|
You might hear: Palestinians do not support Hamas.
Reality: Many Palestinians indeed do not, but some Palestinians do support Hamas. The terrorist group won the Palestinian legislative elections in Gaza in 2006. Some Palestinians celebrated the recent mass slaughter by passing out candies and hitting the bodies of kidnapped Israelis paraded through Gaza.
**********
You might hear: Palestinians do not have agency – the power and resources needed to thrive.
Reality: Palestinians do have agency but Hamas has never provided a better life for its citizens. The Palestinians receive more aid per capita than any country in the world – including $40 billion from 1996 to 2020. Arab and European countries have poured billions into Gaza that was used by Hamas to build bombs, rockets and terror tunnels.
**********
You might hear: Gaza does not have natural resources to grow its economy.
Reality: Israel overcame its lack of oil by investing in its people and technology, earning the nickname: Startup Nation. Israeli ingenuity produced a variety of inventions from drip irrigation to the Waze navigation app. Israel made the desert bloom and left behind greenhouses and other valuable infrastructure when it left Gaza in 2005. Palestinian extremists destroyed the greenhouses and wasted the aid money they received.
**********
You might hear: Israel controls water in Gaza.
Reality: Yes, Gazans have been struggling and emergency supplies are now making their way into Gaza across the Egyptian border. In the current state of war, both Israel and Egypt are concerned about allowing in supplies that can be diverted and used by Hamas terrorists. As a case in point, Hamas recently filmed themselves digging up water pipes to build rockets instead of producing and securing food and medicine for its residents. The EU spent $100 million on water pipes in Gaza over a 10-year period to help the Palestinians. Oddly enough, Hamas is not running out of rockets that it keeps firing at Israeli civilians more than two weeks after slaughtering 1,400 Israelis.
**********
You might hear: Israel controls water in Gaza.
Reality: While Israel does supply some water, Hamas controls water in Gaza. It is the responsibility of Hamas to care for its citizens. Israel built five desalination plants between 2005 and 2015. Austria provided funding for a Gaza plant completed in 1999. France and Arab countries offered funding for a new plant; Israel supported its construction and provided training for Palestinians in 2013 but the plant was never built.
**********
You might hear: The Gaza Health Ministry reports, or Palestinians say…
Reality: The Hamas-run Health Ministry is fully controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization. There is no way to verify the claims made by them. After the false reports on the ‘hospital’ bombing, the Hamas-run Health Ministry immediately published the claim that 500 Palestinians were killed. How could the number of deaths have been determined in minutes?
**********
You might hear: The Palestinian news media and journalists are reliable sources.
Reality: Palestinian society does not have a free press unlike Israel and America. Hamas terrorists intimidate journalists reporting from Gaza, influencing what the world is able to see. Immediate access to the Al-Ahli Hospital would have shown that the hospital was not directly struck by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short. Many Palestinians also work as reporters or sources for international journalists. These Palestinians often have biases, including social media accounts celebrating terrorism against Israelis.
**********
You might hear: Israel is responsible for providing aid to Palestinians living under Hamas.
Reality: Not only is Hamas responsible for providing aid to its citizens, but what explains the absence of Islamic countries that regularly boast of their support for the Palestinian cause? Egypt – which borders Gaza – refuses to allow a large number of Palestinians to seek shelter in the vast Sinai peninsula. Jordan, which is a state with a majority Palestinian population, also is silent. Iran provides billions of dollars to fund Hamas but not the residents of Gaza. Leaders in these countries regularly slander Israelis and their people rally on the streets but refuse to offer significant aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.
**********
You might hear: Israel intentionally targets schools, hospitals and mosques in Gaza.
Reality: Iran-backed Hamas intentionally builds tunnels under UN schools, locates their headquarters under a hospital and stores weapons in mosques – turning Gaza citizens into human shields. Israel goes to great lengths – not undertaken by most other nations – to warn Palestinian civilians. This includes sending messages to Palestinian cell phones and dropping flyers.
**********
You might hear: Hamas does not harm civilians, only soldiers.
Reality: Hamas intentionally targets civilians – both Israelis and Palestinian. Terrorists and their supporters claim that the group does not harm civilians and treats them humanely. A video showing Hamas terrorists caring for young children in an Israeli community – carrying a baby and feeding kids – with their parents clearly missing, has circulated across social media. Now, Hamas has slowly begun releasing female hostages. This is part of its propaganda war.
**********
You might hear: The Israeli Defense Forces are spreading propaganda.
Reality: The IDF is sharing facts. Israel has an independent press that is free to challenge any information shared by its military. There is NO dispute about the horrendous atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent Israelis – raping girls, killing parents in front of their children and ripping out unborn children from the bellies of their mothers. Evidence confirming the brutality continues to come to light.
**********
You might hear: Palestinians are the only ones suffering now because they were forced to evacuate their homes.
Reality: About 200,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes on the borders with Gaza and Lebanon across dozens of communities. The Jewish state is taking precautions to protect its civilians from future attacks. Hamas continues to try to prevent Palestinians from leaving their homes so they can serve as human shields for the terrorists.
**********
| 
