B’Tselem is an anti-Israel group, consisting of left-wing Jewish Israelis who do not much care for their own country. It calls itself a “human rights group” in the same way that CAIR calls itself the premier “civil rights group” for Muslims in America. What it mostly issues are hyperbolic attacks on the Israeli government and especially on the IDF, for daring to protect the people of Israel. Its founder is Hagai El-Ad, whose speech before the U.N. Security Council in October 2018 did not differ in any way from the speech of the representative from the “State of Palestine” sitting approvingly beside him. For B’Tselem, Israel has no right to a single dunam of the West Bank. Neither the Mandate for Palestine, nor U.N. Resolution 242, exist for El-Gad or B’Tselem. El-Gad considers Israel’s defense of its border with Gaza — territory from which Israel withdrew every soldier, settler and settlement in 2005 — to be equally illegitimate. That includes the naval blockade of the strip that prevents Iran from shipping in heavy arms and construction materials to build terror tunnels and other fortifications, as well as the ability of the Israel Defense Forces to prevent infiltrators from crossing the border and being free to commit mayhem inside Israel.
It is not surprising that B’Tselem has decided to blame Israel for the spread of the coronavirus in Gaza. For B’Tselem, Israel’s blockade of Gaza – he doesn’t mention Egypt’s blockade of Gaza’s southern border, which is little different from that of Israel along Gaza’s eastern and northern borders – has created the conditions of a “massive disaster.”
The unappetizing tale is here.
According to a written statement by B’Tselem, the Israeli blockade and dense population have led to extreme poverty and the collapse of infrastructure.
The healthcare system in the Gaza Strip was already on the brink of collapse even before receiving its first coronavirus patient. It cannot meet the population’s needs due to an acute shortage of medicine, equipment, doctors and professional training, the statement said.
The creator of this reality is responsible for the health of the two million people living in Gaza. Israel will not be able to deflect the blame if this nightmare scenario turns into a reality that it created and made no effort to prevent, it added.
The Israeli blockade is intended to prevent materials from reaching Hamas that could be used by the group in waging its terror campaigns against the Jewish state. Cement, for example, and steel are blockaded from Gaza because of their use in building terror tunnels and reinforcing military encampments and rocket emplacements. The Israelis place no restriction on medicines or medical equipment. However, the Palestinian Authority, which buys the medicines for Gaza, has been restricting the amounts it supplies as a way to pressure the Gazans to reject rule by the PA’s enemy, Hamas. B’Tselem knows this situation very well, knows that Israel has nothing to do with that shortage of medicines, but chooses to ignore this fact in its insensate desire to slander Israel.
As for the shortage of doctors in Gaza, that too has nothing to do with Israel. Palestinian medical personnel make their own occupational decisions. Some of them have decided to practice medicine in places where they are much better paid; they end up working in the Gulf Arab states, or Europe, or North America. If there are fewer doctors, this inevitably leads to fewer people to train new physicians. Again, this has nothing to do with Israel. B’Tselem makes no mention of the excellent training that many Arab students receive in Israeli medical schools; it doesn’t fit their tale of unrelieved Israeli malevolence.
There is a shortage of medical equipment in Gaza. This represents a choice that the Hamas rulers have made. Gaza has been for decades the recipient of generous outside aid, mostly from Europe and North America. Unfortunately, much of that aid has been stolen by Hamas’ rapacious leaders. Two of them, Khaled Meshal and Moussa ibn Marzouk, have each amassed fortunes of at least $2.5 billion dollars. Hamas’ current leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has a net worth of $10-$20 million. Another 600 members of the upper-echelon of Hamas are reported to have built million-dollar villas in Gaza. Aside from this grand theft, Hamas chooses to spend much of its aid money on stockpiles of weaponry, including rockets, and on building terror tunnels – money that could have been used to buy more medical equipment. That was Hamas’ choice; it is not up to Israel to deal with Hamas’ massive corruption, nor to tell Hamas on what it may spend its aid money.
To sum up:
B’Tselem claims that there is “an acute shortage of medicine, equipment, doctors and professional training” in Gaza. To repeat, in summary fashion: The shortage of medicine is due to the withholding of some supplies not by Israel but by the Palestinian Authority. The shortage of medical equipment in Gaza has nothing to do with Israel’s blockade but, rather, with the spending priorities of the terrorist group Hamas, that has long favored rockets over ventilators, missiles over ICU beds. The shortage of medical personnel in Gaza reflects the individual choices of Palestinian physicians who choose to be employed – at much higher salaries – abroad. The lack of professional training is due directly to the shortage of medical personnel who would be doing the training
Finally, B’Tselem claims portentously that Israel alone will be to blame for whatever bad things happen in Gaza: “Israel will not be able to deflect the blame if this nightmare scenario turns into a reality that it created and made no effort to prevent.”.
The “reality” of which B’Tselem speaks is the product of choices made by Hamas (which chose not to spend enough money on medical equipment), by the Palestinian Authority (which chose to limit the amounts of certain medicines it transferred to Gaza) and by Palestinian doctors (some of whom chose to leave Gaza altogether, to make more money elsewhere, which led to a shortage both of medical personnel and of medical training in Gaza). When Hagai El-Gad says that Israel has “made no effort to prevent” that “nightmare scenario” he appears not to know, or doesn’t care to admit, that the Israelis have already delivered hundreds of coronavirus testing kits, with many more soon to be delivered, and two thousand protective medical gear kits, again with many more soon to come. It will be instructive to see how many others, in North America, in Western Europe, and among the fabulously rich Gulf Arabs, will in the end do as much as Israel, in containing the coronavirus outbreak in Gaza.
Boromir's Horn says
The very first blame game ever played, many thousands of years ago, had a liberal jew blaming a conservative jew. It remains a favorite pastime today.
Gork says
There has always been a contingent of Israelis who believe in peace at any price. They’re not left wing. They’re not right wing. They’re very liberal to the point of pure ignorance of history, Islamic theology, and fundamentals of governance.
They won’t get it of course. But in a country of nearly 10 million, there are going to be a few fruitcakes.
Frank Anderson says
“Ask 3 Jews; Get at least 6 opinions.” “Israel is the only country with 6 million Prime Ministers, only one of whom is in office at any given time.” God Bless Israel.
mortimer says
Yes, thank you, Mr. Anderson for that humor. I often feel exasperated with these psychologically worked-up JINOs (Jews in name only). They are smug virtue-signallers who divide and weaken what should be unanimous support for the Jewish national homeland. There is nothing unreasonable, in fact, about Jews having their own national state, but these smug JINOs imply that such a state is a crime. But a separate Jordan, Syria, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxemburg, Croatia are not crimes, somehow.
One can never expect 100% agreement in the matter of a national state, but they exist and most of the people living in the above national states are part of the ethnicity of those individual states.
Rarely says
There is no such animal as a JINO. Just because a Jewish person acts or talks in a way that you (or I or HS) think is appropriate doesn’t make them any less Jewish. I believe that many Jews are acting against their own best interests but there are a lot of Christians, muslims, Hindus etc. who are doing the same thing. Apparently this is a common human trait.
Frank Anderson says
Rarely, I think you are correct that In Name Only is not unique to any category, group or community. I cannot stop wishing for better from people who because of intellect and experience should know better. It is something we must accept for a person to wish for his own destruction; but an entirely different issue when one person desires the destruction of others. In 3700 years, Jews have seen so much destruction.
Rarely says
Frank.
Should know better than what? When you are a population of +/-14,000,000 (spread throughout the World) and are stuck in between an age old war between 2 million Christians and 1.6 billion muslims you “should know better” than WHAT?
What do you expect the World’s Jews to do?
Frank Anderson says
R., I was a part of the Christian community through my adopted family for over 40 years before I was invited to visit the Jewish community. NOT ONCE was the Holocaust ever discussed by Christians. In the more than 20 years I was present in the Jewish Community, the Holocaust was discussed frequently, including by many survivors and historians.
To see and hear what was described, and to know that most of the people who are Jews had friends or family or both who suffered in the Holocaust, and fail to recognize the primary reason to talk about it is to keep it from happening again puts the burden of learning on people who should pay attention for their own survival. It is different to charge someone who in utter ignorance fails to take notice and responsibility with someone who knows what has happened, can happen again and by the “final, perfect, complete and unchangeable” goals of islam will happen again.
How can one sit through a single Holocaust Remembrance event and pretend that it cannot happen again. That is the difference I see. I think Jews at not just chosen to carry a message, they are chosen to do what is needed to survive so they can carry that message. “I will make of you a great nation and a blessing to all other nations” was promised not once, but NINE times to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Look in the Book. It’s there. I think God meant it and expects Jews to survive to complete the mission.
mortimer says
DID GEORGE SOROS EVER GIVE A DIME TO A JEWISH CHARITY? DID HE GIVE ANY DONATION TO HELP JEWS IN ISRAEL? Soros is the sort of conflicted ideologue I refer to.
Quotes from frontpagemag.com
Soros’ War Against the Jews
The shame, hatred and megalomania driving the world’s wealthiest anti-Semite.
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
When George Soros hit middle age, he began seeing a shrink.
The ruthless financier’s problem was that he was burdened with an “oversized” sense of shame over a “guilty secret.” That guilty, shameful secret which sent Soros to a psychoanalyst was “Jewishness.”
Soros’ Jewish problem was generational. He grew up in, in his own words, a “Jewish, anti-Semitic home.”
George Soros hates the Jews of Israel who became neither collaborators nor victims, but fought and won, above all else. The existence of Israel is a shameful reminder of his treachery and cowardice.
“Attitudes toward Israel are influenced by Israel’s policies, and attitudes toward the Jewish community are influenced by the pro-Israel lobby’s success in suppressing divergent views,” he has claimed.
He blamed the “resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe” on Israel and insisted that, “If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish.”
In Soros’ twisted mind, Jews are to blame for anti-Semitism.
Soros does not want to be Jewish. He is deeply ashamed of his Jewish roots. He blames Jews for anti-Semitism. And while he avoids Jewish events and organizations, occasionally he makes an exception.
While Soros compared Israel to the Nazis, he has defended Islamic terrorists who murder Jews.
George Soros is a sponsor of numerous groups who say things in “provocative ways.” He’s the godfather of the anti-Israel lobby in America, spreading his money across the spectrum from NIAC to J Street, funding conventional anti-Israel BDS groups and providing stealth money to trojan-horse organizations like J Street that are meant to co-opt American Jews into undermining the Jewish State.
The beneficiaries of Soros cash have included Al-Haq, an anti-Israel group whose executive director has been described as a senior leader in the PFLP terrorist organization.
………………………………………………..
DID SOROS EVER GIVE A DONATION TO A JEWISH CHARITY … HE GAVE LOTS TO ENEMIES OF ISRAEL.
Rarely says
Frank.
Jews are equally criticized for speaking up and not speaking up. They will be criticized for attacking islam and for not attacking islam enough. I would think that, from your experience, you would realize that, although most eyes are wide open, viable solutions are elusive.
Mortimer,
How did Soros enter this conversation? What’s he got to do with anything?
Frank Anderson says
R. I was not just criticized but banished for daring to speak the truth. I miss the services but do not miss the attempted domination that I think is the same kind of domination that kept Jews from escaping when they could. If you are familiar with Patrick McGoohan’s 17 episode series Prisoner (Available on Tubi and Pluto) the point being made is that we accept others as our Numbers 2 (persons of influence or control) to our Number 6 (ordinary member of the community) until it becomes necessary to cut loose from them as Number 1. We can and should limit the power of others to make our decisions.
gravenimage says
Rarely, your characterization of Jihad as “an age old war between 2 million Christians and 1.6 billion muslims” is *quite* dishonest.
It was Islam itself which started out targeting both Christians *and* Jews, and this began with the “Prophet” Muhammed himself. Pretending that Islam is not full of homicidal hatred of Jews is mendacious. Islam preaches genocidal hatred of Jews, and pious Muslims have tried to destroy Israel since her birth. How can you think that people here would be ignorant of this?
Rarely says
GI.
Forget about the koran for a moment. Almost from the start islam was attacking Christian lands in hopes of conquest. Iberia and Judea were two of their earlierst conquests. Without the distraction and wasted resources of the wars between the sunnis (Ottoman Empire) and the shias (Persia) the Ottomans might very well have gone further than the gates of Vienna where they were twice defeated. The Ottoman Empire was only defeated and broken up after WWI.
Few are pretending that the muslim threat to Jews in 2020 is a “passing phase”. I certainly am not. There are +/- 1.8 billion muslims and +/-14,000,000 Jews — not exactly equal terms. Do Jews know the danger? Of course they do. There are some who are a bit slow on picking up on that danger. Nevertheless there are many differences of opinion on how to deal with the situation. Those who do not agree with your approach or mine are neither “self-hating” Jews or JINOs.
My question to Frank Anderson remains: What would you do knowing what you do if you were Jewish?
Now Christians are being attacked throughout the muslim world. Are the Christians who don’t know about the depth of the muslim threat and/or support an open door immigration policy “self-hating Christians” or “CHINOs” (Christians in Name Only – I just made that up)?
Has anyone here called Angela Merkel a “self-hating Christian” or CHINO? No, of course not. But any Jew who doesn’t aggressively oppose her policies is a “self-hating Jew” or JINO.
Once again: What is your solution? What would you do?
Frank Anderson says
Rarely, I have spent 22 years of my life in classrooms as a student. I consider the 16 weeks I spent in the Dale Carnegie first course the most useful. One of the points taught was “cooperate with the inevitable”. There is no peace with islam for non-believers. Accept the fact that THEY offer 3 choices and no other, Convert, Submit to humiliation or slavery, Die. There is no issue to negotiate. All who do not wish to Convert, Submit or Die must accept the fact that the only option left is Fight.
Islam limits itself on a death sentence from any form of change. It teaches from the beginning that lying whenever advantage can be obtained is encouraged. In order for any form of negotiation and settlement to be productive, the parties MUST be trustworthy. Islam, including all who practice it, cannot be trusted to modify its teachings to enter a permanent peace deal. You might benefit by some reading on the subject of treacherous early peace treaties and how they were ended. Islam’s rules do not change, because they were established as “final, perfect, complete and unchangeable” several times, with repeated changes before the “final” rule was pronounced. It seems that several times “perfect” revelations were replaced with other “perfect” revelations.
Are we to imagine that after 1400 years of conquest which has killed between 250 and 1000 million people, rising daily, that islam is going to change? Viktor Frankl could be shaking his head in disbelief if he were alive today at that delusion.
David says
This anti-Jewish organisation is a deliberate attempt to undermine Israel, and should be disowned by loyal Jews. Defence of their homeland surely takes priority?
James Lincoln says
Frank Anderson,
Your post of Mar 30, 2020 at 1:43 am was one of your very best.
100% correct in how you succinctly crystallized the three choices given to nonbelievers by muslims.
You also pointed out the fourth choice, to fight back, a choice that the nonbeliever can give him or herself.
Best wishes, and please stay healthy during this pandemic.
Frank Anderson says
James, I have had a lifetime of training and experience in fighting back. Military school starting in the first grade at age 5 and not all that socially adapted a person made me a target for all manner of hazing until I got big, strong and mean enough to stop caring how much I got hurt in the process of hurting the bullies. That was way over 60 years ago. Every time I have attempted appeasement, I have been taught the hard way that it does not work, EVER. There is a reason for us to fight instead of surrendering. Sometimes we must escape in order to continue the fight. But we cannot fight if we are dead. “Nobody appreciates peace as much as the people who have to fight for it: They KINOW what it costs.”
Rarely says
Frank.
Your analysis of islam appears pretty accurate from what I know but my question remains: If you were Jewish, knowing what you know today, what would you do?
Frank Anderson says
Rarely, I AM doing the same thing that I would do IF I were considered part of the Jewish community. I am following the profound Catholic teaching that I first saw at 8 am every Sunday morning on television, “It is better to light ONE candle than to curse the darkness.” In more than 20 years of presence in the Jewish community I learned things that will continue with me in greatest value. One is to learn at every opportunity from every source, whether that source is negative or positive. Every person who can be brought from “uninformed”, “unconcerned” or “undecided” is a candle when informed.
Converting those who oppose liberty is an inefficient waste of resources. How many Nazi’s could be converted to Republicans?
If we do not see liberty as something vital to all future interests, and worthy of all necessary sacrifices to make it continue, then we need only look at places where islam is in control now to see the future we will leave to our successors.
I remember one of many sermons I heard discussing The Exodus. Two major lessons come from the Exodus, 1) No matter how well things start; they change. 2) God does not want ANY of His Children (ALL who call upon Him as Father) to live in any form of tyranny or slavery. Islam is a criminal conspiracy promoting death and slavery. That is an inspired reason to resist.
Frank Anderson says
Rarely, my first response to your question seems to be lost. I will save this one in case it gets lost. I AM doing exactly what I would be doing if I were considered part of the Jewish community. Conforming to the Jewish teaching to learn from every source (both positive and negative) the Catholic teaching that I first heard at 8 am every Sunday morning on the first television station in my home town, said “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” Each person who can be changed from “Uninformed”, “Unconcerned”, “Uninvolved” to informed is a candle.
There is no likely efficient benefit in seeking to convert “believers”. They are taught to not only disregard the non-believer but to treat non-believers as sub-human deserving only slavery or death. Those who leave islam are the bravest, strongest and most likely to help others leave. But non-believers are wasting their time jousting with the lies and evil that are ever-present in islam.
I suggest that in order to light candles, it is necessary to become a candle by reading and knowing for yourself. After reading 20, 30 or more books from a variety of authors, as I have, it will be hard for anyone to confuse you. I wish for you the same as I wish for myself: a life of peace, freedom and liberty.
gravenimage says
Islam is a threat to Christians and Jews and all other Infidels.
mortimer says
Communists have always been ambiguous, if not duplicitous, about nationalism and ethnicity. They support ethnicity whenever it is convenient, and then repress ethnicity ruthlessly if it is not convenient.
I cannot imagine what advantage it could be to Leftists to weaken Israel so that its opponents are emboldened to attack Israel, thus causing more casualties among Israelis.
Leftism and communism present their case cunningly, but in fact such POLITICAL CORRECTNESS KILLS many innocent people as collateral damage.
Leftists are more concerned about their utopian ideology than about people.
James Lincoln says
mortimer says,
“Leftists are more concerned about their utopian ideology than about people.”
Very well put, mortimer.
You hit a homerun on that one…
Gbox says
I honestly thought this was parody at first! Self-hating Jews really are a special class of deranged lefties.
Frank Anderson says
Gbox, they exist and are not that unusual. Look back over 100 years to the writing of Karl Marx and his thoughts.
Rarely says
Gbox.
Are “self-hating” Christians part of that “special class of deranged lefties”?
Frank.
Are you suggesting that Marx was a “self-hating” “deranged lefty”?
Frank Anderson says
Rarely, Marx contemplated killing many Jews, among other things. He was Jewish. You might read Das Kapital, and The Communist Manifesto to see his high regard for Jews. They are available on Amazon Kindle. In my ignorance, I consider him among the earliest well-known self-hating Jews.
Rarely says
Again we find the “self-hating Jew”.
Gbox says
I’m sure there may be a few but they must be a rare species. They surely aren’t very visible.
Frank Anderson says
Gbox, I share with many an amazement and lack of comprehension at the phenomenon of self-hate. From my experience in a Christian environment, most people seem to move from church to church, and from denomination to denomination; and to leave all participation in religion entirely, without the apparent internal conflict that appears so frequently in history with Jewish descendants, who are so dissatisfied with Judaism that leaving the community is not enough; they want the community destroyed. Having seen the greatness and health of Jewish teaching I don’t understand?
I have great admiration for Judaism, having spent over 20 years in the local Jewish community and claiming a wonderful Jewish mother by choice among my many uncounted mothers. But, it didn’t work. I still wish all Jews well. I certainly understand why many Jews support Israel. I wish there were some alternative to that contested piece of land; but there is not at this time. I agree that history has shown the need for a Jewish state in a Jewish homeland. Islam makes no secret of its plan and intention to eliminate Judaism from the world. making any alternative location about as much of a target as present day Israel.
There is much written by many people who know much more than I about self hate. It is not made up and not some false charge made against otherwise unpopular people. It is a psychological fact that has been observed and discussed in addition to being demonstrated for more than a century.
Frank Anderson says
Gbox, after thinking about the subject, I must admit being in error. How can some or many Christians do everything imaginable to “aid, abet, counsel and act in furtherance” of the destruction of their society and enable the ongoing invasion and conquest by muslims? How could collaborators during WWII hate what their countries stood for enough to help the Nazis? SSDD (Same S??? Different Day) Something has failed in the education of children on the values of their society. Can it be repaired before all is lost?
carpediadem says
They are no more “special” than the self-hating deranged Christians who happily take millions for resettling “immigrants” in their own countries, campaign in boycotts against Israel to “protect” “Palestinians” and blithely ignore the massacres by Muslims of their (supposedly) own brethren all across the Middle East.
Many here -mostly those shilling for Christianity gleefully play the blame game against Jews, sporting the same mentality of Christian and Islamic bigots who blame the Jews for the world’s ills and deliberately ignoring the vast role played by Christians in supporting jihad against Jews and Israel.
A nasty microcosm right here at Jihadwatch.
Yes there are Lefty Jews acting against Israel. And most of them are being paid by European Christians to do so, similar to the ones who strategised the importation of Muslims to commit murder against Jews in Israel and in EU on European soil, raping a huge number of young European girls along the way.
But we don’t want to face the brutal sabotage done by Christian Europeans do we?
No no, more fun to stick with the Christian tradition of scapegoating the Jews.
gravenimage says
Yes–there are clueless Jews *and* Christians–and Hindus and Buddhists and Secularists, too.
gravenimage says
Left-Wing Jewish Israelis: Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget to Blame Israel for Coronavirus
………………..
We find this suicidal insanity throughout the West. It makes even less sense in Israel, considering how threatened she is.
B’Tselem has the headline, “Israeli-made nightmare scenario: COVID-19 in Gaza”–as though Israel had created this disease (as some unhinged Muslims have actually claimed)–even thought the article itself admits that the only known cases contracted it on a trip to Pakistan.
carpediadem says
The Marxist poison entered Israel as it did everywhere else and European antiIsrael NGOs campaign continuously against the state as do media of all stripes.
tgusa says
Leftists are at war with the very civilization they reside in. I am sick of hearing from all the leftist cultists spewing their same tried garbage. Whatever we do we must make these leftists live alongside allahs people. That is the surest way to shut them up without actually going to war against them.
The unexpected voice says
I though only Jewish-American leftists Self-hating Jews blame Israel. It seems like Israelis leftists hate their own country too. I was totally wrong.
Frank Anderson says
Go back about 100 years and look which “party” had disdain for all national identify. “Workers of the World Unite!” Five of the 7 leaders of the Red Republic in 1919 Munich were Jewish, fueling a generalization that was NOT TRUE about Jews. Jews were patriotic members of German society far more often than not, until all choice was taken away..
gravenimage says
There are clueless Jews in Israel as well–albeit likely fewer than in the rest of the West, for obvious reasons. Israeli Jews see more of the savagery of Islam up close and personal.