Bennett: Stop Scapegoating The Chareidim And Closing Chareidi Neighborhoods

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Yemina leader MK Naftali Bennett sharply criticized the government decision to close down Chareidi neighborhoods in Tiberias as well as the Chareidi town of Elad in the wake of the increase in coronavirus infections. Bennett said that “they lost control of the pandemic and what do they do? Every time the government loses control of the coronavirus, they run to blame the Chareidim.”

In an interview Wednesday on Army Radio, Bennett stressed that the Chareidim are more disciplined than the rest of the populace. “I go around in Bnei Brak, Elad, Modi’in Illit and Beitar Illit. The Chareidi public is more scrupulous than the general public about masks and distancing. Leave the Chareidim, they are not scapegoats.”

Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush also attacked what he called the “arbitrary” decision to close Chareidi neighborhoods: “There are infection centers which are much more dangerous and sensitive that Elad or the Chareidi neighborhoods in Tiberias but they were not closed. The Health Ministry continues to single out the Chareidi populace as an easy target for ghettoizing, since it hasn’t succeeded in finding solutions for dealing with the virus.”

Tiberias city councilor Refael Trebelsi told Srugim that the Health Ministry data regarding his town are false and the real data are known by the municipality which maintains a constant track on those who have the infection.

“They are trying to paint certain communities and populaces which abide by the rules as if they are not maintaining them. I’m not saying that there aren’t situations in which rules are relaxed but this is true of every place. One shouldn’t paint the Chareidim with a specific color, nobody is a leper.””