Netanyahu has syringe used to vaccinate him mounted in his office
'We'll be the first country in the world to exit the coronavirus [crisis],' prime minister claims
Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
![Louise Thomas](https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/support-us/louise-thomas.png)
Louise Thomas
Editor
Benjamin Netanyahu has kept the syringe used to inject him with the Covid-19 vaccine as a souvenir.
Israel’s prime minister showed off the memento in a video posted to his Facebook page, which shows the syringe mounted in a glass box with a wooden plaque.
"Every time someone visits from abroad, I show them this arrowhead," Mr Netanyahu says while pointing to a display case in his office featuring a replica of a Roman arrowhead from Yodfat, which he says was the first Galilee fortress to fall to the Romans, according to a translation from Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "I tell them, that's the Romans, they're not here anymore."
The same display also features a model of the Israeli Arrow anti-ballistic missile.
The prime minister then moves on to another display case showing his syringe, adding: "And now I show them something else, another arrow.
"This is the syringe that gave me the first vaccine out of the millions of vaccines that we brought to Israel. We'll be the first country in the world to exit the coronavirus [crisis]. With faith, anything is possible."
The wooden base of the display features a plaque with a quote Mr Netanyahu made on the day he was vaccinated: "One small shot for man, one giant step for the health of us all."
Israel began giving out shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on 19 December in one of the world’s first vaccination rollouts.
Around a quarter of Israelis have received the first shot of the vaccine and 3.5 per cent have been given the second dose.
The country is in a third lockdown, with infection rates remaining high. More than half a million cases have been reported and 4,005 people have died in Israel since the pandemic began.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments