The government failed to deal with the second wave, but ministers are not the only ones responsible • Corona deniers took advantage of public fatigue and lack of leadership of politicians - leading to the second closure • The media, some of whom dwarfed the danger and gave a stage to charlatans, must make a mental calculation • Interpretation
Yesterday, after it was already known that Israel was about to close due to an accelerated global scale outbreak of the Corona plague, I went shopping at one of the largest supermarkets in Jaffa, and to my surprise many shoppers walked around the store without a mask (some had their necks covered, some only covered their mouths). , And some were without any mask) and some of the workers did not wear a mask at all.
The disguise of the masked mask was so sweeping and massed that there was no point in commenting to anyone but hoping, perhaps, that municipal or police inspectors would come.
But the Jaffa supermarket represents a much more widespread phenomenon in Israel of mass contempt, dangerous and shameful in corona restrictions including in some hotels, restaurants, and in mass weddings and events (in all sectors) where there is unloading and blatant violation of the guidelines - all with the participation of senior politicians and politicians. Government ministers, mayors, senior rabbis, well-known singers and well-known celebrities who greatly influence public opinion.
The mass violation of the provisions of the Corona Restrictions Act (especially in relation to limiting the number of participants in events, wearing masks and maintaining physical distance) is one of the reasons, even if not the only one, for the dramatic increase in morbidity.
Also because of the irresponsible unloading of our Israelis, we will all be forced to enter a difficult closure during the holidays, and even after that the struggle will continue.
The mass and so dangerous violation of corona restrictions has many causes, including a disgraceful omission of too little enforcement by local authorities and the police, poor publicity by the Ministry of Health and a public and abusive violation of instructions by celebrities and top officials.
However, one of the reasons for this is also the cumulative impact on the public of the "cult of the Corona deniers" to which a handful of doctors belong, some of which surprisingly also include doctors and senior executives, academics and scientists and politicians.
These corona deniers repeat with different intensities the messages that "the corona is just the flu", that "there was no first wave of corona at all", "closure does not prevent the spread of the plague", that "the danger in corona is deliberately exacerbated by health ministry officials "M" and that in fact almost nothing should be done to prevent it from spreading. Some did not even hesitate to say the angular, scandalous and extremely immoral statements that the decree should be accepted that thousands of elderly patients should die from corona, and that the policy in Sweden should be applied in the corona wave. The first in which without closure about 6,000 people died.
The fault of the media
But we in the media are also to blame for the destructive influence of the Corona deniers cult on Israelis, because some, especially those who boast professorships and current and past departmental degrees in large hospitals, have a sustained and influential presence in TV studios and other media channels, some becoming stars and broadcasting messages. .
It is not intended that opposing views should not be presented to the Ministry of Health, but that the media must be responsible when presenting such positions, and it must always bring them before scientists and medical professionals who can contradict the lies and swallows of Corona deniers.
In many cases, even in the most prestigious and watched programs on television, this has not happened, and contrary to the public duty of the media, corona deniers are given a free stage without any response or response.
There are also cases where the media should consider whether to give a coronation to Corona deniers at all.
The cumulative impact of the Corona deniers sect is destructive and dangerous to the lives of Israelis and accelerates the spread of the plague in Israel, but until now the heads of the Ministry of Health stutter in front of them and the Ministry of Health has not implemented a significant propaganda and media program to reduce their impact. , Did not show any courageous propaganda action in front of them - and in fact some of them come from the Ichilov Municipal-Government Hospital in Tel Aviv, which he himself runs.