Peace agreement between Israel and Sudan • Yehuda Bakran dies of corona virus • 17-year-old from Gilboa was killed in a brawl • Corona infection records • And do not forget to move the clock
Further normalization between Israel and the Arab state
Israel and Sudan announced last night (Friday) an agreement to normalize relations between them, after decades of hostility and non-recognition on the part of Sudan.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdukh, the head of the Sovereign Council, 'Abd al-Fatah al-Burhan, and US President Donald Trump held a special telephone conversation and welcomed the move.
Prime Minister Netanyahu announces normalization between Israel and Sudan // Archive photo: Roi Avraham, GPO
The agreement with Sudan is the third normalization agreement that Israel has concluded after similar agreements it reached with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
"We are announcing another dramatic breakthrough for peace, another Arab country joining the peace circle," Netanyahu said last night.
"What a tremendous change. In Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, the three halves of the Arab League were issued in 1967. No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel. Today Sudan said yes to peace, yes to recognition and yes to negotiations."
Trump responded to the move on his Twitter account: "A huge victory for the United States and world peace. Sudan has agreed to peace and normalization with Israel. With the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, this is the third country to do so in just a few weeks. Others will come!"
Later, the US president claimed that five more countries were interested in reaching a normalization agreement with Israel.
Photo: Fox Network
Unsurprisingly, Iran was quick to attack the agreement, and through its Foreign Ministry said it was a "fake agreement and a violation of Palestinian rights."
"If you pay enough ransom and close your eyes to crimes against the Palestinian people, the United States will remove you from the list of countries that support terrorism. It is now clear that this list is as fake as the United States' war on terror. Just a shame."
Hamas also expressed opposition to the agreement, saying in a brief statement from the terrorist organization: "We express our anger at the normalization that is not appropriate for Sudan in terms of its people, history and status and its role as a state that supported Palestine, the issue and the resistance."
Yehuda Barkan died after contracting Corona
Actor and creator Yehuda Barkan passed away on the night between Friday and Saturday, after his medical condition deteriorated.
The news of his death was published online already during the day, but at the request of the family, it was officially published only at the end of Shabbat.
In September, Barkan contracted the corona virus and was hospitalized at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, where his condition is moderate and stable.
At the end of last month the family asked to pray for his well-being following a worsening of his condition.
Barkan is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Israeli Film Academy.
Upon his death, he left behind two sons and two daughters from a previous marriage.
In recent years he has lived with his third wife in Moshav Beit Gamliel.
Some of the actor's friends broke up with him.
"We were very good and close friends until the last minute, we met several times this year and it hurts a lot," Tuvia Tzafir said.
The corona continues to spread around the world
According to the Ministry of Health, 689 people were diagnosed yesterday with the corona virus.
Yesterday, 33,789 tests were performed - and the rate of positive for the virus is 2.6%.
There are currently 536 patients in critical condition in Israel, 213 of whom are respirators.
2,329 people died from the virus in Israel.
In addition, the United States broke a new record tonight in the number of daily infections in Corona, when according to the Reuters news agency yesterday, about 84,000 people were diagnosed with the virus.
In doing so, the state bypasses the record it set in July, when about 77,000 people were diagnosed in one day.
The United States has the highest number of people infected with the virus in the world, with more than 8 million verified, about 230,000 of whom have died.
Infection peaks were also recorded in France and Italy.
In France, 42,032 new diagnoses were reported yesterday, and today the number of people infected with the virus in the country stands at 1,041 million.
In Italy, 19,143 new diagnoses were registered yesterday.
At the same time, the number of people infected with the virus in Spain has crossed the one million mark.
Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda is today positive for the virus.
According to the minister in charge of Duda's office, the president "feels fine. He is young and I think he will get through the disease without any problems."
The president's contagion comes amid a spike in morbidity in Poland, with a daily record of more than 13,600 new verified.
The state has entered into a partial closure, during which elementary schools and restaurants will be closed for two weeks.
A boy was killed in a brawl in the north
Itai Yitzhak, a 17-year-old boy from Magen Ner in the Gilboa Regional Council, was killed last night during a fight between Jews and Arabs at the entrance to the village of Mukibla in the north of the country.
Seven suspects were arrested.
The police investigation revealed that six boys were involved in the brawl, four of them Jews and the other two Arabs.
A 40-year-old adult who is a relative of one of those involved in the brawl, was arrested along with a minor on suspicion of disrupting investigative proceedings.
Explosion at a chemical plant in Iran
A large explosion occurred yesterday in one of the largest petrochemical facilities in Iran.
It is the petrochemical plant of Hormusi Bander Mashhar, a facility whose name was previously linked to the Iranian nuclear project and was even included in the list of facilities on the list of sanctions imposed on Iran.
The state news agency, Irena, reported that the fire had been brought under control and that there were no casualties in the explosion or fire that followed.
The country's media did not disclose the cause of the explosion, but the options range from a technical malfunction, human error or even deliberate sabotage by opposition groups in the country, which carried out a number of attacks on infrastructure facilities in the country over the summer.
BREAKING: Huge explosion reported at a petrochemical plant in Bandar Mahshahr, Iran — site linked to Iranian nuclear program on which sanctions were imposed — cause of explosion remains unknown.
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- SV News (@SVNewsAlerts) October 23, 2020
Winter time will start tonight
Israel will move tonight, between Saturday and Sunday, to winter time.
At 2:00 the hands should be moved back one hour to 1:00.
Daylight saving time this year lasts 210 days, and it will return next time on March 26, 2021, the day before Seder night.
