Coronavirus: Israeli Minister Resigns Over Plans For Second Lockdown

An Israeli cabinet minister has resigned in protest against plans to impose a second national lockdown.

Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman said the restrictions would prevent Jewish people from celebrating religious festivals later this month.

The lockdown is due to come into force on Friday, the Jewish new year, and affect Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, on 27 September.

Mr Litzman also threatened to pull his party out of the governing coalition.

The measures will be the most extensive imposed in Israel since the country’s first lockdown, which ran from late March until early May.Mr Litzman, who leads an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party, said in his resignation letter:

“This wrongs and scorns hundreds of thousands of citizens.”Where were you until now? Why have Jewish holidays become a convenient address for tackling the coronavirus?” he queried.