The co-founder of an anti-Israel movement said that protesters can use a vaccine to prevent the coronavirus if Israeli scientists create one.
Omar Barghouti, who heads the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement aimed at punishing Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, said over the weekend that he does not consider using a vaccine from Israel to be problematic.
“If you use medical equipment from Israel — it’s not a problem. Cooperating with Israel against the virus — to begin with, we didn’t consider it normalization,” Barghouti said during a Facebook webinar, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“The BDS announced normalization criteria long ago,” he added. “If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example, or any other virus, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel to save millions of lives.”
He went on to argue that the coronavirus outbreak cannot create a “honeymoon” situation for Israel but noted that “saving lives is more important than anything else.”
Last week, it was reported that Israeli scientists believe they could begin testing a vaccine for the coronavirus on humans by June 1.
“We are in the final stages and within a few days we will hold the proteins — the active component of the vaccine,” Dr. Chen Katz, group leader of MIGAL’s biotechnology group, said.
The Anti-Defamation League has labeled the BDS movement anti-Semitic for its efforts to delegitimize Israel.
