Jews-only vaccination: International campaign against Israel’s medical apartheid
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- An online campaign swept social media platforms in protest against the Israeli medical apartheid and discriminatory vaccine distribution policy, which excluded Palestinians under occupation from vaccination.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), said an online petition has been launched in order to pressure the occupation state to end its discriminatory vaccine distribution.
“An international signatures campaign was launched under the title Medical Apartheid to demand the immediate provision of safe vaccines for the sons and daughters of Palestine”, Barghouthi said in a statement.
The petition ahs been already signed by dozens of thousands, “including doctors, scientists, thinkers and international artists such as Judith Butler (an American philosopher), Daniel Barenboim (an international musician) and Noam Chomsky (an American thinker and political theorist).”
Thousands of users on Social media platforms echoed the petition’s demands on the hashtag #IsraeliVaccinationApartheid.
This virus does not see or care about nationality, borders, or religion — its devastating impact is everywhere. The Netanyahu administration has a moral and humanitarian obligation to ensure that both Israelis & Palestinians have access to vaccines.https://t.co/mcD5TXLTI3
— Marie Newman (@Marie4Congress) January 5, 2021
While Israeli apartheid immunises its citizens against COVID-19 at an unrivalled rate, the Israeli government is not doing anything to vaccinate millions of Palestinians living under its military occupation.#IsraeliVaccinationApartheid
— MUNAIB (@munaiblaghari83) January 12, 2021
Under the fourth Geneva Convention, occupying forces are responsible for providing healthcare to the population of the occupied area.#IsraeliVaccinationApartheid https://t.co/mfXDXuPizs
— Al_Rawand 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@AlRawand3) January 12, 2021
Amnesty International says the Israeli government must stop ignoring its
international obligations as an occupying power and immediately act to
provide COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians.#IsraeliVaccinationApartheid— Osamu Dazai (@OsamouDaza) January 12, 2021
In a cruel irony, hundreds of doses on the cusp of expiration were reportedly thrown away in Israeli clinics last week, while millions of Palestinians are being denied the vaccine.#IsraeliVaccinationApartheid
— Nawaz Lashari (@NawazHaider4) January 12, 2021
The campaign comes as the Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Amir Ohana, reiterated his refusal to provide Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s jails access to coronavirus vaccines.
The Fourth Geneva Convention states that the occupying power must ensure that all the necessary preventive means available to it are utilised to “combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics”.
It also comes after Israel rejected the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) informal request to immediately provide Palestinian medical staff COVID-19 vaccinations.
