Netanyahu at Cabinet meeting
Netanyahu at Cabinet meetingPhoto: GPO

The Cabinet meeting on Monday night lasted until the wee hours of the night, and at its conclusion the ministers approved stricter restrictions on the movement of residents as part of the fight against the coronavirus.

However, according to a Channel 12 News report on Tuesday, the meeting was very turbulent and difficult exchanges emerged between some participants, partly because of allegations of leaks to the media from previous meetings on the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Stop leaking information from here, I am asking, stop the leaks already."

Minister Ze'ev Elkin: "It's a shame about what's going on here, it would be better if you broadcast it live, instead of wasting the energy of those leaking."

PM Netanyahu: "It also won't help you if you leak to the media."

Minister Bezalel Smotrich joins the conversation: "We need a polygraph."

Netanyahu replies: "Maybe. I will not hesitate to do tests."

At that point, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit rejected the idea proposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

PM Netanyahu: "These meetings are ineffective. Maybe we can have a ministerial committee on the coronavirus?"

Mandelblit: "That is impossible, these are emergency regulations that require the approval of all government ministers. It is classified as legislation, and every minister has the right to participate."

Later, a heated debate arose over the number of coronavirus tests, with Minister Naftali Bennett making it clear that the number of coronavirus tests carried out by the Ministry of Health did not meet the target set by the government.

Responding to Bennett's criticism, the Director General of the Ministry of Health argued that what was preventing the expansion of the tests was the fact that, contrary to its promise, the Ministry of Defense did not provide enough swabs to allow the rate to increase.

Bennett replied, "You will not shut me up," and Netanyahu replied, "We got it, we got it. We got it. We'll stop the argument now and you can continue it on TV."