Israelis artists protest against the COVID-19 lockdown, on November 8, 2020 in Tel Aviv. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
1. Round three: A decision to place Israel under lockdown for an unprecedented third time is the major story of the day, even if the exact contours of the supposed lockdown are not exactly known.
The lockdown leads most major news sites Thursday morning and dominates the print press, edging out Likud minister Ze’ev Elkin’s bombshell decision to quit the government and aim fire at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (scroll down for those fireworks).
“The closure was announced in a joint statement from Netanyahu and the Health Ministry. It said the government had agreed to the restrictions ‘in principle,’ but that the full list of regulations was still awaiting final approval from government ministers,” notes ToI’s story on the lockdown.
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People who came on a flight from England arrive at Jerusalem s Dan Panorama Hotel, which is being used as a quarantine facility, on December 20, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
1. Third time’s alarm: After the media went buck wild over hero Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brave decision to cut to the front of the vaccine line on live TV, gaining himself priceless airtime and the cover of every newspaper, the media has shifted to the drive to get everyone else vaccinated, fears stemming from the London mutation, and the closing in of a “third lockdown.”
“Third lockdown dilemma,” reads the top front page headline of Israel Hayom, reporting that ministers are trying to decide whether to pursue a “short lockdown,” or “restrictions for a longer time.”
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz at the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
1. Can we rebuild it? With only a few days to go before a deadline that will set early elections in motion, press reports are revolving around possible efforts to avoid the snap poll.
A Channel 13 report claims “dramatic” progress in talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White.
A source, evidently from Blue and White, tells the network that the centrist party had managed to secure a commitment from Likud to ensure the rotation agreement that will allow Gantz to replace Netanyahu as premier, in addition to keeping Avi Nissenkorn on as justice minister.
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