Israel’s Military Says it Has Reached Herd Immunity to COVID

March 16, 2021

Iran Says Container Ship Damaged in ‘Terrorist’ Attack in Mediterranean

Czech Republic Opens De Facto Embassy to Israel in West Jerusalem

German Jewish Students Raise $40k to Keep Muslim Kebab Shop Open

Our Vision for Israel – Barry & Batya Segal

UAE Establishes $10 Billion Israel Investment Fund

Last Ethiopian Aliyah Flight of Operation Rock of Israel Arrives

Israeli Technology to Save Lives of Colombian Children

Exodus out of US: 17-Year-Locusts to Emerge as Passover Nears

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The Israeli military declared that it has reached herd immunity to COVID-19 after 80% of its personnel had either been vaccinated, had the disease, or both.

The announcement makes the Israel Defense Forces perhaps the first military in the world to achieve immunity to the disease.

“Things look a lot more like they did a year ago,” Brig. Gen. Dr. Alon Glasberg, the IDF’s chief medical officer, told reporters Thursday. “It seemed impossible, but now it’s here.”

While herd immunity will allow the military to resume normal operations, soldiers will still have to wear masks and social distance for now. (INN / VFI News)

“God, we thank you for the amazing progress, and ask that you continue to bless your people with healing.”

The articles included in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vision for Israel. We try to provide accurate reporting on news pertinent to Israel, the Middle-East, the diaspora, and Jewish issues around the world—and we hope that you find it both informative and useful for intercessory prayer.

An Iranian container ship traveling in the Mediterranean was damaged in an attack this week, an official said Friday, calling the incident a “terrorist act.”

The ship was slightly damaged by an explosive object but no one on board was hurt, Ali Ghiasi, a spokesman for state-run shipping company IRISL told semi-official Nournews, according to Reuters.

The accusation comes a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel has targeted at least 12 ships bound for Syria, most of them transporting Iranian oil, with mines and other weapons. (TOI / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you keep us safe from the threat of terror attacks.”

The Czech Republic opened a full-fledged diplomatic mission in west Jerusalem on Thursday as a sign of its recognition that the city is Israel’s capital.

“We, the Czech Republic, are opening here in Jerusalem on Washington Street our diplomatic representation,” said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, as he inaugurated the new office together with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

Babiš clarified that the country’s embassy is still located in Tel Aviv, but that the new office would be a branch of that embassy.

“We will have a full-fledged diplomatic mission here in Jerusalem,” Babiš said. “It will deal with a lot, ranging from politics and economic cooperation to the consular agenda and other topics. It will have its permanent staff and work under the lead of our embassy in Tel Aviv.” (JPost / VFI News)

Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. - Psalm 122:3-5

Jewish students in Germany have raised more than $40,000 to help the owner of the kebab shop in Halle that was attacked after a neo-Nazi gunman was unable to enter a nearby synagogue.

The Jewish Student Union Germany started a GoFundMe campaign last year to assist Ismet Tekin, who owns the shop with his brother, surpassing by far its original goal of 7,000 euros — about $8,300 — Deutsche Welle reported.

Tekin’s business suffered massive losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a drop in sales following the 2019 attack on Yom Kippur. A neo-Nazi killed a woman and a diner after failing to enter the synagogue. He has since been sentenced to life in prison. (INN / VFI News)

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. - 1 Peter 4:8-10

Vision for Israel co-founders Barry & Batya Segal sit down to talk about their work of blessing and mercy in the land of Israel—thanks to the unshakeable support of all who believe in the restorative power of Yeshua’s love.

A $10 billion fund has been established by the United Arab Emirates, aimed at investing in specific sectors throughout Israel, including space, healthcare, water, manufacturing, energy, and agricultural technology, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Thursday.

The fund is the result of a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

In an interview with Radio Haifa's Eli Levi, Netanyahu credited the establishment of the fund, the hefty promise of $10 billion, to "the Sheikh's belief in my economic leadership."

He added that this fund will help jump-start the Israeli economy as the country emerges from the economic throes of the coronavirus. (JPost / VFI News)

The last flight of Operation Rock of Israel, the latest effort to bring the remainder of the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia to Israel, landed Thursday morning with some 300 new immigrants disembarking at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, who led the government’s efforts to restart the immigration of the remaining Falash Mura in Ethiopia, was on hand to greet the new immigrants, as was Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog.

Activists for the community have criticized the government for failing to bring all remaining members of the Falash Mura in Ethiopia to Israel, who number at least another 5,500. (JPost / VFI News)

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - Isaiah 51:11

Two devices that extract drinking water from the air were donated by the State of Israel to schools in rural Colombia at the beginning of this week. The devices were installed in La Guajira, a state in northeastern Colombia, which for years has been suffering from a disastrous water crisis.

The donation marks a significant contribution to President Iván Duque’s “Guajira Azul” program, which includes initiatives that will bring fresh clean drinking water and basic sanitation to the area, and is part of a larger social initiative for the peninsula administered by Colombia’s Housing Ministry.

For centuries, the indigenous Wayuu population adapted to survive by planting crops fit to the region’s unique ecosystem. Seasonal rains have a large significance for the Wayuu, but over the past decade, they have become less frequent due to climate change. Prolonged droughts and rising temperatures in recent years have disrupted long-standing Wayuu planting practices and left the land with the largest amount of desertification in the country. (INN / VFI News)

“God, we thank you for the blessings you enable Israel to bestow upon other nations.”

Periodical cicada nymphs, called broods, will make their scheduled emergence from the underground this spring, just in time for the retelling of locusts' contribution to the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, a University of Maryland report detailed.

The periodical cicadas will be visible in the American north-east from around mid-May to late-June, visible in the vicinity of shrubs or trees, and recognizable by the distinguishable mating "song" that the male cicadas sing to the females during daylight hours.

"The reason that this is such an impressive event," UMD's professor emeritus Dr. Michaell Raupp told Fox News, is that "it happens nowhere else on the planet."

A UMD information site notes that though they are known as locusts, they are not actually locusts. (JPost / VFI News)

Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field. - Exodus 10:3-5

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