Netanyahu nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Covid forces Great Synagogue’s closure in Jewish New Year first
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize following the landmark accords with the UAE and Bahrain.
Netanyahu was nominated by Paolo Grimoldi, a member of Italy’s parliament from the anti-migrant League party, who also noted yesterday on Twitter the prime minister’s dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the opening of Saudi airspace to Israeli aircraft.
Grimoldi wrote in a separate tweet that he hopes Netanyahu shares the prize with US President Donald Trump, who was nominated for the 2021 award last week by a right-wing Norwegian lawmaker.
Ayoob Kara, a former Israeli minister of communications from Netanyahu’s Likud party, said in a tweet on Tuesday that an organisation he heads nominated Netanyahu and Trump, as well as the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee receives hundreds of nominations each year from lawmakers, members of governments and academics.
Israel braces for new lockdown
Meanwhile, Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue will be closed for the first time over the Jewish New Year due to the novel coronavirus, authorities said yesterday, as Israelis braced for a second lockdown. “We have never closed since its creation,” said Jaffe, 67, who has prayed at the site since childhood. Israel has registered the world’s highest coronavirus infection rate over the past two weeks, according to an AFP tally. It is set to be the first country to enforce a second nationwide shutdown.
The measures announced by Netanyahu will come into force tomorrow afternoon, hours before the start of the New Year festival known as Rosh Hashanah.
The three-week lockdown is set to remain in place over the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Sukkot, a period when synagogues are usually filled with worshippers.