Middle East Experience

For the first time since their liberation, the survivors of the Shoah sat down together to reflect on their only recently acquired freedom from their nightmarish bondage.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 75 years ago Holocaust survivors celebrated Sukkot on their own terms

If the public isn’t following the guidelines, something must be done to make them comply – even if it means closing synagogues for Sukkot and curbing the ongoing protests against Netanyahu.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israelis must face the reality of the pandemic in order to stop it

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper highlighted Washington’s focus on containing Chinese and Russian influence in Africa as he arrived in Tunisia Wednesday..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Esper pushes reluctant Maghreb to curb Chinese, Russian influence

In February, when Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne was the Mayor of Kortrijk he tweeted that the “Jewish lobby is working extra hours. After Aalst, now Washington."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Belgium’s new justice minister has spoken of Jewish lobby

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was beginning a quarantine process after Hope Hicks, a top adviser and trusted aide, tested positive for the coronavirus.Read the latest: US President Donald Trump tests positive for COVID-19Hicks travels regularly with the president on Air Force One and, along with other senior aides, accompanied him to Ohio for the presidential debate on Tuesday and to Minnesota for a campaign event on Wednesday.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.“Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!” Trump said in a tweet.Earlier, in an interview on Fox News, Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump had been tested for the virus and would know the results later on Thursday or Friday.“I spend a lot of time with Hope, and so does the first lady. And she's tremendous,” he said.The president, who is tested regularly for COVID-19, has kept up a rigorous travel schedule across the country in recent weeks, holding rallies with thousands of people in the run-up to the November 3 election, despite warnings from public health professionals against having events with large crowds.Hicks' positive test raises the possibility that others within Trump's immediate circle and at the highest levels of the US government may have been exposed and have to quarantine as well.Trump has come under sharp criticism for his response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States alone. The president has touted his management of the crisis.Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has lambasted Trump for not having a clear national plan to tackle the pandemic. Biden, a former vice president, regularly wears a mask and has eschewed campaign events with large crowds. He is leading Trump in national polls.Trump and his staff regularly do not wear masks, and Trump has denigrated people who wear them often. Health professionals say mask-wearing is one of the key things people can do to help prevent the spread of the virus.At the White House, people who are around Trump, including some reporters, get tested on a regular basis.But the White House did away with daily temperature checks for everyone who enters the complex months ago, and people who are tested for the virus interact with others in the White House campus who are not.The White House said in a statement that Trump "takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously" and that it followed guidelines for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible.Trump said he was surprised that Hicks had tested positive.“She knows there's a risk, but she's young,” he said on Fox News.Hicks returned to the White House earlier this year after a stint in the private sector. She served previously as White House communications director and as a spokeswoman for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.Read more:Close Trump aide Hope Hicks tests positive for COVID-19Ivanka Trump aide tests positive for COVID-19Valet of US President Trump tests positive for coronavirus
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: US President Trump enters quarantine after aide tests positive for COVID

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus and will be in quarantine, the president announced on Friday.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!,” Trump said in a tweet.The White House doctor Sean Conley said Trump will continue carrying out his duties “without disruption while recovering,” according to a statement carried by the Associated Press. He also said the president and first lady are “both well” and they will quarantine “within the White House.”The announcement came a few hours after the White House announced that one of the president’s closest advisors, Hope Hicks, tested positive for COVID-19.“Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!” Trump said in a tweet.Earlier in the day, Trump said during a Fox News interview that he and the first lady “spend a lot of time with Hope [Hicks].”Hicks, who travels regularly with the president on Air Force One along with other senior aides, accompanied him to Ohio for the first presidential debate on Tuesday and joined him in Minnesota for a campaign event the next day.With ReutersRead more:US President Trump enters quarantine after aide tests positive for COVIDClose Trump aide Hope Hicks tests positive for COVID-19Ivanka Trump aide tests positive for COVID-19
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: US President Donald Trump tests positive for COVID-19

Russian President Vladimir Putin wished Donald Trump a speedy recovery in a telegram on Friday, saying he was sure the US leader's qualities would help him fight off the coronavirus.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.“I am convinced that your vitality, good spirits and optimism will help you cope with this dangerous virus,” the Kremlin quoted Putin as saying in the message.Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov had earlier wished Trump “a speedy and easy recovery” on behalf of the Kremlin.Peskov said Putin was considering whether to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, after Russia announced in August that it had developed a vaccine named “Sputnik V” after the historic Soviet-era satellite.“When he does it, we will announce it,” Peskov said.Russia has prided itself on registering the world's first coronavirus vaccine, although it is still undergoing large-scale clinical trials after promising results in early trials.Numerous high-profile figures including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin have already had the vaccine.In a speech to the United Nations last month, Putin offered to inoculate those working at the international organization for free.He earlier said that one of his daughters had been vaccinated.Read more:US President Donald Trump tests positive for COVID-19US Secretary Pompeo tests negative for COVID-19, reconsiders Asia tripClose Trump aide Hope Hicks tests positive for COVID-19
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Russia’s Putin tells President Trump his ‘vitality’ will help fight COVID-19

The United Arab Emirates reported 1,181 new coronavirus cases on Friday, along with 3 new deaths from the virus, according to the Ministry of Health on Twitter.This marked the second record daily increase in cases following 1,158 on Thursday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.Since early September the country has experienced a surge in cases, repeatedly breaking the record for daily increases since September 12 surpassed the height of the initial outbreak in May.However, the death rate has remained comparatively low, with the three new deaths bringing the death toll to 424.The new cases were detected after authorities carried out 107,187 tests, announced the government on Twitter.Authorities had previously reported over 24,000 violations of health guidelines during the first two weeks of September.The majority of the violators were reprimanded for not wearing a face mask in public spaces, according to a government spokesperson.Read more:Coronavirus: UAE confirms 1,158 new COVID-19 cases, highest count since outbreakCoronavirus: UAE officials expect vaccine to be available by end of 2020, early 2021Coronavirus: UAE records over 24,000 COVID-19 violations in first half of September
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: UAE surge continues with record high 1,181 new cases, 3 new deaths

Egypt has repeatedly tried to retrieve Nefertiti’s bust from Germany, which Cairo claims was illegally smuggled out of the country when it was discovered more than 100 years ago.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egypt renews demands to retrieve Nefertiti bust from Germany

Lebanon is to put 111 villages and towns nationwide on lockdown for a week after a series of record novel coronavirus daily infection rates, the interior ministry said Friday.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.The move came after widespread objections to a nationwide lockdown in August, as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades.From early Sunday and for eight days in the villages listed, residents were to “remain at home,” and “wear a mask covering their mouth and nose if forced to go out,” the ministry said in a statement.State institutions and places of worship would close, but health centers and delivery services would be exempted, it added.The head of a major Beirut public hospital battling COVID-19, Firass Abiad, welcomed the new district-by-district approach.“This will help identify hotspots and (implement) a more focused approach to restrictive measures. This can be a good alternative to the unpopular total lockdown,” he said on Twitter.Cases have spiked in the aftermath of a massive explosion at the Beirut port on August 4 that killed more than 190 people and overwhelmed the capital's health services, with thousands of wounded.The country has recorded 40,868 COVID-19 cases since February, including 374 deaths.Authorities fear that a major spike would overwhelm the country's fragile health sector.Read more:US VP Pence, wife test negative for COVID-19 after Trump tested positive: SpokesmanUS President Donald Trump tests positive for COVID-19Close Trump aide Hope Hicks tests positive for COVID-19
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Lebanon to lockdown more than 100 districts amid COVID-19 outbreak