Israel has led the world to vaccinate much of its population quickly, so the global left must of course find fault: hence the quest to condemn Jerusalem for not accepting responsibility for vaccinations in Gaza and the West Bank.
In a series of tweets, Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth accuses Israel of racism for this alleged failure; a week later, Palestinian officials decided to take part in the debt game and announced that Israel was responsible for vaccinating Palestinians, despite its earlier rulings.
In fact, as UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer notes, the 1995 Oslo II Agreement, shows the responsibility for the health care and vaccinations of its people vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority.
And although the two countries are supposed to cooperate in dealing with epidemics, Palestinian Ministry of Health officials admitted as early as December that they had not asked for help in getting vaccines from Israel.
Top Palestinian officials regularly go to Israel for major medical care, but PA propaganda discourages everyone else, with vague hints that Jewish doctors will only provide under-care to Arabs – if they do not secretly experiment on Palestinian patients.
The PA has cut its own deals to acquire AstraZeneca and Russian Sputnik V vaccines, although the first has only started arriving this month. It also made no official (embarrassing) request for Jerusalem to help. (World Health Organization officials only mention ‘informal discussions’ where they have made such a request.)
Note that Israel vaccinates its Arab citizens. Indeed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has even visited Arab territories to encourage growth. Many Israeli Arabs in East Jerusalem did so.
And Jerusalem is also capturing Palestinian terrorists on a priority basis in front of many of its own citizens – even if the PA propaganda is signaling, the program is actually about medical experiments. But the enemy for non-governmental organizations and the United Nations is, as always, Israel, regardless of the facts.