Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is putting Israelis at great risk.
Even as countries are still counting their dead, and hundreds and thousands of people are perishing daily from the coronavirus, Netanyahu has opted to bow to pressure from his Finance Ministry and some business leaders and expose Israeli citizens to greater risk of infection.
3 View gallery
Israelis ignoring social distancing in Tel Aviv before the restrictions were eased
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
One cannot dispute Israel's relatively good performance in handling the coronavirus pandemic in comparison to many other countries.
The closures imposed on citizens and the media campaign to educate the public on the risks of infection have been effective and contamination is indeed decreasing. The curve has flattened.
But this is a tentative achievement that can easily and quickly be reversed.
With COVID-19, a few days of massive unchecked contamination can easily cause the disease to spread out of control - as the Italian, Spanish, American and British authorities can attest.
If we have learned anything over the past four months about the way coronavirus spreads it is that it behaves in an unexpected manner.
That alone should have told this government to open businesses only after necessary steps were taken - steps that would lessen the danger of a resurgence of the pandemic.
Testing on a massive scale should precede any decision to open stores and places of work. At least 10,000 tests a day must be conducted with an efficient management of labs and results.
Epidemiological investigations must be conducted to track contamination and arrangements should be put in place for proper quarantining of those found to be infected.
Retirement homes and care facilities for the elderly have to be prepared in advance for any move that could increase the spread of coronavirus. Again, testing, manpower and treatment methods have to be in place. Furthermore, cities and neighborhoods with high infection rates or the potential of mass contamination must be identified.
After weeks of talk, promises and empty words, none of the above has been implemented.
Rather than behaving responsibly and caring about public health and safety, the government has thrust us all into a clinical experiment - and we can only guess the results.
Israel's relative success thus far in the war on coronavirus brings with it a downside.
The misguided perception that the virus has been beaten will be swiftly followed by lax discipline in observing social distancing.
But as the government has already made its decision, the onus is now on us, the public.
More than ever before we must protect ourselves, our families and all those we hold dear.
We should adhere vigilantly to the Health Ministry guidelines, we should refrain from venturing out unnecessarily, we should always cover our faces with masks in public and frequently wash our hands.
But more than that we should remember the danger from COVID-19 has not passed and the political decision to open businesses and mikvehs are not an indication that life has returned to normal.
If anything, the danger is now greater.