Power struggle over coronavirus highlights inconsistent gov't policy

The first major eruption came last week over the government’s proposed closure of swimming pools and gyms, as part of its response to the rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases.

By JEREMY SHARON
Defense Minister Benny Gantz talks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi walks by at a cabinet meeting on June 7 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Defense Minister Benny Gantz talks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi walks by at a cabinet meeting on June 7
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
An unseemly power struggle has broken out between the government and the Knesset Coronavirus Committee, generating confusion and anger among the public and worsening the country’s flailing efforts to halt the surge in COVID-19 infections.
This dispute has come to a head over the last two weeks, as the government has sought to rapidly advance its policies and take determined action. But it faced resolute efforts by the committee to scrutinize these decisions.
Committee chairwoman Yifat Shasha-Biton (Likud) has led this stance in the face of dire threats made against her from her own party, including from the prime minister, and this clash has thrown into sharp relief the inconsistencies in government policy.
The first major eruption came last week over the government’s proposed closure of swimming pools and gyms, as part of its response to rapidly increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Shasha-Biton demanded that her committee, charged with providing oversight over the government’s decisions, be provided with data about the number of infections occurring in such establishments, fearing to unnecessarily damage the economy and people’s livelihoods through such measures.
Although the government backtracked on swimming pools at the last moment, the committee nevertheless voted down its proposal to close gyms and pools, with Shasha-Biton arguing that experts told the committee there was little risk of infection in either gyms or pools.
Indeed, numbers subsequently published demonstrated that infections in swimming pools amount to a fraction of a percent of known coronavirus infections.
But Coalition Chairman Miki Zohar (Likud), a political enforcer for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, angrily told Shasha-Biton she was finished in the Likud Party and said she would be removed as chairwoman of the committee.
The threat was not carried out, following an outcry against such heavy-handed tactics. In an interview Saturday night, Shasha-Biton indicated she would not be cowed into falling into automatic lockstep with the government, despite the menacing comments against her political career.
Netanyahu, through a spokesman, then said he would fire Shasha-Biton for insubordination.
The threat was not implemented, due to further criticism of the prime minister’s strong-arm tactics. But a new situation arose on Monday, when Shasha-Biton insisted that the government orders issued last Friday to close down all restaurants, apart for takeout and delivery, were too economically damaging and should be moderated.
Shasha-Biton held discussions with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein to find a solution. But they failed to come to an agreement, with the result that the committee voted down the government measures on Tuesday, and restaurants reopened without restrictions.
During the committee hearing Tuesday morning, Zohar again criticized its decision and issued threats regarding its oversight prerogative, saying its authorities would be transferred to a different committee through legislation currently being advanced in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
But opposition has emerged there to the government’s apparent insistence on neutering the Knesset’s ability to provide oversight to its decisions and check executive power, with Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar, a rival of Netanyahu, on Tuesday denouncing those very efforts to bypass the coronavirus committee.
He objected in particular to the current system in which the Knesset can only stop a government policy retroactively without its prior input, arguing that this format has generated bad policy and several reversals that confuse and anger the public.
This series of events highlighted the government’s neuralgia to oversight and criticism at a time when the COVID-19 epidemic is getting immeasurably worse and after the prime minister admitted that mistakes had been made in reopening the country too quickly.
Shasha-Biton is adamant that it is the Knesset’s right to oversee government authority and does not appear to be backing down. It is, however, possible that she will ultimately be sidelined because the government is so loath to brook dissent over the public health crisis the country now finds itself in.