Once again, the Jerusalem bureau of the New York Times publishes pro-Israel propaganda instead of telling its readers the truth. This time, the dishonesty is about Israel’s coronavirus vaccination program.
Here’s Isabel Kershner’s headline over the weekend:
How Israel Became a World Leader in Vaccinating Against Covid-19
The lead sentence: “More than 10 percent of Israel’s population has received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, a rate that has far outstripped the rest of the world. . .” In the 4th paragraph, the chairman of a team of experts gushes, “It’s quite an astonishing story.”
You have to read all the way down to Paragraph 26 before the Times tells you the ugly truth: Israel is not inoculating Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, even though the paper notes, as an afterthought, that “Legal experts and human rights activists said Israel was obliged to provide the Palestinians with vaccines.” Kershner never apparently asked herself, “How do West Bank Palestinians feel about the fact that their ‘neighbors,’ the several hundred thousand Jewish settlers, are getting vaccinated and they are not?”
The Washington Post did a better job today. In the fifth paragraph, the paper does report that “Israel’s head start on the vaccine count does not include almost 5 million Palestinians under its control in the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip, where cases are also surging.” (The Times somehow left out that 5 million figure.) The Post also noted that, “Israeli officials have rejected claims of human rights groups that Israel is obliged to provide vaccinations to Palestinians in the territories. . . ,” but then dropped the subject without following up.
Neither the Times nor the Post talked to a single Palestinian under the Israeli occupation.
This site’s Yumna Patel showed a week ago how the coronavirus vaccination story should have been reported. Her headline was,
The COVID-19 vaccine: another ugly face of Israeli Apartheid
She quotes an actual Palestinian, Dr. Yara Hawari, Senior Analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, who pointed out:
Firstly, we have to be very clear: with military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza effectively under Israeli control, Israel is legally obliged by international law to provide for their [Palestinians’] healthcare.
And Dr. Hawari had plenty more to say:
There’s this common recurring narrative that the reason the Palestinian healthcare system or other systems like education are inefficient and not doing their job is because of incompetence on the part of the Palestinian people or their culture — this idea that they’re stupid and can’t govern.
That’s obviously not the case. The Israeli regime has systematically targeted the Palestinian healthcare system and contributed to its de-development. Palestinians have been forced to rely on outside help and have been prevented from being self-sufficient by the [Israeli] occupation, with the complacency of the international community.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-fake-news-distance-hinder-covid-vaccinations-for-east-jerusalem-palestinians-1.9424477
“Fake News, Conspiracies Hinder Israel’s COVID Vaccination Drive for East Jerusalem Palestinians” Haaretz, January 5/21 by Nir Hasson
EXCERPT:
“Coronavirus vaccination levels for Israel’s Arabs have been comparatively low, but East Jerusalem levels are even lower – leaving room for Jewish non-residents to receive inoculations in their place
“Only about 20 percent of Palestinian East Jerusalem residents aged 60 and older have received the coronavirus vaccine, compared to about 75 percent of the entire city’s Jewish population from the same age group, the military’s Home Front Command said Tuesday.
“Ayman Seif, who leads the Health Ministry’s coronavirus response for the Arab community, said that compared to the rest of Arab population, the vaccination efforts in East Jerusalem have been the least promising.”
Palestinians excluded from Israeli Covid vaccine rollout as jabs go to settlers | Defend Democracy Press
Defend Democracy Press, Jan. 4/21
“Palestinians excluded from Israeli Covid vaccine rollout as jabs go to settlers”
EXCERPT:
“Human rights groups accuse Israel of dodging obligations to millions in occupied territories who may wait months for vaccination” By Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem and Hazem Balousha in Gaza
“Israel is celebrating an impressive, record-setting vaccination drive, having given initial jabs of coronavirus shots to more than a 10th of the population. But Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza can only watch and wait.
“As the world ramps up what is already on track to become a highly unequal vaccination push – with people in richer nations first to be inoculated – the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories provides a stark example of the divide.
“Israel transports batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine deep inside the West Bank. But they are only distributed to Jewish settlers, and not the roughly 2.7 million Palestinians living around them who may have to wait for weeks or months.
“’I don’t know how, but there must be a way to make us a priority, too?’ said Mahmoud Kilani, a 31-year-old sports coach from the Palestinian city of Nablus. ‘Who cares about us? I don’t think anybody is stuck on that question.’”
Continue reading http://www.theguardian.com
For the record:
Solitary_Report_2020_05DEC2020.pdf (d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net)
“ISOLATED & ALONE” December 2020, Defense for Children International – Palestine.
What BDS means to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU_6VyxqLqg&feature=emb_logo
Ala Hani al Abbassi, 15, RIP – YouTube
Video: Ala Hani al Abbassi, 15, RIP, January 1, 2021
Of course Mondoweiss jumps on the bash Israel gravy train as soon as possible without any scrutiny of the facts.
Media adopts canard Israel denies vaccine to Palestinians – analysis
Look at this irritating piece by NPR’s Daniel “both sides” Estrin:
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/31/952364150/as-israel-leads-in-covid-19-vaccines-per-capita-palestinians-still-await-shots
He does say this:
He avoids mentioning that Israel is providing vaccines to Israelis living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ah, so it’s the Palestinians’ own fault, because of their months-long boycott of Israel, which is something they did for reasons that Daniel Estrin avoids sharing.
Then it ends with the heart-warming story of “Nicole Schwartz, 27“, who “accompanied her grandmother to get the vaccine Thursday, in the town of Sderot“:
Not people that Daniel Estrin is interviewing.