Netanyahu plan to share vaccines frozen
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plan to ship surplus coronavirus vaccines to a group of allied nations was frozen yesterday following a legal challenge to the deal, his office announced.
It was the latest twist in a saga that has raised questions at home about Netanyahu’s decision-making authority as well as his move to help far-flung nations in Africa and Latin America at a time when the neighbouring Palestinian territories are struggling to secure their own vaccine supplies.
The plan has also illustrated how at a time of global shortages, the vaccine has become an asset that can be used for diplomatic gain.
Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he had personally decided to share small quantities of surplus Israeli vaccines with allied nations.
He did not identify the countries, but an Israeli TV station said they included a number of nations that have supported Israel’s claims to the contested city of Jerusalem as its capital.
Netanyahu’s governing partner and rival, Defence Minister Benny Gantz, yesterday called for a halt in the shipments, saying Israel’s stockpile of vaccines is the property of the state. He attacked the prime minister’s go-it-alone approach and questioned Netanyahu’s claims that there are really excess supplies when Israelis still have not been fully vaccinated.
“This is not the first time that significant defence and diplomatic decisions are being made behind the backs of the relevant bodies, while possibly damaging our national security, our foreign relations, and the rule of law,” Gantz wrote.
“This is a pattern which impinges upon our ability to manage the country soundly.”
Despite the freeze, Israel’s Army radio station reported that one delivery had already landed in Honduras.
Netanyahu, who is up for reelection on March 23, has staked his political success on Israel’s successful vaccination drive, in which about half of the country’s 9.3 million people have been inoculated in just under two months.
Netanyahu said that Israel has hundreds of thousands of surplus vaccines.
He said some extras were being shared in response to requests from allies as a mostly symbolic thank-you “in return for things we already have received”.
The revelation was striking because Israel has received widespread international condemnation for sharing only a small fraction of virusfighting shots with the Palestinians. Israeli this month shared just 2000 doses of the Moderna vaccine with the Palestinian Authority to immunise front-line medical workers.
UN officials and human rights groups say Israel is an occupying power responsible for the well-being of the Palestinians.
Israel says that under interim peace accords from the 1990s it has no such obligations.
It notes that it has vaccinated its own Arab population, including Palestinians who live in Israeliannexed east Jerusalem.
A list obtained by an Israeli TV station included a number of nations that have supported Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, including Honduras, Guatemala and the Czech Republic. African countries with close or budding relations with Israel also appeared, including Chad, Mauritania, Uganda and Kenya.