Mandelblit rejected the vote in favor of extending the closure

Homeland Security Minister Amir Ohana told Mandelblit he did not see where the problem was in the vote. Mandelblit replied: It is not your authority to determine and interpret the law.

Ganz pressed for the closure today and to open trading within the green label as early as next week, an outline that Edelstein strongly opposes.

The Ministry of Health accused Gantz of blowing up the contacts, since they claimed that he had demanded to open one-on-one business and B & Bs as early as tomorrow – and remained fixed in this demand. A conversation between Ganz and Edelstein even ended in an explosion, after each side refused to move from its position. Edelstein and the top officials of the Ministry of Health opposed the opening due to the current level of morbidity, and senior ministry officials said that “decisions that could lead to the deaths of many Israelis and infinite morbidity are not given medical protection. This will also damage the economy.”

Earlier, Netanyahu asked Edelstein to examine a pilot to open up trade and culture in accordance with the green label for the vaccinated, recovering and tested as early as next week, as demanded by blue-and-white ministers. With the resumption of the cabinet meeting, Edelstein said: “Unfortunately I have examined the issue – and our opinion is unequivocal, such an opening will raise the morbidity to dimensions we can not meet. There is no way to organize a pilot and no other forecast. We can not partially open next week.” Edelstein refused to open trading next week in any way, adding: “For us the only recommendation on the table is to close until Sunday night. Any other scenario will lead to an epidemiological disaster of unparalleled scale from the outbreak of the plague.”

The head of the public health services, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price, said that “opening will be like a fire that we will not be able to put out. Within two weeks we will double the daily number of verified from 8,000 to 16,000. We do not have the capacity to absorb this situation in hospitals. “Opening the trade will allow for random encounters between people we have no way of locating.”

Earlier in the cabinet meeting, Ministers Gantz and Ashkenazi said that the closure did not help reduce morbidity anyway, and that public discipline was low – and that Finance Minister Israel Katz agreed with them.

Edelstein supports limited opening, as proposed by Corona projector Prof. Nachman Ash, who said the closure should be extended until Sunday night and commented that opening uncontrolled restrictions would lead to an exponential increase in the number of infected he said would cost high prices in critically ill and dead. According to the data he presented, even assuming a large efficacy of the vaccines, which reduces the number of critically ill patients among the risk groups, severe morbidity is expected among the unvaccinated and vaccinated who were not affected by the vaccine. He added that 189,000 people aged 60 and over have not yet been vaccinated.

According to the projector, from Monday it will be possible to reach the end of traffic and stay restrictions, careful opening of jobs and the return of the lower strata of the education system. He recommends making the opening only after reaching two million vaccinated in the second dose and after half a million recovering; Reaching immunization rates of 80% of the population aged 50 and over; A small coefficient of infection is less than 1 and less than 1,000 severe patients.

Meanwhile, while the parties are arguing, the clock is ticking – for if by 07:00 in the morning there are no agreements, the closure regulations will expire. Katz, who supports the opening of trade, won the compromise talks between Gantz and Edelstein. The main controversy is the opening of trading as early as next week – one of the directions is to start the pilot of the green mark on Tuesday, and start with the relief offered by the Ministry of Health on Monday – but Edelstein opposes this despite pressure from Katz and the Ministry of Finance.

The green mark, it will be recalled, applies to vaccinated, recovering and people who have undergone a negative corona test in the last 72 hours. Netanyahu’s statement, which sought to examine the possibility of opening trade and culture as early as next week in accordance with the sign, came after Gantz demanded that the closure be eased tomorrow from a strict purple mark – then open places in the next ten days in accordance with the green mark. According to Ganz, “what you want to do on Monday morning can be done as early as tomorrow.”

According to Netanyahu, “We need to prepare how to use the green light. This needs to be done this week, and also see in culture and commerce what our options are for the vaccinated, recovering and people who can show a certificate. This way we will allow activity in various fields, and very soon or not”.

After Ganz’s opposition to the outline, Netanyahu said that “agreements must be reached by midnight, otherwise Cinderella will arrive.” Ganz replied: “I do not accept the outline as it is. Agreements need to be reached. If not, Cinderella will really come.”

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who heads the Exceptions Committee for the Entry of Israelis during the closure period, announced at a cabinet meeting that he wants to be fired because he only deals with it and not with energy. He added that he had spoken with Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who agreed to take over the management of the committee, which is flooded with inquiries. Since the establishment of the committee, it has received 2,500 applications from Israelis stuck abroad, of which a little over a third have been approved.

The main debate in the government focuses on the plan to leave the quarantine: the Ministry of Health supports a very conservative plan to leave the quarantine and extend the quarantine until Sunday, and Netanyahu also supports this position. Ganz, on the other hand, supports more facilitations and will start them tomorrow. The Ministry of Finance also supports many reliefs, but only from Monday. Despite the disagreements, the government was able to approve the tightening of the fines law – three months late – and the extension of the isolation obligation in a motel for returnees from abroad by another 14 days, until February 21. Holders of a vaccine certificate will not be required to be isolated.

Prof. Blitzer also supported the position of Gantz and Minister Katz, while senior Ministry of Health officials argued that without the closure, the British mutation would have spread more severely and caused much greater damage. According to Minister Katz, who supported extending the closure until Sunday and then starting easing, “The assistance given to businesses is not an opening place. It is worth opening the store on Monday and opening immunization points at the entrance to places like malls and others.”

Ganz called for starting to make use of his green mark, which would allow vaccinators to carry out operations that had hitherto been banned. In a conversation with business owners and chains he even called on them to encourage their employees to get vaccinated.

Minister Edelstein, on the other hand, opposed Katz and Gantz’s position – and also initially claimed that it was not yet possible to open places within the green label. According to him, there are two reasons for this – “the high level of morbidity, and not everything is suitable for the use of its green character.” However, he later noted: “What can be done with his green daughter, can be prepared for it. If it is possible, I am in favor of opening the trade early.” This led to Netanyahu also agreeing to examine the opening of trade and culture in accordance with the green label.

However, Edelstein called the demand to open places in green and yellow cities “populist”, claiming that “75 percent of the population lives in red and orange localities. It is impossible to carry out closures on red localities, all cities and localities in the country must be taken care of.”

According to the head of public health services, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price, “If we open too many places in the framework The green character, We will increase the risk to thousands verified. We have to wait with the opening for more people to be vaccinated. “