Palestinian Authority denies receiving COVID-19 vaccines from Israel

YNet reports (Hebrew), "The first shipment of 2,000 vaccines of Moderna's Coronavirus vaccine was transferred to the Palestinian Authority's medical teams through the Beitunia crossing. This is out of the 5,000 vaccines approved by the political echelon in accordance with the recommendations of the Minister of Defense and the Coordinator of Government Operations in the Occupied Territories."

This is not mentioned by the official Palestinian news agency.

Instead, there is a story from Sunday denying the news that Israel was planning to transfer 5000 vaccines to medical teams in the territories.

The Director General of Support Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, Osama al-Najjar, told Anadolu Agency that the ministry or any other Palestinian party “did not receive” any quantities of the Corona vaccine from Israel.

Al-Najjar added, “We have not been informed of the existence of vaccines, and we do not know anything,” indicating that Israel is under international pressure and wants to publish this news to alleviate it.

He said that “international institutions and human rights organizations are pressuring Israel to allow vaccinations to enter the occupied Palestinian territories. "

Someone is lying, and it isn't Israel. The YNet story clearly says that the vaccines were dropped off at the Beitunia crossing, and Israel wouldn't do this without coordination with the Palestinian health authorities. 

It appears that the Palestinians, as always, are looking for ways to score public relations points that paint Israel as a heartless, evil entity.  Plus their misplaced sense of pride doesn't allow them to admit that they are cooperating with Israel on anything, even though everyone knows they are. 

Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Shtayyeh confirmed that some 50,000 vaccines are due to arrive by the middle of this month, without mentioning that Israel of course approves the shipment. 

Meanwhile, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Tunisian counterpart Othman Al-Jaradi affirmed their countries' support for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the "borders" of June 4, 1967, and they stressed that the Palestinian issue is the most important Arab issue.

Neither of them are offering vaccines to their Palestinian brethren, though. 

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