There’s a famine in Gaza. The people are starving. And it’s all Israel’s fault. That’s been the message for months. Allegations made. Published widely, spread irresponsibly and maliciously, and of course, swallowed whole. It’s one of the reasons the US rushed to build a very temporary floating pier alongside the Gazan coast – so that desperately needed supplies could reach those in desperate need. And it’s largely what drove the International Criminal Court to accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of being guilty of committing war crimes. They were deliberately starving the Palestinians. A crime against humanity. Jonathan Tobin says, “The Gaza famine that wasn’t is being used against Israel.” The UN’s own Famine Review Committee admitted earlier this month that the claims about not enough food being sent into Gaza were untrue. And from the start, armed Hamas operatives have been hijacking supplies. So why are so many reporters, media outlets, organisations, activists and distant countries’ foreign ministers still so ready to blame Israel for this “largely fictional catastrophe?” For the very same reason the BBC published the sad story about Younis Jumaa, a Gazan child who “developed malnutrition and dehydration and became as you see him now,” according to his, by all appearances, healthy, wellfed mother. He was in “excellent health before,” she said (see page 4). And the BBC lapped it up. Anything to blame Israel. The thing is, Canadian CBC published the very same photo… except CBC revealed that young Younis actually suffers from quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy. “It’s empty, skewed, fact-free propaganda,” writes David Collier. And it’s gobbled up around the world by those who should know better. Worldwide, headlines should read: NO FAMINE IN GAZA; UN ADMITS GAZA FAMINE A LIE. Why is it then, when it comes to Israel, there’s little appetite for the truth.
