Israel sends COVID-19 vaccines to Syria, Honduras, the Czech Republic, and Guatemala but denies responsibility to vaccinate its Palestinian subjects

The news broke this week that the Israeli government had secretly agreed to the transfer of a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria in exchange for a prisoner swap between Israeli and Syrian authorities. 

Last week, an Israeli woman in her 20s was released from Syrian detention, where she had been held since early February after crossing into Syrian territory. The woman, whose identity remained unknown, was exchanged for two Syrian shepherds who had crossed into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and were being held in Israeli custody.

The New York Times revealed that as part of the deal, which was mediated by Russia, Israel agreed to pay Russia for an undisclosed amount of Sputnik V vaccines to be sent to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of orchestrating heinous war crimes during the Syrian civil war, including bombing hospitals and schools, and the forced disappearance and torture of thousands of Syrians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on the matter, but said that, “Israel has always done and will always do everything in its power to bring our citizens back.”

The deal with the Syrian regime precedes Israel’s latest efforts at what some are calling “vaccine diplomacy” — where wealthy countries like Israel, who have already vaccinated more than half of their population, provide vaccine supplies to countries that have been unable to secure sufficient vaccine supplies in exchange for their diplomatic support. 

Israeli media reported on Tuesday that the government was offering vaccine shipments to countries in exchange for their diplomatic support, or as a gift of sorts to countries who had already taken diplomatic measures favorable to Israel, such as vowing to move or establish their embassies to Jerusalem. 

Among the countries to be receiving Israeli shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine are Honduras, the Czech Republic, and Guatemala. Guatemala moved its Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2018; Honduras has vowed to do the same, and the Czech Republic has said it plans to open a diplomatic office in Jerusalem. 

The Times of Israel quoted sources “familiar with the development” as saying that “providing the vaccines is part of the process of bringing the missions to the capital.”

Israeli media also reported that Netanyahu was “considering donating vaccines to a country with which it does not have diplomatic relations in exchange for normalization.”

Netanyahu’s plans to leverage vaccines to promote Israeli diplomacy around the Middle East and the world are likely to continue, as Israel nears its goal of inoculating its entire population and vaccine surpluses in the country continue to grow. 

But while Israel sends its vaccines abroad, and coordinates the purchase of vaccines to brutal regimes like that of Bashar al-Assad, the millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are still being left out of the state’s inoculation plans.

Among the shipments of vaccines to Honduras, Guatemala, and the Czech Republic, were also reported to be an undisclosed amount of vaccines that were sent to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. 

A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said that the country’s vaccine stocks allowed for the transfer of a “symbolic number of immunizations” to Palestinian medical staff in the occupied West Bank. 

The statement made no mention of shipments to the Gaza Strip, where thousands of front line medical workers are in dire need of the vaccine. Israeli authorities have publicly stated their intent to not let any Israeli vaccines into Gaza, for alleged fear that the vaccines would end up in the hands of Hamas authorities, rather than medical professionals. 

Israeli officials have yet to make any statements on whether they are concerned that the Sputnik V vaccines that Israel purchased for the Syrian government would end up in the hands of Bashar al-Assad’s authorities, rather than Syrian civilians and healthcare workers. 

Just last week, Israel delayed a shipment from the PA of 2,000 Sputnik V vaccines into Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinians are living under one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century — a crisis spawned by Israel’s now 14-year air, land, and sea blockade of the territory. 

Israel has so far supplied only a few thousand vaccines to the nearly 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, and has continued to deny its obligations under international law to vaccinate the Palestinian population living under its control in territory. 

Israel argues that the Oslo Accords, which established the PA and transferred some control over civilian affairs to the Palestinian government, absolve the country of its duty to vaccinate the Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. 

Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights groups have emphasized, however, that under the Fourth Geneva convention Israel is obligated as the occupying power to coordinate with local authorities to maintain and preserve public health in the territory it occupies. 

The PA has struggled to kick off its vaccination campaign, due to multiple delays in vaccine shipments from foreign suppliers. So far, the PA is estimated to have vaccinated only a few thousands health care workers and government officials. 

Meanwhile, Israel continues to lead the world in its vaccination campaign, with almost 50% of the country’s total population having now received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and over 3 million Israel citizens having received both doses of the vaccine.

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