Israeli convoy to embark on February 14th
Israel, one of the most highly vaccinated and highly COVID-19-infected countries, is seeing its own “freedom convoy” about to embark, inspired by its Canadian counterpart.
The Canadian 2022 Freedom Convoy sparked mass protests against COVID mandates in Canada, protests which are entering their fifth straight day. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fled the city to an undisclosed location and the convoy has faced down the police force. The vehicles refuse to leave until all mandates are repealed.
The convoy has gained international attention and support.
Since then, Europe, the U.S. and Australia have all launched their own convoys in the hopes of forcing their governments to rescind vaccine and mask mandates. It remains to be seen what success, if any, will result.
Now, Israelis are planning to launch a convoy of their own to protest their government’s mandates, including its vaccine passports.
Israel Convoy for Freedom 2022 has amassed 33,000 followers on Facebook and 8,000 on Telegram.
The convoy’s organizers demand an end to the “emergency status” that the government has been using to grant itself the power to restrict basic freedoms, as well as mask mandates.
The convoy published an itemized list of demands:
- Children – return the children to their normal, daily lives; no more closing schools, no more mask requirement, no more isolation or [government] medical intervention on school properties.
- Businesses – complete opening of all businesses with no restrictions, and a prohibition against punishing any employee over a medical matter.
- Human dignity and freedom – those who are vaccinated and those who are not are citizens with equal rights and united as one nation. We demand the immediate cessation of the exclusion, incitement and invasion of people’s private medical information.
Israel was the first country to inoculate its population and continues to impose booster shots, the fourth of which is currently being rolled out. The Israeli Health Ministry is working on vaccinating babies age 0-3.
Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz was caught on hot mic last year saying that the vaccine passports are not about health, but rather a strictly punitive measure to force vaccinations.
Israel has recently “eased up” on its vaccine mandate so that the unvaccinated are only banned from “high risk” events and venues, as opposed to also cinemas, restaurants and even daycares.
But many believe that the government is just recoiling for another pounce, as it has done for each variant.
This, coupled with Israel’s infamous record of police brutality, means the Israel Convoy for Freedom 2022 will need all the support it can get.
