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Fatah: Hamas Kills Aid Workers and Steals Food for Itself
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
In an incredible and rare admission, Fatah has corroborated what Israel has been saying all along: that Hamas is responsible for turmoil connected to the distribution of humanitarian aid sent into Gaza.
A Fatah TV anchor reported that throughout the war, Hamas has been committing what is essentially a triple crime — it has attacked and killed aid workers in order to control aid distribution, stolen the food and water for itself, and caused food prices to skyrocket.
You can view of video of this here.
Fatah-run Awdah TV host: “Hamas’ persecution of any party who is a source for distributing the [humanitarian] aid or securing it began from the start of the war, as Hamas persecuted well-known figures and teams of volunteers on the ground in mid-October [2023].
It attacked them and killed some of them for two reasons: Firstly, preventing any activity by any [other] party in the Gaza Strip; and secondly, ensuring Hamas control over the aid and its storage, which of course leads to these crazy and unreal prices that no one can pay in the shadow of this destruction. After the occupation [i.e., Israel] bombed storehouses controlled by Hamas, the accumulation of tons of various food and aid products that Hamas had taken exclusivity over became clear, at a time when the Gaza Strip is suffering from hunger.”
Part of an interview on Al-Jazeera TV from the Gaza Strip is shown:
Woman from the Gaza Strip: “The aid isn’t reaching all the people.”
Al-Jazeera TV reporter: “Few things are arriving and they [Hamas] claim they are distributing them.”
Woman: “It is all to their [own] homes. Let Hamas catch me and shoot me and do what they want to me.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, April 1, 2024 — emphasis added]
This is a damning indictment by Fatah, exposing Hamas’ heinous actions against humanitarian aid workers and Palestinian civilians in need of food.
World powers were quick to decry Israel for an inadvertent tragedy that killed several World Central Kitchen personnel.
These same authorities and media outlets must now condemn Hamas with equal vigor for its intentional murder of aid workers. A failure to condemn Hamas for intentional murder by the countries and organizations who condemned Israel for the accidental killing would expose once again a glaring double standard by international bodies, and especially the media, that unfortunately has accompanied this entire war.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
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Voice of America’s Gaza War Recap Omits Vital Context
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
To mark six months of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Voice of America (VOA) released a three-minute video chronicling the effect that the war has had in both Israel and Gaza.
However, rather than provide its audience with a comprehensive overview of the war in Gaza, VOA produced a report that omitted a fair amount of context, ultimately leaving it heavily one-sided and uninformative.
The video report begins with recent Israeli protests calling for new elections, a hostage deal, and the ouster of the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, there have been no protests in Gaza to Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7. In fact, Hamas still has the support of the vast majority of Gazans.
In its coverage of the anti-Netanyahu protests, VOA claims that the Israeli government has been unable “so far to secure the release of hostages captured on October 7.”
This statement omits the fact that, in November 2023, more than 100 hostages were released during a temporary ceasefire in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
This claim also makes it appear that the onus lies with Israel when, in fact, Israel has agreed to several deals that would see the release of more hostages from Hamas captivity, all of which have been rejected by the leadership of the Gaza-based terror group.
After profiling the Israeli protest movement, VOA then turns its attention to Gaza.
The report quotes the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, alleging that “more than 33,000 Palestinians” have been killed by Israel during the war.
However, the report fails to qualify this statistic with the vital context that the Gaza Ministry of Health does not differentiate between civilians and combatants — and that all the numbers are unverified. Hamas has even said it can’t provide full details for its claims.
Similarly, the report goes on to claim that “Israel’s widespread aerial attacks have leveled much of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza, creating a humanitarian crisis.”
This point is reiterated later on by World Central Kitchen head José Andrés, who is quoted as saying that Israel is “destroying every building, every hospital, every school, every university.”
Aside from these allegations being exaggerations of the reality on the ground, what is missing from this picture is the necessary understanding that Israel is combating Hamas’ terror infrastructure, which is purposefully embedded in civilian areas.
Further on in this video report, VOA claims that Netanyahu “remains steadfast in ignoring international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire until Hamas releases all hostages held,” later adding that “publicly, there remains no plan for an immediate ceasefire, hostage release or an end to hostilities.”
As mentioned earlier, these statements ignore the fact that Israel has okayed hostage agreements (including temporary ceasefires) that have been rejected by Hamas. Israel has also agreed to a ceasefire as part of an agreement in which the hostages are released in stages.
Aside from the fact that some of the main allegations made in this video report are missing a proper context, another issue with this overall report is the lack of focus on how the war has affected Israel.
Despite being titled “Israel marks 6 months since deadly Hamas attack,” the report is silent on the deadly cost of the war for Israeli society, the fact that Hamas and Hezbollah are still firing rockets at Israeli civilian centers in both the north and south, and the fact that there are still tens of thousands of internally displaced Israelis who are unable to return to their homes.
Israel has agreed in hostage negotiations in Egypt to concessions about the return of Palestinians to the north of Gaza, but believes Hamas does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.https://t.co/J3vwyyOf25
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) April 10, 2024
If VOA truly wanted to provide its audience with a complete picture of the war between Israel and Hamas six months in, it would need to add more context to its allegations and provide a broader picture of the war, not just those aspects that can be used to besmirch Israel’s image.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Voice of America’s Gaza War Recap Omits Vital Context first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Appeasing Iran Will Lead to More Attacks on All of Us
Israel’s military displays what they say is an Iranian ballistic missile which they retrieved from the Dead Sea after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, at Julis military base, in southern Israel, April 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
American newspaper columnists, Substack posters, X users, talking heads, and other analysts all knew when and how Israel would respond to the Iranian drone, rocket, and missile attack. Or not respond. They were convinced the Iranian attack was designed to fail because Iran knew Israel would shoot down the weapons — or that it was designed to succeed but failed anyhow. They are sure that the Iranians warned President Biden — or they didn’t — or that he warned them. In short, they had no idea what they were talking about, but their opinions didn’t matter much anyhow.
Political leaders matter more, and from President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and a variety of others, they all weighed in publicly, calling for Israeli “restraint” for fear of escalation into a major regional war.
But that war is already underway.
The regional war actually began in 1979. The fact that Iran tried to kill thousands upon thousands of Israelis in this assault was simply another escalation. That Israel — aided by the US and Arab states — had the weapons to stop them and, finally, to retaliate directly, doesn’t change that fact.
Iran piously moaned that international law was violated when its “diplomats” were killed in the “Iranian embassy” in Damascus. (Actually, they were Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) terrorists in an office building). No mention was made of Iran’s violations of international law, its use of terror proxies against foreign officials and embassies around the world — attacks that left hundreds dead and wounded — as well as taking Americans hostage for 444 days in Tehran. Iran has killed foreign diplomats, led a massive attack on Jews in Argentina, and targeted American embassies and military positions.
Iranian-supplied weapons and training were responsible for thousands of American deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran passed off responsibility for the 2019 drone attack on Aramco oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia to its Houthi proxy, but separate investigations by the US, the UK/Germany/France, and the UN deemed Iran responsible. Iranian-supplied weapons and training are also the backbone of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks on Israel, as well as militia attacks on Americans in Iraq, and Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Iran is responsible for civilian suffering in every country where it operates. The people of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and the West Bank, as well as Iranian civilians, pay the price of Iranian government aggression — and hundreds of thousands died for it in Syria alone.
So why is Iran waging This war? It is not for the “liberation” of “Palestine” or for Jerusalem. In fact, it is only in part for the destruction of Israel.
Iran’s goals are broad and deep, and the instability it has produced is in the service of its ultimate vision. The first part of that vision is the establishment of Shiite rule across the Middle East, which accounts for the war against Israel, but also Sunni countries from the Gulf to Jordan. It’s also no coincidence that Iran’s proxy, the Houthis, attack and disrupt shipping in the Red Sea, which is bordered by and essential to Sunni countries and Israel. This also accounts for the appeasement of Iran by Sunni Qatar and Turkey.
The farther-reaching goal is the destabilization of the Mediterranean countries and the Sunni states of North Africa, most particularly Morocco, whose king is a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. To this end, Iran supports militias in the second tier of Africa, both Sunni and Shiite. Western-supported countries with large Christian minorities — Sudan, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Mauritania — are the targets of militia violence, famine, and wreckage.
For the instigation and continuance of this 45-year war, the West has exacted no price from the Iranian regime beyond periodic economic sanctions, UN weapons/technology sanctions that were largely ignored, and the elimination of Qassam Soleimani. It should be clear by now that whether the immediate victim of Iranian aggression is Israel, the US, or Saudi Arabia, the timing and escalation of attacks is determined in Tehran.
This is what appeasement produces.
Israel understands what the pundits and politicians did not. A little-remarked-upon facet of the Israeli strike was that Israel hit all of Iran’s close proxies, in addition to the head of the snake. In addition to going after the Islamic Republic directly, Israel also targeted proxies in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. And someone destroyed an IRGC headquarters in Iraq — one might assume that whoever did it had the same motivation.
Deterring Iran will not be easy. Israel took the first step, but only with a common understanding and mutual support will it be possible for the US and its allies to end Iran’s war.
We’re not there yet.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly magazine.
The post Appeasing Iran Will Lead to More Attacks on All of Us first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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CNN Platforms Biased Journalists in Coverage of Iran, Gaza
CNN recently published articles by two journalists who are better described as anti-Israel mouthpieces.
Tamara Qiblawi, a Senior Investigations Writer, and Khader Al Za’anoun, a Gaza-based journalist, are both platformed despite CNN being aware of the former’s anti-Israel social media posts and the latter’s position as a staffer for Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.
Qiblawi’s anti-Israel comments on social media were previously exposed by HonestReporting last year, when she was Senior Digital Middle East Producer at CNN.
Some of her now-removed posts labeled Israel as an “ethno-religious exclusive state” and supported a “resistance axis,” the term used to refer to Iranian-backed terrorist organizations that seek Israel’s destruction.
Yet none of this seemed to bother CNN last week, as Qiblawi published a genius-in-hindsight analysis describing Iran’s unprecedented attack on the Jewish state as a mere “fireworks display.”
No, @CNN, Iran’s attack was intended to maximize Israeli deaths, not “to minimize casualties,” as claimed by Tamara Qiblawi, who has gotten in trouble for sharing offensive, anti-Israel and pro-terror comments on social media:https://t.co/Coz37lk9FUhttps://t.co/YeA73SFTXW
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 14, 2024
What would have Qiblawi written had the more than 300 Iranian aerial weapons fired at Israel caused more damage? No one, not even military experts, could have predicted the scale of the attack nor the success of the defense.
But Qiblawi, who is not an intelligence expert and does not even try to quote one in her tilted report, made claims like:
Tehran’s operation was highly choreographed, apparently designed to minimize casualties while maximizing spectacle.
Yet it was an operation that seemed designed to fail — when Iran launched its killer drones from its own territory some 1,000 miles away, it was giving Israel hours of advance notice.
The lead time meant that Israel and its regional partners could ready Israel’s defenses, and the operation amounted to little more than a terrifying fireworks display.
Qiblawi’s need to make the world’s most antisemitic regime look like it cares about Jewish lives can only be explained by her underlying anti-Israel bias.
And CNN owes its audience an explanation as to why she is still allowed to cover the region.
No Hidden Agenda
But the network’s standards seem to have deteriorated to the point where it doesn’t even hide its journalists’ agendas.
On April 1, the network proudly described one of its Gaza reporters, Khader Al Za’anoun, as a staffer with the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
CNN didn’t tell its audience that the Palestinian agency’s stated mission is: “Telling the Palestinian narrative with speed, accuracy and efficiency.”
Unfortunately, while Wafa may be fast and efficient, accuracy is not its strong point, with a reputation for embellishing stories to paint the worst possible picture of Israel.
Al Za’anoun was indeed quick and efficient in providing CNN with false details blaming Israel for the killing of dozens of Gazans waiting for aid last February amid the Israel-Hamas war.
In fact, he was so efficient that he even quoted himself in the story carrying his byline.
And CNN didn’t have any qualms referring to him in its coverage of the story as both eyewitness and contributor, who just happens to also be “a journalist with Wafa:”
Didn’t CNN editors think something might be fishy with Al Zanoun’s journalistic ethics?
And didn’t someone at the network think it was a bad idea to let Qiblawi write about the Jewish state’s arch-foe after she shared offensive, anti-Israel comments on social media?
CNN must not let its supposedly respectable platform be so shamelessly exploited.
HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post CNN Platforms Biased Journalists in Coverage of Iran, Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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