A tragic accident occurred at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center: Moshe Harazi passed away after his ventilator's breathing tube disconnected and medical staff failed to notice in time. The hospital's director, Prof. Ronni Gamzu, took full responsibility for the accident.
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This is not the common standard. The leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community in the Knesset have hundreds of coronavirus victims on their hands, and none of them are stepping up to take any responsibility for it. The only thing they do is occasionally call for the community to adhere to lockdown guidelines.
MKs Moshe Gafni, Yaakov Litzman, and Aryeh Deri have proven that when something is important to them, they know how to work and shout. Litzman has resigned twice due to the railway construction on Sabbat and lockdown during the High Holidays. Gafni, a veteran representative of the community, has simply disappeared. And even Deri, who can be defined as the responsible adult, fails to protect the people he represents. They are the mouthpiece of the Haredi sector when it comes to the army, religious conversions, and budgets. Those mouths should be screaming now, calling on the Haredi public to protect themselves.
The media is blowing the Haredi sector's responsibility for the spread of the virus way out of proportion. There are quite a few people that take advantage of this to garner a few more votes, such as Avigdor Lieberman. But we need to put this aside and address what is truly happening, and that is a disaster.
Haredim know there's a pandemic going on. They know it from home, from the neighborhood, and the synagogue. Every one of them knows that it is an unprecedented outbreak. There is hardly an ultra-Orthodox home that has not been hit by the coronavirus. There is not a single Haredi person who doesn't know someone who has died from COVID. The grief continues to grow and is being joined every day by orphans, widows and widowers, young and old, mothers and fathers.
Just listen to Eli, whose wife Rachel is hospitalized, say in tears: "I have five children at home, and I have a newborn in intensive care, and all I ask is for the child to have the chance to get to know his mother."
It is unclear why all of this is controversial. We are in the midst of a war. When scuds were fired at Israel, no one was expecting the rabbi to teach. Everyone grabbed their children and ran to the shelters. My Haredi brothers, it all depends on you. Shelter yourself, close your doors, save your lives. Do it now before it's too late.
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