48.8 F
New York
Saturday, April 27, 2024
type here...
Home Blog Page 1952

” Like it was Designed in a Lab, A Cell Culture Experiment Gone Wrong” , According to New Study on COVID-19

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The paper, currently under peer review, comes from Flinders University Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, who has spent over two decades developing vaccines against influenza, Ebola, and animal Sars. He says his findings allow for the possibility that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory, according to Sky News.

“The two possibilities which I think are both still open is that it was a chance transmission of a virus from an as yet unidentified animal to human. The other possibility is that it was an accidental release of the virus from a laboratory,” said Petrovsky, adding “Certainly we can’t exclude the possibility that this came from a laboratory experiment rather than from an animal. They are both open possibilities.”

Professor Petrovsky, who is the Chairman and Research Director of Vaxine Pty Ltd, said COVID-19 has genetic elements similar to bat coronaviruses as well as other coronaviruses.

The way coronavirus enters human cells is by binding to a protein on the surface of lung-cells called ACE2. The study showed the virus bound more tightly to human-ACE2 than to any of the other animals they tested.

“It was like it was designed to infect humans,” he said.

“One of the possibilities is that an animal host was infected by two coronaviruses at the same time and COVID-19 is the progeny of that interaction between the two viruses. -Sky News

“The same process can happen in a petri-dish,” added Petrovsky. “If you have cells in culture and you have human cells in that culture which the viruses are infecting, then if there are two viruses in that dish, they can swap genetic information and you can accidentally or deliberately create a whole third new virus out of that system.”

“In other words COVID-19 could have been created from that recombination event in an animal host or it could have occurred in a cell-culture experiment.”

Chaos at Daytona Beach, Gunfire, Injuries & Man Handing Out Money Causes Traffic Jams

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

In Daytona Beach, Florida, gunfire erupted Saturday night along a beachside road where more than 200 people had gathered and were seen partying and dancing despite the restrictions. Several people were wounded and taken to the hospital, A.P reported

“Disney is closed, Universal is closed. Everything is closed so where did everybody come with the first warm day with 50% opening? Everybody came to the beach,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a Sunday news conference, referring to crowds in the Daytona Beach area.

Daytona Police Chief Craig Capri said Sunday at a news conference that two people were shot around 7:30 p.m. on South Ocean Avenue near Breakers Oceanfront Park. Police later discovered four people were hit by shrapnel during the shooting. None of the injuries are life-threatening, Orlando Sentinel reported.

Chitwood said “the linchpin” of the disturbances that happened Saturday in Daytona Beach was an incident that drew a large crowd around a man tossing cash from a vehicle.

Helicopter footage released by the Sheriff’s Office shows “a couple hundred people” surrounding the car parked on State Road A1A in front of a Burger King and dozens more gathered on the sidewalk.

“We’re going to identify him, and we’re going to charge him,” Chitwood said, without elaborating on possible charge, Orlando Sentinel Reported

Below is the actual police footage from a helicopter

 

Trump Keeps Tweeting About The Joe Scarborough Murder Conspiracy

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Wednesday, May 20, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Over the past several weeks President Trump has mentioned MSNBC “Morning Joe” anchor Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida,  being tied to the death on an intern in his Florida office back in 2001.

The president on Sunday morning urged his followers in a tweet to read an article from conservative website True Pundit, which claimed that evidence showed foul play in the death of Lori Klausutis, 28, in 2001- The Hill Pointed out

Rep. Adam Kinzinger a Republican from Illinois has had enough and is worried this will hurt the Republican party in November. He responded to Trumps Tweet by saying ““Stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us.”

Scarborough and his wife Mika Brzezinski host the morning show on MSNBC. While they constantly attack Trump, the show has some of the lowest ratings imaginable  and have next to zero impact in the media. Maybe it’s time for Trump to left go of his obsession with “Morning Joe”. After 19 years and still no evidence of foul play, it really is ridiculous.

 

Ilhan Omar Believes Joe Biden Accuser Tara Reade: ‘Justice Should Never Be Denied’

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Representative Ilhan Omar at a news conference in the Capitol on January 10, 2019. (Tom Williams / AP Images)

BEN KEW (Breitbart)

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has revealed that she believes Tara Reade’s sexual assault claims against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, warning that the historical nature of the allegations should not deny her justice.

In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times, the far-left congresswoman said she trusted Reade’s claims that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in the halls of Congress while she was working for him as a staffer when Biden was the Senator for Delaware.

“I do believe Reade,” she told the newspaper. “Justice can be delayed, but should never be denied.” According to the interviewer, Omar added that if it was up to her, Biden would not be the Democratic nominee.

Omar’s comments underlined the sharp divisions between the Democratic Party establishment and its growing number of far-left lawmakers, all of whom opposed Biden’s candidacy.

Despite being cheerleaders of the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment movement, practically all major party figures (including Biden himself) have ignored or dismissed the allegations outright, having previously argued that all women should be believed whether or not they can provide evidence.

Meanwhile Omar’s most prominent ally in Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), admitted last week that it “certainly seems as though something has happened.” Both women were strong supporters of Bernie Sanders’s unsuccessful bid for the nomination.

“There have been investigative journalists that have corroborated certain aspects of her account — that is undeniable — [and] have raised questions about other aspects of her account,” Ocasio-Cortez told NPR. “I’m not sure. Frankly, this is a messy moment, and I think we need to acknowledge that — that it is not clear-cut.”

Biden, who has been accused of misconduct by seven other women, has fervently denied the allegations, and he claims not to even remember who Reade is. Last week, he even called on voters who believed her account not to vote for him in November.

“I think they should vote their heart, and if they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me,” he said on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. “I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade.”

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at [email protected]

White House imposes coronavirus travel ban on Brazil

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
President Donald Trump points during a "Rolling to Remember Ceremony," to honor the nation's veterans and POW/MIA, from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House, Friday, May 22, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

President Donald Trump on Sunday further limited travel from the world’s coronavirus hotspots by denying entry to foreigners coming from Brazil, which is second to the U.S. in the number of confirmed cases.

Trump had already banned certain travelers from China, Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Iran. He has not moved to ban travel from Russia, which has the world’s third-highest caseload.

Trump had said last week that he was considering limiting travel from Brazil.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany cast the step announced Sunday as another “decisive action to protect our country” by Trump, whose management of the crisis has come under sharp scrutiny.

The U.S. leads the world with more than 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and a death toll that is expected to surpass 100,000 later this week, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Brazil, now Latin America’s hardest-hit country, is second, with more than 347,000 cases and more than 22,000 deaths. Third on the list is Russia, with more than 344,000 reported cases and more than 3,500 deaths.

The White House did not immediately respond to queries about whether a travel ban would be imposed on Russia.

“Today’s action will help ensure foreign nationals who have been in Brazil do not become a source of additional infections in our country,” McEnany said.

Filipe Martins, who advises Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on international affairs, said the U.S. was treating Brazil as it had other populous countries and suggested the news media were overplaying Trump’s ban.

“By temporarily banning the entry of Brazilians to the U.S., the American government is following previously established quantitative parameters that naturally reach a country as populous as ours,” Martins tweeted. “There isn’t anything specifically against Brazil. Ignore the hysteria from the press.”

Bolsonaro has downplayed the coronavirus by repeatedly calling it a “little flu” and insisting that closing businesses and issuing stay-at-home recommendations will ultimately cause more hardship by wrecking the economy. Bolsonaro fired his first health minister for going against him and backing restrictions put in place by Brazil’s governors. His second minister also resigned after openly breaking with Bolsonaro over widespread prescription of the antimalarial drug chloroquine for coronavirus treatment.

Trump said in an interview broadcast in the U.S. on Sunday that he had completed a course of a related drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a line of defense against becoming infected.

Bolsonaro’s approach has mirrored that of Trump, who in the early days of the outbreak sought to downplay the severity and suggest the few cases that existed in the U.S. would “just disappear.” After agreeing to encourage Americans to practice social distancing, Trump began to say the “cure can’t be worse than the problem itself.” He has been aggressively pushing governors to allow businesses to reopen and traveling more himself.

Meanwhile, the number of cases in Brazil has continued to surge, pushing hospitals in multiple states to the brink of collapse and causing the Amazon city of Manaus to bury people in mass graves. The pace of deaths has been accelerating and, with a peak still approaching, the country has only an interim health minister.

Brazil has more than 360,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to health ministry data released Sunday night, meaning it trails only the U.S. in the Johns Hopkins University tally. Experts consider it a vast undercount due to insufficient testing. The ministry reported more than 22,600 deaths.

The White House said Sunday it plans to donate 1,000 ventilators to Brazil.

The ban on travel from Brazil takes effect late Thursday. As with the other bans, it does not apply to legal permanent residents. A spouse, parent or child of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident also would be allowed to enter the country. The restrictions also do not apply to trade between the U.S. and Brazil.

Earlier Sunday, Robert O’Brien, the U.S. national security adviser, had said an announcement was likely.

“We’re concerned about the people of the Southern Hemisphere and certainly the people of Brazil. They’re having a rough go of it,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He said the travel ban would likely be temporary.

“But because of the situation in Brazil, we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people.” O’Brien said.

Data from Brazil’s civil aviation agency shows there has already been a sharp reduction in U.S.-bound flights from the South American country. There were more than 700 flights from Brazil to the U.S. in February of this year, with the number dropping to just 140 in April, two months later.

There were more than 700 flights to the U.S. from Brazil in April 2019, the data shows.

Billions Still Available in Federal Small-Business Loans for Mom & Pop Shops

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
“There is $140 billion in money left that can be accessed by these institutions to do lending,” said Beth Goldberg, the Small Business Administration's New York district director. Photo Credit: SBA

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

The second round of the Paycheck Protection Program still has billions of dollars available for mom-and pop-businesses to claim.  On Thursday in a Crain’s webcast, lenders and local business experts said there has been a decline in applications, despite the billions remaining in federal funding awaiting takers.  “There is $140 billion in money left that can be accessed by these institutions to do lending,” said Beth Goldberg, the Small Business Administration’s New York district director.

“We’re seeing a dramatic slowdown in terms of volume this week.  When the loan program opened up, we had hundreds of applications pouring through the website. Now it’s a handful a day,” said Wendy Cai Lee, President of Piermont Bank. “Today we had one,” she added.

As reported by Crain’s, during the webinar lenders admitted that though the first round of  PPP loans in the first two weeks of April were a “disaster”, people should not give up as the current second round is a whole different story.  “It really was a tale of two different disbursements,” said Randy Peers, President of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “Round 1 was a total disaster, and Round 2 was very, very successful.”   Peers said that in the first round only 4 percent of the 600 small businesses in Brooklyn that they surveyed received funds, but in the second round, a whopping 92 percent of applicants received PPP funds.

“We’re basically, in many respects, flying blind because we’ve never seen in modern history a sudden and near complete shutdown of the economy. We just don’t have good benchmarks to guide what might be happening,” Goldberg had conceded during a council meeting in April. “We’re in an economic and financial environment that’s changing rapidly.”  Goldberg was appointed by the SBA in 2015 as District Director for New York, after 30 years of experience in both private and government sectors.

Across the country, there were 4.4 million PPP loans made for a total value of $513 billion, as of May 16.  Still, there is $140 billion more still available and awaiting applicants.  The SBA has also shelled out over $6 billion under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, according to Goldberg.  The EIDL, however, has run out of funds, and would require Congress to pump in more money.  “These loan products are great to sustain business and get through this time, but what we’re hearing now is a need for additional capital to restart and take advantage of the economic opportunities that are arising,” said Jonnel Doris, acting commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services.

 

Abbas’s Empty, Worn-out Threats

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech regarding the Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), at the Palestinian Authority headquarters, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 5, 2020. Photo by Flash90

Caroline Glick- JNS

Tuesday evening, Palestinian Authority and PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced that the P.A. is renouncing the peace deals it signed with Israel along with its agreements with the United States. According to several left-leaning Israeli television commentators and retired generals, his speech was an earthquake. It was a calamity of epic proportions. Most importantly, it was a reason to bury the government’s plan to apply Israeli law to the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and to the Jordan Valley.

But the truth is not at all what they claim. This isn’t an earthquake. It isn’t even a hiccup. It isn’t a calamity. It just a tired, recycled, empty threat.

Abbas had no problem remembering his lines Tuesday night because he’s given the same speech, word for word, a half dozen times (aside from the throwaway sentence blasting President Donald Trump’s peace plan and Israel’s sovereignty plan). The first time Abbas gave it was in September 2015 in his address to the United Nations General Assembly.

As was the case Tuesday night, so every other time Abbas gave this speech; shortly after he walked offstage Israeli leftists said the sky was falling. But then the truth started filtering in.

After the first news cycle passed, Abbas’s lackeys clarified that he didn’t mean it. There is no plan to make his declaration operative. He’s just trying to send a message—that is, a threat—to Israel and America.

The same state of affairs prevailed following Tuesday’s “I’m ditching the peace deals” speech. After the Israeli media and the leftist former generals wailed and sounded dire warnings about what will befall the country if the government doesn’t abandon all of its plans, the Palestinians made clear that this week too, he didn’t mean it. Abbas’s advisers and lackeys said it was simply his way of “warning” Israel and America. For their part, local leaders and militia chiefs shrugged their shoulders and said they heard about the speech from the Israeli media.

Set aside for a moment the fact that Abbas’s speech this week was a complete joke, and consider what would actually happen if he implemented his declaration and officially abrogated all the agreements he and his predecessor Yasser Arafat signed with Israel since 1993.

The fact is that nothing would change at all.

Since 1994, when they began governing the Palestinian areas in Judea and Samaria and Gaza by force of the agreements they signed with Israel, the Palestinians have systematically and continuously breached every single substantive commitment they made to Israel. Most notably, the Palestinians agreed to fight terror. Instead, for the past 27 years the Palestinian Authority under both Arafat and Abbas has incited, financed and directed terrorism against Israel.

In every sphere of authority Israel transferred to it, the Palestinian Authority has used its powers—military and civilian—not to govern Palestinians and advance the cause of peace, but to wage a multidimensional war against the Jewish state and its citizens. From diplomacy to planning and zoning, from sewage treatment to education and religious affairs, the P.A. has continuously breached every article and annex in the agreements it signed with Israel in order to harm the Jewish state and its citizens.

So again, if Abbas actually carries through on his tired threat and cancels the agreements, it won’t make a bit of difference to anyone. Those deals have all been long been dead in the water.

One of Abbas’s lines that always terrifies Israeli leftists is his threat to cut off security cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli security forces. The Israeli left’s Pavlovian response to that is to say that if that happens, rivers of blood will flow and anyone who doesn’t immediately give in to all of Abbas’s demands, they say, will have the blood of Israeli soldiers and civilians on their hands.

Setting aside the moral obscenity at the base their practice of blaming their political opponents for the Palestinians’ aggression, the leftists’ claim is substantively wrong on two counts. First, as former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon has said repeatedly over the years, the Palestinians don’t protect Israelis. The Israel Defense Forces protects Israelis. The Palestinians benefit far more from their security coordination with the IDF than the IDF benefits from its security coordination with them.

Second, the security coordination between Israel and Palestinians has little to do with Abbas. Under the Oslo deals, the P.A. formed more than a dozen militias, all charged with overlapping duties and authorities. Over the years Israel’s security cooperation with each of these militias has been a function of how the various forces’ local commanders on the ground view their personal interests. A commander of the preventive security force in Jenin or Qalqilya, for instance, may view his personal interests as advanced through tight cooperation with Israeli security forces and Israeli civilian leaders in the Israeli communities surrounding them.

A military intelligence commander in the south Hebron Hills, on the other hand, may prefer to cooperate with his brother-in-law or cousins in Hamas than with Israel.

In both cases, the local militia bosses make their judgments with little connection to Abbas’s position on the matter.

If the Abbas abrogates the agreements with Israel, his actions will be met with the same indifference by local commanders that they are met with today.

This is not to say that Abbas is irrelevant. He is relevant in two arenas: The first arena is the international arena. Abbas leveraged the Oslo agreements to invent a paper state called “The State of Palestine.”

Palestine-on-paper exists to advance the PLO’s political and propaganda war against Israel and to legitimize terror attacks against Israelis and Jews. Palestine-on-paper files fabricated war crimes charges against Israelis. Palestine-on-paper leads the international campaign to transform Israel into an economic, social and diplomatic pariah state.

In keeping with Palestine-on-paper’s continuous war against Israel, during his latest “I quit the agreements” speech, Abbas called on the nations of the world that have yet to recognize Palestine-on-paper to do so.

Another thing that won’t change if Abbas actually abrogates the agreements is the P.A.’s demand for money. If Abbas formally ends the peace deals, that doesn’t mean he won’t expect Israel to collect taxes for him and transfer him the money. He can be trusted to keep the demands for cash up no matter what happens.

This brings us to the second arena where Abbas plays an outsized role. Abbas, an 83-year-old kidney patient, sits on a goldmine worth billions of dollars. The funds that Abbas controls are comprised of his personal wealth, P.A. funding from foreign governments, and tax revenues that Israel collects and transfers to the P.A.’s bank account.

No one knows who will take control over the money after Abbas dies or otherwise quits the stage. But who that person (or persons) is will determine to a great degree how Palestinian clan leaders, mayors and local security chiefs behave going forward. If Abbas is succeeded by people aligned with Hamas or by members of Hamas, it will have a major impact on the behavior of commanders on the ground. Some will choose to join Hamas and turn their guns on Israel. Some will cling to Israel ever more tightly. Israel will fight the commanders who side with Hamas and help those who stand with it.

If a PLO apparatchik—or as Abbas hopes, one of his sons—takes over, it is likely that they will continue using money to grease the gears of power as Abbas has. If this is the case, little is likely to change in Israel’s relationships with commanders on the ground.

Although Abbas’s latest empty threat is no reason for concern, his remarks—and the left’s predictable response—should serve as a reminder that Israel needs to develop a reality-based policy for dealing with the Palestinians for the day after Abbas—who is old and sick—leaves power. The first challenge for Israel’s leaders in forging such a policy is to base it on reality.

The peace deals Israel signed with the Palestinians in the 1990s failed utterly because they never reflected reality. Those deals, like the peace process itself, were an expression of the Israeli left’s ideological aspirations. Arafat and Abbas were never interested in making the left’s dreams of appeasement-based peace come true. But they were prepared to lie to their Israeli fans in exchange for cash, power and international standing.

Israel’s post-Oslo policy towards the Palestinians needs to recognize the basic fact that deals—all deals—can succeed only if they are predicated on reality. The purpose of deals is not to transform reality, but to serve as a means for the sides to the agreement to advance their common goals.

Israel would be better off signing 15 reality-based, limited agreements with 15 local Palestinian leaders and security bosses from Hebron in the south to Jenin in the north than one big peace treaty with the PLO, which will only use it as a means to escalate its war against Israel while cultivating its ties with the Israeli left, the European Union and the Democratic Party in America.

Beyond agreements, a critical aspect of a reality-based Israeli policy towards the Palestinians is the question of funding. What Israeli interest is advanced by transferring billions of dollars in tax revenues to the P.A.? Should Israel continue to transfer the funds? Would Israel be better served by transferring the funds directly to local Palestinian leaders than continuing to transfer them to the P.A.’s bank account in Ramallah?

As Israel gets closer to the July 1 date to begin applying Israeli law to the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and to the Jordan Valley, threats from those who have prospered by perpetuating the peace fraud will multiply and escalate. There is no reason to listen to the prattle. Israel and its allies should maintain a steady course forward and concentrate on how to build a new framework for relations with the Palestinians built not around catering to Abbas and his lies but towards building durable ties with those on the ground who recognize the value of good relations with Israel.

Caroline Glick is an award-winning columnist and author of “The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.”

Inside Israel’s War on the Coronavirus

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

  (Washington Free Beacon)

The Israelis are known for their preparation. Threatened each day by a bevy of terror groups, the Jewish state has had contingency plans in place for most circumstances. Except one: the coronavirus pandemic that wrecked economies and sickened millions.

Israel, like many other smaller nations, had not developed plans to confront a global pandemic. But as the coronavirus swept across the world, Israeli society mobilized in a fashion only seen in times of war. Hotels, for instance, were converted into makeshift hospitals and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deployed across the country to help communities test for the illness and enact quarantines. Military technologies typically employed in times of combat were quickly converted to facilitate communications needed to keep the country running.

Israeli military officials told the Washington Free Beacon that this quick response—which included the entire government and military—helped to stave off the virus and potentially save many lives. In a country of nearly 9 million people, Israel has had just more than 16,000 confirmed cases of the virus, with 277 dying from it. As infections continue to increase across the globe, Israel’s numbers have remained relatively flat, even as its Arab neighbors continue to struggle with the illness. Nearly half a million cases are centered in the Middle East in countries such as Iran and Turkey (with 120,000 and 150,000 cases, respectively), where the governments have struggled to contain the virus.

Israeli technological innovation, long a centerpiece of the country’s economy, is helping the world combat the coronavirus. In addition to its work on new types of ventilator systems, Israel’s military, government, and private sectors are developing new tools for detection and treatment. Israeli technology also is powering software that can help detect the virus from a safe distance.

In one clear sign of the country’s success, the U.S. State Department chose Israel as the location of its first foreign trip in more than a month. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed there last week and discussed, among other things, lessons the United States could learn from Israel’s response to the virus.

“The secretary is making this trip because he recognizes the United States and Israel have much to learn from each other as we address current threats, whether those threats stem from a global pandemic or from Iran’s malign regional influence,” David Schenker, the State Department’s assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, said prior to the trip.

Technology has played a vital role in Israel’s strategy, according to Captain Doris, commander of the country’s Sprint Project, a massive online meeting place that was established within 24 hours of the outbreak (Doris’s last name was withheld for security reasons). The virtual network connected hundreds of Israeli military, civilian, medical, and technological experts together so they could tackle pressing problems posed by the virus without coming into direct contact with one another.

Among other breakthroughs, the Sprint Project spurred the creation of a new type of ventilator specifically manufactured to aid those infected with COVID-19 who are experiencing severe breathing problems. The know-how for this technology has been shared with manufacturers across the world.

Doris said this “open innovation model” employed “the wisdom of the crowd” to tackle some of the most pressing issues caused by the virus. Doctors presented the online group with their problems, and teams of experts have been working to tackle them.

Other projects included compressing oxygen from the sea to help patients, particularly the elderly, who were suffering from breathing issues. Other efforts were supported by Israel’s Intelligence Directorate, which helped to create the new ventilators.

“The coronavirus has a lot of bad things and it’s a disaster, but also it gave us a lot of opportunities on the technological field,” Doris said.

The response also included a massive on-the-ground operation jointly run by the IDF and Israeli police service.

“It does help to be what we call a mobilized society,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, head of the IDF’s international media branch, told the Free Beacon.

The IDF and the country’s defense establishment utilized their international ties to import much needed supplies.

Instead of buying weapons or defensive equipment, “we’ve been buying medical gear and equipment,” Conricus said.

While the IDF’s “number one priority is to maintain combat readiness and maintain our continuity of operations so we can continue to defend along all of our borders,” the country’s fighting force mobilized to help the most at-risk communities battle the pandemic, Conricus said.

Initially, more than 6,000 IDF members were quarantined to prevent the virus from potentially spreading across the force. At present, just around 700 still remain in quarantine, with that number decreasing daily. Around 300 service members were infected with the virus, according to Conricus, who said there were no casualties.

This “very radical approach of isolating the combat units” prevented the coronavirus from crippling the fighting force at a time when Iranian-backed terror groups continue to wage attacks on Israel’s borders. It also differs from that of other nations, including the U.S., which experienced severe outbreaks of the virus inside the military.

“When we compare this to other militaries, it is a statistic we are happy with,” Conricus said.

IDF personnel also assisted in transporting more than 25,000 testing kits to different labs across the country. A small portion of the force, around seven to eight hundred troops, assisted police in enforcing lockdowns that were put in place early on.

As with the United States, there were challenges in ensuring the ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities adhered to strict quarantine procedures. In New York City, one of the hardest hit areas of America, Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly threatened Orthodox Jewish communities with severe penalties for assembling on the streets, causing outrage in the Jewish community.

Acutely aware of this potential tension point, the IDF shifted tactics when it approached Orthodox populations.

“We didn’t go there trying to circumvent or trying to replace local authorities. We went there in a supporting position where we worked through the local authorities with their guidance and support and not instead of,” Conricus said. “We weren’t perceived as a threat.”

A similar tactic was employed with Israeli-Arab communities and territories in the West Bank of Israel controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The IDF, “from day one,” worked with PA officials to provide testing kits and disinfectants to area hospitals, which still have not reached maximum capacity as a result of the virus.

In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel has worked with international aid groups including UNICEF and the World Health Organization to coordinate the delivery of needed supplies. It has not provided any direct aid to Gaza due to the Hamas government’s refusal to engage with Israel.

“Israel has been facilitating that aid into the Gaza Strip,” Conricus said. “We understand we have a shared interest” with the Palestinians in avoiding a massive pandemic in Gaza.

Another challenge unique for Israel is the massive disinformation campaign that has alleged Jews are to blame for spreading the virus. These anti-Semitic allegations have been a hallmark of the rhetoric emerging from some Palestinian leaders and other Arab countries.

Still, Conricus said, Israel has worked with Arab populations inside and outside of the country “with complete disregard of whatever smear campaign is going on.”

NYS Announces $100M in Pandemic Relief Funding for Non-Profits & Small Landlords

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
- Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the New York Forward Loan Fund, in which the state will dole out $100 million in relief for nonprofits, small landlords and mom-and-pop small businesses

By Ilana Siyance

On Friday May 22, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the New York Forward Loan Fund, in which the state will dole out $100 million in relief for nonprofits, small landlords and mom-and-pop small businesses.  The initiative is particularly geared towards small businesses owned by minorities and women, and others who were left out of the funds made available by the federal government.  “The federal definition of small business has what many could consider large businesses, but we’re going to focus on true small businesses,” Cuomo said.

As reported by Crain’s NY, the governor specified that the state’s flexible and affordable loan program will be made available to companies with no more than 20 employees, which make an annual revenue that is less than $3 million.  Those businesses which have already received money from the Small Business Administration will not be eligible for these state funds.  The federal government, through the SBA, has pumped money into the economy via two huge programs aimed at helping small businesses struggling due to the extensive shutdown caused by the pandemic.  While federal funds are still available now, Cuomo said that many minority-owned small businesses have been denied these funds.  “Minority-owned businesses face a far greater risk and have received less in federal relief,” said Cuomo.  Businesses interested in applying for the state loan should visit esd.ny.gov/nyforwardloans.

“Small businesses are the engine of the New York economy, but they are now facing some of the toughest challenges in this pandemic,” said Governor Cuomo. “Helping our small businesses is a top priority, and we are starting the New York Forward Loan Fund and making more than $100 million available to provide loans to small businesses, focusing particularly on minority and women owned businesses that have faced even greater risks and received less in federal relief throughout this pandemic.”

New York State will start giving out the COVID-19 pandemic relief loans as of May 26.  The loans will be distributed through banks, including community development financial institutions, which lend to smaller companies that have reportedly had trouble attaining funds from the large mainstream banks. Cuomo did not yet mention where the state will get the millions for the fund, particularly while the state is going through its own budget crisis.  Cuomo has frequently said that the State’s financial woes will escalate if it doesn’t receive added relief from Washington.

 

 

Landlords & Activists Call on DeBlasio to Enact Property-Tax Freeze

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Landlords, activists and trade groups are banding together to ask NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to freeze property taxes amid the extensive shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus. Photo Credit: AP

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Landlords, activists and trade groups are banding together to ask NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to freeze property taxes amid the extensive shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus. Civil rights activist Hazel Dukes, who previously served as the national president of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People has joined in the effort, saying that minority landlords are particularly susceptible. “Temporary fixes like mortgage deferrals are not enough,” Dukes, 88, said in a statement. “Mayor de Blasio has to provide the meaningful lifeline of a property-tax freeze to prevent  the American dream of homeownership from becoming a nightmare.”

The pandemic has led to the shutdown of all nonessential business, which has led to a spike in unemployment. The shuttered businesses have not been paying employees and like a chain reaction these factors have led to nonpayment of rents, hurting the real estate industry. As reported by Crain’s NY, landlords and property owners have it particularly rough during this pandemic and its ensuing shutdown, as rent-collection rates have dropped abysmally. Landlords now maintain that since they have not been paid, they therefore do not have the means to pay their mortgages, tax bills or upkeep on their properties.
Data from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has revealed that roughly forty-five percent of small businesses missed all or a portion of their rent payments over the last two months. In the month of May, Vornado Realty Trust publicized that it received rent from only 20 percent of its retail tenants.

Property taxes are up since 2014 when Mayor de Blasio took office, as per data from the NYC Department of Finance, and experts predict they could be further on the rise with the city looking for ways to increase its revenue. “Our community of homeowners is not positioned to absorb new costs in the form of increased taxes,” said Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums. The group of property owners is asking to be allowed to pay their taxes with monthly payment plans to avoid bankruptcy, and for interest penalties to be lowered from the current 18 percent down to 3 percent.

Hotel owners have also joined landlords in the effort to beseech the Mayor. The hospitality industry understandably is experiencing low occupancy levels due to the shutdown and halt in tourism. Hotels have been used during this pandemic as shelter for health care workers, Covid-19 patients and the homeless. “It’s  essential  and only fair that the city does everything it can to keep hotels in business,” Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, said in a statement. “We  need immediate property-tax relief.”

The Mayor’s office has yet to comment. Earlier this month, however, the city’s Department of Management and Budget told Crain’s that a relief in property-tax would be unlikely, and it projected $180 million in delinquent payments this summer.

Brit-American-Israeli Nobel Prize Winner Michael Levitt: “Lock-Downs May Have Cost Lives”

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
2

Nobel-prize-winning scientist from Stanford said in an interview published Sunday that, according to his models, the lock-downs didn’t save lives, but actually caused more deaths, Zero Hedge pointed out.

Prof Michael  Levitt, a British-American-Israeli who shared the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2013 for the “development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems”, has said for two months that the planet will beat coronavirus faster than most other experts predict.

Levitt’s projections on the pandemic were much closer to the mark than the often quoted Nile  Ferguson of  Imperial College coronavirus models. The Jewish Voice previously reported on Ferguson’s projections.  Ferguson’s model projected 2.2 million dead people in the United States and 500,000 in the U.K. from COVID-19  if social distancing and other measures were not taken.

As early as march, Levitt warned that Ferguson’s projections had over-estimated the potential death toll by “10 or 12 times”, Zero Hedge reported.

Instead of helping the situation, Fergusons’ projections created an unnecessary “panic virus” which spread among global political leaders, Prof Levitt told the Telegraph in a recent interview.

“I think lockdown saved no lives,” said the scientist, who added that the Government should have encouraged Britons to wear masks and adhere to other forms of social distancing.

“I think it may have cost lives. It will have saved a few road accident lives – things like that – but social damage – domestic abuse, divorces, alcoholism – has been extreme. And then you have those who were not treated for other conditions.”

Having assessed the initial outbreak in China and from the infected Diamond Princess cruise ship, he predicted by March 14 that the UK would lose around 50,000 lives. Prof Ferguson’s modelling that same week estimated up to 500,000 deaths without social distancing measures.

“I think that the real virus was the panic virus,” Prof Levitt told the Telegraph. “For reasons that were not clear to me, I think the leaders panicked and the people panicked and I think there was a huge lack of discussion..

The 73-year-old has no background as an epidemiologist, but he assessed the outbreak in China and prepared a paper based on his own calculations. Most countries, he predicted, would suffer a Covid-19 death rate worth around an extra month in excess deaths over the calendar year, The Telegraph reported.

“In Europe, I don’t think that anything actually stopped the virus other than some kind of burnout,” he added. “There’s a huge number of people who are asymptomatic so I would seriously imagine that by the time lockdown was finally introduced in the UK the virus was already widely spread. They could have just stayed open like Sweden by that stage and nothing would have happened.”

Professor Levitt has now analysed the data from 78 nations with more than 50 reported cases of coronavirus. His investigations proved the virus was never going to achieve the type of exponential growth that the researchers at Imperial were predicting at the same time, according to The Telegraph.

In early May, Levitt was interviewed on “Unherd” an online news program broadcast on YouTube, where he made a similar argument as he does in the Telegraph interview

You can watch that interview below.

 

 

 

 

 

Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
A protester is detained by riot police during a demonstration against Beijing's national security legislation in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, Sunday, May 24, 2020. Hong Kong police fired volleys of tear gas in a popular shopping district as hundreds took to the streets Sunday to march against China's proposed tough national security legislation for the city. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

By ZEN SOO (AP)

Hong Kong police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters in a popular shopping district Sunday, as thousands took to the streets to march against China’s move to impose national security legislation on the city.

Pro-democracy supporters have sharply criticized a proposal, set to be approved by China’s rubber-stamp parliament this week, that would ban secessionist and subversive activity, as well as foreign interference, in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The pro-democracy camp says the proposal goes against the “one country, two systems” framework that promises Hong Kong freedoms not found in mainland China.

Crowds of demonstrators dressed in black gathered in the Causeway Bay district on Sunday, chanting slogans such as “Stand with Hong Kong,” “Liberate Hong Kong” and “Revolution of our times.”

The protest was a continuation of a monthslong pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong that began last year and has at times descended into violence between police and protesters.

Police raised blue flags, warning protesters to disperse, before firing multiple rounds of tear gas. They later fired a water cannon at the demonstrators.

At least 180 people were arrested, mostly on charges of unlawful assembly, police said.

They also said that some of the protesters threw bricks and splashed unidentified liquid at officers, injuring at least four members of the police media liaison team. They warned that such behavior is against the law and that police would pursue the matter.

Earlier in the afternoon, prominent activist Tam Tak-chi was arrested during the protest for what police said was unauthorized assembly. Tam said he was giving a “health talk” and was exempt from social-distancing measures that prohibit gatherings of more than eight people.

The bill that triggered Sunday’s rally was submitted at the opening of China’s national legislative session on Friday. It would bypass Hong Kong’s legislature and could allow mainland agencies to be set up in the city, sparking concern that Chinese agents could arbitrarily arrest people for activities deemed to be pro-democracy.

Speaking at an annual news conference during the legislative session, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that Hong Kong affairs were an internal matter for China, and that “no external interference will be tolerated.”

“Excessive unlawful foreign meddling in Hong Kong affairs has placed China’s national security in serious jeopardy,” Wang said, adding that the proposed legislation “does not affect the high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong.”

“It does not affect the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents. And it does not affect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in Hong Kong,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called the proposal “a death knell for the high degree of autonomy” that Beijing promised the former British colony when it was returned to China in 1997.

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong prior to its handover to China, lamented what he called “a new Chinese dictatorship.”

“I think the Hong Kong people have been betrayed by China, which has proved once again that you can’t trust it further than you can throw it,” Patten said in an interview with The Times of London.

Patten is leading a coalition of at least 204 international lawmakers and policymakers who are decrying the proposed legislation. In a statement, the coalition called it a “flagrant breach” of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a 1984 treaty that promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy even after the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said it appeared that China was violating the 1984 treaty.

“And I can’t see how Hong Kong remains the Asian financial center if the Chinese Communist Party goes through and implements this national security law and takes over Hong Kong,” O’Brien said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“That would be a tragedy for the people of Hong Kong, but it will also be very bad for China,” he said.

Bernard Chan, a top-level Hong Kong politician and delegate to the National People’s Congress in Beijing, defended the national security legislation pushed by China, saying it was written into Hong Kong’s Basic Law — the city’s mini-constitution — but never enacted.

Chan expressed concern that Hong Kong would inevitably face economic hardship given trade frictions between the U.S. and China.

“I think we are definitely the collateral damage being dragged into this thing. But then, I don’t think there’s any alternatives,” he said.

“But with or without this law, honestly, the U.S. and China are always going to be continuing this loggerhead for quite some time to come,” Chan said. “China will remain as a threat to the U.S. in terms of the … world economic dominance.”

NY Update: Sports Teams to Start Spring Training, MTA Bolsters Service, as Long Island Set to Re-open

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

  • All professional sports teams in New York will be able to begin training camps, effective immediately. “I believe that sports that can come back without having people in the stadium, without having people in the arena — do it,” Gov. Cuomo said.

  • New York State’s extensive array of campgrounds and R.V. parks will reopen starting Monday.

  • Veterinarians will be allowed to perform non-emergency care starting Tuesday. “That’s a service that is necessary and has been necessary for a period of time,” the governor said.

  • New York had 109 new deaths due to the virus, 27 of which were in nursing homes. That was an increase from the 84 deaths reported Saturday, which was the first time since late March that the daily toll was less than 100.

The Governor also announced the Mid-Hudson Region is still on track to enter phase one of reopening on Tuesday, May 26th, and Long Island is still on track to reopen on Wednesday May 27th if deaths continue to decline. Both regions’ contact tracing operations are expected to be online by those dates.

The Governor also announced the MTA will be taking steps to protect Long Island Rail Road customers as Long Island moves towards phase one of reopening. The MTA is cleaning and disinfecting trains and buses daily, and the LIRR is ready to add more cars to trains to help with social distancing. The Governor also reminded New Yorkers that wearing a mask or face covering is mandatory when riding on public transportation systems.

The Governor also announced that more than 10,000 households on Long Island have received Nourish New York products. Additionally, six new Nourish New York distributions are scheduled for Long Island this week. First announced by the Governor on April 27th, the Nourish New York Initiative provides relief by purchasing food and products from Upstate farms and directs them to the populations who need them most through New York’s network of food banks. The state is also asking any philanthropies or foundations that would like to help the state’s food banks to contact [email protected].

“As we move forward with reopening, we have to keep one eye on the future and start talking about building back better, not just building to what we had before,” Governor Cuomo said. “There are new rules now, and we must learn from what we’ve been through so that we can be prepared when another inevitable public health emergency happens. New York State has led the way in so many difficult times in history – people look to New York for guidance and example and now we are writing history for a whole modern day governmental and societal response.”

Boro Park & Williamsburg Locals Protest Police Shutting Small Businesses That Opened Up Defying Orders

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
A notice of closure is posted at The Great Frame Up in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. The Paycheck Protection terms are still not clear according to many nation’s small businesses. (Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

In Williamsburg and Boro Park crowds gathered to protest the closure of stores on Wallabout Street and on 13th Avenue. In Boro Park the scene turned ugly with people screaming at the Deputies, and passersby encouraging the protesters to hold their ground and not disperse,  YWN reported.

At the bottom of page are some scenes from the incident.

The Jewish news entity also reported that the NYPD were not exclusively targeting Jewish businesses that defied lock down orders.

The coronavirus crisis has forced more than 100,000 small businesses in New York to close permanently, the governor said Friday.

“Small businesses are taking a real beating,” he said. “They are 90 percent of New York’s businesses and they’re facing the toughest challengers. All but essential businesses have now been closed since New York’s shutdown started on March 22. Millions of former employees are now registered as unemployed, Patch reported

While New York will be launching   its own small business relief program, with more than $100 million that it will make available as loans, some proprietors are not  waiting for the government to rescue them or totally collapse like thousands have done already.

YWN reported: beginning on Sunday morning, around 200 stores opened in Boro Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush, Monsey and the Five Towns. Many will be opened on Sunday, and others to start on Monday. They will use extreme social distancing, some just curbside service, while others allowing one person at a time into their establishments. The are banded together under the name #ReopenNY

YWN reported: Organizers tell YWN that NY Governor Cuomo and NYC Mayor Deblasio are aware of the movement. The group has lawyers & is well prepared for legal action, including visits by the police.

 

 

Israel’s Netanyahu Attacks Justice System as Trial Begins

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a face mask in line with public health restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, looks at his lawyer inside the court room as his corruption trial opens at the Jerusalem District Court, Sunday, May 24, 2020. He is the country’s first sitting prime minister ever to go on trial, facing charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in a series of corruption cases stemming from ties to wealthy friends. (Ronen Zvulun/ Pool Photo via AP)

By ARON HELLER (AP)

To the sounds of his impassioned supporters chanting outside, a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strode into a Jerusalem courtroom Sunday to face corruption charges in a long-awaited trial that has overshadowed three inconclusive elections and deeply divided the country.

As he entered the courthouse to become the country’s first sitting prime minister to go on trial, Netanyahu launched into a lengthy tirade against the nation’s justice system in which he accused police, prosecutors, judges and the media of a deep state-type conspiracy aimed to oust him against the will of the people.

I stand before you with a straight back and head raised high,” he said, surrounded by leading Cabinet ministers of his Likud party. “The objective is to depose a strong, right-wing prime minister, and thus remove the nationalist camp from the leadership of the country for many years.”

The standoff, and Netanyahu’s own fiery rhetoric, looked to worsen the nation’s deep divisions just after Netanyahu swore in what he called a “unity” government with a former rival. Critics have said Netanyahu’s repeated attacks on the legal system risk irreversible damage to citizens’ faith in state institutions.

Outside the courthouse, hundreds of supporters rallied in his defense, packing a narrow street while waving Israeli flags and banners denouncing what they called a corrupt prosecution seeking to topple a leader of historic proportion. Others gathered at his official residence to demonstrate against what they called a “crime minister” and carried posters calling for his resignation. They faced off across police barricades with more of the prime minister’s backers.

Netanyahu faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of corruption cases stemming from ties to wealthy friends. He is accused of accepting lavish gifts and offering to grant favors to powerful media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage of him and his family. He denies the charges, which come after years of scandals swirling around the family.

Netanyahu entered the Jerusalem courtroom wearing a blue surgical mask, following public health restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. He refused to sit until TV cameras left the room, and remained in the front row throughout the session.

During the proceedings, the lawyers and judges also wore masks, with the three-judge panel sitting behind a glass divider. In a hint of what could lie ahead, his lawyer said the defense would need several months to study the hundreds of reams of evidence and to build its legal team.

Netanyahu did not speak during the one-hour session, rising just once to confirm he understood the charges. He will not be required to attend future hearings during a case that legal analysts expect to stretch over several years. The next hearing was scheduled for July 19.

Before the session, Netanyahu said police and prosecutors had conspired “to stitch up” a case against him, and said the evidence was “contaminated” and exaggerated. He called for the court proceedings to be broadcast live on TV to ensure “full transparency.”

“While the media continues to deal with nonsense, with these false, trumped up cases, I will continue to lead the state of Israel and deal with issues that really matter to you,” he said, including efforts to resuscitate the economy and prepare for a possible second wave of the coronavirus.

Netanyahu is not the first prime minister to go on trial. His predecessor, Ehud Olmert, went to prison for corruption but resigned long before the trial.

Netanyahu’s fitness for office was the key issue in the three deadlocked elections over the past year. After vowing never to sit with an indicted prime minister, Netanyahu’s challenger, Benny Gantz, agreed in March to form a power-sharing coalition with his rival, in part to prevent another election.

Gantz, who has made the defense of the legal system one his hallmarks, said he was sure Netanyahu would receive a fair trial.

“I repeat and emphasize that my colleagues and I have full faith in the justice system and law enforcement,” he tweeted.

Their new government was sworn in just last week for Netanyahu’s fourth consecutive term. Netanyahu held his first Cabinet meeting with the new government just hours before heading to court. Neither he nor any of his ministers addressed the looming trial.

Netanyahu and his allies have spent months lashing out at the law enforcement system, and a new round of attacks could test the new government.

Dozens of Netanyahu supporters outside the court in east Jerusalem wore masks and T-shirts depicting Netanyahu as a martyr and held posters lambasting the attorney general who indicted him.

“We won’t allow an image of Netanyahu being humiliated,” said Ran Carmi Buzaglo, one of the protesters. “The only reason that they forced him to come here, even though the law allows him to be absent, is to show an image of him in the defendant’s chair.”

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who recently filed a police complaint following anonymous threats against him, vowed that the case will be handled like any other — “in a professional, business-like manner and within the courtroom halls.”

“We will continue to act without fear, even against the preposterous attempts to associate non-professional interests to law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Several of Netanyahu’s Likud Cabinet ministers, including the newly appointed internal security minister who overseas the police, came to the court to back him.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Netanyahu’s “wild and inciteful outburst” at the courthouse was “final proof that a criminal defendant cannot continue to be prime minister.”

In a sign of the tensions, the prosecutor in the case left the courtroom accompanied by a state-issued bodyguard because of threats against her.

Under the coalition deal, Netanyahu will remain prime minister for the next 18 months, and “alternative prime minister” for the 18 months after. He will not be legally required to step down during what is expected to be a lengthy trial.

Democratic Senators Warn Netanyahu: Annexation Will Damage US-Israel Relations

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., embrace after a Democratic presidential debate, July 30, 2019. (AP/Paul Sancya)

Bernie Sanders and 18 Democratic Senators claimed that Israel’s annexation of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria “puts both Israel’s security and democracy at risk.”

(JNS) Eighteen Democratic senators and independent Bernie Sanders signed a letter cautioning Israel about extending sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.

Addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, the senators wrote that Israel applying sovereignty “would mark a dramatic reversal of decades of shared understandings between the United States, Israel, the Palestinians and the international community, and would have a clear impact on both Israel’s future and our vital bilateral and bipartisan relationship.

The senators said “a unilateral annexation puts both Israel’s security and democracy at risk,” and would “betray our shared democratic values by denying Palestinians’ right to self-determination in a viable, sovereign, independent and contiguous state.”

They also claimed annexation “could bring an end to Palestinian security cooperation with Israel, directly threatening the security of the Israeli people, and endanger Israel’s crucial peace agreement with Jordan.”

They further wrote that annexation would “be met with deep concern from our mutual allies and partners, including Jordan and Egypt, and nearly universally viewed as a violation of international law.”

“The formalization of a fragmented and disconnected array of Palestinian islets surrounded by Israeli territory would be rejected by the international community as both unequal and undemocratic,” they claimed. “And most concerning, a unilateral annexation outside of a negotiated agreement would likely erode the strong support among the American people for the special relationship and diplomatic partnership with the United States that Israel currently enjoys.”

The signees of the May 21 letter were Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Patyy Murray (D-Wa.).

The letter was also signed by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who ran for the democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race but is technically an independent.

Earlier this week, former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told Jewish Democrats that if Israel applies sovereignty to parts of the Judea and Samaria, it would “choke off any hope for peace.” (JNS.org)

 

 

1...1,9511,9521,953...2,275Page 1,952 of 2,275
DONATE NOW
Subscribe Now

© The Jewish Voice. All rights reserved.

Website managed by Napollo

About Us

Popular Category

Editor Picks