Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after receiving the first anti-coronavirus vaccine in Israel this evening:
"I feel great; go get vaccinated. We are emerging from the darkness of the coronavirus into a great light.
I want to again thank the Health Minister, the Ministry of Health, all of the medical crews, MDA, the volunteers, everybody.
It is precisely at this time that I ask that everybody be strict about the rules: Distance, hands, masks and avoiding gatherings.
If everyone is vaccinated quicker we will thereby restore life to the normality that we knew quicker, especially the economy.
We will invest more resources and efforts in order to restore what was. We need your help; it depends on all of us.
PM Netanyahu: "If everybody cooperates, both in strictly adhering to the rules and in being vaccinated, we will emerge from this and it is very likely that Israel will be the first country in the world to do so."
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Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"It's a real pleasure to welcome you today to Jerusalem. I say today because tomorrow, together with our National Security Advisor, Meir Ben-Shabbat, you Jared will be leading a joint Israeli-American delegation to Morocco.
This is a groundbreaking visit that will expedite the normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Senior Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner participated in a tree-planting ceremony with at the Grove of Nations in the Jerusalem Forest.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"We are here in the Grove of Nations for the planting of eighteen olive trees. Now the numerical value of the Hebrew letters for eighteen is chai, which means life, and the olive branch is a traditional symbol of life and peace.
It is fitting that we choose to honor Jared Kushner in this way. Jared, you've played a critical role in the inception and in the implementation of the Abraham Accords.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"I have just come from a Cabinet meeting. We have, at the moment, a new pandemic that is spreading, with a virus which we do not yet know about. This mutation could also be coronavirus 2.
Therefore, I decided last night – and we implemented today – to close the skies of the State of Israel. Foreign nationals will not enter the country, other than exceptions such as diplomats.
Israelis, who return from abroad, starting in another 48 hours, will be quarantined at designated hotels. If they return in the next 48 hours, they will be able to quarantine at home.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks after the Corona Cabinet meeting:
"Yesterday we heard from WHO officials about the new coronavirus mutation and we also heard British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement about the spread of the mutated virus in his country.
Last night I immediately convened a ministerial team to discuss this and I convened the Corona Cabinet today in order to make important decisions.
According to the information in our hands, this mutation is spreading much faster than the regular virus but it is not deadlier; neither do we have any indication that the vaccine we have will not overcome it.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, at the Corona Cabinet meeting:
"Yesterday I received the first anti-coronavirus vaccine in Israel. I feel great. I call on all citizens of Israel to go and be vaccinated. If we vaccinate everyone, or at least most of us, we will defeat the pandemic.
The steps that the government has taken, and will take, are insufficient - what is necessary is the personal responsibility of every citizen; this is the only way to defeat this.
Even if the government makes and implements all of the decisions, without involving the people there is no way to defeat the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, were the first in Israel to receive the anti-coronavirus vaccine, this evening at Sheba Medical Center.
The Prime Minister was among the first leaders in the world to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"This moment is very moving. On the way here, I thought about the children who are worrying about their parents, about the grandchildren who want to give their grandparents a real hug
I thought about the business-owners who will be able to open their businesses, restaurant-owners, gyms; we will be able to go soccer fields, to see basketball games and, of course, to reopen the country and restore it to what it was, to go back to the normal life that we desire.