The clash between the government and the opposition over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic took an ugly turn on Thursday when Likud Knesset member Gadi Yevarkan chose to attack Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz's sexual orientation and ethnicity.
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In an interview with Radio 103FM, Yevarkan said Horowitz's "entire political agenda is based on nothing else than him being gay and Ashkenazi," claiming the Meretz leader lacked the necessary qualifications to effectively fight the spread of COVID-19.
"That is all he has to offer, there is nothing else," he said. "My achievements are 100 times greater than his and neither he nor others will silence me."
Earlier in the week, Yevarkan – who has recovered from the coronavirus – threatened at the Knesset plenum to boycott health guidelines and not get the second and third shots of the vaccine due to what he claimed was the government's unfair treatment of unvaccinated Israelis and those who refuse to get the booster shots.
He said, "Those unvaccinated should be allowed to live like human beings and not be treated like lepers." In response, Horowitz accused Yevarkan of "only making the situation worse and harming those you seek to help."
Due to the highly contagious Delta variant, the Health Ministry has recently reinstated the so-called "green pass" vaccine certificate that only allows triple-vaccinated Israelis to visit certain public places and entertainment venues. The latest data shows that 75% of Israel's critically ill coronavirus patients never got inoculated.
When asked to respond to Yevarkan's statement, Horowitz said it "did not warrant a response."
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