This is all over the interwebs. It landed in my inbox in the form of this magical BBC writeup courtesy of MR reader DD. It looks like Hamas’s theft of UN humanitarian aid – which the UN tried to cover up and denied for weeks – has become a bit of a thing:
The UN aid agency in Gaza says it has suspended all aid shipments, accusing the Hamas government of seizing hundreds of tonnes of food supplies. Ten truckloads of flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said. Hamas admitted that a “mistake” was made and says it will return the goods. But Unwra says deliveries will not restart until it has assurances that such seizures will not happen again. Gaza is facing a humanitarian crisis after Israel’s three-week offensive. About half the population is dependent on UN food aid. Israel intensified a blockade on the territory 19 months ago when Hamas took over the territory…
Unrwa said the trucks of food had been imported from Egypt, and had been due to be collected by its staff at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza on Friday. “The food was taken away by trucks contracted by the Ministry of Social Affairs,” the agency said in a statement. It said aid deliveries would only be resumed if Hamas returned all the aid and provides “credible assurances” that it would not happen again.
First the perfunctory media critique stuff, a lot of which I’m stealing wholesale from DD’s email: (1) Of course “theft” is in sneer quotes. Because that’s the kind of thing MSM journalists do when writing about Palestinian crimes. Although not, weirdly, when discussing the ostensible occupation of Iraq. Or maybe they mean that Hamas is the legitimate government of Gaza and so can’t be stealing supplies. Could be anything. (2) There’s something weird going on with “tonnes.” I haven’t figured out what it is yet but I’m pretty sure I don’t like it. It overstates the amount of aid in play off by an order of magnitude. (3) UNRWA has already received formal assurances from Hamas that they won’t – again – bite the hand that feeds them. Maybe a reporter should follow up on what else is preventing UNRWA from renewing aid. (4) Nice to see that the BBC managed to insert their “Israel is causing a Gaza humanitarian crisis” boilerplate into a story about how Israel is allowing aid into Gaza.
In fact, I was surprised to find out that aid is even getting into Gaza? I got the general sense from the MSM that Israel was suffocating the peace-loving Palestinian civilians in the Strip. I mean, it’s not true in any sense. The Israelis have always considered humanitarian aid a strategic necessity and they’ve been constantly poured food, fuel, and money – especially money – into the Gaza Strip. And the Palestinian civilians living there are far from peace-loving: the conspiracy theories that corrode Palestinian public discourse have created a post Cast Lead situation where Hamas is more trusted than Fatah. But that’s certainly not the general sense I get from the constant humanitarian crisis hysteria.
And most importantly: can you imagine what would happen if Israel cut off Gaza’s food wholesale? Can you imagine the din that would go up? And this isn’t even the first time they’ve done it: during Cast Lead they threatened to suspend their activities unless Israel ignored how Hamas hijacks UNRWA resources. So Israel isn’t allowed to respond to Palestinian war crimes even in a combat situation. Nice to have the luxury of responding to Palestinian war crimes.
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* UNRWA suspends Gaza aid after Hamas steals supplies [JPost]
* UNRWA halts Gaza aid, cites Hamas theft [YNet]
* UN halts Gaza aid over ‘thefts’ [BBC]
* UNRWA tries to sweep incidents under the rug [Elder]
* UNRWA now admits Hamas stole aid (updated) [Elder]
* BBC Goes Quote Crazy [MR]
* They’ll Put Sneer Quotes Around ”Terrorist” [MR]
* ‘Humanitarian aid flow in our interest’ [JPost]
* Israel: Gaza aid must not enrich Hamas [JPost]
* Palestinians Blow The Lid Off Cover Up Of Glorious Hamas Victory [MR]
* Poll: Gaza war boosts Hamas support [YNet]
* UNRWA wants Israeli guarantee for security of employees in Gaza [Ynet]
Previously:
* UN Condemns Israel For Making Gazans So Poor That They Only Spend Half A Billion Dollars On Beer And Cigarettes In A Week (Plus: Mexico Is An Unacceptable Humanitarian Crisis!)
* UN Palestinian Stooge: "It’s Obvious" That Israeli Attack Violated 48-Hour Truce That No One Knew About Until Now
* UN: "Clerical Error" Made Us Mistakenly Think Israel Bombed UNRWA School. Opps.
