"Arab governments gave more for Sandy relief than for Gaza floods"

Palestine Today has an angry article about how Arab governments have abandoned Gaza.

The author states that in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy on the East Coast of the US last year, Bahrain donated $5 million, Saudi Arabia $250 million, Kuwait $500m, Qatar and the UAE $100m each. (Most of these numbers seem to be somewhat true, although many were pledges and it is unclear if they were ever paid.)

According to the article, the Arab world has decided to abandon Gaza, mostly because of Hamas' Islamist roots and connections with the Muslim Brotherhood which Gulf states are afraid of in their own countries.

Yet there is still an irony there that Gulf states that have so much oil are not giving it to Gaza during the current crisis. The article, of course, doesn't note Hamas' role in the fuel shortages in Gaza, nor that Hamas reportedly refused a deal which would have brought Qatar oil to Gaza via Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel will transfer enough fuel to Gaza tomorrow to allow the power plant to re-open:

Following discussions between COGAT and the International aid agencies operating in Gaza, the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing will continue tomorrow. This includes 1.2 million liters of gas: 800,000 liters of diesel fuel for transportation, and 400,000 liters of diesel fuel for the Gaza power station, and another 200 tons of household gas. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories maintains ongoing coordination with the Palestinian Authority.

Last night #Israel facilitated access of special pumps to #Gaza in order to deal with flooding. pic.twitter.com/blsSpRSp7j
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) December 14, 2013

Arab sources note that Kerem Shalom will be open for 12 hours a day this coming week to ensure that all the aid that is requested can get transferred.

Yes, Israel is helping Gaza more than the Arabs are. And everyone knows that the Arabs will not ever publicly thank Israel for this, they will not tone down their rhetoric, they will not move a millimeter from their position that Israel is hell bent on ethnically cleansing them.

Israel doesn't help Gazans because of PR. It doesn't help Gazans because of goodwill. It doesn't help Gazans because NGOs claim that Israel is still "occupying" Gaza. Israel helps Gazans because it is the right thing to do, and it does it despite the hate that Arabs have for Israel.