Israel’s Handling of Coronavirus Crisis ‘Saved Many Lives,’ UN Envoy Says
by Algemeiner Staff
A screenshot from a Zoom webinar on the coronavirus pandemic held by Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and Israeli Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, April 20, 2020. Photo: Israeli UN Mission.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and the director-general of the Israeli Health Ministry, Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, hosted a webinar on Monday with international diplomats on how the Jewish state has handled the coronavirus pandemic.
Held on Zoom due to coronavirus restrictions, Danon and Siman-Tov used the meeting to outline the steps Israel has taken to contain the virus and how Israeli methods can be applied in other countries.
“In response to the coronavirus’ outbreak, Israel took drastic action to limit the virus’ spread in our country,” Danon said, according to a press release from Israel’s UN Mission.
“We took measures that many of our peers thought were too extreme or unnecessary,” he noted. “However, many experts have since acknowledged that Israel’s decisions saved many lives.”
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The conference was also broadcast on YouTube and Facebook, and included an extensive question-and-answer section.
In response to a question from Nigerian UN Ambassador Samson Itegboje on Israel’s policies to contain the disease, Siman-Tov said, “We hope people change their behavior in the public arena enough; we also tell people to go with face masks as well in order to minimize the level of infection of the virus.”
“Regarding help to other countries: we do try help our neighbors, but it’s below the radar,” he added.
Also on Monday, Danon slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its repeated claims that Israel was thwarting its efforts to fight the coronavirus.
“As Israel remains open and able to help the Palestinians living under PA rule to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the PA only remains interested in continuing its diplomatic warfare against Israel,” Danon stated. “The Palestinian leadership will have to choose between slandering or receive support from Israel. It cannot have both. It’s rhetoric against Israel, the IDF and the Jewish people is inciting, baseless and threatens to undo any progress we’ve made in combating the virus.”
