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Media Helps Spread Lies of Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza

Israeli soldiers operate at the opening to a tunnel at Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, November 22, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah appears to enjoy the limelight.

A Google search of the London-based surgeon’s name brings up numerous results for news articles that he’s quoted in and Dr. Abu-Sittah has built a following of more than 300,000 accounts across his social media channels.

It was, therefore, unsurprising that among the things Abu-Sittah did shortly after returning from a recent trip to Gaza, was to organize a press conference to tell journalists about it.

So, on Monday, November 27, reporters from outlets including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times of London, and Sky News crammed into a room in London and listened as Abu-Sittah gave his verdict on the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

During the five-week period in which he volunteered his medical services at the al-Ahli and al-Shifa hospitals, Abu-Sittah apparently became something of a munitions expert and, as such, was able to confidently announce to a room full of the media that Israel had definitely deployed white phosphorus in the Gaza Strip.

Although Israel has staunchly denied the claim that the IDF has used white phosphorus as a weapon, branding such allegations “unequivocally false,” Dr. Abu-Sittah insisted that he treated numerous patients with the “characteristic” burns of the chemical.

And this is not the only thing Abu-Sittah is absolutely certain about.

He’s also 100 percent sure he didn’t see a single Hamas terrorist or even armed hospital security at al-Shifa hospital — despite this being where Hamas based its operations, and the fact that footage has emerged showing piles of Kalashnikovs dotted around the medical facility, Hamas terror tunnels beneath the hospital, and CCTV of Israeli hostages being dragged into the hospital by Hamas terrorists shortly after the October 7 attack.

“At no stage did I see any armed police at Shifa, even the security men at Shifa, they were there just to police the number of relatives trying to get into the emergency department,” he told wide-eyed journalists at the press conference, adding that he frequently went to the hospital basement to collect medical items for surgeries and saw “nothing.”

Abu-Sittah’s experience is in sharp contrast to that of another British doctor who also volunteered at al-Shifa, and confirmed that because of the presence of Hamas, there were certain parts of the facility he dared not enter at the risk of death.

In addition to discussing his time volunteering in Gaza, Abu-Sittah also shared his view that the “genocidal” Jewish state has an end goal to “ethnically cleanse Gaza,” and suggested the IDF is targeting civilians in Gaza because, despite the IDF’s denying this abhorrent allegation, “statistically, it appears that the numbers tell a different story.”

And as has become a depressingly familiar trend with media outlets covering the Israel-Hamas war, no journalists pushed back on, investigated, or even questioned some of Abu-Sittah’s more incendiary remarks.

For example, in addition to printing the doctor’s claim that white phosphorus has been used in battle, The Telegraph also devoted much space to his absurd idea that Israel is ethnically cleansing Gaza, as well as his view that the country is guilty of “war crimes.”

What war crimes these are given that Israel has denied using white phosphorus is unclear, and the Telegraph doesn’t bother asking.

Similarly, The Guardian led with Abu-Sittah’s claims that he watched a “massacre unfold” while in Gaza, and that it is actually the destruction of the Palestinian health system that is the IDF’s objective in Gaza — not, presumably, Hamas.

His proof is that he was at al-Ahli on October 17, which is the day the hospital car park was struck by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that was initially blamed by the global media on Israel, andsaid  he heard a “whistling sound of a missile followed by an explosion.”

This, Abu-Sittah, told The Guardian, was “a litmus test … for what the IDF had planned to do to the rest of the health system.”

It’s conspiratorial guff, but The Guardian can’t help uncritically lapping it up.

Meanwhile, The Times dedicated much of its piece to Abu-Sittah’s graphic accounts of how dwindling medical supplies in Gaza resulted in patients reportedly suffering from infected wounds, and his assertion that IDF soldiers are using quadcopters with snipers, which he was certain of because he had witnessed exit wounds that were “bigger than a clenched fist.”

And while The Times did note the IDF’s wealth of evidence that Hamas used al-Shifa as a base, it still failed to push back on some of Abu-Sittah’s more ridiculous claims.

Since his press conference, Abu-Sittah has been on something of a media blitz about his time in Gaza, sitting down for interviews with LBC and Channel 4 News.

They follow a similar line: Abu-Sittah has lots of opinions on how awful Israel is and he’s never once seen a Hamas terrorist despite working at one of the terror group’s command centers.

It’s lazy journalism — as tired as it is predictable.

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 Media Helps Spread Lies of Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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240 Arrested as IDF Dismantles Hamas HQ Inside Kamel Adwan Hospital

Illustrative. Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Gaza, October 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

i24 NewsIsraeli forces concluded an operation to dismantle a Hamas terror headquarters in Gaza’s Kamel Adwan Hospital. Some 240 terror suspects were arrested, including the hospital’s director and some 15 terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre.

The post 240 Arrested as IDF Dismantles Hamas HQ Inside Kamel Adwan Hospital first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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IAF Downs Two Gazan Rockets Fired Towards Jerusalem

Illustrative. Rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel, in Gaza May 11, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammd Salem

JNS.orgThe Israeli Air Force on Saturday downed two rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip towards Jerusalem.

The attack triggered air-raid sirens in the capital, the Western Negev and the the Judean Foothills (the Shfela).

There were no reports of injuries.

Following the rocket fire, the military again called on Palestinians to evacuate parts of the northern Strip.

“Urgent warning to all those who have not yet evacuated the area specified in the map, and the Beit Hanun area [in the Strip’s northeast] in particular,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, posted to X.

“This area has been warned many times in the past. The IDF is operating in this area with force. You must evacuate the area immediately and move south towards Salah El Din Road. Moving via another road exposes you to danger,” he added.

On Dec. 11, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired four rockets at southern Israel, setting off sirens in several towns and villages along the border. The Israel Defense Forces intercepted two of the rockets, with the others impacting in open areas, causing no damage.

On Dec. 3, the IAF intercepted one rocket fired from northern Gaza.

The IDF’s year-plus-long offensive against Hamas in the enclave has greatly curbed rocket fire from the Strip, although Palestinian terrorists still intermittently target the Jewish state.

The post IAF Downs Two Gazan Rockets Fired Towards Jerusalem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Putin Apologizes Over ‘Tragic Incident’ with Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Crash

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

i24 NewsRussian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for what he said represented a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed on Wednesday.

Flight J2-8243 crashed in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. At least 38 people were killed while 29 survived.

“Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

“It was noted in the conversation that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which was traveling according to its schedule, repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport. At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said.

The post Putin Apologizes Over ‘Tragic Incident’ with Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Crash first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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