Yom Rishon
Sunday
2 Av 5781
July 11 2021
Quote of the Day
“At the beginning of the process, when we knew that this law [The Family Reunification Law”] would be acted on when the government was formed, I did not imagine that opposition Knesset members would oppose this law. It never occurred to me that Netanyahu would abandon Israel’s security for political triumph.”
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked speaking yesterday about the reason why the Family Reunification Law–a security law to prohibit the Palestinian spouses of Israeli Arabs from becoming citizens– was defeated last week in the Knesset.
It should have occurred to Shaked that Netanyahu would value political triumph over Israeli security because if there is anything that the last two years have shown, it is that Netanyahu will do anything to keep his hold on power, or in the current situation to regain it.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 48 hours . . .
Three heavily armed Palestinian terrorists from Gaza attempted to breach the security fence overnight but were captured by an IDF patrol.
Palestinian terrorists carried out “rock” and Molotov attacks against Israelis on Road 465 near Nabi Salah, at Hizma, Luban A-Sharqiya, at the Gilad Junction (Shechem Bypass), between the T-Junction and Efrat near Umm Salmona, Singil, between Revava and the small Yakir Junction, and at a myriad of other places.
The IDF and Israeli police thwarted a Hezbollah operation to arm Palestinian terrorists. The following were being smuggled across the Lebanese border at Ajar:
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Hezbollah weapons destined for Palestinian terrorists.
Around the neighborhood . . .
In yet another indication of how the situation in the Middle East has changed since President Trump left office, the Foreign Minister of Oman declared yesterday that Oman will not normalize relations with Israel.
The head of Syria’s Forensic Institute announced yesterday that it would approve the use of the bodies of anti-Assad regime fighters for experimental purposes by medical students.
Egypt declared in the United Nations on Friday that the building of a Nile dam in Ethiopia poses an existential threat to Egyptians.
King Abdullah of Jordan called new Israeli President Bougie Herzog over the weekend and “expressed satisfaction” that relations between Jordan and Israel were “back on track.” Of course, they are back on track because Israel has acceded to every Jordanian demand from getting more water out of the Kineret to permitting more than $500 million in more Jordanian exports to Gaza and PLO areas to admitting more Jordanians to work in Israeli hotels. In return for all of this–water, trade, and jobs–Israel has received nothing.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Surreal Corona Situation In Israel
As of early this morning:
Corona continues its resurgence here with 531 new cases verified yesterday– bringing to 845,811 the number of Israelis diagnosed with Corona since the pandemic began.
There are now 4,108 active cases.
6,435 Israelis have now died from Corona and the number of seriously and critically ill continues to creep upward.
Disturbingly, it appears that most of the fully vaccinated Israelis who are now contracting Corona were ones who first received the vaccine back in December-January. This would obviously seem to indicate that the vaccine begins to lose efficacy after six or seven months.
This past weekend, Israel continued its massive campaign on the beaches and elsewhere to vaccinate teenagers, with the result that approximately 200,000 Israeli kids now have received the vaccine in the last month.
Beginning today, no one in Israel will be able to receive the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine because Israel’s Pfizer supply will only cover the second shot for those who have already received the first. It is anticipated that more Pfizer vaccine will be available in September or October. Apparently, Israel does have a limited supply of Moderna vaccine.
In a totally useless step, the Health Ministry has decided that everyone, vaccinated or not, who enters Israel after July 16 must “self-isolate” for 24 hours. The obvious question is “what is the point of self-isolating for 24 hours?”. More than this, virtually no Israeli coming into the country will obey the directive anyway.
It is worthwhile noting that Israel still does not recognize vaccination certificates from most countries including those from the United States. Anyone arriving in Israel who was vaccinated in the U.S. must receive a Covid test at Ben Gurion Airport, go into quarantine, and stay in quarantine until he or she finds a place to take a serological test that proves the existence of antibodies.
The real problem in Israel is that the country has become surreally blase about Corona. Last night, your humble servant and his wife ate at a restaurant in the Ashdod marina area. No one, not customers and not waiters and waitresses, was wearing a mask.
Now that the Health Ministry has relaxed restrictions on masks and meetings, it will be difficult to reverse course.
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.