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Second wave of virus pummels Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's popularity is falling amid a spike in coronavirus cases.
A man wearing a protective mask amid the Covid-19 pandemic stands in a shop with a sign on the window reading in Hebrew: please wear a mask in the centre of Jerusalem on July 7, 2020. - As of today, Israel had recorded more than 31,000 coronavirus cases, including 338 deaths. In recent weeks, the country of about nine million people has regularly registered between 500 to 1,000 new cases each day. (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Only a week ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was busy trying to salvage his annexation program and even toyed with the idea of dismantling the unity government and calling for new elections. The polls showed him reaching new heights with over 40 mandates despite the trial he faces and despite the expensive and bloated government he cobbled together when hundreds of thousands of citizens are unemployed.

But on June 6, at the very last minute, the prime minister stepped on the brake. Netanyahu convened the coronavirus cabinet in an emergency Zoom meeting and approved a list of stringent measures in an effort to halt the second wave of the disease, a round that looks even more severe than the first.

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