The Blame Game

In course of writing this blog I have archive postings filled with more criticism of the Israeli government than praise, and yet, the most common label applied to me is not ‘anti-Semitic’ anything but ‘Jew Bitch’. Although, I did have an anonymous commenter accuse me of being single-handedly responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in the world today.

Critics of Israel complain ad nauseam that any criticism of the Israeli state gets labeled immediately with cries and charges of ‘anti-Semitism’. While I am not suggesting all criticism of the Israeli state passes the litmus test for anti-Semitism it has become increasingly harder for me to ignore the incredible lack of good faith/good will those same critics exhibit towards any action the Israeli state attempts to defend its citizenry with. Take the hue and outcry against the Israeli state for even discussing the possibility of cutting diesel fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip (just google it – I am feeling lazy as well as running a fever).

Better yet, let me quote Barry Rubin’s latest column at the Israeli Insider, as it illustrates perfectly what I mean.

The story in question here is by Ibrahim Barzak, "Israel cuts fuel, electricity to Gaza," January 7, 2008. Like all individual articles it might be of limited importance by itself but it is an example of a phenomenon which has grown to be almost daily.

In the version run by the Philadelphia Inquirer it carries the following subheadline: "People have only a third of winter needs, said an official. The intent is to halt rocket attacks." It is important to emphasize -- do a computer search if you like -- that this article has been published and broadcast around the world by huge media outlets, not to mention websites.

And the main point -- and impact -- of the story is a fabrication.

Here is the lead:

"With winter deepening, Gazans will be forced to live without lights and electric heaters for eight hours a day because Israel has cut fuel supplies to the territory's only electric plant in half, Gaza's top energy official warned yesterday....

"Yesterday, Kanan Obeid, chairman of Gaza's Hamas-run energy authority, said Gaza now has only 35 percent of the power its 1.5 million residents need."

Well, perhaps Gaza's top energy official said that but it is a lie. AP and the media that depend on AP -- fell for this lie. Or perhaps the author and institution are not so innocent because there is no Israeli source provided for the main issues at stake. When I investigated the story it took me five minutes to get an official who totally denied the claims made by it.

Here is the true story, so obscured by the AP article that one can only believe the distortion was deliberate.

1. Gaza's electricity comes about 70 percent from Israel (the article says 60 percent though this changes nothing about the analysis that follows), 5 percent from Egypt, and 20 percent from Gaza itself.

2. There has been very little cutback in the electricity provided directly by Israel.

3. The only reduction is in supplying diesel fuel, some of which is used in the Gaza generating plant, though more is used by trucks.

4. Thus if the diesel fuel supply was cut back by half, the Gaza generator would lose less than half of its supply, even less if the Hamas government made it a priority. At most, the electricity supply would be cut no more than 10 percent -- not 65 percent.

5. Note also that while it sounds rather horrible not to have electricity eight hours a day, this merely would mean that you don't use electricity when you are sleeping. It should also be added that winter in Gaza is not exactly like Maine.

6. In addition, Barzak tries, and no doubt succeeds, in fooling readers by stating in passing: "The power outages, which will rotate across Gaza." In other words, at worst each sector would only have temporary power reductions, taking turns, rather than -- as the article states earlier -- everyone having eight hours without electricity.

After trying to convince readers that people in Gaza are suffering greatly from existing cuts, the article slips into making its case by talking about things that have not happened yet. The Israeli government wants small cutbacks in the electricity directly applied to the Gaza Strip. Even if these cuts were made -- and this may not happen -- the result would still fall very far short of the claims made about huge reductions and tremendous suffering.

The article continues:

"Israel said the purpose of the cutback was to nudge Palestinians to call on extremists to stop their daily rocket attacks on southern Israel. But Gazans contended they have become targets of unfair punishment, and 10 human-rights groups took that argument to the Israeli Supreme Court."
Note that while, technically, Israel's motive is presented -- so the AP can claim to be balanced -- we are quickly told that this claim is untrue. Israel's statements are questioned; Hamas's statements are accepted as fact.

I'll go one better than Barry Rubin and offer a rationale as to why Hamas's statements are accepted as facts. In fact, I'll offer a simple one compound word consisting of 12 letters and a hyphen as an answer. Does anyone still need to buy a vowel?

Look it has become all convenient for many to forget the Gaza Strip would not be under sanctions if the Hamas leadership would do two very simple things which do not even require the disbursement of one shekel or turn over control of the Gaza Strip to Fatah - recognize Israel as the Jewish state and give up all pretense, either overt or covert, of destroying the Israeli state. That’s it folks - game over.

And for those who prattle on endlessly about the plight of the innocent Gazans, while penning not one word of outrage for the school children of Sderot; let us not forget those same innocent Gazans duly voted to elect overwhelmingly Hamas as parliamentarians to the Palestinian legislature. Hamas did not change one iota of its charter or rationale for existence in order to carry the vote. Sometimes one gets exactly what one votes for, and then some.

Of course, if the Egyptians were running the Gaza Strip, like in the old days of pre-1967 Gaza, most Gazans wouldn’t even notice any power outages as the Egyptians (in their infinite wisdom and exercise of good governance) didn’t invest much in the way of hardwiring the Gaza Strip for electricity. So you can add wiring the entire Gaza Strip for electricity to your list of things to blame the Jews for.