Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: flood libel

Showing posts with label flood libel. Show all posts

Monday, December 26, 2022

Lying is part and parcel of Palestinian NGOs

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately to stop Israel from opening up nonexistent dams that are being blamed for flooding Gaza during torrential rains.

It would be easy to dismiss the hysterical lies of a tiny NGO in Gaza. Like many Palestinian NGOs, ICSPR is essentially a one man operation meant to attract funding.

Its chairman is Salah Abdel Ati, a "human rights lawyer" who is involved in a lot of other Palestinian NGOs. He is on the Board of Trustees of Law Palestine, and his bio there says that he is also "member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Middle East Studies, Canada, former director of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic (Masarat) in the Gaza Strip (2015-2019), and former director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Gaza (2004-2015), Director of Programs and Training at Canaan Educational Development Institute (1997-2004). Besides, Abdel Ati is a researcher and writer who has published many books, studies, research papers, and articles in the fields of politics, law, human rights, and society. He has worked with the United Nations agencies and international, Arab and Palestinian organizations and has trained thousands of lawyers and human rights activists, judges, workers in civil society organizations, and he is the founder and a board member in several Palestinian, Arab and international NGOs and institutions."

So now we can link an obvious liar to numerous other NGOs and, according to him, "thousands of lawyers and human rights activists, judges, workers in civil society organizations" who he helped train.

There is an almost incestuous relationship between Palestinian NGOs and international NGOs who work in Gaza and the West Bank. They all build on each others' "research" and compete in who will innovate the latest anti-Israel libel.

Their funding - and salaries - depend on it.

Lying is not a disqualification from being an honored member of this cabal - it is a prerequisite.

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Palestinians still repeating the "flood libel"

In 2015, mainstream media did what it does best - parrot ridiculous Palestinian claims without checking - and reported that Israel opened dams to flood Gaza. Social media user made fun of AFP for being so stupid, and for once, AFP actually checked the facts and retracted its story, acknowledging that there were no "dams" in the Negev that Israel could open up to flood Gaza.

AFP said that its reporting was "shattering a long-held Palestinian myth."

Someone should tell the Palestinians that.

The mayor of Zawaida in Gaza, Sami Abu Muhaisen, said that "the occupation" deliberately flooded the eastern regions in the center of Gaza by opening dams and opening water and sewage culverts, which caused the flooding of agricultural lands, damage to crops, and the accumulation of water in large quantities in Salah al-Din Street.

There was also heavy flooding in Mecca this weekend, but Israel has not been blamed for that.

Yet.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

The "flood libel" returns for this year's rainy season in Gaza

It's been raining heavily in the Levant, causing some localized flooding throughout the region.

And, like every year, Gaza officials are blaming their own flooding on Israel opening up non-existent dams.

The Nusseirat Municipality in the central Gaza Strip "confirmed" that the "Israeli occupation" opened the dams around of Wadi Beit Hanoun, threatening an environmental catastrophe, as the opening of dams leads to the flooding of the stream and the flooding of neighboring areas and houses.

The head of Hamas's Winter Emergency Committee, Zuhdi Al-Ghariz, also said that "the Israeli occupation opened dams in the east and north of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, which threatens to cause a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe for the people of the Strip."

Back in 2015, after AFP parroted the absurd claims to widespread derision, the French press agency belatedly went to the Negev to see if any dams existed and found that it was a Palestinian conspiracy theory with no basis in reality.

In fact, some of the responsibility for the flooding from Wadi Gaza comes from Gazans themselves.

"Wadi Gaza is liable to flood in an area which is about 70-100 metres wide but in some of these places, there has been illegal construction and cultivation, which has reduced this area to 15 or 20 metres," Munther Shoblak, a senior official in Gaza's water utility, told AFP at the time.

Notice that this year the libelers are emphasizing blaming Israel for the "environmental catastrophe" aspect. Only last week, the anti-Israel graphic designers at Visualizing Palestine (favored by Human Rights Watch) accused Israel of - get this - "climate apartheid." Because, you know, the Jews control the weather.

They also threw in "green colonialism," "greenwashing" and "environmental racism."

Throw them in a blender and pour them out and the letters all spell out "Antisemitism."

Iranian media and BDS activists repeat the Flood Libel

Iranian media has nicely translated the Palestinian flood libel to English:

Mother of Terrorism: Zionist regime floods Palestinian farmlands in Gaza with Rainwater

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Not even an inch in Occupied Palestine isn’t subjected to the apartheid entity’s terrorism.

Large swaths of farmland in the besieged Gaza Strip have been flooded after “Israeli” officials deliberately emptied out nearby rainwater storages, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to agricultural areas in the impoverished Palestinian enclave.

Farmers east of Zeitoun and Shajayeh districts of Gaza City told official Palestinian Wafa news agency that agricultural crops were completely destroyed on more than 500 dunmas [123.5 acres] of flooded land.

They argued that “Israeli” authorities open up the gates of nearby rainwater storages only a few days before harvest season, effectively flooding Gaza crops and causing a great deal of losses.

Meanwhile, a group of Palestinian non-governmental organizations has condemned the apartheid entity over flooding Palestinian-owned farmlands in the Gaza Strip.

“We hold the ‘Israeli’ regime fully responsible for the direct and indirect damage inflicted on Gaza and its residents” the group said in a statement.

The NGOs further stated “We call on the international community as well as humanitarian and human rights organizations to intervene immediately to prevent "Israeli" attacks on [Palestinian] farmers and their lands, to protect them and to ensure that the occupiers do not repeat their aggression.”

The Palestinian group also called for an international mechanism in order to compensate Gaza farmers, especially as agricultural products are the main food basket of people in the Strip.

The NGOs underscored that “Israeli” authorities intentionally open up the gates of dams and rainwater storages, damaging agricultural crops, infrastructure and various facilities in the Palestinian territory.

One of the people spreading the Iranian version of the ridiculous lie is Joe Catron, a BDS activist who writes for Electronic Intifada and Mondoweiss.

The Palestinian Flood Libel returns (update)

It's raining and snowing in Israel, which means that there are floods in Gaza. And whenever that happens, the Gaza authorities claim Israel is opening dams to cause the floods.

The Gaza agriculture ministry issued a statement blaming Israel for the flooding:

The spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza, M. Adham Al-Bassiouni, said Thursday that hundreds of dunams of agricultural land east of Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, were flooded, as the Israeli occupation forces deliberately opened gates and water dams towards their lands.

Al-Bassiouni explained, to Palestine Today News Agency that in the early morning hours, the occupation forces opened the dams towards farmers' lands, which resulted in the submersion of hundreds of agricultural dunams, which led to the destruction of agricultural crops.

He indicated that due to the bad weather conditions, the ministry's crews were unable to go to the place, indicating that after the end of the depression, a special team will go to the place to determine the extent of the damage and to report on the repeated violations of the occupation against farmers.

Al-Bassiouni stressed that his ministry will communicate with human rights and international institutions to expose the systematic crimes of occupation.

The Palestinian NGO Network also issued a statement blaming Israel for opening the non-existent dams.

The agriculture ministry and Palestinian Red Crescent made similar charges during floods last month.

Which shows that Palestinian government, NGOs and medical professionals have no problem with lying. Yet these same officials are regularly quoted in Western media as if they are credible.

UPDATE: The official Palestinian Authority Wafa news agency is claiming this as well.

I can't wait for the flood libel to reach Iran

Palestinian media are reporting that for the third time this week, Israel opened up some (nonexistent) dams to flood farmland where Gaza farmers planted wheat, barley, legumes and other crops.

Quds News Network, which recently was honored by Google and the news NGOs, said:

Abdellatif Qannou’, a spokesperson for Hamas, said that the Israeli ongoing assaults on farmers and their properties are a crime and a form of the Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people.

Qannou’ added that this is an example of the Israeli barbarism, arrogance, and blatant violation of all humanitarian laws and international norms, which require an international intervention to leash the occupation and end its barbaric policy against our people.

Apparently news awards don't care about things like "truth" as long as the news source attracts youth.

There was severe and deadly flooding in Iran this past week as well. It took days before Iran's president acknowledged the disaster.

I wonder if Israeli dams are powerful enough to flood Iran? Hmmm.

Meanwhile, even the UN says that Israel has nothing to do with the flooding.

Some 235,000 people residing in 39 low-lying areas lacking adequate infrastructure across the Gaza Strip are at risk of flooding during the upcoming winter season due to possible overflow of stormwater facilities and sewage pumping stations, according to estimates by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster for the oPt. This may expose an already vulnerable population to waterborne diseases, property losses, disruption in access to livelihoods and services, and displacement.

The immediate reasons behind this risk are gaps in maintenance and repairs of the relevant WASH facilities, compounded by the shortage of fuel to operate backup generators during long electricity outages: both factors are driven by significant funding shortages.

In 2019, less than 74 per cent of the amount needed to operate Gaza’s 484 water and sanitation facilities was funded, leaving a critical gap of $18 million.

According to the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), Gaza’s main provider of water and wastewater services, the running costs of Gaza’s 484 public water and sanitation facilities are US$68 million per year, including staff salaries, fuel, electricity, chemicals and spare parts. In 2019, less than 74 per cent of this amount was funded, leaving a critical gap of $18 million. According to the Palestine Water Law, the main source of funding for the operation and maintenance of these facilities is the recovery of bills from consumers. However, recovery rates in Gaza currently stand at around 20 percent, forcing CMWU to rely primarily on support from international donors, which has significantly declined in 2019.

80% of Gazans aren't paying their utility bills that would keep them safe from disasters like this.

(h/t Irene)

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Official Palestinian media now pushes "flood libel" after a pause of five years

Old libels against Israel never die. They always come back, zombie-like.

The lie that Israel steals the organs of Palestinians has returned in recent weeks and has been published in a few Arab media outlets, including in English.

And the lie that Israel has dams in the Negev which are opened to flood Gaza has been re-appearing in Muslim media as well. It appears to have started with the Gaza Ministry of Agriculture, run by Hamas, making the false accusation. Anadolu published it, UK Muslim News published it, Kuwait's news agency published it. And now, it is again the official position of the Palestinian Authority, as its Wafa news agency "reports:"

The occupation forces opened one of the dams of stolen water that reaches the Palestinian underground reservoir in the Gaza Strip, flooding hundreds of acres of land east of the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, which resulted in severe damage to agricultural crops.

"The Israeli occupation forces have built dams along the border of the Gaza Strip, to prevent the natural flow of rain water into the Palestinian territories, and divert it to pour into the Israeli underground reservoir within the territories of 1948, thus depriving the Palestinians of the most important source for the underground reservoir which is rain water. "

"When the amount of water exceeds the capacity of the dams to seize and transfer it, they are opened, which leads to a rush of water in large quantities that will flood farmers' crops and inflict heavy damage on them," Al-Sharif added, referring to the repetition of the process of opening the dams in recent years during winter months.

The accidents caused by the flooding of agricultural lands, as a result of the opening of the Israeli dams, are mostly concentrated in the Gaza Valley and East Shujaiya.

No, there are no dams or floodgates in the Negev. AFP even debunked this claim five years ago. But Palestinians are so used to blaming Israel for everything that they feel compelled to find a fairy tale that they can tell themselves to explain this disaster as well.

Iran's PressTV even made a video pushing the flood libel:

Here is the 2015 AFP story that showed that there are no dams in the Negev:

Even when libels against Israel are thoroughly debunked, there is no compunction in anti-Israel media to resurrect the stories. People forget and a new generation of readers eager to lap up the lies is always coming up.

Sounds a lot like how antisemitism works.

(The funny thing is that Palestinian media eagerly published the story that Israeli fighter jets were damaged in the floods as well. Why didn't they just build dams?)

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