As Israel’s world-leading coronavirus vaccination program makes international headlines, Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth rushed to Twitter to spread the lie that Israel is committing an act of racism by not vaccinating all Palestinians living under Hamas rule in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
But in a January 4th Twitter thread seen more than 200,000 times (see below), UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer explained why Roth’s claims are a deception.
Neuer also called out Roth’s colleague Omar Shakir, as well as Amnesty International, for propagating the same libel:
Palestinian Authority Officials Contradict Themselves
Since then, the Palestinians have contradicted themselves numerous times. In late December, PA Health Ministry officials said that they did not ask Israel to provide the Palestinians with the vaccine. But when they saw that anti-Israel critics began propagating the successful smear, the PA suddenly released a statement claiming that Israel is nevertheless responsible for providing vaccines. The PA made this statement even as they were busy signing their own deal with the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical firm, as well as procuring the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization’s mission to the Palestinians, Gerald Rockenschaub, has clarified that “informal discussions” between Israel and the WHO took place — contrary to false claims that Israel had refused an official WHO request to supply Palestinians with vaccines.
Neuer’s input Liked and Shared
Neuer’s Twitter thread was liked or shared by former Member of European Parliament Bas Belder, former Dutch MP Jacques Monasch, former and current Israeli diplomats Daniel Carmon, Arthur Lenk, Tania Berg-Rafaeli and Galit Peleg, former Canadian ambassador to Israel Vivian Bercovici, Jewish Agency spokesperson Yigal Palmor, editor David Hazony, Toronto Sun columnist Lorrie Goldstein and French lawyer and columnist William Goldnadel.
Once again Israel is being demonized with the usual apartheid slights, this time relating to the Covid19 vaccine and Israel’s success at firstly obtaining the drugs timeously and distributing it to almost her entire population. Suddenly some newspapers, the UN Human Rights Head and other ‘commentators’ find reason to condemn something positive – no anything positive from Israel or a Jew. Another well publicized fact was that the scientific results of Israel’s quick and efficient vaccination program would be shared with the manufacturers of the drugs – something vitally important in measuring if such a program will reduce the rapid infection rate – so vital to establishing the effectiveness of the vaccine, which would be of invaluable benefit to the rest of the world.
The well documented facts that the vaccine was offered to the Palestinian Authority have been widely published, but ignored by those intent on finding fault and maligning anything from Israel.
It must be the first duty of Israel to immunize its own population, including its Palestinian citizens who comprise over 20% of the population. Clearly it is not Israeli’s responsibility to provide Palestine with the drug. Most civic functions including healthcare fall under the Palestinian Authority in terms of the Oslo Accord, but this is ignored by Israel’s critics.
Again, those hostile reports and NGO’s demonstrate their racism and Jew hatred by demanding that Israel provide vaccine’s to Palestine as they claim its Israel’s responsibility to do so. If so surely its Britain and the other wealthy countries who managed to secure and monopolize sufficient supplies of the vaccines for their own populations to also ensure that those poor African countries received the same stocks as they have, surely if Israel is held responsible to supply Palestine, then the same responsibility must fall upon the wealthy states to assist those poorer countries.
Why is it only Israel’s responsibility to look after its neighbors but not the wealthy European states to look after the poorer African countries. But double standards abound when turning the positive from Israel on its head.
Just how obvious are these vicious attacks of blatant racism and hatred of the Jews when it’s common knowledge that the CEO of Pfiser is a Jew, when the CEO of Moderna (the other manufacturer of the vaccine), a Jew from Israel, and the actual developer of the vaccine also a Jew. So obvious that anything good and positive coming from a Jew and Israel must be demonized, maligned and turned on its head as these hate filled people cannot do anything but perpetuate anti-Semitism in whatever form they see fit.