Hospitals Begin Turning Away Coronavirus Patients

 By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Sarah Chemla Sept22, 2020

For full article see https://tinyurl.com/y52p265r 

Hospitals began turning away coronavirus patients and shutting down internal medicine wards on Monday as the number of those seriously ill spiked.

The coronavirus cabinet is expected to meet on Tuesday to outline a list of new restrictions that could be implemented immediately after Yom Kippur next week.

Both Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital and Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Monday said they could accommodate no more coronavirus cases. Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy called on hospitals to cease offering elective surgery and other services and instead focus on COVID-19.

“This is urgent,” he said in a letter to hospital CEOs. “I expect everyone to act with personal responsibility and determination.”

Meanwhile, the IDF on Monday announced it would open a 200-bed field hospital to help accommodate patient overflow.

The cabinet met Monday to discuss the next steps in the fight against coronavirus.  “Since we made the decision about the lockdown, there has been a consistent rise in the number of serious patients,” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting. “Therefore, tomorrow at the coronavirus cabinet meeting, we will consider further steps.

“Anyone who violated the directives or, worse than that, any MK who pushed for looser restrictions, should not ask afterward why the infection rate is rising and should not now come with complaints. The reason for the infection rate is gatherings and people not wearing masks.”

In Nahariya, The Galilee Medical Center director-general Dr. Masad Barhoum said his hospital would open a fourth coronavirus ward by Tuesday at the expense of an internal medicine ward.

“This is the second internal medicine ward that is becoming a coronavirus ward,” Barhoum said. “We will have to use anesthetics as part of a [coronavirus] team to treat serious patients, so we will have no choice but to postpone elective surgery.”

Israel shut down beginning on Rosh Hashanah for what is expected to be a three-week closure. However, as many health experts have pointed out, the closure has a lot of flexibility of movement for citizens and is not expected to reduce morbidity very fast.

Despite the spike in patients, much of the public continues to break Health Ministry regulations. On Monday, N12 visited a neighborhood in Bnei Brak where a Talmud Torah religious school was open despite instructions that the education system remain closed.

In addition, media reports and social media showed that several businesses across the country opened despite fines of up to NIS 5,000 and against Health Ministry rules.

Gamzu, the corona c\ar, lashed out at protesters who continue to gather in large groups, many without masks.

“We need to understand that we are in an emergency; this is a war,” he said. “We [may end] this week with 800 critically ill patients, and that requires a change in the behavior of all of us.”

“We currently need to focus on one goal: reducing morbidity,” he added. “There will be time for demonstrations afterward.”

Tags Coronavirus Coronavirus in Israel coronavirus lockdown Coronavirus Live Updates Ronni Gamzu

Mahmoud Abbas – The Twilight Era

 By Baruch Yedid/TPS • 7 September 2020

The man who came to power after Yasser Arafat’s death and determined the strategy of the “political intifada” and rejected the armed struggle in Israel is about to leave the stage, tomorrow or the day after.

Mahmoud Abbas’ strategy is known in Ramallah as the “waiting policy.” This term is used as criticism and to ridicule Abbas who preferred to wait outside the arena rather than be an active player.

This strategy has taken a very heavy toll on the Palestinians.

1.     PLO offices in Washington have closed.

2.     American budgets for the Palestinian Authority have been cancelled.

3.     UNRWA’s budgets are almost gone.

4.     The United States Embassy in Israel was moved to Jerusalem.

5.     The economic conference in Bahrain was held despite the absence of the Palestinians.

6.     The US-formulated Deal of the Century diplomatic plan was published.

7.     A peace agreement was signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

8.     The Palestinians are embroiled in a conflict with the Arab League.

9.     Saudi Arabia authorizes Israel flights through its airspace.

10. Bahrain signed an agreement with Israel.

11. Sudan likely to sign an agreement.

And if all these “disasters” are not enough, then Abbas is also responsible for the disintegration of the Palestinian arena.

12. During his shift, the Gaza Strip was torn apart and became an independent entity.

13. During his shift, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya became a Palestinian statesman conducting political campaigns.

14. During his shift, Fatah disbanded into three camps.

Corruption has increased dramatically

15. The separation between the three powers ended, and Abbas became a dictator who is the administration and the legislature, and he dissolved the Legislative Council.

16. The judicial system has become a corrupt authority.

17. Abbas controlled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

18. The Palestinian investment fund became a playground for him and his children, and the fund’s size was reduced by $600 million. Abbas received the fund with a billion and four hundred million dollars, and now its capital is $800 million dollars.

19. He destroyed the PLO and appointed whoever he wanted on the Central Council and its Executive Committee

This is Abbas’ legacy and this is how Palestinian historians will write it.

 

UN Rights Chief Ignores Israel Arab Peace Deals

 Following are remarks delivered by UN Watch Executive Director 

Hillel Neuer before the UN Human Rights Council,

             on September 15, 2020, in response to the opening plenary speech 

                   by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

Palestinians Must Face Reality, Stop Their Ingratitude Towards The Gulf States

 The reaction of the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by President Mahmoud 'Abbas, to the August 13, 2020 announcement of UAE-Israel normalization was blunt and harsh. The PA accused the UAE of betraying the Palestinians and their cause, as well as Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, of "aggression towards the Palestinian people," of stabbing the Palestinians and the Arab and Islamic nation in the back with a "poisoned dagger," and of making concessions to Israel for nothing in return.

The PA leaders called the UAE's move unacceptable and an act of deception, and accused the UAE of abandoning the Arab Peace Initiative and capitulating and groveling to the U.S. Calling on the UAE to reverse its "disgraceful decision," they also warned other Arab countries not to follow its example. The condemnation reached its peak at a September 3, 2020 conference of Palestinian faction leaders that included representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad alongside representatives of Fatah and other factions. At the conference, 'Abbas, as well as Mu'in Hamed, leader of Al-Sa'iqa organization, a PLO faction, spoke bluntly and derisively of the Gulf states, calling them "illiterate" and saying that the Palestinians, who are far more educated than they, do not need anyone's help.

The Palestinian leadership's statements provoked much criticism on social media and in the Arab press, especially in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. Daily newspapers in these three countries have published dozens of articles since the normalization agreement was announced expressing support for the UAE's decision and condemning the Palestinians, especially their "ungrateful" leadership. The writers claimed that this leadership has exploited the Palestinian cause for seven decades to extort more and more funds from the Gulf states. Some even accused Palestinian officials of taking the money for themselves and of deliberately rejecting every peace initiative in order to perpetuate the situation and remain in power. They further claimed that since the world and the global balance of power have changed, slogans like "Palestine from the River to the Sea" are no longer relevant, and also that the Arab countries are entitled to prioritize their own interests.

For more on this go to MEMRI

 

 

The Arab World is fed up with the Palestinians

 Opinion: "As these nations come to conclusion that 'Palestinian problem' is not an asset but a burden, they will no longer entertain every Palestinian whim, leaving just Yemen and Qatar aligned with Iran and Turkey's axis of evil" writes Ben-Dror Yemini|

We are facing two camps – the camp of peace and the camp of destruction. The camp of zealotry and the camp of moderateness.The biggest surprise following Israel's peace accord with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is that there was no division within the Arab world about it.

In fact, almost all Arab countries have expressed their support for the agreement and hopped on the peace train.

So what actually happened? Well, the Arab world is fed up. It looks to the left and the right and realizes, albeit belatedly, that wherever Islamic radicalism is involved - whether Shi'ite or Sunni - the result is always destruction and ruin.

The UAE or Saudi Arabia definitely did not become democracies all of a sudden, but in the Middle East, the choice is not between liberal democracy or a dictatorship. The choice is between stability or destruction.

For the fuyll article read here

The Real Palestinian Tragedy

For full article, go to  https://tinyurl.com/y5ayoxmz

Unlike their leaders, however, the Palestinians living in Syria and Iraq do not appear to be worried about the Israel-UAE accord. These Palestinians have more existential concerns -- such as providing shelter for their children and safe drinking water for their families. They are disturbed about the homes they have lost, and they are in a state of anguish about fate of their missing sons.

The Palestinian families complained that the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations, including the United Nations, have refused to assist them in their search for their beloved ones.

Palestinian writer Nabil Al-Sahli said that the 4,000 Palestinians who remain in Iraq are facing an "ongoing tragedy." He said that according to some studies, at least 20,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Iraq to 40 countries around the world because of the "massacres" committed against them by sectarian militias.

By extreme contrast [to Syria and Iraq], the UAE and other Gulf states have long opened their doors to Palestinians and provided them with jobs and high living standards. Puzzlingly, Palestinian leaders have plenty of time to castigate the UAE, but no time at all to comment on the systematic abuse and killing of Palestinians in Syria and Iraq. For the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the true tragedy is when an Arab expresses willingness to make peace with Israel.

 

Temper Tantrum: Palestinians Blast ‘Arab Zionists,’

 By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

Palestinian officials are going out of their way to trash the peace deal that Israel and the United Arab Emirates are set to sign later this month at the White House, aiming extra vitriol at the United States.

The watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which monitors what the Palestinians say in Arabic, reported Tuesday that top Palestinian officials are saying that peace with the Arabs is not good for them.

The Palestinian’s chief negotiator and Executive Committee Secretary of Fatah, Saeb Erekat, criticized not just the upcoming peace agreement, but said those who make peace with Israel are turning into “Arab Zionists.”

“This will open the door for [Arab] states that have aspirations but are embarrassed to a certain degree, and it will encourage some of the remaining states to hurry towards normalization [with Israel],” Erekat said.

Erekat described the UAE’s decision to reach peace with Israel as “a public birth for the Arab Zionists,” and added that expressing admiration or support for Israel – such as putting the Israeli flag on one’s shirt – is “forbidden, Zionist thinking.”

“I said that this is a public birth for the Arab Zionists. There is no Arab Zionism, there are Arab Zionists,” Erekat said, referrring to the UAE’s leaders.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority was raked over the coals by one of its own two weeks ago for blasting the UAE

Yasser Arafat’s widow, Suha Arafat, slammed the PA and apologized to the people of the UAE after Palestinians heaped insults on the UAE and burned its flags.

The Palestinian officials took their anger a step further, hurling new insults at the United States.

“[Senior U.S. Presidential Advisor Jared] Kushner is a trickster,” Erekat said in a television interview. “Kushner is like a person who was born in order to establish the Zionist narrative and erase and eliminate the Palestinian cause in all its aspects.”

PMW also tracked the comments of Fatah spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi, who said that peace between Israel and the UAE is not a good thing.

“Certainly this step by the UAE towards normalization is popularly, officially, nationally, religiously, and morally unacceptable,” Al-Qawasmi said, adding that the UAE leaders are simply showing “obedience to the commands of the U.S. and Israel.”