Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on March 12 that Israeli schools and universities will be closed through Passover in response to the coronavirus.
In a speech televised from his office, Netanyahu said that preschools, boarding schools and kindergartens are exempt from closures for the time being, the Times of Israel reported.
“We are in the midst of a global event unlike anything else in the history of the state’s existence,” he declared.
Netanyahu urged Israelis to wash their hands constantly, engage in social distancing and not allow the elderly to baby-sit children. Children are less likely to become severely ill and die from the virus, but older people are the most severely affected, doctors have found.
The prime minister urged Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form an emergency, temporary unity government so the Israeli government can fully tackle the coronavirus issue.
“We are living through an ever-evolving event that no one understands and we don’t know how it will end,” Netanyahu said.
Over the next two weeks, Israel is requiring all people returning to Israel from abroad to be quarantined for 14 days to prevent the virus from spreading. Public gatherings have been capped at 2,000 people. The Israeli government also is looking to increase the number of tests from 750 people a day to 2,000 people per day, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Washington Examiner Magazine Executive Editor Seth Mandel tweeted, “Israel, which hasn’t had a formal government in *fourteen months* is handling coronavirus with a seriousness and sense of nonpartisan communal purpose that is absolutely unthinkable in the US.”
Israel, which hasn't had a formal government in *fourteen months* is handling coronavirus with a seriousness and sense of nonpartisan communal purpose that is absolutely unthinkable in the US.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) March 12, 2020
Jerusalem Post Deputy Managing Editor Tovah Lazaroff tweeted, “Rising Corona virus cases, major rain storm’s on its way and there is a warning siren regarding Gaza rockets … Kind of like a modern day Passover with its ten plagues …”
So this is the news in Israel on Thursday night. Rising Corona virus cases, major rain storm's on its way and there is a warning siren regarding Gaza rockets … Kind of like a modern day Passover with its ten plagues ..
— Tovah Lazaroff (@tovahlazaroff) March 12, 2020
The Jerusalem Great Synagogue announced that it is closed on Shabbat for the first time ever:
Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue will be closed on the Sabbath for the first time in its history. #coronavirus https://t.co/mCpIhKgyLz
— Daniel Estrin (@DanielEstrin) March 12, 2020
There are currently 109 Israelis who have tested positive for the virus; there have yet to be any coronavirus-related deaths in Israel.
Haaretz reported earlier in the day that Israel’s Institute for Biological Research will soon announce that it has developed a vaccine for coronavirus, but it may take “many months before the vaccination is deemed effective or safe to use.”
The Israeli Defense Ministry denied that the institute had found a breakthrough, telling Haaretz that the institute is following “an orderly work plan and it will take time.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister will be required to be present at the Jerusalem District Court on March 17 when criminal charges against him will be read out. He faces fraud and breach of trust charges in two cases, and bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a third. It’s not known how the trial will affect his leadership or the government.
