Israel - Paratroopers in the red zone of Bnei Brak, civil assistance

For two battalions of paratroopers of the 98 / a division of the army from this morning the front is not on the borders of the country, but a short distance from Tel Aviv: among the Orthodox of Bnei Brak (200 thousand inhabitants), the town became the first ' red zone 'of Israel. To them - a true elite unit - the government has in fact entrusted the task of bringing "civilian assistance" to an area where Covid-19 marks almost 1000 cases out of a total of 7000 in Israel. A difficult task in a crowded and particular agglomeration, marked by the presence of sects of religious who are sometimes opposed to the very existence of the secular state of Israel and in which religion often dominates science. If it is up to the police to ensure that no one enters or leaves the city unless there are particular reasons proven by a permit, the soldiers - according to the rules of engagement - must instead facilitate the evacuation from Bnei Brak of the sick to be transferred to protected residences and of all those elders who ask for it in an attempt to escape an eventual infection. Another task - in addition to supplying food and medicine to residents at risk - is to start a massive series of tests to better map the spread of the virus that has made Bnei Brak a case, given the repeated elusions of its inhabitants, guided in part by local rabbis, by the directives of the ministry of health. A task that could become even more complex during the Passover seventh, the Jewish Passover, which begins next Wednesday. But if Bnei Brak - as the head of the command of the Internal Front General Tamir Yadai said - is "the first place of the intervention", in all probability it will not be the last. There is already talk of other towns such as Elad, Migdal Ha'Emek and parts of Jerusalem, all of which are Orthodox intensive.