WarSclerotic

US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to congratulate him that he’ll be forming Israel’s next government, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The call came a day after Netanyahu closed in on a unity government with rival Benny Gantz.

“The president of the United States telephoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulated him that he will form and head the next government,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

“During the conversation, which was warm and friendly, the leaders discussed the various steps needed to deal with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic,” the statement said.

The White House said in a statement that Trump and Netanyahu “discussed the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic, and the president thanked the prime minister for his strong action to stop its spread.”

“The two leaders agreed to cooperate closely to combat the virus and minimize its global impact,” The White House statement said, without mentioning the premiership.

As things formally stand, it is Gantz who has been charged by President Reuven Rivlin with forming Israel’s next government, having been recommended as prime minister by 61 MKs. But the anticipated unity deal would see Netanyahu stay on as prime minister for the next 18 months, at which point he would hand over to Gantz, in a “rotation” deal that many observers believe will not play out.

Since the March 2 election, in which Netanyahu’s Likud party won the most seats but his right-wing bloc fell three seats shy of forming a majority coalition, only Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had phoned the premier to offer congratulations.

After elections in April 2019, which Netanyahu initially appeared to have won but ultimately proved unable to form a coalition, Trump called the Likud leader the next day from Air Force One with congratulations.

Gantz was handed the mandate to form a government on March 16, but appeared to have no clear path to forging a stable coalition. Both he and Netanyahu, who has run Israel for over a decade but is facing criminal charges, had publicly touted the need for a national emergency unity government in light of the coronavirus crisis, but neither had appeared to make any meaningful steps toward that goal before a Wednesday night phone call between the two.

Gantz was elected Knesset speaker Thursday evening as part of the emerging unity deal.

Benny Gantz (R) at the Knesset on March 26, 2020, after being elected Knesset speaker. (Knesset)

According to the reported pact taking shape, Gantz is set to partner with Netanyahu in a unity coalition, serving initially as foreign or defense minister and then taking over as prime minister in September or October 2021.

Furious at Gantz’s move, and accusing him of stealing the votes of their supporters and handing them to Netanyahu, the Yesh Atid and Telem factions filed a formal request to break away from Gantz late on Thursday afternoon, leaving only Gantz’s Israel Resilience faction to join forces with Netanyahu’s Likud. Lapid had reportedly told Gantz he preferred that Israel go to fourth elections than see Blue and White partner with Netanyahu.

Gantz and his Blue and White colleagues had vowed through election campaigns in the past year not to sit in a government with Netanyahu so long as he is facing criminal charges. But Gantz said Thursday and Friday that the pandemic and the electoral deadlock necessitated atypical behavior to drag Israel out of crisis. (The prime minister’s trial was supposed to begin on March 17 but has been postponed to May amid the coronavirus-related emergency restrictions that have shut down most Israeli court activity.)

Gantz is expected to resign the speakership after a unity government is formed, to be replaced by a Likud MK, potentially even the previous Knesset speaker, Yuli Edelstein, who refused to carry out a Supreme Court order to hold a vote on who would succeed him, and resigned.

Four more Israelis have died of the coronavirus, bringing the country’s death toll to 12, as the number of infections nationwide climbed to 3,035.

The Soroka Medical Center on Friday morning said 93-year-old Avraham Aroshas was brought to the hospital from the nursing home where he lived. He had a fever and shortness of breath and had “complicated and difficult underlying illnesses,” the Beersheba-based hospital said. He tested positive for the virus and hours later succumbed to the illness, according to the statement.

A 76-year-old woman with preexisting health conditions also died of the virus, the Sharon Hospital in Petah Tikva announced Friday morning.

She was identified as Dalia Edelsborg from the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. She recently returned from a trip to Egypt and appeared to have contracted the virus there, the Ynet news site reported.

Shaul Fari, 73, who died of the coronavirus on March 27, 20202 (Courtesy)

Hours later, a 73-year-old man was pronounced dead as a result of the virus at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. He was identified as Shaul Farhi. He reportedly caught the virus on a trip to Tenerife in Spain.

On Friday afternoon, the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon said that an 80-year-old man had died. He had been in a serious condition for several days.

The number of Israelis diagnosed with the coronavirus has risen to 3,035, the Health Ministry said Friday morning. Of them, 49 are in serious condition and 60 are in moderate condition.

Some 45 Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus, while 4,156 are in quarantine, the IDF said on Thursday.

Of the 12 fatalities in the country, three died on Thursday.

One of the three was an 89-year-old woman being treated at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem.

“This is a patient with preexisting conditions who a week ago already was categorized as being in critical condition and was treated with devotion during her entire hospitalization by the department staff, who did everything possible to ease her suffering,” the hospital said in a statement.

Another was an 83-year-old man from Bnei Brak who had preexisting conditions. Wolfson Medical Center in Holon said earlier that the third victim was a 91-year-old woman.

Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, the director-general of the Health Ministry, told the Knesset’s coronavirus committee on Thursday that he believes that in a week from now Israel will have 200 people in serious condition from COVID-19.

Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov is seen at a coronavirus drive-through testing site in Tel Aviv on March 20, 2020. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

The next two weeks will be “critical,” Bar Siman-Tov said Thursday, warning there is high potential for further spread of the virus. “We’re really scared of Passover and Ramadan,” he said. “These crowds are the most dangerous.”

Israel has been placed under lockdown to stem the virus, with Israelis permitted to leave their homes only for essential reasons, such as buying food and medicine or seeking medical care.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel rose by 425 Saturday morning, for a total of 3,460 diagnosed patients, the Health Ministry announced. Fifty were in serious condition, 73 were in moderate condition and 89 had recovered. The rest were experiencing mild symptoms.

Twelve people have died of the pathogen.

The ministry said a majority of patients, 1,828, were isolating in their homes under monitoring, with 1,062 staying at various care centers including specially converted hotels. Only 469 were currently hospitalized.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Friday that the country could enter into a complete shutdown if there is not an improvement in the number of confirmed virus cases in the next two days.

Netanyahu held a series of discussions with top ministers regarding additional steps the country can take to manage the ongoing crisis, “including preparations for a closure,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

He said that authorities would bring the additional movement restrictions before the cabinet in 48 hours.

The Sharon Hospital in Petah Tikva, which has been converted into the country’s first facility exclusively used to treat coronavirus patients (screenshot: YouTube)

Hebrew-language media reported serious disagreements between Netanyahu and other ministers over the need to shut down the economy amid Health Ministry fears that the upcoming Passover holiday will lead to an explosion of infections as people try and shop for the festive meal or spend time with relatives.

During the discussions Netanyahu requested the Finance Ministry give him answers by Saturday night on the possibility of reducing economic activity in Israel to just 10%, down from the current 30%, Channel 13 reported, saying that Netanyahu wants to enforce the harsh restrictions in the next three weeks until the end of the Passover holiday.

“From an economic perspective it will be OK. We can revive the economy with artificial respiration. That won’t be the problem,” Chanel 13 quoted Netanyahu as saying in leaked remarks from the meeting.

“The problem will be if we can’t stem the pandemic and we have thousands of seriously ill people in the next few weeks,” Netanyahu said.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who will likely be leaving his post in the next few weeks if a unity government is formed, warned further lockdown steps would lead Israel to an “economic catastrophe.”

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett also reportedly expressed opposition to a full closure, while Interior Minister Aryeh Deri called for only those over 65 to be put under lockdown. “Don’t let them out of the house, let their children take care of them and in the meantime we can return the economy to life.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on March 26, 2020. (Knesset)

The Finance Ministry will formulate a plan to further scale back the workforce, the Prime Minister’s Office added.

On Saturday night, Netanyahu will hold a meeting with Finance Ministry officials in order to produce a “comprehensive plan” to provide further “assistance to the economy,” his office said.

However, ministry officials said they were looking to present Netanyahu with alternatives. Israel Radio reported that officials were hoping to only reduce economic activity to 25%.

Since Wednesday at 5 p.m., Israelis have been ordered to remain in their homes unless they are taking part in a small number of specially designated approved activities, including purchasing food and medicine or a short walk of no more than 100 meters (328 feet) from one’s home. Those found violating those regulations are subject to large fines of upwards of NIS 500 ($140) and even imprisonment.

A general view of closed stores on Jaffa street in downtown Jerusalem on March 26, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Some 500 soldiers will be deployed across the country beginning Sunday to assist police in enforcing the government’s latest restrictions on movement to stem the coronavirus pandemic, the IDF announced Friday.

Four more Israelis died of the coronavirus on Friday, bringing the country’s death toll to 12.

The Prime Minister’s Office also released a list of “emergency regulations” that cabinet ministers had approved for employment in a telephone vote on Friday.

These included allowing civil service volunteers to be placed in government offices that are not typically allowed to employ such volunteers, shortening from six months the amount of time one must wait to receive unemployment benefits and providing additional financial services to Israelis above the age of 67 who were forced to stop working because of the outbreak. In addition extensions will be given for Israelis to pay their taxes.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.