Will Arab states rescue Israel?

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Esther Solomon

I finished my two week post-flight quarantine last week, just in time for the next stage of Israel’s constantly ramping-up population-wide lockdown regulations. Several op-eds this week explore how lockdowns are interfering with settled notions of family, home, social solidarity and basic values, from Samuel Heilman writing from the New Rochelle virus epicenter to Ishmael Reed in California. Israel is leaving no stone unturned in efforts to source sufficient protective and medical equipment – and those efforts now cover the Arab world, as Yossi Melman writes. He argues that tasking the Mossad is a sign of Netanyahu’s management failure, while Charles Dunst asks why influential U.S. Jews have stayed stubbornly silent as Netanyahu tries to undermine democratic norms in Israel. David Zenlea responds: American Jews care, but they’re under unprecedented strain just to survive, as individuals and communities. Anders Persson goes through the big three global freedom indexes and assesses how democratic they think Israel really is. Befitting the global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, two op-eds on its local character and international repercussions. Tal Harris believes Europe-style total lockdowns cannot and should not be copied and pasted for use in Africa. Kunwar Khaldune Shahid describes how  the systematic appeasement of Pakistan’s Islamists meant a quarter of a million Muslims converged on a religious gathering. Two of those attendees, now infected with the coronavirus, went home - to Gaza.

Mossad's Quest for Coronavirus Kits in the Arab World, and Netanyahu's Big Cover-up   That Israel's prime minister tasked Mossad head Yossi Cohen with a frantic quest to source coronavirus kit in the Gulf is the most serious indic... Yossi Melman | 30.03.2020

American Jews Don't Care That Israel's Democracy Is Falling Apart   There's a disconcerting, and indefensible, 'no comment' from every major U.S. Jewish group, politician and public intellectual on Netanyahu's pa... Charles Dunst | 23.03.2020

U.S. Jews Do Care About Israel's Democracy. We're Just a Little Busy Surviving   Our elderly are vulnerable to coronavirus, our synagogues are closed, our president is incompetent, our jobs and health are on the line. And now... David Zenlea | 25.03.2020

Stuck in a New York Virus Epicenter, I Wonder When, If, I'll See My Children in Israel Again   The coronavirus has frozen us all in place: we watch on a screen as our grandchildren are tucked into bed. There's no certainty we all will be h... Samuel Heilman | 27.03.2020

Privileged America Complains on Its Endless Coronavirus Spring Break   When there's talk about eliminating 80 year olds, I get a little nervous. When spoiled Americans talk 'deprivation,' or crowd the beaches, I thi... Ishmael Reed | 29.03.2020

How Pakistan Became a Coronavirus Super-spreader to the Entire Muslim World   Iran banned congregational prayer. Saudi Arabia closed the Ka'aba to pilgrims. Imran Khan allowed a quarter of a million Muslims to gather - and... Kunwar Khuldune Shahid | 27.03.2020

Does Netanyahu Really Believe in Democracy? Global Freedom Experts Aren't Sure   Tunisia speeds past Israel's ailing democracy, even before COVID-19. Netanyahu has 'anti-democratic tendencies.' Hungary and Poland protect civi... Anders Persson | 29.03.2020

A Billion Africans Are at Risk From Coronavirus. But European-style Lockdowns Won't Work   Coronavirus social distancing and curfews copied from Europe and imposed on populations living hand-to-mouth, in overcrowded homes, with limited... Tal Harris | 31.03.2020

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