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| Yaakov Litzman, Israeli Health Minister "I am sure that the messiah will come by Passover and save us..." |
It's sometime tempting to believe in the wackadoodle notion of Karma!
The ultra-orthodox Israeli Health Minister, Yaakov Litzman, who reportedly claimed God would protect Israel from Covid-19, and who flouted his own Health Department's advice on social distancing, announced earlier this month that he and his unfortunate wife Chava, had both tested positive for the virus. Thankfully, according to this report in The Times of Israel, they have both since made full recoveries.
In March, 2020, Litzman revealed his plan for coping with the virus with:
I am sure that the messiah will come by Passover and save us the same way God saved us during the exodus and we were freed. The messiah will come and save us all.
Litzman has a reputation for vicious homophobia. In a debate in the Knesset, to extend the rights of LGBTQ Israelis in February 2016, Litzman compared gay people with "The 'sinners' who danced around the golden calf. Biblical scholars will recall the punishment God allegedly instructed Moses to carry out.
As well as being Heath Minister in Netanyahu's coalition government, Litzman is also leader of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party with close links to the ultra-orthodox Gur Hasidic dynasty. This 'party' is in reality a coalition of ultra-orthodox Jewish leaders who collectively put up a list of candidates in Israel's version of proportional representation that effectively guarantees a seat to the leader of any extremist faction. He was reported by witnesses to have attended a prayer meeting at the home of a sect member the day before testing positive and in contravention of the Health Ministry's recommendation not to attend prayer meetings.
Three days after the guidelines were strengthened to ban prayer meetings altogether, The Times of Israel reported:
On Monday, after the guidelines had further intensified, barring any group prayer services from being held, whether inside or outdoors, Litzman was again allegedly spotted praying at a synagogue just outside of his home.
As a result of Litzman's exceptionally lenient attitude to prayer meetings amongst the ultra-orthodox Jewish communities, The Times of Israel is reporting hotspots of Covid-19 infection in the orthodox city of Bnei Brak which reported an increase of 159 cases in one 24 hour period bringing the total to 730.
Litzman is no stranger to controversy. According to the Times of Israel:
Litzman has already come under fire over the past year over allegations that he illicitly pressured officials in his office to change their psychiatric reports in order to deem alleged serial pedophile Malka Leifer unfit for extradition to Australia. Leifer has ties to Litzman’s Gur sect of Hasidim. Last July, police recommended that the minister be indicted in the Leifer case. He denies wrongdoing.
Because of Litzman's flouting of his own rules, Netanyahu's entire government were forced to go into isolation and conduct business by video. There are now growing demands for his sacking, however, Netanyahu's fragile coalition would probably collapse if he lost the support of the lunatic fringe ultra-religious parties like Lizman's United Torah Judaism party.
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