The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — a body that assesses food insecurity around the world — recently concluded that Gaza is experiencing famine. The United Nations says that up to 100,000 women and children are suffering from acute malnutrition. Aid agencies and rights groups are stating that Gaza is facing “widespread starvation.”
President Donald Trump was moved to say, “That’s real starvation stuff, I see it, and you can’t fake that,” promised the U.S. would do more to help Gazans, and said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “I want him to make sure they get the food.”
Netanyahu, meanwhile, asserted, “There is no starvation in Gaza [and] no policy of starvation in Gaza.”
The main question that comes to my mind is: Why is it that no one seems to expect anything of Hamas, the terrorist organization that governs Gaza and started this war by invading Israel, murdering, raping and kidnapping as it did so?
All the misery in Gaza is the direct fault of Hamas, which the world has conveniently forgotten is the aggressor in this war. And to add insult to injury, Hamas also benefits from it; it is a veritable windfall for the group.
Horrible images and stories are coming out of Gaza.
One child, Mohammed al-Matouq, has appeared in photos in media around the world, his heartrending, gaunt frame apparently testimony to an Israeli policy of starvation.
However, al-Matouq actually has cerebral palsy and other serious genetic disorders. His healthy brother was cropped out of photos because his inclusion would undermine the starvation narrative. The New York Times retroactively updated its front-page story about al-Matouq to include the pertinent information about his health.
In a similar vein, The Washington Post corrected a story in which its reporters falsely accused the Israeli military of killing Palestinians at an aid distribution site.
Early in the war, outlets accused Israel of striking a hospital and killing 500 people. The true culprit was Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group. The cited death toll was a grotesque exaggeration. But the lie had already made its way around the world.
Notice a pattern?
Every word of Hamas disinformation is believed uncritically and splashed on the front page. Any subsequent corrections don’t make a dent in the original impact, which, without fail, is to Israel’s detriment.
When mistakes only err in one way, over and over, they are not mistakes.
While Gazans are undoubtedly suffering, it is very difficult to ascertain the situation on the ground. Information coming out of the Gaza Strip originates from the “Gaza Health Ministry” (read: Hamas) and local journalists and aid agencies that are intimidated by and/or collaborate with Hamas.
Aid is central to Hamas’ capacity to wage war. Hamas’s second-listed priority in recent ceasefire negotiations with Israel was shutting down the American- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). This had nothing to do with the beleaguered people of Gaza and everything to do with seeking control over the aid.
Having such control allows Hamas to not only feed its fighters, but to pay them — it loots the aid, hoards it, and then sells it back to the population, using the proceeds to pay its members. It’s no surprise that, when Israel stopped the flow of aid in March, Hamas’s cash flow immediately began to plummet.
GHF, therefore, represents an existential threat to the terrorist organization, which is why Hamas has repeatedly attacked GHF aid distribution sites. (And, incidentally, why the UN refuses to cooperate with GHF, preferring that hundreds of trucks’ worth of aid rot instead).
The accusations of mass starvation (which have been leveled at Israel for over a year) are a powerful tool for Hamas.
The more civilians who die, the better for them.
This is because they know that any attendant outrage and concomitant pressure to end the war will be directed exclusively toward Israel.
This is the case even though the war only continues because Hamas refuses to lay down its arms and release the dozens of hostages it keeps captive. If Hamas did that, the war would end tomorrow.
Hamas’ cynical strategy is paying real dividends. France and Canada announced that they would recognize Palestine as a state in September. The United Kingdom threatened to do the same.
Western official statements pressuring Israel and allegations of famine incentivize Hamas to dig in its heels. It knows the cavalry is coming and has no reason to release the hostages or to surrender.
It knows that, no matter what, the world will always heap opprobrium on the Jewish state, as if Hamas didn’t exist.
President Trump is right when he says that recognizing a Palestinian state is “rewarding Hamas.” It broadcasts that violence and terrorism are the way to achieve one’s goals.
The suffering of Gazans is the fault of Hamas alone. To indict Israel is to engage in outrageous moral inversion.
Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.