Some malls that have been given the go-ahead to open as part of a pilot program may defy orders to close if they are handed down.
The threat from the head of Ofer malls group, which was allowed to open shopping centers around the country Friday, comes after a source close to Health Minister Yuli Edelstein expressed horror at the crowds that descended on them over the weekend and threatened that “if there is not an immediate and radical change, we will mull closing them immediately,” according to Channel 12 news.
People shop at the Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan after it reopened, November 27, 2020 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
“I’m not closing the malls, because malls are safe places,” says Ofer CEO Moshe Rosenbloom. “I won’t keep stores from opening.”
He says that Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda outdoor market also saw large crowds, and the existence of a roof over part of it makes it indoors as well, with a lower roof than a mall has.
People at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem on November 27, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“The regulators should look at what is actually happening before they harm people trying to do good for the economy and keep all the rules,” he says, before calling for all stores everywhere to be allowed to open in order to cut down on crowding.
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