Israel tourism minister resigns citing lack of faith in Netanyahu's COVID-19 response

Amid mass protests calling for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s tourism minister has resigned on Friday, October 2. As per reports, Asaf Zamir said that he has no faith in the Israeli Prime Minister while resigning and also accused him of putting his personal and legal issues ahead of the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Netanyahu has been involved in multiple corruption allegations and frequently criticised for his administration's COVID-19 response with weekly protests calling for his resignation.

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COVID Crise 'second place' for Netanyahu: Asaf Zamir

As per reports, the former tourism minister tweeted, “I can no longer sit in a government in which I don’t have an ounce of trust in the person at its head, I have unfortunately determined that the coronavirus crisis and its terrible impact is at best in second place in the list of priorities of the prime minister. Personal and legal considerations are at the top of Netanyahu’s priorities”.

Israel went into a second nationwide lockdown amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and upcoming holidays that would have attracted large crowds. It has now become one of the worst affected countries in the world in terms of the caseload. The Israeli administration has been criticised for its back and forth responses to the pandemic.

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According to reports, Israel’s parliament has passed a law curtailing people’s rights to protest during the COVID-19 lockdown. Critics of the government have called it an attempt to silence dissent. Netanyahu has hit back at these claims touting that the restrictions are necessary in order to stop the spread of the virus.

As per the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, Israel has reported over 250,000 virus cases and has a death toll of more than 1,500. The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 34.7 million people worldwide with the global death toll crossing 1,000,000. The US has reported more than 7.3 million positive COVID-19 cases and a death toll of over 200,000.

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