Ahmad Chaker Jomaa
Once again an extraordinary display of human destruction and slaughter is taking place in the Gaza strip, courtesy of Israel. Israeli bombs have murdered almost 1000 civilians so far,[1] with the number rapidly climbing every day. Those maimed and dismembered in the blasts number in the thousands, with over a third of them innocent children who can never again lead normal lives. Israel’s crimes against humanity need no analysis; they are barefaced and plain for all to see.
For over eight years, Gaza’s population of 1.8 million has been subjected to a cruel siege. In times of ‘peace’ basic necessities like wheat, grain and powdered milk for children have had to be smuggled in through tunnels. And in the-all-too-frequent surges of war, children, women and innocent civilians have been seen as legitimate targets by Israeli jets as hospitals, schools and apartment blocks are obliterated. More than a dozen health facilities have been deliberately targeted including al-Wafa hospital, forcing staff to relocate incapacitated patients to central Gaza.[2]
Yet as the world looks on in horror at this apparently limitless capacity for brutality and violence, Western media outlets continue to justify and rationalise Israeli barbarism. Zionist-backed media conglomerates paint a picture of an innocent, peace-loving nation surrounded by bestial Arabs who want nothing but blood. “Israel has the right to defend itself,” we are told time and time again, as politicians and newscasters dutifully recite from the same hymn sheet.
Often the Palestinian resistance is labelled as illegitimate or even ‘terrorist’; the good-old-fashioned justification for so much death. In the very best cases, the conflict between Gaza and Israel is represented as a mutual struggle between two sides, both equally at fault. Well if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Here are seven deadly lies about the Gaza conflict that tirelessly circulate in the media and the statements of political puppets, complemented with the inconvenient truths that are so often overlooked.