The majority of Israelis are disgruntled with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government management of the COVID crisis, a Channel 12 News survey on Sunday found.
The poll showed that 63% of the public thinks that Bennett’s management of the fifth COVID wave is “bad.”
An even higher percentage, 65%, think that Education Minister Yifa Shasha-Biton, who has been accused of being a COVID denier and has repeatedly clashed with Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over COVID policies, is failing in her role.
The worst rating, 66% disapproval, was earned by Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who refuses to consider compensating businesses for losses due to COVID issues.
Cabinet members complained during Sunday’s meeting about the dissonance of tightening and loosening requirements — then allowing people to crowd soccer stadiums for games.
“We keep getting asked for clarifications all day long,” said Economy and Industry Minister Orna Barbivai. “The sense among the public is that the government has conceded the fight against the coronavirus.”
For his part, Bennett has said almost daily that he understands the frustration as the parent of four children and someone who’s recently been quarantined.
He has tried to calm people by boasting of preparations for the current wave, offering a second round of booster shots to older Israelis and stocking up on hard-to-get medicines to treat people with the virus.
On Monday, Bennett personally escorted a 9-year-old girl to a vaccination center at a shopping mall in the central town of Modiin. The event was broadcast live on Channel 12, with Bennett wearing a microphone throughout the visit.
Bennett stopped with the girl and her mother at a candy shop to buy her chocolate before the jab. As he paid for the candy, he made sure the women behind the counter were vaccinated.
“We’re going to get through this together,” he told the girl as they entered the center.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)
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6 Responses
This is really a no-win situation for any politician, given how quickly the situation is developing. If they’d have shut down the economy completely, people would be howling about the damage to the economy, and if they left it completely open, people would complain about how they’re not controlling the situation. It’s hard to see how any other Israeli government could have handled it better.
an Israeli Yid
He made sure the women behind the counter were vaccinated.
Really!!! None of his b.i. business. They should have asked him to leave. And as a parent i wouldn’t have allowed any politician to exploit my child for their own interests. Much less this particular nudnick. Literally turns my stomach, the whole story.
It wouldn’t make a difference which actor they cast for the PM role, directives for the genetic experiments come from a principal abroad, the local actors have no true agency, what they head is not a sovereign state. Fourth Reich, for lack of a better term.
Fake epidemic, fake (ineffective and unsafe – and totally experimental and uninsured) shot for it, fake test for it (the virus was never actually isolated!), and fake politicians espousing all of it.
All I want is to be allowed in to visit my parents. No, I’m not vaccinated, but I am recovered, but over 2 years ago. Have I had it recently? Not that I know of. But who cares! The quicker everyone gets this variant, the quicker this will be forgotten .
The candy is more effective than the shot. Guaranteed