In addition to the rally, JVP also released a petition that has already been signed by over 15,000 people. It calls on Israel to lift its embargo on Gaza in response to the COVID-19 crisis. “This crisis has been building since Israel’s life-threatening blockade began 13 years ago, and the U.S. is complicit,” it reads.

When sharing fears about the pandemic with Palestinian friends, the following sentiment always comes up in one form or another: “we’ve survived a lot worse than this before.”

Coronavirus entered the West Bank in early February, but political decisions have interfered with response, from apartheid water restrictions on Palestinians to the Netanyahu government’s refusal to quarantine Israelis returning from AIPAC conference in Washington. –A report from JVP’s Health Advisory Council.

“The international community is watching what is happening in Gaza, and never does anything concrete to stop it. People have compared Gaza to a zoo. There have been reports saying that Gaza would be unliveable in 2020, and this was without the Coronavirus. Well, now we are in 2020.” –Khalil Abu Yahia, an English teacher in Gaza, speaking to Independent Jewish Voices of Canada.

“Would you lift sanctions on Iran temporarily, during this pandemic,” NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Joe Biden on Meet the Press. “I don’t have enough information about the situation in Iran right now,” replied Biden, “There’s a lot of speculation from my foreign policy team that they’re in real trouble and they’re lying. But I would need more information to make that judgement. I don’t have the national security information available.”

Renowned for his ability to pull off political miracles, Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have gradually worn down Benny Gantz’s resistance over the past 12 months. The coronavirus epidemic proved the final straw.

The entire experience of the coronavirus in the West Bank serves as a perfect example of how Israel rules over Palestinians. While the coronavirus doesn’t differentiate between Israelis and Palestinians, Israel sure does. Everything in this country is politicized and affected by the colonial structure. The epidemic is just another perspective to understand it from. 

Microsoft has announced that its divesting its shareholding in the Israeli facial recognition company AnyVision. The move follows an audit which was forced by a BDS campaign targeting the company. “Microsoft’s decision to heed the calls of the campaign to drop the Israeli surveillance company AnyVision is a huge and timely BDS victory,” announced the the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

The imperative of fighting coronavirus with aggressive public health measures presents Israel with a choice — let Palestine go to hell, or take full control over the health system — and thereby exposes the political truth of Israeli governance. There is one apartheid state, with a legally privileged racial group and a second- and third-class subject population.

“As the whole world battles an unprecedented and paralyzing healthcare crisis, Israel’s military is devoting time and resources to harassing the most vulnerable Palestinian communities in the West Bank that Israel has attempted to drive out for decades. Shutting down a first-aid community initiative during a health crisis is an especially cruel example of the regular abuse inflicted on these communities.” –B’Tselem reports on the destruction of a field clinic in Khirbet Ibziq in the occupied Jordan Valley.