After a full day of squabbling, name-calling, arguing, and walkouts, members of the Corona Cabinet decided that as of Friday, Israel will face a hermetic lockdown for two weeks until Simchas Torah. The upcoming lockdown will considerably tighten the rules on the Israeli public from the current lockdown that people are in. According to the upcoming rules, all stores and businesses that are non-essential will be closed. A prohibition will be in effect outlawing any gathering aside from their nuclear family. It is still unclear what will befall the necessary preparations for Sukkos including the purchasing of arba minim, and materials for building sukkahs. Shuls will be allowed to convene only in outdoor spaces and will have up to 20 participants. Regarding Yom Kippur a special compromise will be reached that will allow shuls to operate with a minimum number of participants, in a similar style to how they operated over Rosh Hashanah. Over Sukkos, shuls will return to only functioning outdoors. Another aspect of the new proposal will be the complete closure of Ben Gurion airport for all departing flights. Only flights entering Israel will be allowed to land, and those will only allow returning citizens. People will be allowed to participate in public protests, an issue which the Blue and White party fought tooth and nail over, only within a kilometer from their house. The decision of the cabinet needs to pass through the Knesset Plenum and the Legal Committee before it becomes law. The government convened at 10:30PM Israel time to approve the new lockdown regulations and it is expected that the law will be ratified in the Knesset on Thursday during the day after the legal committee of the Knesset prepares the final parts of the law and approves them. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri who is a member of the Corona Cabinet said: “We are in a state of terrible emergency. This is made clear by the fact that they are shutting down the economy again. Tefillah is the only permitted gathering that will be allowed, and that is due to its importance. We need to recall that on Pesach, we had 700 ill people per day and we davened on balconies. Now we have ten times that and we are able to daven outside in minyanim as long as we wear masks.” Finance Minister Amir Peretz said during the meeting: “Public confidence has been broken because every two days we make a different proposal. The decisions do not last more than two days. I propose to accept the outline prepared by the attorney-general, coronavirus commissioner and the director-general of the Health Ministry.” Likud MK Haim Katz, who chairs the powerful Likud central committee, said the government and Knesset should be dispersed. Referencing the squabbling that is hamstringing the government over the issue of public protests Katz lamented, “Nothing is working.” JOIN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO ALREADY ARE ALERTED OF BREAKING NEWS LIKE THIS IN LIVE TIME: YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status. YWN WHATSAPP GROUPS: CLICK HERE to be dded to an official YWN WhatsApp Group. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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