Wed. Jan 27, 2021

Israel Daily News Wrap

Knowledge is the best weapon!

Israel warns U.S. not to return to Iran deal, Canada checks UNWRA after finding violent materials in kids textbooks & Tel Aviv to inoculate Asylum Seekers.

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1. “Breaking news” sirens went off after Lieutenant-General Aviv Kohavi said Israel’s military is refreshing operational plans against Iran. That was during a speech for Tel Aviv University’s National Security Studies department. The Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff, claims that any U.S. return to a 2015 nuclear accord would be wrong. While U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has remarked that the United States was a long way from deciding whether to rejoin the deal, Kohavi’s remarks are likely a signal to the new American administration. According to Lieutenant-General Kohavi, “A return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, or even if it is a similar accord with several improvements, is bad and wrong from an operational and strategic point of view.” The original Iran Deal was drawn up by the Obama administration. The idea was to provide Iran with access to billions of dollars as a means to advance its ballistic missile program. Former president Donald Trump and his cabinet canceled the deal, calling it flawed, which mimicked Israel’s impression of the deal as well. Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a stunning address at the UN general assembly sharing photographic evidence that Iran had been moving ahead on its program breaching the US guidelines at the time. Iran has time and again said they wish to wipe Israel off the map. The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced Iran is planning to enrich uranium to a purity of 20%. 90% purity is needed to create a nuclear bomb.
2. United States President Biden and his administration have stated that they plan to reopen relations with Palestinian leaders, a connection that had been cut by former president Donald Trump. These plans were brought up to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday by U.S. envoy Richard Mills. The Biden administration hopes that by reestablishing diplomatic relations with Palestinian leaders, the U.S. can help advance a viable two-state solution. It’s assumed the Biden administration would like to re-open the Palestinian diplomatic office which used to sit in Washington as well as the US consulate general in Jerusalem that was meant to service the Palestinian people. Biden also plans to continue pushing for normalization between Israel and more Arab countries, following the deals the Trump administration brokered with UAE , Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, in 2020. We’ll be following this story closely.
3. Netanyahu is hoping to extend Israel’s lockdown and keep the international airport shut tight as infection rates for COVID-19 are not seeming to go down much despite the fact that Israel is leading the world in vaccinations. The decision will go up to a cabinet vote and should be finalized by Thursday. Here are some numbers. Israel currently has 74,323 active Covid cases. 4,501 people have died and in the West Bank there are 4,355 active cases with 1,464 deaths. In Gaza, there are 4,722 active cases with 513 deaths. Health minister Yuli Edelstein says it would be irresponsible to open the skies and the land borders while healthcare workers are swamped with an overload of cases.
4. Canada is taking a hard look at its UNWRA funds after learning that their textbooks were calling on Palestinian children in the West Bank to use violence against Jews in order to be Martyrs as well as finding that Israel was not included on the maps. Unrwa otherwise known as The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees received money from Canada and the United States to help fund their educational materials. Officials from the organization say the materials violate the neutrality principles they are committed to since Unwra is a part of the United Nations.
5. The city of Tel Aviv is planning to open a special vaccination clinic just for Asylum seekers. There are around 34,000 asylum seekers in Tel Aviv who are 40 or up. That means they are eligible for vaccination. Many asylum seekers work as caregivers or are employed at nursing homes, making them susceptible to catching the virus. However, if you’re not in the system, you probably don’t have standard health care services like the rest of the population. Healthcare officials will be using vaccines from Ichilov hospital and are expecting to receive tens of thousands of visits from asylum seekers who may come from beyond tel aviv in hopes of getting the shot. The compound which will open in the neve shaan neighborhood in south tel aviv will have 10 stations and service around 2,000 people per day.