Gamliel violated the rules by going to her in-laws in Tiberias to spend Yom Kippur and then going to shul with them. This was after she was part of the campaign telling the Israeli public to not go to relatives or to host, to daven outside (and shuls could only host small minyanim)...
Worse, at first Gamliel lied about where she got Corona. After she was caught in her lie, she begrudgingly told the truth. After that she told another story about how they had moved into the in-laws house so she lives there now.
After all the criticism, Gamliel has now apologized saying she made a bad decision and she will pay her fine.
So, [many/some] people are calling for Gamliel to resign or to be fired. This is too much. She was part of the campaign telling Israelis to stay home. She was part of the government that passed the rules that she herself broke.
I don't get why Gila Gamliel should be anyone's scapegoat. She did nothing different than what other MKs and Ministers have been doing - setting one rule for the public and another for the ruling elite. Going to shul was not even a violation (assuming the shul adhered to the rules), even if it was against the spirit of the rules set by the Israeli government.
After all, on Pesach, PM Netanyahu had his son over after telling the public to have seders alone.
President Reuven Rivlin had his daughter and family over.
Yuli Edelstein threw a birthday party indoors for his wife with guests.
Gadi Yevarkin broke quarantine and went to the Knesset while having CoronaVirus
Nir Barkat had Pesach seder with family members.
Yoav Galant had family over for Pesach seder
Miki Levi went to his kids house for a visit right before Sukkos despite the lockdown
and some others I am not remembering details of
so all those broke the same rules and no punishment was coming to them but Gila Gamliel has to resign or be fired? That ship has sailed. The government has shown that this is not a violation deserving of punishment - they can't just start now with no advance warning.
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It's not her per se. It is all of the politicians acting as though they are above the law. If Corona is such a serious threat, and if the rules are so crucial to stopping or lowering the threat, then why are the politicians ignoring them?
ReplyDeleteIt feeds into the paranoia of many Charedim that the government is trying to control them and destroy their community. It is very hard to convince someone to radically change what is important to them to keep their community and others safe, when the very people making these argument themselves flout the very same rules. Makes it all sound like a fakeout.
agreed 100%, but if they arent all going to resign, Gamliel neednt be the fall guy. she only did what the rest of them are doing.
ReplyDeletend now the news just announced that MK Moshe Abutbol has tested positive. Refuah shleima to him, but I think everyone is waiting to hear the determination of where he got it. hopefully he is feeling well, and hopefully the analysis will show a totally benign infection, maybe his son came home from yeshiva and infected him or in the supermarket or whatever and that he didnt break any rules like all these other MKs and Ministers.
A lot has changed since March/April. People have lost faith in the Government.
ReplyDeleteLikud MKs who make the Government justify their decisions are threatened with career ending sanctions and have their power removed.
There were calls for Litzman to resign for being unable to follow his own Ministries rules. As a UTJ MK he was untouchable but ended up leaving the post.
Edelstein didn't technically didn't break any rules because they went into effect after the party. The Government (especially the Cabinet) can create the rules with built in loopholes for the Government's convenience. IMHO this went a long way in sowing the discontent, that is being unleashed on Gamliel now.
Gamliel claims that she did nothing wrong, according to the rules. If she really believed that, why did she intentionally try to mislead the investigation to prevent further spread of the virus. She was willing to risk others getting sick, to cover up the fact she happen to have the ability to travel because her husband happens to own an other property.
The other politicians showed contempt for the rules. Gamliel actually got sick, possibly made others sick and showed contempt for the entire battle to get this under control.
The Government needs to show that they are taking this seriously. That includes consequences for politicians who show contempt for the rules. In this case Gamliel went above and beyond contempt for the rules. She deserves some sort of political consequence for her actions.