The press conference held by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday afternoon took place against an overwhelming feeling among Israelis that the government had lost control of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. There is no way of knowing how many people have been infected each day because the testing network simply cannot keep up. Nevertheless, experts estimate that about 100,000 people were tested in the last day alone.
In his press conference, Bennett informed the public about something it already knew: Israel is being overwhelmed by a new wave of infection, unlike anything ever seen before. Millions are expected to be infected with the omicron variant in the next few weeks. He promised economic assistance to be people who were affected, and emphasized that unlike the previous government, he would not enforce a closure.
