Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts

Thursday, February 25, 2021

  • Thursday, February 25, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Palestinians should begin receiving two million vaccine doses by the end of the first week of March.

Palestinian health minister Mai Al-Kailah spoke to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa and said, "We have completed an agreement to purchase two million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca , and we have done all the necessary procedures, from registering the vaccine and providing the company with all the documents necessary for the purchase agreement, negotiating its price, and logistical requirements such as refrigeration supplies .

"We are awaiting the supply of vaccines, and the company informed us that the vaccines will start arriving at the end of February and early March," she added.

This means that the Palestinians are getting mass quantities of vaccines ahead of many nations and not too long after some major Western-oriented nations.

And they did it without asking Israel for help. Which is what they said they wanted to do all along.

Too bad the media keeps skipping that small fact.




Monday, February 22, 2021

  • Monday, February 22, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Palestinian Media Watch reports that during 2020,  the Palestinian Authority continued to pay salaries to terrorist prisoners, hiding the salaries under the budget line of “PLO institutions.” The total payments in 2020 to terrorist prisoners and released prisoners were at least 512 million shekels, which is over $156 million.

There are about 4.5 million people under Palestinian rule, of which about 2.5 million are over 20 years old. 

For $156 million, the PA could have purchased two doses of the Moderna vaccine at an expensive $30 a dose for every adult Palestinian. For the Russian Sputnik-V vaccines, they could have purchased enough for every single citizen of any age at $10 a dose and still had $66 million left over for other critical expenses.

Instead, they pay terrorist salaries, on a sliding scale, where the more Jews they attacked roughly means more money from their government.

One of the arguments that anti-Israel activists use to justify their demand that Israel provide free vaccines for Palestinians is that the Palestinians cannot afford to buy their own without wrecking their economy. These people seem to agree that it is more important for Palestinians to pay terrorists than to pay for vaccines. 




  • Monday, February 22, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Today, finally, Hamas started the process of inoculating Gazans with the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.

Besides the 2000 doses sent through Kerem Shalom last week, another 20,000 doses were donated by the UAE and were shipped in through Egypt yesterday.

That is interesting in itself. The UAE, still upset at the Palestinian Authority for rejecting its own COVID-19 aid last summer, apparently decided to bypass the PA altogether and send vaccines straight to Gaza.

And they worked with Mahmoud Abbas' political rival from Fatah, Mohammad Dahlan, who is angling to be a player in the upcoming planned election.

Politicizing vaccines would be considered reprehensible if done by anyone but Palestinians. (Yet another example of the "Palestine exception.")

The other interesting fact about the vaccines in Gaza is that even though the Hamas health ministry opened up an online registration drive, only 7,000 out of 2 million Gazans actually signed up for vaccines so far.

After all of the publicity of the delay of bringing vaccines in to Gaza, it seems that most Gazans aren't too interested in getting the vaccine anyway, at least up until now.

The first people to receive the shot, in front of reporters, were former Gaza health ministers.

 




Sunday, February 21, 2021

  • Sunday, February 21, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Last Wednesday, Israel allowed a batch of 2000 vaccine doses to enter Gaza. This came after a debate in Knesset about whether it was wise to allow the vaccines to be sent to a terror group. This debate delayed the transfer of the vaccines by a little more than a day.

During that time, Israel haters and the media reported extensively on Israel's "refusal" to send the vaccines and Israel's inhumanity for not caring about Gazan lives. That 36 hour delay was called a war crime and Israel was painted as a ghoulish entity hell-bent on punishing ordinary Palestinians.

What happened to the vaccines? 

Nothing. They are still sitting in refrigerators, unused.

Originally the Hamas health ministry announced that health care workers in Gaza would be inoculated today. But today they announced another delay, and the vaccines will not start to be administered tomorrow, at 11 AM.

That is a six day delay from when the vaccines were delivered.

And the world is silent. The BDSers are silent. The media is silent. The critics are silent. 

Once again, we see that Palestinian lives don't matter unless Jews can be blamed. 

Just like no one cares that Palestinians in Lebanon are three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than Lebanese citizens because of their poor health and living conditions that are enforced by Lebanese laws against them.

This is modern antisemitism, folks. 

It is also anti-Palestinian to ignore when Arabs - including Palestinians themselves - to be reckless with  Palestinian lives while expecting Israel to value those lives ahead of its own citizens. 





Thursday, February 18, 2021

  • Thursday, February 18, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon
This week there was more of a circus when it came to COVID-19 vaccines to the Palestinians.

The Palestinians sent a truck with supposedly 1000 double-dose vaccines to the Beitunia crossing on Monday to go to Gaza. They didn't coordinate this with Israel and Israel didn't do anything.

So the Palestinians and the haters started the story that Israel was refusing to send vaccines to Gaza.

The Israeli government did indeed debate whether to allow the vaccines to enter Gaza, knowing that it would go to terrorists and knowing that Hamas still held Israelis and the bodies of soldiers.  The haters spent all day Tuesday tweeting about how terrible it was that Gaza had to wait to get the vaccines.

But on Wednesday, Israel allowed the vaccines to go to Gaza. The delay was only a little more than a day.

Now that the vaccines are in Gaza, when will they be distributed?

According to Hamas officials, not until Sunday. 

There were dozens of articles and hundreds of tweets complaining about a one day delay for vaccines to Gaza, but a four day delay to actually distribute them? No one says a word.

Because Israel cannot be blamed.

One would think that Gaza is the worst possible place to be for the coronavirus given the amount of media attention. Yet is has suffered only about 270 deaths per million, which is better than 64 countries.  (The US is at 1460 deaths per million.) 

Meanwhile, in another COVID-19 story that the Western media ignores,  Palestinians in the West Bank are complaining about the favoritism surrounding who received the first shots distributed there. Besides the 200 doses that were sent over to Jordan seemingly to relatives of Palestinian officials, there were complaints that vaccines went to highly placed Palestinian officials, tribal leaders, clerics and media professionals ahead of health workers. 

The "pro-Palestinian" crowd is curiously silent about this. 

Another development today is that Israel announced it intends to vaccinate 120,000 Palestinian workers, which will also be twisted into something evil in about an hour or two. 





Monday, February 15, 2021

  • Monday, February 15, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Gal Berger of Israel's Kan News  tweeted:

Breaking: The Palestinian Authority secretly sent vaccines to Jordan. These are 200 Sputnik vaccines that were transferred last Thursday via the Allenby Bridge to the Jordanian General Intelligence Agency. This is what Palestinian sources told Kan News.

It is unclear whether the vaccines are intended for the Jordanian defense establishment or for Palestinian officials living in Jordan.

In recent days, there has been growing criticism of the Palestinian Authority, which allegedly vaccinated senior officials, associates and official journalists, before it began vaccinating groups at risk in the general population. 

To date, the authority has received enough vaccines to vaccinate only 6,000 people against the virus (12,000 vaccine doses) and as far as is known had begun vaccinating medical staff. 

Why would the PA send the scarce vaccines into Jordan? The theory that it is going to Palestinian officials there makes the most sense. 

Of course, the people complaining about how Israel is supposedly withholding vaccines will not say a word about how nepotism and politics, not need, seems to be driving Palestinian vaccinations.  

(h/t ymedad)




Sunday, February 14, 2021

  • Sunday, February 14, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Last week, there were more articles claiming that Israel is withholding vaccines from Palestinians.

None of them mentioned whether Palestinian health authorities actually requested vaccines.

Because when they do, Israel complies. As it should under the Geneva Conventions. 

Walla today reports that the Palestinian Authority requested that Israel transfer tens of thousands of vaccines and it is expected to be approved:

Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and Defense Minister Bnei Gantz are expected to approve in the coming days a request submitted by the Palestinian Authority for the transfer of tens of thousands of vaccine doses to the Gaza Strip. 

According to senior IDF officers, thousands of doses have so far been transferred. Now, the request that was sent to Israel a few days ago refers to vaccines that the Palestinian Authority purchased with its own money or vaccines that it received as a donation from the World Health Organization, the European Union and Russia.

"Israel has approved and assisted in the various waves of the corona to transfer medical equipment to hospitals in the Strip," said senior officers involved in the details. They added that "corona vaccines are no different from regular drug or flu vaccines."

Last week, Israel provided vaccines for hundreds of Palestinian workers in another little-reported story. 











Thursday, February 04, 2021

  • Thursday, February 04, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon



Ma'an reports that the Palestinian minister of health, Dr. May Al-Kailla, announced the arrival of 10,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine to the Ministry of Health.

The vaccines arrived at Ben Gurion Airport this morning and are being transferred from Israel to the Palestinian health officials later today.

In a statement on official Palestinian radio, Al-Kaila said that the PA has purchased two million doses from Russia. This is in addition to "donations from friendly countries and institutions supporting our people and Palestinian communities," which probably refers to the COVAX mechanism. 

She said that the first major shipment of the Sputnik-V vaccine will arrive between February 14-20.

A lot of the news about vaccines to the Palestinians has been contradictory and confusing, with rumors being reported as fact. I even saw one article blaming Israel for blocking vaccines, using the Paris Protocol as an excuse, yet this delivery of Russian vaccines proves that this was not true.

Meanwhile, Hanan Ashrawi went on RT to say that Israel is guilty of "apartheid" for not giving Palestinians free vaccines at the expense of Israelis. Now that she is no longer part of the government, she doesn't have to worry about mentioning the small fact that the PA never requested vaccines from Israel besides the 5000 doses that were delivered this week. 




Monday, February 01, 2021

  • Monday, February 01, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon
In The Guardian, Maya Abu Al-Hayat argues that Israel should vaccinate all Palestinians.




I tweeted a response:

I am not joking.

Here is the Wikipedia entry about the IDF field hospital opened for Gazans during the 2014 Gaza war:

The Israel Defense Forces opened a field hospital at Erez Crossing on July 20, 2014, intending it to be for sick and injured Palestinians from Gaza.

The hospital was opened in response to reports by Gazans and news media that the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict had caused a dire shortage of medical facilities in Gaza. The decision to set up the hospital was made by the Israeli government following the recommendation of the coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories General Yoav Mordechai, and approved by the IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli soldiers at Erez Crossing attempted to persuade families to take relatives to the field hospital for treatment, rather than making the journey to a Palestinian-run hospital in East Jerusalem. IDF Lt.-Col.Sharon Biton from the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories stated that "some" of the refugees passing through the Erez Crossing "refused to get medical treatments" in the Israeli field hospital. The IDF Spokesman's office asserted that Hamas “prevented Palestinians from entering Israel in order to reach the hospital.” A Gazan who asked that his name not be reported told the Jerusalem Post people are reluctant to use the field hospital out of fear Gazans treated in the IDF hospital will come under suspicion by Hamas, which controlled Gaza at the time.

The hospital had 20 doctors, nurses and technicians, a lab, an X-ray device and a pharmacy. Among the doctors were a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist and a gynecologist. 

There was opposition on the Palestinian side to injured civilians receiving treatment in Israel thus the hospital stayed almost empty. Hamas fired ten mortar shells at the hospital.
It would be slightly different in the West Bank, but not much. The clinics would have to be erected in Areas A and B, so the Palestinians would call them illegal settlements. The PA has already forbidden Palestinians from getting medical treatment in Israel. Palestinians would think that Israel is injecting poison or drugs that cause impotence, and the rumors to that effect would run rampant. 

This is all obvious because we've seen it happen before. The Guardian is engaging in slander, not reporting. 



  • Monday, February 01, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon



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. 





Sunday, January 31, 2021

  • Sunday, January 31, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestinian media is reporting that the Director General of Medical Services in the Palestinian ministry of health, Osama al-Najjar, announced Saturday that the ministry will receive mass quantities of three COVID-19 vaccines within days.

Najjar said that the ministry will distribute them in Gaza and the West Bank alike.

The three vaccines are from Pfizer, Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca.

We have already reported Thursday  that Israel was providing 1000 Pfizer vaccines to Palestinian health facilities, and that was the third shipment of vaccines from Israel. Israel has cooperated fully with the Palestinian health ministry on fighting COVID-19 since the pandemic started, yet the media and NGOs started a false rumor last month that Israel was not fulfilling its obligations.

Those false accusations continue, most recently from a letter published in The Lancet.





Thursday, January 28, 2021

  • Thursday, January 28, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon



Once again, the Palestinian Authority made a formal request for a batch of 1000 COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers.

Once again, Israel is providing them.

According to Ma'an quoting Walla, the delivery of the vaccines came after Palestinian officials requested from COGAT, the IDF liaison with the territories, an urgent transfer of the vaccines.

This is at least the third such transfer of vaccines. The first was earlier this month to the PA and the second was last week to Gaza.

Israel has also been coordinating with the Palestinians on importing larger quantities of vaccine from Russia.

Literally every time Palestinians ask for medical help from Israel, including COVID-19 vaccines, Israel has responded positively.

Yet 99% of the media coverage of the topic implies, or outright claims, that Israel is refusing to cooperate with them and withholding vaccines.

Perhaps this is why there is so little trust in the media nowadays.





Wednesday, January 27, 2021

  • Wednesday, January 27, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Most of the critics of Israel's vaccination program are asserting a moral argument: that Israel is "withholding" vaccines from people who could be saved and hoarding the valuable vaccines for its own selfish purposes.

Most of Israel's defenders are arguing not from a moral but a legal and fact-based perspective: that Israel is not obligated to provide vaccines to the Palestinians under existing agreements, and besides, the Palestinians have not asked Israel for more than a handful of vaccines to begin with, plus Israel is cooperating with Palestinian officials in everything they are asking for.

Needless to say, the moral argument, painting Israel as a cold, miserly nation, is more compelling to journalists and anti-Israel NGOs than the actual facts and Israel's legal obligations.

However, Israel indeed has not only a moral right but a moral obligation to inoculate its own citizens first. And it is exactly the same reason why every nation on Earth is prioritizing populations who are more at risk above those who are not.

According to the latest figures, Israel's COVID-19 infection rate is the 10th highest in the world: 67,317 per million people. By contrast, the Palestinians are ranked #59, with an infection rate far less than half of Israel's: 30,259.

Comparing the death rates from COVID-19 shows a similar disparity: Israel's is 493, which the Palestinians (with far fewer medical resources to keep critical cases alive) is only 349.

Israel has 1,207 critical cases - while Palestinians have only 61.

Israel had 27 deaths yesterday, while Palestinians had five.

Israel has every interest in making sure that Palestinians don't get COVID-19, but its moral priority is to inoculate its own citizens first. It is a race against time, because the new strains of COVID-19 that are rampant in Israel are spreading faster than even the vaccination rate, despite a three week lockdown. The number of active cases continues to rise, and the number of serious cases has not gone down. The first dose of vaccine is not as effective as was advertised so the second vaccine is of critical importance and priority. 

Of course Israel should prioritize Israelis - they are the population that is most at risk! If somehow Israel could provide as many vaccines to Palestinians as the critics demand, the number of Israelis who would die would be much higher than the number of Palestinians who might be saved. 

Those who are claiming that Israel is immoral for vaccinating Israelis first are not saying that Palestinian lives matter - they are saying that Israeli lives do not matter.

They are the immoral ones. 





Thursday, January 21, 2021

  • Thursday, January 21, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Rotter reports that the vaccination program for Israeli prisoners has finished, only three days after it started.

73% of prisoners chose to receive the vaccine. I don't know what percentage of the Arab prisoners chose to.

22 female terrorists in the Damon prison received the vaccines, and 14 refused. Palestinian media also listed vaccines distributed to several other prisons.

The entire plan required cooperation of the Israel Prison Service, Magen Dovid Adom, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Health.

Meanwhile, Israel is coordinating with the Palestinian Authority to import 5000 of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine doses next week, and 100,000 more in the middle of February. Those vaccines will be brought on Russian planes landing in Israel. 

 Also, Israel coordinated the delivery of hundreds of vaccines to Gaza tonight.

This is all exactly in line with what the Geneva Conventions require for lands under occupation, even though Israel does not accept that definition.

All the newspaper and NGOs and members of Congress that say otherwise are lying. And they know it. 

(h/t iTi)




Monday, January 18, 2021

  • Monday, January 18, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Ma'an quotes Israel's Kan News as saying that the Palestinian Authority will bring five thousand Russian Sputnik COVID-19 vaccines into the territories tomorrow.

Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh is visiting Russia now and he will return tomorrow with the vaccine via Jordan, after he obtained approval from Israel to bring the vaccine into the territories. The PA has already approved the Sputnik vaccine for use under emergency regulations. 

Israel is allowing the Russian vaccine - but B'Tselem, Amnesty, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Gisha and other NGOs are against this happening.

They do not want the Sputnik vaccine - which only require storage at -20C - ostensibly because they don't think Palestinians should have a vaccine that Israel hasn't approved for Israeli citizens.

The Russian vaccine, although not as well tested as others, is approved for use in a number of countries. 

These supposed human rights organizations don't seem to care about human lives when they can choose to use vaccines as a public relations weapon against Israel.

UPDATE: It looks like the vaccines won't arrive until Friday,  they will come through Israel, and the next batch of 100,000 is due in February. 




Sunday, January 17, 2021




Al Bayan reports that Lebanon has no plans to vaccinate Palestinians who have lived there for over seven decades.

Lebanon has been signing agreements with various pharmaceutical companied to obtain vaccines for its population, starting in early February. 

Yet they have not announced any plans on how these vaccines will be distributed in Lebanon's overcrowded Palestinian "refugee" camps, which have become even more crowded since the Syrian civil war forced many more people of Palestinian ancestry to move in.

Palestinians in Lebanon only have limited access to Lebanese health services, and rely on UNRWA for their health needs. But UNRWA is not stepping up. 

Lebanese officials told Al Bayan that they expected international organizations to vaccinate the Palestinians. UNRWA issued a vague statement that they expect the World Health Organization and the Lebanese Health Ministry to work on the issue. The Lebanese Health Ministry hasn't announced any plans, seeming to think it will be UNRWA's problem. 

No one is making any concrete plans on distribution of vaccines in the 12 UNRWA camps in Lebanon.

UNRWA closed its 28 health facilities in Lebanon on Thursday as the nation went on lockdown, causing great anger among Palestinians. They plan to re-open tomorrow.

Nearly 4000 Palestinians have tested positive for COVID-19 in Lebanon, and 145 Palestinians have died so far. 

There has not been a single article in The Guardian or Reuters or CNN or the New York Times about this situation. No "human rights" NGOs are up in arms about this. No one is castigating Lebanon for not taking care of the people who live in Lebanon. 

In fact, no one in the West has even bothered to ask the question of how Palestinians in Lebanon will be vaccinated.

When Israel can't be blamed, no one seems too interested in Palestinian welfare.






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Friday, January 15, 2021

Khaled Abu Toameh tweeted:


Which brings up another cartoon I made this week that captures the head of both the PLO and the Palestinian Authority perfectly.







We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Yesterday, Christiane Amanpour of CNN interviewed Gideon Saar, new political rival to Benjamin Netanyahu, and asked him about Israel's response to the pandemic.

She then went right to the libel that Israel is responsible under international law to provide vaccines for Palestinians.

 And as you know the United Nations and many human rights groups not to mention the Palestinians themselves have complained bitterly that they are not getting a fair shake when it comes to vaccinations as well. And the Palestinian political leader, also a physician, wrote this in the New York Times.
"The Israeli government's decision to make the vaccine available only to Israeli citizens is not just a moral injustice, it is self-defeating. Herd immunity will not be achieved for Israelis without vaccinating Palestinians."
The Palestinians themselves have not "complained bitterly" - for weeks while the libel spread, they were silent, and only when they saw that there was great propaganda benefit to blasting Israel for not doing what they never asked for did they jump on the bandwagon.

I wonder if you were prime minister you would make sure Palestinians on the occupied west bank and in Gaza did actually get fairly treated in these vaccinations as well. It is part of the Oslo accords. It is part of the Geneva Conventions for an occupying power to take care of the medical needs of those citizens.
The Oslo Accords says the exact opposite of what Amanpour claims, stating: "Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of Health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be transferred to the Palestinian side, including the health insurance system."

The Geneva Conventions says that the occupying power must assist the local authorities, and the Palestinians for the most part have not asked for help. When they did - Israel gave them vaccines.

For months last year, the Palestinian Authority refused any cooperation with Israel. Palestinian doctors were forbidden to work with their Israeli colleagues because that was called "normalization." . Does anyone seriously think Israel should have forcibly vaccinated the Palestinians if they had the vaccine during that time?

Saar answered accurately:

Christiane, as you know after the Oslo accords and after our withdrawal from the Gaza Strip the vast majority of Palestinians are under Palestinian control. It is the responsibility of the Palestinian authority and the Hamas regime to take care of their residents.We would like to help but we will be able to help only after taking care of our own citizens.

CA:  Well, I guess that's a pretty severe message to the Palestinians. Do you not think that actually, you know, you are also -- it is a pandemic.

GS:  I think it is a good message. I think it's a good message. Because I said we are ready to help. We are ready to help. But we will be able to help after taking care for our own citizens. I think that the Palestinian Authority has enough money in order to pay salaries, to terrorists, to murderers, to those who are getting according to the crimes against Israel. They are getting more money.

CA: These are different issues.

GS: If they have money for that they can take care of their residents.

CA: Mr. Saar, these are two different issues These are two very different issues This is a global pandemic.

GS: No.

They aren't different issues, because the Palestinian Authority has the cash and the means to get its own vaccines. As such, Israel's responsibility is to make sure that there are no impediments to that happening (which is what Amnesty and other NGOs are actually against!) 

 



Amanpour is lying, explicitly, and flustered when Saar makes his points. 

I made this cartoon before this show, not knowing how prescient it was.






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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

  • Wednesday, January 13, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon


Haaretz reports:

Israel has provided coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian Authority, the government said on Tuesday, rolling back its previous claim that the Palestinians have not received any vaccines.

The government told the High Court of Justice that a shipment of 100 vaccine doses was provided in response to the Palestinians' request and that another shipment is expected to arrive in about a week and a half. The delivery was approved by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, according to the government. 

According to Ma'an, the vaccines went to medical workers in Palestinian hospitals. 

Which means that Israel is acting exactly as international law demands under the laws of belligerent occupation, which Israel's High Court uses as a basis for its rulings.

Israel doesn't have to provide vaccines unless the local authorities ask. When they asked, Israel responded and gave it to them.

Practically every article about Israel not providing vaccines, and everything that NGOs accused Israel of, are lies. 

The Palestinians don't want to publicly ask for vaccines, and they are set to get large quantities over the next two months. Israel transferring the vaccines publicly is also politically sensitive - the family of Hadar Goldin is suing for Israel not to provide any aid to Gaza until his body is returned by Hamas. 

And the Palestinian political leaders are taking propaganda advantage of the worldwide condemnation of Israel scrupulously adhering to international law. This article in Palestine News Network shows that their primary concern isn't actually procuring vaccines, but castigating Israel and recruiting celebrity Westerners to help:

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti confirmed that, thanks to the Palestinian efforts to expose Israeli policies, a major global campaign was launched against the Israeli policy of apartheid and racial discrimination aimed at denying Palestinians access to vaccines against Corona disease.

Barghouti confirmed the launch of a global signature campaign against the Israeli policy of “ Medical”, demanding the immediate provision of safe vaccines for the Palestinian people.

Tens of thousands of internationals have signed the campaign petition so far, including prominent international doctors and scientists, thinkers and artists such, including Judith Butler, Daniel Barenboim and Noam Chomsky.

He affirmed that the solidarity committees with the Palestinian people have been mobilized in various parts of the globe to participate in this campaign, which is taking place under the slogan of condemning this type of apartheid.

Dr. Barghouti added that the gravity of the Israeli crime of racial discrimination in the matter of providing vaccines and protection from the dangerous Corona disease revealed the reality and truth of the Israeli apartheid regime, which will pay dearly for its criminal denial of human rights and for the necessity of unity and solidarity with humanity in facing epidemics.

Does this sound like their priority is Palestinian lives, or attacking Israel?

All lies. And none of the "progressive" groups that claim to "care deeply  about Israel" will apologize for spreading these lies. 




We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

  • 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. 



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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