AJC Dispatch

Spotlight

This week, Tablet Magazine Senior Writer Yair Rosenberg joins us to discuss the U.S. government’s response to the growing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis and the release of his new Shabbat music album. Then, Times of Israel Senior Analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins us to break down the ongoing political drama in Israel and the chances that Israelis may finally get a new government. Listen now

Must-reads

Coronavirus Is Bringing Israel Together — and Help to the World
The Algemeiner / 4-minute read
Israel's work to combat the novel coronavirus shows that its strength is derived not only from its military capability, but even more so from its courageous people and the strong values that they represent. The country not only benefits from “an army of jets, tanks, and submarines,” AJC Jerusalem Director Avital Leibovitch wrote this week in The Algemeiner – it is also a critical asset to the world with “an army of researchers who spend long hours at scientific labs, searching for the best vaccine for the virus.” Israel has been at the epicenter in the fight against the deadly disease. Two leaders from the country’s innovative healthcare sector, Dr. Kira Radinsky and Dr. Daniel Landsberg, highlighted Israel’s efforts to find a cure and contain the coronavirus during an AJC Advocacy Anywhere program on March 19. Watch the program here.

Iran Knows Who to Blame for the Virus: America and Israel
Foreign Policy / 6-minute read
The Iranian regime is using the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity “to vilify not only the United States, but also the regime’s other traditional ideological enemy, Israel,” Kasra Aarabi from the Tony Blair Institute wrote in an article published in Foreign Policy. Cornered and bruised by its botched response to the pandemic, the regime has described the virus as a “Zionist biological terrorist attack” and tried to polish “its tarnished image by presenting itself and its Islamist ideology as the nation’s savior.” On March 23, the U.S. Department of State released an Iran Covid-19 Disinformation Fact Sheet, in which it warned that “regime officials make false claims that the U.S. engineered the virus – focusing their time and resources attempting to deflect blame instead of taking responsibility and providing for the health, prosperity, and rights of Iranians, who deserve far better.” On March 25, Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour reported 143 new coronavirus deaths, bringing the total death toll in the country to 2,077. The actual number is believed to be far higher.

Gantz Elected Knesset Speaker, Paving Way for Emergency Unity Government
The Times of Israel / 5-minute read
Benny Gantz has been elected new speaker of the Israeli parliament as part of an emerging unity deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 74 MKs voted in favor of Gantz's appointment, while 18 voted against and the rest did not participate. In his first speech as Knesset speaker, Gantz said “democracy has won.” He added that he was chosen “to unify the people and not divide.” Once a national unity government is formed, Gantz will reportedly be appointed foreign minister, while the speakership will return to Netanyahu’s Likud Party. After an 18-month period, Gantz will take over from Netanyahu as prime minister. Meanwhile, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party and Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem Party have formally requested to split from Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party, breaking up the Blue and White alliance. Former Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein resigned on Wednesday, after fierce criticism over his refusal to reopen parliament. In a ruling on Monday, Israel’s High Court ordered Edelstein to reconvene the Knesset, which he rejected. Read more

Good to Know

Dozens of Columbia Faculty Members Express Support for School President’s Opposition to BDS
The Algemeiner / 2-minute read
More than 70 Columbia faculty members have signed a letter expressing support for school president Lee Bollinger’s recent statement against antisemitism on campus and opposition to an upcoming undergraduate student referendum in favor of the discriminatory BDS movement. The letter — organized by the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) — applauded Bollinger’s “condemnation of anti-Semitism in all its many forms.” It also highlighted his “forceful and unequivocal declaration against bigotry and prejudice, which are intolerable, as he said, when directed against any group, especially within a university.” In a statement on March 6, Bollinger expressed his opposition to divest from companies doing business in Israel and warned of “rising antisemitism on our campus,” directly linking anti-Jewish hatred to the activities of the anti-Israel BDS movement. AJC praised Bollinger for his staunch commitment to upholding a climate of tolerance on campus, tweeting: “Thank you, @Columbia President Bollinger, for your unambiguous condemnation of antisemitism and your principled opposition to the bigoted BDS Movement. Antisemitism must be rejected in all its forms—including anti-Zionism.”

Denmark Charges Norwegian Citizen Over Iranian Assassination Plot
Reuters / 2-minute read
Denmark's state prosecutor confirmed on Wednesday that it had charged a Norwegian citizen of Iranian descent with helping an unidentified Iranian intelligence service plan an assassination plot against an Iranian Arab opposition leader on Danish soil. The man was arrested in October 2018. He was charged with illegal intelligence activity and complicity in attempted murder. Prosecutor Lise-Lotte Nilas said it was “completely unacceptable that foreign intelligence services plan killings on Danish soil, and it is unacceptable that people help foreign intelligence services operate in Denmark.” Iran has ordered several terrorist attacks in Europe in recent times. Iranian assets murdered two opposition members in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017. Four people were arrested in connection with an Iranian-led bomb plot against an Iranian opposition group in Paris in 2018. Last year, extremists linked to the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah were caught stashing tons of explosive materials in a secret bomb factory in London. Read more

European Jewish Community Hit Hard by Coronavirus
The Jewish Chronicle / 2-minute read
One of France’s leading Chabad Lubavitch figures succumbed to the coronavirus on March 21. Rabbi André Touboul was the headmaster of Beit Hanna, one of the country’s most prestigious high schools. He is survived by his wife and nine children. His death follows the passing of Milanese Jewish leader Michele Sciama, who succumbed to the illness on March 16. In Strasbourg, the president of the Jewish community of the French region of Alsace, Maurice Dahan, remains hospitalized in critical condition. Nearly 5% of all coronavirus-related deaths in Britain are from within the Jewish community, which makes up just 0.3% of the country’s population, according to figures released by AJC’s partner organization, the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Britain's growing coronavirus death toll jumped to 477 on Thursday. Almost 10,000 Britons have now tested positive for the disease. On Friday, the British government announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has contracted coronavirus and has gone into self-isolation. AJC said: “Our best wishes to Prime Minister @borisjohnson for a speedy recovery. We are thinking of you and the British people as we work together to defeat Covid-19.”

Tidings

A guide to online Passover shopping amid a pandemic (The Forward/3-minute read)
Update: Chicken Soup Won’t Stop the Coronavirus (Tablet Magazine/4-minute read)
Gal Gadot: We’re all in this together (Israel21c/2-minute read)

The articles featured here do not necessarily reflect AJC’s positions.

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