A senior Health Ministry official slammed the ruling of the Supreme Court on Wednesday deeming the government’s daily quota of returning travelers as illegal. “I was afraid that political elements would make such decisions on the eve of the election, but it was the Supreme Court who stabbed us in the back,” the official said. Regarding claims by other health officials who agreed with the ruling, saying that the only way to prevent variants from spreading is enforcing quarantine, he said: “There’s no enforcement and there won’t be.” Meanwhile, Kan News reported on Wednesday night that seven Israelis who arrived in Israel on a flight from Ethiopia on Tuesday were diagnosed with the coronavirus, with some of them carrying the South African variant. Coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash also criticized the ruling. “The decision is worrying. It enables the entry of many dangerous variants into Israel. We have taken many steps to prevent this, and it is a pity that we are now putting the encouraging morbidity data at risk. The Supreme Court’s decision could lead to a wave of high morbidity and dangerous variants entering Israel.” Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch also slammed the ruling: “The Supreme Court is taking responsibility for the entry of variants into Israel. Good luck to us.” Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin said on Army Radio that “judges come and say ‘We’ll endanger everyone’s lives for a constitutional principle derived from a non-existent principle.’” But other health experts agreed with the ruling. “The solution to the variants is more testing and enforcement of quarantine, not a hermetic closure,” Lion Poles, a member of the Health Ministry’s pandemic team told Ynet. “I say this based on how other countries responded. Even countries that were fighting high morbidity didn’t close their borders.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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