Liberman says Home Front must lead virus response, tells Gantz to ‘take the reins’

Yisrael Beytenu leader slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership of the response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that it “stems solely from political and electoral considerations,” and calling for control of the outbreak response to be transferred entirely to the IDF Home Front Command.

“In parallel with the leap in the number of coronavirus cases, we are seeing a leap in the number of bodies dealing with and discussing the issue… all announcements and briefings look more like an endless battle for credit and than a real fight against the virus,” Liberman writes on Facebook.

“All dealing with the spread of the disease and [publishing] information about it must pass to the Home Front Command. It is the only body that needs to coordinate the national struggle against the virus,” he says, citing examples of ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israeli communities which saw infection rates drop after the Home Front took control of them.

Liberman claims that “the prime minister’s insistence on retaining control and being the chief spokesman and briefer, with control in the hands of the National Security Council, stems solely from political and electoral considerations.”

The Yisrael Beytenu chief says that Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is responsible for the Home Front, must “take the reins in his hands, prove leadership and insist that all powers in dealing with  the coronavirus be transferred to the Home Front.”