Thousands of Orthodox Israelis on Sunday thronged a pair of funerals for two prominent rabbis in Jerusalem, flouting the nation’s ban on large public gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The initial funeral procession, for Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, who died at age 99, wended its way through the streets of Jerusalem in the latest display of Orthodox Israelis’ refusal to honor COVID-19 restrictions.
The phenomenon has undermined the nation’s aggressive vaccination campaign to bring a raging outbreak under control and threatened to hurt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March elections.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Two challengers accused Netanyahu of failing to enforce the law due to political pressure from his Orthodox political allies.
Densely packed throngs of people gathered outside the rabbi’s home, ignoring restrictions on outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people. Many did not wear masks. Thousands of black-garbed Orthodox funeral-goers coursed past the city’s main entrance toward the cemetery where Soloveitchik was to be buried.
A handful of police officers blocked intersections to traffic to allow participants to pass, but appeared to take no action to prevent the illegal assembly.
Israeli media said Soloveitchik, a leading religious academic who headed a number of well-known seminaries, had recently suffered from COVID-19.
Later Sunday, thousands of Orthodox mourners attended the funeral of another respected rabbi, Yitzhok Scheiner, once again flouting the lockdown rules.
Scheiner, 98, also died from COVID-19, reports said.
Alon Halfon, a Jerusalem police official, told Channel 13 TV that police had little choice but to allow the massive procession for Soloveitchik to proceed.
He said police action had helped reduce the crowd size and that about 100 tickets were issued for health breaches.
However, in such a densely packed environment, with children among the crowd, attempting to disperse the crowd would have been “unwise and dangerous,” he said.
The Israeli Ministry of Health has recorded more than 640,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 4,745 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Israel has vaccinated more than 3 million of its citizens, one of the highest rates per capita in the world.
Health experts say it could take several weeks for the vaccination campaign to have an effect on infection and hospitalization rates.
The Israeli Cabinet late on Sunday voted to extend a nationwide lockdown until at least Friday, and possibly longer.
The government last month imposed the movement restrictions and closure of schools and non-essential businesses last month in an effort to clamp down on the runaway pandemic.
The Cabinet also said a ban on virtually all incoming and outgoing air traffic would remain in effect another week.
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