Arabs are cause of coronavirus outbreak in Israel, says minister

Mask-clad Palestinian men walk along a street in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on July 13, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. [ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images]

Arab citizens and ultra-Orthodox Jews are the cause of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Israel, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn said on Saturday.

“Recent demonstrations in Tel Aviv are not the cause of the spread of the coronavirus, the virus broke out among the Haredi and Arab resident communities, but it has now spread across the entire country,” Nissenkorn told Channel 12.

“I do not mean that the epidemic began in the Haredi and Arab society,” she retreated, noting that there was an “outbreak there in recent weeks.”

“I respect every person and every community in Israel,” the minister stressed.

As of Saturday, there were a total of 8,221 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Yesterday, authorities announced ten new deaths as a result of the disease.

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