In Israel as in America, ḥaredi communities have been among those hardest hit by the coronavirus, as members were slow to abide by social-distancing recommendations, and some rabbis insisted on keeping synagogues and schools open. The disease has spread so extensively in the ḥaredi city of Bnei Brak that the government has sealed it off, and sent in hundreds of police officers to enforce prohibitions on public gatherings. Meanwhile, Yaakov Litzman, the head of the Ashkenazi ḥaredi party and Israel’s health minister, has tested positive for the illness, and faces allegations that he attended prayer services after the government forbade such public gatherings. David Horovitz writes:

Since the beginning of the year, the outgoing secretary of state has been using his Twitter account to tout his department’s various accomplishments during his tenure. Among these, notes Jimmy Quinn, lay an important statement explaining the 2018 decision to cease funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA): “it’s estimated [that less than] 200,000 Arabs displaced in 1948 are still alive and most others are not refugees.” Quinn explains: