COVID-19: In an Attempt to Curb the Spread of the Delta Variant, Senior Health Officials Called for a third Booster Shot, and Seek to Promote Vaccination Drives in Schools for 12 –16 Year-Old Students: as of next week, at the request of the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Israeli Public Health Funds (HMOs) will administer a 3rd booster shot to people over 60, who were inoculated in early 2021. President Herzog was the first to receive the 3rd booster shot today (Friday), setting a personal example for others. A heated debate among senior health officials and the Minister of Education made headlines this week, as the minister expressed her objection to conducting inoculation drives in the schools. So far, only 34% of children and youth in this age group are fully vaccinated. As of this week, the “green pass” was reinstated, allowing entrance to public events only to those who are fully vaccinated, recovered, or have a recent negative COVID-19 test result. A recent poll shows that the public believes that former PM Netanyahu’s handling of the COVID-19 crises was better than PM Bennet. Bennet seeks to fully support senior public health officials, while refraining from instating harsher measures to curb the spread of the delta variant.
Israel Defense Minister, Benny Ganz, took a quick trip to Paris to deal with the complaint that software produced by Israeli tech company NSO, Pegasus, was used to hack the phone of French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron called Israeli PM Bennet, early this week to ask him to check a report in which Moroccan sources used the software for surveillance on Macron’s phone. Ganz met with the French defense minister and promised that Israeli officials will investigate everything they can regarding this matter. Last week a few leading newspapers published a breaking news item based on an investigative consortium of journalists who found that NSO was selling it’s product to governments and non-government organizations who used it to surveil journalists, human rights defenders and opposition political leaders. NSO had to obtain permits issued by the ministry of defense in order to sell it’s product internationally, since this is considered an attack product.
MK (member of Knesset) Itamar Ben-Gvir from the Religious Zionist party called deputy Knesset spokesperson Ahmad Tibi a terrorist and refused to apologize. Ben Gvir is one of the most extreme right wing MKs, who holds nationalist views, and calls for the transfer of some of the Arab citizens of Israel. He often refers to the Arab MKs as terrorists and often expresses his views opposing any kind of equal treatment for the Arab minority in Israel. The incident on the podium of the Knesset was extremely vocal, since he not only refused to apologize, but he also refused to leave the podium as he was instructed to do by the chairperson Tibi, who is a member of the Joint Arab List. Ben Gvir was denounced by most of the MKs.
Top Modeling Agent Faces Multiple Sexual Harassment Allegations: Shai Avital, owner of a leading modeling agency representing some of Israel’s top models, was called out as an alleged sexual predator by two popular investigative TV shows, exposing a disturbing pattern of sexual harassments of his clients for the past two decades. The publications in the media created a ripple effect, as prominent models stepped forward and filed complaints with the police. Avital left the country for Turkey earlier this week, but his lawyer, a top criminal attorney, claimed that his trip had nothing to do with the investigation. Israeli police once again came under fire for their treatment of one of the models who sought to file a complaint and was asked by the desk clerk “why are you filing a complaint now?” The model published her story in her social media account. The Minister of Homeland Security and Chief of Police both sent her an official apology, reassuring her that the clerk’s intention was to ascertain if she was under direct threat, and that directives for communicating with those seeking to file a complaint will be fine-tuned. This is not the first time the police have faced public scrutiny for their treatment of victims of sexual violence and their lenient approach towards alleged high profile predators.
The Israeli sports delegation to the Olympic Games in Tokyo has been a huge disappointment to the public. Israel is considered to be a strong contender in Judo, but none of the athletes qualified for the finals and only one athlete achieved a record by winning a medal. The games are intensively covered in Israel by all media outlets, so the disappointing results from the members of the delegation triggered an intensive public discussion.
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