Israel extended a national lockdown on Sunday as coronavirus variants offset its vaccination drive and officials predicted a delay in a turnaround from the health and economic crisis. Lockdown will remain in place until Friday at 7 a.m.
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The measure was approved after a heated debate, The cabinet is slated to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to extend the restrictions even longer.
At the start of the meeting, Netanyahu urged ministers not to politicize extending the lockdown.
"We must extend the lockdown by a week and not politicize it. Human lives are at stake. To focus on the violations of one public group or on other communities. Gatherings in every sector must be prevented," Netanyahu said.
He later tweeted, "To be clear: a gathering is a gathering is a gathering. It doesn't matter if it's ultra-Orthodox, secular people, or Arabs. Unfortunately, there are gatherings on all sides, in all these public groups. We need to stop this immediately and stop politicizing it."
Sunday also saw the government extende the ban imposed on all nonessential flights into and out of Israel, in accordance with the existing regulations.
The ministers approved forming an exceptions committee to review applications for arrival in Israel for humanitarian and special reasons, during a period in which restrictions on entry into Israel exist. The committee will be headed by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and comprise officials from the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Health, Transportation, Diaspora, and Immigration Absorption ministries.
Those who return from Israel from all countries will be obligated to quarantine in hotels provided by the state. Fines for violating lockdown directives were increased to up to 10,000 shekels ($3,050).
Netanyahu has promoted a speedy vaccination drive, and so far some 24% of Israel's 9 million citizens have been vaccinated.
The vaccination campaign and the lockdown were billed as dual pathways to a possible reopening of the economy in February, but a projected mid-January turnaround in curbing the pandemic did not transpire.
Serious cases have surged among Israelis who have not yet been vaccinated. Officials blame this on communicable foreign virus strains and on lockdown scofflaws.
Violations by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are among the conservative Netanyahu's supporters, have been played up by political rivals in questioning the lockdown's efficacy and building opposition to him ahead of a March 23 election.
"Either everyone is locked down, or everything is opened up for everyone. The days of chicanery are over," Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's centrist coalition partner and now election rival, wrote on Twitter.
In an apparent defense of ultra-Orthodox Jews, Netanyahu said that lockdown violations had taken place among secular Israelis and the country's Arab minority, as well.
"To concentrate on the violations of one group and ignore the violations of others – they must all stop. This is the time for unity," Netanyahu said in a statement ahead of the cabinet vote.
The ultra-Orthodox, whose often high-density communities makeup around 15% of Israel's population, account for some 35% of recent contagions, according to the Health Ministry.
Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch said there would be "a few weeks' delay" to the Israeli exit plan, and set a higher vaccination threshold for a turnaround.
"Our goal is to achieve 5.5 million (fully vaccinated citizens) and I reckon that the moment we cross the 3-to-3.5 million (mark) you will already see change," he told Kan radio.
As of Saturday, 1.7 million Israelis had received the second dose of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine more than a week ago, achieving the maximum 95% protection, the Health Ministry said.
Around another 1.3 million had either received one dose and were awaiting the second or had received the second dose within the last week and so were not yet designated as fully vaccinated.
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