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Religious City in Israel Welcomes IDF Assistance in Fight Against Coronavirus

(New York Times) David M. Halbfinger - The Orthodox religious city of Bnei Brak, in the shadow of Tel Aviv, has become Israel's biggest center of Covid-19 contagion. In desperation, Mayor Avraham Rubinstein reached out for help from the army. Two weeks later, the crisis is rapidly coming under control, as the rate of new infections has been cut by more than half and the number tested per week has tripled. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Ronny Numa, former head of the IDF Central Command, took charge at City Hall. He enlisted Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ronen Manelis, formerly the top military spokesman, to poll residents to see how well they understood the situation. Col. (res.) Avi Cohen, who specialized in electronic warfare, installed a state-of-the-art data-visualization system to map the sick, the elderly, yeshivas, synagogues and other information on big-screen TVs in a virus war room. Two brigades of active-duty soldiers, along with hundreds of volunteers, began delivering groceries, cooked meals, medicine and toys to quarantined homes. At a local test site, ambulances and private cars packed with families experiencing virus symptoms steadily rolled up to hazmat-suited medical workers wielding swabs. Residents in hundreds of buildings were recruited to knock on doors, hand out brochures and gather information about who was sick or needed help. A call center was set up to handle questions and requests. Contrary to the public perception that the community was disobeying public health orders, Numa said, Bnei Brak's residents simply had not heard those orders due to their community's aversion to secular media. "Most of them didn't know the risks," he said. During the past two weeks, Bnei Brak residents have had a rare chance to interact with soldiers up close, and they appear to be impressed. "Suddenly, one day, there are all these military vehicles, they're going to the elderly and people with special needs," said Avshalom Amar, 48. "Seeing this will be engraved on my heart." Capt. Oriel Bibi, a commander of paratroopers-in-training, said children keep smiling and shouting, "Soldier, soldier!" while adults offer him candy.
2020-04-16 00:00:00
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