With the coronavirus on rage, Israel tightens the holiday lockdown

JERUSALEM – The Israeli government said Thursday it is strict Its the second national lockdown After coronavirus cases rose to about 5,000 a day in the past week, The highest per capita rate in the world.

The new measures, to be implemented on Friday, will remain in place until at least mid-October until the end of the Jewish High Holy Days. Most businesses and workplaces will have to close, and all gatherings, including protests and communal prayers, will be limited to groups of 20 people within about 1,100 yards outside the home.

“Over the last two days, we have heard from experts that we will reach the brink of the abyss if we do not take drastic and immediate action,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet. Lower down restrictions. In the last few days, the number of infections has increased by about 1,000,000 new cases every day.

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar lender, is an exception to the ban for Sunday, which begins at sunset. A limited number of worshipers will be allowed to pray in the synagogue Like they did last week for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashna.

Like Rosh Hasna, the rabbis will need to organize the worshipers into clusters of 20 to 50, wearing masks and separated by dividers. The number and size of groups will be calculated based on the local infection rate, how many entrances and available space in each synagogue.

Ultra-rhetorical cabinet ministers argued that for many Jews, praying outside in the heat on Monday would be unbearable, especially given the 25-hour fast on the holy day of atonement.

But others said the intention to impose a strict lockdown on Yom Kippur was allowed to take full-day services at the synagogue because available evidence suggests the virus spreads more easily than outside the home.

Synagogues are usually full of capacity at Yom Kippur, usually the most attended services of the year. After the rosh hush, images in the local news media showed a number of Orthodox Ox men gathering around the entrance to a synagogue in the northern city of Haifa.

The new sanctions, which would correct high economic prices, were intended to alleviate the heated political and cultural controversy in Israel.

On the one hand those who by law raise their right to assemble and protest in front of the Prime Minister, as they are doing thousands upon thousands weekly in the streets near his official residence in Jerusalem. On the other hand, there are dissident politicians, who oppose restrictions on prayer as long as mass protests are allowed to continue.

Critics have questioned the motives of Mr Netanyahu, who has stood trial at allegations of corruption and protested against protesters and cast them as a spread of the virus.

Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Yair Lapid, The lockdown was said to be a “bottom line”: “Prohibition against Netanyahu is forbidden.”

Mr Netanyahu and his attorney general, Avichai Mendeblit, have said the urgent need to overcome the public health crisis also overrides fundamental rights, including praying without limits or praying sectarian.

“Leadership means making tough decisions, making the necessary decisions and making life-saving decisions,” Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet, in a statement from his office. “We are not privileged to know that we can prevent additional mortality and we have not taken action.”

Mr Mendeblitt said the public health crisis is a tiff of action to protest and ban prayers.

In a statement on Thursday, he said it would be “legally appropriate” to limit significant performances, prayers or any other activity involving gatherings, given the scope of disability due to conditions as high as the need for a general lockout.

He added that the police had decided that up to 2,000 protesters could fit in the area around the PM’s residence while maintaining social distance and staying in separate clusters of 20 people.

However, the Israeli parliament must approve any measures restricting the freedom of protest, which is anchored in the law.