Israeli leaders clash with ultra-Orthodox over Covid-19 lockdowns, vaccines

“This is what unequal enforcement looks like,” said Benny Gantz, the defense secretary and head of the Blue and White party. “Millions of families and children are locked in their homes and abide by the rules, while thousands of haredim crowd the funeral, most of them without a mask,” he said, using the Hebrew word for ultra-Orthodox.

The funerals followed anti-lockdown protests in Bnei Brak and other ultra-Orthodox cities the week before, in which ultra-Orthodox men threw stones at police, set fire to dumpsters and toppled street signs and light poles.

Israeli health officials have also struggled to persuade ultra-Orthodox to take a Covid-19 vaccine. While much of Israel is lining up for vaccinations, the ultra-Orthodox population is slowing on board, with some questioning the vaccine’s safety and others suggesting that the nation’s citizens are being used to test its efficacy.

‘This is not a vaccine. It’s an experiment, ”said Izhar Mahpud, a 57-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city just east of Tel Aviv that is one of the most affected cities in the country by Covid-19. “I’m not ready to be a rat in a lab.”

Israel is aiming to vaccinate much of its population and get the economy back on track by March, so that the tiny country on the Mediterranean can serve as a global showcase for fighting the deadly virus. But the ultra-Orthodox have undermined those lofty goals, in large part by breaking lockdowns and shy away from vaccines.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox make up about 12% of the population, but account for nearly a third of the country’s coronavirus infections. Israel currently has 68,331 active coronavirus cases with new infections hovering around 7,000 per day.

Officials scramble to get the latest wave under control. A British variant of the virus is responsible for about 70% of current coronavirus infections, even now that nearly a third of Israelis have received the first dose of a vaccination. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu banned all international flights last month, and lawmakers on Sunday passed a bill doubling fines for lockdown violations.

Public health officials say the ultra-Orthodox community is particularly vulnerable to the fast-moving virus. Their large families usually live in crowded apartments and traditionally shun electronic communications that help in obtaining information about the vaccines.

Data from the Israeli Ministry of Health shows that Israel’s ultra-Orthodox are vaccinated at a slower rate than other groups. Among the over-60s, for whom the campaign has been open the longest, 85% of all Israelis have taken the vaccine, compared to 78% of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox.

According to Eran Segal, a computer biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who presented his findings to the Israeli government Sunday evening, ultra-Orthodox and Arab cities are lagging behind in overall immunity to the virus due to lower vaccination coverage. “It will slow the decline in the pandemic,” said Mr Segal.

Health officials say infections in ultra-Orthodox communities have declined in recent days as some leading rabbis have approved vaccinations. Efforts are also being made to combat misinformation and get residents to take the vaccine.

In the large ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, local officials have set up a war room. In the oval-shaped, wood-paneled room on the top floor of the Town Hall, with portraits of important religious figures lining the walls, young ultra-Orthodox sit around a large round table with large jugs of hand sanitizer and work with the telephones. They stare at spreadsheets with information about everyone who has or has not been vaccinated.

Officials had called nearly 10,000 people who had not been vaccinated – and spoke to nearly 7,000 people. About 5,000 said they wanted a vaccine but hadn’t been able to get one yet. Another 1,500 did not want to be vaccinated. The city officials are working to overcome any obstacles during the calls.

For those who don’t have a ride to a vaccination center, they will arrange one. If potential vaccine recipients can’t contact their health insurance providers, they help too. And if someone they reach doesn’t want to take the vaccine, they note why.

Avi Blumenthal, who is directing the Ministry of Health’s assistance to the ultra-Orthodox, said he and his staff are scouring lists of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox cities to find the rabbis who are against vaccination and are looking for answers. In one case, an ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem had low vaccination coverage that many attributed to the rabbi’s alleged anti-vaccination policy. But when health officials interviewed the rabbi, they found out he was actually a pro-vaccine – someone had spread a rumor attributed to him that the vaccine is dangerous.

Yehuda Shaish, 63, who runs four ultra-Orthodox schools in Bnei Brak and nearby towns, said he was waiting for the rabbis to bless the vaccines. “After the rabbis approved it, I was happy to proceed,” he said.

Even with the blessings of rabbis, many ultra-Orthodox remain skeptical of vaccines. Yedidya Hasson, 28, who runs a network of WhatsApp groups of 30,000 people in which some members have questioned the wisdom of vaccines and coronavirus restrictions, says he won’t be taking the vaccine for the time being because he fears potential health risks.

“When it comes to vaccines,” he said, “I think the media in Israel is hiding the truth.”

Some ultra-Orthodox leaders say that while community mistrust can help explain resistance to vaccines and recent civil disobedience, mistrust does not justify breaking rules that endanger public health. “You expect religious men to be more moral,” said Rabbi Dov Halbertal, a leading ultra-Orthodox lawyer and commentator. “But when it comes to the biggest test to save lives, we fail.”

Write to Felicia Schwartz at [email protected]