The state comptroller's report on the healthcare system's readiness, written prior to the coronavirus outbreak, categorically shows that the Health Ministry and other government ministries drastically failed to prepare for and pandemic scenarios.
Although it is too early to evaluate Donald Trump’s performance during the coronavirus crisis, it appears that after a hesitant initial response, which included efforts to downplay the problem, the White House has regained its composure.
No one knows how the coronavirus crisis will end, but we can already appreciate the little-big things in our new daily lives: eating at home because restaurants are closed, listening to our partners because there’s no sports on TV. We will defeat this virus, but we should also learn to thank our doctors, neighbors and even the prime minister.
Investors expect realistic steps from the government as opposed to strictly monetary measures from the Bank of Israel. We are not in the midst of a credit crisis, similar to 2008; this is a different animal.
Israel is taking the necessary measures to respond to a serious public health crisis. But the disruption to the economy could spell poverty for hundreds of thousands more Israelis unless the government intervenes.
Meanwhile, senior defense officials say cooperation with the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and Gaza is going well, and that the coronavirus has “calmed the Middle East down.”
The Europeans have grown accustomed to criticizing and preaching to the Jewish state, but it appears that tiny Israel has something to teach Europe this time, particularly in terms of striking the right balance between personal liberties and the good of the many.
Israel's unprecedented actions to check the spread of the coronavirus and keep the population safe require the public to have faith that it will continue to receive accurate and complete information from the Health Ministry.
The world, and certainly our neighbors, care not for our political deadlock. Israel has been rendered a mere bystander in the face of dramatic developments that could profoundly impact us.
The anti-Netanyahu camp is ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater, like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib did when she spurned the PM's offer for her to pay a non-political visit to her ailing grandmother.
