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COVID-19: The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) will as early as October begin human trials for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, the Defense Ministry announced. The trials will be carried out in conjunction with the Health Ministry. The IIBR has been working on a vaccine for six months and began testing on animals in March.
The development comes on the backdrop of a series of protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with thousands of people on Saturday night gathering near the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem and a smaller number assembling outside of Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea. The prime minister has come under fire for what some perceive as his government’s mishandling of Israel’s second wave of coronavirus and its economic fallout.
In response, Netanyahu’s Likud party said in a statement that the prime minister was “fighting to get Israel’s economy back to normal and to transfer funds and grants to Israeli citizens.” In this respect, Netanyahu recently green-lighted a universal bailout package to the tune nearly $2 billion. While the government has lifted most restrictions on freedom of movement and business activity, the unemployment rate in the nation is still hovering at around 21.5%, up from about 3.5% in March.
According to a poll published by Channel 13 news on Thursday night, Likud would receive 29 seats if elections were held today. When including Yamina, Netanyahu’s right-wing religious bloc would come away with 63 seats, enough for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.
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US Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has urged Attorney General William Barr to open an investigation into the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging that The Hague-based tribunal has indirect connections to terrorist groups. Several months ago, the ICC initiated a preliminary probe into possible war crimes committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan, which prompted the Trump Administration to impose sanctions on various members of the court. In a letter to Barr, Biggs cited “shocking information” that purportedly revealed ties between terrorist groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the case against Washington, as well as a separate investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes.
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Lebanon’s government has appointed a committee to determine within four days the cause of last week’s massive explosion in Beirut that killed at least 175 people and injured thousands more. The government has, however, rejected calls by French President Emmanuel Macron, in addition to other world leaders and various rights groups, for an international inquiry into the incident. Although Macron offered aid to Lebanon, he made clear that no blank checks would be given to the country’s leaders — many of whom are allied with the Hezbollah terrorist group – unless reforms were enacted to end rampant corruption.
Preliminary findings suggest that the blast was caused by a huge amount of improperly stored ammonium nitrate, with many pointing the finger at the Hezbollah terrorist group that is known to have previously stored its weapons in civilian areas. In the past, Hezbollah has threatened to use ammonium nitrate as a weapon against Israel.
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A new Instagram account has started amalgamating stories about antisemitic incidents on campuses across the US, in order to “provide a safe space” for Jewish students to speak up. The Jewish on Campus page has to date attracted over 13,000 followers, and more than 130 anonymous experiences have been posted to the account since it was opened in early July.
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Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a prolific Jewish scholar who spent 45 years compiling a ground-breaking translation and commentary of the Talmud, has died at the age of 83. The Steinsaltz Center, the Jerusalem educational institute he founded, said he passed away on Friday in the holy city after a bout with pneumonia. Steinsaltz, who established a network of schools in Israel and the former Soviet Union, wrote more than 60 books on subjects ranging from theology to zoology. But the Talmud, one of the central texts in Judaism, was his greatest passion.
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Antisemitism Watch: Administrators at the University of Southern California have called for a campus-wide dialogue on tolerance following the resignation of a student who claimed she was the target of antisemitic attacks due to her support for Israel. Rose Ritch on August 5 stepped down from her position as vice president of the university’s Undergraduate Student Government after students launched what she called “an aggressive social media campaign to impeach my Zionist ass.”
According to Sky News Australia, the country’s Channel Ten is “refusing to apologize for airing an anti-Israel conspiracy theory” about the cause of the Beirut explosion. The station’s program The Project invited a guest who insinuated the disaster may have been orchestrated by Israel. The segment was criticized by Liberal MP Dave Sharma, who said, “giving a platform to baseless conspiracy theories and then failing to contest or challenge them” is “bizarre and grossly irresponsible.”
More than 150 Jewish gravestones have in recent months been unearthed during construction work in the Polish town of Lezajsk. The gravestones were removed by the Nazis in 1939 from the town’s Jewish cemetery and used to pave sidewalks adjacent to a central square. The rubble from a synagogue demolished by the Nazis was also used in the project.
Recommended Reading
- Last chance to defeat outbreak without lockdowns (Prof. Ronni Gamzu)
- How the Palestinians manipulate the International Criminal Court against Israel (Paul Shindman)
- Four Israeli women who’ve broken new political ground (Ruth Eglash)
- Gaza rockets: more than an ‘inconvenience’ (Simon Plosker)
