A television documentary and accompanying written article produced by Australia’s ABC television network accuses Israel of forcing children in Gaza to travel without their parents to receive medical assistance. The documentary tugs at the heartstrings, with a long diatribe about how scary it is for a child to receive medical care with “only” a grandparent or some other relative present.
Gaza is ruled by Hamas, which is considered a terror organisation by: Australia, Canada,Egypt, the European Union, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States: in short,by most of the Western world. Not only does Hamas consider itself to be at war with Israel, not only does Hamas work for Israel’s total destruction, but it also works for the murder of all Jews: a goal that Hamas espouses publicly, and is in fact a central component of its founding charter.
Yet Israel treats enormous numbers of Palestinians from Gaza in Israeli hospitals every year: issuing an average of 100 travel permits per day, in excess of 190,000 just last year alone.
In a further example of missing context, ABC writes that Gaza’s hospitals are crumbling,with no mention of the $100 Million in foreign aid money per year that Hamas misuses to fund its war against Israel: building weapons and tunnels instead of hospitals and infrastructure.
Think about how remarkable this is: Gaza has declared itself an enemy of Israel, is engaged in an active war against the Israeli people, destroys its own hospitals and medical infrastructure for military purposes, and yet Israel nonetheless provides constant medical care to Gaza’s residents, often at great personal risk to Israel’s civilians. This kind of humanitarian care for an active enemy is almost unheard of, not only throughout the world, but throughout human history.
As we know, it’s an upside down world when it comes to reporting on Israel. And everyone knows that Down Under everyone bobs around on their heads. The ensuing brain damage tends to affect some more than others, with ABC representing a prime example. The editor must be a bit of a Wombat, although such an epithet does a disservice to the intelligence of Australia’s unique wildlife. Well, tie me Kangaroo down, sport.
Roger Radford Journalist & Author 