Israeli leaders clash with ultra-Orthodox over lockdowns and Covid-19 vaccines

“This is what uneven enforcement looks like,” said Benny Gantz, Minister of Defense and leader of the Blue and White party. “Millions of families and children are locked in their homes and obeying the rules while thousands of Haredim flock to the funeral, most even without masks,” he said, using the Hebrew word for ultra-Orthodox.

The funeral followed anti-lockdown protests in Bnei Brak and other ultra-Orthodox towns the previous week, in which ultra-Orthodox men threw stones at police, lit trash cans and shot down road signs and street lights.

Israeli health officials have also struggled to convince the ultra-Orthodox to take a Covid-19 vaccine. While much of Israel lined up for vaccinations, the ultra-Orthodox population took longer to board, with some doubting the safety of the vaccine and others suggesting that the country’s citizens are used to test its effectiveness.

“It’s not a vaccine. It’s an experience, ”said Izhar Mahpud, a 57-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox town just east of Tel Aviv that has been one of the hardest hit by Covid-19 in the region. country. “I’m not ready to be a rat in a lab.”

Israel aims to vaccinate a large chunk of its population by March and revive the economy, allowing the small nation on the Mediterranean Sea to serve as a global showcase for how to fend off the deadly virus. But the ultra-Orthodox have undermined these lofty goals, largely by avoiding lockdowns and avoiding vaccines.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox make up around 12% of the population but account for nearly a third of the country’s coronavirus infections. Israel currently has 68,331 active coronavirus cases with new infections hovering at around 7,000 per day.

Officials are struggling to master the last wave. A British variant of the virus accounts for around 70% of current coronavirus infections, even as nearly a third of Israelis have received the first dose of a vaccine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month banned all international flights, and lawmakers on Sunday passed a bill doubling fines for lockdown violations.

Public health officials say the ultra-Orthodox community is particularly vulnerable to the rapidly growing virus. Their large families usually live in overcrowded apartments and traditionally avoid electronic communications which help disseminate information about vaccines.

Data from the Israeli Ministry of Health shows Israel’s ultra-Orthodox are being vaccinated at a lower rate than other groups. Among those over 60, to whom the campaign has been open the longest, 85% of all Israelis have taken the vaccine, compared to 78% of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox.

Ultra-Orthodox and Arab cities are lagging behind in overall immunity to the virus due to lower vaccination rates, according to Eran Segal, a computer biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science who presented his findings to the Israeli government on Sunday evening. . “This will slow down the decline of the pandemic,” Segal said.

Health officials say infections in ultra-Orthodox communities have declined in recent days as some prominent rabbis have approved the vaccinations. Efforts are also underway to fight disinformation and get residents to get vaccinated.

In the large ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak, local officials have set up a war room. In the oval-shaped, wood-paneled room on the top floor of City Hall, with portraits of important religious figures lining the walls, ultra-Orthodox youth sit around a large circular table with large jugs of hand sanitizer and work on the phone. They look at spreadsheets with information on everyone who has and has not been vaccinated.

Officials had called nearly 10,000 people who had not been vaccinated and spoke with nearly 7,000 of them. About 5,000 people said they wanted a vaccine, but had not yet been able to get one. About 1,500 others did not want to be vaccinated. City officials are struggling to overcome obstacles raised during appeals.

For those who do not go to a vaccination center, they organize one. If the future vaccinees can’t get in touch with their health insurance providers, they help too. And if someone they touch doesn’t want to be vaccinated, they write down why.

Avi Blumenthal, who leads the Health Ministry’s outreach to ultra-Orthodox people, said he and his staff were scanning lists of ultra-Orthodox cities in Israel to find rabbis who are against vaccination and look for answers. In one case, an ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem had low vaccination rates that many attributed to its rabbi’s alleged anti-vaccine stance. But when health officials questioned the rabbi, they learned he was in fact pro-vaccine – someone had rumored him the vaccine was dangerous.

Yehuda Shaish, 63, who runs four ultra-Orthodox schools in Bnei Brak and neighboring towns, said he waited for rabbis to bless the vaccines. “After the rabbis authorized it, I happily went there,” he said.

Even with the blessing of the rabbis, many ultra-Orthodox remain skeptical of vaccines. Yedidya Hasson, 28, who runs a 30,000-person WhatsApp group network in which some members have questioned the wisdom of vaccines and coronavirus restrictions, says he won’t take the vaccine at least for now because he fears possible health risks.

“Regarding vaccines,” he said, “I think the media in Israel is hiding the truth.”

Some ultra-Orthodox leaders say that while community mistrust may help explain vaccine resistance and recent manifestations of civil disobedience, that mistrust does not justify violating rules that endanger public health. “You expect religious men to be more moral,” said Rabbi Dov Halbertal, a prominent lawyer and ultra-Orthodox commentator. “But when it comes to the biggest test of saving lives, we fail.”

Write to Felicia Schwartz at [email protected]