Andrew Marr of the BBC grilled Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein about why Israel is not extending its vaccination program to the Palestinian people in territories it occupies, and Edelstein said Israel has no more obligation to them than the Palestinian minister of health has to “take care of dolphins in the Mediterranean.” Yes, you heard that right.
Here’s the exchange. It’s amazing that American media are covering Israeli vaccination rates as if they’re some kind of model. (Richard Engel of NBC, among others).
Andrew Marr: The United Nations says it’s your legal obligation to make sure the Palestinian people under occupation have a swift and equitable access to covid-19 vaccines. Why aren’t you doing this?
Yuli Edelstein: As far as the vaccination is concerned, I think that it’s a Israeli obligation first and foremost to its citizens. They pay taxes for that, don’t they? But having said that, I do remember that it’s our interest – not our legal obligation – that it’s our interest to make sure that the Palestinians get the vaccine and they won’t have the covid-19 spreading.
Marr: I understand that, but the Palestinians have asked you for vaccines and you haven’t given them some, and under the Geneva Convention, the 4th Geneval Convention, Israel is required to do so. I can read it back. Article 56 says that Israel ‘must adopt and supply the prophylactic and preventative measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics in cooperation with local authorities.’ Now, that means the vaccine. Why aren’t you giving them the vaccine?
Edelstein: I would say that first of all we can also look into the so-called Oslo Agreements where it says loud and clear that Palestinians have to take care of their own health.
Marr: Again, I’m sorry to interrupt but the United Nations says that international law should supersede the Oslo Agreements on this.
Edelstein: If it is the responsibility of the Israeli Health Minister to take care of the Palestinians what exactly is the responsibility of the Palestinian Health Minister? To take care of the dolphins in the Mediterranean?
Marr: I’m so sorry. Let me put it to you that many of your own citizens also think you should be doing more. There was a petition by 200 rabbis which says: ‘Judaism teaches a moral imperative not to show indifference as our neighbour suffers but rather to mobilise and offer help in times of need.’ The rabbis are right aren’t they?
Edelstein: The rabbis are always right I guess, but I would definitely say that that is exactly why when the Palestinians turn to us in terms of health with their medical teams I authorised passing some vaccines to those medical teams who directly work with corona patients in the Palestinian authority, and as you can hear from this interview it’s not because I think that we have a legal obligation, it’s because I understand that there are doctors and nurses that they don’t get the vaccine at this stage.
Years ago after an Israeli massacre in Gaza, Jimmy Carter said that Israel treats Gazans like animals, and he was denounced as an antisemite; well here it is from the horse’s mouth.
And, It’s impossible to imagine an American broadcast journalist being this hard on the Israeli health minister. Though that day is approaching. The contradiction between U.S. moves on diversity/equity and the special relationship with a Jewish-supremacist regime will be overwhelming in the Biden era. Any health official who used language like this would lose their job in the U.S.
Phil, many thanks. It should be pointed out as well that, contrary to Edelstein’s clear insinuation, the Palestinians DO pay taxes to Israel. And it’s worse than that: Not only do the Palestinians pay taxes to Israel, but Israel does not (as required under international law for occupied territories) put those taxes all back into the territories. Thus the Palestinians are paying proportionately MORE taxes to Israel than the settlers getting vaccinated on Palestinian land. Too bad Marr didn’t call Edelstein out on that.
To state the screaming obvious: The Zionist entity referred to as “Israel” is descending ever faster and deeper into the pit of racism and fascism!! In short, apart from its monstrous crimes committed against the defenseless Palestinians, Israel is digging its own grave.
What Palestinians Face All the Time! | Tikkun
Tikkun, Jan. 21/21
“What Palestinians Face All the Time” by Adam Keller
EXCERPT:
“Settler terrorism is on the rise because of the standoffish attitude or actual support by the Israeli occupation forces: this week, another record was set by the settlers vandalizing Palestinians and their property and activists who accompany them, from Jit-Sara Junction (Qedumim) all the way to Hebron, from the West Bank Hill Range to villages, fields and junctions in the districts of Nablus, Ramallah, Salfit, Bethlehem and Tul Karm; On Friday, in A-Tawane in the South Hebron Hills, dozens of Palestinians and over 120 Israeli activists participated in a demonstration protesting the shooting by an Israeli soldier of a villager of A-Rakeez who tried to prevent the army from confiscating a generator – the army dispersed this demonstration by throwing stun grenades; on Saturday settlers invaded Palestinian lands near Susya; for weeks now the settlers of ‘Mitzpe Yair’ have been invading the lands, homes and tents in the village of Simra, in the South Hebron Hills; an intentional act of vandalism was perpetrated in the vehicle of two activists while they tried to prevent a settler’s cattle herd from invading a sown Palestinian field near Tayibe Junction – an act that endangered the activists’ lives; an activist was hurt by a metal rod while trying to prevent the invasion by settler flocks of the new settler outpost near Deir Jarayer.”
Why Dolphins Have Disappeared from Israel’s Shores…A recent Jerusalem Post article reported on the rare sighting of a baby dolphin swimming alongside its mother of Israel’s Mediterranean shoreline. While this sighting was good news for marine biologists, it was also noted in the article that an unusually large number of carcasses of dolphins and whales have washed ashore, with a total of 16 already found by mid August…Dr. Scheinin is very interested in finding out why “so many Israeli common dolphins are dying along Israel’s coasts.”
https://www.greenprophet.com/2012/08/dolphin-israel-shores/
There is something weird about the fact that it is the UN who is making this demand on Israel rather than the elected Palestinian leadership.
The situation highlights how messed up the status quo is, where there are dual demands: independence and dependence. (That said, Mister Edelstein does not make me proud and considering how low the demand for the vaccine seems to be among Israeli “Palestinians”/Arabs, it is probable that it would not take a large supply of vaccines to fulfill the initial demand on the West Bank. The dysfunction is glaring and the attitude is regressive.)
Sorry, Phil, I think you are stretching it a little bit. Reading the excerpt, it was a gratuitous, racist remark by the minister. But i don’t think you can say that he said that Israel has no more obligation to them than the Palestinian minister of health has to “take care of dolphins in the Mediterranean”.
I look to you, and Mondoweiss, as a serious publication. My ability to share your articles with others depends on them being factual. Please be careful.