Israel PM: New lockdowns leave us no funds for military protection

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett yesterday ruled out the possibility of imposing a lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus as serious infection cases in the country hit a five-month high record.

“A lockdown is the easiest step for the government. Lots of people say, ‘press on the lockdown button’… and everything is in order, except for one thing. In doing so we are destroying the future of the country,” Bennett said during a televised press conference.

“A lockdown is the last line of defence, only when all other options are exhausted,” he added.

Bennett explained that lockdowns cost the State of Israel about 200 billion shekels ($61.8 billion) and if the government imposes additional closures, it will not have funding for “armoured vehicles, Iron Dome missiles, or funding for life-saving surgery for a girl who has cancer, because we have already spent it all on lockdown”.

Bennett called on Israeli citizens to get vaccinated, saying: “If Israeli citizens continue to be vaccinated on a large scale, we can overcome the Delta variant.”

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, there are 59,218 active covid cases, with 991 hospitalised, 600 in a serious condition and 103 on ventilators.

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