WHO Assembly Focuses on Political Prosecution of Israel, Forgets about COVID-19

Nov 18, 2020

You would think that the current session of the World Health Organization assembly would have focused entirely on the COVID-19 pandemic. Well… think again. The diplomats attending the world body annual meeting,  held a four-hour session focused on Israel, which saw itself condemned in speeches by some 30 delegations, including Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lebanon, and Venezuela, for allegedly violating the health rights of Palestinians and Syrians in the Golan Heights.

The session concluded with a vote of 78 to 14, with 32 abstentions, to adopt a resolution, co-sponsored by Syria, Cuba, Turkey, Qatar, and the Palestinian delegation, requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s assembly, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

While the entire world is waiting for WHO to address its own shortcoming and failures to identity and prevent the spread of COVID-19, as well as to forge a global discussion on how to deal with the current pandemic that has caused 1.3 million deaths, the World Health Organization instead focuses its resources on targeting Israel. Unbelievable!

“Today’s four-hour assault on Israel at the WHO promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Hillel Neuer, the Executive Director of UN Watch. “The opposite is true.”

“Despite the conflict, Israel grants entry to tens of thousands of Palestinians who receive top-level medical care at Israeli hospitals. Even the UN’s own Middle East peace envoy hailed Israel’s ‘excellent’ coordination and cooperation with Palestinians amid the coronavirus pandemic,” said Neuer.

“Israeli medical teams coordinate with Palestinian medical professionals to provide training and assistance. Israel transfers medical equipment and has trained dozens of Palestinian doctors, nurses, and medical personnel from Gaza,” Neuer added.

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