Second wave of virus ravages Israel's Arab population
According to health experts, weddings and conspiracy theories are behind the high number of new infections in Arab-Israeli society.
![1228199352 A Jewish couple stand together overlooking the Western wall and the Dome of the Rock mosque next to wedding floral decorations in Jerusalem's Old City on August 25, 2020. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2020/09/GettyImages-1228199352.jpg/GettyImages-1228199352.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=LWJ34y45)
Israel will go into full lockdown this week starting Sept. 18, the eve of the Jewish New Year. Once that happens, Israel will be the first country in the developed world to impose a second lockdown.
How did Israel go from being the country that “world leaders wanted to study because of its successful approach to dealing with the coronavirus,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted, to a “red-zone” state with significantly higher infection rates than the rest of the world? In a report by Johns Hopkins University, Israel ranked first in the world in per capita infection for the week ending on Sept. 2, with an average of 199.3 infections per million inhabitants every day of that week.