Lockdown Friday

Empty Al Aqsa compound

2nd day of major lockdown ... the 11th day when the 1st "less rigid" lockdown was enforced.  Not much difference to me. I continue to work with cataloguing and classification of books ... though on a much slower pace no new books are arriving due to the stoppage of flights. Being a Friday, the police are out to stop any mass gathering of muslims in the Old City. The muslim authorities have already ordered all mosques to be closed including the Al Aqsa. But the police to play safe, also closed the entire Old City and its gates ... just like last week. From my roof I can see the Al Aqsa compound totally empty while the Imam was preaching loudly through the multiple minaret PA system so that muslims at home around the City can hear it.

In an unprecedented though not unexpected move, the speaker of the parliament resigned yesterday instead of calling for a vote to elect his successor. The parliament is now in constitutional crisis as it cannot proceed without a speaker. The Supreme Court intents to hold him in contempt of the law ... and honestly I can't think of a worse moment than this ... country locked down with coronavirus, and no effective govt.   https://www.timesofisrael.com/defying-judges-knesset-speaker-has-plunged-israel-into-constitutional-anarchy/

My first tulip

While we're all locked in on this beautiful bright day ... I found my first tulip blossoming. 2 of my students had gone home to Holland for their summer holidays and brought me tulip bulbs. Now they're blossoming ... I'll send them the photo of it. They'll be very pleased.

And so there's not much news ... being locked in. I continue to organise my files and pack my books and clean my room; study a new language and learn stuff from the Internet. It's a good opportunity for self-improvement.