Re-open for business

Regarding “Cabinet approves opening of restaurants, event halls, grades 7-10 on Sunday” (March 2), if restaurants are to be able to open their doors to diners who have been vaccinated then diners should be entitled to know if all the restaurant staff have all been vaccinated.

It is always a delicate balance for a government to negotiate between public good and private needs.

This is exacerbated in times of stress such as our present corona crisis, an example being the frustration of private citizens seeking “exceptions” to the general ban on international flights, as described in “Our government cares only about its own power” (March 1).

There seems to be a lack of uniformity or clarity about how one is to receive such an exception.

People have submitted applications with appropriate and lengthy documentation only to receive back within minutes a blanket denial, leading them to wonder if their application was even read.

Was it due to a lack of “protekzia” as Herb Keinon suggested, or lack of bureaucratic accountability as described by Emily Schrader, or worse, “an example of the editorial’s “farce of law?”

Citizens will respect regulations designed for their safety as long as they are applied fairly and openly. Transparency and equality of application will go a long way to alleviate stress and frustration in all such situations.

Kudos to Emily Schrader for “Our government cares only about its own power” (March 1), with some gentle corrections.

First, the misleading headline. The use of euphemisms should be avoided. “Our government” is a poor substitute for “Our prime minister.”

Similarly misleading is the assertion that “our government feeds the desire of the public not to be a freier.” Although the public has been a freier for decades, this is a false flag. It should read: “Our prime minister feeds his desire not to be a convict.”

Finally, it is an inaccurate and unnecessarily pessimistic assertion that “Israel has weak rule of law.” The unfortunate reality is that Israel has a weak ruler, a poor national condition that hopefully will be remedied soon.

Former

JPost

RONNIE STEKEL Jerusalem

MARION REISS Beit Shemesh

ILAN CHAIM chief copy editor and editorial writer