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Israel Airlifts Aid. The Media Airlifts Blame
A US soldier leaves a cordoned-off area as other troops work on a beached vessel, used for delivering aid to Palestinians via a new US-built pier in Gaza, after it got stuck trying to help another vessel behind it, on the Mediterranean coast in Ashdod, Israel, May 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The general media narrative on Israel’s decision to allow airdrops of aid and its action to “improve” the humanitarian situation in Gaza were an admission of guilt. They claimed that Israel had finally seen the error of its evil ways after mounting international pressure.
Yet, the demonization still remained — because on top of saying that Israel was “making right” and finally taking responsibility, there was an accusation that it was also just trying to placate the international community with some useless show of public effort to deliver aid from the sky.
But the truth? Israel’s public shaming of the UN worked, and now about 50% of the aid that was left to rot on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing has been collected, a deal for safe passage for that aid was made between the UN and Israel, Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing, and — on top of that — Israel, Jordan, and the UAE resumed airdrops.
And let’s get the facts straight here. The current humanitarian crisis in Gaza is Hamas’ responsibility.
You wouldn’t know that from Western media, though.
This was the theme of Jeremy Bowen’s portrayal for the BBC. It’s evidence that no matter what Israel does, there will always be an issue:
While Israel continues to insist it is not responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and does not impose restrictions on aid entering Gaza, those claims are not accepted by its close allies in Europe, or the United Nations and other agencies active in Gaza.
The new measures might be a tacit admission by the Israelis that they need to do more.
More likely they are a gesture to allies who have issued strong statements blaming Israel for starvation in Gaza.
In other words, Israel’s carrying out airdrops of humanitarian aid had an ulterior agenda and was a silent admission of guilt — nothing more.
Not to mention, Bowen has relieved Hamas of responsibility, and made it an uninvolved party (because why hold a terror group that oppresses the people it rules responsible?).
The only times Hamas is mentioned are when it condemns Israel for trying to deceive the international community and to dismiss claims by the IDF about Hamas systematically stealing aid.
Bowen goes on to describe his experience with airdrops post-Gulf War. To legitimize his perspective, he starts this way:
Air dropping aid is an act of desperation. It can also look good on television, and spread a feel-good factor that something, at last, is being done.
Yes, this is clearly a desperate situation, as the world is insisting. Israel is doing what it can to help improve the situation, and this may also be the most efficient and quickest way to deliver aid to certain areas of the Strip:
Professionals involved in relief operations regard dropping aid from the sky as a last resort. They use it when any other access is impossible. That’s not the case in Gaza. A short drive north is Ashdod, Israel’s modern container port. A few more hours away is the Jordanian border, which has been used regularly as a supply line for aid for Gaza.
Unfortunately, it seems like other ways of delivering aid hadn’t panned out any better until now.
It’s unclear what is meant by listing the Ashdod port or the Jordanian border as options for aid delivery, but here are some quick reminders:
- The Western media and the UN have complained when aid has to be driven through Gaza as the trucks get looted. Bowen ignores that the UN had been declining Israeli protection for aid in transit until last week. His silence absolves the UN for its own guilt in this mess.
- The media and the UN will also say that it’s a deadly mission for Gazans to retrieve aid themselves, as reports of dozens killed per day have been headlining newspapers since May.
- And remember the US pier that brought in tons of aid? Most of that aid just sat to rot.
Perhaps the idea is to try to get aid to the people who need it in any way possible? Airdrops are evidently flawed and some of the aid likely falls into the wrong hands, but it’s worth a try.
Another report by Sky News on Sunday frames Israel as a bad actor by backing airdrops, which aid agencies like the UN say are insufficient and dangerous. Meanwhile, Jordan and the UAE were involved aside from Israel, and the operation was backed by the UK. But the goal seems always to paint Israel as a bad actor.
A subsequent article from Monday emphasizes the UN stance against airdrops. Field correspondent Sally Lockwood explains how they are “fraught with problems” and a “desperate last resort.”
But when Lockwood reports from a Jordanian plane, she explains the safety precautions taken to ensure prevention of casualties on the ground, as well as admitting that although the amount of aid is not enough, “it’s something.”
As extensive reports from The New York Times, BBC, NBC, and many others have been urging dire need of aid to the Gaza Strip, and photos of emaciated children are circulating through the media, the particulars of how aid is being distributed are being twisted and exaggerated to fit a narrative that Israel is waging war on Gazan women and children. Israel is portrayed as having malicious intent to starve civilians to death and humiliate them as they try to survive.
Google is a Fantastic Tool
While the UN and the media criticize airdrops over Gaza, let’s take a moment to recognize that the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) carries out airdrops on its own in South Sudan, for example. It gets almost no media coverage, and when it does, it’s covered as an “unconventional,” “expensive,” and “complex” operation, but it’s the “last resort” and therefore necessary due to fighting blocking roadways to certain areas.
There is no controversy, no denial, and no excuses. Just WFP doing what it needs to do in order to get aid to those in need.
It’s always interesting when war zones — while catastrophic, are recognized as war zones. By nature, aid may be difficult to deliver. The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is no different.
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.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.