Israel has secured a prisoner-swap deal with Syria – but paid for the woman’s return with $1.5 million worth of COVID-19 vaccines.
Israel paid $1.5 million to get COVID-19 vaccines for Syria as part of a secret prisoner-swap deal, according to reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted last week that his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin helped secure the return of a 23-year-old Israeli woman who was being held captive in Damascus.
But rather than a straight prisoner-swap for two Syrian shepherds, as first disclosed, Israel actually paid Russia to send its Sputnik V vaccines to Syria to facilitate the swap, according to The Times of Israel and other Israeli media.
When asked on Saturday about the reports, Mr Netanyahu talked around the question, saying that “not one Israeli vaccine” was delivered to Syria – but without ruling out Israel having paid Russia for the vaccine supply.
“We brought back the woman. I’m happy we did this. I thank President Putin that we did this,” he told reporters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“More than this I won’t add because that was the Russian request,” he said.
The Associated Press said the vaccine deal was for $1.5 million, while a source told Al Jazeera it was for “millions of dollars”. Full details of the deal were censored by the Israeli military, the outlet said.
Read the article by Lee Brown (New York Post) in the Herald Sun.