PA spreads false libel that Israel is "striving to spread the Coronavirus" to Palestinians
Headline: “The prisoners’ institutions demanded to release Abu Wa’er and all the sick prisoners”
“The representatives of the bodies working in the field of the prisoners called to release sick prisoner Kamal Abu Wa’er (i.e., terrorist, involved in the murder of at least 4 people) and all the sick prisoners immediately, as a prelude to the release of all the prisoners from the occupation’s prisons…
Chairman of the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club Qadura Fares said that… the occupation is striving to spread the Coronavirus via the invasion of soldiers who are likely to be sick into Palestinian homes and mixing with the civilians and prisoners.
He explained that the occupation is giving the prisoners strips of cloth that do not protect against the virus instead of medical masks.”
Kamal Abu Wa’er – Palestinian terrorist and member of the PA Presidential Security Force 17 who participated in a number of lethal terror attacks including: the murder of Israeli border policeman Madhat Yousef in a shooting attack at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus on Oct. 1, 2000; the murder of Rabbi Benjamin Herling in a shooting attack at Mount Eival on Oct. 19, 2000; the shooting and murder of Arnaldo Agranionic, a guard at the town of Itamar, on May 8, 2001; and the murder of 16-year-old Aliza Malka in a drive-by shooting near the entrance of Kibbutz Meirav on Aug. 9, 2001. Abu Wa'er was serving 6 life sentences and died in prison in November 2020.
Note: The PA claimed that this terrorist had suffered Israel's alleged deliberate medical neglect in prison.
However, later, the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs announced that “cancer patient prisoner Kamal Abu Wa’er has recovered from the Coronavirus after having become sick with it approximately two weeks ago.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 7, 2020]
Libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners - The PA claims that Israel abuses Palestinian prisoners through medical neglect, medical experiments, and by intentionally infecting them with diseases. However, the International Red Cross regularly visits these prisoners and has not documented or accused Israel of any of these claims. Likewise, lists of demands occasionally issued by the prisoners during hunger strikes—such as during one in 2011—include no demands relating to these claims. PMW has documented prisoners talking about how they "lack nothing" in the prisons and that "the worst thing about Israeli prison" is riding in a prison vehicle that has no padding on the seat. When PMW contacted the Israeli Ministry of Health in 2007 regarding PA claims of medical experiments on prisoners, the ministry responded: "Clinical testing on prisoners in prison was never approved, never performed, and is most certainly not taking place at present."