Carl,
Did you read the article? Did you read his response when the reporter asked him
his opinion about why Israel hadn't inoculated any Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories? The title of the article describes precisely what he did. He gave
Israel a pass. He'd just praised them for doing a wonderful job of innoculating
Israelis and he refused to comment on the factdd that they withheld the vaccine
from all of the people in the land that they occupy. He said he didn't want to
answer any political questions.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 4:51 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Fauci champions Israeli medical apartheid
I have issues with this linking of Faucie with apartheid. Yes, shame on Fauci
for holding such hurtful views. But we already know how harmful apartheid is,
without needing to distract from the beneficial statements from Fauci. Just
because Fauci stood up to Donald Trump does not mean that he is a Citizen of
the World. My thought is that we use Fauci in America's struggle to get on top
of the COVID Pandemic, and not, in the same breath, condemn him for his
unworldly views.
Why can't we accept that our heroes have feet of clay? No one is perfect.
Even God goofed up when he created Saint Lucifer.
Caarl Jarvis, in all my imperfection
On 2/20/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Fauci champions Israeli medical apartheid Maureen Clare Murphy Rights
and Accountability 19 February 2021
Anthony Fauci punted when asked about Israel's refusal to provide
vaccines to Palestinians living under its military rule. Al DragoUPI
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the immunologist and chief medical adviser to the
US president, has given his implicit endorsement of Israeli medical apartheid.
In an interview with The Times of Israel, Fauci lauded Israel's
COVID-19 vaccination program as a "model for the rest of the world,"
crediting the socialized healthcare system in the country.
Israel has been lionized for its supposedly comprehensive vaccine
rollout, with outlets like The New York Times saying it points to a
way out of the pandemic.
The only trouble is that Israel is refusing to distribute vaccines to
millions of people living under its single system of unequal rule.
If anything, Israel exemplifies the deeply inequitable global
allocation of vaccines that will only allow COVID-19 to thrive.
The reality of Israel's discriminatory vaccine rollout is hardly
worthy of praise.
Fauci's adulations are a major propaganda gift to Israel, which seeks
to be viewed as a bastion of technical innovation rather than a brutal
occupier.
The Times of Israel asked Fauci whether the country should "help
vaccinate neighboring Palestinians."
The publication notes that "Fauci responded carefully" to the question.
"You're asking me a political question, and I don't want to go there.
That only gets me into trouble," he replied.
Obligation not benevolence
The very framing of the question as to whether Israel should "help"
its "neighbors" is fundamentally flawed, whitewashing the reality that
five million Palestinians live under its military rule.
Providing vaccinations is not simply a matter of Israel acting
benevolently to a neighbor. It's a matter of Israel fulfilling its
obligations under international law.
As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for the public health of
the people living in the territory it occupies.
Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention makes "particular reference
to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive
measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics."
Providing vaccinations to Palestinians is not a matter of politics or
plain morality but of rights and responsibilities. Israel has utterly
failed to uphold its obligations at the expense of Palestinian public health.
But even if it were a matter of Israeli generosity and benevolence
towards a "neighbor," it's telling that Fauci couldn't just give a
straightforward "yes" for an answer.
Fauci has explicitly called for vaccine "solidarity between countries"
as critical to ending the pandemic.
Why are Palestinians excluded from this basic concern for humanity?
Medical apartheid
Israelis living in West Bank settlements, built in violation of
international law, are able to receive inoculations but not
Palestinians living in the same territory under the same state authority.
There's a word for this kind of state-sanctioned separate and unequal
treatment.
Earlier this week, Israel delayed the transfer of vaccine doses
acquired by the Palestinian Authority for frontline medical workers in the
Gaza Strip.
Some Israeli lawmakers sought to condition the transfer of vaccines on
political concessions from Hamas.
Under a severely tightened Israeli blockade since 2007, the Gaza Strip
is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Israel's
siege has "pushed Gaza's healthcare system to the brink of collapse,"
Palestinian human rights groups have warned.
All aspects of Palestinian life, including the right to health, are
harmed by Israel's regime of occupation, settler-colonization and apartheid.
Decades of "de-development and economic subordination" have prevented
Palestinians from access to vaccines, as the corporate watchdog Who
Profits notes.
Meanwhile, Israel refuses to vaccinate the vulnerable Palestinian
workers who serve as its captive and disposable labor force.
And while undocumented persons and status-less non-Palestinian
refugees and migrant workers in Israel are eligible to receive
vaccinations, Palestinians from the West Bank living in the country
are being turned away.
The Times of Israel interviewed Fauci on the occasion of his winning
the $1 million Dan David Prize awarded by a foundation based at Tel
Aviv University.
That university is deeply complicit in Israel's system of occupation,
settler-colonialism and apartheid against Palestinians.
A prize that big may make it tempting to turn away from the reality of
Israeli medical apartheid. But that doesn't make it right.
By treating Palestinian rights as a "political question," Fauci is
undermining the work of groups who are calling on Israel to fulfill
its obligations under international law.
That is a political act, and a very shameful one to be sure.