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Despite Evidence, UK Media Outlet Parrots Claim That Israel Harms Children in Gaza
A UK Channel 4 News report by foreign correspondent Secunder Kermani includes video of a sick, emaciated eight-year-old Palestinian girl who died recently in Gaza. Those considering watching it should know that the images in question (which begin 23 seconds into the video) are disturbing. The suffering or death of children during wartime, be they Israeli or Palestinian, is especially tragic, and should never be minimized.
However, our focus is on the unevidenced suggestion made by the Channel 4 News presenter during the broadcast that the girl, Hanan Al-Zaanin, died due to starvation related to Israel’s ‘restrictions on aid.’
The initial story claiming that Al-Zaanin died in Gaza due to starvation was published by Al Jazeera. In fact, the short footage of Al-Zaanin shown to Channel 4 News viewers appears to be spliced from a report at Al Jazeera. Yet, viewers aren’t told that the story — including the relevant video footage — comes from the Qatari outlet.
The Al Jazeera report in question is by Hind Al Khoudary, who, as we’ve noted previously, is a freelancer at the Qatari outlet, as well as at Turkish state-run Andalou Agency.
Khoudary, who was one of the presenters in a Channel 4 Dispatches report (“Kill Zone; Inside Gaza“), has a record of glorifying terrorism on social media. She’s also remembered for her involvement in the arrests by Hamas of several activists — including a journalist — in Gaza four years ago.
In that case, the Palestinian activists were denounced to Hamas in a series of vituperative Facebook posts by Khoudary. Hours later, Hamas arrested them for the crime of pursuing “normalization” with Israelis.”
In addition, Khoudary works for the We Are Not Numbers project run by the Hamas-linked NGO EuroMed Human Rights Monitor (EMHRM). In fact, the Chairman of EMHRM, Ramzy Abdul, was found to have posted a literal antisemitic blood libel — writing on X that “Israeli has an insatiable appetite for the blood of Palestinian children,” before deleting the post.
We weren’t able to find any other mainstream media outlet which reported on the Palestinian girls’ death — not even the Guardian.
The merits of the claim
Though we weren’t able to gather any specific information on the girl or her death from reliable sources, it’s relevant to note a similar claim made earlier in the year involving an emaciated 10-year-old boy in Gaza named Yazan Kafarne.
Though images on social media suggested that Kafarne’s horrifying physical condition was the result of starvation, due to putative Israeli restrictions in aid, even a New York Times article featuring Kafarne acknowledged that he had a pre-existing condition, cerebral palsy.
In fact, the BBC was forced to correct an article published last week which — as detailed by David Collier — that omitted the fact that an emaciated and critically ill nine-year-old boy in Gaza, Yunis Jumaa, had spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a serious pre-existing condition that caused his sickness. The BBC initially suggested that the boy’s illness was famine-related, and that he previously was healthy and had no pre-existing conditions.
Here’s the editor’s note which added to that story admitting the error:
Amended: This story originally reported on the health of Yunis Jumaa while including quotes which could be taken by readers to suggest that he has no pre-existing health conditions. The article has been updated to reflect that Yunis has cerebral palsy, which the BBC was unaware of at the time of publication, and to explain that children with pre-existing conditions are especially hard hit by malnutrition and contaminated water.
Though we don’t know for sure if the girl in the Channel 4 News report had such a pre-existing condition, it is notable that his mother, who appeared in the video, seems healthy, and clearly isn’t suffering from malnutrition.
The broader “starvation” narrative
The context provided by the Channel 4 News presenter to advance the desired take-away that Israel is responsible for the girl’s death, was his allegation during the broadcast that “starvation” is extremely common in Gaza. This claim was given credibility in the mainstream media following a March report by Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alleging that famine was imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza, and by July in other parts of the Strip.
However, as noted on these pages recently, the March IPC report has been contradicted by multiple studies and reports.
The Israeli government response to that report concluded that “the report contains multiple factual and methodological flaws, some of them serious,” and later provided further details on the flaws in the methodology.
In May, Israel’s Ministry of Health published a review of the IPC report from March which includes the following:
On page 4, the [IPC] report claims that “in January 2024, only nine humanitarian missions to the northern governorates were facilitated, dropping to six missions in February.” The OCHA report which is the source of this information states that it pertains only to missions by “the UN and its humanitarian partners”, while more than half of the aid shipments to northern Gaza since the beginning of 2024 were conducted by private sector actors, which are not counted by OCHA. [emphasis added]
In early June, media outlets including The Times of Israel and The Wall Street Journal reported on a study carried out by a group of Israeli academics and public health professionals.
The study analyzed airdrops and food shipments delivered by land from January through April 2024, based on shipping details provided by international donors and recorded by Cogat, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. These records list the shipment date, consignee, weight and contents of trucks entering Gaza and include aid delivered from multiple sources such as national and private donations. Unrwa lists only U.N. aid through Kerem Shalom and Rafah, the latter now closed by Egypt, ignoring other crossings. In May, Cogat lists 6,335 trucks, OCHA counts 2,797 and Unrwa 1,656. Adding private-sector trucks to the OCHA figure brings the total above 6,000, close to Cogat’s count. [emphasis added]
The study revealed that the supply provided an average of 3,374 calories per person daily, well above the 2,100 recommended by the Sphere humanitarian movement as the minimum standard. It also confirms the daily availability of 101 grams of protein and 80.6 grams of fat per person, “in compliance with the standards.”
Finally, just last week, the IPC published a report titled “Famine Review Committee: Review of the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) IPC-Compatible Analysis for the Northern Governorates of the Gaza Strip.” As noted by commentators, that report concludes that the FEWS NET analysis published in March is not plausible, and points out the omission of certain categories of food deliveries.
The FEWS NET food availability analysis excludes the contribution of commercial and/or privately contracted deliveries, potentially between 1,820 with metric tons (MT) of food (low estimate) and 3,850 MT of food (high estimate) in the month of March and about 2,405 MT of food (low estimate) and 4,004 MT of food (high estimate) in the month of April 2024. While the intervals are extremely wide, indicative of a high level of uncertainty, this corresponds to the potential exclusion of about 25-76% coverage of the daily kilocalorie requirement in March and 34- 82% in April. Even a conservative approach towards the commercial and/or privately contracted food deliveries to northern Gaza, which the FRC considers possible, would still indicate a contribution of 25% and 34% coverage of the daily kilocalorie requirement in March and April, respectively.
FEWS NET food availability analysis excludes the contribution of WFP deliveries to bakeries in northern Gaza, including a reported 940 MT of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in April. While the intervals are extremely wide, indicative of a high level of uncertainty, this corresponds to the potential exclusion of about 4% to 15% coverage of the daily kilocalorie requirement. […]
…the exclusion of all commercial and/or privately contracted deliveries and WFP deliveries of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to bakeries, translates to the exclusion of food equal to as much as 38% to 49% coverage of the daily kilocalorie requirement in April. While FEWS NET estimated the caloric availability in the area as covering only 59- 63% of the needs (based uniquely on Humanitarian Food Assistance) in April, the review done by the FRC estimates that this range would be 75% to 109% if commercial and/or privately contracted food deliveries were included (157% if a higher estimate was used).
Finally, The Jerusalem Post reported that Columbia University Professors Awi Federgruen and Ran Kivetz analyzed available data and conducted research whose “findings demonstrate that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza. [emphasis added]
The two professors examined the “hard data, available from such sources as COGAT and the UN” and noted that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza. According to their research they “demonstrate that 250 truckloads suffice to feed the entire Gazan population, in accordance with a normal diet in North America.”
Tellingly, none of these studies refuting the IPC’s March findings of “imminent starvation in Gaza” have been reported by Channel 4 News to date, including Karmani’s report on the death of Hanan Al-Zaanin.
Adam Levick serves as co-editor of CAMERA UK – an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Despite Evidence, UK Media Outlet Parrots Claim That Israel Harms Children in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove spotlights a menorah designed in the early years of the State of Israel
This laurel branch Hanukkah menorah, designed by artist Maurice Ascalon (1913-2003), won first prize at the 1950 Tel Aviv Design Competition. Between 2,000 and 4,000 of these were made by the Pal-Bell factory in Israel, and they were sold not only in Israel but in select department stores around the world, including Macy’s in New York and Harrods in London.
The shape of the oil containers resembles ancient Roman lamps, while the large pitcher is a reference to the single jug of oil that lasted for eight days that is at the heart of the Hanukkah story.
These hanukkiyot were manufactured out of cast bronze with a green patina that was created using reactive chemicals, a process developed by Ascalon, resulting in an antique verdigris look.
Ascalon, who was born in Hungary and originally named Moshe Klein, immigrated to Palestine in 1934 after training in Brussels and Milan. He started the Pal-Bell Company in the late 1930s for the production of ritual and secular decorative items. “Pal” is short for Palestine and “Bell” is short for bellezza, Italian for beauty and an allusion to his time in Milan where the artist learned and perfected his sculpting skills. During Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, Ascalon designed munitions for the Israeli army and, at the request of the Israeli government, retrofitted his factory to produce arms for the war effort.
Ascalon closed Pal-Bell and moved to the United States in 1956, where he taught sculpture at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and opened Ascalon Studios, which produces large-scale sculptures for public spaces and houses of worship.
The studio, which is now run by Ascalon’s son David and his grandson Eric, was retooled during the COVID pandemic to manufacture safety boxes that allowed health-care workers to assist a patient on a ventilator while minimizing exposure.
Treasure Trove wishes you a happy Hanukkah , which starts on Dec. 25. This year, as Peter, Paul and Mary sang, “Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice, justice and freedom demand. Don’t let the light go out!”
The post Treasure Trove spotlights a menorah designed in the early years of the State of Israel appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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