Israel Health Minister caught on live mic admitting Green Passport has no medical justification

Israel's Channel 12 News today released a recording of Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz caught in private conversation with Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked discussing Green Passport restrictions, "without knowing that the microphones picked up everything they said in their open-hearted chat."

The recording begins with Interior Minister Shaked saying "I think that you can cancel the Green Pass for outdoor dining." 

Health Minister Horowitz responds: "Swimming pools too, not just restaurants. Epidemiologically, that's correct." 

Shaked: "Right." 

Horowitz: "The thing is - and I'm telling you this - our problem is the people who don't get vaccinated. We need a bit for them to..." 

Shaked: "...Right..." 

Horowitz: "...Otherwise... we'll never get out of this." 

Channel 12: "The Health Minister explained to the Interior Minister that the Green Pass is needed in some places only to pressure the unvaccinated to vaccinate, and not because of medical reasons." 

The Health Minister continued in the recording: "Now, there's a certain universality to the Green Pass except in shopping malls where it's not, and in my opinion it should have been. Now it's clearly not everyplace, and people start to challenge: 'If you need it in pools, why not at entertainment venues and water parks, and outdoor exercise and sport areas?' But, you know, then we need to... it looks like pools and outdoor restaurants ... because even so, we don't want to do things that appear not to have, like, medical justification... But to you, I'm saying we've got a problem." 

The Interior and Health Ministers represent the most diametrically opposed political constituencies in Israel, with Shaked sitting as one of the heads of the nationalist New Right Party and Horowitz chairing the far-Left Peace Now "Meretz" faction. 

The Israeli Public Emergency Council for the Coronavirus Crisis, an independent, apolitical, and voluntary body composed of senior doctors and researchers, responded to the video, saying: "They've crossed every red line - it's not a Green Pass - it's a Red Lie." 

The Council went on to say: "The Health Minister himself admits in the recording revealed tonight that the Green Passport has no epidemiological effect at all. It is designed to inflict psychological pressure on you to make your life difficult until you get vaccinated. 

"They are restricting citizen's freedom, harming small businesses, making the children mentally ill, and all with no medical justification. That is exactly why we petitioned the Supreme Court. These recordings cannot pass in silence." 

The Israeli Public Emergency Council for the Coronavirus Crisis concluded: "We intend to approach the Court and ask it to comment in its decision on the recordings that were revealed tonight on Channel 12 News. 

"Stop abusing civilians. Stop destroying the economy. Immediately abolish the Green Pass restrictions."

This follows previous explicit statements by Shaked that the Green Pass is a pressure mechanism. "The Green Pass is intended to encourage people to vaccinate. The truth must be told: The Green Pass does not prevent contagion."