Israel Daily News, Thu. Jan 28, 2021

Knowledge is the best weapon!

Emiratis angered over health dept. remarks; a TV skit mocks Netanyahu & The olive tree wins competition to become Israel’s national tree.

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1. A study is out saying Israel is leading the world in terms of “average time spent in lockdown.” An index by Oxford university has been published and it scores countries based on school, work and public transportation closures, cancellations of public events, international travel control, testing policies and a slew of other metrics. Israel scores an 86.28 percent out of 100. That’s just a couple percentage points ahead of Cyprus , which scored a 84.49. No news yet from Israeli cabinet members about whether or not the airport will re-open on Sunday. Israel is currently in its third lockdown, which is set to expire on the 31st of January. This past week the skies have been closed to international travel. People like myself, are on the edge of our seats waiting to see when the prime minister will resume flights.
2. The Emiratis are upset with Israel after the Health Department head made a joke in poor taste on Israel’s channel 13 news. Sharon Alroy-Preis was commenting on how many Israelis had come back into Israel with covid-19 and said “In two weeks of peace [with the UAE] more people died than in 70 years of war.” Israel was never at war with the United Arab Emirates, so there’s some confusion there and the station says Preis’ comments were made in jest. Nevertheless, between now and December, 906 Israelis returning from the UAE were diagnosed with COVID-19 which brought up 4,050 cases. And many of them were detected as the UK strain that is supposed to be even more contagious.
3. Israeli health experts have been taking a closer look and now there’s evidence supporting that pregnant women should not get the shot in their first trimester But that any time after that is perfectly OK. THIS IS out of an abundance of caution since not enough research can support there’s any danger in a woman getting the vaccine during the first trimester. It’s just an extra layer of precaution. Health officials say if you didn’t know you were pregnant and got the first shot, you should go ahead and become fully protected by getting that second dose.
4. A satirical skit on the Israeli comedy tv program ‘Eretz Nehederet’ is sparking controversy after mocking notable Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Prime Minister Netanyahu. The skit portrays the Rabbi ordering the Prime Minister around and making him ask permission to do anything in his presence. When Netanyahu tries to take control in the skit, the Rabbi threatens to sway the ultra-Orthodox to vote against him in the upcoming election, quickly making him subservient again. Critics have denounced the skit, calling it highly offensive, as they view Rabbi Kanievsky as a leading religious and spiritual leader in Judaism. Oppositely, many secular Israelis see the skit as a brave attempt at shining light on a relevant issue. They say if the skit were to be censored, it would violate freedom of speech. This comes at a time of tension since some Orthodox communities around Israel are not complying with Covid -19 rules and giving officers a tough time when they come to enforce the law. Cars have been burned, people have been pushing and shoving and videos of it all have been picking up attention on social media.
5. This year the Jewish national fund held a competition to find out which tree would become Israel’s national tree. The winner was the olive tree. The 3-week competition had 7 competitors including the palm tree, tabor oak, cypress, eucalyptus, fig and atlantic goddess. But all of those trees couldn’t stand up to the historic olive tree, which took the gold and will now be known as the national tree. The olive tree is already depicted in a number of Israeli stamps, signs and logos. The runners up were the tabor oak and palm tree. The oldest olive tree in Israel is 100,000 years old. Olive trees in Israel produce 15,000 tons of oil and more than 24,000 tons of edible olives each year.