Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
The Palestinian Authority has given emergency authorization to Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced on Monday. They are the first Middle Eastern government to approve the vaccine
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which financed Sputnik V, said that the first batch of vaccines are expected to be sent to the Palestinians in February.
And major "human rights" organizations who have embarked on a huge publicity campaign to smear Israel have publicly opposed Palestinians receiving the Russian vaccine.
Let me repeat that: organizations like B'Tselem and Amnesty International, who pretend to care about human rights, are dead-set against Palestinians using the Sputnik vaccine.
Last month, ten supposed human rights organizations signed a letter opposing Palestinians using the Russian vaccine. They are Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Amnesty International Israel, B’Tselem, Gisha, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, Medical Human Rights Network IFHHRO, MEDACT, Physicians for Human Rights Israel and
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
In their letter, they wrote:
We express grave concerns about media reports that the Russian-developed vaccine will be delivered to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA has not fully indicated which vaccines it aims to purchase and distribute, although it has made clear that it does not have sufficient funds and capabilities to purchase the necessary vaccinations. Israel cannot transfer a vaccine which is not approved for its own citizens. Such a step would violate the Paris Protocol on Economic Relations and the long-standing policy of the Israeli Ministry of Health to only allow the distribution of medicines in the OPT which have undergone the necessary scientific and regulatory procedures. Although the Paris Protocol has come under criticism in the past for, inter alia, obliging the PA to import medications that are beyond its financial reach, as long as it is binding, Israel cannot import a vaccine that it has not approved for its own population and send it to the occupied population. Israel must ensure that the vaccines delivered to Palestinians in the OPT, also meet the approvals of the Israeli health system, and that these vaccines be purchased and delivered as soon as possible.
As I mentioned previously, the Paris Protocol would not be violated at all by Israel allowing the Russian vaccine to enter Palestinian territories.
But the problem here is much more basic. We have supposed human rights organizations who actually want to impede Palestinians from taking life-saving vaccines. And the only reason is because they loathe Israel enough to be willing to sacrifice Palestinian lives.
This is behavior one would expect from Hamas or Al Qaeda, not respected NGOs.. Their position is the exact opposite of human rights.
Beyond that, they are saying that the Palestinian Authority is too stupid and ignorant to do the research and decide which vaccines are appropriate for their people.
While Amnesty and B'Tselem have managed to convince world media that Israel is somehow violating he Geneva Conventions (it isn't,) there is a much bigger problem here where respected human rights groups are taking positions that not only endanger Palestinian lives, but that treat Palestinians as children who have no agency over their own lives and cannot be trusted to make their own decisions.
Amnesty, B'Tselem, PCHR et. al. are engaged in bigotry against the very Palestinians they pretend to defend.
