Coronavirus: Netanyahu fights spread among Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Israel is struggling to contain a concentration of coronavirus infections among Ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Israeli security forces arrest an Ultra-Orthodox man as they close a synagogue in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood in Jerusalem on Monday. Picture: AFP

Israel is struggling to contain a concentration of coronavirus infections among Ultra-Orthodox Jews, with the impact reaching Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who went into isolation after an adviser from the community tested positive.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said on Monday night that his test for the virus, as well as those of his family and close staff, came out negative. However, officials said he would remain in isolation as a precaution, in keeping with the country’s health ministry guidelines.

While Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up just 10 per cent of Israel’s population, they account for 50 per cent of people who have been hospitalised with COVID-19, according to an analysis by Israel’s Channel 12. Israel had 4695 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus as of Monday, with 16 deaths.

Jerusalem, which has a large Ultra-­Orthodox population, and the Ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, have the highest infection rates in Israel, according to health officials.

Israeli officials attribute the high infection rates among the Ultra-Orthodox community to a failure to follow social-distancing rules, including by holding large weddings and prayer gatherings.

Israel’s health ministry last week listed synagogues as the ­locations with the highest rate of infections in the country.

Mr Netanyahu, in a televised address on Monday night, slammed what he said were certain groups that flouted health regulations, and ordered law enforcement officers to crack down on such behaviour. “The minority that isn’t disciplined endangers itself and the majority,” he said.

Some in the insular Ultra-­Orthodox community said members weren’t defying public orders, but rather learning belatedly how much of a threat the virus poses.

Chaim Epstein, an Ultra-­Orthodox member of the Jerusalem City Council, said Ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who shun most mainstream communication, were not listening to the radio or otherwise getting information about the dangers of the virus. “They didn’t understand how bad the situation was,” he said.

Rivka Paluch, Mr Netanyahu’s adviser for the Ultra-Orthodox community, said in a television interview that she had tested positive for the virus on Sunday night.

Israel isn’t the only country struggling to stem an outbreak among its religious communities. Iran emerged as one of the hardest-hit countries as clerics and worshippers were reluctant to interfere with religious traditions among foreign pilgrims and Iranians gathering at shrines in the holy city of Qom. Health officials in South Korea traced a large share of cases to the secretive Shincheonji Church. And in Muslim-majority Malaysia, authorities have reported hundreds of cases linked to an Islamic religious gathering.

To stem Israel’s outbreak, Mr Netanyahu has imposed sweeping restrictions, such as barring all foreigners from entering the country and closing beaches, bars and restaurants. Last week, the government began issuing fines to prevent people from leaving their homes other than for groceries or to go to the pharmacy. He also allowed the government to collect GPS data to warn people who have come into contact with coronavirus patients, but the program doesn’t reach most Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who largely don’t have phones connected to the internet.

Police appear to have stepped up efforts to control the virus in the Ultra-Orthodox community.

On Monday, police in Mea Shearim, wearing surgical masks, arrested four people and issued fines of about $US1400 ($2270) each to 25 people participating in illegal gatherings. The police said they were using helicopters to identify places where large groups were ­assembling.

In some cases, people showed signs of resisting the stringent public health guidelines. Israel’s ­national ambulance service said people in Mea Shearim, an Ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem, hurled rocks at a volunteer who had arrived Monday morning in the neighbourhood to collect samples for COVID-19 tests.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who is leader of the Ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, condemned the attack.

Israeli officials are considering special restrictions for several communities, including quarantining the entire city of Bnei Brak, where nearly all 200,000 residents are Ultra-Orthodox.

To try to address the spread of the novel coronavirus through densely packed households in Ultra-Orthodox communities, where it is common for 12 people to live in a two-room apartment, the health ministry converted a hotel in Bnei Brak into a quarantine site.

To reassure the Ultra-Orthodox community, the hotel in Bnei Brak has been affirmed at the highest level of kosher standards.

The Wall Street Journal