OAN Commentary by: Kenin M. Spivak
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Extraordinarily effective Hamas propaganda has delegitimized Israel’s right of self-defense by confirming for a world that scorns Israel that its demon is engaged in genocide. It is not, but the same cannot be said of Hamas, the aggressor which has largely avoided that opprobrium.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 5.5 million Palestinians in the Palestinian state, principally the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The bureau estimates that in the last 12 months, Gaza’s population declined by 15,423 to 2,114,201, while Palestine’s total population grew by 1.17% in 2024, and is projected to grow by 1.75% in 2025. According to the bureau, the principal factors in Gaza’s population decline were emigration, war casualties, and a declining birth rate.
Though the Gaza Ministry of Health’s war casualty reports are statistically implausible, and quietly rejected by the UN, the world’s media uncritically repeat the lies. Most recently, the media disseminated the ministry’s claim that war deaths exceed 60,000, reducing Gaza’s population by 10%. The actual comparison was to “projected growth”; 60,000 is 2.6%.
Many outlets presented the ministry’s disinformation and malinformation as their objective reporting. For example, PBS explained that the “ministry is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. … Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine,” adding, “Israel’s offensive and its blockade have also gutted Gaza’s health system, with several hospitals having shut down and others only partially functioning as they receive waves of war-wounded.”
Jaundiced by radical ideologies and antisemitism, and empowered by Hamas’ misdirection, at least 38 countries, the EU’s second-ranking official, the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, 14 members of Congress, and many others accuse Israel of genocide.
If Goebbels had Hamas propagandists on his side, we might all be shouting “Heil Hitler!”
In November, a UN Special Committee found Israel’s operations in Gaza “consistent” with genocide, including its alleged use of “starvation as weapon of war.” Last month, the UN dishonestly announced that Gaza met two of the three criteria for famine. To reach that conclusion, the UN, which has battered Israel for years, rigged the numbers.
On July 27, the World Health Organization warned that “malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip,” with 74 malnutrition-related deaths so far in 2025, most occurring in July. According to WHO, “The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid has cost many lives.”
But just one week later, a UN agency reported that Palestinian mobs and terrorists are stealing 89% of aid shipments. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee added that “Hamas made half a billion dollars last year stealing food [and] selling it on the black market in order to finance their activities.”
On August 22, IPC, a partnership of 25 organizations including UN agencies, announced there is “reasonable evidence” of famine in Gaza since August 15. An Israeli response observed that “the declaration was issued not only without evidence that would justify it under the IPC’s own criteria, but also in contradiction to more recent data that was publicly available.” Though the IPC report cited the interception of aid, it justified that as the “desperation” of residents.
Other studies (including the UN’s) have not found widespread famine, a deliberate starvation strategy, or systematic attacks by Israel on civilians. Most deaths attributed to malnutrition are caused by severe pre-existing medical conditions. Hamas propaganda deceives with pictures that are staged, taken in other countries, or years ago, or of children with genetic defects. It also promotes fabricated claims of Israeli attacks on Gazans seeking aid, including the untrue tale of a Gazan boy allegedly killed by the IDF at an aid distribution site.
Except for an approximately three-month blockade, Israel has facilitated aid. It warns civilians of pending attacks, set up hundreds of food distribution centers and aid packages, and supports airdrops of up to 130 tons of food per day. Last month, Israel announced additional actions, including lengthy combat pauses to coordinate aid delivery with the UN and other organizations.
The UN charter guarantees the “inherent” right of defense. The UN Genocide Convention defines “genocide” as killing “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” If Israel wanted to destroy the Palestinian people it would have done so. Instead, the claimed dead, including Hamas’ human shields and those executed by Hamas, total under 1.1% of Palestine’s population, which continues to grow. According to West Point’s John Spencer, the leading expert on urban warfare, no military has ever done more than Israel to avoid civilian casualties. Israel’s increasingly precise targeting of combatants has achieved a lower civilian death rate than most wars over the last 100 years.
Hamas’ charter states that Israel must be “obliterated” and that “Moslems must fight Jews and kill them.” Hamas targeted civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, and in thousands of rocket attacks since then.
If leftists and antisemites prevent Israel and Jews from fighting an aggressor who has pledged to destroy them, targets civilians, and takes and murders hostages, who is complicit in genocide?
(Views expressed by guest commentators may not reflect the views of OAN or its affiliates.)
Kenin M. Spivak is founder and chairman of SMI Group LLC, an international consulting firm and investment bank. He is the author of fiction and non-fiction books and a frequent speaker and contributor to media, including RealClearPolitics, The American Mind, National Review, television, radio, and podcasts.
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