B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
SEPTEMBER 16, 2021
18
The Week In News
Bennett Heads to Egypt
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Sharm elSheikh, on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, on Monday. This was the first public visit of an Israeli prime minister to Egypt in more than a decade. The last time a meeting like this took place was between former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. According to a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, the two leaders were to “discuss bilateral issues related to bilateral relations, ways and efforts to revive the peace process as well as recent developments in the region and international arenas.” An El Al flight carrying the prime minister departed from Tel Aviv to Sharm el-Sheikh early Monday afternoon. Bennett was expected to return home to Israel later on Monday. Bennett was invited to visit Egypt and meet with Sissi last month, during a meeting he held with Egyp-
tian intelligence head Abbas Kamel in Jerusalem. The prime minister said last month that he had accepted the invitation and would soon visit in order “to strengthen and expand relations between the countries in the region.” The meeting saw a rare smiling photo of the two leaders. Even more surprising, an Israeli flag stood behind Bennett, in contrast to previous meetings between Israeli and Egyptian premiers. Bennett’s visit to Egypt comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and terror groups in Gaza, with three rocket attacks in as many days drawing retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Egypt in recent months has tried to more publicly play the role of responsible, effective broker between Israel and Hamas. Cairo played a central role in negotiating the ceasefire that ended the May Israel-Gaza war after 11 days and has worked since to advance a long-term ceasefire as well as a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. Earlier this month, the London-based Rai al-Youm online newspaper reported that Sissi was also leading a push to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Shortly before news of Bennett’s trip was revealed, Israel announced it was lifting COVID restrictions on the travel of Israelis to the Sinai Peninsula, a popular tourism destination. During Kamel’s visit to Israel last month, the National Security Council announced it had scaled back its security travel advisory for the Sinai for the first time in years. Meanwhile, EgyptAir, the national airline of Egypt, is scheduled to launch direct Tel Aviv-Cairo flights
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next month, after years of hiding the flights – mandated by Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt – through a subsidiary. Israel and Egypt have bolstered their diplomatic ties in recent years. The two governments share close security interests in the Gaza Strip as well as in Sinai and the eastern Mediterranean. Additionally, the fact that four countries have recently normalized relations with the Jewish State under the Abraham Accords makes a warmer relationship between Egypt and Israel more palatable to the Arab nation.
Building Collapse in Holon
After a building collapsed in Holon, the city architect urged residents to inspect their buildings and alert the city if there is a problem. The 32-family building had collapsed just hours after it had been evacuated over the weekend. Residents had reported hearing cracking in the walls, which compelled officials to require evacuation, thus saving scores of lives. Speaking to Israel Radio, Aviad Mor, who is also acting city engineer, said the municipality was not planning to carry out widespread inspections even though other buildings could also be in danger of collapsing, saying it was the responsibility of residents to determine if there was a problem. Mor said the building collapsed due to the apparent failure of a central support column and noted that the building was built decades ago. First responders were called to the building on Saturday after residents reported hearing the sound of a blast. Images showed cracks on the walls of the building, and police said residents were unable to open the front doors of their apartments. The decision to evacuate the building was made in coordination with professional engineers, police
said at the time, with officers closing off the street outside the building and police urging people to stay away. A day later, the building, on Serlin Street in the central Israel city, collapsed, reflecting how close the situation had been to becoming a mass-casualty disaster resembling the collapse in June of a high-rise residential building in Florida, which killed 98 people. Despite the city’s lack of resources, Mor said Holon would help pay for the plans to rebuild the building. Mor also responded to complaints by the evacuated residents that the city was not doing enough to help them after they lost all their possessions. “We are giving the residents all that we can under the law as a first response,” he said. The city announced it was giving each family an immediate initial assistance package of NIS 5,000 ($1,500).
Sugar Levels Linked to Covid Severity Elevated pre-infection blood sugar levels are correlated with a greater risk of severe COVID-19 cases even in non-diabetics, a new Israeli study showed. The study, first published in the PLoS ONE journal, uncovered a correlation between sugar levels and the risk of severe COVID-19 morbidity, regardless of a diabetes diagnosis.
The research was conducted by the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Kupat Holim Meuhedet HMO, and Hadassah Medical Center, and included 37,121 subjects who were members of Meuhedet. It showed that in patients diagnosed with diabetes, the highest risk (1 of 4 patients) of contracting severe
