Two governors, two approaches. Florida has proven that a measured, evidence-based response to reopening works

Posted on May 28, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

CITY JOURNAL
Let the Sun Shine In
by Michael Hendrix
May 27, 2020

For a moment in April, the Internet tried to cancel Florida. Photos showing crowds flocking to Jacksonville Beach amid the Covid-19 pandemic brought the hashtag #FloridaMorons to the top of Twitter. The media eagerly spun scenes of ignorant spring breakers endangering themselves and others. Nearly two months after America’s first case of coronavirus, here was Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, joining neighboring state Georgia’s “experiment in human sacrifice” by letting locals lift restrictions on their own. READ MORE

WASHINGTON EXAMINER Karol Markowicz: Andrew Cuomo’s deadly failures In late April, it came to light that the previous month, the state ordered long-term care facilities to readmit residents who had been treated for the coronavirus. New residents who were “medically stable” were to be admitted as well. Thus did Cuomo’s New York guarantee that the most vulnerable population would be widely exposed to COVID-19 in environments that enabled its quick and deadly spread.

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“Ahead of his arraignment in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting Israeli premier, #Bibi accuses the left of “stitching together” charges against him after having failed to remove him at the ballot box”

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Defiant Netanyahu dismisses charges against him at start of corruption trials
May 24, 2020

Moments before an arraignment on multiple corruption charges, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his innocence, saying he had been framed as part of an attempt to topple the country’s right-wing camp. “Citizens of Israel, what is going on trial today is an attempt to thwart the will of the nation. The attempt to topple me, and the right-wing camp,” said Netanyahu, who made his address while surrounded by members of his Likud Party. READ MORE

NEW YORK SUN Editorial Board: Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Dock One of the charges against Mr. Netanyahu is that he allegedly did things sought by a newspaper and, allegedly, in return for the newspaper giving Mr. Netanyahu favorable coverage. If that turns out to be illegal, jeopardy would lurk for every editorial writer in the Milky Way. Newspapers praising politicians who do what they want is as American as a pie made from apples. It’s as Israeli as a falafel.

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COVID-19 humanitarian aid to Palestinians from Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Ireland and Kuwait was diverted

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

I24NEWS
Millions of dollars earmarked for Palestinian coronavirus aid funneled to terrorist-linked groups
May 24, 2020

Millions of dollars earmarked for the Palestinian’s COVID-19 coronavirus response have been misappropriated for use by organizations with links to terrorism, a new NGO Monitor report has claimed. The research watchdog found that several of the groups in receipt of funds that the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinated, are tied to the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), as cited in The Jerusalem Post. The PFLP is a proscribed terrorist organization in Israel, the EU, US and Canada. READ MORE

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Latest Israeli desalination plant will be the largest of its kind worldwide. But China won’t be building it.

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Israel rejects Chinese bid to build Sorek 2 amid pressure from the US
by Lahav Harkov, Eytan Halon
May 26, 2020

Israel chose local company IDE technologies to construct the world’s largest desalination plant, the government announced on Tuesday, rather than a Chinese company, thus preventing another undesirable showdown with the Trump administration over Chinese participation in major infrastructure projects…The US has asked its allies, including Israel, in recent weeks to sever ties with China – Israel’s third-largest trading partner – in areas with security risks, a US official with knowledge of talks on the matter said last week. READ MORE

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“Senior officials in the moderate Arab countries made it clear that, despite the pan-Arab stance against the annexation plan, behind the scenes the move is not being challenged as forcibly as the Palestinians might hope”

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
‘Next few weeks will determine whether future decades will see peace or bloodshed’
by Daniel Siryoti
May 27, 2020

…Arab sources told Israel Hayom Tuesday that while Arab leaders were concerned that the unilateral annexation of areas in the West Bank the Palestinians seek for a future state, would see the region plunged into a violent conflict, behind the scenes, moderate Arab leaders are in no rush to prevent Israel from pursuing the territorial bid…A senior diplomat considered a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Israel Hayom that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are coordinated in their unofficial position on Israel’s annexation plan. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Palestinian envoy: Biden isn’t taking strong enough stance against annexation PA ambassador to UK Husam Zomlot argues Democratic candidate has intimated to Netanyahu that there will be no consequences for West Bank annexation, no matter who wins US election

JNS Saudi Arabia opposes Palestinian statehood Riyadh is convinced based on the Palestinian track record that a Palestinian state would constitute another rogue anti-Saudi regime.

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Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduce S 3775 for a “U.S.-Israel operations-technology working group”

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

DEFENSE NEWS
Securing technological superiority requires a joint US-Israel effort
by Bradley Bowman
May 22, 2020

…This bipartisan legislation would require the establishment of a U.S.-Israel operations-technology working group. As the senators wrote in a February letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, the working group would help ensure U.S. “warfighters never encounter a more technologically advanced foe…” The working group would serve as a standing forum for the United States and Israel to “systematically share intelligence-informed military capability requirements,” with a goal of identifying capabilities that both militaries need. It would also provide a dedicated mechanism for U.S. and Israeli defense suppliers to “expeditiously gain government approval to conduct joint science, technology, research, development, test, evaluation, and production efforts.” READ MORE

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“Nearly 700 soldiers were killed during Israel’s 18-year occupation of Lebanon; journalist Matti Friedman teamed up with the Kan broadcaster to tell their story”

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
20 years after Lebanon pullout, docuseries dives into the ‘War With No Name’
by Judah Ari Gross
May 25, 2020

The grave of any soldier killed fighting in the Battle of Ammunition Hill on June 6, 1967, clearly identifies them as one of the roughly 800 IDF soldiers who fell in the Six Day War. Soldiers killed in the 1948 War of Independence, the 1973 Yom Kippur War or 2014’s Gaza war, Operation Protective Edge, are similarly identified according to the wars that took their lives. But a soldier killed during Israel’s 18-year presence in southern Lebanon gets no such recognition. They are listed as having been killed “in Lebanon.” “What’s ‘Lebanon’?” journalist and now filmmaker Matti Friedman asked The Times of Israel, rhetorically, last week. READ MORE

It is, for now, only available in Hebrew, though Friedman said a version with English subtitles is in the works

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“In late April, as Israel was busy managing its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s National Water Authority was struck by a large-scale cyberattack”

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

PUNDICITY
The Iranian-Israeli Conflict Goes Online
by Ilan Berman
May 26, 2020

A different kind of conflict is taking shape in the Middle East. Unlike the long-running Syrian civil war, this one is not a pitched power struggle between an entrenched secular dictatorship and assorted Islamist forces. Nor is it a brutal political tug-of-war between rival militias, the way post-Muammar Gadhafi Libya has become. Rather, it is a further intensification of the ongoing shadow war between Israel and its regional nemesis, Iran – one that has now begun playing out in cyberspace… In all, six separate facilities responsible for water supply and waste management were targeted by hacks subsequently identified as having originated from Iran. READ MORE

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“How could Mandelblit indict Netanyahu for a nonexistent crime that is unheard of not only in Israel, but on most of the planet?”

Posted on May 24, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
What on earth is media bribery, and should it be a crime?
by Yonah Jeremy Bob
May 25, 2020

…[Netanyahu’s lawyers] were especially irate because they said Netanyahu has faced decades of biased coverage against him, including in Yediot and Walla, and there was nothing wrong with trying to negotiate for better coverage like other politicians (especially since they deny he pushed for any communications policy beyond what was good for the country and or that he directed any systematic interference with Walla). And where is the money, they ask? Doesn’t bribery require cash in envelopes or at least expensive ties or approvals of questionable construction plans, like former prime minister Ehud Olmert was given? READ MORE

JNS Ruthie Blum:Demonstrating against the forces of condescension Protestations to the contrary, the chattering classes in the press, academia and the courts have been on an endless campaign to delegitimize the right.

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“Though they are 21 percent of population, Arabs account for only 2 percent of COVID-19 deaths and 6 percent of cases. Even the month of Ramadan ended without any outbreaks”

Posted on May 21, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

HAARETZ
How Arabs Crushed the Curve and Became Israel’s Coronavirus Success Story
by Ronny Linder
May 21, 2020

There were two communities that worried the Health Ministry in particular during the coronavirus crisis – Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews, two groups that live in relatively crowded confines, pray in their respective houses of worship and don’t always cooperate with the establishment. But while the concerns about the Haredi community did in fact pan out, all the divisions of Arab society beat the forecasts and finished with the country’s lowest rates of infection and death. Only 1,040 coronavirus patients were diagnosed among Arab citizens, and only five of them died. READ MORE SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT

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