Netanyahu Blames Bennett for 3,000 COVID-19 Deaths

On Monday, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the former Prime Minister told the current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that he was responsible for the 3,000 people who had lost their lives to the coronavirus in recent months. Speaking in the Knesset plenum at a special debate that had been requested by the opposition, Netanyahu stated that the first 1,000 had died because the premier had taken too long for introducing the third dose of the vaccine. He added that the remaining 2,000 people had died because of the policies of the government since then. Netanyahu said that Bennett had done nothing for saving those lives. 

He said that the impotent behavior he had displayed could not be considered a policy. Netanyahu added that they would be able to get out of the current wave like the rest of the world with God’s help and not because of anything Bennett did. The premier implied that he thought the opposition leader was crazy by making a hand gesture near his head. As far as the use of the Pegasus spyware is concerned, Netanyahu said that the use of this program by the police was similar to F35s being used by the IDF against Israeli citizens. 

Netanyahu said that it was a Black day for Israel. The vote in the Knesset turned out to be in favor of Bennett’s statement to the plenum by 55-53. Bennett had spoken earlier and told Netanyahu that he had been forced out by the citizens of Israel due to his failures. Bezalel Smotrich, the Religious Zionist Party leader, became the first MK who submitted a bill that called for the dispersal of the Knesset. According to Smotrich, the Pegasus affair had pushed him to submit the bill. He added that there was a conflict of interest in the current government, so they cannot make the required changes and earn the trust of the public.

In other news, a 58-year old patient Bat-Sheva Halfon lost her life on Friday at the Laniado Medical Center because her breathing machine was disconnected and no one noticed. A lung infection had caused Halfon to be admitted to the hospital for almost a month and a half and that is where she had gotten infected with COVID-19. A doctor spoke to Halfon’s nephew, Nir Machlouf and said that she had probably disconnected the machine on her own and was unable to reconnect it. There is tight supervision needed for intubated patients to prevent such cases. 

In fact, doctors go as far as tying the hands of patients, so they don’t disconnect the breathing tube accidentally. Previously, Halfon’s arms had also been tied, but not when the incident occurred. More than 1,200 patients are currently hospitalized in Israel due to serious condition and there is heavy pressure on some hospitals. Laniado Hospital said that the incident was under investigation and findings would be disclosed to the Health Ministry. It also expressed its condolences to the Halfon family. The hospital said that they had dealt with a large number of patients in this wave.