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Netanyahu gambles political fate on reopening Israel

Fighting for his political life after three inconclusive elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that the pandemic will determine his fate on March 23.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meets Israeli actress Carmit Mesilati Kaplan (R) during a visit to the Khan theatre ahead of the re-opening of the culture sector following Covid-19 imposed closures, on February 23, 2021 in Jerusalem. - Israel took a step towards normalcy on February 21, re-opening a raft of businesses and services from pandemic lockdowns, but with some only available to fully vaccinated "green pass" holders. (Photo by Ohad ZWIGENBERG / POOL / AFP) (Photo by OHAD ZWIGENBERG/POO

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla couldn't have dreamed he would play a lead role in Israel’s ongoing election drama. He was scheduled to conduct an official visit to Israel this month [March 2021] and celebrate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the success of the vaccination campaign. But on March 4, the pharmaceutical giant announced that Bourla’s visit had been postponed indefinitely. Someone had rained on Netanyahu’s parade.

Bourla was looking for somewhere to conduct a pilot of his company’s experimental vaccine, a state-of-the-art laboratory from which to test Pfizer’s pioneering technology on millions of people as quickly and efficiently as possible. Israel was the ideal test site and the deal was equally advantageous for both sides. Pfizer would prove to the world that its inoculations were safe and effective, while Israel would become the first country in the world to have most of its population protected from the deadly coronavirus and emerge in weeks from the horrors of the past year.

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