A Few Common Fabrications About The Situation In Gaza
Here, from The Israel Project:
1) Fiction: There's no food in Gaza and people are starving. News reports, including one produced by TV station France 2 on Dec. 29, showed a Gaza resident in a food store saying:"Apparently, there is nothing, as you can see. There are no natural products for the kids. There is no milk. There is nothing here."[1]
Fact: Warehouses in Gaza are filled to capacity, according to international aid groups.
In the same France 2 TV clip referenced above, upon closer inspection, shelves filled with food can be seen in the reflection of a refrigerated door in the store. To see clip: click on http://jt.france2.fr/20h/; click on "Lundi 29" - below the small screen; to the right of the new screen, click "Vie dans la bande de Gaza" The World Food Program informed Israel that it would cease shipment of food to Gaza because the warehouses there are at full capacity, with enough food to last two weeks.[2]
During a one-day period alone - Dec. 31- Israel facilitated the transport of 29 truckloads of food, including 15 truckloads of flour, into Gaza.[3] And even as Hamas was firing rockets and mortars during Israel during the ceasefire, Israel facilitated the delivery of 2,500 tons (delivered on 93 trucks) of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and medication through the Kerem Shalom cargo terminal.[4]
Since the beginning of the operation, about 6,500 tons of aid have been transferred into Gaza at the request of the international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments. Preparations are underway to facilitate further shipments.[5]
2) Fiction: Gaza has no medical and other aid supplies to help the injured.
Fact: During the first 5 days alone of Operation Cast Lead, Israel has facilitated the delivery of 6,500 tons of aid - 179 truckoads -- into Gaza at the request of international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments.
The deliveries include basic food commodities, medication, medical supplies and blood units. Another 106 truckloads of humanitarian aid are expected to arrive in Gaza on Jan. 31.[6] [7] The crossings to Gaza are open for the transfer of humanitarian aid from all international organizations, in full cooperation with the Israeli authorities and without restriction.[8] In a one-day period - Dec. 31 - Israel enabled the transport of 9 truckloads of medicine and medical supplies, along with 10 ambulances, into Gaza.[9]
3) Fiction: Israel is refusing to allow injured Gazans into Israeli and Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
Fact: Israel has allowed a number of Palestinians into Israel for medical treatment they couldn't receive in Gaza.
On Dec. 31, for example, 12 Palestinians accessed Israel for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. Two of those evacuated were injured children; the remaining were chronically sick people, and their escorts, who were allowed into Israel for treatment not available in Gaza.[10]
Further, Hamas - in an effort to exploit the suffering of innocent civilians - has refused to allow injured Palestinians to leave Gaza to go to Egypt for treatment.[11] Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit said earlier this week that Hamas was not allowing wounded Palestinians to cross the border into Egypt for treatment: "We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being allowed to cross." Asked who was to blame, he referred to Gaza by saying, "Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza."[12]
4) Fiction: Israel is purposely targeting civilians.
Fact: While Israel goes out of its way to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas actually places civilians in harm's way and uses them as shields.
Because Hamas is known to use civilian residences to hide their weapons, on Dec. 27, the Israeli military - before launching an attack on such storehouses - called thousands of civilians in Gaza on their cell phones and left Arabic-language messages urging them to leave homes being used for weapons storage.[13]
On Dec. 30, a reformist Iranian newspaper published a statement by a student organization that criticized Hamas for risking civilian lives, including children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals. The Iranian Culture Ministry shut down the newspaper after it printed the statements.[14]
Israel has publicly stated time and again that it regrets the loss of any civilian life and considers each one a tragedy. However, both Iran-backed Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah have a history of faking deaths and funerals. For example, in Spring 2002, Palestinians were filmed as they attempted to stage a fake funeral as part of a gross exaggeration of the number of people killed in Jenin. The film shows Palestinians wrapping, then carrying a 'corpse' on a funeral pier; the 'corpse' falls off several times and gets back on - including in front of a large and surprised crowd.[15] Click here for video of faked funeral. Although some reports say a quarter of the deaths during "Operation Cast Lead" have been civilians, Palestinian terrorists' history of deceptions and false claims require reporters to work to verify such information.
During Israel's defensive war against Hezbollah two years ago, the phenomenon was so common that it became known as "Hezbollywood."[16] One of the best-known instances was when a man purporting to be a rescue worker at the site of a bombed village appeared in various photos in the international media, repeatedly displaying the same child's dead body at different times - and in different poses - throughout the day. The man, identified as Salam Daher, wore a green helmet in all of the photos, earning himself the nickname "green helmet guy." Daher was also found to have directed a camera shooting the scene.[17]
No link for fake funeral
lujlp at January 5, 2009 7:25 AM
You mean the Israelis aren't drinking the blood of Palestinian babies??? Islamophobe!
Charles at January 5, 2009 7:40 AM
"No link for fake funeral"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRz5WnHemkw
Martin at January 5, 2009 10:04 AM
Tell me if this is a fabrication...
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSB81320
Hasan at January 5, 2009 11:17 AM
Everything reported by Al-Reuters is suspect.
brian at January 5, 2009 11:31 AM
Oh, please.
As for manipulation...
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/838438.html
Hasan at January 5, 2009 11:34 AM
Hiding behind women and children is not only their standard M.O., it is also the epitome of cowardice.
They are a complete disgrace. Period.
Pete the Streak at January 5, 2009 11:44 AM
From the Reuters report Hasan linked:
Freezing cold is compounding the misery of children caught in the conflict.
- - - - - - - - -
Yeah, right - Gaza is on the Mediterranean sea just a little north of Cairo and Alexandria.
Tel-Aviv - miles to the north - is a mecca for Europeans escaping the cold. It NEVER gets snow.
But, hey - why should Reuters check facts? They don't want Hamas to slit their reporter's throat.
Ben-David at January 5, 2009 2:10 PM
ben-david - just because it doesn't get snow, doesn't mean it doesn't get cold. It is somewhere in the 40's-50's right now. Granted not freezing, but cold.
And for the second link that Hasan gave, I love this line:
Dozens of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid entered Gaza through a separate cargo crossing farther south.
Funny, but you don't really hear about that in the MSM much. All you get is the slanted version from HAMAS claiming that nothing is being allowed through.
Pete the Streak is right. They are a disgrace.
wolfboy69 at January 5, 2009 3:15 PM
Putting aside for a moment whether Israel should exist at all, what gets me is how politically correct this war is. It's war, it's not a dinner party.
Israel should seal the border, cut the power, and turn off the water. The Israelis don't owe the residents of Gaza a thing. Let the Arab League come to the aid of people of Gaza. Why not? That's where they're getting their weapons, right?
Tyler at January 5, 2009 3:53 PM
Yeah, when did war get so civilized? If you're mad enough to fight, be mad enough to win. That's my motto.
momof3 at January 5, 2009 5:51 PM
I am listening to the news and I am AMAZED that only 560 persons died so far. If we look at the pictures of Berlin in 1950, it looks nothing like Gaza.
The day Gaza will take more damage than an average European city during World-War 2, I will revisit my support to the Hebrew State.
Toubrouk at January 5, 2009 7:46 PM
Maybe it's just my bull-headed nature, but the more reporters and European politicians whine about Israel, the more I'm inclined to support Israel.
Usually I'm more critical, because Israel has assholes, too.
Shawn at January 5, 2009 7:59 PM
Video: Explosives cache and tunnel in a Gaza bathroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFl51__Q9Gc&feature=channel_page
So: how do you combat this without civilian casualties?
What is a "proportionate response" to such terrorism?
Ben-David at January 5, 2009 11:18 PM
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