"Shameful. At the peak of the coronavirus battle, seven directors of public hospitals are forced to beg for funds from the government, which it refuses. We will bring a new kind of leadership to Israel soon."
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"The government is losing control. People are dying. Stop playing political games and get a hold of yourselves."
"The economy is in ruins, the morbidity is at an alarming peak, and all this because the government has lost control and is acting out of political interests. But we can eliminate the coronavirus pandemic. Within ten days, many Israelis could go back to leading almost normal lives, and within a few weeks, Israel could be a green country."
"Israel must get rid of the coronavirus because relying on vaccines alone is irresponsible. We can curb COVID very quickly and return to normal life … And as for the Ben Gurion fiasco, how many variants and deaths could have been prevented if tests had been administered as we suggested?"
The above are just several of the statements made by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett since the beginning of the year and before he took office. The gap between his criticism of the Netanyahu government, albeit true in some cases, is tragic and inconceivable considering the dysfunctionality of his own government in the midst of the fourth wave of infections.
The current outbreak is hitting Israel hard, and Bennett is failing to do almost everything he had accused Netanyahu of failing to do as well. Perhaps even worse. For more than two months, the current government acted with arrogance and indifference, disregarding the warnings and recommendations of senior health officials, who urged the government to take immediate action lest another outbreak occur in Israel. At times the Coronavirus Cabinet did agree on imposing a restriction, it came into effect a week or two later.
Such unforgivable decision-making, at a time of a global pandemic no less, exposes Bennett's past statements, as well as remarks made by his fellow Knesset members, as pompous and hypocritical. Many of them, like Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, also criticized Benjamin Netanyahu when he was prime minister.
Lapid called the previous government "insane" and "a failure" for refusing to provide sufficient funds to hospitals when they were in need. However, now that he is in power, his government is doing the same. Directors of hospitals across Israel are protesting against the current leadership for abandoning them. Has Lapid made any statements about that?
Nothing bursts the bubble of a leader who hastily declared he knew how to beat a pandemic than actually coming to power. The same is true for former members of the Opposition, who now that they are in charge, have realized that they are failing no less than their predecessors.
The coronavirus has exposed the hypocrisy, lies and illusions of most politicians, and unfortunately, even that of the Health Ministry and hospital administrations, all of which have so far cost us the lives of 7,000 Israelis.
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