Posted on 03/13/2020 11:43:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ordered most schools in the country to close as a precaution against coronavirus, and called for the formation of an emergency national unity government.
Primary and secondary schools, with some exceptions such as special education programs, would be shut, he said.
“We are altering our internal routine in order to handle an outside threat, the threat of the virus,” Netanyahu, 70, said in remarks broadcast live.
The right-wing leader’s tenure is in doubt after three inconclusive elections in less than a year.
Calling for a unity government, he said: “It will be an emergency government for a limited time, and together we will fight to save the lives of tens of thousands of citizens.”
Netanyahu’s principal rival, centrist Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz, said he would be willing to discuss the proposal in a responsible fashion. He tweeted that any such government should be “broad” and represent all sides of Israeli society.
Neither Netanyahu nor Gantz command a clear majority in parliament after the latest election, on March 2.
Netanyahu has faced calls to step aside ahead of a corruption trial that begins on March 17.
He faces charges including bribery, breach of trust and fraud, but denies any wrongdoing and is under no legal obligation to resign while the legal proceedings continue.
The latest coronavirus measures follow a series of tightening restrictions imposed by Israel and the Palestinians.
Earlier this week Netanyahu ordered all visitors to Israel to self-isolate for two weeks, and Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank was closed in what Israeli officials said was a joint Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian effort to stop the virus from spreading.
Israel’s flag carrier El Al said on Thursday it would start suspending most of its flights
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The article fails to mention how popular Netanyahu is. Only lists negatives. Reuter’s is such a joke
Don't get me wrong, I greatly admire Bibi. But, if he's so popular, why have the recent elections been so close?
Oy vey.
Two can play this crises game.
We have many family members in Israel, my Mom was talking to her cousin yesterday, they have many more cases than they are letting on because so many people who returned from Israel from overseas(Mainly Italy) lied about not interacting with people when they returned..they went to work, helped put purim masks on children, etc
Netanyahu isn’t popular enough to win an election or form a government.
His trial is scheduled to start on Tuesday so now he wants an emergency unity government ... but only with him as PM.
WOW. To some commenters: this is not a story about politics, not at all.
Instead of a unity government, it now looks like a Gantz minority government with Arab parties not opposing the Gantz-Lapid-Liberman government.
Mark Levin has talked about this s*** show. What a mess.
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