JERUSALEM – Israel on Thursday will further strengthen its national blockade by the time coronavirus cases continued to skyrocket, ordering the closure of all non-essential businesses and forcing others to remain within 1,000 meters of their home.
Prayers for existing Jewish holidays, as well as political demonstrations, would be limited to open spaces and no more than 20 people, and participants deserve to remain a limited distance from their homes.
The measures are expected to enter into force on Friday afternoon, while the country is closed for the weekly Saturday before the solemn holy day of Yom Kippur on Sundays and Mondays. Even at general times, Israel absolutely closes for Yom Kippur, the Day of the Jewish Atonement. , with businesses and airports closed, empty roads and even silent radio and television stations.
In a televised showdown Thursday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the pain caused by the closure, but said that the holiday season, when many companies are slowing down anyway, is the most productive time to act.
Comparing it to a war, he said the measures would save lives. “Wake up, we’re in a new reality,” he said.
The limits of prayers and manifestations can provoke a backlash.
Israel’s politically influential ultra-Orthodox network has opposed the limits of public prayer for existing Jewish holidays, and Netanyahu’s parties to the conflict have accused him of using the lock as a pavilion to end weekly protests opposed to his handling of the crisis.
Netanyahu downplayed the accusations as “absurd,” all restrictions were aimed at public safety.
In a separate speech, Netanyahu’s former rival and now a ruling partner, Benny Gantz, for national unity.
“We cannot afford to exploit and deepen polarization and make us lose this battle,” he said, promising that protesters can simply take to the streets and that the faithful can fill the synagogues once the stage is under control.
“Saving lives is before anything else. Anything,” Gantz said in an outdoor speech at home. You can hear Hecklers yelling at him in the distance.
The government ordered the closure of the synagogues for closure, which is expected to last at least two weeks, but said they can open with restrictions on prayers in Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Hagai Levine, professor of epidemiology and a member of an expert organization advising the government, warned that allowing Yom Kippur’s prayers in synagogues can lead to mass transmission.
It went so far as to compare it to the 1973 war, when Egypt and Syria launched a wonderful attack on Israel Yom Kippur. “Now it’s no wonder. We’re going to have a big challenge and a big broadcast at Yom Kippur in a few days,” he said.
He said that, on the other hand, the government would impose a complete blockade for a short period of time to highlight the seriousness of the situation, followed by a slow easing of restrictions on essential but low-risk activities.
Israel has recently reported some 7,000 new cases, making the epidemic in the country nine million more people one of the worst in the world, in line with capital.
Israel won praise this spring when it acted temporarily to seal its borders and close top businesses. By May, their rate of new cases had fallen to double digits. But then he reopened the economy too temporarily, prompting an outbreak of new infections in the country. Summer.
In recent months, a national unity government that has been formed to combat the pandemic has been embroiled in incitement, and the government has issued unclear and contradictory directives, which has led much of the public to forget about the risk.
Many corporations, on the other hand, have not yet recovered from the last closure, and the new restrictions are expected to have a major impact on the economy even if the holidays are imposed, when many corporations would regularly reduce their hours.
Israel has reported a total of more than 200,000 cases since the start of the pandemic, adding up to 1,335 deaths. You have more than 50,000 active instances.
At least 667 other people are hospitalized in serious condition, according to the ministry of fitness, and in recent days, fitness officials have warned that hospitals are reaching their full capacity.
Last week, the government imposed a national closure that closed schools, buying grocery stores, hotels and restaurants, which made Israel the first evolved country to impose a momentary closure, but restrictions included many exceptions, adding allowing others to leave their homes for exercise, prayers and public events.
The new lock eliminates the maximum of those spaces.
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