Religious Sects in Iran and Israel Defy Official Coronavirus Guidelines

Apr 4, 2020

Health and Science , Culture , Society , Kodoom Official Blog

Society, Culture and Health News Blog, Kodoom.com
It appears that at least for now, Iranian and Israeli officials are facing common enemies: Coronavirus and the religious zealots defying guidelines to curb the spread of virus.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has given the green light for soldiers to be deployed in a mostly ultra-Orthodox Jewish city considered the centre of Israel's novel coronavirus outbreak. Several devout Orthodox Jewish communities have caused a surge in coronavirus cases by defying official health guidelines and police. Known in Israel as Haredim, or those who tremble in awe before God, ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 12% of Israel's population — but they account for as much as 60% of Israel's COVID-19 cases in major hospitals, according to estimates. Some ultra-Orthodox Jews shouted "Nazis!" as police marched through a Jerusalem neighborhood this week, handing out large fines — some over $1,000 — to those ignoring the stay-at-home orders.

Infection rates in ultra-Orthodox communities are markedly higher than the rest of the country. The ultra-Orthodox communities in Bnei Brak, Mea Shearim, and Kiryat Yearim, which lies between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, have among the highest infection rates in Israel, Rosenfeld said. A spokesman for the mayor of Bnei Brak said health officials had confirmed the town had the single highest infection rate (of 40%) in the entire country.

"We're in a war," Moti Ravid, head of the Mayanei Hayeshua hospital in Bnei Brak, told public broadcaster Kan on Sunday. "I warned a month ago that there would be a catastrophe in the city if they did not stop the gatherings and close the synagogues and the yeshivas, and everyone yelled at me, 'How dare you?'"

In Iran, Morteza Kohansal, a shia cleric active in Traditional Islamic Medicine is now facing jail time after entering, without any mask or protection, a hospital in Gilan province treating coronavirus patients and rubbing, using his unprotected fingers, a concoction called Imam Kazem Cure based on rose water, on patients' lips and faces to heal them. A day later, one of the touched patients died which has caused outrage in Iran because the hospital security did not block his entrance due to the influence of powerful Ayatollahs in Iran. In fact, Ayatollah Tabrizian has defended Kohansal and pressured the Islamic Judiciary to avoid the indictment.

Last month, a video of Ayatollah Bathaei, a senior Iranian cleric and a powerful member of Iran's Leadership Selection Council, claiming he was cured of infection with coronavirus after drinking a solution of holy dirt and soil from Imam Hussein's Karbala shrine drew criticism inside Iran (news link) because he died of his infections shortly after claiming he was cured.

In the video, the Ayatollah says to be cured with the holy dirt "One just needs to be a believer (faithful), otherwise Coronavirus is nothing to be afraid of."

When asked about the video and the curing powers of holy dirt from Iraq, another Ayatollah (Andalib Hamedani) says the success of the cure is case-by-case and dependent on God's mercy and wisdom only.

Recently, in the holy city of Mashhad, a fanatical religious man who licked Imam Reza shrine to prove Imam protects him from coronavirus was arrested. Similar videos have been posted by devout religious worshippers in other holy Shia shrines in Iran.

For several weeks, government and Health officials in Iran were defied by powerful religious authorities who are against closing holy shrines or quarantining Qom, the holy city from which coronavirus spread to the rest of the country. Coronavirus is now expected to infect 30% of the country's population and military has been put in charge.

Last month, even after some holy shrines were closed to the public to prevent spread of coronavirus, a group of religious worshippers broke into the shrines.

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