Ex-education official alleges minister ordered school COVID data concealed from PM

Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton on Tuesday was accused by an unnamed former official of ordering officials to conceal data on COVID-19 infections at schools from the prime minister.

The official who had worked in the office of director-general Yigal Slovik, who was fired by Shasha-Biton on Monday amid reported disagreements over COVID policies, claimed the minister had prevented her from providing true morbidity figures to Naftali Bennett due to concerns it would lead to schools being closed.

The report said the woman was fired along with Slovik, but did not specify why.

“A large outbreak, we had a few of those,” she told Channel 12 news. “But she didn’t agree to get this out to the media and she didn’t agree to inform the prime minister.”

The former official, whose voice was distorted in recordings aired by the network, also said no action was taken after COVID cases were confirmed at schools.

“It just spread there into the community and they did not close the schools,” she said.

She suggested hypocrisy on Shasha-Biton’s part concerning transparency, saying the minister “demands figures” but is less forthcoming when it comes to herself or the Education Ministry.

The official also hit out at Shasha-Biton over the vaccination of children at schools.

“She still has not agreed to recruit the schools” for the vaccine drive, the official said of the minister who has been vocal about her discomfort at vaccinating children on school premises.

Shasha-Biton denied the woman’s accusations, charging the comments were part of a “media revenge campaign” she was waging together with Slovik.

“This is a heap of lies,” the minister said. “The fact that the employee was not interviewed with her face revealed and in her own voice, to defend herself from a defamation suit, proves that this is a collection of lies.”

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid expressed support for Shasha-Biton after the former official’s comments were aired, hailing her “professionalism and integrity.”

“All the slander won’t help. We are continuing to change the country together,” Lapid tweeted.

Meanwhile, Shasha-Biton tapped Dalit Stauber as the new director-general of the Education Ministry.

Stauber previously served in the post when current Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar headed the ministry. Shasha-Biton is the No. 2 in Sa’ar’s right-wing New Hope party.

Earlier Tuesday, the Education Ministry’s head of coronavirus policy resigned, strengthening the assumption that Shasha-Biton’s firing of Slovik was related to disagreements over coronavirus vaccines for children.

According to Hebrew-language media reports, Yogev Nadav’s resignation was linked to Shasha-Biton’s firing of Slovik.

Associates of Slovik were reported to have alleged the dispute with Shasha-Biton had centered around the government’s decision to vaccinate children at school.

Shasha-Biton, who has been an outspoken critic of government policies on the matter of vaccines during the pandemic, has denied that that was her reason for firing Slovik.

The associates also claimed that Slovik and Shasha-Biton disagreed on measures to be taken in preparation for another wave of COVID-19 infections.

On Monday, Shasha-Biton issued a scathing statement denouncing that account as “false smears” and insisting that the disagreements had nothing to do with the pandemic.

Shasha-Biton has been outspoken in her criticism of much of the government’s approach to the coronavirus.

While she initially resisted vaccinating children on school grounds, she eventually somewhat walked back her sharp opposition.

Shasha-Biton has been the target of threats over the past few months, and initially rose to prominence as a vocal and outspoken member of the coronavirus cabinet in the previous government, who fought against many restrictions.

She has also repeatedly clashed with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over coronavirus restrictions in schools and has been the subject of multiple anonymous attacks in the press.