Uri Misgav
Uri MisgavFlash90

Israeli journalist Uri Misgav on Thursday morning published an op-ed in Haaretz claiming that the "haredim" are responsible for spreading coronavirus.

In his op-ed, Misgav wrote, "The haredim are dangerous, today, to the present and future of Israel - more than Hezbollah's missiles and the Iranian nuclear reactor."

"Their damage is tangible and happens every day - it's not potential [damage]. Coronavirus, as dramatic crises tend to do, has exposed the truth. The haredim are the masters of this country. Israel is suffering from coronavirus mostly because of them."

Misgav also repeated the common complaint regarding the yeshivas' budget.

"In the past six months, they obviously were the first who received, again and again, additions to their budgets worth hundreds of millions of shekels for their yeshivas and educational institutions, which continued operating uninterrupted."

He also praised MK Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) for claiming that the haredim are the enemy of the State.

"The only ones who will say, without stammering, that the haredim are the enemy of the State are Avigdor Liberman and the MKs of Yisrael Beytenu," he wrote, adding "good for them!" and criticizing "the battered left" for failing to do the same.

Concluding his op-ed, Misgav encouraged a "secular intifada."

"Here is your story, idiots: The haredim are destroying and defeating the country. Anyone who starts a secular intifada here will become a top star."

In a 2014 column for Haaretz, Misgav called a religious former MK a "Judeo-Nazi."