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What Amnesty International Gets Wrong about Israel's Vaccine Program
(Spectator-UK) Jake Wallis Simons - With Israel's remarkable vaccine rollout, human rights groups have queued up to accuse the Jewish state of "excluding" the Palestinians from getting the vaccine. "Denying Covid-19 vaccines to Palestinians exposes Israel's institutionalized discrimination," Amnesty International has claimed. But this narrative fails to account for a simple fact: the Palestinian leaders themselves haven't complained. Under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for its own health services. This is part of its long-held intention to function as an independent state. The Palestinians find it deeply embarrassing to ask Israel for vaccine assistance, even viewing it as collaboration with the enemy. In December, PA officials insisted they were going to procure the lifesaving drugs themselves, in cooperation with the World Health Organization. Palestinians appear to be seen by some as an infantilized people in need of Western intervention. But this is certainly not how they see themselves.