Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Caspi, who has come under attack for his vociferous criticism of the government's response to the virus, was particularly outraged over the steps that prevent entertainment venues from operating at full capacity.

"A pandemic is when you see people dying on the street, but only 850 died in Japan, and in the Czech Republic life has continued without interruption and the economy has been functioning, the coronavirus is just a matter of making decision," Caspi said.

He added that "the dictator" should lead by example and "destroy all the artworks he has in his home." Caspi was referring to Netanyahu's insistence it was too dangerous to let cultural events take place without restrictions.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Anti-Netanyahu singer criticized for downplaying pandemic's seriousness appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The encampment, which previously consisted of a small number of people holding signs, has become a flashpoint in the growing social unrest of the past few weeks, prompted by what protests say is the government's failure to deal with the second coronavirus outbreak.

  Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The post Longstanding protest tents outside PM's Residence in Jerusalem removed appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The move came hours after the cabinet approved emergency measures that allow the state to effectively put the city, which is one of the poorest and most dense in Israel, under quarantine in an attempt to contain its high infection rate. 

The unprecedented step was taken due to unsuccessful efforts to make its residents comply with the nation-wide shelter-at-home ordinances that had been introduced earlier this month. 

Dozens of roadblocks were set up on major arteries in the city environs, with at least 1,000 officers taking part in the operation, using drones and various technological means to prevent non-residents from entering the city. 

Starting Sunday, the IDF will be put in charge of the quarantine on the haredi city, which was ‎placed under strict lockdown on Friday morning, top officials decided Friday in a meeting with Prime Minister ‎Benjamin Netanyahu.‎

Maj. Gen. (res.) Roni Numa will oversee the logistics of having the Israel Police – which operate under ‎the Public Security Ministry, not the Defense Ministry – enforce health regulations under the ‎command of the IDF Home Front Command.‎

City residents were told they would not be allowed to leave, except in the rarest of circumstances, and that food and medical supplies would be provided all through the Friday and Saturday, to make sure the residents – the overwhelming majority of whom – are ultra-Orthodox, could properly observe Shabbat

Israel had more than 6,800 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Friday morning, with at least 36 patients who had succumbed to the respiratory disease linked to the outbreak, COVID-19. Some 340 patients have recovered, but several dozen remain in serious condition. 

According to the new directives for Bnei Brak residents living in restricted areas, a person can only leave, among other reasons, to receive vital medical care unavailable in the city; attend legal proceedings requiring his or her presence; a funeral of a first-degree relative; or to transfer a minor whose parents live separately. Conversely, the only people allowed to enter a restricted area are, among others, on-duty paramedics, police, IDF soldiers and other emergency service providers. Permanent residents of such areas are also permitted to enter, as are social workers and welfare officials; journalists with the proper government-issued credentials; electricity, water and sanitation workers; and people transferring a minor whose parents live separately.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered into self-isolation on Thursday after Health Minister Yakov Litzman tested positive for the virus. Litzman had been meeting with key with Israeli officials leading up to the diagnosis, forcing a whole slew of key aides to go into self-isolation, including the Health Ministry's director general. 

The post As Bnei Brak placed under quarantine, IDF takes charge appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

One of the women, in her 50s, had a prior medical history and had been attached to life support at Sheba Medical Center in central Israel for the past week following cardiac and respiratory failure. 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"She was hospitalized two weeks ago, and doctors fought for her life for over a week," said a hospital spokesperson. "Her condition worsened and, unfortunately, she passed away last night."

"We see a daily increase in the number of patients in serious condition, among them younger patients with no underlying conditions. There aren't many of them here, but they do exist," the spokesperson added.

The other victim, Tamar Peretz Levy, 49, from the central Israeli city of Lod, passed away overnight Monday at Shamir Medical Center near Tel Aviv. She had also suffered from previous medical issues. Levy, now the country's youngest coronavirus fatality, is survived by four-year-old twins. Her husband died of heart failure seven months after their birth.

Levy's sister-in-law has promised to take care of the twins. 

Lod Mayor Yair Revivo said most of Levy's relatives are currently in quarantine. Peretz herself had been hospitalized since last Thursday.

"Tamar was a hero, an engineer at Alta in the aerospace industry, who fought for many years to have a family and bring the twins into the world," Revivo said in a Facebook post.

As of Tuesday morning, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel was 4,831 – among them 95 in moderate condition and 83 in critical condition. Of those, 69 patients are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 163 Israelis have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and have been released home from hospitals.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry urged Israelis to use makeshift protective masks, such as wrapping material around one's face, rather than stocking up on surgical masks amid a worldwide shortage.

Ministry Director Moshe Bar Siman-Tov said the ministry will release guidelines to the public on when and how to don masks.

"We're not telling the public to go around with surgical masks," he said, explaining that a piece of material would suffice.

The Health Ministry also said that Jerusalem has the most virus cases in the country, followed by Bnei Brak. Tel Aviv is in third place, with 278 cases.

On Tuesday morning, a 34-year-old patient attempted to escape a coronavirus ward at Tiberias's Poriya Hospital by jumping out of a third-floor window.

According to reports, the patient was in mild condition prior to his jump, which resulted in serious injuries that will require surgery. He was initially admitted to the hospital following a period of quarantine and had spoken to social workers several times, Channel 12 reported.

"We are repeatedly alerted to the serious mental consequences that may occur following the outbreak of the virus," Dr. Zvi Fishel, head of the Israel Psychiatric Association, said in a statement carried by the network.

Meanwhile, since last week, there has been a consistent decline in the rate of coronavirus infections in Israel, Prof. Gabi Barabash, former director of the Health Ministry and former director of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv told Channel 12 News.

Also on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to self-quarantine after a parliamentary aide tested positive for the virus.

The prime minister later tested negative for COVID-19.

In a televised address issued prior to his test result, Netanyahu noted that "this evening I am speaking to you from the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. Even though my medical tests have still not concluded, I have decided to enter into voluntary quarantine in order to set a personal example. The cameraman is six meters away," he said, adding, "I am continuing to work from home."

Israel will spend 80 billion shekels ($22 billion) to help the economy weather the coronavirus crisis and on Monday Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said that he expects a gradual return of business activity after the Passover holiday next month. 

The post Coronavirus claims more lives as number of cases nears 5,000 appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The agencies also have limited insight into the full impact of the pandemic in Iran – although information on infections and deaths among the ruling class and public is becoming more available on official and social media, two sources said.

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The four countries are known by US spy agencies as "hard targets" because of heavy state controls on information and difficulty – even in normal times – collecting intelligence from within their closed leadership circles.

Experts say an accurate assessment of those countries' outbreaks would aid the US and international efforts to limit the human and economic tolls from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The agencies are not just looking for accurate numbers, but also for any signs of the political ramifications from how the crisis is being handled.

"We want to have as close an accurate, real-time understanding of where the global hotspots are and where they are evolving," said Jeremy Konyndyk, an expert at the Center for Global Development think tank, who led the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance from 2013 to 2017, including the US response to the Ebola outbreak. "The world is not going to get rid of this thing until we get rid of it everywhere."

US intelligence agencies first began reporting on the coronavirus in January and provided early warnings to lawmakers on the outbreak in China, where it originated in the city of Wuhan late last year, said the sources, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely about intelligence matters.

The pandemic has grown to nearly 740,000 cases in some 200 countries and territories, Reuters figures show, with the United States now reporting the most cases at more than 152,000.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the 17 US intelligence agencies, declined to comment.

North Korea claims to have not had a single case even though it borders China, but has asked international aid agencies for supplies like masks and testing kits.

One US source said, "we don't know" anything about the scale of the problem in the hermetic country.

"It's a nuclear-armed country where things that could destabilize the government would be of great interest to the United States," said Konyndyk, who also led the US response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Russian authorities are considering a nationwide lockdown after recording the biggest one-day rise in coronavirus cases for the sixth day in a row – with a total of 1,836 cases and nine deaths.

Knowing the full extent of Russia's coronavirus spread could be critical as it shares borders with 14 other countries and is a hub of trade and travel.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alluded last week to the dearth of accurate information on Russia and Iran, and accused China of a misinformation campaign, which Beijing denies.

China – which has reported more than 81,000 cases and more than 3,300 deaths – says no new cases are originating at home. It remains wary of travelers returning from abroad.

The US view on the Chinese claim of no new domestic cases is that "some of it may be true," according to one source. US agencies remain skeptical that the Chinese have the virus under control, the source said.

Konyndyk said while Beijing concealed the severity of the initial outbreak, it does not appear to be doctoring numbers now.

China "seems to be the most successful country in terms of taking very large-scale growth and rapidly extinguishing it," he said. "If their case numbers are real, it's really important to understand their approach and adapt it."

The post US says coronavirus spread in China, North Korea, Russia hard to chart appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"My fellow Israelis, you are familiar with the saying that saving one life is like saving the entire world, but there is a corollary: If you infect one person, it is like you have infected the entire world," Netanyahu said in his televised address. "These steps have been adopted by countries all over the world but they are not enough, because the number of infected [in Israel] has been tripling every three days, and we may very well end up with thousands of patients being gravely ill," he continued.

Under the new restrictions, which came into effect on Wednesday night, people have to stay within 100 yards of their homes; all leisure activities and sporting events are barred; public transportation is suspended, taxis are only allowed to fare one passenger, and companies still operating would be required to check their employees' temperature before letting them enter the building.

Essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies, and access to medical care would not be limited, the Prime Minister's Office explained. Restaurants are allowed to make deliveries to customers who order food.

Netanyahu warned that more restrictions may be announced if the current lockdown fails to slow the rate of infection. "Stay at home. The virus does not discriminate; we have to show self-discipline because if you don't protect yourselves, a calamity will take place."

The post Netanyahu announces total lockdown, pleas with Israelis to stay home appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Another positive factor on the economy in the PA has been the relative stability of the PA, which survived the Arab spring  – unlike strong and stable regimes in the Arab world that collapsed overnight, ushering in a period of chaos, anarchy and economic crises that still linger today as the world copes with the coronavirus crisis and its ramifications.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter 

The relatively good economic situation in the West Bank has also meant that the average Palestinian could improve his quality of life through generous credit frameworks. These were granted by the banks in the West Bank, in addition to loan packages pushed by financing and credit card companies that started operating in the Palestinian Authority in recent years.

Similar to the majority of average households in Israel, Palestinian households grew accustomed to living with monthly bank debt, generous credit frameworks and overdraft at low-interest rates in the assumption that the economic prosperity, higher wages, and low unemployment wouldn't disappear in an instant.

And then came the coronavirus pandemic with quarantine directives and restrictions on freedom of movement, completely shutting down and severely minimizing economic activity and markets in the PA, whose economy and financial system are highly dependent on the Israeli economy and market situation.

In a matter of days, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians employed in Israel, the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria and the industrial zones, lost their jobs and are not eligible for unemployment benefits that can ensure them a basic means of existence  – in contrast to Israelis who are on unpaid leave or were fired and are eligible to receive unemployment benefits from social security. 

According to a senior PA official, the Palestinian Authority's economy is almost entirely incapable of enduring such a crisis. Without basic income and economic prospects, self-employed Palestinians and the majority of households in the PA appear closer than ever to collapse. 

Such a collapse will occur in the span of a few days, predict concerned senior PA officials, who believe that anarchy and chaos will erupt. Not only in the PA areas but, even more drastically in the congested Gaza Strip – where the healthcare system is all but non-functioning in regular times, let alone the current emergency. 

Meanwhile, senior PA security officials believe the devastation of the healthcare and economic systems in the PA and Gaza increases the odds of security incidents and the extreme scenario whereby hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from PA areas and Gaza will look to escape into Israel in an attempt to save their lives and their loved ones. 

PA officials are maintaining that for now, closely cooperating and coordinating with the relevant financial, medical and security authorities in Israel is helping the PA cope with the coronavirus crisis. Just a few days ago, Israel transferred the PA more than NIS 150 million ($40 million) in taxes it collected on its behalf but was withholding.

However, even senior PA officials say the outcome is inevitable. The question, in their minds, isn't "if the healthcare and economic systems will collapse but when." In light of the fact that more and more cases of infection are being recorded daily in the PA and Gaza, it is only a matter of days until a general outbreak occurs, and when it does it will be Israel that is forced to deal with it.

The post Coronavirus fallout pushes Palestinians to the brink of economic ruin, anarchy appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

                                                     Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Following a lengthy meeting, the ministers decided to ratchet up the restrictions aimed at increasing social distancing, with the hope that this will help "flatten the curve" of the coronavirus pandemic and reduce the number of patients at any given moment.

The new measures, which were likely to be approved via a conference call overnight Monday, would essentially prohibit Israelis from leaving their neighborhood, unless in very rare circumstances.

One of the provisions could also result in many businesses shut down and public transportation coming to a complete halt.

Grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open.

Another component in the decision includes tight enforcement of the lockdown, which will likely mean Israelis would be prosecuted if they leave their homes without proving they have a valid reason, such as to buy food or medicine.

The post Government poised to approve almost total ban on people's movement appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The baby, who was already in serious condition due to being born early, is hospitalized in the NICU at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Authorities suspect that the preemie might have been infected by a hospital staff member, but the possibility of him having contracted the virus from one of his visiting parents has not been ruled out.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The hospital issued a statement about the case, explaining that "an employee at the medical center who has tested positive for coronavirus, apparently contracted through community spread, worked a few shifts at the hospital, including some in the NICU. After an investigation, it turned out that one of the premature babies in the unit, who was born in serious medical condition at a very low weight, was diagnosed as a carrier. Therefore, to avoid any possible contact, the baby's parents and a number of staff have been quarantined."

Shaare Zedek said it was taking all necessary steps to protect its staff and the patients.

Worldwide, there have been only a handful of cases of babies contracting coronavirus. 

The post Is this Israel's youngest coronavirus victim? appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

"We are ready for worse scenarios," say Russian government officials and spokespeople for the state media, claiming that they have about 40,000 ventilators – a veiled comparison to European countries like Italy, where a shortage of that piece of medical equipment has doomed hundreds.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

 The Russian government's promises should have calmed the population, but the opposite is occurring: The more the official channels promise, the more ordinary Russians worry, and sometimes start panicking. Talk on Russian social media is markedly distrustful of the political system, and horror stories are spreading about thousands across Russia who contracted the virus in the past few months without getting appropriate medical treatment or even being diagnosed.

It's not certain that this has to do with the coronavirus, because every winter Russia sees relatively high mortality from seasonal flu, etc. But if we consider that the Russian authorities, and the Soviet authorities before it, have not proved outstandingly trustworthy, it's not surprising that every rumor gains traction, causing increased fear and a decrease in trust.

The periphery is crying out

Russia's neighbors in the west are also skeptical. Last week, the European Union's foreign service issued an unprecedented document accusing government-aligned Russian news outlets of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus. This doesn't mean that Brussels has discovered anything new about how the Kremlin operates. But if accusations like this one were being voiced behind closed doors, now the EU has decided to air its suspicions publicly.

Why are the official numbers out of Russia worthy of doubt? First of all, we need to remember that Russia has a very long border with China (over 4,000 km or nearly 2,500 miles) and that crossings on both sides were very heavy and were not closed when the virus first spread beyond China. The Chinese have a notable presence in southeast Russia, but an astonishing number of Chinese tourists visit Russia's two main cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, something that has remained almost unchanged since the inception of the coronavirus. When airlines all over the world stopped service to China, Russia's Aeroflot continued to fly to Beijing, possibly for political reasons.

A senior Russian official who asked to remain anonymous told me that on every fast train between Moscow and St. Petersburg – a line that carries thousands of passengers – "more than half the passengers are Chinese tourists."

"There are more than 10 of these trains in each direction each day, so draw your own conclusions. We could, of course, assume that only healthy Chinese visited Russia, while the sick ones might have preferred Italy or France, but what are the chances that is correct?" the official asked.

Secondly, Russia was very late compared to other countries in taking steps to issue closure regulations. Only last week was a decision made to shut museums and issue a statement that Lenin's mausoleum would be closed "for repairs." But with all due respect to the resting place of the communist proletarian leader, many more people use Moscow's subway (up to 9 million per day) than visit his tomb, and the subway is operating as usual and is as crowded as you might expect of a major metropolis.

Third, we are hearing more reports about attempts by Russian officials to acquire equipment to treat the coronavirus. The fact that these reports are coming out of relatively wealthy areas in Russia, like St. Petersburg, raises the question: if there are equipment shortages in well-to-do areas, what is happening in the periphery, where medical care is poor even in normal times? Despite the suspicions, Russia is not changing its certain, boastful tone.

Dmitri Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has avoided giving any direct answers to journalists' questions about whether Putin himself had been tested for the virus. "The president's publicly available schedule is the best evidence of his health," Peskov declared in the manner that is so typical of Putin's Kremlin. However, all administrative workers who come into contact, direct or indirect, with the "command" are now regularly tested.

The conspiracy against the US

Despite the dangers, Russia's leaders see geopolitical opportunities in the pandemic, or at least opportunities for propaganda. They see events unfolding in Europe as proof of their ideological rivals' weakness -- the same rivals who preach at Russia to change its ways and apply sanctions against it.

The Kremlin's mouthpieces in the media haven't stopped repeating a message that aims to fault western democracies and the way they are handling the threat, which is portrayed as either too soft or too harsh. "Look at how everything in the West is collapsing," they say, not without some schadenfreude. "The democracies can't handle the challenge, so why bother to play with democracy?"

A few of the government propagandists go a step further and predict that the world will never return to what it was prior to coronavirus and that western society will learn the hard way that its principles of individual liberty should give way to Russia's traditional collectivism. Every drop on the New York and London stock exchanges are offered up as proof of this theory without any mention of how weaker economies  – such as Russia's – could suffer even a worse blow from the pandemic.

One need only look at what is happening to oil prices, and the Russian ruble's continued slide against the dollar, to begin worrying about Russia's economy. Remember, President Putin has proposed constitutional changes that give him an exemption to the two-term limit. The vote on these amendments is scheduled for April 22, and we can assume that the authorities will try to send a message of "business as usual" to increase voter turnout.

Authoritarian China's success in stopping the virus, compared to the desperate situation in Europe, has sparked deep feelings of identification among the Russians. When a Chinese government representative accused the US of spreading the coronavirus, the accusation was immediately backed up by Russia. Franz Klintsevich, a member of Russia's Senate from the ruling party, claimed that the Americans created the virus to "wipe out geopolitical competitors." He didn't ask the Chinese for any proof of their claim, but predicted that the US would exploit its tools and geographic position to repair the American economy and rule the world without interference while other countries fell into "economic slavery." Conspiracy theories have always been in demand in the space between Kaliningrad and Vladivostok.

The post Has Russia won the war on the coronavirus pandemic? appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.