Netanyahu, crack down on Arab, haredi coronavirus violations

The whole country does not need to be under a nighttime curfew, as most Israelis adhere to the restrictions and regulations about holding large gatherings, wearing masks and personal responsibility.

By JPOST EDITORIAL
Border Police go about coronavirus inspections in Mea Shearim, a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Border Police go about coronavirus inspections in Mea Shearim, a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The signs are beginning to look worrisome once again.
Some two weeks after emerging from a second lockdown that was intended to combat the coronavirus pandemic that has plagued Israel – and the rest of the world – for much of this year, numbers are headed the wrong way and murmurs of a possible third closure are in the air.
A report by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center showed a slowing in the improvement of infection rates as a result of the relaxation of Health Ministry regulations earlier this month. The data also showed an increase in the reproduction (R) number across the country, compared to previous weeks. If the current trend continues, the center warned, a renewed increase in infection rates should be expected soon.
Outgoing coronavirus commissioner, Prof. Ronni Gamzu, said this week that the reproduction rate was over 0.9. The Health Ministry said that the economy could not continue to open up if the rate surpassed 0.8.
In the meantime, the government is discussing ways to further open up the economy, including the next stage of the planned exit strategy – the opening of malls, on Sunday.
That move, endorsed and pushed by Finance Minister Israel Katz, has been consistently opposed by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, who has insisted that until the necessary reproduction rates are attained, nothing new should be opened.
One compromise, first suggested by Science and Technology Minister Izhar Shay and supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is to open commerce wider, but impose a night curfew on the country from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
That would prevent late night gatherings of mostly young people in high-risk situations for infection, according to Shay.
That proposal is just one of many the government is considering as it grapples with the thorny problem of opening up the country without a spike in the infection rate. Some make sense, but some don’t. But amid all the discussions and meetings about what to do to prevent a third lockdown, the country’s decision-makers are walking on eggshells.
The whole country does not need to be under a nighttime curfew, as most Israelis adhere to the restrictions and regulations about holding large gatherings, wearing masks and personal responsibility to stem the virus’s spread.

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Two sectors of the population who don’t fall into that category – the country’s ultra-Orthodox and Arab citizens – are the ones who need to be targeted.
All statistics point to those sectors as being responsible for the bulk of infractions and new infections. According to the head of the haredi division in the Health Ministry, Roni Numa, of 710 people diagnosed with coronavirus on Monday, 11% were haredi. At a press briefing, he said that the declining trend in the number of cases in the ultra-Orthodox sector had stopped in some localities and in some instances, it had increased.
Meanwhile, the infection rate in the Arab sector remains high. On Wednesday, the Ministerial Committee for Declaring Restricted Zones, extended the closures on the Golan Heights communities of Majdal Shams, Mas’ade and Bukata for five more days.
Of course, not everyone in the haredi and Arab communities are flouting the coronavirus restrictions, but both sectors have become notorious for continuing to hold large weddings and public events with participants far beyond the allowed number, despite the increase in fines and beefed up police monitoring.
Why should the rest of the country, most of which keeps to the regulations, be part of a collective punishment due to the deeds of specific sectors of society? Why does it make sense to punish an entire country because there are some sectors that refuse to abide by the rules?
Efforts should be made to focus on those areas of the country where a major infection issue remains. At the same time, the rest of the country should be allowed to slowly continue to open up amid stringent supervision and oversight.
That – and not a nighttime curfew – is the most efficient path to take to prevent a third lockdown from becoming inevitable.


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