TEL AVIV – Israel has suspended a controversial plan to use coronavirus vaccines to win allies abroad before giving them to most Palestinians after the initiative was hit with legal challenges.
Half of Israeli citizens have now received at least one vaccination dose, the country’s health minister said on Friday, the highest figure in the world.
As his country began to look to a future beyond Covid-19 restrictions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that tens of thousands of vaccines be sent as diplomatic gestures to countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America.
The plan illustrates how vaccines have become a valuable bargaining chip to the international negotiating table. But it has caused widespread condemnation because Palestinians have been forced to wait for vaccinations.
There was also fierce criticism from opponents in Netanyahu’s fragile coalition government.
Benny Gantz, Israel’s defense minister, accused the prime minister of going ‘behind the scenes’ of his cabinet and making the decision without consulting them.
Israel’s attorney general on Thursday announced an investigation into whether Netanyahu has the legal authority to make the decision on his own. “The attorney general is investigating the allegation that vaccines were transferred abroad without authorization,” a spokesman said.
The government has therefore decided to “freeze any action” on vaccination of vaccines, the spokesman added.
Gantz applauded the freeze.
“Netanyahu’s move was taken in an undemocratic way and the procedures were circumvented. “If there is a reason to transfer vaccines to different countries at the expense of Israeli citizens, it will only be decided in the appropriate forums,” he said.
Netanyahu told the Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday that he had held talks with thirty countries about the distribution of doses and that he had ensured that the gift would not affect the vaccinations for Israelites.
“Everyone wants to know how we caused this miracle, and everyone wants to participate in it, whether with knowledge or help,” he said.
Israel has not announced which countries will be vaccinated, but Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu originally planned to send up to 100,000 doses to more than a dozen countries – some of them already allies and other countries trying to dock.
5,000 doses have already arrived in Guatemala and Honduras. Both countries have agreed to follow the leadership of former President Donald Trump and move their embassies in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a small but significant diplomatic victory for Netanyahu.
“Thank you to the people of Israel and our friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for donating 5,000 vaccines!” Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández said on Twitter Thursday.
China, Russia and India are also engaged in so-called vaccination diplomacy by sending doses to friendly countries, which are sometimes preferred over their own people.
But while Israel has sent doses to the other side of the world, the vast majority of Palestinians are still waiting to be vaccinated.
According to the latest figures, Israel has so far given only 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the Palestinian Authority and promised a further 3,000. Russia has donated 10,000 doses of its Sputnik V vaccine to the Palestinians.
This leaves the Palestinians much less than the amount they need to vaccinate the approximately 5 million people living in the West Bank and Gaza.
The first doses available are given to Palestinian health workers.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said it was “political blackmail and an immoral measure” for Israel to exchange vaccines in exchange for diplomatic favors.
The criticism was reflected in the United States and other countries.
“It is outrageous that Netanyahu would use extra vaccines to reward his foreign allies while so many Palestinians are still waiting in the occupied territories,” Soff. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,said earlier this week.
Israel claims that under the Oslo Accords of 1993, the Palestinians are responsible for securing their own vaccines. But United Nations officials and human rights groups say Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged by the Geneva Conventions to provide it.
Israel is heading for elections on March 23 and Netanyahu has made the handling of vaccine vaccination, as well as his competence on the world stage, a focal point of his re-election campaign.
Polls show that Netanyahu’s Likud party is on track to win more seats than any other party, but it is unclear whether it will be able to forge a majority coalition government that could help it avoid legal consequences from an ongoing corruption trial.