One of the country’s largest commercial real estate firms has demanded that the government cancel its planned rollout of new public health restrictions which will require Israelis to present proof of vaccination before entering malls and other entertainment venues.
In a letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the Azrieli Group –which operates dozens of malls and office buildings– deemed the new rule, which is slated to go into effect this Friday, “an unconstitutional, discriminatory, unjustified act” which cannot be expected to succeed in “preventing the spread of the disease among the population or encouraging immunization.”
“Bottom line, the proposed outline will keep customers away from the malls and cause fatal damage to mall owners and business owners (mostly small and medium-sized businesses), without any benefit in terms of fighting the spread of the coronavirus and rising morbidity,” the group said, threatening to take the government to court unless it reverses its decision.
Bennett and Horowitz announced on Tuesday that proof of vaccination will be required to enter malls and other entertainment venues from Friday, after 22 new cases of omicron were identified in Israel on Tuesday.
At the sites, bracelets will be handed out to vaccinated people to move freely within the complex.
The new restrictions, which are pending government approval, will allow people to enter without Green Passes only if they are seeking essential services. The list of what constitutes an essential service is currently being formulated by health officials and the Attorney General.
The Health Ministry will also provide a temporary Green Pass to children and adults who have only received a single dose of the vaccine, lasting for 30 days from the first dose.
COVID in Israel: Vaccine proof requirement for malls to begin Friday
Once a world leader, Israel lags behind on COVID vaccinations
Two weeks after omicron came into our lives, what do experts know about it?
The Health Ministry did not respond to Haaretz’s request for more details regarding the restrictions, especially regarding how they will be implemented by the venues and how unvaccinated individuals looking to purchase food or pharmaceuticals can be prevented from entering malls.
As of Tuesday, there are 89 confirmed cases of the omicron variant in Israel. Out of those, 21 individuals were unvaccinated. Officials are also examining another 150 potential omicron cases.
Despite a strong start to its national inoculation campaign, which saw Israel hailed globally as a COVID success story, the country has fallen behind when it comes to childhood vaccination, and many previously vaccinated adults are now unprotected against the virus after declining to receive booster shots.
A significantly lower proportion of children under the age of 12 have been vaccinated in Israel than in other countries which have rolled out pediatric vaccines, with the country lagging behind the United States, Canada and China.
According to the Health Ministry, as of Saturday just over 58 percent of eligible Israelis over the age of five are fully vaccinated, meaning that they have received three doses or are within a six-month window following their second dose. A further 9.3 percent are double-vaccinated but have allowed more than six months to pass without getting a booster shot, while 32.4 percent are unvaccinated.
This means that more than 40 percent of Israelis have a low level of protection against the omicron variant of COVID, putting a significant portion of the population at risk of contracting the virus, Prof. Ran Balicer, the head of an expert panel advising the Health Ministry, told Army Radio on Sunday.
Since Israel authorized the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds three weeks ago, just 110,000 have received the jab out of a possible 1.2 million.
Speaking with Haaretz late last month, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, Israel’s top public health expert, called unvaccinated and partially vaccinated individuals, including children, the primary vector for the spread of the virus, stating that low childhood vaccination rates could contribute to the virus’ spread.
The approximately 1 million Israelis who have received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine but have declined to get a booster shot “feel protected but they are not,” she said.
This group of “booster refusers” represents 15 percent of all Israelis aged 12 and over who have been vaccinated and is separate from the 670,000 Israelis who decided to avoid vaccines altogether.
