[Unz Review] When in doubt as to just how remiss your government was, see what Israel has done to protect its nationals from the coronavirus pandemic.Taking its cues from the American Left, the Israeli left is all for national and individual self-immolation. But nobody who matters in that country has been listening to the Left babble on about "racism" and "Sinophobia."
Against the advice of its liberal think tanks‐and to protect its nationals from the Wuhan virus pandemic‐the Jewish State had, early on, closed its doors to "more and more of eastern Asia, starting with China, continuing to Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Thailand, South Korea and Japan."
China is Israel’s second-largest trading partner.
To follow were tough travel restrictions and a quarantine regimen on territories in Europe, in line with unfolding coronavirus contingencies. Israel has since extended the quarantine to all arrivals. Everyone who comes to Israel from abroad is sequestered for 14 days. Although the number of cases in the country is rising rapidly, there have been no deaths to date.
What is proving more difficult for the Jewish State is adding "New York and the states of Washington and California to its restricted list." Israeli public health officials recommend it, but Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is being muscled by Vice President Mike Pence to keep his country open to those COVID-19 hot zones.
Following transmission of the coronavirus from Wuhan to Washington State, I wondered, in a mild tweet, posted with links to the Israeli policy, why Americans didn’t deserve this kind of diligence from their government.
Came the strident reply, also on Twitter: "Because, unlike Israel, the U.S. is not a postage-stamp-sized garrison state. The U.S. needs to tailor its response to the disease to its role as global economic power."
Stalin apologist Walter Duranty summed up this Jacobin perspective perfectly. "You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs." Breaking a few old eggs, in an old-age home, in King County, Washington State, is what it apparently takes to make that great global omelet.
To the extent that it safeguards the well-being of its own people, the defensive measures taken by Israel comport with the role of government. "Whether they are armed with bombs or bacteria, stopping weaponized individuals from harming others‐intentionally or unintentionally‐falls perfectly within the purview of the night-watchman state of classical-liberal theory."
Author's father is a South African rabbi, if he is still living. A Lengthy article, and a bit difficult to follow, but interesting nonetheless.