Professionals from hospitals, community clinics, academia, and the Health Ministry attended the discussion, presenting a comprehensive review of flu infection data. After examining the latest intelligence, the team of experts recommended issuing a call for the entire population to vaccinate against the virus.

The experts emphasized that while the vaccine does not guarantee total immunity against infection, it is a significant factor in mitigating the severity of the disease and dramatically reducing the risk of severe illness and mortality.

Doctors on the team recommended that individuals with symptoms remain at home until recovery to avoid exposing others to the illness. They also called on parents to avoid sending sick children to schools and kindergartens to prevent infecting other children.

The Health Ministry emphasized that the vaccine is safe, recommended for ages six months and up, and constitutes the most effective protection for the public. The vaccine is available free of charge at the HMOs.

The ministry stated that professional bodies within the Health Ministry would continue to discuss strategies to increase flu vaccination rates as well as other issues raised during the discussion.

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Netanyahu motioned to have his court testimony in his corruption trial end early on Wednesday, saying his bronchitis "refuses to fade." "If Netanyahu has a cold that refuses to fade as he claimed on Wednesday in court, why did he visit former captives with a weakened immune system on Tuesday and endanger them?", Professor Hagai Levine, head of the medical division for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

"If Netanyahu has a cold that refuses to fade as he claimed on Wednesday in court, why did he visit former captives with a weakened immune system on Tuesday and endanger them?" tweeted Professor Hagai Levin, head of the medical division for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and until recently the head of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians.

Beilinson Hospital, where Netanyahu visited Guy Gilboa-Dala a day after his release from Hamas captivity on Monday, was presumably not aware of the prime minister's condition or that he was feeling unwell.

It should be mentioned that the updated protocol for treating the former hostages, prepared by the Ministry of Health, notes that "In light of winter illness, the proximate treating teams will be inoculated with the influenza and coronavirus vaccines." It was further stressed that "In light of concern that the immune status of the former captives is compromised due to continuous starvation and poor sanitation conditions, the introduction of sick individuals with contagious diseases into the facility must be prevented" – a measure that was most likely not enforced during the prime minister's visit.

A supplementary directive from the Ministry of Health is to provide instruction to anyone not vaccinated who comes into contact with the former captives, and to guide them on the use of a mask if needed, as well as to ensure proper hand hygiene.

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In an attempt to stop the spread of infectious diseases, especially COVID-19, Israeli startup Soapy Care has joined Indian community health groups Sanitation Frist and Swasti to set up its artificial-intelligence based handwashing stations in India's Bangalore and Puducherry districts.

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Soapy Care shouldered the cost of the hygiene stations as part of its policy goal to supply 10 times as many of its handwashing products to villages in India and Africa as it sells elsewhere.

The handwashing stations have been set up in far-flung villages that suffer from high rates of child mortality from intestinal diseases spread through unclean hands. Soapy Care's technology uses computerized vision based on artificial intelligence (AI) to determine whether or not a person's hands have been effectively cleaned of germs and viruses, and whether the user has washed the backs of their hands, as well as their palms.

The stations also take the users' temperature, thus identifying possible COVID-19 symptoms.

Soapy Care's hygiene stations are water-efficient and use approximately one glass of water to perform an effective wash, compared to the 12 glasses used when washing hands under an ordinary tap.

Soapy Care founder and CEO Max Simonovsky said, "The model we have led to make a major contribution to the international community allows the project to continue for a long time, because it does not depend on donations. Our customers can be partners in reducing illnesses among children and adults throughout the world. We have man other stations that have already been sent to India and will soon be set up in other rural areas, and in neighborhoods in New Delhi."

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The Health Ministry has decided to revoke the medical license of Dr. Arieh Avni, who opposes vaccines, even for coronavirus.

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Avni recently announced he had founded a political party named Rapeh and would be running in the March 23 Knesset election.

The decision to revoke Avni's license was made by Judge (ret.) Amnon Strashnov, who was given the authority to do so by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein.

Avni operates a website and Facebook page on which he publishes articles. Recent posts include a call encouraging the public to flout the Health Ministry's COVID regulations, as well as other articles attacking the medical community.

In the ruling, Strashnov wrote, "There is no doubt that the defendant's harsh, crude statements in articles he published on the website, on Facebook, and recently on YouTube against the COVID vaccine pose a real danger to the public welfare and public health.

"Add this to his unchecked, baseless attacks against doctors and Health Ministry officials – which far exceed what is allowed or reasonable under freedom of expression, which is a crucial value in any democratic society – and you have a recipe for total anarchy that the complainant is trying to cause, while boasting about his medical degree and his title of "doctor," Strashnov continued.

"I have not found any link between the important principle of freedom of speech, which the defendant is arguing, and the slanderous and harsh comments he has made – without any academic or scientific basis – all from his fruitful and unchecked imagination. The defendant and others like him should know that freedom of speech does not mean freedom to divide or express contempt," the judge wrote.

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Strashnov went on to write: "As for the punishment, has the respected doctor hear nothing about over 5,000 COVID patients, mostly elderly, who died, who apparently did not hear or take the defendant's recommendation to 'take vitamins'? Has the defendant heard nothing about the serious side effects suffered by some recovered COVID patients? Has he not read the studies showing the vaccines to be over 90% effective, or missed them? Has he not read any of the studies conducted on COVID or any scientific material? It's very doubtful, in my opinion."

Strashnov wrote that while for Avni, COVID "might be a curiosity or a joke, as he put it," it was no joke for the thousands of sick, dead, and their relatives.

"I regret to say that the defendant is a charlatan, a COVID denier, and a dangerous trickster, and has the audacity to behave that way as a licensed doctor," the judge wrote, adding that the worst incident in his opinion was "the fact that while proceedings were under way in this case, he [Avni] continued to spread his poisonous, dangerous theory, mocking public health."

Strashnov called Avni "a repeat offender" who was facing disciplinary action for the third time as he thumbed his nose at the Health Ministry, without expressing any regret or changing his ways.

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After a contentious meeting, the cabinet decided overnight Thursday to extend the current COVID restrictions until 7 a.m. Sunday after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit cancelled an earlier decision to extend it until midnight between Sunday and Monday, at the request of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.

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Starting Sunday morning, the restriction on movement to 1,000 meters from one's home will be lifted. Sectors in which one service provider works on one client, such as hair and beauty salons, will be allowed to open, as will businesses that do not meet with the public.

Restaurants will now be allowed to offer takeout service.

No decision has yet been made about whether or not to open schools, and the cabinet is slated to vote on the matter by phone next week.

National parks and nature sites will reopen to the public, and bed and breakfast businesses will be allowed to accept reservations from nuclear families.

On Sunday, the cabinet is scheduled to meet to decide on a framework for when and how to allow businesses to reopen.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the agreement, saying, "It's good that the government accepted my and the Health Ministry's recommendations with only minor changes. The lockdown will continue until Sunday morning. I am asking the public to follow instructions carefully and get vaccinated. The vaccines work. The more people who are vaccinated, with an emphasis on those age 50 and over, the more we'll be able to gradually reopen the economy, with caution."

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said, "I'm happy that common sense won out. Public health comes above any political argument. We can't play games with people's lives. I am calling on every single person – even when we start gradually opening things on Sunday – to follow the regulations."

At the end of the meeting Gantz said, "Blue and White never blocked a lockdown when it was needed. It acted and will act responsibly."

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In a violent development unprecedented since the outbreak of the coronavirus, ultra-Orthodox rioters attacked police officers in Bnei Brak late Thursday, drawing quick condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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The riots began after dozens of Haredi yeshiva students who had violated public health guidelines and gathered in the city illegally hurled rocks at a civilian vehicle while police officers were inside it.

The crowd spotted the officers inside the vehicle, gathered around it, threw rocks, smashed its windshields and punctured its tires.

The rioters tried to open the car doors, while the officers in the vehicle called for backup. Three police officers were lightly injured.

"I strongly condemn the violence toward Israel Police forces operating in Bnei Brak," Netanyahu said shortly after the incident.

"We will act with a heavy hand against the lawbreakers," he said. "First and foremost against whoever lifts his hands against our police officers."

The prime minister called on "all Israeli citizens, without exception" to follow the Health Ministry's safety guidelines.

Police later detained six individuals suspected of involvement in the attack after raiding the Vizhnitz Hassidic yeshiva, which earlier in the day had been shut down by police officers for violating Health Ministry guidelines against large public gatherings.

Public Security Minister Amir Ohana said that "the savage violence we saw [Thursday] night in Bnei Brak is a heinous crime which will not pass quietly. The response will come, and fast."

Interior Minister and Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri said: "The terrible violence [Thursday night] in Bnei Brak by several rioters against police officers who were there on duty to enforce the lockdown is appalling and outrageous. The rioters must be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We must follow safety guidelines and save lives."

Shas MK Moshe Arbel also denounced the incident.

"I express shock and disgust at a wild mob dressed as Haredim who physically harmed Israeli police officers. Barbarism of this kind has no place in our camp and in society. I expect law enforcement to bring these perpetrators to justice. They are not Haredim."

Chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Yakov Asher (United Torah Judaism) said, "All forms of violence must be denounced and it needs to be made unequivocally clear that this is not our way. With that, there's no hiding the sense that the police is working under pressure from the media, and instead of using sound judgment is being dragged into street fights that don't achieve [the goal] of minimizing public gatherings, but rather the complete opposite, and that's a shame."

Former Justice Minister MK Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) tweeted: "The location is no longer relevant. Bnei Brak, the Negev, or the Galilee, Israel is in the midst of a severe crisis of governance and non-functioning leadership. The neglect and lack of control stem from a weak and detached government. The time has come for new leadership."

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With Israel on track to see an average of 2,500 new COVID cases per day within 10 days, reinstating a policy of rigorous restriction was unavoidable, corona commissioner Professor Nachman Ash told Israel Hayom on Wednesday.

Ash said that even though a nationwide vaccination campaign would begin immediately, Israel needed to be on alert.

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"It might be hard for the public to accept the restrictions. Some would say it doesn't make sense to declare rigorous restrictions as we are beginning to vaccinate, but when you analyze [the situation] based on the facts – we need to address the here and now even as the vaccination campaign gets underway, and be prepared to see the effects of the vaccine in another three months," Ash said.

The Corona cabinet has approved restrictive policies that will include closures of workplaces that deal with the general public and businesses. For now, tourism in approved "green islands" will continue, as well as certain businesses that take in one client at a time, such as hairdressers. Public schools in communities coded green and yellow under the Health Ministry's stoplight plan will remain open.

Ash said that a policy of rigorous restriction was not expected to pose a problem when it came to administering the vaccinations, which would continue even if the country went into full lockdown.

"In March-April we'll be living a saner life thanks to the vaccinations. I assess that we can drop the masks only when about 60% of the population is vaccinated around May or June, when the weather will be warmer," the corona commissioner added.

Q: How have we gotten ourselves into this situation?

"Because of a number of things. Trips abroad, failure to adhere to quarantine, weddings and [other] events. In addition, hundreds of COVID positive people are arriving from abroad. It's hard to say how that affects the rate of spread, but it could be a major factor. If there was absolute discipline when it came to following [public health] instructions, we wouldn't be in this situation."

According to Ash, data shows that many Israelis returning from abroad ignore the mandatory quarantine orders – with 45% self-quarantining as ordered and 55% violating the policy.

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"We are now launching an operation to keep better tabs on people in isolation, with help from the Defense Ministry and a program that provides support to local authorities. We will be visiting people in isolation at home," Ash said.

Q: Why hasn't the Health Ministry set a goal for the rate of vaccinations it wants to see, either in the population at large or in target groups (such as the elderly or medical workers)?

"We want to get to a 60% vaccination rate among people who can be vaccinated. It isn't a defined goal, but assessments are that this number will provide good herd immunity. Various surveys of medical workers who that 50% said they wanted to be vaccinated, but I expect that will change with time."

Meanwhile, the "green passport" plan – a benefit to be provided to recovered COVID-19 patients and Israelis who have received the COVID-19 vaccination – is expected to become operational in January. In its first stage, the green passport will allow holders entry into tourism islands in Eilat and the Dead Sea, and allow travelers from abroad to skip the mandatory quarantine. The green passport will be included in a new application from the Health Ministry. At a later date, officials will decide whether or not the passport will allow holders entry into cultural or sports events. For now, it appears that Israelis who want to attend cultural events or a sports match but decline the vaccine might be able to be tested for COVID in the days preceding the event.

"The dilemma is over places like shopping malls," Ash explains. "Because keeping them closed keeps out groups like kids or teenagers who can't get vaccinated. There is also a problem prioritizing resources for such a purpose."

When asked if the green passports will allow Israelis to hold weddings and other similar events, Ash responds, "Theoretically, yes, but we still haven't discussed it. If I'm getting married and busy rapid testing kits and take care to allow in only people who test negative or who have been vaccinated. But there would be limitations on the number of participants."

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The gratifying news about advances in the development of a coronavirus vaccine by the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer and the Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR) in Ness Ziona sparked excitement and expectation.

For the first time since the virus made its appears, we are feeling like there's light at the end of the tunnel. The vaccines appear to be a tool to reduce the danger of COVID-19, and possibly even eradicate it. The realization that the best minds in a number of countries are working on vaccines, and that vast resources have been invested in that work, is cause for us to be cautiously hopeful about a solution.

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However, the scientific breakthrough – like it almost always does – goes along with questions of morality, ethics, and law that must be clarified in the short time that remains before the vaccines arrive. Bringing the first vaccines to Israel could lead to two contradictory problems: a refusal to be vaccinated, as well as demand that outpaces the supply. These two issues go beyond strictly medical questions.

What will we do if large sectors of the population don't want or refuse to vaccinate their children? We will not be able to exempt them on the ground that it is their personal decision. Addressing a pandemic requires us to be responsible for each other – if a sufficient level of vaccination is not reached in a given society, the disease will stay with us. And as if that weren't enough. A person who doesn't get vaccinated could infect others, especially members of the most vulnerable groups, such as those who suffer from medical conditions that preclude them from getting vaccinated.

The issue of refusal to be vaccinated is thrown into sharper relief given that this vaccine is completely new, but the phenomenon is familiar. We've seen it with other diseases and other vaccines.

"We pediatricians, who deal with unwillingness to vaccinate children on a daily basis, have accumulated vast experience in overcoming opposition or hesitation to vaccines," says Professor Zachi Grossman, chairman of the Israel Pediatric Association.

"Naturally, this is a global problem, not a specifically Israeli one. Other countries are encountering this phenomenon, and they have adopted various solutions for childhood vaccinations. In the US, for example, a number of states have passed laws making childhood vaccinations mandatory, and anyone who is not vaccinated cannot attend preschool or school," Grossman says.

Damage to herd immunity

If that is the situation in the US, which holds individualism and personal liberty holy, is it any wonder that vaccines are mandatory in so many other advanced democracies?

"In countries like France, Germany, and Australia, childhood vaccinations are mandatory, and there are financial punishments and children who aren't vaccinated are not allowed into preschools," Grossman adds.

"The obligation isn't absolute, there are exceptions. In some states in the US the legislation has allowed 'outs' – parents can declare a medical, religious, or philosophical reason and be exempts. But that demands that they fill out a form and make some effort. The lawmakers wanted to make it difficult to refuse without putting up an insurmountable wall. It's a delicate balance between personal freedom and concern for public health."

The extent of exemptions varies from country to country, which allows us to examine how it affects the extent of illness.

"The more people who are exempted, the more spread of diseases like measles there is in that country," Grossman explains. "It's also important to stress that even when there is a large percentage of vaccinated citizens, even very high, like 95%, there could be 'pockets' of local opposition, and in those areas there will be outbreaks that will create an epidemic."

Grossman's concerns are backed up by statistics from the US, which demonstrate that every increase in the number of people refusing to be vaccinated detracts from herd immunity. In the case of measles, a 5% drop in vaccination rates leads to three times as many cases.

The severity of the COVID pandemic hints at the possibility that world leaders might require their citizens to be vaccinated. Three months ago, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was quoted saying that his country would require vaccinations as widely as possible, with the goal being to vaccinate 95% of the population. Morrison's remarks caused a public storm, and the Australian health minister was forced to make it clear that the government would not force any Australian to be vaccinated.

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In Germany, a survey published in October showed that only 70% of population were willing to be vaccinated. Approximately half of respondents supported the idea of making COVID vaccinations mandatory, and 22% declared that they would not be vaccinated and said they opposed making the vaccine mandatory. Reasons behind the opposition to the vaccine included concern about the fact that, unlike regular vaccines, the COVID vaccine has no proven record of effectiveness. The response that the same could at one point have been said about all standard childhood vaccines appears not to have convinced about one-quarter of the German population.

Grossman explains that after the last measles outbreak in Israel, MKs in the 20th Knesset Yoel Hasson, Shuli Moallem-Rafaeli and Merav Ben-Ari authored a private member's bill that sought to establish a national vaccine policy and address the issue of vaccine reluctance. The bill was approved in a first reading, but the Knesset was then dissolved and three elections were held, and the legislation was stalled.

When asked if he thinks that forcing Israelis to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is the right thing to do, Grossman says, "I hope it won't take a law, although it's tempting to try. If we look at the global experience, it seems as if laws, when we take into account the exemptions they always include, give us more or less the same effect as good outreach calling for people to be vaccinated. Most countries believe in persuading the population. Passing laws about it opens the door to unending appeals and creates an appalling lack of trust, because people start resisting coercion and suspecting that if the law requires it – the vaccine might not be so successful or safe."

Q: What other tools can help Israel reach a high rate of vaccinations?

"What we need is persuasion based on a combination of full transparency, which presents the facts about the vaccine, and personal example from leaders and authority figures. Talking to a taxi driver who declared he would not be vaccinated, I asked him what could change his mind. He said, 'If the leaders get vaccinated, it will be persuasive.' In my opinion, we need a coordinated effort to convince the people who are reluctant, and pediatricians should lead it."

Grossman says that there is also great importance to the medical community adopting a cohesive stance, as it did during a recent polio outbreak. He says that former corona chief Professor Ronni Gamzu, who at the time was director-general of the Health Ministry, made sure that the entire health care system would express support for polio vaccinations. "But if there's a single doctor who publicly refuses to be vaccinated, it would have destructive ramifications," he warns.

Punishment vs. a clear and present danger

Virologist Anatoly Alstein of Russia's Gameleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, which developed the Russian COVID vaccine Sputnik V, tells Israel Hayom that the question of making the vaccine mandatory is irrelevant, because according to projections the rate of vaccination in Russia won't exceed half the population. The Russians were proud of being the first to announce a vaccine, but they warn that it cannot be used on pregnant women or nursing mothers, children or youths under 18; or people who suffer from chronic conditions. Its effect on the elderly is also unknown, because it was only tested on volunteers under age 65.

According to attorney Sara Frisch, a retired judge and a member of the ethics committee at Rabin Medical Center, "the basic principle in terms of values, morality, ethics, and also law is that a person is responsible for his or her body. A person's bodily autonomy is a guiding principle. So the Israeli law on patients' rights talks about not forcing medical treatment on someone, except in extreme conditions."

Q: Doesn't protecting the public from COVID comprise an extreme condition?

"Let's start by saying that we still haven't seen the vaccine, we don't know who built it, what the differences are between different vaccines, what works and what doesn't, what interests stand behind them. First, we need answers to all these questions. Therefore we still can't talk about coercion or obligation. If and when the day arrives, and I hope it will, that we have a clear vaccine with clear results without side effects or any other damage, we can ask the question about the value of autonomy vs. other values, like public health and the sanctity of life."

Q: Are there grounds to discuss mandatory vaccines?

"I think that we won't be able to make the vaccine mandatory. In general, the growing control over the lives of the citizens in a number of aspects is a little scary. However, there are clear risks of infection, and the disease is without a doubt serious and contagious, and we can't fall into the hands of the dangerous attitude of 'what will be will be.'"

"I believe that the public isn't opposed to the vaccine in principle, but rather has understandable concerns due to the lack of information and the zigzag in public orders and doctors' positions. The public saw the lack of answers, experienced the feeling that no one knew what the day would bring (at first doctors said no to masks, then yes) and feels that they aren't being brought in. Add the media that blows everything up, and you get a worldwide lack of leadership."

Q: When it comes to the opposite moral question of who should be vaccinated first, especially if there is a shortage, what should we do?

"The indication for prioritizing the vaccine should be solely based on medical considerations, not economic or anything else. Those who are weaker should be first, and it's very possible that is not just a matter of age. Based on the medical record, there are vulnerable populations and they should get priority for the vaccine. The parameters for prioritization should be transparent, and I think that the responsibility for determining them should rest with a system that includes, in addition to doctors, experts in ethics, public officials, and religious representatives. A good example of a system like that is the National Council of Bioethics in the Health Ministry."

The post The vaccine dilemma appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A group of several dozen Druze men took part on Friday in a mission to snatch the body of dead religious leader Shiekh Abu Aladdin Hassan Halabi of Majdal Shams from Sieff Hospital in Safed, where he had died of COVID-19.

The men, all residents of Majdal Shams, wrangled with security guards but eventually left the hospital carrying the sheikh's body.

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The men brought his remains to their Golan Heights community and held a funeral, which thousands of people attended despite the public health restrictions that put limits on the number of people allowed at public gatherings.

Majdal Shams is coded red under the Health Ministry's stoplight plan and is under lockdown due to the high number of new COVID cases identified there.

MK Idur Kamal Mariah, a member of the Druze community, responded to social media reports about the incident, writing on Twitter: "I absolutely condemn the incident at Sieff Hospital in Safed an hour ago. This behavior is not appropriate for the honored departed sheikh's stature. We must all behave according to Health Ministry regulations."

Meanwhile, Sieff Hospital is criticizing the police, claiming that police officers stood by while the sheikh's body was taken.

"Dozens of impassioned Druze started to shove in, and there was only a security guard and a security officer to fend them off. On the other side, there were three police officers who stood to the site and watched what was happening without doing a thing," a hospital official said.

"They [the Druze] broke a metal barrier, smashed the guard booth, went down to the basement, broke into the morgue, and took the sheikh's body," the official continued.

Earlier Friday, it was reported that a 76-year-old confirmed COVID patient from the Golan Heights had been rushed to Sieff Hospital in very serious condition. The man was already in a coma and on a ventilator, and paramedics were trying to resuscitate him. Doctors at the hospital continued attempts to save his life, to no avail.

It later became apparent that the man was one of the most revered sheikhs in the Druze community in Israel. Originally, members of the community planned to lay his body out on a soccer field in Majdal Shams to allow people to pay their last respects. Outgoing corona chief Professor Ronni Gamzu and Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Professor Itamar Grotto were informed of the plan and objected to it on the grounds that people would flock to the location.

Hospital director Professor Salman Zarka, himself a member of the Druze community, spoke to Druze leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, who eventually agreed to call off the planned final respects out of concern for public health.

Later Friday evening, the group of Druze men took the law into their own hands and removed the sheikh's body from the premises.

The funeral took place on Saturday, attended by thousands. However, footage taken shows that participants appeared to have followed social distancing guidelines, with chairs set far apart.

A commission has been appointed to investigate the incident of the hospital rain and the conduct of police officers at the funeral.  the incident and evaluate the conduct of police

Tarif has made it clear that neither the leaders of the Druze community nor the family of the deceased were linked to the break-in at the hospital.

"The incident that occurred at the Sieff Medical Center in Safed is not linked to a decision by the leaders of the community or the family of the deceased," Tarif told the Kan public broadcaster.

Part of this article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Israel's COVID-19 death toll crossed 2,500 on Thursday and on Friday morning stood at 2,511.

On Thursday, 36,318 coronavirus tests identified 630 new cases, a positive percentage of 1.8%, the Health Ministry reported Friday morning.

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As of Friday morning, there were 11,254 active of symptomatic patients in Israel, with 738 hospitalized, 410 of whom were listed in serious condition. Of those 410, 190 were on ventilators.

Meanwhile, the Corona cabinet decided on Thursday night to allow independent shops to open for business starting Nov. 8, after the Health Ministry opposed reopening businesses starting Sunday, Nov. 1.

The cabinet also decided that synagogues would be allowed to reopen on Saturday, but would be restricted to 10 worshippers inside and 20 outside.

Rural B&B accommodations will also be allowed to return to business starting Sunday, but serve only nuclear families. Shared pools and dining rooms at the facilities must remain closed.

Hair salons, beauty salons, and alternative health treatments will also be permitted starting Sunday.

The meeting was fraught. Finance Minister Israel Katz accused the Health Ministry of "waging a war of prestige on the backs of small businesses."

Economy Minister Amir Peretz also demanded that independent shops be allowed to reopen, saying, "At [supermarket chain] Rami Levy it's a lot more crowded than in small shops."

The decisions were in principle only, and the Health Ministry must still present revised regulations for cabinet approval, which was slated to take place Friday, with the regulations taking effect on Sunday, Nov. 1.

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