Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Elder of Ziyon
ABU DHABI // Emirates Red Crescent staff came under attack from Israel in response to Hamas fire from a Gaza hospital where they were working, the charity’s secretary general said at the Crown Prince’s Majlis on Monday night.Not to defend Hamas, but these claims are a bit fishy.
Mohammed Al Falahi said his organisation felt sacrificed after Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, fired on Israelis from the field hospital bringing retaliation from the Israelis.
Mr Al Falahi said the charity had coordinated with the Red Cross to distribute aid in Gaza during the 2014 conflict "and we asked them to liaise with the Israeli forces so they don’t strike us".
"While we were in the field hospital that the UAE built, we were surprised by – and this is the first that we have announced this – someone from Hamas instigating Israeli forces by launching locally made rockets from the field hospital", he said.
Inevitably, the Israelis hit back. "This shows their [Hamas’s] wicked intentions and how they sacrificed us," Mr Al Falahi said. "They always claim that the enemy targets humanitarian envoys but the betrayal came from them."
He said as the team were leaving Gaza "after having raised the white flag, Hamas accused us of being spies, undercover foreign intelligence who were escaping".
"And apparently they had informed extremist militias in Sinai and Sheikh Zuweid [in Egypt] that there was a group making their way there, so prepare for jihad against them.
"So Muslims fighting Muslims, who were giving humanitarian aid to Muslims. As we stopped at a grocery to buy something to eat, they started shooting at us."
He said the same time they found that the militias had planted landmines in their path a few kilometres farther down the path.
"What hurts is that the betrayal came from our own people," Mr Al Falahi told the majlis.
I could not find any mention of the IDF attacking any field hospital, which would have been big news. The UAE facility was in Rafah. I went through the lists of alleged attacks on medical facilities in Rafah and couldn't find any such report.
The story of Hamas tipping off Sinai militants to attack them and lay land mines strains credibility as well.
We know that Hamas fired from, and worked in, the vicinity of other hospitals and that they used ambulances to support terror attacks. Hamas is guilty o fsimilar war crimes many times over. But this story has not yet checked out.
Just because the Arabs are now turning against Hamas doesn't mean that their stories are any more accurate than their stories they make up against Israel.
In this case, the story isn't necessarily one of the UAE Red Crescent making credible allegations against Hamas.
The real story is that the wave of anger in the Gulf against Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood is now a tsunami that allows them to treat Hamas the way they used to treat...Israel.
(h/t John Godly)
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