“You are killing them! You are killing them!” MK Naftali Bennett bellowed Wednesday during one of his most powerful speeches at the Knesset.
Speaking after a bill presented by his fellow party member Ayelet Shaked failed to pass, he stood up and delivered a harsh attack against the government and its handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“I just came from a tour of stores in Jerusalem,” Bennett began. “A guy named A., owner of a Judaica store – he is done. A 75-year-old man that was living off this income, paying his rent from this, buying bread from it. He’s done!
“What did you do in 80 days?” Bennett asked, accusing the government of wrongdoing for discussing anything but the pandemic.
“How much have you increased the number of tests? Nothing! I brought you MyHeritage [testing center] and you did nothing! What did you do to improve epidemiological investigations? Nothing! What did you do to create a Purple Ribbon program for flights? Nothing!”
Bennett, who appeared to stifle tears as he delivered his talk, had applied to be the coronavirus commissioner and, as defense minister, even offered to take on the job of running the country’s response. He said that he appealed to the prime minister multiple times and each time he was turned away.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Ronni Gamzu to be the coronavirus czar.
Bennett added that until now a two-meter falafel stand was allowed to have the same number of people eating in it as a 300-meter restaurant.
“Are you crazy?” he charged. “What did you do? What did you do? You are ruining the lives of millions of citizens of the State of Israel. You are killing them!”
He said that thousands of workers were protesting outside the Knesset. Companies are collapsing, as well as non-profits who will no longer be able to serve the public.
“Children with disabilities will not have solutions because you are fighting among yourselves,” he said. “What else do I have to do? What? God help us!”
Bennett continued: “When I was defense minister, I worked on Saturdays. I desecrated Shabbat because I considered it is saving a life. It is saving a life! People are dying! What are you doing?”
“Our people are dying,” he concluded. “You cannot blame anyone but yourselves.”
Source: Maayan Jaffe- Hoffman – JPost