Majority of Israelis agree to harshly restrict lives of unvaccinated

Support for the idea among Israelis grew with levels of education, income and age.

By World Israel News Staff

Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s striking statement that he would support making the lives of people not vaccinated against COVID-19 uncomfortable, it was found that the majority of Israelis feel the same.

Some 61% of Israelis said they believe harsh restrictions should be imposed on the unvaccinated, according to a poll conducted by Panels Politics’ Menachem Lazar and presented by 103FM’s Golan Yochpaz and Anat Davidov on Sunday.

“The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we’re going to continue doing so until the end. That’s the strategy,” Macron told Le Parisien last week. The statement caused major international backlash.

Support for the idea among Israelis grew with levels of education, income and age. Some 70% of respondents aged 60 and above support the restrictions, compared to 42% of those under 29, 50% of those 44-30 and 62% of those 59-45.

In addition, two-thirds of respondents with higher education support the idea, compared to 41% with high school only. Moreover, 68% with above average income support the restrictions, compared to 46 with lower-than-average income.

While only 39% of respondents oppose severely restricting the lives of the unvaccinated, Health Ministry D-G Prof. Nachman Ash told 103FM Radio that following suit with the French would not cause more people to get vaccinated.

“I’m not sure it helps. I think it produces resistance and won’t really prompt people to get vaccinated,” he said.

However, he did not rule out the idea altogether.

“There’s no doubt that if left with no other choice, we will have to take steps to get more people vaccinated,” he said.