In a post yesterday regarding the New York Times’s persistent peddling of Hamas talking points, I countered (specifically, in response to the Gray Lady’s complaint that “hunger is widespread” in Gaza):
Hunger is less widespread than the Times would have you believe because Israel is delivering millions of meals to Gazans. To the extent there is and has been hunger, it is because the billions in humanitarian aid that Israel and the West send to Gaza is stolen by Hamas. Historically speaking, some degree of hunger is a tragic fact of life in war-torn territories — it is a big part of why populations are displaced. Yet the hunger problem in Gaza has been ameliorated because Israel has substantially defanged Hamas; since the terrorist organization has been severely weakened as a fighting and ruling force, Israel has been able to get humanitarian aid directly to the Gazan population, without diversion by Hamas.
Within hours of this post, Hamas wounded two Americans while attacking a food distribution site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organization backed by the United States and Israel. CBS News reports that the foundation provided evidence that an improvised explosive device was used in the attack. Tammy Bruce, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, posted the following statement on X:
This morning, Hamas terrorists attacked a GHF distribution site, injuring two Americans. This act of violence against the people actually bringing relief to Gazans lays bare the depravity of Hamas. GHF has contributed over 62 MILLION MEALS – nothing will stop these courageous aid workers. We are praying for the rapid recovery of the injured Americans.
62 million meals. Gaza has a population of about 2 million. So 62 million distributed meals for 2 million people distributed by just one of the organizations that the Israeli and American governments are facilitating, besides what the Israeli government is doing directly. And yet the Times and the rest of the media-Democrat complex keep takes their cues from the “Gaza health ministry,” a.k.a Hamas.
To repeat, Hamas is the Palestinian jihadist branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. In The Grand Jihad, my 2010 book about the Brotherhood’s ideology and sabotage in the West, I recounted how Hamas’s American-based operatives in the 1980s and 90s obsessed over what Edward Said called the “psychological barrier”: the mindset that prevents Islamists from accepting Israel’s right to exist. Front of mind were Jewish humanitarian organizations that sought to help Palestinians, and Jewish groups dedicated to normalizing relations between Israelis and Palestinians. To credit these efforts would be to legitimize Israel and thus extirpate Hamas’s raison d’etre.
On that score, nothing has changed. President Trump has been a stalwart friend to our Israeli ally, and deserves to wield great influence, which he is using to press for yet another cease-fire. Very well. After almost two years battling on seven fronts, Israel – a remarkable nation of just 9 million people – is war weary. Understand, though, that for the Brotherhood a cease-fire is just a strategic pause. The war cannot end until Hamas is conclusively defeated and dismantled.