by Peter Fernandez
“Massacre Statistics,” a June 2 Times-Argus op-ed by Mark Hage, is another example of hackneyed textbook propaganda 101, or political disinformation constructed upon lies, unsupported, questionable, and exaggerated statistics, topped off with flimsy pro-Palestine historical revisionism.
“This June will mark the 55th year of Israel’s military occupation and illegal settlement regime,” writes Hage. Israel is settled upon only one-fourth of the original British Palestine Mandate of 1918. Had four Arab armies not invaded Israel one day after the UN declared Israel a nation on May 14, 1948, there would not be a Palestinian refugee problem. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq weren’t going into Israel with guns, grenades, and tanks to administer first aid to Israel’s unarmed citizens.
What Hage fails to point out is that Hamas, Fatah, the entire PLO septic tankful of terrorists have for decades placed their “freedom fighters,” munitions and rockets inside Palestinian civilian neighborhoods. And those are the reasons why, besides the racist world media, Israel looks to be the antagonist in this fanatical Arab war against the Jews.
“Why Gaza does not have bomb shelter(s)?” asked Abdulateef Al-Mulhim of the Arab News in 2014. “Hamas took control of Gaza Strip in 2005. However, hostilities never ended. Had Hamas built bomb shelters, the casualties would have been reduced. It seems Hamas does not pay much attention to the number of dead Palestinians.”
On May 16, 2021, Dr. Hamed Abdel-Samad, an Egyptian researcher/-writer and Professor of Political Science at the University of Munich, stated on MEMRI (Middle East Research Institute) TV that “Hamas doesn’t build bomb shelters for its civilian population in Gaza because it needs dead children to keep its cause alive.” If only its leaders are killed, he reasons, Hamas would not gain world sympathy.
Abdel-Samad also stipulates that Palestinians are not allowed to participate and contribute towards their future since Hamas is a corrupt autocracy fueled by racist Islamic propaganda against Israel. In a You-Tube Channel interview (May 12), the PHD explained that “Hamas has turned the Palestinians into beggars.” He asks where the unaccounted international aid to Palestine goes from the sixty-four international donor nations, while Fatah and Hamas leaders live rich, profane lives inside fortified villas and palaces.
Sure, there are bomb shelters in Gaza. There are certainly twenty-one, according to The United Nations Relief and Work Agency (no friend to Israel). They should know; they built them.
Jonathon Tobin of Commentary Magazine explained back in his July 12, 2014 article, “that Gaza is honeycombed with underground structures from one end of the strip to the other 1,400 tunnels connect Gaza to Egypt…rockets, ammunition; building materials as well as consumer goods come into the strip.
“Hamas leaders and fighters are kept safe in a warren of shelters built deep underneath Gaza. If these structures were opened up to the civilians of Gaza, there is little doubt that would lower the casualty figures.”
“What if,” asks Tobin, “instead of importing missiles and other arms from Iran, Hamas had decided to try to turn their tiny principality into a haven of free enterprise instead of an Islamist tyranny built on hate and which survives on the charity of Israel (yes, Israel, which every day – including when there is fighting going on – sends trucks laden with food and medicine into Gaza to prevent the humanitarian crisis that the Palestinians claim has been happening.)”
Israeli benevolence doesn’t get any coverage by the monolithic pro-Palestine media-complex.
When the imminent feud between terror rivals, Hamas, led by Yehiyah Sinwar, and Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestine Authority, does climax, will either party be blamed by the world press for Gaza’s destruction? Of course not.
“There is a huge sophistication and precision in the way the Israeli military struck (Hamas) over the past 11 days,” stated UNRWA Gaza head, Matthias Schmale. He also noted there were no shortages of water, medicine and food, but was pressured by Hamas and other Pal-estine NGO’s (Nongovernmental Organizations) to retract such state-ments.
There now exists a socio-political parallel between Hamas and their far-left “progressive” allies now beefed up and bunkered inside the Biden administration. Whereas, Dr. Abdel Samad and Abdulateef Al-Mulhim could find themselves murdered by vengeful assassins for blasphemy, the public relations arm of the Democratic Party, namely, 90% of the western media, will simply cancel legitimate data, dialogue, and criticism of Palestine, not unlike Schmale’s forced retraction.
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory). Excerpt from Hamas Charter. Visit HamasCharter.com to view the entire Hamas charter.
You can hear the muffled death rattle of our First Amendment dulled by design beneath the hooves of stray donkeys, as the American media cancels any voice they do not consider PC or Woke.
Peter Fernandez is a Northfield resident, author, and traveler to Israel.
Categories: Commentary
The issue is complex. It seems that Hamas is practicing opportunism at the cost of lives.
Nonetheless, Israel has continued to expel Palestinians from their homes, etc.
After 70 years history shifts. Israel exists, rightly or wrongly.
Now it may be too late for a peaceful solution. Let us hope not.
Israel isn’t expelling Palestinians from “their” homes. The MSM is a propaganda tool and the public, not well versed in the specifics, assumes they are being truthful.
Regarding, “Israel has continued to expel Palestinians from their homes, etc.,” No, I do not agree. Yes, it is complicated, but even a pro-Palestine writer, Professor Richard Khalidi acknowledges that there were considerable land sales by “absentee landlords (both Palestinian and non-Palestinian.” You will find a lot of information arguing your point in Alan Dershowitz’ The Case For Israel, Mitchell Bard’s Myths& Facts, A Concise Record of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Joan Peters’ From Time Immemorial and the latest Israel apologetic, Noa Tishby’s A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.
I listened to the late Edward Said, a Columbia Professor, speak at UVM, and read other advocates for Palestine, but until one examines the historic record, it is convenient to say that the Israelis usurped Palestinian land. In war, land is taken, and the Palestinians have turned down offers for their own state seven times. See November 22, 2017, American Thinker commentary, Seven Times Palestinians Rejected Peace by Jonathon Verlin, if you question Palestinian obstinacy.
Extending what I said above: There was response on the part of various governors, etc., in the U.S. to the BDS movement. This was a stifling of free enterprise against companies who supported BDS.
BDS groups on college campuses were stifled.
There is a lot of wrongdoing, and little clear-headedness in this situation.
Netanyahu has actually been an honest actor. Now he is out.
A couple weeks ago, a number of BDS social justice warriors tried to waylay an Israeli cargo ship in the SanFranciso harbor. It’s their right but these righteous activists need also block every Egyptian ship that comes into the harbor, since they too have blockaded Gaza since 2005. But Arab on Arab politics just doesn’t have the same appeal. China has political correctness protecting them from these protesters. Who cares if Red China has been occupying Tibet for decades. They own too many businesses in california.