Residents of the haredi city of Beitar Illit expressed anger on Tuesday over the city’s classification as a “red” city, Kikar Hashabbat reported.

On Monday, the city had been classed as “orange,” with high infection rates but still allowing schools to open. However, by evening, the city’s status had been changed to “red,” requiring that schools remain closed.

“No one is explaining to us why we’ve become a red city,” a resident told KIkar Hashabbat. “It’s as if someone marked a target ahead of time. [Coronavirus czar] Ronni Gamzu isn’t explaining, he’s making decisions and receiving approval from the Cabinet. There’s no faith in this system, which within an hour turns the city of Beitar turned from an orange city to a red city.”

One haredi on Gamzu’s advisory team told Kikar Hashabbat: “On the Health Ministry website, the city colors have disappeared. Maybe that’s connected to the contradiction that occurred yesterday. On the site, Beitar Illit was presented as an orange city, and in the slideshow it was presented as a red city. We’ve caught them red-handed.”

“We are also trying to understand. It’s okay to class Beitar as a red city, but what are the criteria? Who decides which cities are red and which are orange? They don’t have answers. They told us in the future there will be calculators. Someone there decided to put Beitar into the slideshow, without any explanations.”

Meanwhile, Health Ministry sources said that any attempt to explain things to the municipality and residents has met with complete refusal from the municipality. In addition, a Ministry source said that the number of tests in Beitar is low, and there are many violations of the guidelines, from weddings to mass prayer sessions in synagogues.

Header: Ultra-Orthodox men, wearing face shields as a protective measure against the coronavirus, study in an outdoor.

Source: Arutz Sheva