Israel to Celebrate Jewish New Year Under Second nationalwide Lockdown

JERUSALEM — Israel is heading back into a nationwide lockdown for at least three weeks starting on Friday, the eve of the Jewish New Year holiday, in the clearest sign yet of the government’s failure to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The announcement on Sunday came barely four months after Israel emerged from its last lockdown — too hastily, many critics said — and as its per capita infection rate rose to among the highest in the world. More than 1,100 people in the country have died from the virus.

The public sector and some private businesses will continue to work under tight limitations, and citizens will only be allowed to move within 500 meters of their homes. Schools, which reopened for the new school year on Sept. 1, will also close on Friday for the duration of the lockdown.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the drastic and unpopular measures in a televised address on Sunday, shortly before he boarded a flight to Washington, D.C. for a ceremony at the White House ushering in formal Israeli diplomatic and business ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.