Palestinian cabinet blames Israel for everything - but not for lack of COVID-19 vaccines

Every Monday, during the Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, he presents a summary of problems being worked on. 

He is not shy about saying anti-Israel rhetoric. In today's meeting, for example, he thanked the members of Congress for writing an anti-Israel letter to Secretary of State Blinken and he condemned Kosovo for opening up an embassy in Jerusalem. 

Obviously, he has to address the coronavirus crisis. The Palestinians have been promised vaccines from Russia, from Astra-Zeneca and from COVAX, but none have actually been shipped. 

Yet when it comes to this topic, he never says a word against Israel.

Last week he said:

Global supply chains for vaccines are delayed due to competition from other countries and their attempt to acquire vaccines. About 75% of the vaccines are concentrated in ten rich countries, while 130 countries have not received a dose of the vaccine according to UN reports. The only available weapon in our hands today are the masks and the physical distancing, so by adhering to this, we protect ourselves and our society from the risks of infection with the new strains of the virus .

I call on friendly countries, vaccine-producing companies, and the global COVAX mechanism to fulfill their obligations and work to supply the vaccines that we were  promised as donations or those that we paid for and whose supply dates were delayed so that we can provide a safe environment for the legislative elections scheduled to take place on the twenty-second of next May.

This week:

Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that great progress has been made in communications to obtain anti-Coronavirus vaccines, whether those that we will receive in the form of donations from the international COVAX mechanism, or those that we have paid for with the companies producing vaccines. 

Shtayyeh explained at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, today, Monday, in Ramallah, that the problem is not in providing funds, but in fulfilling companies' obligations, as there is piracy of the vaccine and politicization of its provision, and there is a tremendous demand and limited supply, and despite that we have activated all our diplomatic, political, medical and international channels. 

He expressed his hope that these efforts will bear fruit with the arrival of the first batch of vaccines.

Even many weeks after the Palestinian leaders announced that vaccines were on their way, both that they purchased and that were donated, the vaccines never showed up. And yet even though the entire world is blaming Israel and falsely claiming that Israel must provide vaccines, there is not a word against Israel in any of Shtayyeh's addresses.

Clearly the Palestinian Authority has always intended to act like an independent state that can procure its own vaccines for its own people. And even in the face of more procurement delays, in its own internal meetings the Palestinian Authority is not calling on Israel to give or sell any surplus vaccines to them, nor is it blaming Israel for not providing vaccines for free as so many anti-Israel activists claim the Geneva Conventions mandate. 

They don't want help from Israel. And when they ask for limited amounts of help, Israel has given it. 

It is also notable that Israel's drive to vaccinate some 120,000 Palestinian workers is unreported in official Palestinian news agency media. 

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