What The Media Does not Tell You About Gaza

Gaza rulers of the Hamas terror group are doing now what they like the best and what they know the best-They fire rockets indiscriminately against civilian targets in Israel. The Israelis do what they seem to be extremely reluctant to do-they retaliate to the unprovoked aggression against them, and do it as if they operate with their two hands tied to their back. Sadly, two non-armed people were killed in Gaza , while fortunately enough, as of the time of writing this piece, nobody was killed in Israel. Well, is this what the world media is reporting?. Surely not. The min theme of the reporting is different. Oh yes, it is yet again these bad Israelis, who decided to kill two innocent Gazan women, and yes, in some of these reports, there is a mention of Rockets fired at Israel, though it is very hard to understand what is the real sequence of events. Altogether, Israel is at fault as usual.

Here are the problems with this reporting.Israel is not at fault, Hamas is encouraged to continue the aggression fortified by the world-wide media support, and If the media distorts this story, why would anyone believe their other stories?. Most importantly is the grim reality, that with Hamas feeling world sympathy on its side, they are bound to continue the aggression, with the poor non-armed Palestinians of the region being the victims. This is something, that Hamas should not have liked to see happening, but Hamas works according to different moral and political principles than those adhered to by people who really want peace and prosperity. Chief among them is the belief, that the worst is the best. Cause as much damage to your own people, then cry for help, blame the Israelis for being responsible , attack them, and expect them to retaliate in such a forceful way which will mobilize public opinion in the world to put pressure on Israel.

So what is the media not telling the people ? As it is the Middle East, some history is always needed. On 21 October 1948, during Israel’s war of independence, the notorious Grand Mufti of Jerusalem[yes, the same guy who met Hitler on 28 November 1941 to discuss the extermination of the Jews], declared the establishment of the All Palestine Government in Gaza. Not the Israelis stopped it from becoming an independent Palestinian state, but the fellow Egyptian Arabs. In 1956, Israel occupied Gaza in the Sinai campaign, but withdrew soon afterwards. In 1964 , the PLO was established, and no Palestinian state was declared in either the West Bank or Gaza. Not the Israelis stopped it, but the Egyptian and Jordanian Arabs. In 1967, Gaza was occupied again by Israel during its war of self-defense , and they stayed there in full control until the Oslo Accords of 1993–1994, when Yasir Arafat’s PLO came in. While the PLO, as well as HAMAS claim the refugee problem to be the core of the conflict, not even ONE housing unit was built for those Palestinians residing in the refugee camps in Gaza. After 1993–4 Israel was in a state of power sharing with the Palestinians, until in 2005, the Israelis withdrew from Gaza lock, stock and barrel, removing in the process ALL the Israelis who lived in Jewish settlements established there after 1967.

The Israelis left only ONE installation in tact in Gaza, green houses used by the Israeli farmers who lived in Gaza and developed sophisticated agriculture. The green houses were purchased as an initiative of the World Bank, in order to help the Palestinians develop their own sophisticated agriculture, but alas, the greenhouses were immediately raised to the ground and burnt by Hamas. Moreover, the terror organization managed , after internal struggles , to take over total control of Gaza and then , as a matter of fact, declared war on Israel. Some reminders in place here-no Israelis at all were left in Gaza, the population there in 2005 was 1.5 million, compared to 350,000 in 1967, and before 2005 and afterwards , both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas were and still are the largest recipients of foreign aid per capita in the world. These are very relevant facts, as we constantly read and hear press reports, which blindly echo Hamas propaganda about ‘’genocide’’ and what not.

By all accounts of conventional wisdom, normal states behavior AND international law, Hamas are in charge of the Gaza strip where they are the rulers, and it is NOT Israel which is in charge there. If Israel was in Gaza then there would not have been 20000 rockets fired from there at Israeli targets in the last 10 years when Hamas has been in full control.Despite the naked aggression, there is NO complete Israeli siege of the strip, contrary to the press reports and Hamas propaganda which on many occasions, are one and the same. The Israelis do prevent military supplies to Gaza , exactly in line with international law, something which would have done in the same way by any other country under such circumstances. In fact, a huge volume of civilian supplies are allowed into Gaza from Israel on a regular basis, and sadly, but typically enough, the world media is not there to cover it. Nor does the world media cover two more very significant facts-First, Egypt , the Southern neighbor of Hamas imposes partial blockade on the strip, because Hamas assists the ISIS terrorists in Sinai. Second, as part of the internal Palestinian struggle, also The Abbas Authority imposes sanctions on Hamas in Gaza. With this in mind, we have to understand the Hamas so-called ‘’return march’’ provocations since May. An attempted armed invasion into the sovereign territory of another entity. An attempt to evade any responsibility for their abysmal governing of Gaza and putting the blame on Israel. Nothing new, same old ritual.

This piece is not about the immediate military situation along the border between Israel and Gaza, nor is it about possible political solutions to this situation. It is about injecting some sense, accuracy and context into the discussion about Gaza. We should have expected it to be the moment of truth for the world media-instead it is their moment of shame-blame the Jews at all costs and save the world. It is there, but will have no effect on the REAL situation on the ground.