Health Minister Yuli Edelstein says he will ask the coronavirus cabinet to approve harsher fines on businesses and educational facilities that open illicitly.
“The coronavirus is not a bike rider. It can go up as fast as it can go down, if we break or if we don’t know how to enforce,” he says during a tour of a Tiberias hospital, according to Israel Hayom.
“There’s a big gap between the cautious approach being taken by the cabinet and what is happening on the street, or violating guidelines by educational institutions and businesses.”
Policemen at a checkpoint to the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak on October 18, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Edelstein has complained several times about weak enforcement allowing ultra-Orthodox schools to remain open with only a few fines thrown around. The current maximum fine that can be levied against an institution for being open is NIS 5,000, which some feel falls short of a deterrent.
Lawmakers have also said they will look into pulling state funding from such institutions.
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