Finance, health ministers lock horns over reopening of shops

Finance Minister Israel Katz and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein traded barbs Sunday over the reopening of stores, as Israel began the second phase of rolling back its nationwide lockdown.

Cabinet ministers last week approved the reopening of houses of worship, beauty salons and some schools, but put off a decision to reopen most stores.

Katz, who like Edelstein is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, called for allowing shops to reopen on Tuesday, citing the steady drop in new infections.

“The Health Ministry’s stubbornness is unnecessary and without factual basis and leading to anarchy and a lack of oversight, which will only increase morbidity,” Katz wrote on Facebook.

Edelstein quickly fired back, saying the basic reproduction number was in fact rising again.

“Whoever demands to lead… a haphazard opening of the economy is leading us with open eyes to another lockdown and economic, social and health disaster,” he said in a Health Ministry statement, without mentioning Katz by name.

Edelstein said that he understood the “distress” of storeowners and that the government was committed to helping them, but again claimed allowing them to reopen would lead to another lockdown.

“This complacency will eventually spell a death sentence for many businesses,” he said, warning against a “populism contest that could lead to the destruction of the economy instead of its rehabilitation.”

Earlier, Netanyahu suggested the government could allow stores to reopen soon if the daily number of new COVID-19 cases further declines, but did not specify a date.

“We are asking, with all the difficulty involved, to stick to the rules, and we’re aware of all the difficulties. This is true hardship,” he said during a visit to Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv.

Also Sunday, a chain of shopping centers said it would allow some curbside stores to reopen Monday, in defiance of the lockdown.

The decision to push off the reopening of stores has infuriated small business owners and merchants, many of whom have denounced the government’s handling of the crisis and say they are being victimized.

The issue caused tensions on Friday during a coronavirus cabinet meeting that saw Katz clash with other officials, including Netanyahu, over the store reopenings.

At the meeting, Netanyahu told ministers that the plan is to open street stores on November 15, but if the number of new virus cases diagnosed dips below 500 they will be allowed to open a week earlier, on November 8, according to leaks from the meeting picked up by the Walla news site.

Finance Ministry chief economist Shira Greenberg has estimated the cost of the continued restrictions on the economy at NIS 2.3 billion ($673 million) a week.