Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the Arab public in Israel to follow the Health Ministry's emergency coronavirus directives.
"For your sake and for the sake of the future we all share – please follow the instructions," Netanyahu said. "I request the cooperation of all Israeli Arab citizens – this is a call for life."
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Netanyahu on Wednesday convened a meeting with senior doctors from the Arab sector to discuss the efforts to increase awareness about the virus' spread.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Sonia Habib, the Deputy Health Officer of the Haifa District Health Office; Dr. Anan Abassi, Deputy Director at Ziv Medical Center; and Dr. Zahi Said, Deputy General Manager of the Clalit health fund; and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.
In the meeting, the prime minister said: "I want to first thank Dr. Said, Dr. Habib, and Dr. Abassi for their efforts to transfer the Health Ministry's instructions to the Arab-speaking public in Israel. This is of the utmost importance. Regretfully, there isn't enough attention in the Arab sector to the instructions, as I see it. There's also a problem among the general public, and there's a particular problem in the tiny [Arab] villages to the best of my understanding, and we are going to change this immediately."
The coronavirus, Netanyahu added, "isn't just another disease, it is a pandemic that hurts everyone; it doesn't distinguish between Jews, Arabs, Circassians, Bedouins, and Christians; it simply doesn't differentiate between religions and ethnicities, and therefore all the citizens of the country need to exhibit full responsibility and strict discipline.
"We can take all the steps possible, but it won't help if the entire public doesn't cooperate. If a portion of the public wherever it may be doesn't follow these instructions, it simply leads first and foremost to infecting loved ones and also the general public, and therefore there's a mutual guarantee here."
The prime minister continued: "The public must implement the directives – especially pertaining to personal behavior and maintaining proper distances and hygiene at all times, to ensure we gain control of the pandemic. We can do it, but I'm asking for cooperation from the entire Arab-speaking public."
The doctors updated the prime minister about what is being done in the Arab sector to combat the coronavirus and called on the Arab public in Israel to strictly follow the Health Ministry's instructions.
Dr. Said commended the prime minister for his leadership and the steps he is taking to stop the spread of the virus in the country.
