Israel is "racist" for "not prioritizing" Palestinian prisoner's vaccination against Covid, states PA
Headline: “The [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club holds the occupation responsible for the prisoners’ fate following racist statements regarding the Coronavirus vaccine”
“Chairman of the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club Qadura Fares held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the [Palestinian] prisoners’ lives and fate. This was following the racist statements of Israeli Minister of Public Security [Amir Ohana], who said that the vaccination of the prisoners will not be prioritized and that it will be conditioned on the Israeli government’s approval (Ohana spoke about vaccinations for all prisoners, not just Palestinian terrorist prisoners -Ed.). In a statement published yesterday evening, Saturday [Dec. 26, 2020], Fares added that this racist decision is a new violation that joins a long list of violations of the prisoners’ right to receive treatment (sic., see note below), and that this is additional proof of the crime of deliberate medical neglect (slow murder) [parentheses in source] that the occupation authorities are committing against them…
It should be noted that Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr announced earlier yesterday that the Israeli Prison Service notified the prisoners that they will be vaccinated against the Coronavirus in the coming days.
Abu Bakr said in a phone conversation with [the official PA news agency] WAFA that the vaccination of the prisoners will be optional and not mandatory…
He demanded that Palestinian or international doctors supervise the prisoners’ vaccination, and explained that the relevant bodies will contact the Israeli side about the issue. Abu Bakr noted that the vaccine that will be given to the prisoners is the American vaccine by Pfizer.
It should be noted that the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs has documented 140 prisoners in the occupation’s prison who have been infected since the outbreak of the epidemic.”
Libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners - The PA claims that Israel abuses Palestinian prisoners through medical neglect, medical experiments, and by intentionally infecting them with diseases. However, the International Red Cross regularly visits these prisoners and has not documented or accused Israel of any of these claims. Likewise, lists of demands occasionally issued by the prisoners during hunger strikes—such as during one in 2011—include no demands relating to these claims. PMW has documented prisoners talking about how they "lack nothing" in the prisons and that "the worst thing about Israeli prison" is riding in a prison vehicle that has no padding on the seat. When PMW contacted the Israeli Ministry of Health in 2007 regarding PA claims of medical experiments on prisoners, the ministry responded: "Clinical testing on prisoners in prison was never approved, never performed, and is most certainly not taking place at present."