18 Elul 5780
7 September 2020
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update as of 8 am this morning . . .
There are 130,644 confirmed cases—an increase of 1,708 since this time yesterday
102,477 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 996
453 are in critical condition—an increase of 27
131 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 3
1019 have died–an increase of 12
There are 28,167 active cases.
As the number of newly confirmed cases continues to soar as do the number of critically ill, it appears that Israel is on the verge of instituting a new set of restrictions as of tomorrow.
Forty cities (in some cases, a “city” means a “neighborhood” within a city) will be closed down from either 5 pm or 7 pm at night until 7 am the next morning (except for people who have to come and go because of their jobs). Most nonessential businesses will be required to close as will schools in the affected areas.
To say that these new restrictions are controversial is an understatement. Just this morning, I was talking to people who cannot understand the point. People can come and go all day, so what good is a nightly closure? And what is the point of closing down restaurants and schools again? Is closing down a school going to stop the spread of Corona when the kids get together anyway all day long?
Netanyahu breaks another promise, freezes more construction . . .
As if it isn’t bad enough that PM Netanyahu has thrown the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria under the bus by nixing all talk of sovereignty and freezing any new construction within Jewish communities, now comes news that Netanyahu has also frozen all talk of construction at Givat Hamatos in Jerusalem.
As you may or may not remember, Netanyahu stood at Givat Hamatos before the last election and swore that he would build an entire community there if he became prime minister again.
Now, Netanyahu’s office says that “procedural delays” are holding up new construction, but we all know differently.
Another Netanyahu promise made. Another Netanyahu promise broken.
Three cheers for Malawi! . . .
As most of you dear readers do not know, your humble servant’s daughter works for an NGO whose base of operations is in Africa. In fact, she directs operations in several African countries including Malawi.
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And so, it was with pride last week that she told me that the president of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera had let it be known that Malawi will establish its diplomatic mission to Israel in Jerusalem. Chakwera, an evangelical Christian, has long been an ardent supporter of Israel.
His announcement came yesterday.
Malawi joins Serbia, Kosovo, and Honduras as countries planning moves to our eternal capital.
TODAY’S BLOG
Day 5: Farewell Eilat!
A couple of windsurfers in Eilat Bay. That is Jordan in the background. Photo: Samuel Driquez.
With dozens of colorful wind surfers plowing the bumpy waters of the Bay of Eilat and the usual banana boaters, parasailers, and speedboats taking tourists out for a good time in the water, we bid a fond farewell to Eilat on what we estimate to have been our 40th trip down here to the edge of nowhere.
It has been a surreal experience with the city packed with Israelis of two types. First, as we have already written, the “young” under 30 crowd has been walking around, pooling, and partying completely oblivious to Corona. On the other hand, most of the people over 30 are at least wearing a mask until the moment they walk into a restaurant, sit down in a poolside chair, or go into a shop or store.
At our hotel, the Queen of Sheba, we have seen a microcosm of the Corona dysfunction that characterizes the Israeli government’s response to the virus. For example, the cleaners who are taking care of all of the rooms on our floor are supposed to be wearing masks and gloves when they enter each room.
But they are not, unless we happen to be in the room to remind them. Conversely, the workers in the reception area are wearing large plastic masks to protect themselves.
To sum things up, Corona casts a pall over everything these days, but I’m happy to say that Eilat has not lost its charm of studied decadence. In our opinion, few sights in the world can match the twinkling shore lights coming from Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt that fill our senses each night.
As I wrote previously, we fell in love with Eilat many years ago because when we are there, we feel that we are the end of the world. Looking out at the bay as it stretches down the Red Sea, it really seems that if you boated down the bay far enough you would fall off a flat Earth.
It felt like that 40 years ago, and it still feels like that today.
A last look at Eilat toward the marina area (photo: Wikipedia).
Farewell Eilat . . . until our next visit!!
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.