JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel tasted a cappuccino and cake on the terrace of a coffee shop in Jerusalem on Sunday morning to mark the widest reopening of the country’s economy since the first coronavirus blockade began a year ago. .
For the first time in months, the restaurants were reopened, with restrictions on occupation and social distance and with internal seats available only to so-called Green Pass holders, that is, people over 16 who are fully vaccinated.
Israel has overtaken the rest of the world in vaccinations, with 55 percent of the population having received one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and more than 41 percent two doses. It is now an international laboratory for vaccine effectiveness and is becoming a test case for the practical, legal and ethical issues arising from a system of levels for vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Event halls are reopening for Green Pass holders and meetings of up to 1,500 people will be allowed in stadiums and arenas. And after weeks of severe restrictions on entry into the country that left thousands of Israeli citizens abroad, all citizens and permanent residents will be allowed to enter the country, but with a number limit that will increase over the week from 1,000 to 3,000. people a day.
“This is a great day,” said Netanyahu, as he had dinner in the spring sunshine alongside Jerusalem’s mayor, Moshe Leon. “We are coming back to life.”
The “Back to Life” program is central to Netanyahu’s election campaign, with another vote scheduled for March 23, Israel’s fourth in two years.
With new daily infections still in the thousands, health officials and experts warned against opening the airport to passengers from abroad who could carry contagious variants of the virus and against easing restrictions very quickly for political reasons. But the government is also under pressure from Israelis who want to return to the country to vote.