide attacks in the early 2000s. It is believed the Palestinian Authority owes terror victims and their families upwards of 1.5 billion shekels ($423 million). (Israel Hayom, Apr. 23, 2020)
FACING BANKRUPTCY, TERROR GROUP ACCUSES ABBAS OF ‘POLITICAL BLACKMAIL (Ramallah) — The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is on the brink of bankruptcy after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cut funds to the organization, which was founded in 1967 by George Habash. The PFLP, a secular Marxist organization, is the second largest group forming the PLO. Abbas’s Fatah is the largest and most dominant faction in the PLO. (Jerusalem Post, Apr. 25, 2020)
TRUMP INSTRUCTS THE NAVY TO ‘SHOOT DOWN AND DESTROY’ IRANIAN GUNBOATS THAT ‘HARASS’ U.S. SHIPS (Washington) — President Trump directed the Navy to “shoot down and destroy” Iranian gunboats that “harass” U.S. ships. U.S. officials said the threat was meant to warn Iran not to repeat what the Pentagon described as a provocative encounter last week in the Persian Gulf. (Washington Post, Apr. 22, 2020)
NEW UK LABOUR PARTY LEADERSHIP CONTINUES FENCE-MENDING EFFORTS WITH BRITISH JEWS (London) — Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reed told an online meeting that he was committed to ensuring that “the rift between the Labour Party and the UK’s Jewish community is mended.” In a later statement, Reed said that he wanted to assure Jewish leaders “that I will do everything I can to ensure that the Jewish community feels safe and secure.” Reed reiterated the apology to the Jewish community given by Labour’s new leader, Sir Keir Starmer. (Algemeiner, Apr. 22, 2020)
NYC MAYOR CONDEMNATION OF ‘JEWISH COMMUNITY’ FOR VIOLATING RULES SPARKS OUTRAGE (NYC) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took to Twitter to condemn a large funeral gathering in Brooklyn for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, 73, the leading rabbi of the Tola’as Yaakov Hasidic sect who passed away from the coronavirus. “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.” The mayor’s decision to generalize all the city’s Jewish communities for the actions of a few sparked outrage amongst many leading public and political officials that included ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt, NYC Councilman Chaim Deutsh, and Senator Ted Cruz. Surprisingly, the Tola’as Yaakov community defended de Blasio’s “well-intentioned” response on Wednesday and issued an apology to the Jewish people for violating the order. (WIN, Apr. 29, 2020)
OVER HALF OF US JEWS HAVE WITNESSED ANTISEMITISM DURING LAST 5 YEARS; ADL SURVEY REVEALS (Washington) — According to the ADL survey, 54 percent of American Jews had encountered some form of antisemitism since 2015. Most of these experiences involved antisemitic comments targeted at themselves or others, but one in seven respondents also that said they personally knew the victim of an antisemitic attack, while one in twenty had themselves been the targets of physical attacks or damage to property. (Algemeiner, Apr. 21, 2020)
HASIDIC JEW APPOINTED TO SENIOR US TREASURY POSITION(Washington) –The Senate unanimously confirmed Mitchell Silk’s appointment as Assistant Secretary of The Treasury for International Markets. Silk, who speaks two dialects of Chinese, spent decades as a private lawyer specializing in international finance and trade. According to his Linkedin profile, Silk received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland and a certificate in advanced law studies from Beijing University In 2017, he became Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department’s Office of International Affairs. (WIN, Apr. 24, 2020)
BIPARTISAN GROUP OF SENATORS CALLS FOR INCREASED FUNDING FOR STATE DEPARTMENT ANTI-SEMITISM ENVOY(Washington) — A bipartisan group of 28 senators called on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs to increase funding for the U.S. State Department’s office that develops and implements policies and projects to combat global anti-Semitism. (Cleveland Jewish News, Apr. 27, 2020)
NUMBER OF ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS IN CANADA HITS RECORD HIGH FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT YEAR (Ottawa) –The 2019 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents — commissioned by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada — showed 2,207 incidents of antisemitism took place last year, an increase of more than 8 percent from 2018. Incidents highlighted in the report included an assault by a Montreal taxi driver on a visibly-observant Jewish man, a Toronto woman being spat on and subjected to antisemitic abuse by a neighbor, a group of Hasidic children in Montreal being sprayed with tar by a construction worker and a physical attack on two young observant Jews in a public park in the Toronto area, among others. (Algemeiner, Apr. 28, 2020)
ACCUSED MONSEY HANUKKAH PARTY ASSAILANT ‘MENTALLY INCOMPETENT’ FOR HATE CRIMES TRIAL, NY FEDERAL JUDGE RULES (NY) — Federal Judge Cathy Siebel wrote in her decision that the accused killer — 37-year-old Grafton Thomas of Ramapo, New York — was “suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent he is unable to assist properly in his defense.” Thomas was accused of murdering one person and wounding four more during a frenzied stabbing attack at a Hanukkah party in Monsey last December. (Algemeiner, Apr. 20, 2020)
U.S. VIEWS OF CHINA INCREASINGLY NEGATIVE AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK (Washington) — According to a new Pew Research Center survey of Americans conducted in March, roughly two-thirds now say they have an unfavorable view of China, the most negative rating for the country since the Center began asking the question in 2005, and up nearly 20 percentage points since the start of the Trump administration. Positive views of China’s leader, President Xi Jinping, are also at historically low levels. (Pew Research Center, Apr. 21, 2020)
WATCH: Unity Government Paves Way for Israeli Annexation: WIN, Apr. 26, 2020 — The Likud party is eager to implement annexation of key areas in Judea and Samaria and along the Jordan Valley. The signing of a deal for a unity government provides the opportunity, i24NEWS reports.
Inside a Busy Israeli Coronavirus Intensive Care Unit: CNN, Apr. 19, 2020 — CNN’s Oren Liebermann gets an inside look at a busy Israeli ICU where doctors and nurses are treating coronavirus patients.
The COVID-19 Crisis, the World Health Organization, and China’s Strategy: JCPA, Apr. 16, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic has, by its very nature as a medical crisis of global proportion, placed the World Health Organization (WHO) under an international magnifying glass
