Jordan, Somalia, Pakistan Declare National Emergency Over Locust Swarms

It’s a little bit early for Passover yet — the bakeries in Israel are filled with three-cornered pastries in preparation for the holiday of Purim — but apparently Upstairs they didn’t get the memo because huge swarms of locusts are causing havoc in all the countries that recently declined to back President Donald Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan and who have repeatedly voted against Israel at the United Nations.

Jordan, a US ally, is one of the first among them, and now is facing a massive swarm of locusts that could threaten its agricultural produce. The Jordanian Agriculture Ministry raised its alert from medium to high on Tuesday as part of its measures to control an invasion of locusts, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Shahahdeh said the measure was taken after it became clear swarms of desert locusts had reached parts of Saudi Arabia – mainly Hail – 500 kilometers from the Saudi-Jordanian border. Jordan is “able and ready to face the ravenous insects with the support of the Royal Air Force, the Royal Badia Forces and the Jordan Customs Department, among others,” Shahahdeh said. Millions of locusts are also flying across the African continent as the most serious swarm of the insects in 25 years is posing an unprecedented threat to the food security in some of the world’s poorest nations. -Full Report