Jerusalem hotels getting set for Passover
Ankara finding itself increasingly isolated on East Med dispute, seeks to disrupt Jerusalem’s ties
Jerusalem’s hotels are looking forward to the upcoming Passover holiday as a celebration of renewal and hope, even as they are limited in how many guests they can have due to coronavirus restrictions.
Israel’s hotels were finally allowed to reopen about three weeks ago, after a series of lockdowns kept them closed since early September. According to the latest regulations, only people who have received both shots of the coronavirus vaccine or can provide proof that they have recovered from the virus are allowed to stay at the hotel. Cancellation policies that offer 100% refunds in case of closures or quarantines have become the norm throughout the hospitality industry.
The seven-day holiday of Passover, which starts the night of Saturday, March 27, is traditionally one of the most popular times for tourists from America and around the world to visit. However, because Israel’s airports are generally not open for non-citizens, the hotels are limited to guests from within the country.
Despite the limitations, demand is high at Jerusalem’s hotels, and the workers say they are excited to be back in business.
The Waldorf Astoria on Agron Street opened at the beginning of last week, General Manager Avner On said. “So far, we are doing better than expected. We opened a new spa on March 7, and there has been strong activity at our gym. As of March 22, the hotel will be kosher for Pessah (Passover), and we are almost full.”
Due to coronavirus distancing regulations, ‘almost full’ doesn’t mean what it used to mean for hotels. “Our hotel has 226 rooms, but in order to ensure guests’ safety, we are opening at only 60% occupancy,” On said. “It would be extremely difficult to ensure proper distancing at 100%.”
Lunches and dinners at the Waldorf Astoria are being served by waiters, while at breakfast, hot foods will be served buffet-style and cold food will be brought to the tables, On said. “People love their Israeli breakfast buffets and it was important that we provide it, but we had to eliminate the buffet for cold foods to comply with the rules,” he said.
While On had been worried that many of the hotel’s workers wouldn’t come back from their extended unpaid leaves, the hotel is fully staffed. “We are all extremely excited to be back and see our guests again,” On said.
The situation is similar at the venerable Inbal Hotel in the city’s Talbiyeh neighborhood. “We just finished a huge renovation, adding three floors and updating all of our rooms,” a spokesperson said. “The Inbal has 332 rooms, but less than half of those will be available, due to coronavirus requirements. Some of our new rooms will be used for the first time ever. There is a lot of demand from people around the country who want to be in Jerusalem for Pessah.”
The hotel’s gym, spa and pools are open to hotel guests and members, although one of its restaurants will not reopen until April 9 due to a lack of staff, the spokesperson said. The Passover Seder will be divided into capsules for families on separate floors.
“There has been some frustration over the past year, as we felt like the hotels and restaurants were the government’s lowest priority, but we are super happy to be back,” the spokesperson said. “Pessah is our favorite holiday, a time of renewal.”
At the five-year-old Herbert Samuel Hotel in Jerusalem’s Zion Square, preparations are starting to make the hotel kosher for Passover for those who eat Kitniyot (legumes). The hotel features a dining room with a 360-degree view of Jerusalem on its 11th floor. Some 50-60 of its 137 rooms are already filled, about half of which are available for the holiday. “Doing everything to comply with all the regulations is tricky, but everyone is excited to start working again,” a spokesman said. “It feels like we are starting again from the beginning.”
Finally, the Mamilla Hotel and adjacent David Citadel Hotel, which are owned by the same owners, are adjusting to the new reality by launching a new concept for Israeli visitors, including 500 sq.m. of new playgrounds for kids and cocktail parties and culturally-themed weekends for adults. The hotels are reopening this Thursday, and already have many reservations for Passover. “It is not clear what to expect over the next few months,” a spokesperson said. “We will find out soon.”
Turkey has sent a diplomatic note to Greece and Israel, claiming that the two countries must seek “its permission before assuming work on a proposed undersea power cable in Eastern Mediterranean waters,” according to reports in Ankara on Monday night.
This comes just days after Israel ended a naval drill with Cyprus, Greece and France. Turkey signed a deal with the embattled government in Libya in 2019 and has been threatening claims by Nicosia and Athens at sea over the past year.
In April and December 2020, Turkey claimed it wanted to reconcile with Israel, seeking to entice it away from an emerging partnership with Greece.
Turkey’s pro-government media even sought to send maps to Israel, claiming it could sign a maritime deal with Jerusalem that would wipe Cyprus’ claims off the map.
Instead, Israel and Cyprus have amicable ties and a maritime boundary that they agree on. Israel is getting new Sa’ar 6 ships to defend its exclusive economic zone at sea and its gas platforms.
In addition, Israel signed a deal with Greece and Cyprus for an East Med pipeline last summer and is part of a gas forum with them and other states, including Egypt.
Turkey’s goal is to break up Israel’s relations. It has also sought to entice Egypt with claims of reconciliation in the last month.
Egypt has said Turkey must enact domestic reforms to pave the way for normalization. Turkey hosts Hamas and other terrorist organizations that threaten Egypt and Israel.
“In a diplomatic note sent to the two countries’ embassies and the EU delegation on Monday, Ankara said the three must seek its permission before conducting any work on Turkey’s continental shelf, according to diplomatic sources,” Turkish media reported.
Turkey is angry that Cyprus, Israel and Greece “last week signed an initial agreement on laying the world’s longest undersea power cable linking
their electricity grids.”
Ankara’s latest claim is that projected plans of the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) EuroAsia Interconnector show it passing through Turkey’s continental shelf, Turkish media reported.
Turkey apparently wants to use this threat hanging over
claims regarding the cable to blackmail Israel. To show how it will use this, the government in Ankara gave its marching orders to state and pro-government media.
THE REGIME has arrested, jailed or forced into exile all critical journalists so that its
media reflects the government stance. Daily Sabah, TRT and Anadolu rushed to print government claims about the continental shelf and the “note” Turkey is sending.
Turkey’s new note shows its real face, compared with the claims of reconciliation last year. It has also slammed Kosovo
for opening relations with Israel and has tried to sabotage the new Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain.
Ankara is also angry that Sudan and Israel are now making peace. These are setbacks for the belligerent country, which backs Hamas and has tried to isolate Israel over the last decade.
Up until about 15 years ago, Turkey and Israel had good relations. Since then, however, Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power and has become increasingly authoritarian, while his country has turned into a leading opponent of the Jewish state. It even compared Israel to Nazi Germany in comments at the UN in 2019.
Now, Turkey finds itself isolated in the region. Its only friends are Qatar, Hamas and the weak Libyan government, as well as some extremists in northern Syria known more for ethnic cleansing and working as mercenaries for Ankara than accomplishing anything else.
Ankara wants to put on a new face, speaking recently with Russia and Qatar about Syria and also having Erdogan pen an op-ed for Bloomberg. However, it has managed to alienate France and many other countries.
The US may work with Turkey on hosting a Taliban peace conference, although Ankara appears to prefer Russia and Iran to working with the West and the US. Even NATO appears to be concerned about Turkey’s crackdown on democracy and its drift toward Russia and China.
By setting up a challenge to Greece and Israel, Turkey may be preparing the way for increased tensions down the road with Cyprus, Egypt and France. These countries, along with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, appear to have increasingly shared interests.
In addition, America and India, as well as other Quad countries, want to work more closely with France, and France and India both want to work with the UAE.
This means an underwater cable or gas pipeline may be symbolic of larger, changing dynamics. Turkey, for instance, is nonplussed that Saudi Arabia is also working with Greece.
Closing arguments started on Tuesday before the Beersheba District Court in the saga of the trial of World Vision operations manager Mohammad El Halabi on charges of assisting Hamas on a variety of fronts.
Halabi has vehemently denied the charges and accused the prosecution and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) of manufacturing charges and coercing a confession to undermine humanitarian organizations in the Gaza Strip.
The legal conflagration has dragged on for four and a half years. Law-enforcement agencies have said Halabi was deeply involved with a range of Hamas financing and other activities, while the former senior World Vision official has accused Israel of violating his due-process rights with extraordinary changes to standard civilian court procedures.
While Tuesday’s hearing was closed to the public, Halabi’s lawyer, Maher Hana, is expected to ask if the last hearing on closing arguments can be open to the public.
Tuesday’s hearing saw the prosecution summarize its case, and it will continue for the first half of a hearing on April 23.
The second half of the April 23 hearing will open Halabi’s closing arguments, which are then due to finish on May 5.
A verdict would likely not come any earlier than September and possibly months later.
There were no surprises from the prosecution’s arguments on Tuesday, Hana said, adding that he could not specify further due to the gag order on much of the case’s details.
On February 18, the Supreme Court granted the prosecution’s request to keep Halabi in police custody until at least May 19, pending the verdict.
Supporters of Halabi have said the prosecution at earlier stages in the case had offered a three-year jail sentence as part of a plea bargain.
In addition, being that Halabi has already served five years, remaining in prison for a continued indefinite period would make little sense because even a conviction could lead to his release based on time already served, his supporters have said.
On February 18, Supreme Court Justice Menachem Mazuz said motions filed by Hana had caused many of the delays since the prosecution concluded its case in April 2018.
The trial had been robust, including the calling of more than 40 witnesses and a mini-trial on aspects of the evidence, he said.
Halabi was indicted in August 2016 for allegedly using World Vision as a front to smuggle $7.2 million a year to Hamas for buying weapons and building attack tunnels. This was instead of being used by the humanitarian organization for food, humanitarian assistance and aid programs for disabled children, as earmarked.
The indictment said World Vision operated in 100 countries and employed 46,000 people, but it had fallen victim to a complex Hamas takeover scheme led by Halabi.
At the time, World Vision denied the allegations and said it was shocked since it had regular internal and independent audits and evaluations, as well as a broad range of internal controls, to ensure aid reached the intended beneficiaries.
Eventually, Australia, which was funding the World Vision Gaza project, cut its funding.
However, an Australian government audit did not find the wrongdoing allegedly uncovered by the Shin Bet.
Besides the drawn-out trial, the legal proceedings have been rife with irregularities in restricting evidence and how Halabi’s lawyer maintains information he learns during the closed proceedings.
So restrictive are some of these procedures that they are much more typical of Israel’s military courts than what is standard in Israeli civilian courts.
In April 2018 and again in July 2020, the Supreme Court rejected Hana’s request to intervene in the case to compel the prosecution to play by more standard civilian court rules.