In a heated Knesset debate on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his government's decision to impose a second nationwide lockdown, saying all his detractors did was criticize him regardless of what position he takes on the pandemic.
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Netanyahu urged the Knesset members not to let the COVID-19 crisis and the debilitating effect it has had on the economy become a bone of contention. "Don't manipulate this just to sow division and reap political dividends in polling numbers; only through unity can we defeat this virus," he continued, calling the opposition the "band of doom and glee" because they keep changing the narrative of how bad the pandemic spread is depending on whether it serves their interests.
"If you were to actually look into my actions and decided to hold a professional debate, you would have discovered that my decisions were not driven by populism but by courage, and just like we were exemplary in the first wave, the world is looking at Israel's lead in this second wave," Netanyahu said. "We entered a national lockdown, and this was a difficult decision, but this was necessary because we wanted to save lives; we cannot become complacent just because the data that we see now are actually latent, and we need to increase enforcement and impose stricter lockdowns if necessary."
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