conference venues, public boats and cable cars, and heritage sites. take-away restaurants, supermarkets, and pharmacies were to remain open. the pandemic forced many events to be cancelled. notwithstanding the closure of wedding halls, weddings took place in private homes with the limitation of no more than 10 participants in each room; dancing could take place both indoors and in outdoor courtyards. weddings were also held on rooftops and yeshiva courtyards. in one case, a sephardi couple opted to hold their wedding ceremony in an osher ad supermarket, which was exempt from the 10-person rule. the al-aqsa mosque and dome of the rock closed to prevent contamination of the holy sites. as a result of the government's directive for citizens to remain at home, there was an increase in calls to domestic violence hotlines, and women's shelters were close to full capacity, both due to new arrivals and to current residents who remained due to the pandemic. on 9 march, after it was discovered that an employee at the israeli embassy in greece had contracted coronavirus and spread it to two family members, it was announced that the embassy was temporarily shutting down. on 12 march, israel announced that all universities and schools would close until after the passover (spring) break. after the break, schools remained closed and students learned online. on 3 may, grades one to three were allowed to resume school, with restrictions, and not in all cities. in addition, grades eleven and twelve were allowed to hold revisions for the upcoming bagrut exams. on 15 march, justice minister amir ohana expanded his powers and announced that non-urgent court activity would be frozen. as a result, the corruption trial of prime minister netanyahu was postponed from 17 march to 24 may. the movement for quality government in israel urged the attorney general to stay the new regulations. on 16 march, the bank of israel ordered retail banks to close, but allowed special services to remain open for elderly people. on 22 march, both the open-air carmel market in tel aviv and the open-air mahane yehuda market in jerusalem were closed by police. many supermarkets experienced a shortage of eggs caused by panic buying and fear of shutdown. medical response as late as 15 march, doctors complained that guidelines for testing were too restrictive. on 16 march, the health ministry approved a number of experimental treatments for patients with covid-19. on 18 march, the defense ministry took over purchasing of corona-related gear. on the same day, the israel institute for biological research announced that they are working on a covid-19 vaccine. on 18 march at 6 pm, israelis across the country applauded from their balconies for two minutes in appreciation of medical workers and first responders battling coronavirus. on 29 march, magen david adom announced that it will collect blood plasma from recovered covid-19 patients to treat those most severely affected by the infection. in december 2021, the israeli ministry of health approved the use of pfizer's nirmatrelvir/ritonavir for treating covid-19. politics the virus begun to rapidly spread after the march 2020 election, and pandemic politics affected israel’s subsequent trajectory. the incumbent pm benjamin netanyahu did not win enough seats to form a coalition, and the presidential mandate to form a coalition was given to his contender, benny gantz. facing criminal charges and unable to form a coalition, pm netanyahu urged the establishment of a national emergency government (neg). abulof and le penne argue that netanyahu succeeded partly through fearmongering. suggesting that “if i fall, israel falls”, netanyahu compared the covid-19 crisis to the holocaust, qualifying “unlike the holocaust, this time – this time, we identified the danger in time,” saying that neg headed by him is needed “like before the six-day war,” to “save the country.” netanyahu’s pandemic politics brought his party the likud to reach peak public support (41-43 seats during the first wave of april-may 2020), pushing gantz to ask israel’s president to transfer the mandate to netanyahu so that the latter could form, and head, a new government. overall, abulof and le penne argue, israel features key factors that could have helped it weather well the covid-19 crisis: a young population, close or otherwise heavily monitored borders, warm climate, an efficient public health system, hard-earned public resilience, willingness for mass mobilization, high-tech capacities (to help gather and spread information), and meager reliance on tourism. mobile phone tracking on 15 march, the israeli government proposed allowing the israel security agency (isa) to track the prior movements of people diagnosed with coronavirus through their mobile phones. the security service would not require a court order for its surveillance. the stated goal of the measure was to identify people with whom infected individuals came into contact in the two weeks prior to their diagnosis, and to dispatch text messages informing those people that they must enter the 14-day self-quarantine. the security measure was to be in place for only 30 days after approval by a knesset subcommittee, and all records were to be deleted after that point. critics branded the proposal an invasion of privacy and civil liberties. on 17 march, at 1:30 am, a knesset committee approved the contact-tracing program, making israel the only country in the world to use its internal security agency (shin bet) to track citizens' geolocations. within the first two days, the ministry of health text-messaged 400 individuals who had been in proximity to an infected person, and told them to enter a 14-day self-quarantine. on 19 march, the supreme court of israel heard petitions to halt the contact-tracing program, submitted by the association for civil rights in israel, and adalah – the legal center for arab minority rights, and issued an interim order. the same day, several hundred protesters converged on the knesset to protest the phone surveillance and other restrictions on citizens' movements, as well as the shutdown of the judicial and legislative branches of the government. police arrested three protesters for violating the ban on gatherings over 10 people, and also blocked dozens of cars from entering jerusalem and approaching the knesset building. on 26 march, the isa said contact tracing had led to over 500 israelis being notified who were then diagnosed with coronavirus. on april 26, 2020, the supreme court issued its judgment on the contact-tracing petitions. in granting the petitions, the court held that the government's decision passed constitutional review under the exigent circumstances at the time it was made, but that further recourse to the israel security agency for the purpose of contact tracing would require primary legislation in the form of a temporary order that would meet the requirements of the limitations clause of basic law: human dignity and liberty. the court further held that due to the fundamental importance of freedom of the press, isa contact tracing of journalists who tested positive for the virus would require consent, and in the absence of consent, a journalist would undergo an individual epidemiological investigation, and would be asked to inform any sources with whom he was in contact over the 14 days prior to his diagnosis. cellphone-based location tracking proved to be insufficiently accurate, as scores of israeli citizens were falsely identified as carriers of covid-19 and subsequently ordered to self-quarantine. in an attempt to contain the spread of the omicron variant, israel reinstated the use of shin bet counterterrorism surveillance measures for a limited period of time. public transportation the israel railways stabling yard in beersheba is full due to the coronavirus shutdown as of 19 march, public transportation ridership was down 38.5 percent compared to before the virus outbreak. public bus operations were strictly curtailed by the government, which placed an 8 p.m. curfew on bus operations nightly, and halted all public transportation between thursday night at 8 p.m. and sunday morning, going beyond the usual hiatus on public transportation in israel during shabbat (from friday evening to saturday evening). as of 22 march israel's ministry of transport and road safety and its national public transportation authority instituted a notification system allowing passengers using public transportation to inquire whether they had shared a ride with a person sick with covid-19. the travel histories will be stored through the use of the country's electronic bus card passes, known as rav-kav. at the peak of the first wave, on 20 april 2020, public transportation ridership was down 80% compared to before the outbreak. state of emergency city park marked and closed due to covid-19 outbreak on 19 march, prime minister netanyahu declared a national state of emergency. he said that existing restrictions would henceforth be legally enforceable, and violators would be fined. israelis were not allowed to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. essential services would remain open. news reports showed hundreds of israelis ignoring the new ban on shabbat, 21 march, and visiting beaches, parks, and nature spots in large numbers, prompting the ministry of health to threaten imposing tighter restrictions on the public. chief of the general staff, aviv kochavi (center) examines the military laboratory for the diagnosis of coronavirus patients at tzrifin base on 25 march, the government imposed stricter restrictions on citizens' movements. these include: people must not venture more than 100 m (330 ft) from their homes. exceptions include: employee arrival to work is permitted according to regulations acquiring food, medicine, essential products and receiving essential services receiving medical treatment blood donation legal proceedings demonstrations arriving at the knesset receiving care in the framework of the welfare system departure of an individual or persons living in the same place for a short time and up to 100 meters from the place of residence providing medical assistance to another person or assisting a person with difficulty or distress prayer in an open place, funerals, weddings, and brit milah, as well as a woman's visit to the mikvah, provided that they pre-arranged the time of their arrival transfer of a minor to educational settings for the children of essential workers and special frameworks (in accordance with the public health order). transfer of a minor, whose parents live separately, by one of his parents, to the other parent's home. transfer of a minor whose responsible parent is required to leave for an essential purpose if there is no responsible place for the child to be left under his care. private vehicles may have only two passengers. taxis may have only one passenger. essential workers must be tested for fever at their workplace, and anyone with a temperature over 38 °c (100 °f) will be sent home. violators will be subject to a 5,000 shekels fine, or up to six months' imprisonment. beginning on april 1 the government proposed to intensify precautionary restrictions on its citizens, requiring them to: refrain from all public gatherings, including prayer quorums of 10 men; limiting outings to two people from the same household; and calling upon them to always wear face masks in public. beginning on april 12, the government required all israelis to cover their nose and mouth when leaving their homes. exceptions include "children under age 6; people with emotional, mental or medical conditions that would prevent them from wearing a mask; drivers in their cars; people alone in a building; and two workers who work regularly together, provided they maintain social distancing". the new law was passed on the same day that the world health organization questioned the efficacy of face masks for protecting healthy individuals from catching the virus. restrictions on religious gatherings