Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said Tuesday he thinks the military should take over the handling of stemming the spread of COVID-19, shifting responsibilities from the health ministry.
“This virus will not leave us for an entire year. Therefore there needs to be a change in management,” Ashkenazi told local publication Ynet News Tuesday. “Put ego aside. … I am saying this to Bibi [Netanyahu]. … I am saying we need to shift responsibility to the defense establishment.”
Ashkenazi, of the Blue and White Party, headed by Alternative Prime Minster Benny Ganzt, also said he expects decision “this week” on the transfer coronavirus containment responsibilities over to the Home Front Command.
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Israel, once an example of how to contain the spread of COVID-19, reopened its economy in May and eased lockdown measures.
The Middle Eastern country is now seeing increases in the number of coronavirus cases with over 53,000 cases reported so far and 424 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeing a decline in his approval rating, which has fallen below 30 percent as unemployment has risen to over 20 percent, as Tel Aviv’s local publication reported.
The Home Front Command, an Israeli defense unit similar to the U.S. National Guard, have reportedly assisted in food distributions and evacuations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Benny Ganzt, the alternative prime minister and former chief of the Israeli Defense Forces, has reportedly pushed to have the Command take over contact tracing and testing, a move that Ashkenazi also supports.
But Netanyhu, a member of the Likud party, is unlikely to grant the move that could empower the alternative prime minister as the PMs are already at odds over the annexation of the West Bank.
Likud Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kish has pushed against the call to have the military keep tabs on its 9 million citizens.
“You understand what it would mean if soldiers were to begin questioning people, with: ‘What have you been doing, who have you been meeting with?’” Kish reportedly told the Army Radio.
“This is a super-sensitive matter, a health issue … There’s no ego element here,” he said, calling current cooperation between the health ministry and the military “excellent”.
