Channel 12, “There would certainly have been bloodshed” had police intervened.
Critics of the government said the crowds were evidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have control of the country’s outbreak. Netanyahu has closed the airport and distributed vaccines at a world-record pace but has not aggressively stepped in in the haredi sector.
In one representative example, Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai tweeted a photo of the crowds with the opposition party slogan, “Only Likud can,” emblasoned over it. “Bibi’s closure, as you can see, is a complete failure. It needs to be stopped and re-planned,” he wrote.