Deadly COVID blunders

Within two weeks’ time, some 300 to 400 Israelis could be in serious condition from COVID-19, putting the country’s health system at risk of collapse if this trend continues.

It’s a shocking turnaround for a country that just one month ago was lauded for its smart and successful response to the pandemic.

These are three mistakes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government are making that could have been learned from the first wave.

1 – Not executing timely evacuations

Over the weekend, Israel learned that not only are most of the new infections in Jerusalem in the past week concentrated in haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhoods, according to a report by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center, but some 72% of people caught the virus from their own family members or within their own home.

This should come as no surprise. Back in April, the Health Ministry revealed that a high percentage of haredi patients infect their family members, and for good reason.

In the haredi community, many large families live together in small apartments, making it exceedingly difficult to completely isolate. Sometimes, it is almost impossible.

In the first wave, the government evacuated hundreds of coronavirus patients from their homes in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, among other places, to special isolation hotels set up by the Defense Ministry. In fact, it was the cities’ commitment to transfer these patients outside of their homes that allowed the government to lift restrictions and allow healthy members to return to their normal routines.

At the height of the coronavirus crisis, there were close to 20 hotels devoted to caring for those with coronavirus and those in quarantine.

Late Sunday, the Defense Ministry announced

that two new coronavirus hotels were opened and two more are expected to open this week, including one for the ultra-Orthodox community. The ministry said that the four new hotels could collectively accommodate around 2,000 new patients, but with nearly 500 new patients diagnosed in Jerusalem in just the last week alone, it is hard to imagine that these hotels will suffice.

Moreover, many members of the ultra-Orthodox community do not own TVs or Internet and therefore do not receive Health Ministry updates. When the acute problem among the haredi sector was identified in the first wave, the government rolled out an information campaign targeted specifically at this community.

Why has the Health Ministry not launched such a hasbara (public diplomacy) campaign explaining the second wave?

2 – Giving into populism

The government relied heavily on Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) surveillance to help find and isolate potentially sick patients in the first wave.

A report presented to the Knesset’s Subcommittee of Secret Services found that around one-third of all coronavirus patients were discovered via the Shin Bet’s program, although around 93% of Israelis who were sent into isolation never developed the virus.

To follow the internationally accepted protocol for cutting the infection chain (test, trace, isolate), the country does not only need the Shin Bet, it needs a strong and robust team of epidemiological investigators.

Multiple reports over the past weeks have highlighted the country’s failure to prepare for a second wave by hiring and training enough people to perform this job.

The nurses are overworked and cannot stand up to the task of tracing 1,000 patients per day. In an interview with N12, Prof. Eli Waxman, who headed the panel of experts advising the National Security Council during the first wave of COVID19, said that the Health Ministry only has data on around 10% of infected people.

On Sunday, the Defense Ministry’s announcement that it would send 350 troops on top of Health Minister Yuli Edelstein’s investment in around 250 medical students to support tracing efforts might be too little, too late.

The government is right to insist on keeping the economy operating, as just as many or more people stand to die from complications of unemployment and mental health challenges related to a lockdown.

However, as Waxman has repeated in recent days, the government, when it convenes on Monday, must make difficult and possibly unpopular decisions to stop the spread of the infection in its tracks. •

sovereignty to 30% of the West Bank.

According to the coalition agreement between the Likud and Blue and White, Israel had the option to annex that territory as early as July 1 as long as it had US approval. Gantz’s approval is not necessary, but the US wants both him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on board with the plan.

The US has yet to give Israel a green light and a declaration on the matter. Netanyahu has been silent on the issue of sovereignty since last week, leaving the stage to Blue and White and his political opponents.

The timing was not right, Gantz told Army Radio.

“We have to find the right moment when it is possible strategically,” he said, adding that embarking on such a “broad” and “large” plan “at this moment would be very problematic.”

True to this moment, given the current reality, “we have to be very cautious,” Gantz said.

He said he and Netanyahu have discussed the timing of any sovereignty application.

“We will know how to advance at the right pace, the right moment, the right time and the right place,” Gantz said. That time will be in the “coming period,” although he did not give a date.

Gantz supports sovereignty over the settlements, although he has never clarified if this is just the blocs or the isolated settlements. He has been very strong on the significance of the Jordan Valley to Israel’s security.

Gantz’s issue has been unilateral sovereignty, which he opposes. His preference has been to apply sovereignty in dialogue with the Palestinians, as well as with the Jordanians and the Arab world, even though they want a resolution at the pre-1967 lines.

The Trump plan is the correct one with which to advance relations between Israel and the Palestinians, Gantz said.

“I believe in it [Trump’s plan],” he said.

It is the first plan that takes into account the reality on the ground with respect to the settlements and Israel’s security interests, Gantz said.

“I would be happy to continue to advance it together with our American partners, based on their suggestions, and through joint work with the Jordanians and the Palestinians,” he said.

Gantz listed the elements that made it significant, including a unified Jerusalem and the nullification of the pre-1967 line as a plausible final border for Israel.

In an interview with KAN Radio, he spoke more at length about the Palestinian statehood aspect of the plan.

“I am in support of separation from the Palestinians,” Gantz said. He hesitated to state outright whether he supported Palestinian statehood, saying he supported the plan for the Palestinians as laid out under Trump’s “Deal of the Century.”

That deal calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank and some east Jerusalem neighborhoods that exist outside the boundaries of the security barrier but still within the municipal limits.

The way forward is for Israel to retain security control of the area, as outlined in Trump’s plan, but without taking civic responsibility for the Palestinians by controlling their day-today life, such as education and utilities, Gantz said.

“We are not prepared to be a dual-national state,” he said. “We want a secure, democratic and Jewish state that is flourishing economically and morally just,” he said.

“The best way to do this is

with the support of the US, which we have,” Gantz said. In addition, “we need to solicit global support and regional support as well as through dialogue with the Palestinians.”

“We do not need to seek shortcuts,” he added. •

intention to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank. It now appears, however, that the chances of an uprising erupting against Hamas are higher than those against Israel. •