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.
