Boycott Israel Hits Brazilian Art Scene

Looks like the Boycott Israel movement has hit Brazil. ISIS is spreading like cancer, bringing with it death and destruction, but artists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, are more concerned about dissing Israel which engaged in a war (not genocide) to protect its citizens. And those citizens don't happen to be only Jews.

Apparently, the Israeli consulate in Sao Paolo donated $40,000 to the 31st Art Biennial- as sponsors- and over 50 artists are demanding that the money be returned.

The biennial, which started in 1951 and is the second oldest art biennial in the world after Venice, dating back to 1895, is scheduled to open its doors next Saturday.

[snip]

An artist from Ramallah, Ruanne Abou-Rahme, due to exhibit at the show with fellow Palestinian Basel Abbas, was among some 60 signatories to an open letter to organizers, prompting Globo daily Saturday to dub the event the "Biennial of conflict."

Three Israeli artists are set to feature with around 70 participants in total at this year's event. The exhibition's website shows the Israeli consulate, which could not be reached for comment Saturday, as a sponsor.

The Consul-general Yoel Barnea said:

"We are democratic -- there are different points of view in our country," said Barnea, adding he did not want to see culture and politics mix. He insisted the sponsorship would not be withdrawn and that he planned to attend the show.

There was no word as to whether the artists would actually boycott.

Is it so hard to keep politics out of the arts and sports?

Singer Bryan Adams Proud Israel Hater

You can add Canadian rocker Bryan Adams to the list of  I hate Israel celebs, and his Twitter supporters are ecstatic.

On August 9 he wrote:

Bryan Adams @bryanadams · Aug 9
Mr. Prime Minister, @pmharper, The UK PM is sending 20M in aid to #Gaza. Where is Canada's support for the Palestinian people? #gazachildren 

Adams responded with the following after several people questioned whose side he was on, although it's kind of obvious.

Bryan Adams ✔ @bryanadams
@southernstacy @SoulM8dSunshine I can't speak for others, I only speak for myself: I say the war against Gaza was a crime against humanity

And then this to the same two when they questioned him about the three young Israelis who were killed in the West Bank- which was one of the mitigating factors in Israel's was with Gaza:

Bryan Adams ✔ @bryanadamsFollow@southernstacy @SoulM8dSunshine it was never proved who was responsible, and it's not justification for murdering 2000+ people...541 kids.

Then referring to the blockade.

Bryan Adams ✔ @bryanadamsFollow@southernstacy @SoulM8dSunshine ..and the Israeli blockade of #Gaza just entered its 8th year, leaving its 1.7 million inhabitants destitute7:06 PM - 19 Aug 2014

No mention of Egypt's blockade.  I tweeted him about that, and asked if he has opined about the genocide in Iraq and Syria by ISIS. No response.

Then there's the self-loathing Jew piping in with her support.

Chavaleh @ChavaBallFollow@bryanadams thank u so much for speaking out for Gaza and Palestine! I'm Jewish and we MUST speak out agnst Israeli war crimes! #freegaza7:32 AM - 24 Aug 2014

War crimes?  Why aren't these people crying out about what's happening to thousands of Yazidis, Christians and other Muslim minorities in Iraq and elsewhere.

The fools just don't get it.

Gazans Must Get Rid of Hamas- Claims Palestinian Activist

There are Palestinians who actually realize their future does not lie with the terrorist leadership Hamas. Bassem Eid, a political commentator and human rights activist who lives in East Jerusalem is one of those enlightened ones.

This was posted on YNetNews.

For 26 years I have been devoting my life to the mission of defending human rights. I have seen wars and terror. And yet, the past month has been one of the most difficult times in my life.

I live in East Jerusalem and witness the destruction of life around me. Highway 1 has once again turned into the line separating between east and west. The Palestinians in the capital attacked traffic lights and damaged the Light Rail and power supply lines. But I cannot accept that as a social protest – it's pure vindictiveness.

The coexistence I have been fighting for my entire life has been executed in the city square.

There is no doubt that the death and destruction Gaza has been hit by are like a tsunami. Both people are in pain, but each side denies the other side's pain, and so the pain gets worse.

And still, as a Palestinian, I must admit: I am responsible for part of what has happened. We can no longer deny our responsibility for the death of our own people.

Most of the Palestinians were against the rocket fire on Israel. They realized that the rockets would not give us anything. They called on Hamas to stop firing, knowing that it had paved the way for the death of its own people.

We knew that Hamas was digging the tunnels which would to lead to our destruction. We knew that three people live on every square meter in Gaza. And Hamas knew that an attack on Israel would lead to mass death, but it's leaders are more interested in their own victories than in the lives of their victims.

Indeed, Hamas depends on death, which gives it power and allows it to raise funds and purchase weapons. Hamas has never been interested in liberating the Palestinian people from the occupation. And Israel will never be able to destroy the infrastructures it has built. Only we, the Palestinian people, can do that.

It was the Gazan residents' responsibility to rebel against the Hamas rule. We knew what they were doing to us, but we let ourselves off easy and allowed it to happen.

Will all this death finally teach us a lesson? I hope so. The lesson is that we must get rid of Hamas and completely demilitarize Gaza. And then open the crossings.

I'm saying this as a loyal Palestinian. I'm saying this because I am concerned about my people's future.

Someone finally taking responsibility for the situation over there. Well done!

There is hope yet, as long as he's not a lone voice about to be snuffed out.

More Fauxtography From Hamas In Gaza

Believe it or not, these photos were posted on a Muslim Facebook page Ummat al-Islamiyah Media Network along with pleas to stop sharing staged photos of alleged "Zionist oppression" in Gaza.

No, they're obviously not pro -Israel, but I thought it was interesting that they do not approve of the misleading, fake information Hamas is throwing out there in order to garner world favor to further the Palestinian cause.

Take this photo, that someone discovered was a fake.  The original, sans the red lettering, claimed this was an IDF soldier.  Apparently not.

And the real photo, below.

Then there's this photo of a deceased child that one assumes originated in Syria, but that Hamas later claims was a Gazan child.

Then these poor children, that were apparently killed in Syria, turned up dead in Gaza.

Ummat al-Islamiyah Media even posted an anti-Hamas video calling for the world to save the children of Gaza from Hamas.

But faking news out of Gaza has become such a common occurrence that the staging of these events has its own name: Pallywood.  Just search YouTube and you will find a slew of videos showing how Hamas (and others) have had a grand old time manipulating the Western media.

And remember the photo making the rounds on social media that Hamas originally posted on Twitter of an horrifically mangled teenage girl in a mini-skirt that was allegedly killed in Gaza?  A still from the horror flick Final Destination 4. If the obviously over-the-top mangledness wasn't enough to tip someone off that this was a fake, the young girl's attire should have.

This is not to say that there haven't been any civilian casualties- there have been, and the death of any innocent is tragic- but Hamas uses it for propaganda purposes which is unconscionable. But Hamas is ultimately responsible for those deaths by taking the fight to schools and hospitals. 

Arab States Remain Silent On Gaza

New York Times article discussing the deafening silence of the Arab States vis a vis the situation in Gaza. In a nutshell- they fear Islamist Hamas more than they hate Israel.  Interesting turn of events.

Battling Palestinian militants in Gaza two years ago, Israel found itself pressed from all sides by unfriendly Arab neighbors to end the fighting.

Not this time.

After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states — including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. That, in turn, may have contributed to the failure of the antagonists to reach a negotiated cease-fire even after more than three weeks of bloodshed.

“The Arab states’ loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu,” the prime minister of Israel, said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington and a former Middle East negotiator under several presidents.

The rest here.

The Arab States fear political Islam, they see what's happening in neighbouring countries- Syria, Iraq - African countries being overrun by the likes of Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. And yet we have Western tools who are siding with Gaza. Yes, what is happening to the civilians there is tragic, but I fault Hamas.

Hillary Clinton Explains To Anti-Israel Jon Stewart The Truth About The Situation In Gaza

I don't like Hillary Clinton, although I believe she would have been a much better president than Barack Obama, but she clearly explains to the pro-Pali, anti-Israel Jon Stewart the Gaza/Israel problem.

In an interview on his The Daily Show, Stewart tries to get Clinton to agree that he "the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is overwhelming, and that the world must do more for the people who are trapped by this conflict."  Hillary explains that they're trapped by a leadership that is "committed to resistance and violence," and "doesn't really want to make the situation too much better because that gives them a lot of leverage over the poor people in gaza."

Hillary tries her best to enlighten Stewart on Hamas.

Video- Who Is Responsible For The Suffering In Gaza?

StandWithUs has put together a powerful video compilation of interviews and speeches demonstrating just how responsible Hamas is for the suffering of the people in Gaza.

Video here.

Bill Maher Blasts Hamas For Attacking Israel

So yesterday I wrote about Jon Stewart skewering Israel for trying to defend itself.  Sadly, he seems to represent a large portion of humanity that does not see Israel as having that right, with some believing that it has no right to even exist. Hamas has made the latter quite obvious. It's right there in the charter. In light of that fact, the Israelis have exercised an incredible amount of restraint over the decades it's been the target of relentless rocket attacks from Gaza. I mean, what do you do when your neighbours make your life a living hell with aggressive and violent behaviour?  Do you sit back and take it, knowing they want to annihilate your people. Do you leave your borders open knowing that your Palestinian neighbours breed suicide bombers like rabbits, and even honor and celebrate them. That the Palestinians (the P.A. and Hamas) pay the families of those suicide bombers, and the terrorists in Israeli jails are paid a monthly salary. I've seen the houses of people living in sketchy areas of certain cities- the bars on the windows, the locked gates. People just trying to protect themselves and their property. There would be no need for a blockade if the Palestinians stopped provoking Israel. And it's not just Israel, Egypt too has a blockade. No-one seems to care about that.

Bottom line, if the Palestinians wanted peace with Israel, a treaty would have been brokered many moons ago. But they don't want peace, they just want them gone.  And that's not going to happen, as long as Israel has any say in the matter. So they will continue to defend themselves, and the world will continue to see the Palestinians as victims and the Israelis as the evil occupiers, even though Israel does not currently occupy Gaza.

Surprisingly, one liberal has come to Israel's defense.  Then again, it's Bill Maher- one of the few liberals who sees Islamic extremism for what it is- a threat to the Western world.

On his latest HBO show, he acknowledges that Palestinians have a legitimate gripe, but does not agree with the argument from much of the world "that they also have the moral high ground."  Like most of us, he feels bad for the civilians that are dying, but he posits why no-one asks - whose fault is that?

"I feel terrible for a Palestinian child who dies, but if it's your father, your brother, your uncle who's firing those rockets into Israel, who's fault is it really? Do you really expect the Israelis not to retaliate?"

LJReview.com lists the other major points Maher made:

The death of innocents in Palestine is their fault for firing rockets at Israel in the first place.Hamas would kill all Israelis if they could, but even though Israel does have that ability, they do not.Israel must win every single military conflict in order to survive.The Israeli focus on science technology vastly exceeds that of the Arab world.Israelis are right to consider threats to their lives as more important than world opinion.The Palestinians seem to have choosing to be angry refugees as a way of life.Israel isn’t going anywhere and the rest of the world needs to face up to that fact.

I hope some day there is peace in that region, but I 'aint holding my breath.

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.

Hamas Tells Gazans To Become Human Shields, Ignore IDF's Calls To Evacuate

Since Hamas terrorists love to use civilians as human shields, the Israelis warned the people of Gaza to evacuate so they would not become casualties while the IDF targets militants. In response, Hamas officials told them to stay put.

This is how much Hamas respects and honors the people of Gaza.

Video here.

Israeli Hospital Treats Hamas Chief's Sick Grandchild

Hamas would love to see Israel wiped off the map, it's written right there in its Charter. The head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has also been very adamant about refusing to recognize Israel. In fact, according to Arutz Sheva 7 news:

On Monday, Hamas representatives told students at the Khan Yunes College of Science and Technology that they were working diligently on digging more terror tunnels into Israel during the relative calm, threatening, "we will enter your homes, your schools, your positions and your strongholds."

 Most Palestinians hate the Jews and Israelis, they want nothing to do with them, until they need medical help, that is.  Even Ismail Haniyeh- who had his critically ill 1-year-old grandchild Amal transferred the Schneider Children's Medical Center, in Petah Tikva, Israel. The little girl is suffering from serious digestive problems, and her dad, Abdessalam Haniyeh, posted on Facebook:

 "Amal has crossed the border with Israel now, and I call on God to grant her health.

"I call on God to grant good health to my daughter Amal, who entered in a state of clinical death," he added the next day.

Israel has said they are unaware of the transfer, apparently there are photos on social network sites of granddad Haniyeh visiting the sick child in a Gaza hospital prior to transfer.

Will there be thanks to Israeli for trying to save this child? Doubtful.

Other source: J Post

Grateful Gaza Farmers Attend Israeli Seminars On Farming

Here's something you won't see in the mainstream and Arab media, or hear about within the Boycott Israel Movement.

60 grateful Gaza farmers attended a seminar in northern Israel, hosted by a seed company they had purchased seeds from.  The workshops and seminars are held to aid the farmers in creating larger and better crop yields. 

“In addition, the farmers focused primarily on watermelons, and had stated that this year, owing to the training programs conducted frequently in Israel; growers had achieved unprecedented crop yields – 11 tons of produce for each decare of cultivated fields – A twofold increase compared with the preceding year.”

More here.

Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh- Palestinians Will Not Recognize Israel

From the lips of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh:

"We had two wars in which hundreds of people died, and thousands of acres of land were destroyed, but Palestinians did not and will not recognize Israel." 

He said this to a bunch of pro-Palestinian international activists a few days ago, thanking them for visiting Gaza, and called on more to come.

Haniyeh said aid groups who visited Gaza in solidarity had a political and a humanitarian message, showing that Gaza did not stand alone.

"These groups, along with the help of God and the Palestinian steadfastness, eased the siege," he added.

Regarding Jerusalem:

"The (Israeli) occupation built a hundred synagogues around al-Aqsa to deceive the world and falsify facts."

I guess he forgets that Christians were in Jerusalem way before Muslims.

And this is why there is no peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Terrorist Summer Camp For Kiddies In Gaza

As Americans ship off their children to summer camp where Joey and Sally might learn some cool things in arts and crafts, swim, hike, enjoy some campfire sing-alongs along with roasted marshmallows, Gazan parents are shipping off Ahmed and Mustafa to terrorist-run summer camps. Those lucky kiddies will get to play with live ammunition and simulate kidnapping IDF soldiers, nothing new, apparently, since they get that in school. Hamas officials expect 100,000 or so young-uns to attend.

Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees are all holding their own summer camp.

The Islamic group's leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said the goal of the summertime activities is to instill children with values, strengthen their moral core and spread the spirit of Jihad.

Parents do have other choices.

UNHCR, UN's refugee agency, offers a summer camp centered on sports.

The agency said it expects some 150,000 children to attend its camps spread all along the coastal enclave. In previous years UNRWA's camp facilities were vandalized in protest for their instilling values incompatible with those of terror groups.

H/T CAMERA

Gazan Woman, 21, Has 11 Kids

A 21-year-old Gazan woman and her 25-year-old government worker husband (whose monthly salary is less than $500) just had quintuplets. Yay. Problem is, they already had sextuplets so now they have a grand total of 11 kids. 

“I really don’t want to keep on giving birth, but this is what happened to me,” Naima al-Batash told Al Arabiya.

“After one course of breastfeeding and bottle-feeding, I put one child to sleep, but then the second child will wake up, so I start breastfeeding, and the same thing happens again… My head is spinning,” she said.

“Crying won’t help. If God gave me these children, he’ll help me raise them,” Batash added. Naima’s husband Raad is feeling the financial strain, as the salary from his government job is less than $500 a month, and half of it goes to paying debt.

“I feel what’s demanded from me is more than I can give as a 25-year-old, a lot of money every day to buy milk and pampers,” he said.

Have they never heard of birth control?  Depending on the source, Islam does approve of birth control under certain circumstances, including having a woman's tubes tied (as long as it's reversible), which is what they should have done after giving birth to sextuplets.

Naima got married when she was 14, and wants more government help, which probably comes from US aid to Palestine.

I suppose eventually they'll be old enough to become martyrs.

See the parents and their brood in a video on Al Arabiya.

Hamas Destroys Part Of UNESCO Site To Make Room For Terror Camp

Anthedon Harbor in Gaza has been around for 3,000 years. UNESCO has placed it on its tentative list of ancient treasures, but it obviously didn't have much worth to the Gazans since Hamas razed part of the site to make room for a large military (read terror) training camp.

Perhaps the reason they have no respect for Anthedon Harbor is because it predates Islamic rule. Then again, Mali militants have destroyed designated UNESCO ancient sites in Timbuktu that were Islamic, so I guess it just doesn't matter. Violence trumps heritage in the case of some Muslims.

The military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, bulldozed a part of the ancient Anthedon Harbor in northern Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea last month, the Al-Monitor news website reported.

The 3,000-year-old seaport discovered in 1997 was named an international heritage site by UNESCO in 2012, and is the oldest harbor in Gaza. It contains mosaic floors with historical pillars from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic ages, according to Al-Monitor.

“Due to rising population in the region, the ministry appreciates the urgent need for using new pieces of land,” the Hamas-run Ministry of Tourism said in a statement, Al-Monitor reported. “This is why the ministry has agreed with the different responsible parties on using a limited part of the location temporarily in a way that won’t harm the underground monuments there in any way.”

Much of the port is covered with sand to protect the artifacts until they can be excavated.

The deputy tourism minister in Gaza, Muhammad Khela, told Al-Monitor, “We can’t stand as an obstacle in the way of Palestinian resistance; we are all a part of a resistance project, yet we promise that the location will be limitedly used without harming it at all.” He added that if UNESCO had excavated the seaport, it could not have been taken over.

UNESCO is silent.

“UNESCO’s admission of Palestine as a member state in 2011, which caused the organization to lose almost a quarter of its budget when the U.S. suspended its contributions, was justified as a measure to help protect world heritage sites in Palestinian areas,” the letter said. “Yet as Hamas turns a cultural heritage site into a terrorist training ground — the antithesis of culture — the silence of UNESCO now places the very credibility of the organization at stake.” [Letter from UN Watch to UNESCO]

Remind me why we send Palestine aid?

Mahmoud Abbas: Hamas Has Same Policies As the PA So Remove Them From Terrorist Lists

On 'Russia Today' Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claims there is no difference between the policies of the PA and those of Hamas, so why should they be labeled as terrorists. This was in response to the possibility of the EU removing Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations.

"In my opinion, (the EU) can remove Hamas (from the list), why not?"

The interviewer then asks:

"But do you not fire missiles at Israel?"

And this is where it gets interesting. Mahmoud replies:

"Neither we nor Hamas fire missiles. [snip] ..we have no intention or desire to violate, or rather to engage in an armed Intifada with Israel. [snip] Hamas declared (the same), but then there were skirmishes once or twice. Hopefully that was the end of it."

Well, not quite Mahmoud. Several rockets from Gaza made their way into Israel to greet President Barack Obama as he was leaving Jerusalem for Ramallah in the West Bank.

Hamas doesn't fire missiles? Does he think we're stupid?

Gatestone Institute's Khaled Abu Toameh's has an interesting take on Hamas' bid to be removed from the U.S. and E.U.'s terrorist list:

Hamas wants to be dropped from the list not because it has changed. Rather, Hamas wants to be removed from the list because it feels that the world has changed, and that many naïve Westerners are now willing to tolerate its radical ideology and terrorism.

Anyone who supports Hamas's bid should also vote in favor of removing Al-Qaeda from the same list.

And if the PA has the same policies as those of Hamas, then perhaps the PA should be added to the list of terrorist organizations.

UNRWA Cancels Gaza Marathon After Hamas Bars Female Runners

Gaza was set for its third annual international marathon on April 10th. Hosted by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the near east (UNRWA), some 807 people were readying to participate.

551 locals and 256 international runners. Of that number, 385 are female – 266 from Gaza and 119 from overseas. [snip] Another 1,600 schoolchildren, girls and boys, were also to have joined the race.

That is, until the neanderthals in Hamas decided that this year (unlike the past two) no women over the age of 16 would be allowed to participate. So, UNRWA opted to cancel the whole thing.

In a statement on UNRWA's website:

UNRWA regrets to announce that it has cancelled the third Gaza marathon which was to be held on 10 April. This follows the decision by the authorities in Gaza not to allow women to participate.

Registered participants who still wish to come to Gaza are welcome and UNRWA is working on a programme of other events, which will be forwarded to those interested as soon as possible.

UNRWA is disappointed with this decision, and sincerely regrets the inconvenience this may cause to those who planned to participate in the marathon.

The ones who will suffer are the children, as they oft do in those countries.

For the past three years, the annual UNRWA Gaza Marathon has raised funds for UNRWA’s summer programme for children in Gaza. In the past, local parents have praised the initiative as a welcome break from the difficulties of life in Gaza. 

But Palestinians don't seem to care too much about their offspring, other than grooming them to be suicide bombers, so this probably doesn't really matter.

Hamas probably thought UNRWA would cave and allow the race to continue, but thankfully they did not, at least for now.  Who knows if they will eventually relent, since they did mention something about working on some kind of alternative.

Of the decision to cancel, cabinet secretary of Hamas- Abdessalam Siyyam told AFP:

"We regret this decision to cancel the marathon but we don't want men and women running together."

"We did not tell UNRWA to cancel the marathon and we haven't prevented it, but we laid down some conditions: We don't want women and men mixing in the same place."

Oh well. Too bad.

Source: Al-Akhbar.com, UNRWA

Hamas PM's Brother-In-Law Chooses Israeli Hospital For Heart Treatment

Palestinians hate Israelis. The Gazans want Israel wiped off the map, they lob rockets across the border with regularity, and yet when they need medical assistance where do they go? Israel.
Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh's brother-in-law had major heart troubles about 4 months ago (cardiac arrest) and there were no hospitals in Gaza that could adequately treat him. They had the opportunity to go to an Egyptian facility, but no, they opted to go to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel.

After his sister, Suhila Abed el-Salam Ahmed Haniyeh, and her hubby received permission to travel to Israel, they were transported to the Erez border crossing by a Palestinian ambulance. From there they were taken by Israeli ambulance to the hospital were they spent a week before being released and shipped back to Gaza.

But this wasn't an isolated case. Well over 100,000 Palestinians were treated in Israel in 2011, and Palestinian doctors are trained in Israeli hospitals. And remember that young would-be female suicide bomber who was headed for the hospital outpatient clinic where she had been treated for 6 months for serious burns from an accident? How's that for gratitude.

And as for Haniyeh? I'm sure it made not one whit of a difference. He just blamed Israel for the attack on the 16 Egyptian soldiers, and will continue to advocate for Israel's destruction- even though that would mean thousands of Palestinians would die with no Israeli hospitals to treat them. But that's what happens when you add ignorance to a hate-filled mindset.

Source: Al Arabiya