Following a demand by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri at the government’s weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, the Health Ministry is publishing a list of its criteria for declaring areas “restricted zones” in advance of imposing lockdowns on any additional cities.

There’s been an outcry in the Chareidi sector in Israel claiming that discrimination is involved in determining which areas should be declared “restricted zones.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ accepted Deri’s request and ordered the Health Ministry to publish the criteria for restrictions on each locale on the prime minister’s website.

Netanyahu and senior Health Ministry officials met with Chareidi MKs on Monday morning regarding the lockdowns in Chareidi areas and the complaints of police violence and harassment against the Chareidi sector.

Following the meeting, Netanyahu wrote on Twitter: “I asked to meet in order to hear from you so that we could respond to your distress, which I know is genuine and which touches our hearts. We want to help; nobody wants to harass. The opposite is true and I am open to listening.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this morning with Minister Deri, Minister Litzman and additional MKs on the issue of the restrictions in the ultra-orthodox neighborhoods. The Health and Public Security ministers also attended the meeting. pic.twitter.com/fcaES152jT

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 13, 2020

“It was agreed that before closures are imposed, representatives of the Chareidi public would be consulted and updated and that, to the extent possible, command centers would be opened in the communities themselves.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)