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.
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.
In The Guardian, Maya Abu Al-Hayat argues that Israel should vaccinate all Palestinians.
I tweeted a response:
If Israel would set up a free vaccination clinic for Palestinians outside Ramallah as @guardian insists:
1) The Palestinian Authority would threaten anyone who goes there 2) The clinic would be barraged with rocks 3) The PA would go to the UN to condemn the "illegal settlement" pic.twitter.com/euaSLtHNHI
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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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Which brings up another cartoon I made this week that captures the head of both the PLO and the Palestinian Authority perfectly.
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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."
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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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.
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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.
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Every day there are more articles about how Israel is not fulfilling its obligations under international law in providing vaccines for Palestinians. Israel haters keep adding to the libel in each new article.
The latest comes from Haaretz, written by Australian "human rights" lawyer Shannon Maree Torrens.
She says that Israel is not only not providing vaccines for Palestinians, but that it is actively blocking them from going to Palestinians:
As many around the world with the privilege of decision, autonomy and movement are debating whether or not to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them, for others the issue is not when they will receive it but if and how the vaccine will be made available to them.
Such is the case for the people of Gaza.
Why would anyone think that the people of Gaza won't ever get vaccines? The PA has been making deals and procuring vaccines just like every other country, and like most countries they have not yet arrived. But Torrens is saying that Israel won't even allow those vaccines to come:
It is one thing to blockade a people for supposedly security purposes, as Israel has done with respect to Gaza since 2007, which is already an inhumane act with little justification, but it is another level of deplorable behavior to then deny those who are occupied and blockaded a life-saving vaccine during a once-in-a-century pandemic that has killed over 1.9 million people worldwide.
Israel has never blocked medicines from the PA and Gaza. Never. But you know who has denied medicines to Gaza residents? The PA! And Hamas!
As far as I know, Ms. Torrens never said a word about that.
She then contrasts Israel with Australia and New Zealand:
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has secured enough vaccines to ensure that everyone living in the Pacific Island nations will be covered. Australia has also made plans to ensure access to the vaccine in the Pacific Islands – and neither New Zealand nor Australia are engaging in a military occupation of these Pacific Island countries.
Israel has vaccinated more Arabs, including Palestinians, than the total number of people vaccinated in Australia or New Zealand - which is at this moment, zero. It is a little strange to compare the two cases when the Pacific Islanders have no advantage, vaccine-wise, than Palestinians do.
But when you look deeper at New Zealand's and Australia's plans for their neighbors, you see that things are not so different from how Israel is acting.
Every New Zealand citizen will receive the vaccine for free. The excess doses will be distributed in the states within the New Zealand Realm—Tokelau, Niue, and the Cook Islands. New Zealand will also offer the vaccine to neighboring states Tonga, Samoa, and Tuvalu. These nations may choose to accept the vaccine.
New Zealand has some level of responsibility for the nations within the New Zealand Realm. For the others, it depends on whether they want the vaccine or not - like Palestinians, they make their own choice. Up until recently, every report says the Palestinians absolutely do not want vaccines from Israel. (That only seems to have changed when they realized the propaganda value of any Israeli delay.)
The Australian Government has also entered into Advanced Purchase Agreements with Astra Zeneca-Oxford and CSL-University of Queensland for over 84 million units of vaccines, which Australia is able to donate to partners in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, should these vaccines prove safe and effective, and units are available above domestic needs.
Just like Israel, Australia is prioritizing its own citizens before considering giving the vaccine to its neighbors.
By the definition of Israel-haters, this is "medical apartheid."
This hypocrisy is of course not the only ridiculous thing about this article. As with every other similar article, it doesn't mention that if Israel would provide the current Pfizer vaccines to Palestinians, they would all go to waste because there is not adequate refrigeration equipment. Israel is still waiting for the Moderna vaccines to arrive. Logistics drives decisions, not the pie-in-the-sky demands of clueless international human rights lawyers.
Torrens says
Torrens of course doesn't mention that her basic thesis is wrong: under the international law, the primary responsibility for providing health care in territories under occupation goes to local authorities, not the occupier. They should cooperate. Until now, there have been no reports that the Palestinians wanted to cooperate with Israel.
Plus, the idea that Palestinians are having their human rights violated by not getting vaccinations now - ahead of even modern nations like New Zealand and Australia - is completely unfounded. Palestinians will get vaccinated in 2021, ahead of many nations and behind others.
Torrens' libel is in saying that this is in doubt because of Israel. It isn't. And that is the most libelous accusation of all.
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Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a live television broadcast on Friday that he has told the government to reject British and American-made vaccines.
"Imports of US and British vaccines into the country are banned. I have told this to officials and I'm saying it publicly now," Khamenei said.
Why would Iran do that?
They are working on their own vaccine, that just started Phase I clinical trials, but those would be months away from being ready.
Khamenei tweeted that the American and British vaccines are "completely untrustworthy" and French vaccines "aren't trustworthy," either. (Twitter took that tweet down.)
Khamenei's fear seems to stem from a bizarre conspiracy theory about vaccines injecting GPS chips in people's bodies.
Al Arabiya reports that Iranian hardliner Hussein Kanani said on TV, "There is a lot of information according to which some vaccines inject electronic chips and implant a Global Positioning System (GPS) in our bodies to control all our actions and movements, to the extent that we become a human machine in the hands of others."
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It took nearly three weeks, but the Palestinian foreign ministry finally decided that the propaganda value of adopting the false anti-Israel positions of Amnesty, The Guardian and many others that Israel is somehow discriminating against Palestinians in COVID-19 vaccines outweighs the honor involved in Palestinian leaders taking responsibility for their own people.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates affirmed the duties of Israel, the occupying Power, to provide vaccines against Corona to the Palestinian people, while providing these vaccines to its citizens, ignoring its duties as an occupying power, and discriminating against the Palestinian people and denying them their right to health.
The Foreign Ministry added, in a statement issued by it, this evening, Saturday, that Israel is trying to absolve itself of its duties as an occupying power, and imposes full responsibility on the Palestinian government.
And she stressed that the State of Palestine is ready to fully assume its responsibilities and carry out its duties without compromise, which is what it was and is still doing in the face of the willful negligence and indifference of the occupying power, and the occupying power must only recognize its racial discrimination and its inability to implement its obligations and assume its responsibilities or to transfer it completely to The Palestinian government to do it, and towards Israel ending its colonial occupation of the land of the State of Palestine.
She emphasized that the Palestinian leadership’s search for providing vaccines from its various sources does not exempt Israel from its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people in providing vaccinations based on its duties based on the rules of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Regulations of 1907, and international human rights law as an occupying power.
The Foreign Ministry praised the positions of states, institutions, members of parliament, and legal and international figures who considered the violations of health apartheid practiced by Israel against the Palestinian people.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to pressure Israel to assume its responsibilities, especially Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which affirmed that the occupying power has a duty to ensure "the adoption and implementation of preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics," including these obligations to purchase and distribute vaccines to the people -the Palestinian who is under its prolonged military occupation, as well as presenting him to our brave prisoners in the occupation prison.
Notice that nowhere in this statement is the Palestinian government actually asking for Israel's help. The entire statement is meant to accuse Israel of "health apartheid" and "racial discrimination" but at no point do they say that they actually want Israel to provide vaccines, and how.
To re-emphasize:
* Under the Geneva Conventions, the PA has the primary responsibility for deciding how to fight the pandemic. Israel is obligated to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority in fighting the epidemic if they ask. They haven't asked, at least not publicly. (If the Palestinian Authority would refuse to help its own people, or if it did not have that ability, then Israel would indeed have that obligation. No one claims that their own plans for obtaining the vaccine within a few weeks is irresponsible or reckless.)
* Logistically, the Palestinian Authority cannot store the quantities of the Pfizer vaccine that Israel is using because of a lack of specialized refrigeration equipment, so this is moot.
* If Israel would unilaterally build its own clinics in Palestinian controlled territory, which is the only feasible way to do what Amnesty, the other NGOs and news media seem to be demanding, that would be decried as a "land grab" and "settlement activity." (Previous clinics that Israel has built for Palestinians in need were boycotted.)
* If somehow these obstacles could be overcome, most Palestinians would not want vaccines from Israel because of rumors that they would cause impotence or illness.
This press release is pure cynicism, a crude excuse to push an antisemitic lie of Jews discriminating against Arabs - even though more Arabs have been vaccinated in Israel than in any other country besides the UAE.
But the propaganda value of the Israel-hating NGOs relentlessly attacking Israel for weeks meant that the Palestinian government could not ignore the topic, even though it made clear multiple times that it can handle the epidemic itself and emphatically didn't want Israel's help.
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Israel closed the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron for ten days at the same time that it increased the lockdown in most of the country to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Even though Israel does not agree that the lands of Judea and Samaria are legally considered occupied, Israel's High Court of Justice usually applies the laws of belligerent occupation when deciding what is allowed in those areas. It is still important to understand whether Israel is adhering to international law of belligerent occupation, especially when prominent human rights organizations claim that it is violating those laws.
As we have shown, Israel is not obligated to provide Palestinians living in those areas with vaccines when their own leaders have indicated that they can handle the epidemic and the procurement of vaccines themselves. The local authorities are the ones with the primary responsibility of maintaining health. It is absurd to say that because Israel built an infrastructure to provide vaccines to its people before every other country on Earth that it must provide vaccines for Palestinians at the exact same time, especially when the Palestinian leaders do not want to get the vaccines from Israel and have been making arrangements to receive different vaccines that could be given to their people sooner than it would take to acquire the special refrigeration equipment the Pfizer vaccine needs.
The question of the Tomb of the Patriarchs is interesting because it is the flip side of the same question. In this case, the local authorities are against a health measure that Israel wants to enforce. In this case, does Israel have the right, or even obligation, to enforce health rules in opposition to the wishes of the Palestinians?
Once again, we see that Israel is following the Geneva Conventions.
The ICRC's commentary of same Article 56 that says that Israel must work with local authorities to ensure the health and safety of the population also says when Israel must override those authorities:
It will be remembered that Article 55 requires the Occupying Power to import the necessary medical supplies, such as medicaments, vaccines and sera, when the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate. It will also be able to exercise its right to requisition, and demand the co-operation not only of the national and local authorities but also of the population in the fight against epidemics.
The Palestinian Authority has the resources to acquire vaccines, but it is not cooperating with Israel in lockdowns. Israel has every right to force those lockdowns when the local authorities are unable or unwilling to.
To be sure, deciding when such a move is needed is often a judgment call. And there is one other part of Geneva that gives the Palestinians more considerations in this case:
In adopting measures of health and hygiene and in their implementation, the Occupying Power shall take into consideration the moral and ethical susceptibilities of the population of the occupied territory.
The commentary says:
The last paragraph provides protected persons with a further safeguard, in that any measure of public health and hygiene the Occupying Power feels it should take in order to comply with the above stipulations must pay due regard to the habits and customs of the population (3).
The purpose of the provision is to ensure respect for sentiments and traditions, which must not be disregarded. The occupation must not involve the sudden introduction of new methods, if they are liable to cause deep disquiet among the population. The provision should be compared with Article 27 [ Link ] , which requires the Party to the conflict to respect, in all circumstances, the religious convictions and practices of protected persons, and also their manners and customs.
In this case there is a tension between the requirements of ensuring the health and safety of the population and that of respecting religious practices. But even here the language of what Israel may do to fight an epidemic is much stronger than the language of respecting local religious customs - the former is a requirement, the latter is something that must be taken into consideration.
Mahmoud al-Habbash, advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas on religious affairs and Islamic relations, described Israel's lockdown of the holy site as an inclusive war crime, saying that banning worshipers access to the site could fuel the sentiments of Muslims around the world.
Also instructive is the reaction of Hebron's Jewish community to the shutdown. The site is at least as holy to Jews as it is to Muslims, yet their reaction to not being able to enter the site is the opposite of the Palestinians':
COVID-19 UPDATE - Tomb of Patriarchs closed starting Friday, January 8. Prayers outside: 4 sections, 10 worshipers each, total of 40 worshipers. We pray for all affected by coronavirus. Together we will pull through.#Hebron#coronavirus#Lockdown3#Quarantinepic.twitter.com/s7EMC6VUy6
— Jewish Community of Hebron - Hebron Fund (@TheHebronFund1) January 7, 2021
After all, there is no greater religious obligation than saving lives.
Once again, Israel is scrupulously adhering to international law, while it is being falsely accused of violating that law. And once again, the accusers don't care about the laws themselves, but in how to twist the laws in ways that demonize Israel.
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We have been inundated the past couple of weeks with the claim that Israel must, under international law, provide vaccines to Palestinians at the same time it is providing them to Israelis.
One example is the new letter from 15 "human rights" NGOs which says, "Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention specifically provides that an occupier has the duty of ensuring 'the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics'. This duty includes providing support for the purchase and distribution of vaccines to the Palestinian population under its control."
If we assume that the Palestinian areas are occupied - something that I disagree with - the question is, are these critics accurate? What exactly does international law say?
To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.
The bolded part is not in the NGO letter, and for good reason: it is critical and contradicts what Amnesty, B'Tselem and the others claim.
The reference in the Article to "the co-operation of national and local authorities" ...shows clearly that there can be no question of making the Occupying Power alone responsible for the whole burden of organizing hospitals and health services and taking measures to control epidemics. The task is above all one for the competent services of the occupied country itself.
This is crystal clear - even in cases of belligerent occupation, the primary responsibility of health care goes to the local medical professionals. In this case, obviously, that would be the Palestinian Authority.
It is possible that in certain cases the national authorities will be perfectly well able to look after the health of the population; in such cases the Occupying Power will not have to intervene; it will merely avoid hampering the work of the organizations responsible for the task.
Which is exactly what is happening. The Palestinian medical infrastructure is decent. If they need help from Israel, there is no reason to think that Israel wouldn't help out. Israel was praised even by the UN on how well it has cooperated with the PA during the pandemic even while the PA spread conspiracy theories, why would anyone besides antisemites think otherwise?
It will be remembered that Article 55 requires the Occupying Power to import the necessary medical supplies, such as medicaments, vaccines and sera, when the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.
In this case, the local resources have been making arrangements to buy their own vaccines. They will probably have to wait until February, but in that sense they are no worse than most of the nations of the world. Israel paid double or triple the regular price of the vaccines it has procured specifically to get to the front of the line, any nation could have done the same, but practically the entire world has chosen to wait and purchase them at regular prices. (Plus, logistically, the PA couldn't use the Pfizer vaccine that Israel is vaccinating its citizens with anyway because they don't have the proper refrigeration equipment.)
If the Palestinians waiting for a few weeks for the Moderna or Astra Zeneca or Sputnik vaccines is a violation of human rights, then most of the world is having their human rights violated.
At any rate, claiming that Israel is somehow responsible for bringing the vaccines to Palestinians at the same time as Israelis is not supported at all in international law. Nor does any international law say that an occupier must prioritize taking care of the citizens in occupied territories before providing for its own citizens.
Obviously, if there is a major breakout of a much deadlier strain in the Palestinian territories, it is in Israel's self-interest to work with the Palestinian Authority to help them - just as they cooperated with them last spring, before Mahmoud Abbas decided to cut all ties - including medical! - with Israel.
The bottom line is that international law of belligerent occupation says that if Israel is the occupying power, it must act with the local authorities to ensure the health of the population. Which is exactly what Israel has been doing since the initial outbreak. The only party that refused cooperation was the Palestinian Authority from around June to November. If they ask for help, they will get it.
And anyone who implies otherwise is either ignorant or bigoted.
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