Israel reportedly paid more than $ 1 million to get COVID-19 vaccines for arch-enemy Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week boasted that his warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin had helped the return of a 23-year-old Israeli woman held captive in Damascus.
But instead of a direct prisoner exchange for two Syrian shepherds, as was first announced, Israel actually paid Russia to send its Sputnik V vaccines to Syria to facilitate the exchange, according to The Times of Israel and other Israeli media.
Netanyahu remained questionable on Saturday about the reports, saying that “not a single Israeli vaccine” was delivered to Syria, but without Israel paying for the vaccine supply.
“We brought the woman back. I’m glad we did. “I thank President Putin for doing this,” he told reporters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“I do not want to add more than that, because that was the Russian request,” he said.
The Associated Press said the vaccine deal was worth $ 1.2 million, while a source told Al Jazeera that it was “millions of dollars”. The Israeli army censored the full details of the agreement.
“It is legal for the Israeli government to decide to deviate from the norms in the past and pay with another form of money,” Yoav Limor, an Israeli military correspondent, wrote in Israel Hayom.
‘The decision to hide it, however, is surprising and worrying. It was clear that someone was very uncomfortable to bring the matter to light. ”
The Israeli government declined to comment on the inclusion of vaccines in the prisoner exchange agreement, the WSJ said.
Russian officials have not commented on the deal, while Syria’s state news agency quoted an unknown source as denying that coronavirus vaccines were part of the deal, according to the WSJ report.
With Post threads