Netanyahu won't crack down on ultra-Orthodox despite virus surge
Though the ultra-Orthodox community's disregard for pandemic measures has emerged as central to Israel's virus problem, Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu can't afford to endanger his political alliance with them.
The long alliance between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is costing Israel dearly in its war with the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Health Ministry’s data on Covid-19 morbidity. The rate of ultra-Orthodox testing positive for the virus is notably higher than that of the general population. In some age groups, the ultra-Orthodox represent 40% of those infected, even though this demographic accounts for only some 12% of the population. The wildfire spread of the epidemic seems to stem primarily from a total lack of state influence over life in the ultra-Orthodox sector.
Netanyahu, who has maintained a firm political alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties throughout his terms in office, is now the target of widespread criticism. He is being blamed for the failure to impose curbs on the focal points of infection in ultra-Orthodox towns and neighborhoods due to political pressure. Now that it transpires that the ultra-Orthodox infections are the main growth engine of the epidemic, Netanyahu’s alliance with the ultra-Orthodox has gone from political asset propping up his rule to public burden. The prime minister’s opponents are accusing Netanyahu of sacrificing public health for his own interests, his political survival and his bitter war against law enforcement authorities and the judiciary.
The grim state of the health care system, eroded and exhausted by years of personnel and budget cuts, is also linked to Netanyahu’s alliance with the ultra-Orthodox. Since returning to office in 2009, Netanyahu has consistently entrusted the government’s health portfolio to the ultra-Orthodox coalition parties. Knesset member Yaakov Litzman of Yahadut HaTorah served as minister of health and deputy minister of health from 2015 to 2020. Many perceived him as dedicating his tenure to benefitting his constituency rather than the well-being of the health care system.
Litzman was replaced with the formation of the unity government in May, but it was too little, too late. Medical experts attribute the virus' March penetration into Israel partly to the government’s decision to allow in planeloads of ultra-Orthodox Jews fleeing the epidemic in New York at a time when Israel had closed its borders to most incoming traffic. Many medical professionals implored Netanyahu and Litzman at the time to stop those flights, in vain.
