With the the coronavirus cabinet set to meet on Sunday to discuss new measures to fight the spread of the pandemic, the Knesset Information Center has reported that the country might be on the verge of a third wave of infections.
There continues to be an increase in the number of daily infections. More than 1,000 new cases were registered every day last week. In addition, patients 60 years and older have tested positive at escalating rates, the result being that the level of morbidity is expected to rise as well, the report said.
The Health Ministry warned that “at the current rate of infections, for every two days that the infection continues at its current growth rate, one lockdown day will be required to return to the original state.”
The ministry said that 986 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Saturday out of 25,808 tests conducted, indicating a 3.9% positivity rate. Since the start of the pandemic, 2,909 people have died from complications caused by the virus.
Meanwhile, Director-General of the Health Ministry Professor Hezi Levi announced that four million COVID vaccines are expected to arrive in Israel in the next few weeks.
The Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah has revealed that it sent an unmanned aerial drone (UAV) into Israeli territory in October that approached a major IDF base, all the while not being picked up by Israeli radar, according to Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel Al-Manar.
The recording shown by the UAV included footage of an IDF base in the North, Biranit, which is the reported command center for all Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border.
The drone was launched during the IDF’s Lethal Arrow exercises, which saw the army simulate a war with Hezbollah.
There was no response from the IDF regarding either the video or Hezbollah’s claims about the drone.
Last month, the Israeli military said it downed a drone operated by Hezbollah after it entered the Jewish state’s airspace. Tensions have been high on the northern border since a Hezbollah fighter was killed in July during an airstrike on Damascus International Airport. The strike was widely attributed to Israel, and the Iran-backed terror group has vowed retaliation.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi held a rare meeting with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi to press for the restart of stalled negotiations between the Palestinians and the Jewish state. The meeting came days after Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas visited Jordan.
During the meeting at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, Safadi said the creation of an independent Palestinian state was key to ending the conflict with Israel.
“There is no alternative to a two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians, he told Foreign Minister Ashkenazi, adding that it is, “…necessary to return to the negotiating table according to international law in order to find a real solution to achieve a just peace.”
The meeting was a rare encounter between officials from the two countries and the first officially reported between Safadi and Ashkenazi since the latter became Israel’s top diplomat in May.
Hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants arrived to a festive welcome at Ben Gurion Airport, as the Israeli government took a major step toward carrying out its pledge to reunite hundreds of families split between the two countries.
Some 300 people arrived on the Ethiopian Airlines flight, with many waving flags or stopping to kiss the ground as they streamed off the aircraft onto a red carpet. Festive Hebrew songs were blasted over loudspeakers.
Although the families are of Jewish descent and many are practicing Jews, Israel does not consider them Jewish under religious law. Instead, they were permitted to enter the country under a family-unification program that requires special government approval.
A large delegation of Israeli officials welcomed the group, and Pnina Tamano-Shata, the country’s first Ethiopian-born cabinet minister, traveled to Ethiopia to join them on the flight.
“My wife Sara and myself were standing there with tears in our eyes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the ceremony. “This is the essence of our Jewish story, the essence of the Zionist story. The story of the Ethiopian immigration to Israel, with all its lethal dangers and hardships, will be taught to all Israeli schoolchildren,” Netanyahu vowed.
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- UN ‘Palestinian Package’ of Resolutions Only Fans the Flames of Conflict (Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Newsweek)
- Islamic State Province in Sinai Changes its Strategy: Are Israel and the Suez Canal in the Crosshairs? (Tomer Naveh , Yoram Schweitzer, Institute for National Security Studies)
- The Real Story Behind ‘Mank,’ the New Movie About the Jewish Screenwriter Who Brought Us ‘Citizen Kane’ (Gabe Friedman, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
