Shas Chairman Interior Minister Aryeh Deri referred in an interview broadcast tonight on Kan 11 to government COVID-19 decisions ahead of Yom Kippur and the morbidity situation among haredim.
In the interview, Deri attacked segments of the haredi community who refuse to obey guidelines and hold mass gatherings during the closure. Validating New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's message blaming the hassidic community, Deri said: "I read today that in New York, the Governor decided to close synagogues and schools, especially in the haredi neighborhoods, and I see announcements that the Rebbe of Satmar and others said all events are cancelled.
"You should be aware, and I say this to viewers, they should know, the severity of the spread of the disease in Israel among the haredi public is at least four times that of the haredi public in New York. According to data published in New York of six percent verified, here in comparison it's 24 percent verified," Deri said.
"And there - I ask - everyone listening - understand that if the New York Governor said it, and if the police in New York are enforcing it, I say, Lord in Heaven, friends, no one's making these restrictions because he wants to harass the haredim, they do it because there's danger to life. So I strengthen your question, and I say, I don't understand either. If there are those who don't accept these guidelines and think they don't need to obey because perhaps it's the police or a secular government that's deciding these things, you should know that it's a matter of life and death," he asserted.
Deri added that contrary to what it seems, COVID-19 harms young people as well: "I call on people to first know what it's about. Yesterday I heard research and saw that there's quite clear research that it also harms fertility of young people, this thing. People think 'come on, let's get infected, what happened, nothing happened.' No one knows the serious consequences of this phenomenon. So I call on everyone: Enough, everyone needs to understand, and more than that, friends, we need to look; Who is wise? He who can discern the possible outcomes."
Deri later clarified that in the end, those to be harmed by not obeying guidelines will be the places where guidelines aren't kept: "In two weeks, something like that, we'll partially relax the closure. But let there be no doubt. Areas, cities that remain red and where the morbidity rate is high, they won't open. After all, they won't close the whole country because of a few cities. So these cities will later come to us with complaints and say: Why are these red cities, perhaps haredi, closed? Yes, once again they're singling out the haredim. No, friends, whoever doesn't keep the rules, he'll eventually have to remain in lockdown."
On the decision not to close synagogues on Yom Kippur, Deri said, "I tell you with absolute responsibility that if the Israeli government had decided to close the synagogues on Yom Kippur and continue to allow the demonstrations, an uprising would have erupted and all the synagogues would have filled up beyond capacity on Yom Kippur."