Tel-Chai Nation

The Israeli government's wisely made the decision to impose a closure on all of the Haredi suburb of Bnei Brak, where at least a third of the populace are ill with Coronavirus:

After days of debate about how to handle the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, where the coronavirus has rapidly spread, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov announced Wednesday that access to and from the city will be restricted beginning immediately.

“There has been a very positive shift in the ultra-Orthodox public,” the prime minister said, noting that in recent days the haredi community has recognized the danger that it is in and is working to follow the guidelines set forth by the Health Ministry. “But unfortunately, in some places, the disease has already spread at double the rate of the rest of the country and continues to double.”

On Wednesday, 723 residents of the town of 195,298 people were infected with coronavirus, and health officials have predicted that if the trend in Bnei Brak continues, as many as 1,500 residents will be sick with coronavirus by next week, among them as many 60 to 80 people in serious condition within the next two months. [...]

At the same time, two new restrictions were rolled out to the general population by the prime minister. First, citizens are being asked to wear masks when walking around in public spaces.

Bar Siman Tov explained that since the World Health Organization declared that the novel coronavirus may be spread as an airborne aerosol, like SARS, he believes that wearing a nose and mouth covering could help stop the disease from spreading. Surgical masks will not be required, he said, but any kind of covering that can be designed at home will work.

Second, any Israeli returning to the country will now be required to go directly into isolation at a coronavirus hotel for 14 days.

“In difficult times, people come home, and Israel is home,” Netanyahu said.

They made a responsible decision. Especially now that it's been discovered the Haredi health minister Yaakov Litzman himself was infected:

CONTROVERSIAL Israeli MK Yaakov Litzman and his wife Chava have tested positive for the coronavirus, his office has announced, saying they were both in a good condition.

The 71-year-old Health Minister is the most senior Israeli official to be diagnosed with the virus.

The pair was being “suitably treated and are in isolation, under observation in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines,” the statement said, adding that all those who had been in contact with them would be informed and sent to quarantine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been informed of the developments, the statement said, but did not say if this would affect the prime minister, who emerged from voluntary quarantine on Wednesday night after one of his aides was found to be carrying the virus.

Meanwhile, the strong possibility that Litzman will be in Israel’s new unity government has triggered a joint appeal against his inclusion by Australia’s peak Jewish bodies.

In a landmark letter to Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Jillian Segal, Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler and Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council national chairman Mark Leibler voiced their strong objection to Litzman being part of the new government, after allegations he interfered in the process of Malka Leifer’s extradition to face 74 charges of child sexual abuse at Adass Israel School. [...]

Referring to Israeli police recommendations Litzman be charged, the rare joint letter stated, “We are utterly appalled by reports that Mr Litzman may be Health Minister in the new Israeli government, while the accusations against him concerning the ongoing Malka Leifer case remain unresolved.

“Some of Israel’s most passionate supporters within the Jewish community and in the wider community in Australia have publicly expressed their dismay about the delays that have occurred, and other irregular aspects of the case,” it stated.

Let's also remember Litzman was the same "health specialist" who protected a food industry business whose owner violated health and sanitary guidelines, so who knows, this could be divine response to his corrupt practices. The case must be made that a man with such contempt cannot continue to serve, and not because he's already an old geezer, but simply because he's committed offenses that disqualify him from the role.

Labels: communications, haredi corruption, Israel, Knesset, misogyny, Moonbattery