ToI Community update: Editor’s Note: A return to ‘normal’ — for the haters, too * Webinar: Netanyahu on trial * Podcast: What is it about Jerusalem?

[The Times of Israel]( Dear Community members and Daily Edition readers, And we’re back. Kind of. As of today, Israel has largely reopened for business; schools have gradually returned; places of entertainment are set to reopen in mid-June. In the new normal, we’re all still keeping our social distance; we’re all still supposed to be wearing masks in public; the elderly and the medically vulnerable are still at risk; we still have some 2,000 active COVID-19 cases, and we just don’t know when or if we’ll face a second wave. Israelis eating at a restaurant in Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, May 26, 2020, a day before the formal reopening of restaurants nationwide after a two-month shutdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90) Comparatively, it is being [argued]( by some that Israel is no great success story. Look around the region, and you see many countries with far lower rates of contagion, and far fewer reported virus deaths, per capita. But gazing toward the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Sweden et al, and given the rate at which infection was spreading at its height here, I’m firmly in the camp of those who believe Israel’s early shut down, stay home and tracking measures were vital, and that our death toll would have been far, far higher without them. Even without a second wave, however, this crisis is emphatically not over here. Unemployment soared from below 4 percent to over 25%, with more than a million members of the workforce jobless. Our newly installed welfare minister, Labor’s Itzik Shmuly, assessed this morning that 400,000 of this million will find they have no jobs to go back to. The government’s handling of the economic meltdown has been less assured than its medical oversight, with even the latest measures — financially rewarding businesses that put their workers on state-paid home leave, but not those who kept on paying their staff these past two months — looking misconceived. An Etihad Airways flight with aid for the Palestinians to fight the coronavirus pandemic is unloaded at Ben Gurion Airport on May 19, 2020. (Nickolay Mladenov/Twitter) In the West Bank and Gaza, COVID-19 has been remarkably contained; hostility to Israel, less so. Fourteen tons of medical supplies sent to the Palestinian Authority more than a week ago from the United Arab Emirates were still [languishing]( at Ben Gurion Airport as of last night, because its Gulf dispatchers had chosen the most efficient delivery route, via Israel. So despicable a precedent of “normalization” with Israel rendered the vital aid — including ventilators — unacceptable, the PA initially declared. A little later, sensing so blunt a statement of political hostility at the expense of humanitarian responsibility did not reflect terribly well on its priorities, the PA backtracked a touch, and complained that the UAE had not coordinated the delivery with it in advance. Either way, it’s still stuck at the airport. This latest incidence of the PA loathing us more than it loves its own is dwarfed, however, by Iran’s self-defeating cynicism. Early in the crisis, a senior Iranian cleric — a Holocaust-denier, no less — [declared]( that if it is Israeli scientists who come up with the first COVID-19 vaccine, life would take precedence over loathing, and it would be acceptable for Iranians to benefit from this Zionist success. Two months and 7,500 dead Iranians later, such lifesaving pragmatism has been shunted aside. Yesterday, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president widely described internationally as “moderate,” [ordered]( the implementation of a new parliamentary dictate that bans the use of any and all of the Zionist regime’s technology. His declaration followed hard on the heels of his boss, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, [disseminating]( a poster predicting “Palestine will be free” and invoking the “final solution.” Accused of inciting genocide, Khamenei charmingly “[explained](” that Iran doesn’t seek to annihilate the Jews, only to eliminate their historic homeland and modern state. A poster from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website calling for Israel’s destruction that uses the term “final solution,” which usually refers to the Nazi policy of genocide against Jews during the Holocaust. May 20, 2020 (via english.khamenei.ir) It will be interesting to see how seriously the ayatollahs are going to implement their new anti-Zionist-tech ban, but it’s probably all hot air. With the help of Start-Up Nation co-author Saul Singer, I [detailed]( a few days ago why a “no Israel inside” arrangement would leave Iran with no computers, internet or cellphones, its roads deserted, its exports hobbled, and its healthcare system in tatters. Were it not for the consequent loss of life, one would say bring it on; given the harm such a ban would cause for Iran’s long-oppressed citizenry, public outrage would likely rise to threaten the regime. Which is why the ayatollahs, though routinely trampling their people’s interests as they pursue their obsessive Israel-hatred, even at the height of a global pandemic, wouldn’t dare set Iran back half a century by depriving it of the benefits of Israeli creativity and innovation. — NOW MORE THAN EVER: Join the ToI Community We are hugely appreciative that so many of you have been joining the Community, and thus helping finance the work of our reporters and editors. If you haven’t yet joined the ToI Community, [please do so now!]( All Times of Israel content remains open to all readers. But if that content matters to you, do please support us — for as little as $6 a month. — ToI Community Webinar: The State of Israel vs. Benjamin Netanyahu For the first time in Israeli history, a sitting prime minister is standing trial. Earlier this week, David Horovitz gave The Times of Israel Community exclusive insights on the trial that has all of Israel’s attention. Did you miss it? Watch [a video of the webinar here](. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a protective face mask, in the courtroom at the District Court of Jerusalem on May 24, 2020, at the start of his corruption trial. (Ronen Zvulun / POOL / AFP) — ToI Podcast: What is it about Jerusalem? Israel’s annual observance of Jerusalem Day was a little different this year under COVID-19 social distancing restrictions. So The Times of Israel Podcast decided to mark the national holiday from afar with an in-depth conversation with ToI New Media editor Sarah Tuttle-Singer. Tuttle-Singer lived in all four quarters of the ancient city for over two years, after which she wrote her experiential memoir, Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered. In a lively discussion with podcast host Amanda Borschel-Dan, Tuttle-Singer guides us through the alleyways and rooftops of the Old City. We hear about the best place in the world to purchase take-out humus, and upon which rooftop to eat it. Hear [this episode here]( – and be sure to subscribe to The Times of Israel podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you listen. — May perks for ToI Community members: - 10% off Israeli artist Lea Nikel’s prints at [ArtSource](. Indicate you’re a member of the Times of Israel Community to receive discount. - 15% off at [Milk & Honey Distillery](. Discount Code: timesofisrael_mh-distillery (Israel shipments only; discount on all but Distillery Exclusive Edition) - 10% off any custom photo bencher at [Let’s Bench](. Discount Code: 10TOI - 10% off from [BeerBazaar]( ([English](). Discount Code: TOI-COMMUNITY - A 15% discount at [Judaica Webstore.](Discount code: TOI_15 - A $100 voucher for a Hebrew course from[ eTeacher.]( Be well! David Horovitz Founding Editor, The Times of Israel You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to The Times of Israel's Daily Edition and/or you are a member of [The Times of Israel Community](. If you would like to stop receiving these emails, please click below to unsubscribe. [Unsubscribe]( Email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser](