Abstract

Abstract No country can shield itself thoroughly from a global pandemic such as COVID-19, even Israel, which is considered ‘the safest country to be during the coronavirus pandemic’. The coronavirus epidemic in Israel began at the end of February. It quickly developed, and eventually more than 16,000 people have been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease. There are many factors to the rapid development of COVID-19 in Israel. For example, religious groups are reluctant to obey government restrictions. Israel has not yet elected a new government after three general elections, while left-wing activists constantly take to the street to protest against Netanyahu staying in power. The Israeli government has also adopted many measures to avoid a serious blow from the coronavirus to national health as well as the economy. However, COVID-19 has not only brought a great challenge to Israel, but also impacted on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In the face of this pandemic, there has been a certain degree of cooperation between Palestine and Israel, but little progress has been made regarding their political disputes. For the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the coronavirus plays the role of being both a challenge and an opportunity.