China's Israel envoy compares virus travel bans to Holocaust

China's acting ambassor to Israel apologized on Sunday after comparing closure of several national borders to Chinese citizens amid fears of a new virus from China to turning away of Jewish refugees during Holocaust. Dai Yuming told reporters at an English-langu press conference in Tel Aviv that “errors to limit or even ban entries of Chinese citizens” reminded him of “ old days, old stories that happened in World War Two, Holocaust, darkest days in human history.”

“Millions of Jewish were killed, and many, many Jewish were refused when y tried to seek assistance from or countries. Only very, very few countries opened ir door, and among m is China,” Dai said.  Chinese Embassy in Israel later issued a statement saying “re was intention whatsoever to compare dark days of Holocaust with current situation and efforts taken by Israeli government to protect its citizens."

“We would like to apologize if someone understood our mess wrong way,” embassy said. Israel halted direct flights to China on Thursday, and Israel's Health Ministry has authorized border control nts to deny entry to n-Israelis who have visited China in past two weeks. Israeli citizens who returned from China have been instructed to remain quarantined at home for two weeks in order to prevent spre of new coronavirus, which has killed more than 300 people and sickened thousands of ors in China.

number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 14,550, according to China's National Health Commission and or countries. Most reported incidents are in China, but around 150 cases have been reported in two dozen countries around globe. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers on Sunday that country h “closed land crossings, seaports and airports to arrivals from China” for time being. He said he has instructed country's Health Ministry to develop a vaccine for fast-spreing virus.

“We are also updating Palestinian Authority on all preventive steps and public health measures that y must take into account here as well," he said.