Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 14, 2021

Washington Post apparently has no idea why Israel bombed parts of Gaza, and doesn't bother asking

The Washington Post has an article about the damage done to Gaza by Israeli airstrikes, based on satellite imagery of before and after the mini-war in May.

According to the UN, 459 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Forty impact craters were detected on roads.

The destruction, which can be seen across the entire 25-mile strip was concentrated in the north, around Gaza City, and the southeast.

Rights groups decried the targeting of Gaza, which is one of the most densely populated places in the world.

Tensions boiled over in May after Hamas fired rockets into Israel in response to Israeli police cracking down on Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem. Israel responded with airstrikes, setting off nearly two weeks of hostilities.

You see? Hamas rocket fire didn't set off two weeks of hostilities - Israel's response is what started the war!

We saw the same dynamic in 2008: Hamas announced the name of the war and shot hundreds of rockets at Israel, but only when Israel responded was when the media declared that Israel started a war.

That isn't the worst part of this article, though.

The article goes in detail on the damage caused, almost all of it by Israel, but not once does it describe why Israel might have performed over a thousand airstrikes. It does not describe what Israel's targets might be, with the exception of "militants" and Hamas' offices in the Al Jalaa media building.

The word "tunnels" is not mentioned once, even though Israel described during the war that they were considered a major target and Hamas' most important strategic asset. Chances are very good that the reason Wehda Street was so heavily targeted is that the bustling commercial center was sitting on top of critical Hamas tunnels.

Why has no reporter asked the IDF that question?

The Washington Post could have easily looked at what Israel targeted in previous wars - command and control centers, major terrorist leaders, rocket launchers, arms and explosives caches. But it didn't even consider that Israel might have had excellent intelligence and good reasons for choosing the targets it did, even sometimes with the knowledge that innocent civilians might get killed because the target is that important.

Instead, the vague impression that one gets from the article is that Israel just randomly chose arbitrary targets and bombed the hell out of them.

The reporters didn't even bother asking the IDF to comment on why the damage is what can be seen. Meaning, the only people in the world who know exactly why Israel chose its targets weren't asked that question in the preparation for this article.

In the end, this is a one-sided article that only discusses damage and doesn't even speculate on why a professional army would choose its targets, or why Hamas chooses to place military targets among civilian objects and infrastructure.

The Washington Post's slogan is "Democracy Dies in Darkness." Yet the article doesn't illuminate - on the contrary, it purposely obscures.

And one can only imagine why such an article gets approved to begin with.

When Chaim Herzog submitted the Biblical story of Abraham's purchase in Hebron as an official document to the UNGA

Chaim Herzog, the former Israeli representative at the UN and father of the just elected president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, sent this letter in 1976 to then UN-Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, to counter an Arab submission that denied any Jewish connection to Hebron.

(h/t Irene)

06/13 Links: Richard Landes: Lethal, own-goal war journalism; David Collier: Gaza, Sky News and the Islamist march on London; PA continues its “Pay-for-Slay” policy in breach of the US Taylor Force Act

From Ian:

Richard Landes: Lethal, own-goal war journalism

The month of May 2021 taught us Israelis many unfortunate things—things we hoped were not true (and continue to hope are not true)—about the sad straights of Israeli democracy; the relentlessly authoritarian nature of Palestinian or, for that matter, Arab and Muslim political culture; the troubled relationship between Jews and Arabs in Israel; the rising strength of religious hatred in the region and the world; and, at least for me, the most senseless yet persistent phenomenon that crops up every time open conflict between Israelis and Arabs breaks out: namely the own-goal, lethal war journalism of the Western media and the wave of hatred it predictably unleashes around the world.

A brief preliminary discussion about the three types of unethical forms of “war journalism” is in order. There is patriotic war journalism: reporting as news your own side’s war propaganda; lethal war journalism: reporting as news a foreign belligerent’s war propaganda; and own-goal war journalism: reporting your enemy’s war propaganda as news.

Modern, professional journalism considers patriotic war journalism unethical, a prostitution of its high calling. While reporters sometimes sympathize with one “side” in a foreign war, lethal war journalists systematically give credence to one belligerent’s narratives, depicting the other side as an atrocious enemy. The third category seems wholly improbable, since why would anyone do something that stupid?

And yet, in the 21st century, the land “between the river and the sea” has given birth to a peculiarly virulent case of both lethal and own-goal journalism among Western news providers. From 2000-2002, a wave of the most ferocious and provocative lethal journalism in the history of modern, professional journalism came from Western journalists who published dishonest Palestinian claims about Israeli evil-doing (targeting kids, massacring civilians) and ran them as news.

When those claims were disproven, as they all were, these news outlets did nothing to correct their errors. In the spring of 2002, when lethal journalists filled the global public sphere with reports of Israeli massacres in Jenin (just like the Nazis in Poland), progressives in Europe protested by wearing mock suicide belts in solidarity with an enemy about to attack their own countries. Own-goal journalism scored a massive blow for an enemy whose viciousness was embodied in those very suicide belts that these demonstrators, inebriated with virtue, wore so proudly.

Democrats must require Palestinian leaders to do better

In early June, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote a letter to Sen. Jim Risch, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, asking him to remove a temporary hold on restoring Palestinian aid. That hold was put in place only until the United States can verify, with any sense of certainty, that the recipients will not directly or indirectly funnel the money to terrorists. Releasing it before that happens would be a terrible mistake.

The letter, which was signed by a group of Raskin’s Democratic colleagues, was misleading and generally reflective of a failed Middle East approach that they desperately need to abandon.

The letter was misleading because it is full of partial omissions and false promises. For example, it notes that this “humanitarian and development aid was passed in FY20 with bipartisan support and signed by the former President,” but completely fails to mention that there was also overwhelming bipartisan and executive support for the very limitations that Risch is trying to uphold.

Raskin claims that the money “is to be provided in full accordance with U.S. law. It is administered and overseen by our government and by trusted and vetted partners …. Hamas and other terrorist groups will not benefit from our humanitarian assistance.” The truth, however, is that during a May 24 special briefing, a senior State Department official publicly admitted that while the U.S. would be “working in partnership with the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to try and channel aid there,” at the end of the day “there are no guarantees” it would not end up with Hamas.

It is also problematic and unlawful even to pretend (while noticeably declining to mention them by name) that the PA has suddenly become a “trusted and vetted partner” that the U.S. can work with on distributing aid in the region.

Setting aside the fact that as recently as May 19, during the conflict in Israel, the PA released a public statement calling for a unity government with none other than Hamas, the PA itself consistently calls for violent uprisings and intifada. The PA also doesn’t stop at merely glorifying violence; it literally pays for it by guaranteeing convicted murderers a monthly salary for life, with amounts increased according to the number of victims and the severity of the harm. It spends hundreds of millions annually incentivizing terror, much of it from international aid. (h/t Yerushalimey)

David Collier: Gaza, Sky News and the Islamist march on London

In fact, I went back six months on the Sky Twitter feed and there is not a single tweet, not one, about the persecution of Christians.

Instead there is an endless stream of demonising, anti-Israel propaganda.

The BBC, the Guardian all have similar issues and a similar focus. When these news outlets publish a story against Israel, it goes viral. Their advertisers pay more, their subscriptions increase. But they are chiefly speaking to the Islamist crowd who use the material as fodder for new recruits and they are egged on by the same Islamist mob screaming ‘what about Palestine?’

Where is the front cover of the New York Times displaying rows of Nigerian children who have been lost? There isn’t one. Nobody cares.

Muslim footballers hold aloft the Palestinian flag and everyone takes this as a sign that ‘Palestine’ is the real humanitarian issue of our age. It is nothing of the kind and it is a disgrace that the FA took no action. This is people like Liverpool’s Sadio Mane turning it into a religious conflict and publicly using their fame and football clubs to do it. This isn’t about human rights – it is about their ‘brothers’, ‘Islam’ and the ‘Ummah’. Black Lives Matter is being co opted by the Palestinian cause – like the Palestinian cause co-opts every cause. But when it comes down to it – look at those people in Africa who are really suffering that nobody wants to talk about. Black lives don’t seem to matter at all.

People like the Sky News journalist Mark Stone get to feel important. His following increases, people begin speaking his name. The fool even thinks this somehow means he is doing the right thing- so he does it more often and more loudly. The growing applause confirms to him he is on the right track. After all, there are only 1.8 billion Muslims in the world and truth is a numbers game. The level of the man’s stupidity is only beaten by the size of his ego. A sad combination for a journalist.

We are being let down. There is no excuse for the Israel obsession – none. It is part of an Islamist narrative – and it is what these Islamists want to talk about – all the time. Our media have followed these Islamists down the anti-western, anti-Israel, rabbit hole. They run scared of the Islamists in the newsroom. Our police run scared of them on the street. The government knows that if it takes action – it will be labelled Islamophobic. This is a train heading for a crash – and the sooner we stop it – the less damaging the impact will be.

Hate is hate.

Except when that hate targets Jews.

Then it's legitimate complaint.

Like when you try to burn down a synagogue because you're angry at Israel.

And don't you dare call it antisemitism!

We saw that a few years ago when a German court affirmed a ruling that synagogue arson is not anti-Semitic. The case was about 3 men "of Palestinian descent" in July 2014. After the end-of-Ramadan celebration, they threw Molotov cocktails at a synagogue, resulting in minimal damage and no injuries.

The 3 men testified they were high on marijuana -- apparently they were just a little ahead of their time. But as it turned out, they did not have to claim diminished capacity. The court ruled there was no antisemitic motive because the men claimed they were taking out their anger on Israel because of the war with Gaza and didn't intend to hurt anyone.

Considering what has been going on in Jewish communities these past weeks, maybe these men were a little ahead of their time with this excuse as well.

Now, last month, Jewish houses of worship were again targets for vandals who ostensibly are reacting to events in the Middle East. On May 12, it was reported that Israeli flags were burned in front of 2 synagogues in Germany and the words "Free Palestine" were spray-painted on a synagogue in Spain.

Meanwhile, in the US, the words "Free Palestine" were sprayed outside a synagogue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020. An excuse offered this time was that the synagogue brought the attack upon itself by "blurring the lines" when it flies an Israeli flag.

Jews just have to be careful how they express themselves.

Jewish -- and only Jewish -- identity has to make sure it does not draw attention to itself.

And that goes for their synagogues too.

What about other synagogues?

Did they "blur the line"?

Did the Jews of the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh blur the line between acceptable and non-acceptable expression of Jewishness and invite that massacre?

How about the Poway Synagogue shooting?

Should we check to make sure there was no Israeli flag outside the synagogue, egging the shooters on?

A 2019 article in Haaretz lists these and other attacks on synagogues:

- Attempted arson at the Anshe Sholom Bnai Israel congregation in Chicago

- Similar attacks on Chabad Houses in Massachusetts

- An arson attack in the West Rogers Park section of Chicago (where 2 visibly Orthodox Jews were shot dead the previous year, possibly by the same gunman)

But if synagogues should not display Israeli flags with Jewish stars, is it at least OK for Jews to wear Jewish stars?

Not if they want to be normal.

Romance novelist Casey McQuiston has a line in her 2019 novel "Red,White & Royal Blue" where the president jokes that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations “said something idiotic about Israel, and now I have to call Netanyahu and personally apologize.”

And that one sentence got McQuiston in trouble with the Twitter mob:

A handful of Twitter users wrote that even mentioning Israel in fiction “normalizes” the occupation of Palestine. Their complaints were amplified by a fan account of the book, which prompted McQuiston to say the line would be changed for future printings. McQuiston has a new book coming out this year. [emphasis added]

So while the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco normalize relations with Israel, Israel cannot be mentioned in polite company, lest it be considered like other countries?

And even Jews cannot be accepted as normal unless they remove anything identifying them as Jews -- and therefore identifiable with Israel.

Remember that rally Sarsour organized last year, inviting everyone except Zionists and cops?

On the one hand Jews are being told they are not welcome if they identify openly with Israel.

On the other hand, we have to be careful about identifying too openly as Jews.

Jews have to worry that they may be singled out and attacked

For:

wearing a Star of David
wearing a kippah
speaking Hebrew

Having mezuzahs

The "progressive" left has been working overtime to define what Israel is.

They are also working on 'helping' Jews define themselves.

Are they undermining Jews in order to undermine Israel?

Or are they undermining Israel in order to undermine Jews?

Last week, Youssef Munayyer wrote a piece in Jewish Currents claiming that the Palestinian expression "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is not at all antisemitic, and not a call fo rethnic cleansing of Jews, and is only a yearning for a state where Jews are treated equally with Arabs. It is, as he quotes, “part of a larger call to see a secular democratic state established in all of historic Palestine.”

This is gaslighting on a massive scale.

Saddam Hussein was explicit when he said, "Palestine is Arab and must be liberated from the river to the sea and all the Zionists who emigrated to the land of Palestine must leave."

Shiite scholar M. Da'ud wrote about the Muslim messianic Mahdi:

Google Books references to the phrase before 1990 are mostly snippets, but they are very clear that the phrase means ethnic cleansing of Jews.

From Record of the Arab World: Yearbook of Arab and Israeli Politics (1970):

From a 1970 Egyptian radio broadcast, captured by the CIA:

Or from the 1980 Near East/North Africa Report - Issue 2130 - Page 12:

INTER - ARAB AFFAIRS TRIPOLI REPORTS RESULTS OF PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE LD291504 Tripoli Domestic ... of keeping the Palestinian revolution ablaze until all the territories of Palestine -- from the river to the sea -- are liberated .

Hamas leaders have used the term - and they are quite explicit in their desire to replace all of Israel with an Islamist state where Jews do not have equal rights.

Hell, even Osama Bin Laden used the term, and I don' tthink even Munayyer would pretend that he meant equal rights for Jews.

Even this past month, when Palestinian Arabic media reports on Israeli objections to the phrase, they never say that the meaning of the phrase is any different than what Israel says it is. Only in English do we see such apologetics.

No one, when speaking to an Arab audience, even pretends that the phrase means anything but ethnic cleansing of Jews.

And even far socialist media understands this, as this November 2012 Workers Liberty article shows:

Everyone knows that the phrase is indeed a call to ethnic cleansing Jews from the region and the full replacement of Israel with a Muslim/Arab state.

Biden about to throw Israel under the bus with nomination of anti-Israel (and anti-America) lawyer to CERD

The Biden administration has nominated a known anti-Israel, anti-American figure to promote the lie that Israel is an apartheid state and the US is a racist nation.

CERD is the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It monitors compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, also known as CERD, a treaty which the U.S. and Israel have ratified along with 180 other countries.

There are 18 members of the Committee, who are nominated by countries that are parties to the treaty, but once elected are supposed to be “independent experts” who do not have to adhere to what the nations that nominated them desire.

The "State of Palestine" became a member of CERD in 2014, over the objections of Israel, and it quickly used CERD to make a very rare "state to state" complaint accusing Israel of racial discrimination and apartheid. This is the only active state-to-state complaint in the United Nations human rights treaty system with nine treaties and ten human rights treaty bodies. Obviously, the Palestinians didn't join CERD to adhere to its provisions but to use it as a weapon against Israel, which is how they are subverting the entire international human rights system. (We've discussed before how the Palestinians have shown no interest in adhering to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which they signed in 2014.)

When the Palestinian case against Israel came up in 2019, the CERD Committee asked the UN Office of Legal Affairs for an opinion about whether or not it had jurisdiction in this case. The UN’s own Office of Legal Affairs responded in writing by stating that the CERD Committee did not have jurisdiction to take up the “State of Palestine” complaint (because of Israel’s formal legal objection to Palestinian ratification and to the attempt to change the bilateral legal relationship unilaterally.) Yet CERD ignored the legal advice it sought and decided it did have jurisdiction.

It was a highly contentious decision. Six of the sixteen Committee members dissented. The Arab nations on the committee voted that the Palestinian complaint against Israel should be allowed - and so did the US member, Gay McDougall.

Gay McDougall, a law professor at Fordham, has a history of being very anti-Israel.

She energetically defended the antisemitic 2001 Durban Conference, , accusing Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos – a Holocaust survivor – of narrow-minded parochialism in his concern about antisemitism at the global forum.

She wrote a paper for the UN Human Rights Council in 2008 about citizenship rights. She criticized Israel for not allowing Palestinians from becoming citizens but she didn't say a word about every Arab country that specifically doesn't allow Palestinians to become citizens of their states.

At CERD, she went against longstanding US policy (see here, appendix E) in opposing Palestinians joining international forums and committees as the "State of Palestine," instead supporting their complaint against Israel to move forward. Her pushing of the anti-ISrael aenda occurred as she was the Vice-Chair of the committee.

She championed the Palestinian complaint that Israel is guilty of apartheid.

McDougall was originally nominated to CERD by the Clinton Administration in 1997 for her first four year term, and she was re-nominated by the Obama Administration in 2015. The Trump administration did not re-nominate her when her term ended, and did not name anyone to replace her.

But the Biden administration is nominating her again, even knowing her viciously anti-Israel record.

Proud to nominate Gay McDougall for the @UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Her expertise in human rights law and racial equity will help #CERD monitor implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 3, 2021

This means that as the Palestinian complaint against Israel goes forward, a major UN committee will say that Israel is guilty of apartheid with the guiding hand of the nominee of the United States - and instead of the US defending Israel, the US-nominated member will join in with the Arab states and dictatorships that enthusiastically support that lie.

With this nomination, the Biden Administration is knowingly pushing the agenda in a major human rights committee that Israel is guilty of apartheid.

This is much worse than Human Rights Watch or B'Tselem making that slanderous and false accusation. This is a major UN treaty body.

The Biden administration has said that it will defend Israel, but in this case they are knowingly throwing Israel under the bus with their own nominee to CERD.

It gets worse. Gay McDougall isn't only anti-Israel - she is even anti-America!

McDougall led the campaign to have the notoriously biased UN Human Rights Council single out and condemn the United States for racism after the murder of George Floyd. The US fought against this resolution, Gay McDougall fought for it. ]

Gay McDougall wrote about the United States as far back as 2004: “hypocrisy lurks at the core of our moral identity as a nation, undermining our claims to global leadership.”

Similarly, in 2017, McDougall proudly used CERD as a platform to claim the US was not against white supremacy.

Why would the US want to nominate someone for such an important position who actively works against the interests and positions of the United States?

The official date for her election to CERD is June 24th.

This nomination must be fought, if for no other reason than Gay McDougall is anti-Israel and anti-United States. It is unconscionable for the US to nominate someone who actively works against the best interests of the United States as well as Israel in international forums.

Biden Not Going To Let Pesky Thing Like Iran's Genocidal Ambitions Get In Way Of Deal (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Jen Psaki Washington, June 10 - A representative of the current presidential administration assured reporters today that they will do whatever possible to reach an understanding and arrangement with the Islamic Republic over the latter's pursuit of atomic weapons, spread of international terrorism, and goal of destroying the home of six million Jews, no matter how formidable the obstacles to facilitating that arrangement.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki informed reporters at a Thursday press conference that some issues fall by the wayside when larger values come into play, as in the current situation where preservation of Jewish sovereignty and safety must cede priority to the overarching objective of cementing Iran as the hegemonic power in the Middle East by means of genocidal campaigns across the region and a bevy of puppet states and terrorist groups that target opponents of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime.

"There are more important values than keeping a Jewish homeland safe," explained Psaki. "One of those is allowing Iran to ethnically cleanse Syria of non-Shiite populations with its multiple militias and colonizers, a similar process to what's been going on in Yemen for the last decade or so. In Lebanon, as well, Iran's proxy Hezbollah has spent the better part of the last forty years cementing Tehran's control over that once-idyllic country and sowing violent discord. These are the values that animate this administration, and that animated the Obama administration, before Trump and his cronies disrupted everything with their peace deals between Israel and Arab states. We decided upon assuming office this year that such irresponsible foreign policy could not continue."

"The point is, Iran might not be the most righteous regime on the planet, but who is, really?" she continued. "We all have our faults to one degree or another. Some people accuse China of doing nothing to curb carbon emissions, which is like the worst thing that country has done in the last hundred years, I think. So we're not talking about nations with pristine reputations in the first place. I'm not comfortable with the way Iran treats women or homosexuals, but every progressive knows that empowering repressive, homophobic, misogynistic regimes takes precedence over getting them to improve their behavior. If we're not going to let those repressive policies get in the way of a deal that legalizes, normalizes, and smooths Iran's path to nuclear weapons, what makes anyone think that the far-less-pressing issue of Jewish safety and sovereignty has any importance whatsoever?"

06/12 Links: Anti-Israel rhetoric has always been about the Jews; US to aid UNWRA on condition of new curriculum; Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu, thank you for your service

From Ian:

Anti-Israel rhetoric has always been about the Jews - opinion

The fact that anti-Israel antisemitism is embedded in the halls of power should come as no surprise. When reason abandons the debate, the crazies on all sides feel empowered. Hatred for the Jewish people and Israel is the one thing that the alt-right and the woke Left agree on.

Gaza was just a convenient tripwire for this most recent explosion of rancor. The anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda that has exploded on the allegedly monitored platforms of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube recalls the most horrific expressions of hate not seen since the pages of Nazi Germany’s Der Stürmer, or sadly, the type of educational incitement that can be found in a Palestinian Authority first-grade textbook. Social media has spread the three Ds of anti-Israel antisemitism faster than a radioactive release from the burning Chernobyl nuclear reactor. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the words “Hitler was right” were posted more than 17,000 times in just seven days in May. Extremist hashtags against Israel and Jews were trending wildly. The vile knows no bound. Even Lily Ebert, a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor who educates the world about the horrors of hate on social media, was overwhelmed on her TikTok account by the most disgusting messages, including countless posts that praised Hitler.

Minimizing the horrors of the past promises that they’ll become part of our future. Synagogues were desecrated last month, and Jewish businesses vandalized. Jews around the world now think twice before wearing a kippah in public or having a mezuzah on their front door. But let’s not kid ourselves: Facebook and Twitter are monopolist businesses, and they’ve made billions off of this latest round of malignant incitement. The social media platforms did not stop designated anti-Israel terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah from recruiting and fund-raising online, so why should calling for the extermination of the Jewish people be any different? As the founder of an NGO that battles terrorists in court and who warned anyone who would listen that hatred on social media would lead to bloodshed, this handwriting was hash-tagged on the wall years ago.

In the hate business, antisemitism was always an easy sell and business is really good now. If hatred can’t be stopped and decency won’t win out over wokeness, perhaps legal liability – even criminal culpability – might be one way of getting the social media behemoths of Silicon Valley to stop their detestable practices. It isn’t a vaccine for the hatred, of course, but it will limit the spread of the contagion. Until then, it’s a certainty that social media will promote more anti-Israel and antisemitic hate. Terrorists will be emboldened and, in the process, many more innocent Jews will have to pay the price in broken bones and shattered lives.

The Biden administration’s half-hearted fight against antisemitism

Sometimes, what leaders don’t say, or do, echoes loudest. President Joe Biden’s response to May’s upsurge in antisemitic incidents is a prime example.

The president has been widely praised by major Jewish organizations and many individuals concerned about antisemitism for his May 28 statement, which said, among other things, “These attacks are despicable, unconscionable, un-American, and they must stop.” That was a good sentence.

However, the widely ignored thorn relates to the next sentence: “I will not allow our fellow Americans to be intimidated or attacked because of who they are or the faith they practice.” What matters here is the follow-up. And that’s where people would be wise to pause the cheering until there’s proof that this administration is committed to backing up that promise.

For starters, we’re past the point where lofty words are sufficient. The time to try beating back antisemitism with statements alone was early 2019. At that point, the still new Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, had three antisemitism scandals in quick succession, as she repeatedly violated the taboo against open antisemitism and brazened out censure. Biden chose to remain silent, as did many congressional Democrats. Now, more than two years of shattered norms later, American Jews are living with the very real and dangerous consequences of that collective shrug.

During May, American Jews were assaulted for walking while wearing a kippah in Manhattan and being Jewish while eating sushi in Los Angeles, among numerous nationwide attacks on synagogues and Jewish individuals. Notably, Biden announced no acts of solidarity against this anti-Jewish discrimination.

Consider, for example, that when Germany’s antisemitism commissioner announced in 2019 that he couldn’t recommend Jews always wear a kippah, a German newspaper printed a cut-out kippah that non-Jews could wear in solidarity with Germany’s Jews. In that spirit, Biden could have announced he would wear a kippah for a week and encouraged other Americans to do likewise. Biden could have invited Jewish hate crime victims to the White House for an event. The president could have publicly urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send him antisemitic hate crime legislation to sign. As the head of his party, Biden also could have declared that Jew hate has no home in the Democratic Party. He has done none of those things.

The progressive imperialism of Keir Starmer’s Palestine policy

Sir Keir’s motives are probably an amalgam of cynicism and idealism, but the latter is where the trouble comes in. Progressives may see unilateral British recognition of a Palestinian state as a century-late penance for the Balfour Declaration — Emily Thornberry said as much in 2017 — but it is in fact a continuation of the same map-carving mindset. Britain knows best and if the natives can’t see it’s for their own good, they will eventually come round. It is progressive imperialism, but imperialism all the same.

There is an enduring myth, fashioned by Arabist historians and naively echoed by Zionist advocates, that Britain has always been the great champion and protector of Zionism. There have been aspects of Zionism to British governments, policies and intellectual traditions but for the most part Britain has been either uninterested in or hostile to Zionism. Even when philo-semitism and proto-Zionism were at their height in Britain in the 19th century, arguments made for Jewish self-governance in the Land of Israel were utilitarian or patrician.

The Spectator was advocating Jewish settlement of Palestine 15 years before Theodor Herzl was born, advising the Ottoman Empire that it would be ‘a gainer in every way were it to invite the immigration of such colonists’ because ‘the Jews would form the nucleus of an industrious, orderly population; consisting of men who have been trained to live as citizens — who know the value of domestic peace assured by laws’. Yet Palestine, it argued, was not to revert to being a sovereign Jewish polity; the settlers would merely be granted ‘considerable immunities’ by the Ottomans and England.

Thirteen years after Herzl’s death, the magazine was still at it, with a 1917 editorial titled ‘Palestine for the Jews’ predicting ‘a little Jewish State in Palestine would serve as a rallying-point for Jews all over the world, and it would confer a benefit also on the Christian and the Moslem worlds, which are equally interested in the Holy Land and its undying religious memories’. Again, even as The Spectator spoke of ‘the revival of Palestine as a Jewish land’, it was at pains to say Jewish settlement must be ‘under the supervision Great Britain, our Allies, and America’ with order ‘maintained by some form of international control’. Far from Zionism, the motive was more strategic:
“‘From the British standpoint, it is essential that Palestine should no longer be in Turkish or German hands; but it is neither necessary nor desirable that we should become solely responsible for the administration of the country.’

Palestine needed a little Jewish state not because it was the homeland of the Jews but because it was a headache for the Brits.

I don’t draw attention to these articles to scold The Spectator for espousing the attitudes of the day, or for advocating exactly the sort of protectorate early Zionists envisioned. That the magazine editorialised, and editorialised so early on, for a Jewish return to Eretz Yisrael is to its immense credit. I simply observe — marvel, really — at how little has changed in the intervening years. Then as now, right as left, Britain speaks about Israel in a proprietorial tone.

06/11 Links Pt2: Journalists Against Truth; AP Snubbed as Al Jazeera Wins Hamas Prize for Gaza Coverage; Has the American mainstream been 'Corbynized'?

From Ian:

Noah Rothman: Journalists Against Truth

The very notion that the news media is somehow unable to “accurately reflect the plight of the Palestinians” is so solipsistic that one has to wonder what reality these reporters inhabit. The Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem are routinely described in the press as “occupied,” though that’s oversimplified to the point of being misleading. In Gaza, every Jew was forcibly relocated by the Israeli government in 2005, and much of the territory presently under “occupation” would be ceded to Israel according to the terms of the many proposed resolutions to this conflict. The American press frames military offensives by Hamas as a response to American diplomatic overtures to Israel, such as moving the U.S. embassy to Israel’s political capital, which ignores the conspicuous failure of the Fatah-led West Bank to similarly erupt. We are routinely treated to soft-focus profiles of the long-suffering Palestinian people who languish under oppressive regimes that devote more of their money and energy to making war against Israel than serving their people. And yet, the villain of this rather straightforward story is always the same and almost never the true malefactor.

Indeed, the hunger to promote Palestinian narratives is so all-consuming in the press that they seem willing to fall for anything. At the end of the conflict in May, Sarah Leah Whitson, a veteran of the group Human Rights Watch, which produced the odious “apartheid” report, publicized a claim alleging that an “Israeli pilot revealed that the destruction of residential towers in #Gaza Strip was ‘a way to vent the army’s frustration.’” This admission of a war crime was promoted breathlessly, including by some whose names grace this open letter. The notion that the strategic planners and IDF attorneys who select targets were overruled in the air by overzealous pilots would be shocking, and surely the IDF’s MAG Corps’ General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments will be outraged by this development. Either that, or this never happened, and it could only be believed by those with a burning prejudice against Israel that precludes the potential for anything resembling rational thought.

But perhaps rationality has been subordinated to emotion. After all, as Vox.com reported, progressives in government and the press have come to view the Palestinian cause as an extension of the Black Lives Matter movement. They use BLM’s campaign against police violence as a heuristic to navigate a conflict they don’t understand and which they don’t seem to want to understand. Rather, they want it to comport with a childishly simplistic, Marxist-flavored narrative about how power dynamics explain the world.

Call that what you will, but you can’t call it reporting. What these alleged journalists want isn’t journalism. They are on a “sacred” mission to promote “contextualized truth.” Another way to say “contextualized truth” is “lie.” It even makes for pithier copy, which is what real reporters strive to produce.

Another Militant Operative Identified on New York Times List of Children Killed During Gaza Conflict: Report

A second Hamas military operative was among the New York Times list of children killed during last month’s clashes between Israel and the terror group, according to findings released Tuesday by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC).

The ITIC identified 16 year-old Muhammad Sabar Ibrahim Suleiman, who was killed on May 11 in an attack in the eastern part of Jabalia along with his father, a commander in the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, the Hamas’ military-terrorist wing.

A video released after the end of the 11-day hostilities in May shows Muhammad Sabar Ibrahim Suleiman wearing an Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades uniform learning to shoot a machine gun and train other weapons, according to the report.

“The instructor next to him is also wearing an Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades uniform. Thus despite his young age, he had been recruited by Hamas to its military-terrorist wing,” the report read.

The Times‘ front page “They Were Only Children” May 26 article featured the pictures and names of 67 children under the age of 18 who were killed, two in Israel and 65 in the Gaza Strip.

Since publication, the paper has issued several corrections on the article, and reported that Khaled al-Qanua, listed in the article as a 17-year-old, was a fighter in the Mujahedeen Brigades, a group allied with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and close to Iran. The Tuesday ITIC report claimed that al-Qanua was in fact a 20 year-old terrorist operative, based on a mourning notice issued by the Mujahedeen Brigades, the military-terrorist wing of the Mujahedeen Movement. Al-Quanua was killed on May 13 in an aerial attack on a Palestinian terrorist squad near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

AP Snubbed as Al Jazeera Wins Hamas Prize for Gaza Coverage

Earlier this week, Qatari news network Al Jazeera accepted an award from Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization with which it used to share office space in Gaza City. The terror group praised the "high professionalism" of Al Jazeera's coverage during the recent clashes between Israel and Palestinian terrorists, as well as its demonstrated "affiliation with the cause of the oppressed Palestinian people."

The network's Gaza bureau chief, Wael al-Dahdouh, was photographed receiving the award from Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas in Gaza. Terror officials praised Al Jazeera's coverage, while also denouncing "the barbaric behavior of the occupation soldiers." According to the Hamas website, the event was "part of a series of continuous visits carried out by Hamas media relations to honor the media."

The decision to award Al Jazeera for its favorable coverage of anti-Semitic terrorism was a humiliating rebuke to the AP's hard work on this same front. For example, the Atlantic reported in 2014 on the AP's extensive efforts to ensure that its coverage did not conflict with the Hamas goal of eradicating Israel.

When the power trio's shared office space was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last month, AP executives insisted (unconvincingly) they had no idea they were working next to terrorists. National security expert Noah Pollak reported, however, that the office building contained "multiple Hamas operations and offices including weapons manufacturing and military intelligence" and the AP's local reporters "knew about it."

It's possible that Hamas was aggrieved by the AP's out-of-character decision to rescind its job offer to Emily Wilder in response to media reports about her radical anti-Israeli activism in college. The AP has an otherwise impressive record of employing anti-Israeli activists, such as Gaza bureau chief Fares Akram, who previously worked as a consultant for the radical left-wing Human Rights Watch and has said he finds it "difficult to distinguish between what the Israelis call terrorists and the Israeli pilots and tank crews who are invading Gaza."

Did you know that the world never condemns Israel?

That's the message from the Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs.

In a press release today, the ministry issued a statement saying that "countries' fear of being accused of anti-Semitism gives immunity to the Israeli occupation authorities for committing crimes, and makes them above criticism and accountability."

The ministry expressed its astonishment that some countries "express concern" or ask both Israel and Hamas to stop unilateral steps, because that is "equating the victim and the executioner" and that the reason countries use that language is to avoid accusations of antisemitism.

I had missed where the world community avoided criticizing Israel.

06/11 Links Pt1: Melanie Phillips: How America is now threatening its allies; Caroline Glick: The great unravelling; Biden Should Offer the Vaccine to Iran

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: How America is now threatening its allies

This petulance and spite towards a historic agreement that has made a mockery of the Foggy Bottom consensus on Israel and the Palestinians tells us that the Biden administration’s attitude to the Middle East is based not on realism or pragmatism, but on emotion and ideology.

It shows that the administration will deny hard facts in order to preserve fantasies, such as Palestinian “victimhood” and the illusory two-state solution, that define today’s progressive identity.

Israel itself is currently in the throes of unprecedented political convulsions. On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year stint as prime minister is set to end when an improbable coalition of rightists, leftists, centrists and the Arab Ra’am Party is due to be sworn in as Israel’s government.

With no-one able to say with certainty that such a coalition will even endure, it’s impossible to predict what its policies will be. No one can say whether the rightists will abandon principle and allow themselves to be held hostage by the left; or whether the left will swallow right-wing policies to stay in power; or whether the Ra’am leader really will abandon his Islamist holy war against Israel and settle for the pragmatic priority of improving the lot of Israel’s Arab citizens.

Despite these unknowables, there are hopes in the progressive world that the very existence of such a coalition will soften western hostility to Israel and break down barriers with the Biden administration.

Yet whatever the coalition does, western hostility won’t dissipate because it is based on an irrational hatred that treats any concession Israel may make as merely a further sign of its innate perfidy.

As for the Biden administration, stuffed with officials who either hate or are indifferent to Israel and the Jewish people, the only Israeli policies that would break down such barriers are those that would leave Israel twisting in the genocidal wind.

In Northern Ireland the Republican Sinn Féin Party, which has a history of rank antisemitism, promotes the left-wing Israel demonisation agenda, while the Republic of Ireland is one of the most extreme anti-Israel countries in Europe. In stark contrast, Northern Ireland’s Protestants have long been strong supporters of Israel. They identify with the Israelis’ struggle against existential foes, global disdain and perfidious “friends.”

With the Biden administration’s perverse interference in their own affairs, further endangering their security while doing the same to the Israelis, these two causes are now joined at the hip against an America that has lost the geopolitical plot.

Ruthie Blum: Is a bogus Iran deal upstaging the Abraham Accords?

ISRAEL ISN’T the only country wary of the goings-on behind closed doors in Vienna. The Gulf states that openly allied themselves with Israel through the Abraham Accords – and other Mideast countries, like Saudi Arabia, tacitly doing so as part of a joint attempt to curb Iran’s pernicious agenda – are equally concerned.

Their worry is certainly justified, particularly in view of another disturbing development. US State Department staffers were sent inter-office e-mails a few months ago discouraging them from using the official title of the historic peace agreements brokered by former president Donald Trump between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

According to The Washington Free Beacon (freebeacon.com), which reviewed two such memos, no reason was given for the directive. When asked about it, a spokesman told the news site that the State Department “would refer to the Abraham Accords as such.”

Subsequently, an official speaking on background told the outlet, “This administration is not focused on what these agreements are called, but what they mean.”

Kissinger, Kerry, Kushner

A question facing any future historian will be this: was the “Deal of the Century,” with its implicit endorsement of Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank, designed in advance as a throwaway, to facilitate the Abraham Accords? Whatever the answer, that is precisely the purpose it ultimately served. “We had been talking to both sides for 18 months,” said a senior American official, “but the annexation issue created the atmosphere which was conducive for getting a deal.”[6] If it was so designed in advance, then far from being a “dead-on-arrival” plan, it was a strategic feint worthy of a Kissinger. If not, it was a deft last-minute shift of gears.

Whatever the back story, however, the Abraham Accords and their sequels have introduced a new vector in the Middle East. The most creative and dynamic shorelines on the Mediterranean and the Gulf are now linked. They are the counter to the forty-year bond between Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which also links the Mediterranean and the Gulf. There is much potential in this fledgling alignment; how much of it will be realized depends on the ingenuity of Israelis and Gulf Arabs alike.

But it also depends on the attitude of the United States. Certainly, it has been hard for the old hands of the Democratic foreign policy establishment to concede that Kushner, wet behind the ears, achieved something that had eluded them. They should get over it. One doesn’t have to believe that Kushner (and Berkowitz) deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, though Harvard emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz has nominated them for one, but one must admit that they got this right.

Remember that Jimmy Carter didn’t toss out the Middle East achievements of Richard Nixon and Kissinger, but built them out into a new security architecture for the Middle East. President Biden should consider that precedent and think hard about how to capitalize on the achievements of Trump and Kushner. That need not mean abandoning the quest for a resolution of the Palestinian question. It need not mean locking the door to Iran forever. It does mean nurturing the cooperative spirit of the Abraham Accords. These US-brokered agreements give the United States a strategic edge. In the Middle East, America needs that more than ever.

Caroline Glick: The great unravelling

Over the past decade, for the first time in its history, Israel developed a strong diplomatic posture in the region and worldwide. Israel developed strategic ties with Arab states, and the states of the eastern Mediterranean. It has built close ties with the EU's Visegrád Group of central European states Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic as well as Austria and Italy. Israel upgraded its diplomatic and trade relations with the states of Africa and Central and South America, as well as with India, Japan and South Korea.

Unfortunately, it is likely that what Israel achieved through painstaking effort may be lost after the new governing coalition led by Yair Lapid takes power next week. This is the case for three reasons.

First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the author of Israel's diplomatic triumphs. They are predicated on his foreign policy vision that diplomatic ties are built on common interests even more than ideology and that Israel has much to offer the nations of the world.

There are many things that divide the members of the incoming governing coalition. But they agree on one thing – they all hate Netanyahu. So, the first reason Israel may soon abandon its diplomatic achievement is because Lapid and most of his partners in the coalition want to erase Netanyahu's achievements.

The second reason Israel's diplomatic position is likely to soon crash is because Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz along with most of their partners do not share Netanyahu's diplomatic vision. Lapid is set to become foreign minister. Like most members of Israel's elite class, which includes the political left, the media, the senior brass of the security establishment and the senior leadership of the foreign and justice ministries, Lapid and Gantz believe Israel's diplomatic position is exclusively a function of its relations with the Beltway establishment. The closer Israel is to the American ruling class, the stronger it is internationally. The weaker Israel's relations with the American elite, the weaker its international posture.

The third reason Israel's decade of diplomatic achievements is likely to end in short order is because America-obsessed Lapid, Gantz and their ilk don't understand the importance or potential of Netanyahu has accomplished. They will not dedicate the necessary resources to maintain the ties he forged with the likes of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz or Brazil's President Javier Bolsonaro, because they don't value those ties. So the ties will wither.

Is #Israel a ‘canary in coal-mine’ for global war on terror? Should you care?

In light of recent events, thoughts on Israel, the ICC, International Law, & global responsibility, implications & consequences.

Please listen & share: https://t.co/vNV4kCdmlr via @YouTube pic.twitter.com/xaERSlfGVR
— ???? ?????-???? | Michal Cotler-Wunsh (@CotlerWunsh) June 11, 2021

In response to an unparalleled barrage of rockets, followed by a groundswell of anti-Semitism, old-school Zionists swung into action and dusted off the old map in response.

You know the one where we point at the little dot and say, "Israel is just this one teeny Jewish nation surrounded by a vast sea of Arab countries. Why can’t you all just leave us be in peace?!" And the Arabs say, "What is this small speck of dust doing in what is clearly our region of the world? Can't we just blow you away already?" [an aside: You Horton fans should note that even Dr. Seuss is under fire these days]

Roll up the maps Baby Boomers, because Generation "Z" suffers from myopic vision and, as Bill Maher succinctly explained, "You can't learn history from Instagram".

Ironically, the international community can thrill at Gal Gadot as "Wonderwoman" miraculously deflecting thousands of enemy bullets with her iron wristbands and shield in that celebrated "no man's land" scene, yet they can't seem to wrap their heads around Israel being able to do the same thing in actuality. And rumor has it that Warner Bros. may be a wee bit uncomfortable with their fantasy Diana Prince advocating for her nation, people and region in reality.

Is it only anti-Semitism at work or something more inane? It seems Europe and America, although far removed from the realities of war, still need to satiate their appetites for extreme action and entertainment. And so there are spectator sports, fantasy war play, virtual gaming, Tik Tok and Netflix to fill the void.

Even seasoned geopolitical pundits now speak of looming Mideast confrontations and strategies in terms of Queen’s Gambit vs Sicilian Defense, and one US historian recently likened the Israeli political scene to an Avengers movie.

It’s a given that when one side perpetually “wins,” or refuses to lose (stalemate is no fun either,) the game becomes boring and new rules and challenges are created to “level the playing field.” Israel’s 73 year winning streak deeply offends the modern gaming culture’s sense of fair play. It’s simply no fun without electrifying risks, hazards, doomsday suspense and the possibility of total defeat.

Israel simply cannot play the game to the satisfaction of the world arena, because we can’t afford the luxury of losing. In fact, we don’t understand the concept altogether. Historically and spiritually the Jewish nation does not perceive setbacks and tragedies as curses, but rather as challenges and opportunities to rise to the occasion. We perceive history as a process and a journey - a springboard toward the future. The endgame or the “game over” message may indeed be off of the radar for us. And that is what gives us an “unfair” advantage. Israelis set the bar very high. The standards are placed where a simplistic perception of “proportionality” does not correspond with evolving morality.

So, who will eventually win the land in the long run? Judaism’s number one Biblical commentator, Rabbi Shlomo Yiztchaki (“Rashi”) penned the remarkable answer, while sitting in the Diaspora in the 11^th century.

Why does the Torah begin with “In the beginning…?” (Genesis 1:1)

...For should the nations of the world say to Israel: "You are thieves, because you conquered the lands of the seven nations of Canaan," Israel may reply to them: "All the earth belongs to the Holy One, Blessed be He. He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit. By His will He gave it to them, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us. (Rashi, Bereishit 1:1)

This means, according to my teacher, Rabbi Dr. Sholom Gold, that before the birth of the State of Israel, while on a death march to the gas chambers in Auschwitz, little cheder boys would theoretically turn to their rebbes and ask, “Why are they doing this to us?” “What did we do?” “What did we take from them?” “And, with a bittersweet smile and vision, the rebbe would respond, “If Rashi said it, it must be true.”

And it’s this positivity bias that will keep Israel on the high ground and out of the tunnels and mire of victimhood. Even when we do tragically fumble or, in desperation, attempt a reckless “hail Mary” pass, the playing field will never be leveled because hypercreative Israelis will keep striving to find ethical, redemptive solutions in a world gone mad. And we will especially thrive when faced with the challenges and limitations thrust upon us by an unappeasable international community.

With a 90% save rate, the minds behind Israel’s “Iron Dome” likely dream of a welcome “play-break” where they can teach their children the skills needed to be incredible goal keepers. And there must be numerous Israeli Air Force pilots who would rather be performing delicate life-saving surgical procedures than targeting terrorists with surgical precision.

But we are surrounded by peoples engaged in a time-honored tradition of saber-rattling, who champion and perpetuate the warrior and warfare.

Israel is a nation condemned to eternal survival, and all of the agony and the ecstasy that goes with it. We perceive that as a blessing and we long for the day when our Arab cousins will pick up the ball, take a giant leap up for mankind and join us in the real game of life, with all of its challenges.

The writer is an artist and author of the “Oslo Years: a mother’s journal”

Haaretz interviewed a number of Gazans who escaped Gaza and are interned on the Greek island of Leros.

This one article says more about life in Gaza than the last 10,000 articles from the mainstream media combined. And that is not an exaggeration.

Excerpts:

I am definitely not the only one who was arrested for ideas and for speaking out. Many demonstrators were arrested, and Hamas threatened them in order to prevent future actions. One time I was waiting for the release of a friend who had been arrested, and when he came out his face was swollen and bleeding. I barely recognized him.

Hamas doesn’t make do with thwarting demonstrations; they also prevent cultural events. They shut down parties and performances, they don’t allow concerts, and they spread the notion that artists are heretics. Oud players can perform in public areas, but if an audience gathers around them, that will cause a problem. For Hamas’ leaders, art is part of Western culture and has to be boycotted.

The prohibitions also relate to private life. Women have to wear a head covering when they go outside. There was a group of women who organized in the social media and demanded to be accepted as they are – but not long ago, a female journalist who was walking outside without a head covering was beaten by Hamas people and taken to the hospital. Of course, the sale of alcohol is forbidden, even to Christians who need it for religious rituals. They are compelled to make wine at home, secretly.
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As a woman, life in Gaza was especially difficult for me. The oppression takes different forms. A married woman needs to get her husband’s approval to leave the house, and an unmarried woman can go out only if she is accompanied by a male relative. Traveling with a strange man is forbidden, so there are female taxi drivers only for women. Israel’s blockade hurts women in Gaza a lot because the exit permits are given mainly to men. Unemployment among women has increased, and so has domestic violence. In 2014 the daughter of neighbors was murdered, because she was said to be having sexual relations with a strange man. The doctors who examined the body found that she hadn’t lost her virginity.
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When I grew up I had a car, so I worked as a taxi driver. After a few years Hamas seized the car. They said they would return it on condition I would work for their organization. They don’t leave citizens any other option: either join them or stay poor. When there is no work and no food, the only option for a better life – if you can call it that – is to join Hamas. The problem is that once you join, it is very hard to leave.

I have a good friend who understood when he was a teenager that he had no interest in women, but his parents forced him to marry one. He suffered a lot, and then Hamas found out about it and arrested him. You have to understand that Hamas has full control over the life of the individual. They have spies and police who walk around in the streets and impose order. For example, Hamas demands that couples show marriage documents. If an unmarried couple is out walking together and don’t have papers, the guy is arrested and the girl signs a commitment not to go out [in public] again with anyone.

When I look back and think about what I would have wanted most, I would have chosen to live in Israel and work there with my father in farming. He worked in Israel for decades as a farmer, when the border crossings were open.
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The wars that Gaza went through left a lot of streets destroyed. The Hamas government talks about rehabilitation projects, and they get money for it, but the destruction remains. That’s of course not the situation with Hamas’ leaders, who always end up with renovated homes and new cars. Hamas declares victory, but in the meantime the children play in the rubble as though it were an amusement park. That’s how it is with us: The illusions we’re sold become part of life.
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These people can speak without fear because they left Gaza. Reporters in Gaza cannot report freely, nor can Gazans speak to them freely.

Real journalists would do what they can to compensate for these shortfalls - mentioning Hamas censorship, for example. But unfortunately, this sort of story that actually illuminates how real life is in Gaza is exceedingly rare - because most journalists don't want to uncover or report the truth.

In this case, kudos to Haaretz.