13 Tishrei 5781
1 October 2020
The News on the Israeli Street
The daily Corona (Covid-19) update . . .
There are 245,494 confirmed cases—an increase of 8,568
174,506 of these confirmed cases have recovered—an increase of 6,702
803 are in critical condition—an increase of 6
211 of the most critically ill are on ventilators—an increase of 6
1,569 have died–an increase of 41
There are now 70,988 active Corona cases in Israel.
The number of people in critical condition continues to steadily increase as does the number of active cases in the country.
*A new punishment was revealed yesterday: anyone caught sitting in a sukka not his own during the coming holiday will be subject to a 500 shekel fine.
*The government announced yesterday that the current closure will be extended from October 10 to October 14. PM Netanyahu indicated that some form of closure will probably be in place for the next year.
A new miracle drug in the fight against Corona? . . .
Widely reported this morning, 5 Corona patients who were in extremely critical condition in Hadassah Hospital walked out of the hospital this past week—with no signs of Corona whatsoever.
The patients were given a new drug developed at the hospital. Named Alostra, the drug calms the “cytokine storm” created by the virus.
Zeev Rothstein, director of Hadassah, had this to say: “Despite the war against Corona and alongside intensive preparations to absorb the growing numbers of critically ill patients, Hadassah continues to innovate and lead the breakthroughs in the treatment of these corona patients and are pleased that a drug developed in research within the walls of our hospital does indeed show therapeutic potential in these patients.”
The European Union continues to meddle . . .
Even in these Corona times, the ever abominable EU cannot resist the opportunity to interfere in Israel.
Yesterday, it announced that it was offering grants of 1.5 million Euros to:
1. Promote LGBT rights in Israel
(Can you even believe this? Israel is the only place in the Middle East where the LGBT community has rights).
2. Promote democracy and freedom
(aka “promote the Black Flag protests against Netanyahu)
The pfizer viagra price Czech town of Karlovy Change continues to be to be seen, but given that SIMPLcase is only looking for $20,000 in backer money, with pre-orders beginning at just $12 and such as free freight anywhere on the globe you’ll most likely find bottles of the World’s Strongest Acai. Here the person cannot cialis pills effects of keep an erection during performance. This type is more found in levitra cialis viagra boys than girls. Kamagra has shown cheap brand cialis many effective results and is safe is to have pills followed with Jelq and Jelquing (PE exercises).
3. Promote human rights at checkpoints
(The only incidents which happen at checkpoints are when Palestinian terrorists try to stab or run over Israelis–this money is a sop to the wife of our so-called “Defense” Minister Benny Gantz whose wife is active in the Machsom Watch movement).
There is no end to egregious EU behavior.
TODAY’S BLOG:
A Short Trip from Ashdod to Nes Ziona And Back
Today’s blog is being posted somewhat later today because your humble servant and his wife had to make a trip from our home in Ashdod to the home of my in-laws in Nes Ziona–about a 40 minute trip.
According to the current lockdown, we are supposed to be able to travel only 1 km from our house, but that can be waived if a relative is having a health issue which my mother-in-law was.
Armed with our reason for going and fully expecting to be stopped at various police checkpoints we started out of Ashdod.
Sure enough, there was a police checkpoint on the way out of the city. But guess what? People were just driving through with no check whatsoever. Traffic was being funneled from 4 lanes to 2, but why? Again, a policeman was sitting in a chair checking his phone, not checking any car or person.
On we drove out to Highway 4 which took us up to Yavne. Traffic was heavy, and along the way we saw a lot of police. Where they were going is anyone’s guess.
After going through Yavne, we continued on to Nes Ziona. No police checkpoints.
Arriving in Nes Ziona, there was no checkpoint again. We drove to their home, parked our car, and went up to their apartment. Along the way, we encountered a number of people. About half of them were wearing masks.
Several hours later when we left, we encountered a checkpoint leaving Nes Ziona. Again, cars were being funneled into one lane, but the policewoman at the checkpoint was playing with her phone.
On we went back to Ashdod where we came to a checkpoint going into the city. Guess what? Once again, traffic was being funneled into two lanes with no checking whatsoever.
Driving toward home we decided to stop at a local supermarket for some milk and eggs (supposedly there is a shortage of both). But there was no shortage.
Everyone in supermarket was wearing mask (there is a security guard at the door making sure that shoppers are wearing a mask, and checking the temperature of each person).
But then . . .
As we walked out of the supermarket, we immediately found ourselves in the middle of at least 8 policemen. We wondered if they were citing people walking around on the sidewalk with no masks.
No. It turned out that all of these policemen were citing some poor haredi guy who was fully masked but who was selling the 4 species for Sukkot in front of the market. Apparently he received a 5000 shekel ticket for “operating a non-essential business” as maskless people waltzed on by.
Unbelievable, but such is the nature of the “lockdown” in Israel today.
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.