Israel: Total Lockdown on Eve of Passover

April 10, 2020

Roots and Reflections Tours with Barry Segal

Israel's Orthodox Communities See Highest Coronavirus Increase

China Sharing Medical Supplies with Israel

Israel Develops Coronavirus Symptom Detector

BDS: Israeli-Invented Vaccine OK for Boycotter's Use

Coronavirus: UK Prime Minister Johnson Moved To ICU

Half Million Iranians Said to be Infected with Coronavirus

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VFI News Final | VFI News | Vision for Israel

"My beloved spoke and said to me: 'rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.'" Song: 2:10-11

Israelis came under a complete lockdown beginning on Wed. afternoon 8 April 2020 through at least Friday 10 April 2020 to hinder the spread of the coronavirus during the Passover holiday. PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced the closure on Monday evening 6 April 2020 in a nationally televised speech from his official residence in Jerusalem. Israelis were informed they would not be permitted to leave their houses on Wed. evening, 8 April 2020, the night of the first Passover seder, from 6 p.m. until 7 a.m. the following day. Netanyahu hinted Israel may begin to ease some restrictions after Passover and the holiday of Mimouna, a less widely observed Jewish holiday which takes place the day after the end of Passover. “I know this is a big burden, but there is no choice. I ask that you do this in self-discipline for your sake and for your loved ones – for the police and medical teams,” Netanyahu said. “On Purim, the virus spread. I’m telling you now clearly, Pesach will not be Purim. Every family will do Pesach with their immediate family,” Netanyahu added. (VFI News)

Have you been longing for and planning a visit to Israel, however, been delayed by coronavirus restrictions? Take heart, you will get here. As one man of faith says: "God gives Israel to people as a desire of the heart." In the meantime, you can visit and learn about this wonderful nation by joining Barry Segal in his biblically based travel program focusing on the reality of life in Israel. It's all about archeology, history, the Bible, culture, music, the language, interviews, the food, and humor. (See one and you will want to see them all!) Pray with us that many people will have their eyes opened to God’s deep love for the people and the Land of Israel through these programs. Click on the link below and enjoy.  We hope to see you face to face soon. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBl0vL9lwgASJIZ_H7USD8Q/videos

The Haredi population has been hardest hit, both in Israel and around the world, as its traditionally insular way of life and heavy emphasis on community have created a perfect storm for the virus to spread. The authorities have major concerns that the desire to celebrate the Passover holiday will lead many in the community to ignore Health Ministry directives and gather in large numbers. Presently, the ratio of COVID-19 infection in ultra-Orthodox communities surpasses the national rate of infection - which has doubled itself - with the highest rate of coronavirus outbreak going to the northern Haredi town of Rekhasim. In Bnei Brak, which has been under a government lockdown for the past few days, the number of patients has jumped from 410 on Sunday, 29 March 2020 to 1,300 02 on Monday 6 April 2020. The Bnei Brak Municipality announced that out of those coronavirus patients in the city, 23 were in serious condition. City residents who wanted to be evacuated were evacuated to hotels. In the Haredi settlement of Modi’in Illit, the number of cases has risen from 30 last week to 117 this week, quadrupling in numbers with a 3.9 infection ration, doubling the national average of 2.0. (VFI News) 

Continue to intercede that the Orthodox communities in Israel and abroad will abide by government decisions and decrees to lessen the spread of coronavirus to those near and far. This requires much discipline and the understanding that all of us in this global crisis, and not just some, must do what we can to prevent further coronavirus infections among our families, friends, and homelands. 

On Monday 6 April 2020 an El Al airplane landed in Ben Gurion airport carrying twenty tons of vital medical supplies to be used in the battle against the coronavirus. This shipment is the first of 20, transporting millions of items from China to the Jewish state. The aircraft carrying the second shipment took off from China on Monday 6 April 2020 and landed in Israel around noon. The equipment on board includes face masks, protective suits, ventilators, and more, and was arranged by a team including the Defense Ministry’s head of procurement, Avi Dadon, along with representatives from the Foreign Ministry, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), El Al, the Israeli Embassy in Beijing, and the international freight company Mentfield. (VFI News)

Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems have developed cutting-edge coronavirus symptom detectors using radar and camera technology, enabling medical teams to screen patients from another room, thereby greatly enhancing their safety. The Defense Ministry announced that its National Emergency Team has developed prototypes to measure the vital signs of patients, including pulse, respiratory rate, and temperature, and pick out patterns that indicate a likely coronavirus infection. Currently, medical teams need to examine patients directly through close contact and at longer intervals, putting them in danger of infection. (JNS) 

The founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel said this week in an Arab media interview that if Israel invents a vaccine for the coronavirus, those who reject normalization with Israel by boycotting it can still be given the vaccine. However, Omar Barghouti continued that Israel should not be allowed to use the coronavirus crisis to maintain relations with the Palestinian Authority and with other Arab states. He also said: “if you use medical equipment from Israel - not a problem. Cooperating with Israel against the virus – to begin with, we do not consider it normalization. The same is true of other medical breakthroughs, he said.  “If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example, or any other virus, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel to save millions of lives." (VFI News) 

Intercessors, please continue to pray against this anti-Semitic anti-Israel movement. BDS activity started in July 2005, when 171 Palestinian civil society organizations banded together and decided to try a new approach to fight the so-called “occupation.” Since then, the movement has expanded to include hundreds of campaigns on six continents. They range from pushes for investors such as churches, trade unions, and universities, to divest from companies holding Israeli military contracts, to consumer boycotts, calls for musicians and other artists to cancel appearances in Israel, and demands for governments to impose sanctions. BDS has never been invoked against any other country...only Israel. Meanwhile, BDS advocates continue to use without any sense of gratitude or honor Israel's breakthrough medical devices and medications, technical inventions, and a long list of other world-benefiting innovations.  Continue to intercede for the collapse of the BDS movement on every front. 

A Downing Street Statement on Monday 6 April 2020 informed the nation that following a ten-day fight with coronavirus the PM Johnson had been transferred to Intensive Care: "Since Sunday evening, [5 April 2020] the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas' Hospital, in London. Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital." The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputize for him where necessary. The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks to all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication. Johnson, 55, tested positive for the virus on 26 March 2020. (VFI News) 

Intercede for the swift and full recovery of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Iran’s clerical rulers have faced the accusation that they are fabricating statistics to hide the severity of the coronavirus disease afflicting the population. A member of the National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce for the Islamic Republic of Iran revealed this week that half a million people in the country suffer from the deadly coronavirus. Iran's Ministry of Health claims that 60,500 Iranians are currently infected. However, Hamid Souri, the task force member, told the Islamic Republic's news agency, IRNA, that many patients afflicted with the coronavirus have not been detected. Souris termed the situation "worrisome,” and said there has been a spike in the virus across the provinces of Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, West Azarbaijan, Bushehr, Khuzestan, and Kermanshah. The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday 6 April 2020 that the death rate in Iran is “four to five times higher than the regime admitted that day”. Also on Monday, the head of Iran's Health Ministry's Public Relations Office, Kianush Jahanpur said that "If the current procedure goes on, within seven to ten days we will witness the virus peaking again in Tehran." Iran is the epicenter of the Middle East coronavirus crisis. The clerical regime has refused to accept humanitarian aid from the USA government. (VFI News) 

Pray that leaders in Iran making decisions that affect the lives of their nation's families, communities and the wider world will communicate with clarity and truth. Pray they will accept the aid offered by the USA and other nations to help the sick and the needy among them and not pour donated monies into terrorist support and activities.

We at Vision for Israel, continue to extend a desperate cry to our readers and donors to help us meet the requests for aid and financial assistance that are pouring into our VFI offices by the hour. We are working day and night to meet those needs, but we have never been so challenged to raise the necessary funds that are called for in this unprecedented crisis.  Over a million people have been suddenly left jobless and entire families are suffering. We need supernatural divine provisions. We ask you also to take the time to review the projects we continue to undergird and the accomplishments that are taking place as you give to Vision for Israel. To see our many areas of outreach, including those to children at risk, entire families in need, the elderly, Holocaust survivors and much more, go to https://www.visionforisrael.com/en/outreach.There, click on one of the four categories and view the list of the projects with which we are actively involved in that category. Thank you and please give generously now to those amid emergency hardships in Israel. You can do so with easy instructions on the VFI website page. 

"Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?" Job: 30:25

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