Meeting with PM over coronavirus enforcement, Haredi MKs demand ‘end to abuse’

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu act to stop what they allege is the selective enforcement of public health regulations that unfairly targets their community.

MKs from the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties are meeting Netanyahu as well as Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and Public Security Minister Amir Ohana following days of complaints and even reported threats by the Haredi lawmakers that they would bolt the coalition.

“Discrimination is being enforced against the ultra-Orthodox community,” Shas head and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri says at the meeting, according to a statement.

“I call on the prime minister and the internal security minister to work for equal enforcement.”

“A closure carried out without any aid package does not achieve its goal and harms the entire public,” he says, referring to the recent lockdowns of several ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.

Netanyahu says he called today’s meeting in order to allow the Haredi lawmakers to voice their frustration. “We want to help. Nobody wants to be harassed. The opposite is true, and I’m open to listening,” he says.

At least two people were arrested in Jerusalem Sunday and hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews set trashcans on fire and knocked down barriers, as they protested for a second night against localized lockdowns of neighborhoods aimed at curbing a spread of the coronavirus.