https://www.jpost.com/opinion/right-from-wrong-israels-no-exit-strategy-624890
Hebrew memes circulating on social media poked fun at the current form of warfare, which involves not charging at the enemy with tanks and rifles, but rather binging on Netflix and junk food.
The battle between the Israeli Health Ministry and Finance Ministry over the lifting of coronavirus-spurred lockdowns is heated. Early on in the crisis, when schools, malls and office buildings closed last month, government officials projected that life would resume some semblance of normalcy in the immediate aftermath of Passover.
It was a mid-April date on which parents pinned hopes and to which everyone looked forward. But to no avail. The kids are still home, stores remain shut and freedom of movement feels like a thing of the distant past.
To counter bouts of anxiety, loneliness and cabin fever – amid a rise in COVID-19 deaths and a drop in employment – we Israelis initially turned to humor. Hebrew memes circulating on social media poked fun at the current form of warfare, which involves not charging at the enemy with tanks and rifles, but rather binging on Netflix and junk food.
Growing fat is not the only reason that our patience has begun to wear thin, however.
ALONGSIDE A general societal willingness to adopt inconvenient habits to contain the ultra-contagious virus that strikes “grandmas and grandpas” with a vengeance, there is a gnawing sense that health authorities are going a bit too far in their doomsday scenarios.
Defending their demand for increasingly stringent measures to “flatten the coronavirus curve,” these authorities often appear oblivious to the ills of a demolished economy and mass demoralization.
The perilous side effects are already evident. Indeed, in a matter of weeks, more than a quarter of the workforce suddenly found itself with no income, business owners became poverty-stricken overnight, domestic violence spiked drastically and the ERAN organization hotline for emotional first aid has been ringing off the hook.
