Lies And Distortions: The Gaza Myth

This story has been covered before, but it is worth revisiting.

Based upon MSM reports, one would think that an epic "humanitarian crisis" exists in Gaza - leading to the call for flotillas (although, as has been pointed out before, there are numerous 'legal' ways to get supplies into Gaza, but that is beside the point for today), open borders with Egypt (a method to get even more missiles and rockets into Gaza) and, or course, a way to paint Israel in the worst light imaginable.

But scratching below the superficial lies and distortions as promoted by the MSM and their ongoing agenda, what is the truth in Gaza?

[Note: No one is arguing that there aren't areas within Gaza which include human suffering. However, the same can be said for any part of the globe, including a 50 mile radius from where this post is being written, and presumably a 50 mile radius from where you live]

Before today's news, lets take a look back at some of the thriving areas inside of the West Bank and Gaza:

Israel quietly helps to build Palestine

It is difficult to turn on a TV or radio or pick up a newspaper these days, without finding some pundit or other deploring the dismal prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace or the dreadful living conditions of the Palestinians. Even supposedly neutral news reporters regularly repeat this sad tale. “Very little is changing for the Palestinian people on the ground,” I heard BBC World Service Cairo correspondent Christian Fraser tell listeners three times in a 45 minute period the other evening.

In fact nothing could be further from the truth. I had spent that day in the West Bank’s largest city, Nablus. The city is bursting with energy, life and signs of prosperity, in a way I have not previously seen in many years of covering the region.

Wandering around downtown Nablus the shops and restaurants I saw were full. There were plenty of expensive cars on the streets. Indeed I counted considerably more BMWs and Mercedes than I’ve seen, for example, in downtown Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

The shops and restaurants were also full when I visited Hebron recently, and I was surprised to see villas comparable in size to those on the Cote d’Azur or Bel Air had sprung up on the hills around the city. Life is even better in Ramallah, where it is difficult to get a table in a good restaurant. New apartment buildings, banks, brokerage firms, luxury car dealerships and health clubs are to be seen. In Qalqilya, another West Bank city that was previously a hotbed of terrorists and bomb-makers, the first ever strawberry crop is being harvested in time to cash in on the lucrative Christmas markets in Europe. Local Palestinian farmers have been trained by Israeli agriculture experts and Israel supplied them with irrigation equipment and pesticides.

For more, click on the link and scroll down looking at the numerous pictures - but shhhhhhhh - Don't tell the flotilla organizers these facts.

This is covered, even in the Arabic news (again, a picture is worth 1,000 words):

Photos of a thriving community

And these articles exposing the truth of the matter, something you will never find in the MSM reports:

More evidence Gaza is not starving

The international community is sticking to the line that the Gaza Strip is a land of destitution where famine grips nearly every family. Comparisons with World War II concentration camps are popular.

But one of the results of the recent failed "humanitarian aid" flotilla to Gaza is that more and more journalists and researches are looking into the Gaza situation and finding it doesn't really reflect what is being written about it.

We already wrote last month about how National Post correspondent Tom Gross discovered gourmet restaurants and Olympic-sized swimming pools in Gaza. Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs has compiled a comprehensive report on the situation in Gaza including several quotes from the mainstream and Arab press that acknowledge Gaza is not starving, and is no worse off than anywhere else in the Middle East.

In a June 3 report, Janine Zacharia of the Washington Post wrote, "If you walk down Gaza City's main thoroughfare - Salah al-Din Street - grocery stores are stocked wall-too-wall with everything from fresh Israeli yogurts and hummus to Cocoa Puffs smuggled in from Egypt. Pharmacies look as well-supplied as a typical Rite Aid in the United States."

There is much more in this article - but the truth and the reality of the situation doesn't fit in with the simplistic MSM commentary consisting of "Israel: bad - "Palestinians": good"

Israel does indeed maintain a firm blockade of the Gaza Strip in order to deny its Hamas rulers goods that could be used in the manufacture of weapons of war. But Israel is not restricting the entry of other goods, and is in fact facilitating the transfer of massive amounts of humanitarian aid every day - goods that the residents of Gaza are receiving for free, that is if Hamas would stop stealing them.

And does anybody remember this?

Gaza's luxury water park torched

A mob of masked Palestinian gunmen stormed Gaza City’s “Crazy Water Park” during the predawn hours on Sunday and caused widespread damage to the popular attraction.

The owner of the park told the German news agency DPA that about 40 unidentified gunman entered the park, tied up and beat the two security guards, destroyed various items and set fire to at least three buildings.

The 10-dunam (2.5 acre) park includes three large swimming pools, water slides, numerous cafes, two mosques and wedding halls. It has quickly become one of the area’s most popular summer attractions.

Once again, such "luxury" parks don't fit with the necessary image of Gaza - and the necessary image of "Israel: bad".

It is entirely possible that with the continuing Islamization of Gaza, Hamas shuttered the park and then discretely dispatched its own gunmen to destroy the place before authorization was given to open it back up. Hamas and other Islamic groups in Gaza have made it clear they view such displays of public entertainment as corruptive foreign influences.

Or, could it be that the presence of such luxury attractions was becoming too detrimental to efforts to convince the world that Gaza is suffocating under a brutal Israeli “siege”?

And this:

Arab journalist: Gaza's problem is not Israel

A journalist for Egypt's Al-Ahram daily newspaper confirmed what a small handful of Western reporters have had the integrity to reveal of late: that Gaza really isn't under siege, and that any oppression felt by local Palestinians is caused by fellow Arabs, and not Israel.

In stark contrast to regular Western media reports of widespread deprivation and destitution in Gaza, Ashraf Abu al-Houl reported that "a sense of absolute prosperity prevails, as manifested by the grand resorts along and near Gaza's coast."

Al-Houl also wrote that "the sight of the merchandise and luxuries filling Gaza shops amazed me." Not only that, but al-Houl quickly discovered that most goods can be bought in Gaza for much cheaper than in Egypt because in Gaza "supply is much greater than demand."

Again, this cannot be revealed simply because it doesn't fit in with the necessary commentary that the MSM needs to use against Israel. It really is that simple.

New luxury mall opens in Gaza City

The residents of Gaza City - capital of the most destitute territory on earth, if mainstream media reports are to be believed - joyously celebrated the opening a new luxury shopping mall at the weekend.

The grand opening of Gaza Mall was a carnival-like experience complete with clowns and other entertainers.

Despite the significance of the event for local residents, the thousands of foreign media correspondents who spend nearly all their time focusing on this tiny coastal strip completely ignored the mall's opening.

Journalist and media analyst Tom Gross, who has made it his mission of late to call out the press on its biased reporting on Gaza, noted that apparently the new mall doesn't fit with the popular image of Gaza as a land wallowing in squalor thanks to the limited Israeli embargo on it

And all of this finally brings us to today's news:

Photos: Gazans enjoy new water amusement park

Gaza is the most destitute place on earth, and the people there live in abject poverty and despair. That is why humanitarian aid flotillas regularly try to break the heinous Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

At least, that's what the international media wants its viewers to believe. Stories of suffering sell more newspapers and advertising slots, after all.

But once again, the truth that Gaza is no better or worse off than anywhere else in the Middle East has been revealed in a series of photographs showing local residents enjoying the opening of a new water amusement park.

The park, which features massive water slides, rides for children and luscious green lawns is located in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, which is often referred to by mainstream media outlets as a "refugee camp."

Nor is the Khan Younis water park the only one of its kind in Gaza. In September of last year, Israel Today reported on the popular and luxurious "Crazy Water Park" in Gaza City after it became the target of Hamas fanatics intent on maintaining image of Gaza as a place of squalor.

With such amenities popping up in a region that purportedly has less than nothing, a few rare foreign journalists started to notice that something was amiss, and to report the truth.

Last summer, a prominent Washington Post reporter revealed that grocery stores in Gaza are "stocked wall-too-wall with everything from fresh Israeli yogurts and hummus to Cocoa Puffs smuggled in from Egypt. Pharmacies look as well-supplied as a typical Rite Aid in the United States."

That despite the fact that Gaza continues to receive enormous amounts of humanitarian aid, enough to nearly feed and care for the entire population for free.

Even Arab journalists began to expose the Gaza lie, such as when Egyptian reporter Ashraf Al-Houl wrote that "the sight of merchandise and luxuries filling Gaza shops amazed me."

Al-Houl went on to note that "a sense of absolute prosperity prevails, as manifested by the grand resorts along and near Gaza's coast."

Sigh...As mentioned so many times before - the truth is elusive in these last days. But we know that the 'father of all lies' is about to have his time on earth, and it seems to be approaching rapidly.

The lies and distortions around Gaza - and widely accepted by an ignorant population is just one example of what we are fed daily by a MSM with an agenda. And the destruction of Israel seems to be very high on that agenda - just as the Holy Bible tells us.