Financial Times reports:
Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen are travelling to Jerusalem this week to discuss a new joint-approach with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials from Vienna and Copenhagen told the Financial Times.An Austrian chancellery official familiar with the plans said that at the core of discussions were plans to construct in-country production facilities for mRNA vaccines. The three countries are in talks with Pfizer and Moderna about the factories.Austria has already identified an intended site for manufacture, the official added, indicating the extent to which the scheme is already well-advanced.The three will also discuss pooling vaccine stockpiles, although the sharing of surplus vaccine supplies is likely to be a sensitive topic. Sharing small shipments of excess supplies of vaccine with allies has already caused some political turbulence in Israel. The EU, in common with countries such as the UK and US, has measures in place that allow it to curb vaccine exports.
Notice that practically no Western country is sharing vaccines with others outside of the COVAX mechanism from the World Health Organization. Every nation instinctively knows, and most of them legislate, that their own citizens take absolute priority over anyone else.
Only Israel gets vilified for that policy.
The Palestinian Authority representative to Denmark is incensed at Danish cooperation with Israel on COVID-19 vaccines.
Diplomat Manuel Hassassian (who falsely calls himself the "ambassador" to Denmark) wrote an angry article condemning the Danish Prime Minister ahead of her visit:
The Prime Minister is willing to ignore the conditions of apartheid and the continuing discrimination practiced against the Palestinians who are under the oppression of the Israeli occupation before everyone else's eyes, as clear as the sun.This matter is completely unacceptable, and in the event that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen ends up purchasing the so-called surplus vaccine doses from Israel, then Denmark de facto acknowledges that it relinquishes Israel’s responsibility towards the Palestinians as the occupying power, and by that it is rewarding the Israeli apartheid policies with this approach.We did not forget, in September 2020, the statement of Prime Minister Mitt Frederiksen after presiding over the Danish government that the Danish Foreign Ministry will base its future policies on social democracy; And that it will be based on the concepts of values such as rights and duties, equality and freedom, and that it will bind societies to that. However, we still have to fully understand what the Danish foreign policy, based on social democratic values, means. After her recent statement regarding visiting Israel, this policy should not be a reward for violators.Mrs. Mette Frederiksen's failure to criticize the public absurdity of the Israeli occupation state by not providing treatment and vaccines to the Palestinians who are under its occupation is considered unjustified ignorance by her of what international law imposes on the occupying power.Moreover, Mette Frederiksen did not include a visit to the Palestinian Authority or a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on her agenda, as it should be noted that many Danish NGOs provide assistance to the Palestinians in the fields of human rights and infrastructure development. This step is a contradiction to the Danish foreign policy toward Palestine.
Once again, the Palestinian leaders show how tone deaf they are. The childish Palestinians want Denmark's cooperation with Israel to be conditioned on Denmark condemning Israel. Yeah, that makes sense.
The Danish want their citizens to be protected from pandemics. To insult them for trying anything they can to accomplish that will not endear them to the Palestinian cause.
Yet again, the Palestinian leaders are shooting themselves in the foot because they insist, like toddlers, on being the center of attention.