Israeli-Arab town operates its own anti-corona plan

Israel is on the way to a full lockdown. The government decided last night to impose a full lockdown starting Sept. 25 until the end of the Sukkoth holiday on Oct. 10. The debate that preceded the decision lasted for eight hours. The main disagreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners from Blue and White was around the question of protests. Reportedly, Netanyahu pushed to impose a complete closure in order to prohibit and limit protests against him by the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem.

But while Israel’s prime minister is busy stopping protests against him even at the economic price of a full lockdown and stopping all commercial activity, some cities have taken their own measures and decided to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 within the city bounds instead of waiting for the state. 

One of the cities that has excelled at this task is Kafr Qasim. Shortly after his nomination, coronavirus tzar Ronni Gamzu decided on a "traffic light plan," categorizing Israeli towns and villages into red, orange, yellow and green, according to the rate of infection. Kafr Qasim was declared last month a “red city," but today it is already designated a yellow city, and the mayor hopes that it will turn green in a week. This success story even won praise and a visit from former Minister of Defense and current Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett, for whom the fight against COVID-19 in Israel has become a goal on the way to the next election, as today he has 21 mandates according to a Channel 12 poll. 

So what is the secret to the success of Kafr Qasim? In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Mayor Adel Bdir said, “A month ago we were labeled a red city, and we were even a hot red city with an infection rate of 10.6%. Today we are classified as a yellow city with a 6% infection rate, according to the traffic light plan. We all hope we are on the way to becoming a green city, as we are already down to 149 active patients."