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How Israel won the vaccine wars The country was predisposed to succeed — but took a huge gamble

Did Israel get lucky? (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Did Israel get lucky? (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)


February 22, 2021   7 mins

Israel’s remarkable vaccination success story might be less interesting if it were only pulling slightly ahead of comparable countries. But the difference is not one of degree. With more than 82 doses delivered per 100 citizens by the end of last week — compared with 26 for the UK, 17 for the US, and a scandalous 5.9 for the EU — Israel is significantly ahead of the pack.

But why is that? No doubt that’s the question governments across the world are currently attempting to answer, in the hope of replicating some of Israel’s success. But the truth is that the country’s vaccination rollout has been a unique victory — one that has emerged from a confluence of factors which, while individually common in other countries, Israel is alone in having.

Some of those factors are structural. Israel’s universal health system, for example, is built on a regulated service provided by four competing non-profit health service organisations, called “sick funds” — a bit like having four versions of the NHS. Every resident must be a member of a fund, which are financed by a small progressive health tax that ranges from 3-5% of a person’s income. In effect, the system combines the benefits of universal coverage with competition, though it is hardly alone in the world in doing so.

Far less common, though, is the extent of digitisation in the Israeli health system. Each fund maintains a fully digitised records and appointments system, integrated with smartphone apps, websites, and automated phone systems. Crucially, these records are directly connected to the Ministry of Health’s universal vaccination database. This meant that when the time came for organising Covid vaccination appointments, there was no new infrastructure to set up. Appointments were organised automatically for the people who most urgently needed them on platforms that were already familiar.

But none of that would have mattered without an adequate vaccine supply. And this is where the Israeli government stepped in. Well before any vaccines were approved, senior officials were already signing deals with Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and others — as well as funding a domestically produced vaccine, which is still in clinical trials. They also began securing a large supply of syringes and needles, an element of the vaccine strategy which was surprisingly overlooked by other countries, most notably Japan.

Of course, many countries put in early bids for vaccines before they were tested or approved. But while EU procurement was focused on leveraging the bloc’s enormous purchasing power to lower the price of vaccines, the Israelis knew there was little hope that a small peripheral country could drive a hard bargain. Working on the assumption that the costs of further lockdowns and hospitalisations would dwarf an inflated vaccine price, Israel prioritised buying as much of it as possible in the swiftest period of time. Exact figures are yet to be made public, but reports in the Israeli press suggests the government paid between double and triple the going rate.

Yet Israel did not just offer more money to get to the front of the queue. It also offered pharmaceutical companies anonymised real-time data on vaccine distribution, side effects, and efficacy — in effect turning its population into Phase IV trial. Data on this scale goes far beyond anything drug companies could obtain in even the largest clinical trials.

Still, while an adequate supply is crucial for a successful vaccination program, it hardly guarantees one. Indeed, it is Israel’s logistical operation, rather than its digitised record system and political decision-making, that ultimately ensured the country’s vaccination program was a success.

As soon as the vaccines arrive at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, they are taken straight to a centralised ultra-freeze facility just outside the airport. From there, three times a week, coordinated shipments of vaccine pallets are sent out to the four Israeli health organisations, as well as hospitals, prisons, army bases, purpose-built centres, drive-through facilities, and even mobile units stationed on weekend hiking trails. All are staffed by nurses from local hospitals and clinics which have seen reduced demand during the pandemic, as well as by paramedics and those specially trained to provide extra capacity in the months before the first vaccines arrived.

These centres process, on average, at least eight patients per hour per nurse. Last week, that meant that more than half of Israelis have received their first dose and more than a third have already received both — a figure made even more impressive when you consider that 30% of the population are under 16 and therefore ineligible for any vaccine (pending clinical trials on younger subjects).

Israel’s approach has also adapted when necessary. Early on, a call centre to report possible side effects was established to prevent the telephone appointment system being clogged up and, even more important, to reduce A&E visits to a bare minimum. Meanwhile, messaging for Israel’s diverse population has become more targeted: faced with low turnout in the first weeks in the Arab and ultra-Orthodox communities, authorities turned to social media and other outlets with tailored messages.

But, given that much of Israel’s vaccine roll-out benefitted from pre-existing infrastructure and policy decisions that are now too late to copy, is there anything that other countries can still do to try and replicate some of its success? The simple answer is: nobody knows for certain. But regardless of how easy they are to copy, there are two aspects of Israel’s vaccine operation that bear noting.

First, the criteria for the initial rollout were very broad and very simple. There was no list of at-risk professions and no list of pre-existing medical conditions that meant certain people were prioritised. Had there been, it’s safe to assume that call centres would have been deluged by those seeking exceptions, exemptions or early appointments. Instead, anyone over the age of 60 — a much lower cut-off than any other country — was invited to get vaccinated in the first three weeks, together with medical staff and anyone in “institutionalised” living (mostly care homes).

Though people in their 60s are not at a significantly high risk of dying from Covid, by vaccinating them early, the Israeli health organisations attended to most of the relevant pre-existing conditions, particularly diabetes and obesity. “The low initial age minimum covered nearly all of the co-morbidities anyway,” Dr Boaz Lev, who heads the Ministry of Health’s Advisory Committee on Pandemics and Vaccines, told me. “And it generated early momentum in a way that stricter criteria could not have.”

Such simple criteria were easy to understand and hard to resent. And the result was that, in the first month that vaccines were available, Israel and Denmark were the only countries where supply actually became an issue. In the rest of Europe and North America, unused vaccines sat in freezers or, worse still, thrown away.

Which brings us to the second crucial aspect of the Israeli operation that observing governments should take to heart: from the very beginning, there was a strict policy of no wastage. Indeed, if there’s one motif to the entire Israeli effort, it’s the idea that one discarded vaccine constitutes a systemic failure. This meant that in small towns where there were leftover vials at the end of the day, residents received text messages inviting them to be vaccinated. Anyone near a vaccination centre where too many vials had been defrosted was also encouraged to get a jab. Even people under 60 could show up at the end of the day and, in the event that there were extra doses, could get vaccinated.

The no wastage policy has had three benefits. It will save money in the long term, as fewer vaccines will need to be purchased than would have been the case if many had been spoiled and discarded. It relieved pressure on the appointments system by discreetly giving vaccines to those people who, for whatever reasons, wanted them earlier than the criteria would allow and who would otherwise have burdened the system with phone calls. And, perhaps most importantly, it quickly introduced more of the vaccine into the community much earlier than would otherwise have been the case — thereby reducing the virus’s transmissibility.

What’s remarkable about this most Israeli aspect of the whole Israeli operation is how little consideration was given to it. When I approached officials from the sick funds, the Ministry of Health, and nurses on site with questions about the no wastage policy, they all spoke of it as being common sense; something almost automatic. Israelis who hear the story of Hassan Gokal, the Texas doctor fired for ensuring ten thawed doses would be injected rather than discarded, assume that they have stepped through the looking glass.

These aren’t, of course, logistical innovations that stand alone. A low minimum age at rollout can only really work where the initial supply is suitably large, and a policy of no wastage is only conceivable in a system of fully integrated and readily accessible digital records. In Israel, a leftover dose could be given to someone who happened by a vaccination facility because the nurse was able to swipe that person’s magnetic medical card and see that they have no allergies, no contraindications for the vaccine, no positive tests for the virus — and the person would leave with the appointment for the second dose already booked in the system.

It’s also worth noting that, in retrospect, Israel’s decision to push hard in the first three weeks was also a huge gamble. Indeed, it might have been more prudent in the first weeks of the vaccine rollout to ensure that they went only to those most acutely in need — those over 80, overweight, and over in assisted living facilities. No one knew for sure there would be a steady supply after the first batch.

But, as it turned out, it was the momentum of those initial three weeks and the reliable data it provided that convinced Pfizer and others that a steady airlift to Israel was worth their while. Before this was settled, it seemed that Israel might even have to pause first doses after the third week doses until further shipments could be secured.

As it turned out, talk of a vaccine shortage spurred even more people to show up, as citizens began to worry that they might end up waiting until late February or March to be eligible again. “I swear we didn’t plan it that way,” an official from the Ministry of Health who worked on a number of the vaccination PR campaigns told me. “But the truth is, it did more to sustain momentum and interest than any of the influencers we contracted.”

The question for Israel now is whether it can complete the task. Pandemic fatigue has set in, and the most recent lockdown has already been lifted despite the infection rate remaining far higher than it was when either of the previous two lockdowns were ended. And while Israel’s dense population and efficient public health system have proved invaluable, some of its demographic problems will be challenging to surmount. Vaccination rates are still lower in the Arab and ultra-Orthodox communities, precisely the places where infection rates are higher.

An even bigger challenge is Israel’s young population. Even if all Israeli adults were vaccinated, that would only amount to about 70% of the population, far below what experts estimate is necessary for herd immunity. By summer it is believed that a vaccine will be approved for those aged 12 and up, but the incentive structure for vaccinations will be flipped.

It is easy to persuade vulnerable 80-year-olds to sign up for a vaccine for a disease that might kill them. Whether parents of teenagers will be similarly inclined for an injection that, while absolutely necessary for society at large, only protects their child from what is likely a minor illness, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, for the rest of the world, such a dilemma is yet another cause for envy.


Shany Mor is Director of Research at United Nations Watch.

ShMMor

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Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
3 years ago

‘When I approached officials from the sick funds, the Ministry of Health, and nurses on site with questions about the no wastage policy, they all spoke of it as being common sense; something almost automatic.’
I was already formulating a comment about the Israelis merely applying ‘common sense’ when I came to this line. And that’s all it is. But, as per the article on Foot & Mouth, common sense and competence are two things that western governments, organizations and institutions are completely incapable of practicing.

Clive Mitchell
Clive Mitchell
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

A friend of mine recently had the Pfizer vaccine. Okay said I, in 12 weeks you will get your second vaccination. Possibly earlier he said as he is now on the list to be called into the doctor’s surgery if it has left over vaccinations at the end of the day. This is common practice across the UK I am told for the Pfizer vaccine. So we are in some ways imitating the Israelis on this.

Judy Johnson
Judy Johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  Clive Mitchell

When a care home near the fire station where my son-in-law works had left over vacine at the end of the day, they called the fire station and firefighters went in to use it. Common sense (but often rare!)

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
3 years ago
Reply to  Clive Mitchell

I would have been vaccinated by now due to my age but I received it 3 weeks early by virtue of being on such a list held by a GP surgery – not even my own surgery. Anyone can do it.

Clive Mitchell
Clive Mitchell
3 years ago

I’m assuming Pfizer vac?

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago

Did you bother to find out the major risk factors with this genetic treatment. Hope your decision was informed and not sourced in fear.

Drahcir Nevarc
Drahcir Nevarc
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

Do one.

Tom Fox
Tom Fox
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

What a buffoon you are.

Tom Fox
Tom Fox
3 years ago
Reply to  Clive Mitchell

You say we are imitating the Israelis. I doubt that. It is absolute common sense not to waste the doses. My partner is vaccinating people. They squeeze every drop out of those Pfizer vials. They are supposed to contain five doses. In fact, they contain six. Every dose counts, not only because of expense, but because of scarcity.

Jonathan Ellman
Jonathan Ellman
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Democracies require public participation in politics. Israel’s need for a civilian army means that the public is obliged to participate and cooperate in state activities, specifically in defending the state. Authoritarian elites are good at locking down and controlling, not so good at opening up and cooperating. The difference between the UK and France’s vaccination programme is currently the most apparent expression of this. There will be anomalies but overall, globally, the pattern will reflect this.
The French public’s reluctance to accept the vaccine reflects a distrust of government and the state, as does the reluctance amongst sections of the UK’s ethnic minorities. This may also become a pattern globally.

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
3 years ago

You say the French distrust govt and state, yet they are always calling for more of it. I think they distrust the vaccines and the motivations of those who are devising and pushing them. And they might have a point.

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Exactly. I love to see the pattern again: Those who question the sanctioned narrative, including concerning an experimental “gene therapy,” are being treated as psychologically deranged or deficient.
Actually these questioners have very likely done more research on the “program.” First of of all the mRNA shots are not vaccines. They are, per Moderna, “software overlaid on the hardware of your DNA.”
https://www.modernatx.com/modernas-mrna-technology
I’ll let others volunteer as guinea pigs.
Furthermore I understand that only Jews have been jabbed in Israel.
Furthermore I read that these “leaky” vaccines create an environment for the virus actually to evolve stronger strains. Look it up yourselves.

Peter Kaye
Peter Kaye
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

SNL made the racist comment as a ‘joke’ that Israel only vaccinates the Jews (around 72% of the population). Best not to repeat this lie.
In fact, the rest of the population are being vaccinated the same as everyone else. Resistance from Muslim Arabs and ultra-orthodox Jews is problematic, but even so, at least 60% of Muslim Arabs have been vaccinated, so, the problem is that of lower numbers, not no numbers.

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

What do you mean by stronger?

Starry Gordon
Starry Gordon
3 years ago

If actions are taken against a collection of biotic (living) entities, the weaker die and the stronger survive and reproduce. It’s called ‘Evolution’. Thus effective measures, including vaccines, must either neutralize all of the target organisms, or at least reduce their numbers such that they no longer pose a significant threat to most people.

Last edited 3 years ago by Starry Gordon
Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago

No successful vaccine against a coronavirus has ever been developed.
Scientists have been trying to develop a SARS and MERS vaccine for years, with nothing to show for it. In fact, some of the failed SARS vaccines actually caused hypersensitivity to the SARS virus. Meaning that vaccinated mice could potentially get the disease more severely than unvaccinated mice.
Vaccine development is a slow, laborious process. Usually, from development through testing and finally being approved for public use takes many years. The various vaccines for Covid have all been developed and approved in less than a year.
While the media are quick to offer “explainer” guides, which cite “foresight, hard work and luck” as the reasons we got a Covid vaccine so quickly “without cutting corners”, they all leave out key information.
Namely, that none of the vaccines have yet been subject to proper trials. Many of them skipped early-stage trials entirely, and the late stage human trials have either not been peer reviewed, have not released their data, will not finish until 2023 or were abandoned after “severe adverse effects”.
While traditional vaccines work by exposing the body to a weakened strain of the microorganism responsible for causing the disease, these new Covid vaccines are mRNA vaccines.
mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines theoretically work by injecting viral mRNA into the body, where it replicates inside your cells and encourages your body to recognise, and make antigens for, the “spike proteins” of the virus. They have been the subject of research since the 1990s, but before 2020 no mRNA vaccine was ever approved 

John Keepin
John Keepin
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

It appears that the idea of using mRNA as a vaccination route is indeed quite novel, from around the early 1990s. It looks as if there has been some use of it in the veterinary trade, but not yet for us. Some might say that it’s a bold experiment, to say the least, especially by comparison with the real risks to do with the SARs-Cov-2 virus for the vast majority.

It occurred to me that the trade is roughly following the typical ‘hype cycle’ to financially justify the investment before the project collapses. After all, regarding the other coronaviruses, there does not appear to be much of market for those. In the main, we deal with them automatically using our natural systems.

Tom Fox
Tom Fox
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

Oh…… This total failure of vaccines and sensitisation must be why the people who have been vaccinated are 90% less likely to end up in hospital with the virus than those who were not vaccinated.

I expect you get all your information from idiots on Facebook. Moron!

Hilary Wallace
Hilary Wallace
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Fox

Oh dear – what an enlightened comment! I suppose freedom of choice in medical procedures means nothing to you? We should all take a vaccine regardless of how we wish to treat our health, regardless of how much we have looked into this treatment and regardless of the lack of long-term trials.

No doubt I will get abuse for daring to make any comment that suggests I might be wary of these vaccines and that I find Israel’s treatment of its population along with its threats on basic freedoms nothing short of shocking.

What makes me really sad is that we seem to be heading towards this everywhere. Individual freedoms must always be squashed for the greater good.

If anyone wishes to ´correct’ my ´moronic’ thinking, bring it on! It becoming water off a duck’s back.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Hilary Wallace

Vaccines have reached cult status and it frightens people to see them challenged.
I am not sure one can trust much if any information which comes out of Israel but, at the same time they claim success we see stories of people reporting death and injury and fewer and fewer turning up for vaccination. That is why they are becoming heavy-handed.
But as a non-democratic colonial regime they can be tougher on those who resist.

Gail Young
Gail Young
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

Perhaps, “fewer and fewer [are] turning up for vaccination.” because with 82% of the population already inoculated, there’s only a relative few left.
However, I am in full agreement with your points concerning the truncated duration of the clinical trials and the novel mRNA formulation. Am I correct that it is only the Pfizer and Moderna versions that employ this technology
I understood the AstraZeneca was a traditionally formulated vaccine.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Fox

I would not put too much faith in stats in general and certainly not those promoting vaccines.
We have months if not a few years to go before we know how many people will be permanently damaged by this genetic experiment. Plenty of experts have said that from the beginning.
And since plenty of places have not vaccinated or not yet vaccinated and many are refusing vaccines, surely their hospitals should be full? They are not.

Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

Except the several ones that just have been. I’m not a vaccine denialist as you appear to be, so am happy to include the Russian Sputnik and Chinese vaccines in that list.

Hayden McAllister
Hayden McAllister
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

You are quite right. The same entities tried the same trick with the Swine Flu. This has nothing to do with keeping anyone “safe” but rather controlled tracked and traced through vaccine passports. The main stream media is captive to this monstrously profiteering (for some) no-liability agenda.. Preventative medicine was totally ignored. Vitamin D, C plus zinc. Hydryoxychloroquine plus Zinc and now Ivermectin. All cheap, effective and early use life-savers. But no profit for Big Pharma $$. Doctors and scientists who advocate for sensible effective PREVENTATIVE treatments are censored or banned and thousands die. The vaxxine lunacy is off the wall. Here’s what happened with the swine flu vaccine. Wonder how many “experts” were advocating that? Channel 4 news in two minutes. Deja Vu?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1368176438873100288

Last edited 3 years ago by Hayden McAllister
Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

“Furthermore I understand that only Jews have been jabbed in Israel” – no doubt from one of your normally reliable sources. (Tea leaves?)
mRNA shots are vaccines you just clearly do not know what the word vaccine means.
I note your “research” enabled you to copy a link to a web site but ave no capacity to interpret its content.
All the evidence does indeed lead me to the conclusion that there is some derangement and/or deficiency on your part.

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

Thumbs up. Interesting that when I up voted the single down vote went away and the tally went to zero. This new system of theirs stinks.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

mRNA is a genetic treatment, not a vaccine.
While traditional vaccines work by exposing the body to a weakened strain of the microorganism responsible for causing the disease, mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines theoretically work by injecting viral mRNA into the body, where it replicates inside your cells and encourages your body to recognise, and make antigens for, the “spike proteins” of the virus. They have been the subject of research since the 1990s, but before 2020 no mRNA vaccine was ever approved for use.

Gail Young
Gail Young
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

You’ve already said this. But not all of the vaccines are mRNA. The Astrrazeneca version, for example, is a “traditional” vaccine.

John H Abeles
John H Abeles
3 years ago
Reply to  Gail Young

The AstraZeneca is a chimpanzee-derived adenovirus housing the genetic codon for spike protein of SARS-CoV-2

It is certainly NOT a traditional vaccine

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

“They laughed when I told them that I was going to be a comedian…they’re not laughing now!”

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  stephen f.

Monkhouseian by proxy.

Noah Ebtihej Sdiri
Noah Ebtihej Sdiri
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

We’ll take the money from the State but that does not mean we see it as legitimate

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago

Israel is not a democracy. No religious state is democratic.

Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

What an ill-informed comment, of a piece though with your others. Israel is a secular state, with democratic elections. And yes there is an ultra Orthodox minority.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Andrew Fisher

In a democracy all citizens are equal and their religion is not used to deny them rights. Non-Jewish Israelis have inferior rights. Ergo, Israel is not a democracy.

John H Abeles
John H Abeles
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

That is just not true – Israeli nationals of all extractions have equal rights

John H Abeles
John H Abeles
3 years ago
Reply to  Athena Jones

Israel certainly is a democracy- government and courts are secular; all have religious freedom

jim payne
jim payne
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Waste is something the NHS is an expert on. Sick Funds sound pretty damn good. Tho’ every way of looking after your people must have problems. My wife was able to get my appointment (i’m 74) and when we went to the Pharmaceutical run centre, they said if ther was “left-overs” she would get hers as well. Later about 8 people got the last jabs of the day so no wastage there. But that was of course a privat company.

Eugene Lewins
Eugene Lewins
3 years ago

A good article, but the opinion point at the end – vaccinating children is absolutely necessary for the society at large? That’s a hugely disputed idea of Zero-covid, that somehow eliminating hospitalizations and death isn’t enough, that letting this be like every other coronarivus, where childhood exposure results in broad community immunity, is for some reason unacceptable because this is…new?

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
3 years ago
Reply to  Eugene Lewins

Bill Gates wants your kids vaccinated and what Bill Gates wants, Bill Gates gets. Check out a new Jimmy Dore podcast with Max Blumenthal on the way in which Gates funds media organisations – including the wretched Guardian – so that they further his agenda.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided $3,446,801 to The Daily Telegraph “to support content production to raise awareness in the UK around global health security and engage audiences in solutions, greater research and cooperation” – topic title Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis.
Just another example of how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has bought the media to push its agenda.
*Search for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Daily Telegraph to find the source.

David Bottomley
David Bottomley
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

What on Earth is the problem with raising awareness of global health issues?
What is you problem ? It was actually a grant asked for the by the Telegraph but i suppose you are going to tell me and anyone else that the Telegraph is also part of some conspiracy ? A newspaper wanting to raise awareness of issues seems to me to be actually the sort of thing that any half decent newspaper should be doing

Last edited 3 years ago by David Bottomley
Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
3 years ago

I suggest you check out the video that Paul Joseph Watson made about Gates a few days ago. It will open your eyes to his hypocrisy in many areas. And, apparently, one of his interventions in Africa led to significantly more hunger.

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Watson is a crank a bit like Ricard Burgon but without the intellect, education or brio.

Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
3 years ago

Couldn’t agree with you more. Any help towards better health has to be welcome.

sabrandreth
sabrandreth
3 years ago

One man/woman’s awareness is another man/woman’s poison (literally in the case of vaccines).

Fraser Bailey
Fraser Bailey
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Yes, I was aware that the DT had taken money from Gates. It has destroyed forever any hope of the DT getting any further subscription money from me.

Tom Fox
Tom Fox
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Idiot!

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Yes. For more on the horrific plans of “on-the-spectrum” Bill Gates for universal control of the “free world” see also
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rfk-jr-interviews-vandana-shiva-gates-empire/
RFK Jr. has of couirse been deplatformed by the Tech Giants.

People!!! Come to your senses..

Starry Gordon
Starry Gordon
3 years ago
Reply to  Fraser Bailey

Yes, but what is his actual agenda? And how do we know? Bill Gates’s rise to billionairehood had many unpleasant features.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Eugene Lewins

Yes, this point: Whether parents of teenagers will be similarly inclined for an injection that, while absolutely necessary for society at large, only protects their child from what is likely a minor illness, remains to be seen.”
This is diabolical… In fact Covid vaccination for anyone who isn’t at serious risk of Covid is wrong. Think about it… Perhaps an old person, with comorbidities, is fearful of the virus, it might be worth it for them to take a chance with the experimental vaccine products, because they have limited years left.
But to vaccinate younger people, with years ahead of them, with a vaccine which isn’t of benefit for them, this is absolutely wrong, and is in fact stealing their natural defences against the virus.
We have no idea of the long-term cumulative consequences of these new vaccine products, also bearing in mind they’re likely to be pushed annually…really they have no idea what they’re doing.
Already, what is going on about the people being vaccinated with the current vaccines, are they protected against the variants? Now Bill Gates is suggesting a third dose, “booster shots in the fall”, look for the article titled: Third shot may be needed to combat new coronavirus variants, Bill Gates says. CBS News, 17 February 2021.
What a mess! This is what happens when a software billionaire, Bill Gates, is let loose dominating international vaccination policy, how on earth did this happen?!?!

Elizabeth W
Elizabeth W
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Well said. “How did this happen?” Because we know money speaks power and he now has lots of both. What a wretched person and I, for one, would not trust him in any way and especially with my health and the health of my family.

David Bottomley
David Bottomley
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Clearly and as always, you just don’t like vaccines. Strangely, the majority do and have been more than happy to be vaccinated, particularly with the latest findings that they cut serious illness and hospitalisation dramatically and he’s, they do seem to be equally effective against the current variants. Please do carry on refusing vaccines but please, please stop trying to con people into turning down something that will a) allow people to get back to something like a normal b) stop them ending up with serious illness and hospitalisation and c) stop their potential death from Covid and iff not death, then a debilitating long Covid. Why do you persist with your harmful campaign to potentially ruin people’s lives?

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago

David Bottomley, please desist with your ridiculous statements, i.e. Why do you persist with your harmful campaign to potentially ruin people’s lives?”
Take the vaccine if you want I’m not trying to stop you.
I’m pointing out the very serious issue of setting up younger people for life with vaccine interventions they don’t need, what is it about that you don’t understand?!?!?
Why are you so desperate that others must have the vaccine if you have it? Continually hounding me and trying to prevent discussion on this matter is absolutely irresponsible on your part.
It’s about time UnHerd took this matter seriously – have some dedicated discussion questioning why mass vaccination of the population is underway, instead of a targeted and proportionate response towards those at risk of the virus.

David Bottomley
David Bottomley
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

You are constantly spreading fear about vaccines and trying to scare people from having a life saving vaccine. Every single one of your comments seems to be a clear attempt to create fear and doubt . You and other anti vaxers are causing real problems . You repeatedly say that all you are doing is asking questions yet the evidence is quite clear – in all your comments all you are doing is raising anxieties and doubts. You don’t actually discuss anything and never, ever, refer to the evidence and information that is widely available in answer to your so called ‘questions’

Last edited 3 years ago by David Bottomley
Jonathan Weil
Jonathan Weil
3 years ago

Hear, hear!

Starry Gordon
Starry Gordon
3 years ago
Reply to  Jonathan Weil

I am not particularly an anti-vaxxer, but I do think the notion that introducing biologically active substances into my body which it cannot reject might be questionable. It is certainly not risk-free. In the case of COVID-19, based on what I read and my age, I think it’s a reasonable proposition for me, but for everyone it isn’t a no-brainer (if you have a brain to work with).

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago

Actually, the fear mongering is the role of the Gates Foundation and its mouthpieces in the media and elsewhere. Fearmongering concerning every aspect of this illness, instead of advising a very thoroughgoing cost-benefit analysis of the extreme measures that have already been taken and are cnow continuing under various new arguments concerning the “vaccine.”
Those who call this fear mongering out have the plug literally pulled on them if they mention this in an interview. I cannot avoid the conclusion that Bottomley is a troll or paid commenter of some kind.

George Lake
George Lake
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

No relation to Horatio Bottomley MP, 1860-1933 perhaps?

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

So I mentioned that it canceled the downvote if I upvote-and the site proctors held my comment for approval…

Last edited 3 years ago by stephen f.
stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

Thumbs up.

Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
3 years ago

And again, “Hear, hear! It’s this fearful woman who is the problem. Just spite.

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

I believe that most people do not agree that you are raising a “very serious issue”, and like me they do not want to have a discussion. My granny has dentures but still drinks chlorinated water. She cannot have the vaccine. So for her those that can need to get the vaccine or be excluded from society.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

So you think it’s ethical for children to be vaccinated with coronavirus vaccine products throughout life, against a virus that is not a serious problem for most people under 70, to purportedly protect your granny?
You think it’s ethical for children’s, and others’, natural defences against coronavirus to be disrupted with potentially annual vaccination, with unknown long-term cumulative consequences, to purportedly protect your granny?
You think it’s ethical for people to be made dependent upon the vaccine industry at the cost of their own natural defences, to purportedly protect your granny?

Last Jacobin
Last Jacobin
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Most evidence coming through on vaccines suggests they reduce transmission as well as protecting the vaccinated. So while vaccinating young people may be of minimal benefit to the health of those young people it could still be of benefit to the health of those they come into contact with. Even when vaccinated some people are at risk of death or serious illness from Covid so reducing transmission even in vaccinated populations is a positive. Plus, of course, the point already made that the more virus circulating the more risk of mutations that vaccines are not effective against.

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Last Jacobin

Please document your assertions concerning asymptomatic transmission from children to adults. Hint: So far there is none. This is a great example of fear mongering and making ouir children pay the price for . . . whom and what? Who profits from this insane state of affairs? Let’s look at that.

Last Jacobin
Last Jacobin
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30927-0/fulltext
Here’s a fairly recent article about transmission in school settings from The Lancet.
As I understand it transmission from asymptomatic cases is thought to be lower than from symptomatic but does still occur.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Last Jacobin

We have no idea of the long-term cumulative consequences of coronavirus vaccination throughout life.
To suggest putting the natural defences of children, and others, at risk with these experimental vaccine products is unethical in my view.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Last Jacobin

Nobody has a clue where this unprecedented vaccination of mass populations with experimental coronavirus vaccine products is going to end up…
Consider for example the implications of: Andrew Read et al. Imperfect vaccination can enhance the transmission of highly virulent pathogens.

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

“with a vaccine which isn’t of benefit for them, ”
and that an affect their still developing brains. This is, actually, a medical crime of the Mengele sort. OK, people are not be tortured, but this is an experimental treatment that is being sold byl Gates and his grantees as “raising public awareness.” I don’t understand how intelligent people can be blind to the red flags in this program. Furhtermore, the Gates Foundation has a huge investment wing, and it makes humongous profits off of these “vaccines.” David Bottomley, you knew that, right?, when you wrote “what’s wrong with raising awareness”? You know that “raising awareness” can be a euphemism for “propaganda” and “advertising,” right?

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

What is the obsession with Gates? Vaccines and immunisation programs were around long before him and If it was not him someone else woukd be doing it because the evidence is that they are good.

Starry Gordon
Starry Gordon
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

An obsession with Mr. Gates may go back to his business practices, held by many to be at least sharp practice if not actively malign. Remember “Windows ain’t done till Netscape won’t run?”

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

There isn’t an ‘obsession’ with Gates.
People are merely pointing out that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation dominates international vaccination policy.
Vaccination schedules have increased hugely over the past 20 or so years since the Gates got involved in this area.
Presuming you’re in the UK, can you indicate which of these vaccine products and revaccinations you’ve had on the schedule? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/nhs-vaccinations-and-when-to-have-them/
I very much doubt you would have had three doses of the 6-in-1 vaccine shot for example, which contains diphtheria, hepatitis B, Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b), polio, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), along with an aluminium adjuvant? Or three doses of the aluminium-adjuvanted meningococcal B vaccine? Or two doses of the aluminium-adjuvanted HPV vaccine? Etc…

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

With respect you are clearly a blithering idiot. You are welcome to your opinion but you are a laughing stock.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

Your ad hominem response is typical of those who want to cancel any discussion of taxpayer-funded vaccination policy and practice

Christine Massot
Christine Massot
3 years ago
Reply to  Paul Goodman

Wow…the sign that you are losing the arguement…insult your opposition…low shot…justs revealing your intelligence

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Thumbs up.

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  stephen f.

Apparently when someone offends the majority opinion, it is no longer acceptable to upvote-even when the specific statement they make that you agree with does not contain the controversial material. Surely this single statement of hers-encouraging dialogue…and a perhaps healthy suspicion of yet another untouchable zillionaire, is worth hearing…aside from some of the more debatable comments.

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

When did Gates become a medical expert? He is a politician in a wealthy, 1 man government seeking to make rules and dictate behavior for everyone not living on his 650 million dollar yacht.

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  stephen f.

What..? We now have an unquestioning Bill Gates fan base here..?

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago
Reply to  stephen f.

Well, clearly someone has upvoted, which canceled the downvotes that I was referencing…you see, this new tallying system is absurd-my comment makes no sense now, as I was referring to downvotes that have now been canceled by the invisible upvotes.

Rafi Stern
Rafi Stern
3 years ago
Reply to  Eugene Lewins

Now that most of the older population is already vaccinated, the proportion of young people being hospitalized is increasing and the new variants also seem to be affecting young people more. This is being highlighted repeatedly in the media here in Israel in order to convince the younger (but still eligible) population to come and get vaccinated. There seems to be a large amount of apathy or resistance even among the 20-50 age group. And this of course is also laying the groundwork for when the under 16s become eligible for vaccination.

J J
J J
3 years ago

Israel should be commended for it’s successful roll out. However comparing Israel to the UK is rather silly. The UK is more than ten times the geographical size of Israel and has eight times the population.
The fact is the UK’s vaccine strategy and roll out has been more successful than any other major country in the world. However the British media would rather not talk about that, because it contradicts the ‘Boris man bad’ narrative. Rather pathetic.

Last edited 3 years ago by J J
Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
3 years ago

Whether parents of teenagers will be similarly inclined for an injection that, while absolutely necessary for society at large, only protects their child from what is likely a minor illness, remains to be seen. 
This requires a citation or at least an explanation. There is little evidence of this virus being harmful among children, or that they are mass carriers. Schools turn out to be among the safest places one can be.
The broader question includes culture, something no one ever wants to discuss. Israel is a societal outlier; there is no other nation facing an existential threat from its neighbors. That tends to build cohesion in a society. That aside, one-to-one comparisons between countries are usually ill-founded.

Simon J Hassell
Simon J Hassell
3 years ago
Reply to  Alex Lekas

Alex, the main reason that the young (you decide the age that encompasses) need to be vaccinated is that viruses are smart, really smart at evolving. The fear (not often expressed, perhaps for good reason) is that IF we vaccinate say everyone over the age of 40, the evolutionary pressure on the virus could quite possible (likely?) yield a version that is more effective at infecting the young and may well increase its lethality in doing so….

Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
3 years ago

That’s an argument based on guesswork and speculation, not reality. I imagine the virus will mutate further; it’s in the job description, but when you start down the road of mandating health-related courses of action, that is quite the Pandora’s Box being opened.

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago

Yeah, and especially “leaky vaccines” create ideal conditions for the virus to evolve more lethal strains. Thus, the vaccinated actually do become a danger to the unvaccinated, is how I understand this dynamic (from what I have read about “leaky vaccines”).
Scientists have been trying to create vaccines against varoius coronaviruses for decades. Coronaviruses mutate very quickly. Previous exposures to coronavirus help train “innate” immunity of the T-cells. Everyone who reads Unherd knows these facts. So why the continual ignorant-sounding comments?

Jonathan Jones
Jonathan Jones
3 years ago

while absolutely necessary for society at large”

No it isn’t.

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Jonathan Jones

I’m a retiree, and I’ll take my chances with the virus rather than subject myself to experimental treatment and younger generations to negative impacts of forced vaccinations and lockdowns on ALL of their future prospects: health, education, economic, social, psychological.
It’s that simple.

Stephen Murray
Stephen Murray
3 years ago

Population of UK 68+ million. Population of Isreal 9 million. Work it out for yourselves.

Last edited 3 years ago by Stephen Murray
croftyass
croftyass
3 years ago
Reply to  Stephen Murray

With more than 82 doses delivered per 100 citizens by the end of last week — compared with 26 for the UK, 17 for the US, and a scandalous 5.9 for the EU — Israel is significantly ahead of the pack.
Not sure what your point is?

J J
J J
3 years ago
Reply to  croftyass

It’s easier to vaccinate a small number of people than a large number.

Last edited 3 years ago by J J
David Wrathall
David Wrathall
3 years ago
Reply to  croftyass

82% of 9m – 7.4m
26% of 65m – 16.9m

Uk vaccinating people at 2.4 x the Israeli rate, would be an equally valid headline. Unlikely to be seen in the UK MSM

Simon J Hassell
Simon J Hassell
3 years ago
Reply to  Stephen Murray

Stephen. Austria has a population of 9m but only 200k fully immunised and 500k total doses administered [source: NY Times].
What are you leaving us to work out?

andrea bertolini
andrea bertolini
3 years ago

Organisation, discipline and common sense. Fantastic, well done, Israel.

Stan Konwiser
Stan Konwiser
3 years ago

It may be that the Israelis citizens have a symbiotic relationship with their government fostered by required military service of almost all men and women. That the existence of the nation and its people are constantly under threat creates an interdependence not found in the Western democracies. Even those Israelis who feel discriminated against (Moroccan Jews, Ethiopian Jews, for example) have a grudging respect for the idea of Israel.

The idea that they all live together or they all die together is rooted in Jewish history and culture. This is very unifying and makes concerted government mobilization and cooperation possible.

Mike K
Mike K
3 years ago
Reply to  Stan Konwiser

Stan, I assure you the support is not grudging. Poorer Jews in Israel vote Netanyahu.

Rowli Pugh
Rowli Pugh
3 years ago

My impression of Israel, (I have not visited or have any special knowledge, just a general knowledge of its history), is because it seems surrounded by Nations that wish to cancel its existence, it is a more disciplined society than the west. Certainly Armed Forces service seems to be demanded at some time by all adult Israelis.
The article was very interesting on the 4 NHS’s. The UK NHS is the fifth largest employer in the world, beaten by the People’s Liberation Army of China and McDonalds + others. The herculean efforts of its frontline and back up clinical staff cannot mask the limitations of its torpid bureaucracy and supply chain.
I also believe Israel’s population is under 10 million. The UK’s is over 66 million and probably much larger as we have a significantly large illiegal immigrant population. There is much for the UK to learn, IF the EU is a tanker, and the UK a speedboat, then in terms of response, Israel is a jet.

Leslie Cook
Leslie Cook
3 years ago

Did they really? Look at covid mortality vs vax in ourworldindata.
Other countries, less vax, less covid mortality. You must look at mortality, not efficacy. UK tells similar story. If covid mortality goes up at vax intro, you have something else going on.

Colin Haller
Colin Haller
3 years ago

Lots of complaining over here in Canada about the slow arrival of vaccines (though ultimately we have contracts for doses which exceed what will be necessary for our population) but it’s difficult to be too surprised when we have no local manufacturing capacity and lack the kind of data (patient data is a bit of a gong show here) to sell as further incentive to Big Pharma, were it even politically acceptable to do so — I suspect it lies outside our Overton Window …

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago

And yet the stories creeping out are of high levels of vaccine injury and more people rejecting vaccines. Any concept of winning is meaningless until we see how much harm may be done by vaccines, particularly the genetic experiments which are not vaccines, over the next year or two.

Elizabeth Hart
Elizabeth Hart
3 years ago

The previous comments arrangement had the facility to check commenters previous comments. I see this has now been removed.

Michael Hanson
Michael Hanson
3 years ago
Reply to  Elizabeth Hart

Indeed. A sad loss!
Along with ‘up’ voters and ‘down’ voters. I thought that system was more honest and transparent.

Helen Barbara Doyle
Helen Barbara Doyle
3 years ago

I have long felt that our priority groups 6 and 7 should have been flipped round. 64 year olds wouldn’t have to wait ages for a jab and about 25% of the pre existing conditions group could be mass vaccinated speeding things up.

Geoff TYLER
Geoff TYLER
3 years ago

Several points on UK are : while UK had some 6 months plus to plan, ONLY when the first vaccine was approved did they then strat recruiting vaccinators who required 15 documents showing they were qualified. Even retired doctors were not apparently qualified without extra documents e.g safe to be with children & not on a paedafile list ! This slowed the initial stages in December.
Secondly it was discovered late Autumn we did not have sufficient borosilicate glass vials manufacturing capability, so a scramble to convert & increase Sunderland plant.
Israel has one “advantage”, always being on a war footing from their “friendly” neighbours, they are able to inact a war footing action, in this case mass vaccination without cumbersome, beaurocratic vaccinator requirements..
EU in general, but countries like France in particular the vaccination process has been farcically slow. Imagine a month to approve a vaccine while the data was feeding through in all November, roll-out dates weeks after approval e.g. ~450 vaccinated vs~ 1 million in UK. ,

Michelle Haley
Michelle Haley
3 years ago

covid has a 99.0001% of survival for those under 75 and a 98% survival rate for those over 80. And it doesn’t affect children. Never in the history of the world have we given mass vaccine distribution for such survival rates. why now? vaccines contain RNA,
aborted fetal (baby) tissue
American here – I’m not getting vaccinated at 60yo, nor are any of my family members. Live in the top 2%.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Michelle Haley

Vaccines have long been made with material from aborted human foetal cell lines. It is not new for Covid vaccines and genetic treatments.
But yes, your figures are correct and also ignored.

Jacques René Giguère
Jacques René Giguère
3 years ago

Canada had a supply problem.

Leslie Cook
Leslie Cook
3 years ago

If you can call being sued in international human rights court for lack of informed consent to an experimental genetic therapy, a victory. If you can call a much higher infection and death rate than neighboring Palestine (which did not have a vaccine roll out) a victory. If you can call coincidental mid trimester miscarriages, silent babies, and younger healthier adults coincidentally dying within 28 days of the jab, a victory.

Jonathan Ellman
Jonathan Ellman
3 years ago

Democracies require public participation in politics. Israel’s need for a civilian army means that the public is obliged to participate and cooperate in state activities, specifically in defending the state. Authoritarian elites are good at locking down and controlling, not so good at opening up and cooperating. The difference between the UK and France’s vaccination programme is currently the most apparent expression of this. There will be anomalies but overall, globally, the pattern will reflect this.
The French public’s reluctance to accept the vaccine reflects a distrust of government and the state, as does the reluctance amongst sections of the UK’s ethnic minorities. This may also become a pattern globally.

Simon J Hassell
Simon J Hassell
3 years ago

You added so much to the discussion there.

Charles Knapp
Charles Knapp
3 years ago

By your logic, then, by using martial analogies as a way to mobilize popular support against the virus, do you conclude that the UK considers itself “at war with the rest of the world” as well? Or is its belligerent attitude limited to the countries of the EU? Or is your comment only a criticism of Israel and if so, why?

C Arros
C Arros
3 years ago

What a sad bunch human beings are, waging war against everyone and everything, no matter how reasonable or unreasonable, what the need or what the chances of success may be, I feel ashamed to belong to that race!

Rafi Stern
Rafi Stern
3 years ago

And all this done in an unstable political climate with very low public trust of the government and state institutions.
Israel has suffered on the one hand some of the worst outbreaks of Covid infection (by infection rate) but also a middling to low death rate, and now the vaccination success. This contrasts the lack of trust in government, its lack of ability to enforce regulations and widespread disregard for lockdowns and other regulations on the one hand with its world-class medical system on the other.
And of course the hard-headed Israeli survival pragmatism born of years of conflict, that got us vaccines early and brought people out early to secure their vaccine, before they may run out.
It has been noted by local commentators that the government’s and the prime minister’s impotence at home is contrasted by their successes in the international field. Netanyahu has been unable to enforce measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic against widespread total disregard for regulations, but to personally intervene to secure vaccines ahead of any other country in the world and ensure supply – this is where he is at his best.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Rafi Stern

Yes, colonisers do probably have high levels of survival pragmatism but no doubt so do those they colonise and in this instance, the Palestinians are fortunate to remain largely free from experimental vaccines and genetic treatments.

sabrandreth
sabrandreth
3 years ago

And yet Israel’s mortality rates are no lower than other countries…https://www.francesoir.fr/opinions-tribunes/vaccin-en-israel-des-chiffres-troublants

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago

How is it winning to do a deal with a pharmaceutical company to use your population, well, the Jewish ones anyway, as labrats in an experiment?

David Bottomley
David Bottomley
3 years ago

It no doubts makes no reference to side effects etc etc because so far, very few if any have been reported from anywhere!

josephhalevi53
josephhalevi53
3 years ago

Israel should be held accountable for the omission of the supply of vaccines to the Palestinian population in the territories of Palestine it occupies since 1967 including Gaza under Israel’s blockade.

Athena Jones
Athena Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  josephhalevi53

Israel is responsible in law for the 6 million Palestinians it holds under occupation and denies human and civil rights. But so far, the international community has not demanded they meet that responsibility in any way.

j hoffman
j hoffman
3 years ago

So what’s all this stuff we hear about Israel ‘eventually’ agreeing to a ‘Whopping’ 1000 doses being given to the imprisoned former occupants of Israel in the Gaza Strip?

Last edited 3 years ago by j hoffman
croftyass
croftyass
3 years ago
Reply to  j hoffman

sorry -wrong reply

Last edited 3 years ago by croftyass
Simon J Hassell
Simon J Hassell
3 years ago
Reply to  j hoffman

What is the relevance of your comment to the article?

stephen f.
stephen f.
3 years ago

There is none…but somehow I expected one of these to make an appearance.

Charles Knapp
Charles Knapp
3 years ago
Reply to  j hoffman

I assume you are referring to the doses that Israel delayed for about a day which Hamas then failed to distribute for another 6 days. And Israel is transferring to Gaza another 20,000 doses purchased by Qatar. Either way, your snark is misplaced.

Aside from the Oslo Accords giving the Palestinians the central responsibility for their own people’s health, and aside from the Palestinians intentional prioritizing of terror and anti-Israel incitement (on top of their ruling classes documented kleptomania when it comes to the embezzlement of billions in international welfare payments that keep the PA and Hamas afloat) and, as to Hamas specifically, the keeping of 2 living Israelis and the bodies of 2 dead Israelis as bargaining chips in violation of all international norms, your comment still falls flat as its underlying premise represents a serious factual misunderstanding.

We all know Israel is subject to double-standards and that the Palestinians are infantilized by the Western penchant toward a “racism of low [in their case, virtually no] expectations”. There is no justification to take for granted the proposition that Palestinians are incapable of using international funds to benefit their own people by building up their health care infrastructure. That is a policy decision they’ve made whose baleful consequences their rulers (and their families) alone evade by (as in the most recent example of Saeb Erekat) checking into Israeli hospitals as VIPs as the need arises.

For those who actually care for the rights and welfare of the Palestinians, a bit more focus on their rulers’ decision-making (and those of other Arab countries like Lebanon with its raft of truly apartheid like laws) and less deflection toward outsiders might have a salutary effect on the average Palestinian and their future prospects.

The myth that violent “resistance” is the manly Arab route to reconquering the part of the historical homeland of the Jewish people that is post-Mandate Israel needs to be finally put to rest for the Palestinian quest for a state of their own to advance. None of the Palestinian terror factions, alone or in combination, can defeat the IDF or break the will of the Israeli people. They’ve lost that gambit.

The first step would seem to be for the Palestinian ruling elites to focus on the internal development of a system of civil government that prioritized the health, education and material/spiritual needs of their people. Normalization with Israel, on the model of the expanding Abraham Accords, is the way forward.

For those who deploy the language of Palestinian human rights as a screen behind which they may vent their spleen against the Jewish state to their heart’s content, that does not help the Palestinians – but then that was never the point of the exercise, was it?

Charles Knapp
Charles Knapp
3 years ago
Reply to  Charles Knapp

As a correction and update, Qatar is sending its 20,000 doses across Egypt’s border with Gaza not Israel’s, thereby bypassing the PA altogether, having learned the lesson from its earlier attempts to assist in Gaza that were undermined by Abbas’ refusal to allow Qatar’s intervention as part of his ongoing strategy to make Hamas subservient to the PA.

The negative (and self-defeating) effects of this inter-Palestinian rivalry should be neither underestimated nor rationalized away by the all-purpose excuse of the “Occupation” and the pretense of not blaming the victim for the consequences of his actions.

Tony Price
Tony Price
3 years ago
Reply to  Charles Knapp

focus on their rulers’ decision-making” – and who are the ‘rulers’ of the OCCUPIED territories – could by any chance it be the occupiers?

Charles Knapp
Charles Knapp
3 years ago
Reply to  Tony Price

It might help if you read the Oslo Accords and its division of governing authority and areas of delegated responsibility. The rulers in Gaza are Hamas. The rulers in Area A and for most issues in Area B are the PA. all together, they rule over more than 95% of the Palestinians, the balance residing in Area C.

For additional credit, you might profit from reading the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and bone up on the uncontroversial (except when applied to Israel) international law doctrine of “uti possidetis juris”. Armed with that basic information, you might better understand why these territories can be seen as “disputed”.

Jane Jones
Jane Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Charles Knapp

Don’t be ridiculous. No one has ever taken the Oslo Accords seriously, and they are now basically in the trash can of history. You do some reading. You can start with Khaled Egindy,
https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Spot-America-Palestinians-Balfour/dp/0815731558
Published by the Brookings Institution, in case you were getting ready to dismiss.

Vilde Chaye
Vilde Chaye
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

Yeah yeah, forget the Oslo ACCORDS, read this biased history book instead. Got it.

Charles Knapp
Charles Knapp
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

I think you are confusing the Oslo Accords as Israel and the world interpret them, a formal agreement between Israel and the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians that set out an agreed framework for co-existence, with the version Arafat pitched in Arabic to supporters, a piece of paper that was part of the PLO “phased strategy” for Israel’s ultimate destruction and the ethnic cleansing of its Jewish population. So you are partially correct, just not in the way you imagine.

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  Jane Jones

Of course Egindy was is a negotiator for the PLO. If he and his mates had taken Oslo seriously they might have done their people some service instead of pretending that holding out to push Israel into the sea was a good way forward.
Nevertheless now that Russia has lost its patience with Tehran and is assisting the Israelis in keeping Iran out of Syria and Lebanon and that UAE, Marroco, Bahrain, and Sudan (and by implication Saudi) have decided that peace with Israel is more important than maintaining the PLO stance, there may be some hope that those ruled by the ineffective Ramallah and Gaza hegemonies may get a chance avoid being cannon fodder.

Vilde Chaye
Vilde Chaye
3 years ago
Reply to  Tony Price

no. it couldn’t.

Vilde Chaye
Vilde Chaye
3 years ago
Reply to  j hoffman

probably misinformation. that’s usually the case when it comes to Israel and the so-called “imprisoned former occupants of Israel” in Gaza.

Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman
3 years ago
Reply to  j hoffman

There is a border between Gaza and Egypt. The Egyptians could open that border and send vaccine but they do not. Who else in the world would send medicine to the people who are sworn to deprive them of a homeland?