There are police in Jerusalem, but they do not stop to check • In Tel Aviv, restaurants use the "delivery to the nearest bench" method instead of take-away • In Tel Aviv, the economic situation is being addressed • Israel Today reporters went out to check the closure and its effects
Closure of my city:
In the capital Jerusalem, there was sparse traffic, in Tel Aviv businesses were fined, and in Be'er Sheva many remained in homes.
Israel Today poll: What does the closure look like across the country?
Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Jerusalem: Checkpoints without inspection
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoped, like all Israeli citizens, that the second closure would lead to a decrease in corona morbidity throughout the country.
If so, the question arises: is there an actual closure at all?
To check this, I took to the streets of Jerusalem yesterday and yesterday afternoon.
In those two days I went through the same stations.
I entered from the Hizma checkpoint in the north of the city and continued to the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood.
The next stop was the pedestrian zone - and from there to the Talpiot trade and shopping area.
Similar images were repeated on all sites.
Indeed, the traffic is thinner than ever.
Many shops are closed and the congestion on the roads is far from a routine.
However, traffic was - in my estimation 30% higher than usual.
On Wednesday it was also possible to detect more traffic than on Tuesday.
It is also important to note that I was not checked at any stage by the police.
On the roads there were indeed police checkpoints, but they let the traffic flow without any interruption.
No one asked the passengers where they were headed, or why they left their homes and if this was done according to the rules.
So it does not seem at all that this is a closure.
People travel and return, buy what they can, and sometimes, especially young people, roam the streets.
The situation can be described as a reduction in traffic, but in no way is it a disruption of traffic and business in the city.
Will we go down from 8,000 patients a day to 800 and even 80 this way?
Very big doubt.
Tel Aviv-Yafo: Adherence to guidelines - at a heavy price
The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, which is characterized by color 24 hours a day, wakes up in the days of closure later.
Only at 09:30 do the main places in the city start to fill up with people, who have just gone downstairs - in order to purchase the coffee.
The directive currently prohibits takeaway, and so some restaurant owners in the city found the "method" - "delivery to the nearest bench".
But this way, municipal inspectors do not accept of course.
While on tour yesterday morning we came across reports received by business owners in Dizengoff Square, who did not keep track of the number of people in their stores while selling them bread and giving "deliveries to the bench".
In contrast, there are those who adhere to the guidelines in the city - at a heavy economic cost.
Yaakov Michaeli, the owner of "Mike Fashion" in the Carmel market, is just one of them.
"I am 58 years old, from the age of 13 working in a store that belonged to my late father, and during the transition period between seasons, when the livelihood should be good, the store is closed," he says with pain.
Despite the closure, Michaeli comes to the closed shop every few days to check on her condition.
"I come to the place because I have to breathe the air here. I'm used to doing it for 45 years and have been waiting for the moment for the store to open and bring in customers back," he shares.
Bnei Brak: Celebration of "Happy Trucks"
Bnei Brak is sad.
The city, which before the holidays is full of life, bustling, crowded with streets and shops recording a year-round record in sales, has lowered its profile and mostly lost its joy of life.
On Rabbi Akiva Street, the main thoroughfare in the city, the non-essential shops have closed their doors.
The markets for the four species were abolished and most of the public remained at the door of its mothers.
The only place that is crowded is the long line to the corona testing complex.
There are surveillance vehicles and police around the city.
The municipality, which last year budgeted dozens of Beit Hashoeva celebrations, announced that they were canceled and would not be funded.
Instead, a distribution center of sheds, fans and other aids has been opened in the town hall plaza that can help set up prayer quorums outside the synagogues in the coming holidays.
The week of Sukkot, which was characterized by mutual hospitality on Sukkot, events and dances at the celebrations of Beit Hashoeva, will be accompanied this year by "Trucks of Joy."
At the initiative of the municipality, between 10 and 12 trucks will roam around the city, with musicians and singers dancing and delighting the occupants of the houses and the spectators at the windows.
"There is a very serious crisis of trust, it can not be ignored," says Rabbi Gedaliah Silman, a senior member of the municipality. "Nevertheless, the public is disciplined. We are making efforts to create trust.
He said, "There are still tough questions about why they waited with the quarantine for the holidays and did not do it in August when there were already 2,000 infected, how we close but in Balfour continue to demonstrate. And yet the public is very disciplined. Efforts to fight the plague. "
Be'er Sheva: The streets are empty, many turn to the market
In the city of Be'er Sheva, the closure is felt everywhere.
The streets are empty, the original shopping centers are closed, and those that are not - there is ample parking, which indicates that people prefer not to take a risk and stay at home.
Unlike the city streets, the entrances to Be'er Sheva are not really closed.
While there is a police checkpoint, the officers manning it appear to be busy on their phone or sitting inside the air-conditioned mobile.
There is no inspection of the outcasts and no enforcement of the isolated.
Since the city's five malls are closed, it is only natural that the large outlet on the outskirts of the city will be crowded with people.
but no.
A tour of the shops also reveals that most of them are empty, and some are even closed.
The big food chains in Be'er Sheva are open, and there is traffic, if we remember that it is Wednesday, shopping before Saturday.
The market in Be'er Sheva was a center of shopping, for Shabbat, in preparation for the holidays and between the holidays, and we still find a large movement of shoppers there.
"My husband is in the hospital," said Lydia, who was walking around the stalls in the market.
Once upon a time, in the good days before the Corona, I would not have dared to come and buy here, but these days new calculations need to be made about life and livelihood. "
Even the old town, which was once the center of shopping, entertainment, errands, is almost deserted from people, and when few shops are open, their owners look idle and read a newspaper.
Eilat: 42 businesses refused to close - and were fined
It seems that business owners in the city of Eilat refuse to recognize the closure imposed by the government and the result is 42 businesses in Eilat that remained open, contrary to the closure provisions.
Following this, the Eilat Regional Police demanded that they close their businesses.
Many of the businesses did not close despite the warnings they received and were fined NIS 5,000.
Those who did comply with the closure restrictions and put the keys on the table were 50 hotels in Eilat, 20 hostels, 46 attractions, 19 diving clubs, 6 shopping centers that have not been working for two weeks.
All workers, more than 20,000 workers were expelled or fired.
The unemployment rate in the city of Eilat now stands at more than 70 percent.
A tour of the promenade of the tourist city presents a bleak picture.
Hotels are closed and streets are deserted.
The citizens of Eilat are considered disciplined and since the beginning of the closure, few fines have been imposed for not wearing a mask.
Deputy Chief of Staff Kobi Moore, commander of the Eilat area, said that this is a national crisis that befell us and challenges us all in general and Eilat, which is the tourist city of the State of Israel in particular.
"This crisis requires all of us to change our behavior and adapt to the new situation, and we are working with increased forces and jointly with the Eilat Municipality, the Home Front Command, the rescue forces and the army," explains Lt. Gen. Moore.
He said, "Enforcement in the city is divided by regions, and I find that the residents and visitors to the city listen and behave according to the guidelines and whoever violates the guidelines is treated. The common responsibility of all is the way to defeat the virus."
Participating in the preparation of the article: Ariel Kahana, Daniel Roth-Avnery, Yehuda Schlesinger
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Gadi Golan
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Ronit Zilberstein