Kurz, who visited Israel with his Danish counterpart to discuss a tripartite vaccine treaty, was credited by Netanyahu for shocking the proceedings early in the Kovid-19 outbreak. After negotiations and a gym tour for people who have been vaccinated or recovered by Covid-19, Austria, Denmark and Israel, an alliance has been announced to ensure a long-term vaccine supply.
“I will never forget the beginning of the year 2020, when we had a phone call and BB Netanyahu told me that this virus would be a big threat to the whole world, to Europe, if we don’t know at the moment,” Kurze said. When the first wave hit us hard in the European Union, you may have reasons why we acted as early as possible in The Streia. ”
Netanyahu recognized at the outset of the epidemic that the vaccine could save not only Israel, but their political future.
Over the years, Netanyahu has promoted himself as a man who made Israel a global tech powerhouse. Now, as he faces his fourth election in two years and ongoing corruption trials, the prime minister is backing his track-record of turning Israel from a “start-up nation” to a “vaccination nation.”
Netanyahu has controlled the epidemic through Israel, and his strong vaccine drive in particular, appears in almost every night in televised addresses in the country in the early weeks of the epidemic: by negotiating the vaccine with pharmaceutical companies, receiving the first dose of Tel Aviv. Vaccinations are given at airports and primetime TV.
As Israelis head to the polls on Tuesday, life seems to be back to normal with the reopening of session schools and restaurants.
The question now is whether voters will credit Netanyahu for returning to the normalcy that has reversed the political stance that has gripped the country for the past two years.
“In politics you judge the leader by the outcome, how the leader handled the crisis and the outcome,” said Aviv Bushinski, Netanyahu’s former media adviser. In the case of the vaccination program, he added, “Israelis are very happy.”
Strong start by bounce
The coronavirus epidemic is rife with a political crisis in Israel. The first outbreak of the infection occurred in March last year, just weeks after the country’s third election in a year, and Netanyahu was allying with his rival Benny Gentz.
As the Austrian Chancellor noted, Netanyahu took swift action to combat the outbreak, publicly warning of the dangers of the virus and his first death in the country before effectively shutting down Israel.
Mobile booths deployed on the streets are allowed for easily accessible Covid-19 tests. To recover some people with mild cases of the virus, largely converted hotels were sent to a government-run isolation facility. The Passover, one of the most important Jewish holidays in which families gather in large groups for dinner, after the Israelis were banned from gathering or traveling in groups.
In May, after a nearly two-and-a-half year political hiatus, Netanyahu formed his coalition government, with an unprecedented number of cabinet ministers and deputies. And as the rate of infection decreased, the government began to allow public life to return. Israel seemed to have finished the first round of the summit. Thousands of deaths were reported in countries such as Italy as of May, when Israel’s death toll was less than 300.
But, as people rushed to events like restaurants and weddings, so did the virus.
In September, Israel had the worst rate of new infections per capita in the world and the country had entered a political row over who to blame.
Erin Siegel, a professor at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, praised the government’s initial response, but told CNN that mistakes began after the first lockdown. Segel said the reluctance on various issues to enforce targeted sanctions at the local level, especially in the Ultra-Orthodox and Arab neighborhoods, could help further spread the virus, Segel said.
“Probably for a variety of reasons, I imagine there are a lot of political reasons where we didn’t succeed in ending the spread they spread,” Segal said.
Segal also criticized the government’s litmus test during the summer for lockdown – 800 would simultaneously shut down critically ill patients. If Israel had made the lockdown first, there would have been fewer casualties and the overall lockdown period.
The remarks marked a different tone from President Reuven Rivlin a few days later when the head of state of Israel made a clear apology to the nation.
“I know we haven’t done enough as a leader to get your attention. You trusted us and we disappointed you,” Revel said. “You, the citizens of Israel, deserve the security net that the country gives you. Decision makers, government ministries, policy makers must work for you and only for you – to save lives, reduce infections, save the economy. I understand that. None of this has been done satisfactorily. ”
As the end of 2020 drew to a close, Israel faced a third wave of infection, with the Israeli Nassau abandoning budget efforts, leading to the dissolution of parliament and the start of elections this year. Critics of Netanyahu, who included his coalition partner Gentz, doubted that the prime minister had ever intended to run the current government for long, and now Israeli leaders could see his political salvation coming around the corner.
‘Bringing Israel Back to Life’
Initially, Netanyahu pushed Israel to be among the first countries to receive the Kozid-19 vaccine, and he boasted of being in regular contact with major pharmaceutical companies and their CEOs.
Although he signed an initial agreement with Moderna, it was a special agreement with Pfizer – and its Jewish CEO Albert Borla – that replaced Israel as a world leader. Israel pays a high price and receives vaccines quickly, and in turn, is giving Pfizer access to data from Israel’s centralized health care system to study vaccine effectiveness. Israel did not specify the exact price per person paid for the Pfizer vaccine, but a parliamentary committee announced this week that the country had already provided 6.6 billion shekels (7 million) for “various vaccine transactions” and would have to spend the same. Expect. Amount for more in the future.
Bushinsky said Netanyahu is doing everything possible to own the vaccine program and its success, making it a central part of the campaign to bring him back to his new positive and vibrant life – a clear departure from past elections, Bushinsky said.
“In recent years, Netanyahu’s campaign has always been tilted or used to intimidate, that if Netanyahu is not around, Iranians will develop bombs, or Hamas will become stronger, or Hezbollah will attack,” Bushinsky said. That is why Netanyahu ran in the first election in which he is using a campaign of hope, not a campaign of fear. ”
Time and destiny are also in Netanyahu’s favor. With the vaccination program starting in late December, Netanyahu spent at least three months between the first injection and election day – enough time for inoculation for the majority of the population and a taste of normalcy under the country’s “green pass” program. . https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/israel-vaccine-green-pass-wellness/index.html
“Some say Netanyahu, God touched him, that he is rich in fortune,” Bushinski said. “Imagine if the election was a few months ago when most people weren’t vaccinated.”
Cabinet Minister Tajachi Henegbi, who has served with Netanyahu for decades, said he believed the Israeli people would retaliate against Netanyahu for how he handled the virus.
“I believe that after the Corona years, people really came up with new expectations about the ability to bring Israel out of Covid-19, the vaccinations that everyone is entitled to and millions of Israelis are already free of Corona. Hennegby said.
Hennegby said Netanyahu’s “inner feeling is that you are there because God has sent you to save the people of Israel and guide them in times of trouble.”
“I think this gives him power and the support of the people. He calls it charisma.”
CNN’s Oren Lieberman contributed to this report.
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