Yesterday, asudden blast in Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza killed an unconfirmed numberof Palestinians and led to an international wave of outrage. Immediatereports blamed the blast on Israel, describing it as an "Israeli airstrike" that killed 500 civilians and reported widely in all internationalmedia despite constant warnings about the unreliability of information releasedby the terrorist organization, Hamas. Afterward, and following investigationsby the IDF, Israeli officials determined that the blast resulted from amisfiring of a missile fired by the Iranian-backed terrorist group, thePalestinian Islamic Jihad.
Despite the IDF statements, angryprotests erupted across the Middle East and several European cities, leadingto an international campaign of defamation against the State of Israel. AllArab states, including those with relations with Israel, rushed to condemnIsrael, and the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authoritycanceled their scheduled meeting with President Biden, currently in Israel.
In the United States, multiple large media organizations,including the New York Times and radical members of Congress known as theSquad, rushed to publish the disinformation and vilify the State of Israel.
Today, President Biden announcedthat he was shown evidence that the attack was indeed the result of Palestinianmissiles and not an Israeli air strike. Moreover, this statement was notsolely a result of Israeli evidence but also of an independentinvestigation conducted by the Pentagon. Since then, the IDF has releasedevidence and scores of radar photos and recordings showing the Palestinianmissile failing shortly after its launch and falling on the hospital. Picturesof the aftermath also demonstrated that contrary to initial reports thatclaimed scores of dead Palestinians under the rubbles of the hospital, thehospital building remains largely intact, and the projectile fell into theparking lot, which puts into question the initial number of casualtiesreported. Thisis not the first time an Islamic Jihad or Hamas rocket has misfired andfallen short inside Gaza. In fact, it has already happened 450 times in this war,causing an unknown number of casualties in Gaza.
We at EMET condemn the senseless death of Palestinians inthis tragedy, which adds to the death toll of innocents murdered by thecampaign of Palestinian terror, which started with the murder of 1,400 mostly civilianIsraelis. This demonstrates the need for decisive Israeli military action inGaza to end the reign of terror and to free Israelis and Palestinians fromIranian-funded murder and destruction. The international campaign ofvilification and demonization of the State of Israel in times of crisisdemonstrates the deeply biased international environment that aggravatesalready prevalent hatred for the Jewish state.
