Over 83,000 Israelis tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, the Health Ministry reported Monday.

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As of Monday afternoon there were 531,430 active cases in Israel, with 181 more COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition, the ministry reported. As of Monday, there were 814 patients hospitalized in serious condition nationwide, the highest since the fourth COVID wave peaked, but still a lower number than Israel saw during the third wave.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of the 415,147 tests processed Sunday came back positive, the highest percentage since the COVID pandemic hit Israel in early 2020.

Thus far, 8,458 Israelis have succumbed to the virus, including four people who died between midnight Sunday and 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. Another 14 COVID patients died on Sunday, after 20 COVID patients died of the virus on Saturday. In the past seven days, 110 Israelis have died of COVID, 80% more than died of the virus in the preceding seven-day period. To compare, the entire month of November 2021 saw 88 COVID deaths, followed by 50 COVID deaths in December 2021.

Meanwhile, 8,340 medical staffers were either sick with COVID or in quarantine, including 1,150 doctors and 2,675 nurses.

Despite the rampant transmission, the reproduction rate of the virus is dropping and on Monday stood at 1.23, meaning each confirmed carrier infects an average of 1.23 other people. When the R umber drops it is generally seen as a sign that the wave might be starting to drop.

In the last few weeks, approximately 40 cadets in the Israeli Air Force pilots training program have tested positive for COVID.

Parents of cadets said they were asked to pick up their children and have them quarantine at home, then return them to base.

Israel Hayom has learned that some of the cadets, who were still in the classroom study stage of the court, continued their work online, through Zoom, while in quarantine. The IDF said that the outbreak had not affected the course in any way that would delay the later stages of training.

"The IAF flight school was prepared ahead of time for a range of scenarios given the increased morbidity in the country, including the possibility of completing material for members through Zoom and special catch-up when they return from quarantine. Preparations are being held in capsules of 15 people, who wear masks the entire time and follow health regulations closely," the IDF said.

"The cadets who tested positive for COVID were sent to self-isolate. Everyone feels well and in the next few days are due back to continue their training," the IDF said.

Meanwhile, for the first time since the second wave in 2020, soldiers from the IDF Medical Corps have been sent to Yad Sarah to help fill oxygen tanks.

Due to the spike in demand for respiratory equipment and the shortage of tanks, the Medical Corps responded to a request by the head of the organization, which supplies medical equipment to the general population, to help fill hundreds of tanks for patients hospitalized at home.

This past month, demand for oxygen was up 70% compared to the month before. Yad Sarah had only some 350 oxygen tanks available. Last week, it gave out 300.

Yad Sarah Director General Moshe Cohen said that "cooperating with the Medical Corps in the second wave proved itself. Cooperating helped us save many lives and prevent needless hospitalizations. Given the reports about hospitals' difficulty coping with the heavy patient load, we call on the public to use home hospitalization services, and together we will make it through the fifth wave safely."

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The Israel Prize is awarded by the education minister, in the presence of the president, to citizens that have demonstrated excellence, achieved a breakthrough in their field, or deserve recognition for their contribution to society and the state. The Supreme Court has ensured the purely professional nature of the award and the independence of the members of the committee. It also ruled that as jarring as they may be, statements by an Israel Prize winner that do not relate to their profession should not be taken into consideration when deciding who is worthy of the award to prevent any attempts at censorship in a democracy.

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Does signing a petition that calls for the EU to end cooperation with Ariel University institutions and programs not relate to the professional work for which the award is being granted?

Professor Oded Goldreich was to receive the Israel Prize for mathematics and computer science in recognition of his work at the Weizmann Institute of Science and not for any particular statement he made in the past. In reality, though, the situation is more complicated.

In his role in academia, Goldreich publicly supports the prevention of academic collaboration with researchers whose only sin is that they are employed by an academic institution situated in Judea and Samaria. It is in this way that Goldreich takes advantage of his academic position to support the boycott of academic research by his colleagues. This support for a boycott is issued from within the professional field for which he was to be awarded the prize.

I am not saying this is enough to tip the scales. As a rule, academic freedom of expression must be protected. A political statement by a university lecturer, outrageous as it may be, is not grounds to be fired. An academic institution that extolls freedom of expression must be tolerant of the opinions and worldviews of its lecturers. Moreover, academics' freedom of expression must be protected. A ban on members of the academia expressing their opinions on controversial subjects when there is no connection between the remarks and the courses taught would harm their intellectual choices as an academic. The role of higher education is to increase understanding, criticize, and challenge the government. To that end, when a faculty member emphasizes their positions are their own, and when they allow fruitful discussion in the classroom, they should be allowed to share their positions on the issues dividing society with students even if those issues have nothing to do with the course material.

Goldreich, however, sawed off the branch he was sitting on: the encouragement of pluralism, broadening of horizons, and exposure to diverse opinions. He has the same right as every other citizen to engage in political activity and speak as he sees fit both on- and off-campus.

Is it fitting to award the Israel Prize to an academic who uses their status to try to censor other academics due to the location of the institutions where they are employed? As the Supreme Court noted in one of its rulings: "A decision to award the Israel Prize to a person, although almost immune from substantial intervention on the part of the education minister and judicial criticism, is not immune from public criticism."

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