Netanyahus Bring Suitcases

Israel isn’t yet Italy and isn’t likely to be. The population is much younger, the level of medicine is high and the professional knowledge about how to deal with COVID-19 is more extensive than it was in March. Recent weeks have indeed seen another steep rise in the confirmed incidence of the disease, even if most of those who contract it are young and asymptomatic.

I spent half an hour on the first day of 5781 in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhoods of Mea Shearim and Bet Yisrael. I had set out to simply establish the fact that despite the government’s detailed guidelines on how to conduct High Holiday prayers, in the strongholds of the Eda Haredit they were going about their festive business without taking heed of COVID-19 precautions. Sadly, that was the case.

Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are dealing with a renewed coronavirus outbreak, leading to proposals and measures intended to curb its spread and mitigate the economic ramifications of the crisis by both Israeli and Palestinian authorities. Israel currently has 57,131 active cases; 1,376 people have died. In the West Bank, there are 11,425 active cases and 291 deaths, and in Gaza 1,825 active cases and 17 deaths.