The total closure in Israel ... the phenomenon of corona prevention and its internalization is a political interest for Netanyahu

Mohamed Mohsen Wedd - occupied Jerusalem

Analysts and economists in Israel agreed that imposing a comprehensive closure on the country from yesterday evening Tuesday until Friday, to reduce the outbreak of the new Corona virus, has dual political and organizational goals that reflect the debate regarding the health preparedness of the emergency.

Although it was agreed that the comprehensive closure is an important means to prevent the spread of the virus, there is almost consensus that the closure was implemented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a delay of three weeks, which reflects Netanyahu's use of the virus for political goals in order to form a national unity government headed by rotating with a blue leader White "Benny Gantz.

Despite the importance of a comprehensive closure to limit the spread of the Corona virus - a decision taken by the professional departments of the Ministry of Health in mid-March last year, Netanyahu declined to implement it at the time, as the military analyst for the newspaper "Haaretz" Amos Harel believes that the vast majority of decisions - If not all - taken for political motives.

Decisions and considerations
Harel explained that Netanyahu's decisions regarding Corona, some of which appear to be trivial, are influenced by Israeli internal considerations and the results of the election results and efforts to form a national unity government.

The military analyst cited Netanyahu's reluctance recently to resolve the decision to impose a total closure on Haredi towns and residential neighborhoods of the Haredim in major Israeli cities, where a widespread outbreak of the virus occurred, pointing out that Netanyahu took advantage of the "Easter" and announced a comprehensive closure of the country, in order not to anger the parties The Haredim support him in the government coalition.

Harel pointed out that the Netanyahu government has been busy in recent days with the comprehensive closure or closure of the haredi-infested towns of the virus, rather than searching for practical solutions and providing assistance to the housing groups of the Haredim to prevent the spread of the virus between its residents, and this comes contrary to the position of the Ministry of Health, which confirmed that the closure of communities infested with Corona It is vital and critical to fighting the virus.

And if Netanyahu's goal, through a comprehensive closure, was to satisfy his allies from the ultra-Orthodox parties "Shas" and "United Torah Judaism", Gili Cohen, political correspondent for the official Israeli radio, "Kan", stated that Netanyahu's original intention was to close eight towns for the Haredim, but that a ministerial objection The Haredi parties Jacob Litzman and Arieh Deri prevented this, and he must circulate the closure decision to all parts of the country.

Close and scenarios
With tens of deaths and thousands of HIV infections recorded, the comprehensive closure came into effect, while a progress report was issued by the Knesset Committee to tackle the Corona virus, and harsh criticism was leveled at the government and the political level in managing the crisis.

The parliamentary committee report also criticized Netanyahu's decision to delegate the task of managing the Corona file to the National Security Council, and members of the committee stressed the need to establish a new national body to manage crises and future emergencies, and the shortage of medical equipment and coverage by seeking to bring it through special campaigns around the world in the context of the Corona crisis.

The report criticized the Ministry of Health, accusing it of failing to manage the state of emergency and formulating harsh and extremist scenarios, by intimidating and exaggerating the numbers of deaths and infections with the virus, in an attempt to cover up its failure and the lack of preparedness of the health system to deal with the emergency, and its inability to absorb large quantities of patients With the virus.

Readiness and failure
According to the report of the Parliamentary Committee, the Ministry of Health - due to the lack of preparedness and the lack of required respirators - has pushed with the continued rise in the frequency of deaths and injuries in Corona, towards a comprehensive closure of the country, to prevent the spread of the virus and loss of control, and prevent the collapse of hospitals and medical centers.

In its report, the committee recommended the need to cancel the comprehensive closure in the country and the gradual return to the labor market and the economy immediately after the end of the Easter holiday on Thursday of next week, stressing that the suspension of labor and economic paralysis constitutes a strategic threat to the future of the country more than the Corona epidemic.

Commenting on the recommendations and criticisms of the Knesset committee to confront the Corona government and officials in the administration of the Ministry of Health, the Haaretz newspaper correspondent for Parliamentary Affairs, Yehontan Less, quoted sources close to Netanyahu as saying, "It became clear that the Corona Committee is a political committee par excellence. As the world praises Israel's great success in the battle Corona, the commission's decision-making and comprehensive closure policy attacks are more ridiculous than ever. "

Error and loss
On the other side, and far from political considerations, businessman Yakir Gabbay wrote an article in the newspaper "Klklist" that deals with issues of economy, finance and business, in which he criticized the decision of the comprehensive closure, stating that the curfew, the ban on movement and the suspension of labor market and economic activity is a wrong decision, and not a solution To confront the Corona virus.

Gabbay called for the immediate abolition of the ban and closure, the lifting of restrictions, the return of the business sectors, the commercial market and the economy to work immediately, and the review of procedures and mechanisms to combat the Corona virus and changing them immediately, pointing out that the government's policy to confront the epidemic may lead to losing the battle against the virus, and most importantly losing the economy.

He believes that the policy adopted by the government to combat the epidemic will lead to a collapse of the economy and will not prevent the outbreak of the epidemic, indicating that the Israeli government, although it was one of the first governments around the world to diagnose the risks of an outbreak and worked quickly, has lost the means and floundered and lost the way.

The businessman believes that decision-makers should ask themselves: What is the purpose of all the measures they take and the overall closure, is the goal to correct the function and stop the spread of the epidemic only?

He said that the closure slows down the spread of the virus but does not eliminate it, wondering: What will happen if the restrictions are lifted and the closure is suspended then the virus returns to spread and spread? Will we open and close the economy from time to time over the coming years?