Netanyahu’s COVID Crisis
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/vivia...s-covid-crisis/
by Vivian Bercovici

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat stiffly behind a desk, tightly gripping his written remarks. He spent more time looking down at the page than the camera, betraying a nervousness he has rarely shown publicly. This is a man who reads the “room” and zeitgeist masterfully. He has done so for decades, but everything about him when he addressed the Israeli public during prime time news on Sunday night signaled distress and indecision.

His remarks were meant to assuage an increasingly enraged population. The night before, more than 10,000 protesters converged on Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv. Organizers took pains to bill the evening as a “non-political demonstration” focused on the economic devastation that has been destroying Israel’s small independent business sector over the last few months. In spite of promised government aid, virtually none has been forthcoming. The paltry amounts promised to “independents” seemed stuck in the bowels of some ministry, somewhere, for some unclear “technical” reason.

Suddenly, Bibi assured the nation, whatever was impeding the cash flow would be cleared–magically and immediately. He was “pressing the button.” Problem is, his personal credibility has plummeted, as has his government’s.

Amidst all the anxiety, economic and public health gloom, uncertainty about every aspect of life, the prime minister and his wife thought it appropriate to change the domestic cleaning arrangements for their official residence. With the expiry of a company contract, they hired a number of individual cleaners. -- excerpt, rest at link above --