Coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu said on Army Radio on Sunday morning that any student who comes to Israel from abroad to study and violates Health Ministry regulations will be deported.
Gamzu said that inspectors will ensure that students are adhering to regulations, including yeshivah bochurim, seminary students and university students.
“Any institution that disregards the restrictions will be closed and anyone who disregards the restrictions will be deported,” Gamzu said.
Israeli media reports over the weekend said that Gamzu criticized the decision to allow 16,000 yeshivah students into Israel. “We need to do the smart thing here and prevent another conflagration,” he said. “This is a decision that was made before I entered my position.”
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman quickly joined the fray, not wanting to miss an opportunity to attack Chareidim.
“Listen to Prof. Gamzu -16,000 yeshivah students must not be allowed to enter Israel,” Liberman wrote on social media. “Decisions must not be made due to political considerations and the surrender of Bibi and Gantz to the Chareidi parties.”
On the other hand, Gamzu said that he thinks Israel’s skies will reopen this month.
“I think the skies will re-open during August,” he said. “Our goal is to resume [flights] as quickly as possible and to as many “green countries” as possible because we’re pretty red compared to green countries. This is definitely a realistic goal.”
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri recently announced that foreign students will be permitted to enter Israel despite the current ban on non-Israeli citizens.
The approval applies to all yeshivah, seminary, Ulpana, MASA, and high school students.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
Gamzu will go the way of the Schlimazel-tov that preceded him. Another inflated pseudo-medical ego that is using the citizens of Israel as his vivisection bunnies. Anyone who values their freedom should oppose the mouth patches and freedom to move and gather decrees.
These reshoim think by hunting the chareidim and destroying Torah and Judaism the Corona Mageifa is going to disappear! Sorry, you are badly mistaken: it will only get worse as only the Torah and mitzvos can protect us from this illness!
Let Gamzu first 1) deal with the outrageously large demonstration s which which are horrifying breeding grounds for Corona, and with fact 2) that 68% of Corona cases are caught at home from the nucleus family unit.
We know your true colors Gamzu, and we Religious shall never be intimidated by you.
Good idea Avigdor. Let’s boycott the Pompous Zionist state for a year to show them that Americans are not going to be pushed around because we are wildly in love with their government. At the same time we can also boycott the greedy seminaries that we won’t be bullied and charged astronomical dollars for the benefit of hosting our daughters at Waldorf rates. Maybe they will treat us better.
When the Israeli government has declared war and it has the ability to deport at will, why should anyone take the risk and come to Israel?
YWN…………………
Please get a new stock photo of an El Al Plane. The Boeing B-747-400s are all retired and not part of the El Al Fleet.
Post a B777 or B787 Dreamliner from the current fleet
147 – I agree that the demonstrations are a major risk factor and should be dealt with; the fact that they’re not is because people are too afraid of being called fascist by the left-leaning press if they shut them down or try to maintain proper distancing (ha!) – same as in the US. However, the fact that 68% of transmissions take place in the home is a bit misleading – in order for the disease to get into the home in the first place, there has to have been someone in the household who picked it up from outside and brought it into the home, then passing it on to multiple members of the household. Stop that first person from being exposed, and nobody else in the household gets sick.
As to the restrictions being anti-religious – are you here on the ground? I am, and can tell you that a major source of spreading, within the Frum community is due to people not taking things as seriously as they need to – whether it be mask-wearing, distancing, etc. I’ve been davening at a “parking lot Minyan” since they were re-allowed shortly after Pesach, and am the “Corrona cop” for our Minyan – and one interesting point I can say is that we have several Mispalelim who have joined over time because they say that they’re comfortable in our Minyan because people take the rules seriously, but not in many others since people there tend to pull their masks down, stand too close, etc. Working on plans for Yeshivos to open using a “capsule system” is going on full force, and while there is frustration with the way the rules seem to constantly change, this is an issue with all schools, not just Chareidi or Dati ones. This should not be turned into a “they’re out to get the Chareidim” story – it’s most definitely not.
An Israeli Yid
1st Note: Become a citizen, and they can’t deport you. The government pays for tuition of most schools (but not the kanoi or eitz type, of course), so maybe it’d be practical to do that.
2nd Note: If you truly want to learn in Israel, try to follow their laws. 2 weeks isn’t the end of the world.
3rd Note: For some reason, the more openly anti-tsioni people chose this article to bash. There’s plenty of others you could have bashed such as the political victory of secular politicians.
El Al isn’t flying at all right now.
DavidtheKanoi, “Torah and mitzvos can protect us from this illness” sorry…. that’s not working. It’s like saying that Torah and Mitzvos should have built the Bais Hamikdash last week on TishaBav. As a nation, we clearly aren’t on the level we need to be– you and myself included. I hope you take something from the upcoming Elul season.