Israeli officials have secretly agreed to fund coronavirus vaccines for Syria in exchange for the release of an Israeli woman arrested for entering Syria illegally, the New York Times reported Sunday.
Under the terms of the agreement, Israel will pay Russia, a sponsor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to send the vaccine produced by Russia to Syria.
In an interview on Saturday, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin (Bibi) NetanyahuMORE he did not directly deny the deal, only said that no Israeli vaccines would be sent to Syria and that he was “glad” that the Israeli citizen had been released.
“I will not add more,” Netanyahu said after thanking the Russian president Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich, Governor Cuomo’s PutinMedia promotion, looks pretty bad now, Putin’s critic Navalny is losing his appeal to jail time. Biden calls for creation of “rules” on cyber technology to combat threats from China and Russia MORE.
Syria and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations and the two countries still dispute the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1960s. The official announcement from the Israeli government said the woman had been released in exchange for two Syrian shepherds captured by Israel, according to the Times.
The report also arrives, as Israel has administered at least one dose of the vaccine to about half of its population. Meanwhile, only a few thousand doses have been supplied to the West Bank, where some 2.8 million Palestinians live.
The country has argued that it is not responsible for providing health care to Palestinians under the terms of the Oslo Accords, while Palestinians have argued that the Fourth Geneva Convention names health care as one of the responsibilities of an occupying power. , according to the Times.
“Israel is willing to provide vaccines to Syrians outside its borders, but at the same time not to provide them to a huge employed population for which they are legally responsible,” researcher Khaled Elgindy, management adviser, told the newspaper palestine. “It seems that this sends a message that deliberately tries to avoid its legal responsibility to ensure the welfare of this busy population.
The Hill has contacted the Israeli foreign ministry to comment.