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Israeli ministers have approved a three-week nationwide lockdown to contain the resurgent coronavirus outbreak. The lockdown will commence hours before the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and last for three weeks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israelis will not be allowed to travel more than 500 meters from their homes, except for essential needs such as food and medicine. As was the case in the first lockdown, supermarkets, pharmacies and other essential businesses will be allowed to remain open and deliveries will be permitted.
Schools will be closed starting on Friday. Meanwhile, businesses and public sector employers that do continue to work will have to do so under strict limitations.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has landed in Washington. Israel’s premier emphasized the historic nature of the trip, during which he is set to sign normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, only four days after the latter announced official ties with Israel.
Because there was less time to prepare, the Bahrain-Israel agreement will be more declarative and not be as detailed as the one with the Emirates.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians have announced the formation of a group called The Unified National Leadership of Popular Resistance, which calls for a “comprehensive popular struggle.” The organization, consisting of representatives of various Palestinian factions, is reminiscent of the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising that operated during the First Intifada that erupted in 1987.
The formation of the group is seen by some Palestinians as a call for launching a new intifada against Israel.
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The Trump Administration has reportedly pledged to the United Arab Emirates that it would not recognize any Israeli move to annex parts of the West Bank until 2024 at the earliest.
The White House made the promise during the Israel-UAE normalization negotiations, which Trump unveiled last month.
Relatedly, the Emirati delegation accorded greater weight to promises offered by Washington on the issue of annexation, compared to those offered by Israeli diplomats.
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The Israel Defense Forces has set up a team tasked with assembling a “wish list” of technologies and systems to help it maintain its regional defensive superiority.
Israeli officials are concerned by the prospect of the US allowing the sale of advanced military technology to the UAE. Of particular concern is the F-35 stealth fighter. Until recently, Israel was the only country in the Middle East to be granted rights to this military hardware. The misgivings are rooted in the belief that the technology the UAE is likely to receive may spark a regional arms race that would lessen Israel’s qualitative strategic advantage.
The list is to be submitted to the United States government, which is expected to approve the sale of the fighter jets and other advanced military technology to the United Arab Emirates under the Israel-UAE normalization deal.
Israeli model Bar Refaeli, 35, was sentenced on Sunday to nine months of community service and a large fine.
Refaeli, who previously dated Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, was found guilty earlier this year of making false statements pertaining to her time residing abroad. She presented herself as a non-resident of Israel, thereby evading Israeli taxes.
Israeli law considers citizens who live overseas exempt from reporting certain income to the country’s tax authorities.
In a plea bargain, Refaeli was fined NIS 2.5 million ($721,000) and ordered to pay arrears, in addition to doing community service at a Tel Aviv facility that provides assistance to people with severe physical and mental disabilities.
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