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Israel Can’t Be Expected to Give Aid to Gaza Unless it Bypasses Hamas
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians carry aid supplies they collected from trucks that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip August 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
While Israel has denied the tidal wave of lies that it’s causing a famine in Gaza, to what extent is Israel legally obligated to supply aid to Gaza, if the aid also helps Hamas?
Obviously, no one wants to see civilians suffer. But things are not so simple, because while Hamas has been mauled, it has yet to be eliminated, it’s still attacking the IDF and Israelis, it’s still holding hostages, and it’s still stealing and reselling food, often with the effective cooperation of certain “humanitarian” organizations, like the UN-affiliated World Food Programme..
So far, only the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been willing to make sure that its aid goes only to civilians. And a recent whistleblower complaint to USAID outlines how these other “humanitarian” groups have refused IDF offers to work together to ensure that aid was not stolen by Hamas, thereby acting to protect Hamas rather than Gaza civilians.
According to the whistleblower:
A firsthand eyewitnessing of senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials offering any support necessary, including security protection and coordination, to representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) only to have WFP and OCHA respond that they were not prepared to discuss such coordination…
[The] IDF is actively helping the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) get food into the hands of civilians while U.N. agencies, including WFP and OCHA, through their unwillingness to coordinate with the IDF, are inhibiting the distribution of such aid … [this refusal] raises serious questions.
Under international law, the refusal by these other “humanitarian organizations” to prevent Hamas from stealing aid makes all the difference in the world. That’s because Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, on Consignment of medical supplies, food and clothing, states that a party to the conflict is not obligated to allow aid convoys if it has “serious reasons for fearing”:
(a) that the consignments may be diverted from their destination,
(b) that the control may not be effective, or
(c) that a definite advantage may accrue to the military efforts or economy of the enemy through the substitution of the above-mentioned consignments for goods which would otherwise be provided or produced by the enemy or through the release of such material, services or facilities as would otherwise be required for the production of such goods.
The next paragraphs of Article 23 underscore that Israel has the right to block aid because its “permission is conditional” and it has the “right to prescribe the technical arrangements under which such passage is allowed.”
Prescribing the “technical arrangements” includes working with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is ensuring that the aid goes directly to civilians and that it is not stolen by Hamas. And it also includes not working with the WFP, OCHA, UNRWA, and other “humanitarian” organizations that seem to actually be agents of Hamas.
Not surprisingly, because it is actually aiding Gaza civilians rather than Hamas, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been condemned by the “humanitarian” community, as reported by the BBC:
More than 170 charities and other NGOs are calling for the controversial aid distribution scheme in Gaza run by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be shut down.
Also not surprising is that a UN press release, titled “UN experts call for immediate dismantling of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” has as its lead expert signer Francesca Albanese, the notorious antisemite who has been sanctioned by the United States.
The bottom line is that under international law, Israel has every right to refuse to work with these self-discrediting Hamas-adjacent “humanitarian” organizations, especially when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is there to pick up the slack.
Alex Safian, PhD, was until recently the Associate Director and Research Director of CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
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US-France Tensions Rise Over Antisemitism as New Data Shows Sharp Increase in French Attacks
US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron react on the day of a press conference, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
As Washington presses Paris over its handling of antisemitism, new data shows anti-Jewish hate crimes in France remain far above pre–Oct. 7, 2023, levels nearly two years after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
On Monday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Charles Kushner after he accused Paris of failing to act decisively against rising antisemitism targeting France’s Jewish community.
In a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, Kushner voiced his “deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France” and criticized the French government for its “lack of sufficient action” to confront it.
However, French authorities rejected such claims as “unacceptable” and warned that Kushner’s letter violated international law.
“The rise in antisemitic acts in France since Oct. 7, 2023, is a reality that we deplore and to which the French authorities are responding with total commitment, as these acts are completely unacceptable,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Aurore Bergé, France’s minister for combating discrimination, stood by the government’s efforts to protect its citizens, saying its fight against antisemitism is “unequivocal.”
“This matter is far too serious. In my view, it is too important to be handled through the courts in a diplomatic context,” she said in an interview with Europe 1-CNews.
France’s Jewish community has faced a troubling surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Oct. 7 atrocities. Jewish leaders have consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes they continue to face.
This latest diplomatic row comes as new figures from the French Interior Ministry show 646 antisemitic incidents were recorded from January to June this year — a drop from the previous year’s first-half record high but a 112.5 percent increase compared with the same period in 2023, when 304 incidents were reported.
The wave of anti-Jewish hatred has continued unabated.
Earlier this month, for example, an olive tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006, was vandalized and cut down in one of the latest antisemitic acts to spark outrage within the local Jewish community.
“In France, we are no longer safe, neither alive nor dead,” Halimi’s sister, Anne-Laure Abitbol, told RTL on Monday, adding that public denunciations are no longer enough and urging concrete action.
“I feel less safe in France,” she said. “By recognizing a Palestinian state, Macron is encouraging antisemitism and failing to take action against antisemitic attacks in the country.”
Last month, Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September as part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Israeli officials have criticized the move, which was followed by several other Western countries, calling it a “reward for terrorism.”
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Israel Files Complaint After British Wheelchair Basketball Players Snub Israeli Opponents During ‘Hatikvah’
Members of Great Britain’s wheelchair basketball team, right, turning their backs as Israel’s national anthem plays at a game on Aug. 16 at the Wheelchair Basketball Nations Cup in Cologne, Germany. Photo: Screenshot
Israel’s Paralympic Committee filed a formal complaint with the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation after players of the British national team turned their backs when Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” played at a game earlier this month, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.
The incident took place on Aug. 16 at the start of a game held as part of the Wheelchair Basketball Nations Cup in Cologne, Germany. Israel claimed the move violates rules that ban political protests at sports competitions and said athletes who exhibit the same behavior should face sanctions. Moshe Matalon, chairman of the Israel Paralympic Committee, condemned the”shameful” behavior in an interview with Chanel 13 while members of the Israeli team called the behavior “embarrassing.”
Israeli wheelchair basketball player Ilay Yarhi described their actions as “an attack on our dignity as players” in an interview with the Jerusalem Post. He added that the Israeli team “felt like they were bringing unrelated issues onto the court and humiliating us.”
Yarhi told the Post that after the incident, some of the Israeli players approached their opponents and asked why they turned their backs when “Hatikvah” played the start of the game.
“A few of them answered that it was a protest and a way of supporting world peace, that they were not in favor of war,” Yarhi recalled. “Some wanted to come and talk and apologize, but we didn’t agree to that, because if you don’t respect us, you don’t deserve any respect in return.”
A spokesperson for British Wheelchair Basketball told The Telegraph: “British Wheelchair Basketball is aware of the incident during the Israeli national anthem at the Nations Cup. We are continuing discussions internally after conversations with ParalympicsGB, IWBF, and the Israeli Paralympic Committee.”
Britain ultimately won the game against Israel 74-64. The two teams are likely to face each other again at the IWBF European Championships in October in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Irish Eurovision Singer Bambie Thug Boycotts Own Song Until Israel Kicked Out of Song Contest
Bambie Thug performing “Red Rum” at the Lowlands Festival while her dancers hold up two flags, including a Palestinian flag, as an audience member waves a massive Palestinian flag. Photo: Screenshot
Irish singer Bambie Thug is boycotting the song they used to compete in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest until Israel is kicked out of the international competition, the musician announced during a recent performance.
The non-binary singer-songwriter, whose real name is Bambie Ray Robinson, represented Ireland in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Doomsday Blue.” During a performance at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands earlier this month, the artist told the audience they will not perform the Eurovision entry as long as Israel continues to compete in the international song contest.
“I know that some of you guys know me from that competition. The Eurovision. And I know some of you might want to have heard ‘Doomsday Blue,’” Bambie Thug said on stage. “But, because of the state of the world and because of the state of that competition, I don’t play that anymore. I’m boycotting that song, just like that competition.”
“If one day they get their acts together and kick Israel out of that f–king competition, then I’ll sing it again. But till then,” the artist added, before showing the audience the middle finger. The singer then performed their latest song “Red Rum,” describing it on stage as a “protest song.” Bambie Thug further said that “Red Rum” is “also a song to say more Blacks, more dogs, more Irish, more Palestinians, more Ukrainians, more Iranians, more Sudanese, more Congolese … and more solidarity and more humanity.”
At the conclusion of the song, two dancers on stage held up flags toward the audience, including a Palestinian flag, while standing behind Bambie Thug. The musician then led the audience in chanting “Free, free Palestine.” Footage from the concert also showed an audience member waving a massive Palestinian flag during the performance. Bambie Thug additionally had behind the stage a screen that displayed their stage name in red, white, and green – the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The Lowlands Festival took place Aug. 15-17.
In “Red Rum,” Bambie Thug sings: “Pride is a protest/Rise of the oppressed/Pick a side are you peaceful or possessed … Doom scroll on your screens/While they load the guns/Casualties casually adding up in sum … Missile strikes/Colonial types/Zombies on a mission with a bark and a bite.”
In Malmö, Sweden, during the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, Bambie Thug was ordered by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the competition, to remove pro-Palestinian messaging that was written on the artist’s body as part of their costume for the performance. Bambie Thug had written in the early medieval Irish alphabet Ogham the words “Ceasefire” and “Free Palestine” on their face and legs but was told the remove the words before stepping on stage.