Coalition whip Miki Zohar (Likud) excoriated a fellow Likud lawmaker Tuesday, claiming that her actions at the helm of the Knesset’s Coronavirus Committee led to the present level of COVID infections and deaths.
Speaking with Radio 103FM Tuesday morning, Zohar said that Coronavirus Committee chairwoman MK Yifat Shasha-Biton is to blame for many of the coronavirus-related fatalities in Israel.
“When they sum up Yifat Shasha-Biton’s action, she will go down in history as being the main party to blame.”
“Israel lost thousands of people and she gets a great deal of ‘credit’ for this. If we would have fired her, we would not have the number of deaths today that we have.”
“It looks like she’s the main one to blame for the fact that we got to 9,000 infections per day. I have one real regret in my political career – that I wasn’t able to have her fired from her position. If we had fired Shasha-Biton, the numbers wouldn’t be what they are.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli Health Ministry reported that the total number of deaths among people diagnosed with the coronavirus now stands at 5,779.
In July, Zohar vowed to have Shasha-Biton removed as chair of the Knesset’s Coronavirus Commmittee, after Shasha-Biton refused to automatically approve cabinet decisions closing a number of businesses, including out-door pools, gyms, and restaurants.
Shasha-Biton, who is now running on the New Hope list, had called on the government and health officials to provide statistics justifying their plans to close various sectors of the economy.