Netanyahu blames Bennett for 3,000 COVID deaths

According to opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu, the delay in the third round of vaccines was the cause for the first thousand deaths this wave.

 Opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, February 7, 2022. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, February 7, 2022.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu told Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Knesset plenum on Monday that he is responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people who passed away from COVID-19 in recent months.

Speaking at a special Knesset debate requested by the opposition, Netanyahu said the first 1,000 died because Bennett took too long to bring the third round of vaccines. He said the remainder died due to the government’s policies since then.

“You, Bennett, did nothing to save these lives,” Netanyahu told the prime minister. “Do you call this impotent behavior a policy? With God’s help, we will get out of this wave, like the rest of the world. But it will be not because of Bennett but despite him.”

Bennett responded by making a gesture with his hand near his head, indicating that he thought Netanyahu was crazy.

Regarding the Pegasus spyware affair, Netanyahu likened the police’s use of the program to the IDF using F35s against Israeli citizens.

 Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett and MK Yomtob Chai Kalfon seen during a discussion on the Electricity Law connecting to Arab and Bedouin towns, during a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, January 5, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett and MK Yomtob Chai Kalfon seen during a discussion on the Electricity Law connecting to Arab and Bedouin towns, during a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, January 5, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

“This is a black day for Israel,” he said.

The Knesset voted 55-53 in favor of Bennett’s statements to the plenum.

Earlier, Bennett spoke and told Netanyahu that the citizens of Israel forced him out due to his failures.

Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich became the first MK to submit a bill calling for the dispersal of the Knesset on Monday.

Smotrich said he was submitting the bill due to the Pegasus affair.


Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter


“The current government has a conflict of interest, so it cannot make necessary changes and earn the public’s trust,” Smotrich said.