Rivlin again apologizes for flouting virus ban, celebrates end of Passover alone

President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday again apologized for celebrating the Passover Seder with one of his daughters, despite a strict curfew on the country to prevent people hosting family gatherings and spreading the coronavirus.

“I debated if I should write again at the start of the [end of Passover] holiday. Sometimes it is better if a person does not speak, and accepts the anger head-on,” Rivlin wrote on Twitter.

Rivlin said he had seen a lot of anger in the past week over “the wrong choice that I made, which cannot be justified,” vowing to “act differently” on the final day of Passover.

Rivlin’s tweet was accompanied by a picture of him in a Zoom video call with his children and grandchildren.

He also put out an English-language version of the tweet.

I was wondering whether to write again before the Chag. Sometimes, it is better to speak out and accept the anger face-on. You were angry with me this week about a wrong decision I made and had no justification. This time, I am doing things differently.
Chag Sameach, the Rivlins pic.twitter.com/O4A3MOstO6

— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) April 14, 2020

His apology came as Israel was, for the second time in a week, under a complete lockdown as authorities sought to prevent people taking part in celebrations for the end of the Passover holiday and the Mimouna festival, fearing gatherings could cause a spike in conronaviris infections.

From Tuesday at 5 p.m. until Thursday at 5 a.m., Israelis will be barred from leaving their hometowns, or in the case of Jerusalem, the neighborhoods in which they live, according to the restrictions.

Rivlin, 80, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sparked anger last week as both appeared to flout their own rules on Passover while millions of ordinary Israelis were making sacrifices.

Rivlin has already apologized

“I have read the harsh reactions to the fact my daughter accompanied me during the holiday and I understand most of them,” he said on Friday, adding that since his wife Nehama passed away last year, his children frequently assist with personal and professional matters when his office is not staffed over weekends and holidays.

“I understand that if one is unfamiliar with the schedule as president, it is difficult to understand and I am sorry for that,” he wrote.

Additionally, Rivlin’s office said that: “The president was accompanied and will be accompanied during the holiday by his daughter after she was tested for coronavirus and found to be negative.”

His office said that since his wife died, a family member was always with him on Shabbat, holidays and flights overseas. Rivlin has four children. The report did not say which of his two daughters was with him.

The rest of the country celebrated the holiday under a strict curfew that was enforced from Wednesday from 3 p.m. until Thursday morning. The curfew was aimed at preventing Israelis from spending the festive holiday meal with family or others, which officials feared could lead to a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections and set back Israel’s efforts against the virus.

This saw thousands of elderly people forced to spend the holiday alone, without their children or grandchildren, while everyone else celebrated only with those confined together in the same house.

Among the reactions to Rivlin was an op-ed in the Haaretz newspaper, calling on the president to resign, saying that he had “betrayed” the people who expected more from him.

Netanyahu was also slammed after his son appearing with him in a Seder video, despite the premier repeatedly urging the Israeli public in recent days not to visit family this holiday, and specifically beseeching young people not to hold the traditional meal with their elderly parents — unless they live in the same household — to prevent coronavirus infection.

In the video the 70-year-old Netanyahu was seen alongside the 25-year-old Avner Netanyahu at a Seder table in the Prime Minister’s Residence as the two read from the Haggadah.

The video was apparently pre-filmed before the holiday itself, raising further questions, as Netanyahu was supposed to be in self-quarantine over the past week due to his contacts with coronavirus patients, which only ended Wednesday night.

Pundits and social media commentators claimed that in order to be with his father at the mock Seder, Avner Netanyahu, who shares an apartment in Jerusalem with his girlfriend, would have had to break social distancing guidelines frequently cited by the prime minister in his television appearances.

Sources close to the prime minister told Channel 13’s Barak Ravid, “In the past month Avner has spent many hours a day at the Prime Minister’s Residence while sleeping in his apartment adjacent to the Prime Minister’s Residence inside the secure compound. Avner behaves according to the directives of the Health Ministry and does not go out anywhere.”