The expected lockdown that was supposed to begin on Monday and effect some 40 cities, with a handful of the larger Chareidi cities included, seems to have changed to nightly curfews and school closures in the same cities that were supposed to be locked down.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has seemingly canceled plans to impose full lockdown and agreed to lesser restrictions in the hopes of curtailing the spread of the coronavirus.

The change came following a meeting that Netanyahu had with Chareidi ministers Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) and Commissioner of the Coronavirus project Professor Ronni Gamzu.

Mayors of the Chareidi cities that were supposed to be affected by the lockdown issued a unified letter to the Prime Minister stating that the Chareidi public would never forget this injustice and that they would not cooperate with lockdown.

Chareidi cities including Bnei Brak, Elad, Emmanuel, Rekhasim, Beitar Illit, and parts of Beit Shemesh were included in the list of cities to be locked down. The Health Ministry added the cities of Modi’in Illit and Telze Stone to the list of cities to be affected.

Earlier on Sunday, the Prime Minister pushed off a planned meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which was to have officially designated a number of towns as no-go zones because of their high coronavirus infection levels.

Instead of the lockdown, the government will now impose nightly curfews in 40 towns and cities from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. every day. Businesses in the 40 communities will be required to close during the curfew, with the exception of ‘essential services’. In addition, schools in the 40 towns and cities will be closed with the exception of special education programs and kindergartens.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)