PM ‘pulls emergency brake’ as coronavirus cases spike

Intercity trains, theaters, cinemas to remain closed • Netanyahu warns restrictions could be reinstated

The coronavirus cabinet decided on Monday to freeze nearly all easing of restrictions that were expected in the coming days as the number of active cases continued to climb across the country.

“What we decided to do, first of all, is to pull the emergency brake,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We stopped all of the measures to ease restrictions that we were going to apply in the coming days. We will check this again next week.”

One exception is event halls. The prime minister said the government will allow them to operate according to the directives of the Health Ministry, which “we will report to you later on.”

Netanyahu said the meeting opened with a briefing by experts who showed that there has been a very steep increase in morbidity.

“It could be that we are already seeing the doubling of the rate of infection within 10 days,” the prime minister said. “I very much hope not.”

Within the last day, 169 Israelis were diagnosed with the novel virus, bringing the country’s total number of patients to 18,032 – among them 2,607 active cases. At the same time, the number of patients in serious condition remains low at 29, including 23 people who are ventilated.

The city with the fastest growing level of infection is Tel Aviv, where 66 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus in the last three days. There were 32 new patients in Jerusalem and 16 in Sderot.

Government insiders said that the Health Ministry is already warning of a scary situation: “We need to prepare for a situation in which the second wave will be worse than the first and we have as many as 5,000 people on ventilators,” the Hebrew TV station N12 reported.

However, the prime minister has reportedly already started to express concern. In closed meetings on Monday he said that “If this trend continues, we will consider going backwards and closing what we have opened.” Though he said that if the situation does arise, “we will do it in the way that least harms the economy.”

Among the easements that are being pushed off: The intercity train will not resume operation, as originally agreed upon by the Health and Transportation ministries. In addition, theaters, and cultural centers, such as movie theaters, will not open.

“We have the ability to maintain the health of the public and our staff,” said Israel Railways workers committee head Gila Edri. “We

primarily caused by the difficulty in competing with international aviation giants including Lufthansa.

“These are not efficiency measures, this is clipping El Al’s wings,” Shapira said.

Demonstrating the scope of the blow suffered by Israel’s aviation industry amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ben-Gurion Airport published data on Monday showing a 99% drop in international passenger footfall last month when compared to May 2019.

A total of 18,197 international passengers passed through Israel’s leading transportation hub last month, compared to approximately 1.93 million during May 2019.

The destination with the highest volume of activity was the United States, with more than 36% of all passengers (6,563 in total) either arriving from or traveling to the country from Ben-Gurion Airport. The vast majority of passengers (6,086) traveled to or from Newark Liberty International Airport onboard flights operated by United Airlines.

Plunging footfall comes amid a ban on all foreign nationals entering Israel since March 18, even if they can prove their ability to remain in home isolation for 14 days upon arrival. The entry ban is currently valid until June 15.

Domestic air travel has also recorded a dramatic decline, with only 8,979 passengers passing through Ben-Gurion Airport, compared to almost 40,000 in May 2019.

The 77.25% drop in footfall is even more substantial given that Ben-Gurion only replaced Sde Dov Airport as central Israel’s sole domestic aviation hub in July 2019.

In more optimistic news, cargo transportation last month registered a slight increase (1.52%) compared to May 2019. A total of 28,751 tons arrived and departed Ben-Gurion Airport, including 1,267 tons transported by passenger aircraft. • the PA no longer viewed itself as bound by the Oslo Accords due to Israel’s intention to annex parts of the West Bank.

Responding to this question, the PA said Abbas’s May 19 declaration was not part of the legal record of the war crimes case regarding Israel.

The PA explained that its position was that the ICC could probe Israelis for war crimes even if the Oslo Accords were still in effect – clearly implying that the PA has not abandoned the Oslo process on a formal legal level despite pronouncements claiming the opposite. It added that if Israel annexed the West Bank, however, this would officially cancel the Oslo Accords.

Now that Bensouda has replied, it remains to be seen if Israel will respond, and if it does, what position it will take.

Israel has until June 24 to reply, but may also choose not to so as not to give recognition to the ICC’s investigation.

Overall, the answers the parties give could have implications for whether a war crimes case is brought against Israelis over the 2014 Gaza war, the settlement enterprise and the 2018-2019 Gaza border conflict.

In a brief filed by the Czech Republic supporting Israel, the argument was that the Oslo Accords give Israel exclusive jurisdiction over criminal issues in the West Bank relating to Israel, proving that there is no “State of Palestine” to send a case to the ICC.

Only a state can usually refer a case to the ICC.

Responding to these arguments, Bensouda, who supports opening a full war crimes probe of Israel and Hamas, has said that: “State practice demonstrates that Oslo provisions derogating from the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination do not apply.”

In other words, Bensouda – and the PA for that matter – had previously argued that even if the Oslo Accords were not nullified, the ICC can move forward with the war crimes case.

But it is a dicey and vague area of law and a potential winning argument for Israel that could knock the war crimes case out before it even comes to interrogations let alone indictments.

In contrast, if the Oslo Accords do not apply, the PA can say that Israel has lost one of its best defenses to ICC involvement.

There are many other potential Israeli defenses, but the Oslo Accords have always been held up as the most important because the PA voluntarily entered the deal in the 1990s – long after the Six Day War.

The Foreign Ministry has kept quiet on the issue to date.

Bensouda announced her intent to move forward against Israel and Hamas on December 20, but requested an endorsement from the ICC Pretrial Chamber. Even before this latest development, it was unclear when the ICC would issue its ruling. •