“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been briefed on the trip, which will include meetings to discuss maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region, international policy vis-à-vis Iran and strategy for stopping its expansion and entrenchment in the Middle East, as well as defense cooperation and procurement between the two countries. While Gantz is abroad, lawmaker Michael Biton, who serves as minister for social and civil matters within the Defense Ministry, will act as defense minister.”

Also See – “Gantz to take off for Washington to discuss F-35 sales to UAE” (The Times of Israel) 

“The Saudi Arabian royal family is reportedly split over possible future ties with Israel following landmark agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. According to the report, King Salman bin Abdulaziz has come into conflict with his son, de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with the latter said to be in favor of the move. The newspaper reported that the monarch remains committed to a boycott of Israel coupled with a strong stance in favor of the Palestinian demand for an independent state, while the crown prince is open to normalization with the Jewish state and the business opportunities it could bring as well as public coordination in the struggle against Iran.”

“Palestinian officials expressed concern that Qatar may be headed toward normalizing its relations with Israel and said such a move would facilitate the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s vision for Middle East peace, Peace to Prosperity, also known as the Deal of the Century…Palestinian officials said that the joint US-Qatar statement, which talks about resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the Trump peace vision, is a Qatari endorsement of the plan, which has been rejected by the Palestinians. The Palestinians have denounced the Trump peace vision, unveiled last January, as a “conspiracy designed to liquidate the Palestinian issue and national rights…Relations between the Palestinian Authority and Qatar have been strained in recent years due to Doha’s ongoing financial and political support for Hamas.”

“Israel’s Bank Leumi and the Dubai-based DP World signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to explore working together on increasing trade between Israel and the rest of the Middle East via shipping, the two companies said. The MOU includes a framework for cooperation on developing ports and logistics infrastructure in Israel, DP World said in a statement.”

“The Abu Dhabi Film Commission, the Israel Film Fund and the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film and Television School have signed a cooperation agreement for training and production, a joint statement said on Monday. The agreement includes plans for an annual regional film festival rotating between Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and Israel.”

UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri told the Atlantic Council that economic development in the West Bank is also part of the agenda in consultations with Israel.”The agreements signed in Washington are particular in their exclusion of Palestinian statehood and any commitments toward investment in or promotion of Palestinian interests,” Young writes, adding, “For Gulf real estate developers, there could be some obvious opportunities in the future.” This was a reference to the Qatar Investment Authority’s stake in the planned city of Rawabi in the West Bank.”

“According to the report, which was also published in English on the Axios website, Sudan is asking for a wide-reaching economic support package, and if an agreement is reached, could announce a deal with Israel in the coming days.”

“Ahmed Nassr Dawabsha, the child’s uncle, told Al-Monitor, “Ahmed’s right ear was completely burned off [in the 2015 attack]. He was getting himself ready to go back to school. He prepared his new clothes and backpack. He tried to put on the mask but he could not. He collapsed and cried for five hours. We tried to calm him down. He said that he feared that he would be bullied by children at school.”…He stressed that “the life sentence against the killer does not mean anything. This will not bring back to life Saad, his wife and their toddler. It will not heal Ahmed’s psychological and physical wounds. We will refer to the Supreme Court to have it condemn the group and the system that created this settler.”

“University students housed in villages operated by the Kedma association volunteer to guard Jewish shepherds’ farms, against some of which there are demolition orders”

“The ultimate impact of the accords on the Palestinian leadership will ultimately come down to long overdue elections.  A comprehensive popular review of the goals, means and leadership for a new liberation strategy can only be done within the context of both legislative and presidential elections as well as the reconvening of representative members of the Palestine National Council. The national unity effort will be taken seriously only when an election date is announced and the PLO is reformed.”

“The Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, Ziyad Al-Nakhalah, stated that Palestinian terror groups have military presence in the West Bank in an interview with Al-Mayadeen on Wednesday, warning that there are “no redlines” if war breaks out with Israel. Referring to a recent decision to establish a joint leadership of the Palestinian terrorist organizations, the PIJ leader stated that “important changes” will take place in the Palestinian territories, “especially in the West Bank.” Nakhalah added that military structures which belong to the terrorist groups are present there.”

“Thousands of Israelis resumed their weekly protest Sunday outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in central Jerusalem, despite a new nationwide lockdown order aimed at curbing a raging coronavirus outbreak. An exception allowing people to hold public demonstrations was included in the three-week lockdown imposed last Friday. But many participants in the gathering appeared to ignore social-distancing rules that order them to remain in small separated “capsules” of people.”

“The Jerusalem man who was arrested on Sunday night on suspicion of trying to run over protesters near the prime minister’s official residence told investigators that he was “on his way to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to explain the coronavirus to him.”

“The story of an embattled political leader facing deep social divisions in his country and allowing political interests to steer his handling of the coronavirus crisis sounds like a uniquely American one. But these days it’s also the story of Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has imposed a second nationwide lockdown to halt a spiraling infection rate, even as he rejected the opinions of experts and succumbed to assorted pressures from ultra-Orthodox groups that give him his governing majority in parliament.”

“The White House plans to issue an executive order on Monday spelling out how the U.S. will enforce the restored sanctions, and the State and Treasury departments are expected to outline how foreign individuals and businesses will be penalized for violations. But the U.S. move faces stiff opposition from the other members of the Security Council who have vowed to ignore it. They say the U.S. lost legal standing to invoke snapback when President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed American sanctions on Iran. The U.S. argues it retains the right to do it as an original participant in the deal and a member of the council. Even before the U.S. declaration, fellow Security Council members said the declaration had no legal force, calling into question the ability to enforce snapback. Snapback means that international sanctions eased or lifted by the nuclear deal are reimposed and must be enforced by U.N. member states, including hitting Iran with penalties for uranium enrichment to any level, ballistic missile activity and buying or selling conventional weapons.”

“The new sanctions also put European allies, China and Russia on notice that while their inclination may be to ignore the U.S. drive to maintain the U.N. sanctions on Iran, companies based in their nations would feel the bite for violating them. A major part of the new U.S. push is an executive order targeting those who buy or sell Iran conventional arms that was previously reported by Reuters and will also be unveiled by the Trump administration on Monday, the official said. The Trump administration suspects Iran of seeking nuclear weapons – something Tehran denies – and Monday’s punitive steps are the latest in a series seeking to stymie Iran’s atomic program, which U.S. ally Israel views as an existential threat.”

“In his speech, Mr Rouhani added: “America is approaching a certain defeat in its sanctions move… It faced defeat and a negative response from the international community.” Earlier, Iran’s foreign ministry described the US efforts as “futile”, saying that the “US approach is a major threat to the international peace and security and an unprecedented threat to the UN and the Security Council”. “Iran emphasizes that if the US, directly or with the co-operation of a number of its allies, makes any move in line with these threats, it will face a serious reaction and should account for all its dangerous consequences,” it said in a statement, without elaborating.”

“On Monday, the hospital’s director, Prof. Masad Barhoum, announced that he had ordered the institution to stop accepting any more coronavirus patients. The main reason he cited was overcrowding in the hospital’s three coronavirus wards, but there’s another issue that has to do with the number of trained staff members who can treat patients in serious condition.”

“The Health Ministry announced on Thursday that all members of the Washington delegation, without exception, were required to quarantine until Monday, a five-day quarantine rather than the typical 14-day span….Following the Haaretz reports of quarantine violations by Netanyahu aides, Meretz Chairman Nitzan Horowitz sent an urgent query to Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, of Likud, regarding the lack of enforcement for quarantine orders among Netanyahu’s Washington delegation, who he said “knowingly endangered the public’s health, but nothing has been done about it.”

“Israel’s coronavirus czar warned Sunday that virus numbers were reaching “emergency” levels that could see the country face 600 deaths a month, and ordered hospitals to add new virus wards. Prof. Ronni Gamzu said in an interview with Channel 12 news that he fears the number of COVID-19 patients in serious condition could reach 800 by the end of the week, a number that has been frequently cited as the maximum Israeli hospitals can cope with.”