Israel Update Week Ending December 31, 2021

Abbas/Gantz, Israel Attacks Latakia, Covid, Netanyahu Trial, Economy and more

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The major political event this week was the meeting between Israeli Defense Minister Gantz and Palestinian Authority President Abbas, at Gantz’s home in Rosh HaAyin. I think the best line I heard regarding the one-on-one was from a former Rosh HaAyin resident who said she never believed she would hear the term “Rosh HaAyin summit”. While the meeting was much less than that, it was the first time Abbas had been in Israel proper since Shimon Peres' funeral, and the first time he had been in the home of an Israeli leader in 11 years. Nevertheless, the right-wing summarily attacked the get together with their usual accusations, questioning how Gantz could meet with a Holocaust denier; someone who attacks Israel in international courts.  

Of course, all of that is, nonsense. No one thinks Abbas loves Israel. Nevertheless, Abbas is without question better than the alternative. The Netanyahu government's policy was to weaken the Palestinian Authority, despite the fact they have been reasonable security partners. The problem is that the only realistic alternative to the PA currently on the horizon is Hamas. To some on the right-wing of Israeli politics, Hamas constitutes a good alternative — after all, if our potential partner rejects any possibility of peaceful coexistence, there would be no international pressure to negotiate for peace. That being said, does anyone in their right mind believe Israel would be better off with Hamas in power in the West Bank, as opposed to the PA?

The Gantz-Abbas meeting itself was said to have been cordial, with Abbas aware of the limits the current government is able to go regarding diplomatic negotiations. So instead, the parties concentrated on steps Israel could take to strengthen the PA. It was agreed those steps would include a loan against future tax payments collected by Israel, additional entry permits for Palestinians into Israel, as well as other minor practical, trust-building actions.

DEFENSE

Israel is said to have attacked Latakia Port this week. This is the second time that port has been attacked over the course of the last month. According to reports, a secondary fire continued to blaze for two days following the attack.

On Wednesday at 12:30pm, a round of gunshots was aimed at a Ministry of Defense employee working maintenance on the Gaza security Wall, at the Northern Border of the Strip. Israel responded with an air raid on Hamas positions. It turned out that a lone member of Islamic Jihad was responsible for the shooting. This morning there was an attempted stabbing of young woman in the West Bank. The woman was physically unharmed and the attacker was killed.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced it had signed a final agreement to purchase 12 CH-53K helicopters to replace the IAF fleet of 50 year old heavy lift helicopters. In addition, Israel has ordered two additional KC-46 tankers expanding its initial order of five.

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF NETANYAHU

The trial of the former Prime Minister, on charges of alleged corruption, continues at a glacial pace. Cross-examination of Nir Hefetz, Netanyahu’s top aid and confidant, turned state witness, concluded this week. The general consensus is that Netanyahu’s lawyers, as well as those of the other defendants, Shaul and Iris Elovitch, failed to undermine Hefetz's testimony. 

Meanwhile, two new potential cases have developed. The attorney for the home of the Prime Minister has demanded Netanyahu return 30 gifts received from other Heads of State and visiting dignitaries during his tenure in office. For the first time, Netanyahu's lawyers presented an explanation, claiming these gifts were all either damaged or lost. The State’s Attorney was not impressed by their response. Moreover, Netanyahu's last personal assistant (as PM) was caught on tape admitting they took papers out of the safe in the Prime Ministers’ office before Bennett took office and burned them.

COVID–19

The number of new daily Coronavirus infections in Israel is increasing rapidly — going from 700-800/per day last week, to almost 5,000 on Thursday. Expectations are that these numbers will continue to rise rapidly. 

The Director-General of the Ministry of Health has ignored the recommendation of the vaccine advisory panel to give a 4th Covid shot to all citizens aged 60 and above. Instead, after thinking about the matter for one precious week, the Director-General agreed to allow the immunocompromised to receive an additional booster on Thursday. By Friday morning, the Director-General had expanded those eligible to include residents and staff of nursing homes. Compared to the US and FDA, decisions are being made here at lightening speed.  And while I am sure in the next few weeks, or maybe days, the criteria will be expanded to include those 60+, the delay is infuriating. 

Nadav Eyal, who I consider the best Israeli journalist when it comes to Covid coverage wrote today that the Ministry of Education’s efforts to use quick antigen tests as a bulwark against Covid has been totally ineffectual. Leaving aside the low number of parents who have actually participated, Eyal wrote that the quick tests failed to identify students with Covid 40% of the time. He went on to say that the number of faulty tests is even higher among adults. Initial reports indicate that this is even more so with the Omicron variant.

In the meantime, the government has been unwilling to take any additional defensive measures — other than closing the airport to incoming tourists, and limiting the countries to which Israelis can fly. Finance Minister Lieberman was caught asserting that Covid was “no worse than the flu”. Even though he quickly walked back that comment, the damage had already been done. The result is that Israelis are acting as if there is no longer a pandemic — other than wearing masks — which almost all readily do. Luckily, mask-wearing has not become a political issue here. 

In contrast, Anti-Vaxers continue to have an impact. However, the arrival of Omicron has persuaded some additional Israelis to get vaccinated. Yet, the wide-sweeping Omicron wave has not convinced the majority of the parents to vaccinate their children against Covid-19. Some of the anti-vaxers are entirely off the wall. It was profoundly difficult to see a group of Israelis marching around with green Jewish stars on their lapels last Saturday night. When I confronted several of them and questioned how they dare interject Holocaust imagery into this argument, they contended the Holocaust began with the segregation of people (i.e., just like the institution of different rules for the vaccinated and the unvaccinated). I tried to explain Hitler's role in the Holocaust. They replied insisting it was the Rothschilds family that financed Hitler, and that the Rothschilds are behind the Covid vaccines. This irrational interaction shows that in these days of social media it's possible to have antisemites in Israel; Israelis who grew up their entire lives in this country, who believe and say these patently ridiculous things.

Demonstration by tourism industry

Tourism remains one area that has been particularly hurt by the government's actions. Earlier this week, I accidentally walked through a demonstration by tour guides and operators. Lieberman publicly suggested these dedicated, trained, skilled professionals find new avenues of employment — since tourism will not return any time soon. I spoke at length to tour guide Yael Azoulai-Naftali, who has been working part-time, taking Israeli tourists on tours of Jerusalem. She disclosed that this was the first time since she was 12 that she attended a demonstration, motivated by the fact that the government had given almost no support to guides in 2021. Even the package of aid allocated to tour companies has not been disbursed, as criteria has not been developed to facilitate distribution of the money.  

This week, a plan was finalized to inject $100 million into El Al. In 2019, nearly 25 million passengers passed through Ben Gurion airport. In 2021, that number was 5.1 million.

ECONOMY

Teva Pharmaceutical, once one of Israel’s leading companies, lost a trial in New York in which it was sued for false marketing that contributed to America’s Opioid crisis. For reasons that are unclear, Teva did not settle the lawsuit, and instead chose to fight it. Teva has been struggling to right its financial ship, after years of over-leveraged acquisitions, combined with the loss of   its patent for the company’s most profitable product.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is focused on development of oral drug delivery platforms, announced today that its subsidiary, Oravax Medical, has signed a Cooperation and Purchase Agreement with Vietnam-based Tan Thanh Holdings Investment Joint Stock Company to pre-purchase Oravax's oral COVID-19 vaccine, currently in development. The agreement grants Tan Thanh Holdings the right to sell Oravax's oral vaccine in development throughout the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which includes Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The agreement is for an initial pre-order of 10 million doses of oral COVID-19 vaccines from Oravax, and is composed of milestone payments. The parties have agreed to negotiate follow-up orders, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cipia which provides automakers and fleets with advanced AI based in-cabin sensing solutions for driver and interior monitoring, announced its first purchase order (PO) from Tier 1 Technomous, and the start of production (SOP) with China's largest automotive company SAIC Motor.

According to research from Continental China and non-profit organization, HCVC, 74% of people who survived road traffic accidents attributed the main cause to distracted driving. With the growing number of distractions in cars, coupled with an over-reliance on semi-autonomous driving features, there is a clear need for technology to mitigate the dangers of distracted driving.

The computer vision and AI technology powering “Driver Sense” monitors and analyzes a driver's behavior, by detecting visual attributes such as eyelids, pupils, gaze direction, etc., and translating them to the physiological state of the driver (drowsiness, distraction, talking on the phone, etc.), enabling life-saving warnings and actions.

Finally, here’s one last interesting statistic to bring in the New Year … $82 billion is the amount Israeli companies and individuals received this past year as they were sold or went public.  

May next year be a healthy, happy and prosperous!