Police officers in Jerusalem
Police officers in JerusalemYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion said he was opposed to the government's decision to impose a night curfew on some of the city's predominantly haredi neighborhoods, including Ramot and Sanhedria.

"A night curfew on Jerusalem's western suburbs will simply not work. The virus doesn't take time off during specific hours of the day,'' he said. The mayor's rationale for restricting movement at night in the Arab sector is to prevent mass weddings, "which have so far been a major source of COVID-19 infection chains," as he noted.

"If we are forced into a general closure in order to eradicate the virus, everyone will be mobilized, with all our might, with understanding of the situation and determination to make things better. However, violating the freedom of movement in Jerusalem in a way that will not prevent the spread of the virus will be neither proportionate nor effective," added Lion.

In September, Lion explained the reasons for the huge increase in the coronavirus infection rate in the capital.

"They're talking about infections in eastern Jerusalem and our haredi neighborhoods in the same breath. It's funny how they do that – the city's haredi neighborhoods have actually seen a reduction in morbidity," he said.

"In Eastern Jerusalem, there are approximately 2,000 virus cases, while in Jerusalem's haredi neighborhoods, there are some-800 in total. You can't compare the two," pointed out the mayor.

Meanwhile, Beitar Ilit remains vehemently opposed to the nightly curfew imposed on the entire city unlike other municipalities where the measure has been applied to individual neighborhoods with an especially-high infection rate.

"We won't stand for discrimination against the haredi sector," read a statement from the Beitar Illit city hall. "In the 40 cities sanctioned as virus hotspots, only specific neighborhoods have been closed off, but in haredi population centers, they have imposed lockdowns on the whole area," it added.

''We demand full transparency of morbidity data, and detailed explanations as to why a curfew is imposed on an entire haredi municipality, instead of individual neighborhoods. We will not support moves bearing no [data-backed analysis]," concluded the letter.