Trouble In The Air

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Yom Chamishee, Thursday

29 Shevat 5781

February 11, 2020

The Cartoon of the Day

Courtesy: Boaz Guttman cartoonist, Haaretz Newspaper

One Bedouin woman is smilingly telling the other Bedouin woman while looking at a stolen F35: “Ahmed always was a naughty boy” (Boaz Guttman cartoonist).

Cartoonist Guttman has perfectly captured the incredible situation of how a Bedouin infiltrated the Negev AFB home to the F35 squadron–and still has not been found. That coupled with the continued thefts of IDF weapons and ammunition by Bedouin gangs leads us to the above cartoon in which “Ahmed” has stolen an F35 and brought it home to his clan’s encampment.

The News on the Israeli Street 

The daily Corona (Covid-19) update . . .

Please note that these numbers encompass from 8 pm yesterday until 8 pm today (Thursday):

712,078 Israelis have been confirmed with the virus since the pandemic began last March.

There are 5,662 newly confirmed cases.

1,040 are in critical condition—an increase of 20

322 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 5

5,266 have died–an increase of 33 

There are currently 67,796 active Corona cases in Israel.

3.7 million have now been vaccinated.

Looking at these statistics, it would appear that the situation is improving with a drop in the number who died yesterday and a seeming stabilization of new cases in the 5-6000 range.

Some other interesting Corona facts:
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Only 38% of IDF soldiers have been fully vaccinated.

100% of 60+ year-old residents of the ultra-orthodox city of Modi’in Illit have been vaccinated.

Another Corona prediction comes true . . .

We predicted some months ago that the day would come when Israelis will not be able to go to a restaurant, movie, concert, sporting event, gyms, or any other place where crowds might be such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, synagogues, and even funerals unless they have a vaccination card certifying they have received the requisite first and second doses of the vaccine.

That day is now at hand.

It was revealed last night on Israeli television that the Health Ministry has formulated a plan “to encourage those who do not want to receive a vaccine to get vaccinated.” That plan consists of the above proscription.

However, to stay within the law, the Health Ministry will offer the vaccine alternative of producing a negative Corona test result with 48 hours of the activity. But to make this alternative unpalatable, the Health Ministry is going to greatly reduce the number of Corona testing centers and greatly increase the price for getting a test.

TODAY’S BLOG:

Trouble In The Air

The closure of Ben Gurion Airport to foreign airlines and subsequent operation of “El Al rescue” flights back and forth from JFK and London is an insult on top of an absurdity.

As we have noted before, the idea that various Corona mutations were going to be stopped from entering Israel was absurd because the mutations are already in Israel.

To top that off, the idea that only El Al can operate safe flights back and forth from New York is beyond insulting.

Your humble servant has flown both ways during the epidemic on United Airlines–both on the SF-Newark-Tel Aviv route and on the TLV-SF route. The flights were operated in a completely hygienic way–much more so I might add than reports of how other airlines have operated.

Now it is being reported that Israel will continue to prohibit foreign airlines from landing in Tel Aviv until March 1.

This is an egregious violation of the Open Skies Agreement with other countries, most notably the United States and the United Kingdom. In fact, the U.S. has now filed a complaint with the Israel Foreign Ministry and the U.K. is expected to shortly follow.

But more than that, the prohibition on foreign aircraft–especially those of United and Delta–is a slap in the face to those airlines that continued operating flights back and forth to Israel for the last 11 months at great financial loss.

Ben Gurion should be opened immediately.