Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettPhoto by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Saturday evening spoke with senior Health Ministry officials, advising them of what their next steps should be in managing the coronavirus pandemic.

Responding to the Health Ministry's demand that restrictions be reimposed to prevent hospitals from becoming more overwhelmed, Bennett said: "There is no connection between restricting a performance or a basketball game and infections among the unvaccinated. It will only cause economic damage."

"The government's policy is an open Israel, while determinedly, intelligently, fighting the pandemic. Not quarantines, lockdowns, and more and more restrictions - which is easiest - but solutions."

Bennett also requested that additional efforts be put into the vaccination campaign after the holidays, emphasizing that reopening schools will be accompanied by a significant number of tests.

"Whoever is here should know better than anyone else how many actions we take each day in order to save lives. I am thinking about the patients, and truly each person in a coronavirus ward hurts my heart, but I am also thinking about the economy, about education, about the parents who need to work and the children who need to learn," he said.