Sunday, February 13, 2022
Elder of Ziyon
This section of the report (pages 204-210) is called "Cruel and arbitrary restrictions on access to healthcare in the OPT."
This page is about how Israel sometimes denies or delays patient requests by Gazans or their companions to travel to Israeli or Palestinian hospitals.
This section did not have any provable lies. But it has a complete disregard for the truth.
It does not mention a single reason why Israel might place restrictions on patients or alleged patients leaving Gaza.
In 2004, a 22-year-old Palestinian mother of two named Reem al-Reyashi faked a limp as she blew herself up at the Erez crossing from Gaza, killing 4 people.
In 2005, Wafa al Bass attempted to smuggle a suicide belt into Israel which she intended to use at the Israeli hospital where she was being treated for burns.
In 2006, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) who had received an entry permit into Israel on humanitarian grounds was arrested at the Erez Crossing. He planned to establish terrorist cells in the West Bank.
In 2007, two female suicide bombers at the Erez Crossing who received authentic entry permits into Israel using false medical information were arrested. They planned to carry out a double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and in Netanya.
In 2017, two sisters who had permission to enter Israel - one of whom had cancer - were caught trying to smuggle explosive material at the Erez crossing.
Hamas has used Gaza ambulances to transport terrorist leaders to Egypt, so Gaza ambulances must be thoroughly checked.
The Shin Bet has discovered "time after time [Hamas] attempts to pass funds and/or instructions to terrorist elements in the West Bank via Gaza residents entering Israel and even seriously ill patients." It also says that senior medical officials in Gaza were involved in issuing falsified medical certifications,"In some cases, the passage of imposters to Israel was done in an ambulance."
The also doesn't mention how many times Egypt denies permits to Gaza patients. Hundreds of Gazans are denied entry to Egypt every month even after they go through the process of getting permits, which indicates that Egypt is also concerned about terrorism infiltration.
Perhaps the most egregious part of this section was this image of empty pharmacy shelves in Shifa Hospital from 2017:
No context was given, but since it is in the section of the document about Israel's "cruel and arbitrary restrictions on access to healthcare" it is assumed that Israel had denied the passage of medicines into Gaza.
But Israel never denies medicine to Gaza.
This photo was taken when the Palestinian Authority decided to strangle Gaza's medical infrastructure during one of its political battles with Hamas. This included denying medical permits. And Amnesty knows this, because it reported about it in its 2017 annual report:
The Palestinian government based in Ramallah imposed several punitive measures against Gaza in a bid to pressure the Hamas administration to give up control of Gaza. These measures impeded the civilian population’s access to medical care, essential services including water and electricity, and education. This contributed to violations of the rights to health, an adequate standard of living, and education.According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in March the West Bank authorities suspended the payments for transfers of people in need of medical treatment outside Gaza, delaying the referrals of some 1,400 patients. NGOs reported that procedural delays resulted in the deaths of several patients, including babies. The UN reported delays in the transfer of essential medicines and medical supplies to hospitals in Gaza, affecting patients’ long-term health.
Yet these six pages do not mention the words "Hamas" or "Egypt" or "Palestinian Authority" or "terror" once. No, Amnesty is hell bent on denying any context and any indication that Gaza medical woes are not entirely because of fictional "Israeli apartheid."
Amnesty knows the truth damned well. And it goes out of its way to ensure that its readers do not know that truth.
Yes, it is possible to lie without saying a single verifiable falsehood. This section of the report proves this.
