German vaccine pledge appears to discriminate against Palestinians
Pfizer and Biontech
Ali Abunimah writes in The Electronic Intifada:
The UK government has become the first in the world to approve general use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German company BioNTech. Other countries can be expected to follow quickly, marking a new phase in the fight against the deadly pandemic.
Israel may be among the first in line to receive the vaccine. According to Israeli media, Germany is planning to give Israel special access to vaccine stocks.
“A report by the Ynet website claimed Germany used its influence in the EU to bend the rule that a European-produced vaccination would be given first to European countries,” the JTA news agency reported in October. “Germany justified the decision in part through its historical commitment to supporting Israel.”
German foreign minister Heiko Maas and health minister Jens Spahn made the promise to Israeli foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Israeli ambassador in Berlin Jeremy Issacharoff, according to JTA. The measure is “in keeping with Germany’s ‘special relationship’ with Israel as a response to the Holocaust,” the news agency added.
The reported vaccine deal can be read as a continuation of German state racism against Palestinians.
Martin Konečný, a Brussels-based policy analyst, has raised the question of whether residents of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank will be “entitled to the European vaccine while the Palestinians living in enclaves surrounded by them won’t?”