Israeli Arabs say they should not need to shut down for Jewish holiday

Some Israeli Arabs are expressing anger over Israel’s plans to place a 4-day lockdown over the whole country for the start of the holiday of Passover, the Ynet news site reports.

The lockdown, in which Israelis will not be allowed to leave their hometowns, is designed to keep people from traveling for the Passover holiday. A curfew in place on Wednesday night confining people to their homes will not apply to Arab towns.

“If they were talking about a Muslim holiday, they would only place a closure on Arab towns. I’m for the closure, but without discrimination,” Khamis Abdallah of Jisr al-Zarqa tells the news site.

Government officials had initially leaned toward only locking down certain towns — mostly ultra-Orthodox — where there are outbreak, but shifted strategies on Monday to a nationwide effort.

“If this is about Passover, what does it have to do with us,” Rabia Melham of Arara tells Ynet.

Earlier Monday, Police minister Gilad Erdan said Arab towns were as compliant with social distancing regulations as anywhere else and there had been no large outbreaks in any of them.

Officials have already begun to speak of placing special restrictions on movement for the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which falls in late May.