Lapid rebukes deputy FM for dancing maskless at New Year’s Eve party

While Idan Roll insists he didn’t violate COVID restrictions and that all attendees were tested beforehand, foreign minister says public officials are expected to set example

By ToI Staff 3 January 2022, 12:02 am

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Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid (R) and MK Idan Roll, at a press conference in Tel Aviv on February 7, 2019. (Flash90)

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid dressed down his deputy Idan Roll on Sunday, after the latter was filmed dancing without a mask at a crowded New Year’s Eve party over the weekend.

According to Lapid’s office, Roll said he did not break any COVID rules and that all attendees at the party were tested beforehand.

However, the video — posted on Instagram by Roll’s husband Harel Skaat — still sparked media uproar, as the government has been urging the public to avoid attending public gatherings, amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Lapid told Roll, a member of his Yesh Atid party, that public officials must be particularly fastidious about adhering to COVID-19 guidelines to serve as an example to the public, his office said.

It was the second such incident since the government instituted restrictions in late November.