July 8, 2020 - 2 pm headlines: Sharp rise in number of coronavirus patients in serious condition. Defense Minister Gantz quarantines after exposure to COVID-19 carrier. Member of Prime Minister Netanyahu's defense team quits.
A law that makes procuring prostitution services an administrative offense and fines prostitution clients, is due to take effect on Friday. The law imposes a 2,000 shekel penalty on first offenders; a repeat offense doubles the fine; and prosecutors are also empowered to indict prostitution clients in certain cases, with a maximum fine of some 75,000 shekels. The law was passed in 2018 as part of efforts to reduce the sex trade. It also calls for a public education campaign and allocates some 90 million shekels over three years for rehabilitation programs to help sex workers get out of prostitution. Professor Shulamit Almog, Co-Director of the Law, Gender and Policy Forum of the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa spoke to KAN's Naomi Segal about the law, which she said falls short in efforts to address the core of the problem.
Irish-born attorney Gideon Taylor has been chosen new director of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, known as the Claims Conference, which secures and oversees the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in German Holocaust-era compensation. Menachem Rosenzaft serves on the board of the Claims Conference and is the general counsel of the World Jewish Congress. He told KAN that Gideon Taylor was committed to getting funding to the remaining Holocaust survivors, particularly during the time of the coronavirus pandemic.
Israel's national carrier El Al is set to be nationalized.
The board of directors of the financially troubled Israeli flag carrier has agreed to accept the Ministry of Finance plan by which it will receive a 75% guarantee from the State for a $250 million loan and it will hold a $150 million offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
Chen Herzog , a partner and chief economist at BDO Consulting, is advising El Al on the process.He spoke with KAN's Mark Weiss.
The Knesset early Tuesday passed second and third readings of a law that allows the government to impose coronavirus restrictions immediately and only later seek Knesset approval. Supporters of the measure say it is necessary in order to reassert control over the spread of virus. Critics say the law removes a key check on the government's power. KAN's Naomi Segal asked Dr. Amir Fuchs, a researcher in the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions at the Israel Democracy Institute to explain the new law in the context of the parallel processes to allow the government to respond to the coronavirus crisis.
Under new restrictions introduced by the government in an attempt to reduce the rise of COVID-19 cases, bars, gyms, pools and entertainment venues will be closed until further notice.
Many cultural venues expressed the fear that they will be unable to recover from this test blow,
Yair Nagid , head of the Cultural Administration and the CEO of the Beersheba Performing Arts Center, told KAN's Mark Weiss that the closure is particularly painful because the staff had only been back at work for a few days after a 3-month layoff.
Meir Javedanfar, a lecturer on Iran and the Middle East at IDC in Herzliya, says that the latest attacks and explosions in Iran were not necessarily the work of sabotage, but also due to great decay in safety and proper law enforcement and even brain drain from Iran that has left chunks of infrastructure in faulty management. He told KAN that some 20 percent of the Iran is infected with Corona and could care less about the Ayatollah’s efforts to get nuclear weapons.
Israel is reportedly on alert for a possible Iranian retaliation for a series of explosions at its nuclear sites after a possible cyber attack some have blamed on the US and Israel. Seth Frantzman, co-founder of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis, told KAN that Iran is caught in a bind since it has told the world it was an accident, and if it blames Israel it would be required to retaliate. He also said that cryptic statements by Israeli leaders were sometimes in Jerusalem’s interests.
Leket Israel’s “Nutrition for Life” program has for the past 10 years been teaching nutrition basics to single mothers, new-immigrants, parents of children at risk and the elderly. At these 4-part workshops, taught by certified nutritionists, participants learn how to prepare healthy meals and receive hands on instruction on ways to budget for nutritious, low-cost food. Workshops are offered in Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic, Russian and English. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many Israelis are finding themselves in a new reality, a fragile financial situation and facing health challenges. In an effort to address this growing population, Leket Israel is launching Nutrition for Life workshops on Zoom, making them available to a broader audience. KAN's Naomi Segal heard more about the workshops, as well as how Leket Israel's activities have evolved in the coronavirus crisis, from Leket Israel founder and chairman, Joseph Gitler.