Outgoing Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon sits down with Israel Hayom to discuss the ups and downs of his time at the Treasury, especially the economic aspects of the coronavirus epidemic, which has left over a million Israelis out of work.

By  Yehuda Shlezinger, ISRAEL HAYOM<

[…]
Q: Was there anything you did during the crisis that you could have done differently?

“We should have pressed to free up the economy a little earlier. Of course, it’s easier to talk in hindsight – at the time of the outbreak no one in the world knew where it was going. We needed to make decisions in a time of uncertainty.

“Still, we prevented massive economic damage. If we had done everything the health officials wanted, we would have 3 million unemployed right now. On the Saturday we were all called in ahead of the decision on a nationwide shut-down, the widely held opinion was that we needed to allow only vital employees to work, which would have meant cutting back from 4 million workers to 600,000-700,000.

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Abdullah does not rule out suspending peace deal with the Jewish state, insists two-state solution ‘the only way forward’

TOI STAFF

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, during the former’s surprise visit to Amman on January 16, 2014 (AP/Yousef Allan/Jordanian Royal Palace)

Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned that should Israel move forward with plans to annex parts of the West Bank, it would lead to a “massive conflict” with his country, and did not rule out pulling out of Amman’s peace deal with the Jewish state.

In an interview published Friday by the German daily Der Spiegel, Abdullah insisted that a two-state solution was “the only way forward” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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EMET WEBINAR

STARTS AT 6:00

By Daniel John Sobieski, AMERICAN THINKER

Dr. Anthony Fauci has never been muzzled by President Trump, as the lamestream media often charged, but maybe he should have been and should be still. Before his tour de farce before the Senate Health Committee, the shy, modest, and unassuming Dr. Fauci emailed a New York Times reporter with a preview of his testimony,  an apocalypse now prediction if we don’t hang on to and follow his sage and expert advice:

Dr. Anthony Fauci emailed New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg Monday night with a preview of his message for a Senate hearing on Tuesday in which he warns of “needless suffering and death” if the country opens “prematurely” from the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus lockdowns…

Stolberg posted Fauci’s message to Twitter:

“The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely. If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”

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The pandemic divided Europe into two: rich Eurabia which plunged into chaos and relatively poor Eastern Europe which did not.

By Alexander Maistrovoy, INN

As astonishing it is, this fact remained unnoticed. The pandemic has divided the European continent into two parts: one – rich Eurabia which plunged into chaos, and second – relatively poor Eastern Europe and the Balkans which withstood the onslaught.

Is it a coincidence or, on the contrary, the metaphysics of History? The former is as hostile to Israel, just as the latter is friendly to it. An incomprehensible pattern: the haters of the Jews are dying in agony while God is protecting the allies and intercessors from adversity?

The West leaves the arena of history

The current pandemic has highlighted the obvious. The glowing shell of modern Western civilization hides a frightened void – this is a society of substantial emptiness according to Ulrich Beck. Infantilism, unthinkable frivolity, ineffective bureaucracy, mediocre leadership, ridiculous clichés and the habit of empty demagoguery led to total failure in the fight against a not so terrible disease. Read more…

PRAGER U

https://www.prageru.com/video/ep-134-which-will-do-more-harm-the-virus-or-the-lockdown/

BE SURE TO UNMUTE THE SOUND.

By Thomas Lifson, AMERICAN THINKER

Two state supreme courts have stepped up to constrain abuse of civil rights in the name of fighting an epidemic. The concept of a “state of emergency” can be used to suspend constitutional limitations on the powers of government, as has been the case with the response to the Wuhan virus pandemic.  But under our system of justice, there has to be a reckoning, and finally we are beginning to see state supreme courts acknowledging what Barack Obama notoriously called “negative liberties,” also known as limits on governmental powers, also known as protections against tyranny.

Using their respective state constitutions (which generally mirror the US Constitution when it comes to fundamental rights), the supreme courts of Wisconsin and Texas have spoken up for liberty in the face of two months of “state of emergency” punishing restrictions on liberty.

AP reports on Wisconsin:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ coronavirus stay-at-home order Wednesday, ruling that his administration overstepped its authority when it extended it for another month without consulting legislators.

The 4-3 ruling essentially reopens the state, lifting caps on the size of gatherings, allowing people to travel as they please and allowing shuttered businesses to reopen, including bars and restaurants. The Tavern League of Wisconsin swiftly posted the news on its website, telling members, “You can OPEN IMMEDIATELY!”
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave Israel a green light to continue targeting Iranian forces in Syria; a yellow light to pursue annexation, albeit with an American request to postpone the move; and a bright red light when it comes to deals with China.

By  Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi, ISRAEL HAYOM

At first glance, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s decision to make Israel his first foreign destination since the outbreak of the coronavirus, and on the eve of the next government’s inauguration no less, raises more than a few questions. Is the battery of items on the American-Israeli docket so urgent that addressing them requires Pompeo’s flash visit, even before the final bow on the coalition is tied?

The answer to these questions can be found in three contexts, which Pompeo himself slightly alluded to on the eve of his visit and throughout. From a visual perspective, it appears the secretary of state carried with him to Jerusalem a three-part message akin to a traffic light, whose colors alternate based on the specific matter at hand. The first message, green, signals full support and encouragement for Israeli military activity against Iranian forces and weapons systems in Syria. The goal: Exploit Tehran’s growing weakness and expedite its withdrawal from Syria.

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‘A Walk With Mr. Heifetz’ imagines a 1926 conversation with famed violinist Jascha Heifetz and pioneer and composer Yehuda Sharett

By TOI STAFF

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It was the coronavirus that brought about an audio recording of Off-Broadway play “A Walk With Mr. Heifetz” to YouTube.

The play is based on the true-life story of a 1926 visit by famed violinist Jascha Heiftez to British Mandatory Palestine, where he performed in a stone quarry at the Ein Harod kibbutz.

After the concert, Heifetz walked with Yehuda Sharett, the kibbutz movement pioneer and composer and brother to Zionist leader and later Israel’s second prime minister, Moshe Sharett.

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T. Belman. These officials are not telling the truth. Wait and see.

Aljazeera reports:

Pompeo told the Israel Hayom newspaper that they discussed annexation “but also many other issues related to it – how to deal with all the factors involved, and how to make sure the move is done properly to bring about an outcome in accordance with the vision of peace”.

Senior officials with Pompeo on visit to Israel: “Annexation” may not happen by July 1. In any event, it was “not the purpose of the trip.”

By  Tal Polon, INN

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t “fly halfway around the world to talk about annexation,” senior State Department officials who accompanied Pompeo on his recent visit to Israel told reporters.

According to a transcript of the conversation dated yesterday, Thursday, two officials were asked whether they thought Israel would proceed with “annexation on July 1st.”

“Well, I think – listen, the Secretary has said on the record and very publicly we are working with the Israelis to implement the Vision for Peace. The Israelis are working through this. We’re supportive of their efforts,” the first official said. “They’ve got a coalition government that has various strands. And I think it’s going to take them a while to come together with what they’re going to do.”

The second official added, “But I do think that we should dispel the notion that we flew halfway around the world to talk about annexation. That’s been reported […] incorrectly.”

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Although the secretary of state took pains to avoid publicly addressing the issue, he seemed to caution Israel’s leadership against moving too quickly to annex occupied territory.

By David M. Halbfinger and Lara Jakes, NYT

What was so urgent and sensitive, in the middle of a virus pandemic, that America’s top diplomat had to make a 16-hour trip to Israel instead of simply picking up the phone?

A key, officials and experts said, was in the timing. It came on the eve of Israel’s seating its new government, one that appears divided over the immediacy of annexing about 30 percent of the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians have counted on for a future state. And it came as the Trump administration is facing growing pressure from Arab leaders across the Middle East to pump the brakes on Israel’s annexation plans.

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By Rabbi Dov Fischer, SPECTATOR

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to guard, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
— Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:1-8

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WHAT A BETRAYAL

T. Belman. Up until today, we were repeatedly told that annexation had been agreed to and that it was to be done after July 1/20.  Bibi was so desperate to become Prime Mister, notwithstanding the indictments, that he gave the farm away.  He started negotiations with a 59 seat majority but allowed Gantz to take him to the cleaners. Gantz, who had 19 seats only got almost half the ministries including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defense. Make no mistake about it, this is a left wing government.

Document includes sections on coronavirus crisis and a promise to promote settlement throughout the country.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 

Netanyahu and Gantz, Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90

The Likud and Blue and White parties on Wednesday evening published the basic guidelines of the new government, and a look at the document reveals that it does not include the application of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised.

The document includes five clauses concerning the coronavirus pandemic and the need to deal with the medical and economic crisis affecting Israel as a result.

“The Israeli government will set up an emergency cabinet to deal with all issues arising from the coronavirus crisis. This cabinet will include all the necessary actions in both the socio-economic and medical aspects. The government will lead a plan to exit the deep economic crisis, build and approve a state budget to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic. The plan will address issues of employment, support for the business sector, self-employed and third sector,” the document reads. Read more…

Hedge-fund manager predicts U.S. economy could contract upwards of 10%

By Chris Matthews, MARKET WATCH

Kyle Bass made his name betting against the U.S. housing market more than a decade ago, and today he is predicting an economic contraction that could be more than three times as severe as that suffered during the Great Financial Crisis.

“For the year I think you’re going to see U.S. GDP down somewhere between 7% to 10% in real terms,” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus with business shutdowns, and “10% is an economic depression,” said the founder of hedge fund Hayman Capital Management, in an interview.

Indeed, the last time the U.S. economy contracted on an annual basis was during the financial crisis in 2009, when it shrank by 2.5%. The last time it shrank by more than 10% was in 1946 at the end of World War II. Prior to that the U.S. economy shrank by 12.9% in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression.

Read more…