14 Av 5780
4 August 2020
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona update . . .
As of 8 am this morning (Tuesday): There are 74,430 confirmed cases—an increase of 1,615 since this time yesterday
47,571 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 1,894
342 are in critical condition–an increase of 14
99 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 1
546 have died–an increase of 10
There are 26,859 active cases.
More confirmed cases, more patients in critical condition, and more dead: overall, there is nothing but bad news in these statistics.
Once again, dysfunction reigned supreme at the Corona virus cabinet meeting yesterday with Coronavirus czar Ronni Gamzu presenting ideas to ease closures of stores and malls this weekend only to be countered by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and PM Netanyahu. Specifically, Netanyahu pointed out that “The morbidity rate in Israel is among the highest in the world“, and suggested the country may have to go into a full closure if things don’t improve by mid-August.
It appears that the appointment of Gamzu has done nothing to create a coherent structure for dealing with Corona.
*In an interesting development, a man with confirmed Corona took his family on vacation to the Club Hotel in Eilat despite the fact he was supposed to be in quarantine. He was tracked down by the Israeli police, sent home, and fined 5,000 shekels. This morning the city of Eilat announced it was suing the man for 250,000 shekels.
Terror in the neighborhood . . .
Following up on the elimination of the terror squad from Syria on Sunday:
*So-called “Defense” Minister Gantz announced that the terrorists were Hezbollah members.
*Israel attacked positions of the Syrian Army in the southern Golan Heights, declaring that the Syrian government is responsible for all terror emanating from Syria.
*An IDF patrol reconnoitering the area where the terror attack was thwarted found more weapons that were to be used in subsequent attacks.
Another night, more Iranian assets go up in smoke . . .
Iranian news is reporting that “several ships” belonging to the Revolutionary Guards were burned in port at Qeshem Island overnight. This is the same Qeshem Island where an underground ballistic missile base was apparently blown up in recent weeks.
Why is the Temple Mount closed to Jews?. . .
As you undoubtedly know, the Temple Mount is never closed to Muslims but often closed to Jews on Muslim holidays and on Saturdays. The excuse that the Police use is that “it is impossible to guarantee the safety of Jews” on those days.
Apart from that make sure to first consult the doctor and then make sure that you get when you buy from the online stores, but at the lower prices. viagra pfizer online Toronto was awarded an expansion team called the Blue Jays, but San Francisco baseball fans’ worries about losing their beloved Giants had not completely gone away just yet. sildenafil in canada It often affects the buy viagra where younger men between 15 to 49 ages. There are several situations where these world largest impotence best cialis price medications don’t work.
During the past few days, the Mount has been closed to Jews because of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshipers were supposed to come to the Mount–again making it impossible for Jews to ascend to the holiest place in Judaism.
But guess what? Virtually no Muslims have come to the Mount at all.
An empty Temple Mount this morning–at what was the “height” of the Eid Al-Adha prayers. Where are the Muslims? (Arabic photo source on photo).
Where are the Muslims? They are all on vacation to Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and elsewhere. The Temple Mount is just not that important to them.
A strange sight . . .
The world’s largest cargo plane, the Russian Antonov, landed at Ben Gurion airport yesterday transporting trucks to the American Army based in the area. The trucks are to be used in connection with the Iron Dome batteries that the U.S. Army has purchased from Israel.
Note the size of the plane in comparison with other planes.
Israel. United States. Russia. Interesting.
Congratulations to our young scientists! . . .
Israeli individuals and teams have performed marvelously at the International Chemistry Olympiad during the last week.
240 young women and men from 60 countries competed via Zoom.
Israelis won 1 gold medal, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze. The gold medal was the first won by an Israeli in almost a decade. The two silver medal winners are from your humble servant’s home city of Ashdod. The bronze medal winner is an Israeli-Arab young man from Taibe.
Excellent news about the Kineret . . .
The Kineret (Sea of Galilee) only lost 25 centimeters of water during an extremely hot July, and so remains technically “full” even though it is 59 centimeters below the upper red line. It is the highest that it has been at the beginning of August since August of 1993.
As we reported last month, desalinated water is now flowing northward in Israel thereby reducing pressure on Israel’s national lake.
TODAY’S BLOG:
August 24?
As always, one must be extremely skeptical about reporting anything that comes from unconfirmed news sources.
You would think that this would be especially true of news that comes from unconfirmed Arab sources. But not so surprisingly given the non-journalism that passes for news in Israel these days, the news from Arab sources often is more accurate than the news from Israeli sources.
So, when we suddenly see this morning that Israel and the U.S. have decided on August 24 as the date for Israel declaring sovereignty over the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, we take the news with a gigantic grain of salt–and yet wonder if the information might be true.
Of course it is 20 days between today and the 24th and a myriad of things could happen, but is it just possible that . . . ?
Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.