JERUSALEM (AP) – When it comes to obtaining difficult-to-obtain coronavirus vaccines, friends of Israel are discovering that the road appears to pass through Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday acknowledged the sharing of coronavirus vaccines with several friendly countries that have given Israel favors in the past. Although he has not identified the countries, a list obtained by an Israeli TV station suggests that several of them support Israel’s claim to the contested city of Jerusalem as its capital.
The comments were made at a time when Israel faces international criticism for not doing more to share its vast stock of vaccines with the Palestinians. They also illustrated how in a time of global scarcity, the vaccine has become an asset that can be used for diplomatic gain.
“As an occupying power, Israel is responsible for the health of all people under its control,” tweeted US Senator Bernie Sanders. “It is outrageous that Netanyahu uses spare vaccines to reward his foreign allies while so many Palestinians in the occupied territories are still waiting.”
Although Israel does not produce its own vaccines, Netanyahu oversaw one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world, securing millions of doses from drug makers Pfizer and Moderna. Speaking at a news conference, he said Israel has already vaccinated more than 5 million people with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and could complete the task of inoculating its 6.2 million adults in weeks.
He also said that Israel has a surplus stock of hundreds of thousands of modern vaccines.
After determining that Israel has “more than enough” vaccines for its own population, he said he personally decided to share what he called a symbolic number of doses with some of Israel’s allies.
He said it was done “in exchange for things we already received, through many contacts in various areas that I will not detail here,” said Netanyahu. “I think it absolutely buys goodwill.”
Israeli public broadcaster Kan said a total of about 100,000 modern vaccines are being sent to about 15 allies.
They include Honduras, Guatemala, Hungary, Uganda and the Czech Republic – countries that have recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or expressed interest in opening diplomatic offices there after the Trump administration’s move from the U.S. Embassy to the city in 2018.
Chad, which established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2019, Mauritania, which is believed to be on the verge of restoring relations, and several other African countries that have close security ties with Israel, including Ethiopia and Kenya, also appear on the list.
Asked about the use of Netanyahu vaccines as a diplomatic tool, Moderna declined to comment.
Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed, as the capital of a future state. Competing claims to the city are at the heart of the decades-long conflict, and most of the international community says that Jerusalem’s fate must be resolved through negotiations.
Netanyahu noted that Israel has also pledged to share some vaccines with the Palestinians. Israel delivered only 2,000 doses of Moderna to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority to inoculate West Bank medical workers.
Otherwise, Palestinians have been struggling to get their own vaccines. The Palestinian Authority received 10,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, while a rival to President Mahmoud Abbas delivered another 20,000 Sputnik vaccines this week in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. after arranging delivery from the UAE.
Together, these vaccines will cover only a small fraction of the millions of Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority said it expects to receive more vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program and other agreements, but it is unclear when the drugs will arrive.
Wasel Abu Yusuf, a senior Palestinian official, accused Netanyahu of making politics on a humanitarian issue.
“He is using the vaccines needed by some countries to obtain political support for his policies, such as moving embassies to Jerusalem,” he said. “The amount of vaccines he is talking about giving to Palestinians in the West Bank is very small.”
Inequality has drawn attention to the global disparity in obtaining vaccines between rich and poor countries and has generated some international criticism.
Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said it is understandable that Israel wants to take care of its own citizens first. But “at some point it becomes ethically grotesque,” he said.
He said that in addition to having a moral responsibility to the Palestinians, it would be smart to help them.
“The reason it is a smart thing is that it would provide Israel with enormous benefits in its reputation in the region and globally,” he said. “Failing to share the vaccine will not be forgotten, because many people die unnecessarily from preventable diseases.”
UN officials and human rights groups expressed concerns on inequity and said Israel is an occupying power responsible for providing vaccines to Palestinians.
Israel claims that, under the interim peace agreements of the 1990s, it has no such responsibility. Israel vaccinated its own Arab population, including Palestinians in East Jerusalem annexed to Israel.
But Israeli public health experts urged the government to share vaccines, due to extensive contact between Israelis and Palestinians. Tens of thousands of Palestinian workers work within Israel or in their West Bank settlements.
The Biden government refrained from criticizing Israel, but expressed support for sharing vaccines with the Palestinians. “We believe it is important for Palestinians to gain greater access to the COVID vaccine in the coming weeks,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. “Israel’s health and safety is also important for Israel.
Netanyahu’s decision to share vaccines with allies was criticized at home. His main rival and partner in the government, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, said Netanyahu made the decision unilaterally, without any deliberation or supervision.
“The fact that Netanyahu commercializes vaccines for Israeli citizens who were paid with their tax money without any responsibility shows that he thinks he is running a kingdom and not a state,” said Gantz this week.
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AP correspondents Laurie Kellman in Tel Aviv and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to the report.