There is a discussion about what will be the day after [the war]. I will reveal a little bit of what will be the day after. On the day after the war there will not be a Palestinian entity that will educate its children to murder Jews. There will not be UNRWA any longer, not in Gaza, not in the PA and not in Jerusalem. The era of educating to violence is finished.

The Likud is so funny. 

So that Purim won't turn into a Tisha B'Av of the most infections of the year - the joy will need to be very limited without gatherings, without dancing and without Purim masks - only with the masks we have become accustomed to

If you want to have Pesach with your extended family, on Purim you should sit at home..

There will be no discounts for anyone in the State of Israel. The closure will be a closure, period. There will be nobody privileged, in any community. The time has come for people to understand this, and the time has come for us to finally work together... not accepting the lockdown means hudreds more dead, thousands more critically ill, and tens of thousands more confirmed positives. The government has made a decision for a lockdown, what had become known as the Tishrei Lockdown, when theree were 2900 positives a day. Today we are at more than 8000 positives a day and the government still hasn't come to decisions..

They are calling me Dr. Mengele, the accursed Nazi murderer, because my Ministry is taking care to bring millions of vaccines for the entire population. Getting vaccinated is not an obligation. If you want to - get the vaccines, if you don't want to, don't get the vaccine.

We have begun to build a budget for an outline of home care [for COVID-19 treatment]. I admit that this is the preferred method of treatment with the winter coming. I have held a number of meetings on the matter with the various kupot cholim, and it is going to happen.

I do not want to see policemen breaking into talmud torahs (haredi schools) brandishing clubs, but I do want to see them giving fines and summonses. I am not against learning Torah but I am against a third lockdown..

Minister of Health Yuli Edelsten yesterday praised the "red cities" for their efforts in bringing down the morbidity rates and successfully changing their statuses from red to orange or even yellow. Just about all the local lockdowns have now been lifted, with the last one scheduled to be lifted tonight (I think).

Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein today said that the data coming in is good, and we successfully stopped the climb in numbers - we have not been suffering in a lockdown for nothing -  but even during lockdown we are still getting 3000+ new positives every day. It seems that people aren't being careful even in the places that were left open. 

Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein called this evening for increased fines for those breaking the Corona rules. he also spoke about the lockdown and how they are dealing with it and where they are outing their efforts along with the plan to come out of it carefully and not give in to various sectors demands to ease up quicker...

The lockdown will definitely continue beyond the two weeks. If we ease things up or not in various ways - that will be decided later... this time going out of the lockdown will be done gradually and responsibly. There will be no giving in to pressures...

Just wondering.

the lion's share of the morbidity in Israel comes from the Arab and Haredi sectors. This is not racist or condescending, but the conditions of density causes greater morbidity, and it is the governments of Israel that need to be ashamed about this situation..... I knew Uman long before most of the believers knew Uman. Traveling now to Uman will bring increased morbidity.

This government has no direction and no control over the situation. It is almost chaos. This is surprising, as back in March, April and May Netanyahu showed leadership on the Corona issue. Since then he has been distracted. He was on television every night telling the people what steps are being taken, what must be done, and people listened. Now we hardly hear from him. Every day the numbers continue to climb, the authorities make new rules almost every day, often with no explanation or sense of logic or understanding, and Netanyahu is almost nowhere to be found.

Professor Siegal Sadetzki, the head of Israel’s Public Health Services in the Health Ministry, submitted her resignation over the way the government is handling the situation. When the media asked Minister Edelstein hours later about her resignation he responded that it is nothing but rumors. Fake news. She didn't actually resign. Uh, yes she did. The Minister didn't even know.

Today Minister of Transportation Miri Regev hosted a ceremony opening a new major junction in Ashkelon. She hosted tens of guests with food, a singer and sound system, all to the tune of 200,000nis, and all against the rules of the Ministry of Health. When asked, she basically said - oops, next time I'll follow the rules better. Literally, that is what she said "אני משתתפת בטקס בניגוד להנחיות משרד הבריאות. בפעם הבאה נקפיד יותר".

This government is chaos and has no idea what it is doing.

If they don't accept the Ministry of Health's proposals today, we will soon be forced to decide on a full lockdown..

  -- Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein

PM Neantayhu said similarly in the government meeting, shortly after, saying "we are a step away from full lockdown"

this has really gotten out of control. I am pretty sure that even if the ministers accept the MoH proposals today in full with no reservations and debate that within a few days they'll be moving to lockdown. It seems to be too late to easily get control over the situation by simply adjusting the numbers of how many people are allowed in what venue

I kind of feel bad for Yuli Edelstein. For the first time he took a real job in the government, after much cajoling and pressure, rather than the important Speaker of the Knesset position he held for a long time but wasn't available to him in this government, and he is floundering.

Edelstein is a good guy, a good politician, as far as I can tell. The Speaker of the Knesset position is considered very important and senior, but it isn't the same as running a ministry.

It is possible I just don't know what they do as Speaker of the Knesset, but it seems to me that make sure proper decorum is followed in the Knesset and that the functioning of the Knesset is efficient is not quite the same as running a complicated ministry that affects the lives of all Israelis. Most, or many, of  the ministries in the government also affect institutions throughout the State. I am convinced that as important as a position as Speaker of the Knesset is, from the perspective of work and responsibility it pales compared to a senior ministry. Correct me if I am wrong.

Edelstein wanted to stay in his long-held position of Speaker of the House. he seemingly did a good job there and appeared stately. There was really very little he could do there that would make him look bad to the people of Israel, and he mostly stayed out of the political fighting - and when he finally didn't, during the 3 election rounds this past year, that is when people got upset at him and he was pushed out.

So Yuli Edelstein was persuaded to take the Health Ministry, against his better wishes. But he took it. I don't blame him for Corona. This is an unknown disease with no cure, no treatment, no vaccine and no precedent. Yet under his watch, the Health Ministry is floundering. they cannot seem to pass sensible decisions for new sets of rules. I don't envy any of the politicians or professionals tasked with the job of trying to keep Corona at bay while also encouraging the economy and getting people back to work and back to their lives. It is an impossible task. CoronaVirus is making a bold comeback.And I think Edelstein looks kind of hapless in his new role. In this role he has to actually work hard, and not just tell MKs when to speak and when to be quiet. I don't know that he would have been so hapless in any ministry - I am sure he is quite capable, but the Health Ministry at this time seems to be drowning him.

None of this is Edelstein's fault, but he is not getting any sense of control over the situation, and I think his reputation will be hurt for it.

It is a mitzva and an obligation to be careful about all the guidelines form the Ministry of Health, especially regarding wearing a mask, and whoever treats this lightly is putting others at risk We said that fro the first moment and we have warned people nto to take it lightly, and that there are no compromises in safeguarding people's lives.

  -- Viznitzer Rebbe in Bnei Braq to Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein


interestingly, he said this while he had guests in his house but did not wear a mask (it looks like Yuli's is on his chin, which is no better), so his warning everyone to be strict and careful about wearing masks and following the rules seems to fall short..


.

An injustice was done to the Haredi community when they placed a closure on Bnei Braq. It created a wrong impression, as in Haredi areas they are more careful than anywhere else regarding the Health Ministry regulations. I request from you Minister Edelstein, with your abilities - remove this stigma from the Haredi community. It is simply incorrect! I invite you to visit and tur the city and see the careful adherence to the Health Ministry regulations as instructed by the rabbonim 


  -- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ), during a tour of Bnei Braq's Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital

it almost sounds like he is blaming Yuli Edelstein, the current Health Minister for what happened before Edelstein was the minister. As a matter of fact, the previous minister responsible for that closure was none other than a member of Gafni's party - Yaakov Litzman. He can't even say Litzman was just the face but it was others who caused it - Litzman has said publicly many times that he pushed for the closure on Bnei Braq.