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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 29 april 2022
Israeli PM's family receives death threat and bullet in mail

By JOSEF FEDERMAN ences.
Associated Press "My brothers and sisters, we
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime cannot, we simply cannot
Minister Naftali Bennett's allow the same dangerous
teenage son has received gene of factionalism dis-
a death threat and bullet in mantle Israel from within,"
the mail, Israeli officials said Bennett said.
Thursday, he second such That speech came a day
warning against the Israeli after his family received a
leader's family this week. bullet in the mail for the first
The threats have come time. The episode prompt-
at a time of deep politi- ed his 17-year-old son Yoni
cal divisions in Israel. In a to express his sadness in an
major speech on Wednes- Instagram post.
day night marking Israel's "It's just sad to see that real
Holocaust memorial day, people write such horrible
Bennett had spoken out things," he said. "To think
against the polarization in that he lives and breathes
Israel, urging citizens not to like me but has a brain that
let internal divisions rip soci- was created by the devil is
ety apart. crazy."
Israeli police said that both Bennett is a former top aide
incidents were being inves- Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his wife Gilat take part in the ceremony marking Holo- to Netanyahu, and Yoni is
tigated, but gave few oth- caust Remembrance Day at Warsaw Ghetto Square at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, named after Netanyahu's
er details, including where Thursday, April 28, 2022. older brother, who was
the items were sent and Associated Press killed in a famous 1976 Is-
who might have sent them. raeli commando raid while
Bennett has been the tar- the first Arab party to be Netanyahu, now the op- coalition, leaving the frag- rescuing a hijacked air-
get of fierce criticism from part of a governing coali- position leader, has worked ile alliance without a parlia- plane in Uganda.
Israel's hard-line right wing tion. hard to undermine the co- mentary majority. An Israeli official familiar
since forming his governing These parties have little alition. Bennett formed the coali- with the matter confirmed
coalition last year. In 1995, in common beyond their Critics have accused Ben- tion last June after four in- on Thursday that the sec-
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shared animosity to former nett, who leads a small, re- conclusive elections that ond threatening letter and
was assassinated by a Jew- Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- ligious nationalist party, of underscored the fissures in bullet had been sent to
ish ultranationalist opposed tanyahu. abandoning his core hard- society over key issues as Yoni Bennett. The official
to his peacemaking efforts They have agreed to put line beliefs. One member well as the polarizing ef- spoke on condition of ano-
with the Palestinians. aside many of their differ- of his Yamina party was fects of Netanyahu's 12- nymity in line with regula-
Bennett's government is ences while focusing on sanctioned this week as a year rule. tions.
made up of eight parties common ground, such as "defector" for repeatedly In Wednesday's speech, Police have imposed a gag
from across the political the economy, managing supporting the opposition coming on one of the most order on their investiga-
spectrum, including reli- the coronavirus crisis and in hundreds of votes. An- solemn days of the year, tion, and officials declined
gious nationalists, centrists spending on education other member of his party Bennett implored the na- to say whether there were
and an Islamic party. It is and social services. recently resigned from the tion to put aside its differ- any suspects.q

Africa sees rise in measles as pandemic disrupts vaccines

to more than 17,000 cas- "The rise in outbreaks of of infection rates in South
es between January and other vaccine-preventable Africa, the African country
March, compared to the diseases is a warning sign," most affected by the pan-
same period last year, Dr. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the demic.
Benido Impouma, a WHO WHO regional director for Impouma, the WHO offi-
expert in Africa, told a press Africa, said in a statement. cial, said that in the wake
briefing. "As Africa works hard to de- of the pandemic the agen-
Two years of disruptions by feat COVID-19, we must not cy seeks to support coun-
the coronavirus pandemic forget other health threats. tries to scale up COVID-19
have had "major effects Health systems could be vaccinations as well as rou-
on the provision of routine severely strained not only tine immunization services.
health services, with immu- by COVID-19 but by other "The same is true for routine
nization being seriously af- diseases." immunization as for COV-
fected" in many countries, The continent of 1.3 billion ID," said Helen Rees, execu-
he said. people has reported 11.4 tive director of a reproduc-
A baby receives a polio vaccine during the Malawi Polio Vac-
cination Campaign Launch in Lilongwe, Malawi, on March 20, Twenty-four countries con- million COVID-19 cases, in- tive health and HIV institute
2022. firmed outbreaks of polio cluding 252,000 deaths, ac- at South Africa's Univer-
Associated Press last year, four times more cording to figures from the sity of the Witwatersrand.
than in 2020. Africa Centers for Disease "There is the direct health
By RODNEY MUHUMUZA disruptions caused by the Last year 13 countries re- Control and Prevention. ... problem, but there's this
Associated Press coronavirus pandemic, the ported new outbreaks of Although the virus had spinoff in terms of adversely
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) World Health Organization yellow fever, rising from been trending downwards affecting poor develop-
— Africa is seeing a surge said on Thursday. nine in 2020 and three in since January, the WHO re- ment and contributing to
of outbreaks of prevent- The continent recorded a 2019, according to WHO ported a rise in cases Thurs- poverty, which is absolutely
able diseases as a result of 400% increase in measles, figures. day driven by a doubling critical for our region."q