Thousands of Jews flout COVID-19 protocols to attend rabbi’s funeral in Jerusalem

Thousands
of ultra-orthodox Jews flouted the coronavirus restrictions in
Jerusalem to attend the funeral of top rabbi, Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik,
who died on Sunday following health complications after contracting
COVID-19.

Jerusalem, which is now under its third COVID prompted lockdown after a record
surge in virus cases, was seen packed with religious followers with no masks on
or any regard for the social distancing norms while police officials stood like
mere spectators.

Also Read: Amid ongoing dispute, Israel agrees to supply 5,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Palestinians

Police
officials, however, in their defense said that they were in talks with religious
leaders to persuade them to stop participation at such large scale but the discussion
yielded no results.

For those unversed, Jerusalem’s COVID-19 restriction policy does not allow outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people, a policy the rabbi’s followers on Sunday had no regard for.

The funeral scenes, however, didn’t go well with deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz who took to Twitter to condemn the mockery of pandemic measures.

“This is what unequal enforcement looks like: Millions of families and children are locked up in their homes and abide by the rules while thousands of ultra-Orthodox crowds at the funeral, most of them even without masks. We will not agree to the continuation of an ineffective Pike closure. Either they close to everyone – or they open to everyone. The days of indulgence are over.” he wrote on Twitter.

Gantz remark comes after political coalition between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gantz, collapsed earlier in December following which the nation is bracing for another election.

Meanwhile, on the COVID front, Israel last week announced a week-long ban on most incoming and outgoing flights in a bid to slow the spread of new variants of the novel coronavirus.