Hamas Threatens Violence Against Israel Unless It Receives Qatari Cash; West Bank Palestinians Burn Swastika-laden Star of David

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett this weekend warned that Israel would face “tough days” ahead amid a surge in coronavirus cases. “Our goal is simple: to preserve the health of the citizens of Israel, but also the economic future of the State of Israel,” Bennet said, adding: “I am sure that if we act according to the plan, and if the citizens of Israel wear masks, get vaccinated as soon as it is possible for them, and if we act in solidarity and mutual aid, we will overcome the Delta variant.”

For nearly five days, the number of new daily cases has approached 6,000, the highest figures recorded since February.

On Friday, Israel began offering a third coronavirus vaccine dose to those over the age of 50 after Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash accepted the recommendation of a government advisory panel of health experts. Medical staff and those with underlying illness, as well as prisoners and wardens, will also be eligible for the booster.

Last month, Israel became the first country in the world to begin administering booster shots to those over 60, and it will once again be a pioneer in the move to begin giving the third vaccine dose to an even younger age group. As of Friday morning, 775,703 people in Israel had received the booster.

Jerusalem has recalled its envoy to Warsaw for consultations, in response to Poland’s passage of a law that severely restricts World War II-era restitution claims. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that “Poland, not for the first time, passed an antisemitic and immoral law,” in a Hebrew-language statement released on Saturday. “Today Poland turned into an anti-democratic, illiberal country that doesn’t respect the greatest tragedy in human history,” he charged.

The new Israeli ambassador to Poland, who was expected to travel to Warsaw in the near future, will remain in Israel for the time being, the statement said.

FM @yairlapid: “Poland today approved – not for the first time – an immoral, antisemitic law. This evening I instructed the charge d’affaires at our embassy in Warsaw to return immediately to Israel for consultations, for an indefinite period of time. (1/2)

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 14, 2021

The law sets a 30-year time limit on challenges to property confiscations, which would mean that pending proceedings involving Communist-era property confiscations would be discontinued and dismissed. It affects Polish, Jewish and other property claims that are subject to contested previous determinations.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the approval of the legislation is “a shameful decision and disgraceful contempt for the memory of the Holocaust.”

Leon Kopelman, possibly the last surviving man to have fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, died on Friday at the age of 97. Kopelman was born in Poland in 1924 and when the Nazis took over the country and formed the Warsaw Ghetto, his family was forced into a tiny home there.

During his time in the ghetto, he began to be active in the the Jewish Combat Organization, or ZOB, which was committed to armed resistance against the Nazis. He and his fellow fighters began killing German soldiers in the Ghetto, leading to battles and the final confrontation in April 1943, when the Nazis entered the Ghetto in full force.

Kopelam was eventually sent to a prison but was freed by Polish resistance fighters in September 1944, and joined their efforts against the Germans. He was later caught again, but managed to escape and remained free until the Red Army’s arrival in the spring of 1945.

Kopelman used false identities to eventually reach Italy and board an illegal ship to Israel. In the Jewish state, he met up with his sister and father, who had managed to survive the war. He joined the nascent Israel Defense Forces and fought in the War of Independence in 1948.

Shortly thereafter he met his wife Hava and the two were married for nearly 70 years. They had three children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.