Israel’s Health Ministry Chief to Step Down

The director-general of Israel’s Health Ministry has announced that he will step down shortly after the incoming government is formally sworn in on Thursday. Moshe Bar Siman Tov has been one of the most public Israeli figures during the coronavirus pandemic, having frequently appeared alongside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during nightly press conferences throughout the crisis. He is widely credited with convincing Israel’s political leadership to impose severe restrictions on freedom of movement and economic activity at the onset of the outbreak, although some have criticized his directives as draconian. “The facts speak for themselves,” Bar Siman Tov wrote in his resignation letter tendered to Netanyahu and outgoing Health Minister Yakov Litzman. “There was no excess mortality in Israel as a result of the coronavirus. Thousands of lives were saved as a result of the exemplary conduct of the Israeli public and the right policies that have been in place from the beginning,” he contended. Bar Siman Tov also noted that he would “stay the time required to appropriately pass on the baton.” The move comes just days after the Israeli cabinet voted to significantly ease coronavirus-related regulations against Bar Siman Tov’s recommendation. For weeks, health and finance officials have tussled over how to strike a balance between maintaining public safety and reopening an economy devastated by a two-month near-total nationwide lockdown. Israel’s response to the pandemic has largely been hailed as a successful model, with the country reporting just over 16,500 cases and 250 resulting deaths. The number of new daily diagnoses has been reduced to an average of about a few dozen per day. Bar Siman Tov was appointed in 2015, the first non-doctor to hold the post.