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The beating heart: This is how the Corona Crisis Headquarters in Israel works Israel today

2020-07-17T13:54:49.015Z


| In the countryFor a long time now, the National Security Headquarters has been analyzing the epidemic's data every day. While the opposition and also within the government are criticizing the manner in which the campaign against the Corona is being conducted, it seems that the head of the National Security Staff, Meir Ben Shabbat, has taken on the role of director, projector or commander of the war in the Coro...


For a long time now, the National Security Headquarters has been analyzing the epidemic's data every day.

While the opposition and also within the government are criticizing the manner in which the campaign against the Corona is being conducted, it seems that the head of the National Security Staff, Meir Ben Shabbat, has taken on the role of director, projector or commander of the war in the Corona. Ben Shabbat runs the activity quietly and behind the scenes, but there seems to be policy, there are goals, there are status assessments, guidelines, control, control and most of all a lot of thinking. 

Edelstein: "A reality in which a public struggle begins with every restriction will lead us to a complete closure" // Photo: Yoni Rickner

The campaign to manage the corona opens every morning with an update and analysis of Ben Shabbat's data with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and thus ends each working day of the two. In the middle, they hold, sometimes alone and sometimes with other parties, a lot of update talks and analysis of the situation. Based on the data, which we will reach shortly, decisions are made and policy measures are formulated.

After the morning conversation with Netanyahu, and sometimes before it, a situation is being cut in the "Corona Cabinet." This is not a ministerial committee by that name, but a broad WhatsApp group of 172 people, including government ministers, directors of government ministries, senior officials and senior officers managing the actual crisis, and more. 

In this group, at 8:30 a.m., all government ministries and various bodies are updated on data and performance related to the crisis in the areas under their responsibility. In the WhatsApp group, the WhatsApp group provides guidelines for implementation to each ministry and each body, in accordance with government decisions and policies it has adopted. Updates and flooding of data in the Corona Cabinet continue throughout the day, and in fact can be said to be the beating heart of actual crisis management. We know what the emphases are and what needs to be done, "says a senior source in the National Security Council. 

Hourly condition assessments

Another "senior situation assessment" is held every evening in a small group, which includes members of the Home Front Command, the head of the IDF Operations Division, the assistant defense minister, a military secretary and other senior members of the defense establishment. To the government. The advisory forum is chaired by Ben Shabbat himself and members of the Governor of the Bank of Israel and the directors of the Ministries of Finance, Health and the Prime Minister.

The alert was not received

All of these groups are flooding their information and recommendations to the Prime Minister and the government, who have the authority and responsibility to carry out and determine the policy of the struggle in Corona. If you will, you can say that this is where the rush begins. While the National Security Council recommends tough immediate measures, the government is still procrastinating. Ben Shabbat himself feared that this would be the case. 

On May 27, with the low morbidity figures for May in the background and the government reopening the economy at a dizzying pace, Ben Shabbat told the Corona Cabinet: "There are weighty risks. The public's awareness and willingness to give up day-to-day habits is declining. "Infringement of privacy. The risk of infection is great because everything is open. The reaction (to opening up the economy) can be dangerous." 

Now the fears have come true. The number of difficult patients, which today stands at 205, doubles every week. A miracle must happen so that in two weeks we will not find ourselves in a difficult situation with more than 800 people. 

And these are the recommendations: a ban on gathering over 10 people anywhere and in any situation, without any exceptions. Closure of all educational institutions, all houses of worship and all dining rooms without exception. Reducing public transportation and receiving the public in government institutions and more. It is not at all certain that these measures will suffice. In fact, all chances are that in a week or less a full closure will be imposed again, this time lasting a few weeks. 

On the fast-opening side of the economy, the government lost the ability to activate GSS placements and use emergency orders. If 48 hours elapsed in the transitional government from the time an order was issued until it was implemented, at least a week elapsed between decisions and executions. And respond quickly when the extent of the jump in morbidity became clear. 

Even increasing the epidemiological array would no longer help at this point. No projector or performer would have succeeded under these conditions in preventing the second wave. Under the conditions created, the numbers were simply too large to be taken over.

"Previous human life"

At the same time, the head of the National Security Council often talks to counterparts abroad, in order to learn from them. The Corona Crisis is indeed a huge global event, far more difficult than anything he has experienced in all his 33 years in the GSS, including in the second intifada. For him it is a war that affects all areas of our lives. The citizens. 

Yes, he knows all the opinions about Corona, and one could argue "there are 'only' 400 deceased so why the hysteria '. But in his view, the question is whether to gamble on the lives of hundreds of other people and the collapse of hospitals and in his eyes the answer is clear: previous human lives.

Source: israelhayom

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