While the 10% of Ultra Orthodox that make up our nation, account for 50% of the cases of Coronavirus, Israelis find it strange that one of their own is our Health Minister at a time of national crisis. Now, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and wife have been diagnosed with COVID-19, as police seek to quarantine an entire city of Ultra Orthodox, Bnei Brak—minutes from my home.

Prince Harry potentially got himself in hot water when he invited Israeli soldiers and veterans to an international sporting event that he organizes for wounded armed services personnel from around the world. 

However, an Arab journalist warned that by including Israel in the Invictus Games in 2022 the prince risks offending the Muslim community. 

“It will be seen as a way of provoking Arabs by a British Royal.” said UK-based Arab journalist Abdel Bari Atwan.

From the Arab and Muslim world to America, France and Germany, Israel is combatting a rise in anti-Semitism along with the spread of the coronavirus as conspiracy theories and accusations against Jews spreading the contagion abound on social media.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has requested that social media platforms monitor and block anti-Semitic posts during the COVID-19 crisis, but some responded that they are too overwhelmed and understaffed to catch everything.

While European leaders are thanking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his advice in how to approach the COVID-19 pandemic, one international organization seems to have forgotten the role of the Jewish state in curbing the coronavirus’ spread through its own country and others.

The United Nations has excluded Israel from its map and its list of countries in the Middle East affected by the pandemic compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO is “the directing and coordinating authority for public health within the United Nations system.” The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is one of WHO’s six regional offices comprising “21 member states and Palestine (West Bank and Gaza Strip), with a population of nearly 679 million people.”