Netanyahu confirms Russia broker helped Israel-Syria prisoner exchange, Dodges reports vaccines were in deal

After a leading Israeli national security blog reported that Russia was secretly brokering a prisoner swap with Syria – that Israel would buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for Syria to seal the deal – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the news in mid-Saturday evening. . “I want to say that not one Israeli vaccine went for this thing,” Netanyahu said. I thank President Putin for doing this. And I will not add more than this, because that was the Russian request. The terms of the deal were first reported by blogger Richard Silverstein and later confirmed by The New York TimesThe Israeli authorities described the prison exchange as a standard exchange; an unnamed Israeli female prisoner in Syria for two shepherds. A source also confirmed the Wall Street Journal that vaccines were part of the deal. The Guardian reported in January that indigenous Palestinians were excluded from Israel’s vaccination program.