Three decades [after the Rwandan genocide], Israel’s leaders act with impunity toward Palestinians in Gaza, where undiscriminating ground attacks and bombing have killed twice as many civilians as Hamas fighters
First, the figure is closer to 1.5 civilians for every 1 combatant. But, even if it was 2:1, as McGreal writes, that would actually represent one of the best civilian to combatant ratios in the history of urban warfare according to John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point.
Moreover, according to the UN, the average ratio in world wars is nine civilians killed for every one combatant killed.
He then writes:
At least 22,000 women and children are dead, according to estimates from the Gaza ministry of health.
The fact is that you’d be hard pressed to find other examples of Western media outlets blindly repeating the statistics provided by a proscribed terrorist group. Moreover, there’s increasing evidence from multiple studies of Hamas’s statistics that the data, including the number of women and children killed, is completely erroneous.
McGreal then writes:
Doctors have accused Israeli soldiers of targeting children.
This links back to his own article, which we argued in refuting his accusation was redolent of the blood libel, that consisted of a series off unevidenced claims.
Israel also stands accused of bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine by severely limiting deliveries of food.
In addition, the bombardment has obliterated hospitals, schools, homes and roads
South Africa claimed in its case before the international court of justice that Israel’s actions in Gaza are by intent and amount to genocide. Its case pointed to the repeated statements by Israeli officials, sometimes in language that echoed Rwanda, that the assault on Gaza was about more than pursuing Hamas.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, set the tone by saying there were no innocent civilians in Gaza and “it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible”
“Israel abides by international law, operates by international law. Every operation is secured and covered and reviewed legally.”
“There is no excuse to murdering innocent civilians in any way in any context. And believe me, Israel will operate and always operate according to the international rules. And we do the same in this battle, too.”
Then, McGreal resorts to rhetorical deceit like this:
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered a “complete siege” of the territory with “no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed”. Six months later, Gaza is on the brink of a manufactured mass famine.
You’d think after reading this that there’s been a “complete siege” of the territory for the last six months, which McGreal wants you to believe is ‘evidence’ of a “manufactured” famine. However, those comments by Gallant, two days after the Hamas massacre, when the country was in collective shock over the barbarity of the violence, were reversed a couple of weeks later.
Now, there are more food trucks entering the territory than before the war.
Finally, even leaving his distortions and lies aside, McGreal, in typical Guardian fashion, completely ignores – and effectively exonerates – Hamas.
If the extremist group hadn’t decided, based on a pathological hatred of Jews and a cruel disregard for the lives of their own citizens, to launch the attack on Oct. 7, there would be no humanitarian crisis to speak of. It’s as if McGreal doesn’t even consider Hamas’s crimes in the moral equation – including their cynical ‘human shield’ strategy, their use of civilian buildings and infrastructure for military purposes, and their refusal to make the decision that would end the war: releasing the hostages, laying down their arms and surrendering.
McGreal’s myopic and obsessive focus on the putative crimes of Israel, and his almost complete erasure of the terror group which committed the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, is another example of how the reporter’s coverage of the region, like the media outlet he works for, is effectively pro-Hamas.
Just seen a video of a bakery in Gaza, one of 23 such bakeries operating making thousands of pitot every day, any famine is created by the Hamas afilliated and Qatari backed reporters along with known UNWRA Hamas affiliated employees. The world is being deceived and they cannot (or do not want to) see it #journalismisdead #defundthebbc