Israel has paid more than $ 1 million to obtain COVID-19 vaccines for the Syrian archimandrite as part of a secret prisoner exchange agreement, according to reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted last week that his warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin helped bring back a 23-year-old Israeli girl who was being held captive in Damascus.
But rather than a direct exchange of prisoners for two Syrian shepherds, as first revealed, Israel actually paid Russia to send its Sputnik V vaccines to Syria to facilitate the exchange, according to The Times of Israel and other Israeli media.
Netanyahu was shy when asked about the reports on Saturday, saying that “not a single Israeli vaccine” was delivered to Syria – but without ruling out that Israel had paid Russia for the vaccine supply.
“I brought the woman back. I’m glad I did that. “I thank President Putin for doing this,” he told reporters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Moreover, I will not add, because that was Russia’s request,” he said.
The Associated Press said the vaccine deal was $ 1.2 million, while a source told Al Jazeera it was for “millions of dollars.” The full details of the deal have been censored by the Israeli military, media said.
“It is legitimate for the Israeli government to decide to deviate from the rules of the past and pay with another form of currency,” Israeli military correspondent Yoav Limor told Israel Hayom.
“However, the decision to hide this is unsettling and worrying. Obviously, someone was very uncomfortable to have this problem revealed. ”
The Israeli government declined to comment on the inclusion of vaccines in the prisoner exchange agreement, the WSJ said.
Russian officials did not comment on the deal, while the Syrian news agency quoted an unidentified source as denying coronavirus vaccines as part of the deal, according to the WSJ report.
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