To some,
Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is guilty of a "catastrophic failure" of leadership for not urgently conveying the coronavirus threat to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that elected him.
Milder critics have described Litzman as a "tragic" leader, whose limited authority compared to ultra-Orthodox rabbis' hindered his ability to persuade constituents to embrace science-based protections against the outbreak.
Litzman's role in the crisis speaks to the "clash of loyalties" embedded among haredim, Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, an ultra-Orthodox expert, told AFP.