Gantz: Whoever prays in a synagogue, mosque puts life of others in danger

There is no point in continuing the ongoing lockdown in Israel unless all violators are treated equally, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Sunday just two days before the cabinet is set to meet to discuss a Health Ministry recommendation to extend the current closure. Gantz singled out Ultra-Otrthodox (haredi) Jews and Israeli-Arabs who stand out as the most prominent violators. His comments came amid reports that haredi schools were continuing to operate in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and other parts of the country despite a government decision to shut down the entire education system.“Whoever opens a talmud-torah; whoever prays in a synagogue, a mosque, or a church; whoever meets with a large number of people – is putting lives of others in danger,” Gantz said.The defense minister toured the IDF’s Alon Command Center on Sunday and said that later this week he will reevaluate his position regarding the continuation of the current closure. He also said that he supports reopening the education system before anything else.“We will work this week on [the strategy for] getting out of the closure; on opening the ‘Green Islands’ and opening the culture institutions with the Green Passport and, reopening businesses,” Gantz said. “We will keep pushing for the education system to be the first to return to operate. We should start talking immediately with teachers about giving back school days during the summer and the upcoming vacations. We should reward them, and in order to do so, we need to start the talks with them right now.”Gantz stressed the importance of abiding by the lockdown rules, side-by-side with continuing to vaccinate the general public. “The vaccines are not a goal, they are a means to return to a right, healthy, day-to-day life,” he said.

“How quickly it will happen will be based on the cooperation of the public and the discipline of each and every one of us, in a way that will allow us to overcome this pandemic,” he said. “We want to see the numbers of new daily infections go down, and the number of vaccines go up,” he said.
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