Your News From Israel- September 22, 2021

hello and welcome to iltv's israel daily i'm aaron porus and coming up in today's newscast israel unveiling a number of new coronavirus regulations as the economy continues to suffer from the pandemic's fourth wave meantime the united nations coming together at the general assembly in new york while simultaneously coming apart over the controversial durbin 4 conference and finally what could bring people closer during a global pandemic faster than some healthy online competition the shanaka ngo putting international peace day in check [Music] to begin israel confirming over 8 500 new covet infections overnight tuesday indicating a lower spread rate than in days past but one that's still way too high and israeli authorities are still struggling to find a method for mitigating the viruses spread 172 530 coronavirus tests conducted in israel on monday at least 8 691 of which coming back positive the spread rate at 5.12 percent 710 people meanwhile in serious condition 70 percent of whom are unvaccinated and the death toll in israel now hitting 7567 though despite the tragic figures the rate of infection seemingly trending downwards again the only problem then is keeping it that way so the government announcing a number of initiatives for one from the medical perspective the health ministry finally purchasing regeneron a drug shown to have potentially life-saving properties for mild and moderate coveted symptoms until a recent report on the matter the drug was allegedly denied by hmos due to its cost meanwhile authorities officially launching a new gps tracking system for the sake of quarantine enforcement this after the program's pilot successfully ended in recent weeks tens of thousands of citizens receiving text messages from the israeli police starting sunday with a link to provide the police with their gps location and should an individual choose not to opt into the program police will increase monitoring activities in their area israel requires all travelers arriving from abroad to isolate for a week after which they must present a negative pcr test israelis who've been vast three times twice in the past six months or recently recovered from kovid are exempt and finally in a related program jerusalem now calling on the u.s and eu to adopt its green pass regulations with respect to israelis traveling abroad under israel's rules as of october 3 israelis who fail to get a booster shot six months after their second dose lose their green past privileges and without a green pass citizens are considered unvaccinated israel is therefore asking that europe and the united states likewise consider such individuals unvaxed for the purposes of border entry eligibility now speaking of travel the fourth wave wreaking havoc on israel's tourism industry so while calling for stricter regulations for israelis traveling abroad the israel tourism ministry is also looking to streamline and increase foreign visitation israel relaunching its pilot to allow foreign tourist groups from selected countries to enter israel without quarantine all visitors have to do to enter is get vaccinated and provide negative tests both before the flight and serologically upon arrival until now only vaccinated foreigners with first-degree relatives in israel were eligible for entry the program was approved just a little too late for much of the high holiday season however which left otherwise overbooked hotels at just 70 occupancy at best and this for the second year in a row meantime israel's el al airlines similarly feeling the pinch and it's now presenting its latest plan for streamlining including the sale of 16 aircraft and the laying off of 1500 employees therefore if approved el al's fleet would shrink from 45 to just 29 planes with the remaining routes focusing on core european destinations and north america as for the layoffs 2 000 employees have already been laid off over the past year and of the 4 thousand still on payroll 1400 are on unpaid leave the cutbacks could be a means to a better end though with many of the employees who are on the chopping block today back in the office in the near future el is saying that they quote believe that the aviation sector will soon stabilize and most employees will be necessary again and quote for now though losses in revenue aside these cuts made as part of aid negotiations opposite the finance and labor ministries in israel some 50 million dollars is on the table moving on the united nations general assembly leaders meeting opening in new york this week and over a hundred world leaders in attendance with many more participating remotely taking the spotlight though is new iranian president ibrahim who took the opportunity to blast the united states and israel raised claiming again that iran has no ambitions for nuclear weapons that washington is mistaken to believe that tehran would crumble under sanctions and that in general the alleged era of american hegemony united states president biden on the other hand playing off the withdrawal from afghanistan as a success while repeating commitments to end trump's america first policy in favor of a new era of quote relentless diplomacy but joining with the details is former israeli ambassador to the united states dania elon ambassador it is a pleasure to have you back with us now let's start with president raises accusations that after the capitol building invasion on january 6th and afghanistan withdrawal the us has lost all credibility biden in the meantime of course denying connection to the capital uh invasion and hailing the afghanistan pull out as a success how do you react well it's quite cynical and hypocritic for a uh a dictator who has blood on his hands first the anger from um or the butcher from tehran as he's called presiding over a pictorial state which is uh committing many many crimes against humanity and continuing with illegal activities especially with the nuclear program the illegal uh nuclear program for that for him to take on the united states uh it's quite presumptuous but it seems like on the one hand there is some merit to the fact that uh with afghanistan and with other uh i would say um lexus or lapses in american foreign policy we see that its deterrence and reputation is being tarnished that is used like uh third-rate dictators like uh raisi to go against it it will not make much of a uh a real uh difference in uh in the real world because the ua and we have to remember it's just a a show that has nothing to do with the reality on the ground and it really allows dictators to gain points vis-a-vis their own population so so what what do you expect to come out of biden's policy of so-called relentless diplomacy do you think that it will be successful well it may be successful only with one condition where they have also a credible threat a credible option that would go to other means if diplomacy fails we know that the iranians especially they hit very much to palpable um threat the only time they voluntarily err on uh suspended their nuclear program was in 2003 after the u.s invaded iraq they were on their border and they thought that they might be uh next so without a real option a military option uh that may be veiled you know the intention could be veiled you know through diplomatic words but if the iranians understand that in no way uh the america and the united states is willing to go to other options then nothing will happen quite a country iran will gain the upper hand as it's been doing so in the vienna clubs right which of course was suspended by iran it seems like iran now has all the keys holding all the cards and um again if they won't be threatened in a real sense um i do not see much optimism going in that area all right now i want to move on a little bit to american israel relations because biden again during his speech he was promising to support israel while pressuring for a two-state solution and the united states administration has been consistent in claiming widespread support for israel in general but there's currently an argument in washington over the military aid specifically a one billion dollar budget line item for israel's iron dome system uh in support for is is support for israel perhaps not as clear cut as the democrats or the biden administration would like it to appear or do you think that maybe there's more to the story that i'm missing well i think if we drill down you know we have to be more precise about aaron because it's not the democratic party that is against israel of course this is only a very specific element and we can pinpoint it to about four or five members of congress you know headed by uh of course uh yeah and the right the squad and then they have maybe one or two more at presley from boston and others but they are a very very um small group but very vociferous and unfortunately what we see is that they have the capability to in a way threaten the silent majority of democrats and we do not see a counterweight by the democrats that most of them continue to support israel now we have to be honest uh certainly during the obama years we've had some falling out with the democrats and but on top of that there is this polarization between democrats and the republicans in america which has nothing to do with us and unfortunately israel has been caught especially now in this crossfire of course political crossfire between the democrats and the uh the republicans you see aaron uh the uh the squad as we call them they do not have the the power the political power or the enough hands to derail any pro-israeli resolution or vote in the in congress but again what why the the democrats did not want to include the the special uh uh edition assistance of one group rather yeah why did they remove it because the republicans were going to join force with those squads just in order to embarrass the democrats and the administration now keeping with the united nations it's the 20th anniversary of the controversial world conference against racism in durban south africa aka the durban iv conference but after having repeatedly veered into open displays of anti-semitism at the first three iterations some 30 plus countries including the united states uk germany france and canada are now boycotting the event outright with me to discuss again it's former israeli ambassador the u.s dani ayalon dani thanks for returning to us now you know israeli ambassador that you and giladan he thanked these 30-some nations for understanding that the durban conference is quote fundamentally rotten uh and the first three conferences could easily be characterized this way but why then do you think that that we still have this conference and would you agree with this description to begin with first of all absolutely and and i would say it's really to the detriment of the south africans into the german uh inhabitants you know a nice charming uh south african city that has become now infamous or become became a a beacon of hatred and and really um the the the lowest kind of uh racism and the anti-semitism anti-semitism that is going to be associated with its name we have to remember the first urban uh conference 20 years ago exactly today uh was supposed to uh really fight all kinds of racism and the xenophobia and islamophobia and anti-semitism but again like many other cases it was hijacked by the palestinians their collaborators they erased anti-semitism and actually they have turned the entire conference which was going to be a uh a feel-good conference to to to go for something which is justice for all uh human rights liberty they turn it into the most severe anti-semitic to against israel and against uh jews all over so to commemorate it well i was i'm sorry to interrupt but you know why why then hold it at all because even in the original 2001 durbin conference secretary the original secretary general refused to adopt the approved resolution as is over quote-unquote horrible anti-semitism that was present so so again why why continue to hold it at all why have three more iterations after the first failure simply because the pressure that still the palestinians you know it's like the the tail wagging the dog the palestinians are putting the pressure on the arab countries the arab groups about 22 of them the united nations and they put the pressure on the islamic group which is uh you add together it's 57 countries and they put the pressure on their what is to be the non-aligned countries most of them are not very uh affluent and not very democratic and they are the ones who are being promised whether it's by through uh um money or or kinds to uh to come to go their way to this conflict and to condemn israel they do it just because of palestinian arab and muslim pressure they don't do it because they want to do it many of these countries that participate in this conference have very good relations with israel with uh and they get a lot of aid technical aid technological aid from israel if you look at those countries that did not participate and boycotted the 33 countries they are the decent countries but they are also independently uh behaving conducting themselves countries that are not as uh the the poor countries dependent upon the the muslim or arab markets or arab world so basically it's something which uh has unfortunately i mean it has no significance in the diplomatic arena it does not harm israel's foreign uh policies and foreign relations with countries in the world and today actually we uh enjoy the best situation where we have more embassies abroad than ever before more than 100 or 106. however it does uh become very detrimental when it um when it comes to uh bds and all the uh the actions against israel whether it's in campuses in the united states or whether it is in europe within all kinds of labor movements and unions worker unions this is the problem bds and anti-semitism uh against israel and trying to separate anti-semitism from anti-zionism which of course is one of the same started in durban 20 years ago and we have reeked this sour grapes throughout the last 20 years all right ambassador danny ailon it's been a pleasure to speak with you again thank you so much for joining us pleasure in other news after seven years of relative silence israel and sweden back on speaking terms israeli foreign minister yair lapid announcing that he spoke with his swedish counterpart and lind on monday this week and the two reportedly discussing commitments to israel's security as well as israel's participation at the malmo international forum on the holocaust remembrance and combating anti-semitism an event scheduled for october 13 this year above all else though this contact is the first between the two nations on such a high level since 2014. that year sweden became the first european country to officially recognize a palestinian state despite repeatedly failed negotiations between israel and the palestinians israel at the time responding by recalling its envoy from stockholm and blocking swedish officials from visitation despite their repeated requests then angering israeli officials further after coming into office in 2019 linde refused to denounce the bds movement as illegitimate and non-violent she's since qualified her statement however adding that she does not support the bds movement but does support citizens rights to engage in bds as a form of protest israel on the other hand while apparently forgiving sweden's position retaining a very different perspective that the bds movement is anti-semitic at its core and that it holds the stated goal of completely eliminating israel by any means necessary all right our final topic tonight september 21 is annual international peace day and the u.n general assembly declaring it as a day marked by strengthening the ideals of peace through 24 hours of non-violence and ceasefire but beyond just not attacking one another many organizations are working to actively foster new relationships organizations like elizu geneva world peace chess for all and sharaka which banded together to host an international peace day chess tournament joining me with moore director of communications and global affairs with the cheraka ngo major in the reserve's dan chefferman and leo eisenberg ceo of chess for all thank you both so much for joining us now uh major i'm going to start with you how did this come about well this was a fantastic initiative lior at chess for all shahmat likol in hebrew approached us and said he'd love to partner with us on this chess for solidarity event and of course uh that's what our organization sharaka which means partnership in arabic is all about bringing together peoples from israel and all over the arab world and uh it connected very well with lyor's vision of bringing people together from around the world through chess and so uh we uh gladly partnered with him and in putting on this fantastic event leo you know of course as the ceo of chess for all of course chess is always uh on your mind but you know how did you get the idea to to incorporate peace day with with this chess tournament uh of course this year was the remarkable year of five peace agreements relations agreements that that were signed by israel this year we are the first in the world in signing uh so many relations agreement this uh this year and you know every year this event comes to be a an event that that used as a platform sometimes for palestinians initiatives and organizations and such and i wanted to do a israeli solidarity event that promotes solidarity and and sharaka is a great partner because all that they are doing all over the year in order to connect between people in order to connect between organizations from the gulf and from israel and we are looking uh at chess also uh with the sports with added value and we we initiated the chest for solidarity initiative that already brought together something like 6 000 players from all over the world including from the arab countries and so i wanted so i wanted to ask uh uh if i could uh bring both of you in who you know how many participants from where uh were there any any maybe notable participants or you know international superstar grand masters who maybe participated anything like that yes there were a more than 600 players including for players from iran and from bangladesh and from [Music] saudi arabia and many countries that don't have a diplomatic relations with israel and we had we had grand masters it's it's not only a chess diplomacy initiative it's also chess and are the are many grandmasters and best players from all over the the world that are playing and uh and they are earning money from it and uh it's great also for beginners and also for players that are professional players so uh major i want to come back to you you know who won what are people maybe saying now that the event has ended you know what have been some of the reactions and what's next well uh leor can update on huawei and i believe it was someone from india or bangladesh i'm sorry about that um there were a few different categories so i got confused but uh it was really incredible people from over 70 countries from all over the middle east uh and well beyond playing in this israeli organized um and sponsored chess event uh judge an israeli judge an iraqi judge um were there and it was incredible you know we're looking to promote and help support any kind of such initiatives that are bringing people together over positive things and uh leor helped bring to us chess diplomacy as uh we're gonna call it and uh sky's the limit for what it can accomplish uh in this new uh jewish year um and uh you know a lot of exciting things lie ahead all right well i i just wanna say congratulations again and it is such an amazing event that i was really happy to learn more about and to have you guys uh discuss with us thank you both so much for for joining us again today thank you so much all right now let's take a look at the weather forecast in the north by katsurin you can expect warm showers tonight with lows of about 70 fahrenheit or 21 degrees celsius but the rest of the country should be warm clear and sunny with highs tomorrow averaging 85 fahrenheit or 25 degrees celsius and now before we go let's take a look at what's going viral here in israel [Music] here we're at the hotel or the western wall where jews are celebrating sukkot chanting the birkata koanim amazing annual celebration [Music] all right that is it for today's news today's exchange rate is 3.21 checklist of the american dollar and 2.5 shuttles for the canadian dollar and finally for the latest updates and news for mile tv please like iltv on facebook follow us on instagram and subscribe to our youtube channel as well as to our newsletter at iltv.tv i'm erin poros be well happy holidays and thank you so much for watching [Music]

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Id: PHhBy2Dh2DQ

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 22 2021