Malaysia's prime minister defied Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip to visit the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, part of a diplomatic push by Gaza's Islamist rulers that is irritating their secular rivals in the West Bank.Israel has not had any say over what goes through the Rafah border since the EUBAM observers left Gaza in 2007.
Since then, Hamas members have traveled back and forth to Iran for terror training, many buses filled with European sympathizers of Hamas have entered Gaza, Gaza's political leaders have gone on extended Middle East tours and attracting lots of fellow anti-semites, and construction material has been transferred into Gaza through Rafah.
Israel has a full naval blockade on Gaza - one that is entirely legal - and it limits the types of materials that go into and out of Gaza through Israel. But it doesn't restrict what transverses Rafah, although Israel is understandably concerned over the hundreds of tons of weapons that get smuggled in that way.
Reuters, however, is making the act of Malaysia's prime minister into a heroic act, saying he is defying Israel's blockade - as if Israel was trying to block him.
In fact, it is Mahmoud Abbas who condemned the Malaysian leader's visit, not Israel.
Najib's visit drew a stern rebuke from Abbas, who has not set foot in Gaza since his forces fought and lost a civil war against Hamas there in 2007.Reuters, once again, ignores the truth for its own narrative purposes.
"The Palestinian presidency rejects and denounces the visit ... and believes it undermines the representation of the Palestinian people," his office said in a statement. "It enhances division and does not serve Palestinian interests."
(h/t Arnold)