The endless soap opera streaming out of Gaza since this past Friday is one that could earn billions for the residents of the enclave if only it could be set to music, set down into a television script, and then played out on camera for 30 minutes once a week. Gaza residents, at least, should benefit from the needless, incessant drama created by leaders who seem unable to thrive on anything else.
The lengths to which Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization went to organize and then exploit its swarming of the security fence along the enclave’s border with Israel last Friday — and its cynical use of Gaza’s civilians as cover for terror activities and then as cannon fodder aimed at the IDF — were sadly, wildly successful.
They begin with the claim by Hamas that 27-year-old Muhammad Abu Amro, one of 16 Gazans killed by the IDF Friday at the border, was just an artist who loved to sculpt in the sand.
Abu Amro was one of the 10 convicted terrorists whose portraits now adorn an IDF poster being tweeted around the world so the public will at least have access to the truth, even if most choose not to know it. He was a tunnel digger for Hamas. And yes, he also loved to “sculpt in the sand” in his spare time.
Hamas said that this man who was killed in the when trying to attack Isareli territory was just an artist who loved to sculpt in the sand.
The trut: he was a Hamas’ terrorist, whose job was to dig terror tunnels into Israel.
Never believe anything Hamas says. pic.twitter.com/6gBoUAvS9W
— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman)
One wonders how much spare time a tunnel digger actually has these days. Perhaps he has more than we realize. But in the battle for global photo ops and public relations, it appears radical Islamist terror and Palestinian Authority evil somehow is winning out, despite all logic, and tunnel diggers are kept pretty busy, posing for photos. So are other Gazans, even those out of uniform.
A photo of four muscular-looking young men in tight jeans (“Palestinian lions bravely shielding this young woman running from Israel’s spray of bullets”) with what appears to be a fence in the background should prompt one to ask, but somehow doesn’t unless one is educated on the subject, just why the lovely young lady is out of breath and racing so quickly away from the fence — and what she was doing there in the first place. Not to mention the question of how four young men holding hands behind her could possibly “shield” her from anything, let alone a “spray of bullets.” And since none of these people seem to be holding rocks, firebombs or burning tires, one has to ask why they would have merited any attention from Israeli soldiers in the first place.
But since this “amazing” photo was snapped and tweeted by the “Palestine Observer” none of the above is any surprise. And Twitter is packed with this nonsense.
John McDonnell, a member of the British parliament, no less, tweets the question: “How many more Palestinians have to die from sniper bullets before the international community, including the UK government, mobilizes to press Israel to end this disproportionate response to Gaza demonstrations? We desperately need a new international peace initiative.” For real.
Disproportionate response to a demonstration: one wonders what MP McDonnell would have ordered, had his nation been faced with the same challenge at the gates to Buckingham Palace.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, former presidential candidate from Vermont, tweets “The killing of Palestinian demonstrators by Israeli forces in Gaza is tragic. It is the right of all people to protest for a better future without a violent response.” Did the Jewish Senator from New England even bother to check his facts before offering an opinion? Does he have any real idea of what really happened at the Gaza border on Friday afternoon and evening — and what has happened since — let alone the actual identity of the majority of those “demonstrators” ?
During Friday’s “march of return” at the Gaza border, 10 of the 16 Gazans who were killed during the event were convicted terrorists, including eight of whom were members of Hamas; one was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group and one was a member of the Fatah-linked Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. More than 30,000 “demonstrators” tried to storm the security fence that stands as protection at the border between Israel and Gaza. Countless numbers hurled explosives, firebombs, burning tires and rocks at the security fence and at IDF soldiers, attempting to breach the barrier, infiltrate the border and carry out attacks.
That the IDF managed to hold back the flood is a sterling testament to the training, discipline and moral courage of every service member who stood his ground at the border.
No nation in the world would have tolerated the nightmare that took place on Israel’s southern border this past Friday — and yet once again, the United Nations is calling for investigations, and worse yet, an American Jewish Senator is barely a breath away from backing that call.
Once again, photo ops and lies are winning the war for truth and justice; the question now is whether any of that will matter when at the end of the day the issue of Israel’s defense comes down to concrete action.