By Mary Rizzo
The people in the press staff of the
Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry are talented
science fiction writers. Almost nothing that
they write has any bearing on reality, and
it seems that they use Orwell’s 1984 as a
guidebook for news dispatches. All that
they need to do is look at the facts on the
ground (terminology that was invented by the hasbara
commission, more than likely, because it is something
different than reality. It has a bit of the sense of
imposition of a negative reality that cannot however be
challenged by ‘ordinary’ people), and turn them on their
heads. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.
That’s exactly how the Israeli PR staff represents reality with
their warped mirror.
I do suggest, for those who, like myself, find some pleasure
in reading nonsense, to subscribe to their newsletter or to
read it on their site. It is just about as absurd a thing one
can find to read. The trouble with it is: it’s taken seriously
by the Big Mass Media and a lot of the dispatch services
never verify any of the information that is released. If you
wonder just why everyone is so wrong about Israel and
Palestine, look no further.
On 7 May, this was their press release. I will
deconstruct it. Their original in Israeli Blue.
Behind the Headlines: Hamas
holding civilian population
in Gaza hostage.
How’s that for a shock headline? It is as if the people of
Gaza are in a concentration camp and kept hostage.
Well, they are, of course, but it’s not Hamas who has
locked them in and thrown away the keys, but this
does not matter. Israel KNOWS that people are going
to notice sooner or later that Gaza has become the place
on earth where the greatest number of people are
confined and held hostage, but passing the stick to
Hamas is going to resolve any nasty questions about
who is keeping them prisoner.
By seizing the fuel, food, and medical supplies that Israel is
transferring to the Gaza Strip, and using the supplies itself,
the Hamas terror organization is basically holding the
civilian population of Gaza hostage.
Ah, so all of these wonderful things have been delivered by
generous Israel to Gaza? No one has seen any of it, so it must
be the bad guys of Hamas who have diverted all of it and
probably are storing everything in warehouses, or selling
it on the black market. The crossings have all been closed,
but no one should become aware of the fact, unless they
wonder how a million and a half people can get by without
replacement of the material that is consumed. Naturally,
it’s not a good idea to indicate to people that a blockade
has been made in order to break the resistance of these
people, which at least are classified as civilians by the
people who bomb them indiscriminately when it suits
them. But for Israel, all that material has arrived, in
fact, Israel itself is transferring it to the Gaza Strip!
But since things have a material presence, they don’t
just disappear, the culprit for these enormous quantities
of goods simply NOT BEING THERE has got to be the
bad guys. Hamas can’t let anyone see all the truckloads
of material, including fuel, that Israel is donating. Seizing
it for political purposes, so they can justify the uprising.
Well, of course, none of that is true. Since the siege started
last fall, little to nothing has entered into the Gaza Strip,and
very little has gotten out. The population is indeed being
held hostage, but Israel is doing a three card shuffle –
blame it on Hamas (repeat as well that they are a
‘terror organization’) so that it’s easier to insert in a copy
and paste journalist report.
other humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, despite Hamas
attacks precisely on those crossings Israel must use to transfer
the supplies.
Israel has supplied nothing, nor have they let anyone else
do so. Yet, to deny material sustenance would be a crime
against humanity, because the occupier is obligated to
provide for the people who are being occupied. However,
Israel will state that they no longer occupy the Gaza Strip.
“We left! The settlers are gone,” they say. Well, one does not
have to have colonial presence to exact control over a territory.
All that needs to be done is to control its borders, and Israel
does just that: stick them in the prison and let them fight it
out between themselves is the policy that Israel has decided
to enact in order to bring Gazans to their knees or, failing that,
make them beg for Fatah to take control of the elections
Hamas won, therefore, giving Israel the electoral results they
wanted but were denied. Israel controls the air space,
territorial waters, offshore maritime access, and the border
between Israel and Gaza, with most of the crossings being
closed even for those needing medical assistance. Egypt controls
the southern border. This means that they are committing
crimes against humanity by denying Gazans aid, food, fuel
and freedom of movement. But, they won’t admit it. In fact,
that’s what the lie about Hamas taking the materials is
there to cover.
order to prevent the transfer of humanitarian aid to the
civilian population, thus both needlessly depriving its
own population as well as causing an artificial humanitarian
crisis in the Gaza Strip. Clearly, Hamas wants to create
a crisis in order that international pressure will be placed
on Israel.
It is apparent to those who invent this lie, and it is tragic that
many believe it! Hamas does not have any control over the
crossings of incoming goods. Nothing has been turned back
or stashed away for the simple reason that nothing has been
delivered! The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is far from artificial.
It is real and evident to anyone who has access to view it.
Clearly, the crisis was created by Israel, but passing the buck
of the ‘international pressure’ is the only remedy that Israel
can come up with. They have no intention to break the siege.
It is in their interests to continue it to the bitter end.
Unfortunately, neither Gazans nor Hamas can do anything to
change this. We are going to see a long, hot summer ahead,
and Israel is doing damage control.
Recent reports indicate that not only is Hamas depriving
the civilization population, it is allocating the supplies for
its own use.
Then, we get a flaming headline:
Hamas steal fuel from the civilian population
of fuel from the civilian population of Gaza. This was confirmed
by the head of the Palestinian Authority’s gas agency, who
added that Hamas gunmen had raided the Palestinian side of
the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, stealing at least 60,000 liters of
fuel meant for the Gaza power station, for use in their own
vehicles.
Of course, this quote is in quite a few papers, all of them
stating that Mohahed Salama stated as such to Israeli
Radio. I’ve been unable to find any other source to
confirm this. As a matter of fact, Israel doesn’t like to quote
him when he stated something much more sinister:
Mojahed Salama, head of the PA Petrol Agency in Gaza, said
that fuel imports Sunday showed a 40 to 50 percent reduction
in diesel and benzene supplies and a 12 percent reduction in
fuel for Gaza’s power plant. “We sent the supplying company
the same daily requests, but they said they were sorry and
that because of the new imposed sanctions they could only
send us a reduced quantity”, Salama told Reuters. A spokesman
for Dor Alon, the Israeli energy company that supplies Gaza,
said the company had “received instructions” from the Defense
Ministry and was “acting according to those instructions”.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-172296528.html
So, who is stealing fuel from the civilian population?
Ask the Israeli Defence Ministry all about their instructions.
Of course, these international reports are very worrying if one
takes them by the soundbites provided by Israel. Take the
London Independent report:
caused the UN to suspend food aid to 650,000 refugees in
the Gaza Strip after running out of fuel for its delivery
vehicles. An emergency tanker sent to the Nahal Oz terminal
was turned back by demonstrators, and was forced to return
empty. EU condemns Hamas actions which lead to further
suffering of the Palestinian population.
Now, that sounds really awful. But,
if someone actually did read the article they would
find these quotes:
terminal are full, with stocks of up to 1 million litres of fuel.
But Mahmoud Khozendar, the distributors’ vice-chairman,
said that was only enough to meet three or four hours’ demand.
They needed at least 10 times as much as Israel was prepared
to deliver.
Did you see what I saw? That last line kind of sticks like a
pin in the cheek. They needed at least 10 times as much
as Israel was prepared to deliver.
And this quote from the same article:
Last night Hamas proposed a six-month cease-fire with
Israel, saying the Gaza Palestinian group would stop firing
rockets into the Jewish state if Israel lifts its blockade of
the coastal strip at the same time, Egypt’s state run
Mena news agency reported.
The report came after a day of closed-door meetings
between Egypt’s powerful intelligence chief Omar
Suleiman, who has been mediating between Hamas and
Israel, and Hamas’ strongman, Mahmoud Zahar.
Under the international boycott imposed after Hamas
seized Gaza by force last June, Israel’s declared policy
has been to allow in enough fuel, food and medical supplies
to keep people alive, but not enough for them to live well.
So, even the best article that Israel propaganda experts
could fine from an independent source point out something
that doesn’t make Israel look too wonderful:
Namely, Hamas has offered a cease-fire of the Qassam
Rockets (which at any rate cause limited damage). It is
willing to come to a solution to have the blockade lifted.
Evidently, while this is what Israel claims is behind the
blockade, when action is taken to do so, they refuse to
accept it and blame Hamas of being terrorists and depriving
their own people of things they need to live. Ah, but
remember, Israel admits it will KEEP PEOPLE ALIVE,
at some level of survival, but they are going to have to
suffer. Sounds like Auschwitz to me.
On 24 April, the Presidency of the EU
preventing humanitarian work by the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
This is terrible news. Let’s see what else is on that
press statement by the EU:
fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip in order not to aggravate further
the humanitarian crisis there. The Presidency reiterates the
EU’s call on all parties to work urgently for the controlled
re-opening of the crossings in and out of Gaza for both
humanitarian reasons and commercial flows.
In other words, they are calling on Israel to put an end to
their policies and to urgently act so as not to aggravate the
humanitarian crisis that everyone knows is in full swing.
But let’s conclude this press release.
populationIn another report, Nissim Keinan of Israel’s
Second Radio channel reported on 4 May that Hamas
was in fact holding the civilian population hostage.
Who is this reporter? I never heard of him, but he’s very
famous in Israel. Here is something to give us an idea of
who our source is:
Nissim Keinan, nationally famous for his Voice of Israel
broadcasts from the Sderot and Gaza regions, told
Arutz-7 the IDF Gaza offensive accomplished a
“drop in the ocean” of what needs to be done.
Nissim Keinan is the voice heard several times a day on
national radio, reporting from the south on Kassam
rockets in Sderot, terrorist activity from within Gaza,
and nearly everything else that goes on in that area
of the country.
Speaking with Arutz-7´s Hebrew newsmagazine on
Monday, Keinan said, “Yes, it was a successful operation,
but it appears that the terrorist activity will simply revert
right away to the way it was before. We’re talking about
looking for a needle in a haystack - because Beit Hanoun,
where the offensive took place, is just a small town of
30,000 people; but what about Beit Lahiya and all its
terrorists? And what about Jebalya, and the entire area
of the Shati refugee camp, and the Khan Yunis area, and
Dir el-Balach - I mean, the entire place is swarming with
terrorists. Just because you took care of one place and
confiscated weapons and ammunitions, it still doesn’t
mean that you´ve achieved the goals.”
“In any event,” Keinan continued without stopping,
“it´s strange to hear the army talk of such great successes,
when really it was just a routine operation. They moved
the Kassam launchers southward, true - but you can fire
Kassams from the south too, you know, and they also fire
them from the north. Yes, the accuracy of the firing has
been impaired, but they were never accurate; they just
shoot and it hits wherever it hits.”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com
The Summer Rain Offensive was a Drop in the Ocean of
what needs to be done? So, Keinan thinks that
197 civilians and 48 children killed by the IDF is a good and
positive thing? Sounds again, a hell of a lot like Auschwitz
to me. So, I leave you to speculate on his final words here:
transferred by Israel for the civilian population, and for
operation of the electricity plant, and is using it solely for
its own purposes. In addition, food sent by the donor
countries is allocated in accordance with Hamas instructions.
Of the thousands of tons of grains, food and fuel that were
transferred, none was able to reach the civilian population.
All of a sudden, he cares about the civilian population of
Gaza? And I am Santa Claus.
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