Our Health Minister is a Religious Fanatic and a Danger to Israel

Let me explain one of the things that is wrong with our system of government in Israel. If you are fortunate enough to become Prime Minister, you must build your cabinet NOT WITH EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELD, but with the other leaders of parties in your coalition—people that you may have spent the last year ripping apart. Take for instance, our current Defense Minister, whom I like: Naftali Bennett. By all accounts he and Bibi do not like each other after years of betrayals. Yet, he is the second most powerful man in the cabinet. 

In addition, often these leaders have no experience in the area they are responsible for. Years ago Amir Peretz, a life-long socialist union leader, became defense minister. It made no sense, except his party was in second place.

Meet Rabbi Yaakov Litzman

So, pictured above is our health minister Yaakov Litzman (not exactly the picture of health himself), a religious fanatic and leader of the United Torah Judaism faction. Despite the fact that a staggering “Twenty-nine percent of those who contracted the virus inside Israel and outside their own homes were infected in a synagogue or a yeshiva,” (Times of Israel) he is still fighting for synagogue gatherings. He fought against the ban and instead he is praying for the Messiah to come.

“We are praying and hoping that the Messiah will arrive before Passover, the time of our redemption. I am sure that the Messiah will come and bring us out as [God] brought us out of Egypt. Soon we will go out in freedom and the Messiah will come and redeem us from all the troubles of the world.”

Now, I am all for Messianic intervention, particularly as one who knows the identity of the Messiah, but he is the only leader of a Health Ministry in any nation that I know that is NOT urging social distancing. Instead, he is reckless with the health of the people who elected him. Can you imagine Dr. Fauci or Dr. Birx telling President Trump to open the churches. On a daily basis he consults his spiritual mentor, Rabbi Rabbi Simcha Alter, for advice—who clearly is not concerned about the all of Israel, but adherents of their Ger Jewish sect.

In some orthodox circles the virus was blamed on married Orthodox Jewish women (who often shave their heads and wear wigs, so they don’t have to wear a hat) who are using wigs with hair of non-Jewish women. (The Ultra Orthodox or about six percent of our nation and do not represent most Israelis.)

Protecting a Pedophile

He became Health Minister in December when Netanyahu had to relinquish the portfolio following his indictment. However, Litzman himself had been recommended for inducement by Israeli police in two separate cases. In one, he was protecting a woman accused of multiple sexual abuses against young Jewish girls.

Litzman is accused of obstructing the extradition of Malka Leifer, the accused in the Adass Israel School sex abuse scandal. According to Israeli media, he attempted to obtain false psychiatric evaluations that would deem Leifer unfit to face trial in Australia. Israeli police recommended on 6 August 2019 that Litzman be indicted for “fraud and breach of trust” (both related to the Leifer case), as well as bribery in another case. —Wikipedia

Leifer has 74 charges of abuse against her, and Litzman has opposed her standing trial in Australia. This is how religious cults work—they feel that “God” would have them deal with these issues in house, rather than through the secular police.

All that aside, Israel is facing a crisis that has done more damage than 70 years of terror. Arafat and Hamas never stopped airplanes from landing in Israel, but the Coronavirus has left Ben Gurion Airport a ghost-town. Our economy could collapse. Tourism companies are losing millions. We need real leadership in the Health Ministry, not a fanatical rabbi whose best hope is the Messiah coming for Passover.