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Saturday, July 19, 2014

Jon Stewart Gets It Wrong On Gaza

Jon Stewart launched a verbal attack against Israel during his July 14 show regarding the Israel/Gaza conflict. He lambastes Israel for notifying the Gazans about an imminent air strike by exploding a small mortar on the roof of some building, while they use a high tech smartphone alert system. Stewart makes it sound as if this is the only warning that Israelis give Gazan citizens about an impending attack. But that's a blatant lie, or willful ignorance.  Israelis do warn the Palestinians- with leaflets, phone calls and text messages. In fact, Israel just warned the Gazans to evacuate, and Hamas told them to ignore the IDF's warning, even encouraging them to act as human shields, which is something they have a penchant for. The small roof attack is simply a last resort when the other warning systems are ignored.

Then Stewart snarkily asks where are the Gazans supposed to evacuate to, talking about Gaza as if it's a few square blocks, and a shithole.  Let's see how terrible Gaza really is.  This video was filmed by a Palestinian (so you don't think it's Israeli propaganda), titled My Beautiful City- Gaza Palestine. Doesn't look too shabby to me- lots of fresh food and goods in bustling outdoor markets, horseback riding, swimming in the ocean, it even shows one young horseback rider with a fancy Canon DSLR camera. Oh, and they used to have a water park with luxury restaurants, until Hamas burned it down. And here's Gaza's shopping mall.  There are plenty of places to evacuate to Jon. If you would just do some research before you open your mouth.

MidEastTruth has compiled a video rebuttal to Stewart's misinformation, including snippets of an interview back in 2009 with British Commander Richard Kemp who led troops in Afghanistan in 2003 and who claims that in the history of warfare there is no army "that has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties, and deaths of innocent people than the IDF is doing today in Gaza."  The video then shows a compilation of photos showing the bright, prosperous side of Gaza living. Then there are snippets of an interview with the Palestinian envoy to the UNHRC, who talks about the indiscriminate bombing of Israel by Hamas as a "crime against humanity" because those rockets are targeting civilians, unlike the IDF's retaliatory attacks that are specifically aimed at Hamas targets. And unlike the IDF, there are no warnings from Hamas.

Watch it here.

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