Israel Daily News Podcast, Mon. Feb 1, 2021

Knowledge is the best weapon!

Israel keeps airport shut tight till Sunday; Kosovo signs a new deal to normalize relations with Israel + becomes only Muslim country to put embassy in Jerusalem! & Longtime politician Moshe Ya’aon drops out of government.

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1. Israel’s lockdown is now extended until Friday at 7 o’clock in the morning and Ben Gurion international airport will continue to be closed until Sunday. The government was meant to reconvene on Thursday, which didn’t happen. Rumors are floating around that cabinet members simply did not show up. Then as the lockdown was fleeting away at 12 midnight on Sunday, the gang got together and decided to keep it going. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office released the information early Monday morning. It means nonessential businesses and schools will remain closed. Four weeks of lockdown has not helped the country bring down the Covid-rate as much as had been hoped. Cabinet members have meetings this week to decide whether or not to extend the lockdown even further and how they will decipher which Israelis will be allowed back in for specific humanitarian purposes. The criteria has not been agreed upon but some people will be allowed back in on a person by person basis. That includes those who have an essential medical treatment, are attending a funeral of a first-degree relative, has a first-degree relative in an accident, essential workers in Israel who cannot work remote, and diplomatic representatives who left Israel for a short time.
2. Starting Tuesday — or tomorrow, those entering the country will be forced to stay in a state run COVID-19 hotel. Sunday morning officials also doubled fines for anyone breaking lockdown rules. The head of the health ministry says 40 percent of current coronavirus infections are being found in children and teenagers. That’s never been the case before. The number of people aged 40 to 60 who are using ventilators to breathe has multiplied by 6. A relative of mine says she knows neary 10 pregnant women who are in the hospital on ventilators at the current moment.
3. In an online ceremony hosted earlier today, the Republic of Kosovo formally established diplomatic relations with Israel. It was originally planned to take place in an event in Jerusalem, but due to the recent closure of Ben Gurion Airport, the ceremony was held virtually — using ZOOM! Can you imagine? It’s a new world when two countries form ties in an online ceremony. The opening of formal ties between Israel and Kosovo comes as part of a larger agreement brokered by the former Trump administration to improve business connections between Kosovo and Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008. In this agreement, not only did Kosovo agree to normalization with Israel, but also both Balkan states committed to opening embassies in Jerusalem. Kosovo has announced plans to open its embassy in July and has already identified a location. It would be third country, behind the United States and Guatemala, to place its embassy in Jerusalem and would even be the first Muslim-majority country to do so. Although brokered by the previous Trump administration, the agreement is supported by U.S. President Joe Biden and administration.
4. Long -time politician Moshe Yaalon, who I have met and interviewed during my weekly Happy Hour talk series is removing himself from the political arena. Ya’alon previously worked as the country’s Chief of Staff for the Israel Defense Forces. He announces that he will not be running in the impending March election with his party, called Telem. He says that Israel must battle for change and that it would be best for him to remove himself. Yaalon says his preference for the good of the country precedes his desire for any personal benefits and that it has always been that way for him. He said he believed by running independently with Telem that he could increase the power of the political camp which is pushing for change, but that it seems he is wrong and that he won’t be running. His politics have him known for supporting settlement building in the west bank, being tough on Iran and even calling former US secretary of state john kerry messianic and obsessive in 2014.
5. Fifty-seven year old Ziv Yaffe has been identified as the first person in Israel to test positive twice — this time he’s got the new variant of Covid-19 which was initially found in South Africa. This was unfortunately after he had already recovered from Covid months back. Cases like this contribute to the growing concern from health officials that the vaccines currently being administered in Israel and around the world could be less effective against newer, more contagious strains of the virus. However, some researchers are encouraged by Yaffe’s case, since he remained virtually asymptomatic during his second infection. Although there is not enough evidence to confirm it yet, professionals believe that with the presence of antibodies, newly infected people will likely experience less severe symptoms, and in some cases, there may be a lower risk of them spreading the virus to others.
6. Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services shows the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is 92% effective in real life — so not just based on lab trials. Out of 163,000 vaccinated Israelis, only 31 had been diagnosed with COVID19 in their first 10 days of full-strength protection, believed to be approximately one week after receiving a second shot. When Maccabi compared infection results to a similar population who had not yet been vaccinated, they found that unvaccinated Israelis were 11 times more likely to be diagnosed. Pfizer’s clinical trial results concluded their vaccine was 95% effective. According to infectious diseases specialist Professor Eyal Leshem of the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, the 3% difference in the data makes sense since there’s always a percentage of error. Just this morning, the Israeli Ministry of Health released figures saying, more than a third of the population has received their first vaccine shot, and approximately 19% have been given their second.