Did haredi MKs block lockdown lifting to prevent Shabbat desecration?
"Regardless of coronavirus, Shabbat has protected us as we have protected it throughout all of the generations."
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIBorder Police go about coronavirus inspections in Mea Shearim, a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy said that he "does not deny" the possibility that ultra-Orthodox (haredi) political parties blocked the lifting of coronavirus closures over the weekend to prevent the desecration of Shabbat. Levy had been speaking in an Army Radio interview on Friday morning."I assume they have motives and an agenda," Levy, who is also the medical director of the Barzilai Medical Center, clarified, refusing to confirm nor deny the reasoning for the suggestion.Haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem have become hotspots once more for the novel COVID-19, according to a report released in the beginning of July.MK Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) later denied the allegations Levy responded to in another interview with Army Radio, saying that blocking coronavirus restrictions was "pikuah nefesh," referring to the belief in Judaism that there is no Jewish law above the preservation or saving of a life."Regardless of coronavirus, Shabbat has protected us as we have protected it throughout all of the generations," Cohen added.Levy added that "hopefully, we will complete all the processes to transfer the epidemiological investigations (contact tracing) projects to the IDF by next week."Coronavirus contact tracing should begin within the IDF as early as Tuesday, according to an N12 report.
