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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, March 20, 2020

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A picture taken on March 20, 2020 shows an empty road in Jerusalem, after Israel banned non-essential movement and ordered the closure of all leisure and entertainment venues in a bid to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Coronavirus crisis

Measures to limit movement come into effect, as number of sick rises to 705

After cabinet approval, Israelis legally required to remain at home unless for necessary tasks; drive-through testing site opens in Tel Aviv; condition of three people very serious

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement on the coronavirus at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on March 16, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu tells Israelis: Now it’s an order — you must stay at home

People run near the beach in Tel Aviv on March 19, 2020 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Updated: When are Israelis allowed to leave home? The specifics

Microscopy image showing SARS-CoV-2. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles resemble a crown, giving the disease its characteristic name: Coronavirus. (NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories / Wikipedia)

Analysis

Simona Weinglass

Coronavirus explained: 22 questions with epidemiologist guiding Israeli response

Prof Yehuda Carmeli on how exactly the virus is transmitted, why it’s so contagious, whether Israel has the right strategy, how long we’ll be fighting it… and how many will die

Magen David Adom staff wear protective clothing at a drive-through site to collect samples for coronavirus testing in Tel Aviv, March 20, 2020. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

People of the PodLISTEN: Experts speak on Israel’s response to coronavirus in virtual panel talk

Ed Susman and wife Barbara upon arrival in Israel, March 19, 2020. (Courtesy)

Coronavirus crisis24 immigrants from US go straight from Ben Gurion Airport to two-week quarantine

Op-ed

Coronavirus or democracy? Which crisis should Israelis be more worried about?

Life-changing moves to battle the virus are overseen by the admirably effective… and deeply mistrusted Netanyahu, who himself conflates national, political and personal interests

People wave Israeli flags, inverted Israeli flags and banners during a protest outside the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 19, 2020, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to cement his power and undermine Israel's democratic foundations. (AP Photo/Eyal Warshavsky)

An Israeli child watch as Health Minister Yaakov Litzman holds a live press conference on the new government restrictions for the public regarding the coronavirus on March 19, 2020. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)

Israel media reviewGo fine or go home: 6 things to know for March 20

People celebrate Israel's 71st Independence Day in Netanya on May 8, 2019. (Flash90)

Before the virus

Israel slips a spot but still a high 14th in World Happiness survey

By AP and ToI Staff

Finland (again) tops UN’s annual World Happiness Report; ; US, UK rise; Tel Aviv is world 8th happiest city; data prepared before coronavirus crisis

A blog for kids

Miryam Howard-Meier

Ms. Spaghetti Head

The town is full of coughs and sniffles, with moms and dads and city officials warning all to wash their hands! — A read-out-loud poem for these times

President Ruby Rivlin reads Israeli classic 'Flat To Rent' by Lea Goldberg online on Thursday, March 19, 2020, during the coronavirus crisis (Courtesy Ruby Rivlin Facebook page)

Get online to exercise, forage, pray and even hike during your home stay

By Jessica Steinberg

Workers prepare a new ward at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, for people infected with the Coronavirus, March 19, 2020. (Flash90)

Jerusalem woman with coronavirus, 89, in critical condition — hospital

Condition of nursing home resident worsens, along with 91-year-old woman in very serious condition, putting both at risk of becoming Israel’s first fatalities from disease

2 departments close at Wolfson Hospital as staff diagnosed; medics ration masks

Number of confirmed virus cases in Israel jumps to 677

Israelis take to balconies to applaud medical staff for coronavirus fight

A flier urging customers to remain home hangs at a turnstile as an MTA employee sanitizes surfaces at a subway station with bleach solutions due to COVID-19 concerns, March 20, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Live updates (closed)

New York joins California issuing shelter at home order

People living in the 3 biggest American cities, NYC, LA and Chicago, will all be under lockdown as part of efforts to contain coronavirus outbreak

8:45 pm

Dow Jones falls again to end Wall Street's worst week since 2008
8:19 pm

Illinois follows NY, California in ordering virus lockdowns
8:15 pm

Israel reports first death in country from COVID-19

Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut at a court hearing on the Shin Bet's new emergency powers to track Israelis' movements using their cellphone location data to help combat the spread of the new coronavirus, March 19, 2019. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

High Court says virus mass surveillance can’t continue without Knesset oversight

In temporary injunction, justices give deadlocked parliament until midday Tuesday to establish Subcommittee on Clandestine Services — or stop tracking Israelis’ movements

Protesters scuffle with police during a demonstration "to save Israel's democracy" following far-reaching government actions against the coronavirus, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 19, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police deny efforts to stop Knesset closure protest were politically motivated

Shas MK Moshe Abutbul at the Knesset on September 25, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

5th MK enters quarantine after exposure to virus carrier

Rachel Sharansky Danziger

I took my children biking, and a man walking a giant dog stepped to the side to avoid us — the kids used to step aside to avoid dogs, but we are scarier than dogs now

Yokhanan Phaltual

Corona has revealed racism we didn’t expect in Israel

A brutal attack on Am-Shalem Singson, a member of my Bnei Menashe community, has shaken us to the core

Sarah Tuttle-Singer

It sucks right now. And I’m so happy that I’m here

Stuck at home, bored, tuned out — I’ve been there before. Coronavirus is giving me a second chance, but this time, I’m tuning in. Way in.

Saying goodbye to my seat in shul

I don’t know how to say this, but this Shabbat, I won’t be at our meeting place — don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s me

When staying home may be the least safe option

As the populace is ordered indoors, domestic abuse victims are at heightened risk. Here’s how we can help each other stay safe

The Jewish lesson from my new WhatsApp groups

The ’Corona Rabbis’ focus on the challenge of minyan in a pandemic is legit, but it distracts from the needs of vulnerable people that the ’Corona Volunteers’ address

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on January 22, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Edelstein slams criticism of his Knesset shutdown as ‘cynical spin’

‘The Knesset isn’t closed, our democracy isn’t in danger,’ parliament speaker insists, promising plenum will start work on Monday and saying alternative to unity is ‘anarchy’

Protesters rail against Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein's decision to prohibit meetings of the Knesset plenum, carrying a sign reading 'No to dictatorship' outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 19, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Blue and White petitions High Court against Edelstein’s closure of Knesset

A nearly empty plenum, due to restrictions against the coronavirus, is seen at the swearing-in of the 23rd Knesset, March 16, 2020. (Gideon Sharon/Knesset Spokesperson)

InterviewExpert decries Knesset lockout as troubling abuse of power

By Raphael Ahren

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz gives a televised statement in Ramat Gan on March 7 2020. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

In shift, Gantz doesn’t rule out sitting in government with Netanyahu as PM

After his party vowed in 3 election campaigns not to join with premier due to his criminal indictments, centrist leader says wrong to ‘cling’ to past remarks during virus crisis

Yariv Levin, right, and Ze'ev Elkin of the Likud party attend a Knesset plenum session on March 12, 2014. (Flash90)

Three ministers said to have urged for new virus limitations to apply to Knesset

AnalysisWhy Arab Israeli parties backing Gantz for prime minister is historic twist

People walk through the empty streets of the Boro Park neighborhood on March 19, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)

As virus spreads, US officials struggle to halt ultra-Orthodox gatherings

By Eric Cortellessa

Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Haredi populations hit hard by COVID-19, but some parts of community still defying social distancing orders

Illustrative: Israelis mourn teens drowned in flash flooding, April 27, 2018. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

With communal mourning a health hazard, grieving US Jews must sit shiva alone

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men look at a "Pashkvil"- information poster about the Coronavirus in Jerusalem on March 18, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 )

Coronavirus crisisIsrael will become Italy if ultra-Orthodox keep gathering, official said to warn

A soldier in Military Intelligence's technology unit works on a project to convert CPAP machines into ventilators to help combat the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. (Israel Defense Forces)

Elite IDF tech unit working to develop medical equipment, protective gear

By Judah Ari Gross

Amid shortages, Military Intelligence’s crack 81st Unit trying to convert cheap CPAP breathing machines into ventilators, better protective gear for medical personnel

A soldier checks the temperature of a comrade as he enters a military base during the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF goes into higher state of readiness as it aids in fight against coronavirus

By Judah Ari Gross

Medical personnel at work in the intensive care unit of the hospital of Brescia, Italy, Thursday, March 19, 2020. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

Global virus death toll tops 10,000 as epicenter shifts west

By Nicole Winfield and Tim Sullivan

California announces total lockdown and US army prepares to deploy field hospital as COVID-19 cases rocket outside of China

Medical workers in overalls bring a patient under intensive care into the newly built Columbus Covid 2 temporary hospital to fight the new coronavirus infection, at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, on March 16, 2020. (ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP)

Italian virus death toll overtakes China’s as outbreak spreads

By David Rising, Nick Perry and Nicole Winfield

Iranians, some wearing protective masks, gather inside the capital Tehran's grand bazaar, during the coronavirus pandemic crisis, on March 18, 2020 (AFP)

Iran says coronavirus death toll reaches 1,284

By ToI Staff and AFP

Founder of Alibaba group Jack Ma arrives at the Tech for Good summit in Paris, May 15, 2019. (AP/Thibault Camus, File)

World tech leaders step into coronavirus fray with donations, digital tools

By Luke Tress and Agencies

Alibaba head Jack Ma vows to donate vast supplies of medical equipment to US, every country in Africa; Zuckerberg says Facebook to provide users with ‘authoritative information’

An Israeli woman wears a face mask for fear of the coronavirus while shopping in Ramle, March 19, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Coronavirus crisisTel Aviv Stock Exchange jumps, shekel gains ground following bank intervention

Illustrative photo of pharmaceutical pills. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Teva to send US millions of malaria pills with potential to help COVID-19

By AFP and ToI Staff

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More Headlines

Jacob Gross at the yeshiva and synagogue in the London-area Canvey Island, Dec. 13, 2019. (Cnaan Liphshiz)

British Jews prepare for distancing, shut synagogues as nation adapts to virus

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Palestinians bringing meals to quarantined people in Bethlehem on March 15, 2020. (Adam Rasgon/Times of Israel)

Coronavirus crisisPA says it may become stricter, after some broke quarantine then tested positive

Illustration: Israelis withdraw money from Bank Hapoalim cash machines. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s largest bank pays $870 million to settle US tax evasion probe

US President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2020. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Report: Trump told advisers hitting back at Iran during pandemic was bad optics

By ToI Staff and Agencies

US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr,a North Carolina Republican, leaves the chamber after a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 10, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

GOP senator warned donors, dumped stocks while downplaying virus threat publicly

By AFP

Gal Gadot at the 92nd Street Y on October 1, 2017, in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images via JTA)

Malady melodyGal Gadot gets celeb friends ‘together’ for virtual sing-along

Brooklyn Nets players during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday, March 10, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Amid US test shortages, celebrities accused of jumping the line

By Michael Biesecker, Michelle R. Smith and Tim Reynolds

Illustrative: In this June 15, 2018, file photo, twenty dollar bills are counted in North Andover, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

Filthy lucre: Paper money shunned for fear of virus spread

This July 5, 2016, photo shows Amer Fakhoury, owner of the Little Lebanon To Go restaurant in Dover, New Hampshire, US. (John Huff/Foster's Daily Democrat via AP, File)

Lebanon frees American who served in Israel-backed militia

ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, January 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Coronavirus crisisICC prosecutor requests more time to weigh jurisdiction over Palestinian areas

By Raphael Ahren

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