Israel Health Ministry drama as senior official quits mid-crisis

Sadetzki’s resignation was over her disagreement with the government’s handling of the crisis.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

In a sudden move, Prof. Siegal Sadetzki, head of public health services at the Ministry of Health, said she was resigning on Tuesday.

Sadetzki made it clear in a Facebook post that her reason for leaving was due to her disapproval about the way the government had failed to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The achievements in coping with the first wave were canceled out with the wide and rapid opening of the economy,” she said, noting, “The transition to the second wave in Israel was much more extensive and faster compared to other Western countries.”

“In the last few weeks, Israel has been heading in a dangerous direction. The current data and the map of infections and forecasts for the immediate future are more reliable than a thousand witnesses,” she wrote.

“I wish my warnings in recent weeks in various forums had been superfluous and that my assessments of the corona sickness would have been shown to be incorrect,” she wrote.

Sadetzki said that “with the number of sick people increasing, we need to fix this, and fast.”

Sadetzki, together with Health Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, who has also left his position, became familiar faces to Israelis during the pandemic, often appearing on television to talk about the virus.

From her social media post, Sadetzki made it clear she feels she has been sidelined, writing, “Despite systematic and regular warnings in the various systems, and discussions in various forums, we watch with frustration the hourglass of opportunity running out.

“Against this backdrop, I have come to the conclusion that in the newly created conditions in which my professional opinion is not accepted, I can no longer help effectively to curb the spread of the virus.”

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