That has led to increasing social tension that has produced some extraordinary scenes in Israel. “When Netanyahu as a person - not only as prime minister - relies so heavily on his ultra-Orthodox allies, it is almost ridiculous to think he would confront this population or its political leaders,” Plesner said. It has also widened the growing rift between Israel’s secular majority and its super-religious minority, whom Netanyahu has so far shown little appetite for reining in. Israel is calling in its army to help as the country struggles to control one of the developed world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. World & Nation Israelis turn to familiar institution to fight coronavirus: The army Ronni Gamzu, who recommended targeted restrictions rather than second nationwide lockdown, has seen the prime minister’s popularity plummet and spawned vociferous and sustained protests against him. His defiance of his government’s own scientific experts, including “coronavirus czar” Dr. If until now the majority of Israelis went about their business oblivious to the intricacies of Netanyahu’s political maneuvering, the coronavirus crisis has made that impossible. “As long as he accepted 100% of their demands in the domestic arena,” Plesner said, “Netanyahu understood that ensuring they’re on his side will pretty much guarantee him something like a monopoly over political power.” Keeping their support, even at a very high cost, is a “strategic imperative” that has guided Netanyahu’s entire career, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, an independent Jerusalem think tank. That legal vulnerability, and his rickety coalition agreement with centrist former rival Benny Gantz, has only increased his reliance on ultra-Orthodox parties. Netanyahu is also the first Israeli prime minister to be indicted on criminal charges, and he is on trial on three corruption counts that could result in a 10-year prison sentence. Far from the image he likes to project of a strong leader, Israel’s longest-serving premier remains in political hock to a small religious minority and their demands, even in the midst of a raging public health crisis. Ultra-Orthodox Israelis account for about 11% of the population but more than 50% of the COVID-19 patients ages 65 and older who are filling hospitals, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.īut the kid-glove treatment that the haredim have received has highlighted the outsize influence their leaders wield in Israel - and the extent of Netanyahu’s dependence on them to stay in power. What to do about the haredim, as the ultra-Orthodox are called in Israel, has now become the greatest test of Netanyahu’s response to the pandemic. But it drew almost no pushback by Israeli authorities, who have cracked down only halfheartedly at best on the rule-breaking and virus-spreading activities in the ultra-Orthodox community, such as communal study and crowded weddings, that are fueling a massive second wave of coronavirus cases here. Kanievsky’s defiance of the lockdown provoked widespread outrage.
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