Coronavirus cabinet to consider new restrictions
19-year-old dies of virus complications • Death toll rises to 317
The coronavirus cabinet is expected to meet on Sunday to vote on reinstating some restrictions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Over the weekend, a 19-yearold fell victim to coronavirus. As of Saturday night, 621 new cases had been diagnosed in the previous 24 hours. today, will stop tomorrow’s closure,” Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch said in an interview with N12 over the weekend. “We need to take action now to stop the large spike in numbers” of sick people. “The number of people getting infected per day is around 400 to 500, and we know that in the next two weeks they will continue to rise – that is the nature of this virus.”
He continued: “What we do today – what is decided tomorrow at the coronavirus cabinet meeting – should stop it there.”
Kisch’s remarks came
around the time that Hadassah Medical Center announced that a 19-yearold woman had died from coronavirus complications.
The hospital said she had severe pre-existing conditions, including pulmonary hypertension, obesity and congestive heart failure before being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease that results from the novel coronavirus.
A spokesperson told the media that the woman had been intubated on admission, connected to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine. However, after about a-weekand-a-half of treatment, she died.
The patient was also reportedly given an experimental treatment, a passive vaccine containing Immunoglobulin G.
The hospital has put numerous staff members who encountered the patient into isolation and screened them for the virus, due to the patient’s large viral load and the lengthy resuscitation she underwent.
As of Saturday night, the number of patients in serious condition stood at 41, five less than 24 hours earlier. However, several people died over the weekend, bringing the country’s death toll to 317.
The number of active cases also increased. There were 6,102 as of 10 p.m. Saturday – up from 5,614 the night before.
The total number of people infected since the start of the crisis stands at 23,421, with 17,002 who have recovered.
The Health Ministry carried out 16,551 tests on Friday.
Despite the increase in patients, the ages of people diagnosed with the virus still tend to be younger, with about 90% being under the age of 60.
Some 19 residents and staff members of the Ahva senior living facility near Ashdod were diagnosed positive for corona. The staff members caught the virus from a driver who was transporting them to work, the Health Ministry said.
In addition, 17 residents and seven staff members of a senior facility in Ramle were also infected. The residents are being treated at general or geriatric hospitals. The staff members are being treated in “coronavirus hotels.”
In order to ensure that they caught all people who have the virus, residents and staff will be retested in three days, the Health Ministry said. All of the residents in the nursing homes are in isolation.
Despite the increase in coronavirus, the public continues to gather. On Saturday, the Nature and Parks Authority had to send out a notice for beachgoers to stay away from the Palmachim National Park because it was fully occupied.
The Kinneret Urban Union said that Gofra Beach has been closed due to overload, as well.
In order to help stop the spread of the virus, Israel Police are stepping up enforcement across the country to catch and fine people who are not wearing masks and fine or even shut down businesses that are not adhering to the Health Ministry’s “Purple Ribbon” standards.
In Jerusalem, police said they visited 18 businesses overnight Thursday and
fined several of them. They also carried out an operation focused on event halls, restaurants, cafes and recreational spaces.
In Bat Yam, police officers could be seen on Friday scanning empty beaches.
In total, Police said they gave out 1,013 fines on Thursday for people who were not wearing masks and dispersed crowds at 15 businesses. They gave warning to 104 establishments, summoned 13 business owners for hearings and closed five.
Late Thursday night, the Ministerial Committee on Declaring Restricted Zones put closures on three areas of Ashdod and on Bat Yam, adding the cities to a growing list that includes Tiberias and Elad.
The Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center released a report Friday recommending that Lod, Beitar Illit, Or Yehuda and Hura receive more testing and that the Health Ministry embark on a public information campaign in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) city of Bnei Brak, which was a coronavirus hot spot during the first wave. The center also recommended that Bnei Brak residents be tested and police step up enforcement in the area.
On Saturday, Palestinian Authority health officials announced that a man in his 70s died after he was diagnosed with the virus, bringing the total number of Palestinian victims to seven.
The man was a resident of Hebron. The city and its surrounding villages and towns have been placed in lockdown following a spike in coronavirus cases in the West Bank in the past two weeks.
Khaled Abu Toameh and Rossella Tercatin contributed to this report. •
agree to negotiate within the next four years with Israel under the terms of the Trump plan, that portion of Area C would eventually become part of a Palestinian state.
Effectively the plan places West Bank Israelis within sovereign Israel and earmarks Palestinians to live in a future Palestinian state.
Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gantz have clarified and underscored this essential principle by noting that the plan does not call for annexing areas with large Palestinian population centers.
There are some who hold that once the map is finalized, there would still be a small number of Palestinians who live in areas that would be annexed. The question has then arisen as to whether those Palestinians would be given residency status or Israeli citizenship.
In speaking of his parameters for annexation, Gantz was careful not to use the word citizenship and instead left it vague by referring to “equal rights.”
Gantz referenced on Facebook the many years in which the peace process was frozen.
“For too many years we have not strived for peace or come to an arrangement with the Palestinians. I am in dialogue with all the parties, the Americans, the Europeans and others to see if a diplomatic process can be initiated with the Palestinians by means of the American peace plan,” Gantz said.
But he placed the onus for those talks on the Palestinians, who to date have rejected the Trump peace plan.
“I say to you bluntly, even if it doesn’t sound good, that the Palestinians are mainly the culprits here. They have entrenched themselves in rejectionist positions. But if they are prepared to hold serious negotiations, I will meet them in Ramallah tomorrow morning to hold talks,” Gantz said.
He added that he intends to evaluate the Trump plan from a diplomatic and security perspective to ensure that it would not harm the country’s security, strategic assets or existing peace agreements.
In addition, Gantz said, he would look for way to advance mutual Israeli-Palestinian steps.
Earlier in the day, Gantz spoke about the Trump plan at a Blue and White faction meeting about the importance of this moment.
“Developments on the political-diplomatic front relate to a complex, historic process, which will affect the State of Israel for decades to come,” Gantz said.
“My primary concern is to enable a real political process to unfold, which moves us toward life in peace alongside our Palestinian neighbors – something which has been absent for years. “We are doing so while leaning on the Trump outline and exploring joint strides that involve the Palestinian side as well, while the overarching principle is that the State of Israel will remain a Jewish, democratic and secure state,” he added. •
statement (despite Justice Ministry spokespeople attempts to qualify it) and any leaked reports made it clear that Ben Ari was taking a harsher stance on Netanyahu and on the question of bribery than the attorney general.
Even in the final indictment, Mandelblit rejected Ben Ari’s recommendation to indict Netanyahu for bribery in all three cases. Instead, he settled for the lesser charges of fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000, the latter which is known as the “Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom Affair.”
Ben Ari also gave a revealing interview to the Israel Bar Association magazine in fall 2017 when she said Mandelblit was not “dragging his feet” in deciding the Netanyahu cases and was not blocking the police from following necessary leads.
At the time, the police were leaking these criticisms of Mandelblit because the probe had opened back in December 2016 and the attorney-general had vetoed certain paths to pursue Netanyahu as being a waste of time. At the same time, he was continuously requiring the police to supplement evidence they had gathered.
Some have theorized that Mandelblit brought Ben Ari into the case to stifle criticism from his left-flank that he was too Netanyahu-friendly. Ironically, this was the loudest criticism from 2016 until February 2019, when Mandelblit started to move against Netanyahu.
Ben Ari correctly predicted in a fall 2017 interview that the Case 1000 and 2000 police probes would be wrapped up by late 2017 or early 2018. However, she did not foresee Case 4000 blowing up in February 2018 as a factor that would delay Mandelblit’s overall decision.
Ben Ari also made headlines when she took an ill-advised family vacation in the middle of the Netanyahu pre-indictment hearings in October 2018.
She was criticized by Netanyahu’s lawyers and supporters, who said this showed she was not taking their arguments seriously or giving them a fair hearing.
Ben Ari was present for all the pre-scheduled hearings, but then Netanyahu’s lawyers asked for additional hearings.
According to Ben Ari, she had not taken a family vacation for more than a year. She had planned the family vacation far in advance around the scheduled pre-indictment hearings, without foreseeing that the defense would ask for additional dates on the spot.
Further, she and the prosecution pointed out that she had filed an extensive legal brief on all the issues for Mandelblit to consider, and that, in any event, he was the sole decider, not her.
In the middle of all of this, Mandelblit promoted Ben Ari from head of the Tel Aviv Economic Crimes Division to become a deputy to the State Attorney in September 2019 – despite push back from Netanyahu supporters.
He also tried to get Ben Ari approved as Nitzan’s successor in early 2020 after Nitzan stepped down. However, then-justice minister Amir Ohana, a close Netanyahu ally, opposed her candidacy due to her role in the Netanyahu cases.
After it was made public in late 2018 that Ben Ari was recommending a bribery charge, supporters of Netanyahu started to publicly attack her reputation.
Long dismissed charges that she had falsified a declaration to a labor court years before resurfaced, though Mandelblit immediately shot them down as having been closed by his predecessors.
Even prior to that time, Ben Ari was getting threats and former police chief Roni Alsheich alleged that she and other prosecutors were being followed. This led the police to provide her a protective detail.
Tadmor is viewed as taking at least as strong a view of the severity of Netanyahu’s alleged crimes as Ben Ari.
In a key internal debate before Mandelblit, the attorney-general’s deputy, Raz Nizri, pushed to close Case 2000, rather than file an indictment in that case.
Reportedly, Tadmor responded, “Case 2000 is an unambiguous bribery case. Nuni Mozes and Netanyahu were wheeling and dealing over legislation. There are recordings [of Netanyahu and Mozes’s alleged media bribery negotiations] and other evidence.”
Next, Tadmor reportedly turned toward Mandelblit, saying, “On what basis would you close this case? There is powerful evidence and a heavy public interest. Closing this case will cause problems for Case 4000,” since that case also relates to media bribery.
During sentencing arguments for Olmert in 2014, when the former prime ministers’ lawyers pleaded for leniency due to his service to the state, Tadmor demanded the sentences be harsh to “reverberate and deter” future corruption.
Tadmor added that being “the minister of ministers” should not get any of the convicted men (there were other public officials besides Olmert being sentenced as well) special treatment, “rather the opposite” should be true and an example should be made of them.
Tirosh has not been on this large a stage before.
But she is the expert on the securities portion of the case relating to Case 4000 and the alleged corrupt merger between Shaul Elovitch’s Bezeq with the company YES.
She has been working on criminal securities cases since 2001, after a period in private practice.
Tirosh took the lead on major cases against the company Psagot, against former judge Dan Cohen and against the company Siemens. •
partner of the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the media turns it into a festival in order to encourage protests against the Likud and the leadership of Netanyahu,” the Likud said in a statement to the press.
Thousands of protesters took part in the demonstrations on Saturday against the arrest of Haskel and others, with senior politicians taking part, including former defense minister and current Yesh Atid-Telem MK Moshe Ya’alon, former Deputy IDF Chief of Staff and Meretz MK Yair Golan, former head of the Shin Bet Ami Ayalon and several other MKs.
On Saturday afternoon, Ohana wrote on his Facebook page that blocking traffic would not be tolerated, whether by “a major-general, a brig.-gen. or a private.”
“Since assuming office, in all my conversations with police officers I convey a very clear message concerning events of public disorder – blocking the traffic will not be tolerated,” he said, calling it “violence toward innocent civilians using the road.”
Ohana denied the accusations of the use of excessive force by the police during the dispersal of the protest, saying that Haskel continued speaking to the crowd after being told to free the road.
According to the minister, the organizers of the protest did not receive a permit from Israel Police. Law enforcement, says Ohana, will have “zero tolerance to roadblocks.”
Ashkenazi said that Haskel “has fully earned the right and obligation to say his opinion, to protest and demonstrate,” and condemned the fact that Haskel had his hands and feet restrained, saying that this “reflect[s] poorly on Israeli democracy.”
Opposition head, former finance minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid-Telem) called Saturday afternoon for Haskel’s “immediate release.”
“Brig.Gen. Haskel was arrested yesterday during the Kabbalat Shabbat organized by protesters near the Balfour residency,” Lapid wrote on Twitter. “He is still in jail.”
“How about zero tolerance for bribery?” Lapid responded to Ohana. “Zero tolerance for fraud, zero tolerance for the person who sits on the inner side of the roadblock and stokes hatred among the people of Israel?”
The opposition leader called on police to release Haskel, adding that “Israel is not a dictatorship and any citizen is allowed to voice his [or her] opinion. And yes, on the prime minister, too.”
Meretz Chairman MK Nitzan Horowitz accused Ohana of using the police “as a tool to suppress protests against Netanyahu and his family,” adding however that “freedom of expression and freedom of protest are foundational principles of democracy and the police is obligated to protect them.”
Former prime minister Ehud Barak also responded to the incident on Twitter, calling Haskel a “political prisoner” and accusing police of breaking the law.
“A retired brigadier-general in handcuffs and chained,” he wrote. “The Ohana/Netanyahu police is violating its own duty and breaking the law.”
According to Barak, “this is how it started with [former Philippine first couple] Ferdinand and Isabela Marcos or [former Argentinian first couple] Juan and Evita Perón. Whoever does not want to end there should
wake up today!”