Israel ends mask mandate early as elections loom
Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office Wednesday announced the country’s mask mandate will end on April 23rd, a decision made by Prime Minister Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
The indoor mask mandate, which has been in place since April 2020, was set to expire on April 1st, 2022, but was extended by the government until May 1st. In contrast with its characteristic pro-mandate approach, Israel’s government has decided to end the mask mandate even earlier than scheduled.
It is unclear, however, what prompted the decision.
The joint statement released by Bennett and Horowitz cited the decline in COVID-19 cases. But Israel’s COVID numbers are still much higher than other periods. Tuesday, the day before the decision was announced, 4,260 new cases were recorded. But in other periods, like the end of last year when infection numbers were much lower, the mask mandate remained fully enforced.
In the last two years, Israelis have gone a total of 10 days without a mask mandate.
The decision to end the mask mandate comes just two weeks after a resignation rocked the stability of the government’s power structure, plunging into crisis Bennett’s tenure as prime minister. Former Yamina Coalition Whip MK Idit Silman announced on April 6th that she was leaving the coalition, leaving Bennett without the 61 Knesset seats necessary to keep the government majority.
On Sunday, the Islamist faction Ra’am also withdrew from Bennett’s coalition, and on Monday, Religious Zionism party leader MK Bezalel Smotrich called for new general elections.
Within 48 hours, Bennett announced an early end to the indoor mask mandate.
According to a preliminary poll by Israel’s Channel 13, new elections would likely see the return of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right wing block would get at least 60 seats. Bennett’s Yamina party would fall to just seven seats, and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz’s Meretz party would earn just five.
While Israeli media are trying to claim that the decision is based on a US federal judge ending Biden's travel mask mandate a day before, Israel's government will still be enforcing a mask mandate for air travel.
The decision is pending approval by the Knesset Health Committee.
