Israel News for 5-22-2020
News Update
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Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has announced that groups of up to 50 people will be allowed to congregate indoors, with masks and proper social distancing. Workplaces will be allowed to reduce the space between workers to 4 meters (instead of 6).
The IDF’s Northern Command has reported an increase in the number of people trying to illegally cross the border from southern Lebanon to Israel over the past two months. While most incidents are related to drug trafficking, smuggling or illegal immigration, the IDF treats each incident as a potential terrorist attack, which involves deploying large forces and attack helicopters.
The Palestinian Authority has declined a shipment of 14 tons of medical supplies sent by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport earlier this week. PA officials claim that the UAE did not coordinate the shipment with them, and that, “Palestinians refuse to be a bridge [for Arab countries] seeking to have normalized ties with Israel.”
The Israel National Cyber Directorate accused Iran of launching a massive cyber attack that hacked hundreds of Israeli websites. Most of the sites are hosted by the Upress company, which is working to fix the security flaw that allowed the hack.
119 new immigrants arrived from Ethiopia yesterday. Also this week, 111 immigrants arrived from the Ukraine and 41 from Russia.
Today is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), which commemorates the 53 anniversary of the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem. In Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, Jordan took control of eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City. The Jordanians expelled all Jews from the ancient Jewish quarter and destroyed all of the synagogues there. For the next 18 years the Jordanians prohibited Jews from worshipping at the Western Wall.
During the 1967 Six Day War, after Israel had for the most part already defeated the armies of Egypt and Syria, the government warned Jordan’s King Hussein not to enter the war. But Jordan ignored the warning and attacked the Israeli part of Jerusalem. The IDF counterattacked and drove Jordanian forces out of eastern Jerusalem and the entire West Bank.
After nearly 2,000 years of exile, and just over 2 decades after the Holocaust, a Jewish army took back control of the entire city of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and of the entire Jewish nation. Since then, the holy places of Christianity and Islam are open to all who wish to visit and worship in them. And Jews from all over the world can once again return to visit, pray and live in our holy city.
Let us pay tribute to those who sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice, to make Jerusalem free, safe and the eternal capital of Israel and the Jewish nation.
To watch a video of the reconquering of the Old City, click here.
Happy Jerusalem Day!
