After one of Israel’s main national security blocs reported that a prisoner exchange with Syria was secretly brokered by Russia – that Israel would buy the Russian Sputnik V vaccine for Syria to close the deal – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu half-confirmed and half denied the news Saturday night. “I mean not even an Israeli vaccine went for that thing,” Netanyahu said. “I thank President Putin for doing this. And more than that, I will not add because this was the Russian request.” The terms of the agreement were first reported by blogger Richard Silverstein, and later confirmed by The New York Times. Israeli authorities described the prison exchange as a standard exchange; an unnamed Israeli woman taken prisoner in Syria by two shepherds. A source also confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that vaccines were part of the agreement. The guardian reported in January that native Palestinians were excluded from the Israeli vaccine.
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