Israel suspends donations of COVID-19 vaccines to other countries | The World | DW

Israel froze the distribution of surplus vaccines against the coronavirus to allied countries, because the authorities must first examine whether that decision corresponds to the prime minister, the Ministry of Justice announced this Thursday (02/25/2021).

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the dispatch of a “limited quantity” of unused vaccines to the Palestinians and several countries, including two that announced to strengthen their diplomatic presence in Jerusalem.

However, the Justice Ministry indicated on Thursday night that, following the demands of the population, “the attorney general verified whether vaccines were transferred abroad without (having the) authority” to do so.

According to this source, the National Security Advisor, Meir Ben-Shabbat, who asked for a legal opinion, informed the attorney general that “an order was issued to freeze any activity on the matter.”

An official from Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Ben-Shabbat had demanded “a legal opinion from the attorney general”, hinting that the process had been frozen and all this “despite the fact that Israeli citizens are not missing any doses.”

Benefited countries

Israel has previously sent thousands of doses to the occupied West Bank for Palestinian Authority health personnel, a decision approved by the ministerial commission on Security and the attorney general.

This Thursday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz had called for the suspension of vaccine donations to foreign countries, considering in a letter to Netanyahu that the competent authorities did not address the issue.

Honduras and Guatemala, two of the few countries that recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Hebrew state, announced this Thursday that they had each received 5,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine, donated by Israel.

The Czech Republic, which is considering opening a diplomatic office in Jerusalem in March, said Tuesday that it has already received 5,000 doses of the same vaccine from Israel. Hungary should also receive the injectable.

Israel, which launched an extensive vaccination campaign on December 19, administered doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to more than 3.2 million people, or one-third of its population.

mg (afp, Reuters)

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