High Court green-lights Netanyahu, Gantz deal
New government set to be sworn in on Wednesday
The High Court of Justice paved the way for a LikudBlue and White coalition late Wednesday when it ruled it would not disqualify the proposed deal between the two parties. The maximum 11-judge panel green-lighted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government, as well as controversial aspects of the coalition deal.
Despite misgivings about the indictment and aspects of the coalition deal, by a unanimous, the justices decided they could not intervene.
The judges worked all day on drafting their ruling in order to complete it ahead of Thursday night’s deadline for the signatures of 61 MKs supporting the government’s formation to be submitted to President Reuven Rivlin to prevent another election.
Netanyahu and Gantz met Wednesday night to consider additional changes in the coalition agreement, in an effort to satisfy the court’s demands. Among the changes considered was to extend the government’s term from three years to four.
In such a scenario, Netanyahu would still be prime minister for the first year-anda-half until November 2021 and Gantz after that to May 2023. But there would then be an additional six months for Netanyahu and then for Gantz.
They ultimately decided against that proposal, in part because the coalition agreement already states that the two party leaders could decide together to extend the term of the government from three years to four at any point during the government’s tenure.
Netanyahu and Gantz agreed in their meeting that their government should be sworn in next Wednesday. If Netanyahu receives a twoweek mandate from Rivlin next Monday, a government would not have needed to be sworn in until June 1, but Gantz wanted the process completed and a swearing-in ceremony to take place as soon as possible.
The two party leaders were
“There are hundreds of thousands of children who have not yet received a response from the government ministries,” she said. “I appeal to the prime minister to intervene immediately, so that kindergartens can open as scheduled at the start of the week, and declare that the education from birth to three years old is a critical service in the State of Israel.”
Parents of preschoolers ages three to six are also in limbo after the Education Ministry determined to open schools Sunday but without afterschool care and with preschool classes broken into groups, with each learning three consecutive days in a row at school and then three from home. Despite the ministry’s best efforts, parents said with such a framework, they will not be able to return to work.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel on Wednesday said they hope to offer an alternative education program at local community centers to accommodate these children.
Israelis will not be locked down on Lag Ba’omer, but it will be celebrated in a more limited capacity than in previous years. On Wednesday, the government approved that on Mount Meron, three bonfires will be ignited, one for Ashkenazi Jews, one for Sephardi Jews and one for the religious-Zionist community. Some 50 people will be allowed to attend each bonfire ceremony by invitation and approval only. Participants will be identified, and anyone who is not supposed to be there will be removed, even by force.
Moreover, between May 14 and 17, directly following the holiday, entering and loitering in the area of the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron will be forbidden, as will renting guest rooms in the area. Public transportation will stop during this period, too.
The government also voted to prohibit the lighting of all bonfires, even in private yards, from May 7-13.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
In South Korea, which implemented a strategy of large-scale testing instead of massive quarantine, dozens of daily new cases started to appear around February 20. By March 3, the daily rate had reached a peak of approximately 850 new cases. By March 15, it stabilized at an average of less than 100 new cases per day.
Italy was the first and one of the hardest-hit European countries. On February 22, more than 50 new cases appeared there. On March 21, the country peaked with approximately 6,500 new cases daily. Today, the country has fewer than 2,000 cases per day and is in a pattern of daily decline.
Coronavirus cases in Germany increased from March 10 to April 1. Four weeks later, the country has about 1,000 new diagnoses daily. The country has 83 million people, so its 1,000 cases per day is equivalent to about 100 in Israel.
Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands and nearly all other countries show similar patterns.
“Since the basis of this model is its locality, an analysis of the US should be conducted at a state level rather than the countrywide one,” Namerode said.
After his first piece appeared in the Post, he was “criticized by so many people,” Namerode said. “But apparently it works in every country. Each territory behaved exactly like this.”
The bell curve’s length and number of deaths relates to how efficient each country was at implementing social distancing and other measures, he said. But there is no big difference between those countries that took extreme or medium measures, he added.
“This is not about biology or politics,” Namerode said, adding his expertise is not in immunology nor infectious diseases.
“Numbers, however, can provide an explanation to natural phenomena even in places where the relevant science cannot,” he told the Post. As a businessman, he said, he is used to looking at numbers, analyzing them and then drawing data-driven conclusions.
“I looked at the numbers and could see a pattern, exactly how I would analyze market behaviors or trends,” he said.
Namerode is not the only businessman or mathematician to look for similar patterns. Nobel Prize laureate Michael Levitt successfully forecast the slowdown in the rate of infection in mainland China.
By looking at statistics emerging on the number of people infected and the number of deaths, Levitt identified a bounded growth pattern, showing that instead of the rate of infection increasing exponentially, it started to tail off.
Levitt also predicted that Israel would have few deaths.
Shelah said the coronavirus “loves Western European and North American countries.”
“There are 13 states with 100 dead per million,” he told the Knesset on Wednesday, noting that they were all in Western Europe, the US and Canada. In contrast, he said, the number of dead per million in Greece is half of that of Israel, and in Cyprus only 12 people have died. Moreover, in the West Bank, where three million Palestinians live, only two deaths connected to coronavirus were reported, he added.
Namerode did not substantiate Shelah’s hypothesis. But given the level of disease Israel eventually witnessed, he believes the country overreacted and will pay too steep an economic price.