Posted on 07/25/21
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, this evening (Sunday, 25 July 2021), convened a discussion on preparations by the education system for the opening of the school year. Attending the discussion were the Education Minister, the Health Minister, the Finance Minister, the Director General of the Finance Ministry, the Director General of the Health Ministry, the Deputy Attorney General, the head of the Health Ministry Public Health Service, the Chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities, Prof. Eran Segal, Prof. Ran Balicer, Prof. Ronit Calderon and other professional officials.
Education Minister Dr. Yifat Shasha-Biton presented the plan for the opening of the school year (see press release from earlier today – "Education Ministry: The upcoming school year 2021/2022 will open as normal").
Following are Prime Minister Bennett's remarks at the start of the meeting:
"We are here in order to hear about the plans of the Education Ministry and the Health Ministry on how we are going to open the school year in an orderly manner. Our goal, as you all know, is not to harm the economy, education or daily routines.
I will say that in order to reach this, and I think that this is now crying out around the world, it is clear that we need to vaccinate as much of the Israeli public as possible. I see what they are doing in the US, France and Britain to provide incentives for vaccinations. In the end, we also know that we need a critical mass in order to block the pandemic; then we must provide incentives for everyone.
I also want to hear from the experts, and from the Chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities, and from the ministers. We will hear the remarks and we will make decisions."