Facts, information and sources to help counter some of today’s most common smears.

We are being bombarded with inflammatory smears and misinformation about Israel’s war with Hamas. Here are five big lies about Israel, along with the facts to help you respond.

Lie #1: Israel is seeking revenge in Gaza.

Accusations that Israel is seeking “revenge” implies that Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel and since Israel has nothing to gain by fighting the deadly terror group.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The October 7, 2023 attacks showed Hamas’s genocidal nature. Hamas is dedicated to Israel’s destruction and calls on Muslims to fight Jews in a worldwide jihad. On October 7, 2,500 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel via land, sea, and air. They raped, tortured and killed over 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped over 230 Israelis, including 30 babies. While these attacks were going on, Hamas launched nonstop barrages over 2,000 missiles into Israeli towns and cities.

Hamas is prepared for a long fight, having amassed an army and built 500 km of bomb-resistant terror tunnels in the region.

Since October 7, Hamas has launched thousands of deadly missiles into Israel and continues to do so every day. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheva, Ashkelon, Eilat, and Haifa have all been targeted. Israelis understand that they are in a war for their very survival.

They’re fighting out of necessity, not revenge.

Lie #2: Israel rules Gaza.

A recent poll found that a majority of Americans between 18-24 erroneously believe that Israel, not Hamas, runs Gaza. Israel first conquered Gaza in the 1956 Suez Crisis with Egypt and returned the region in a negotiated settlement afterwards. Israel conquered Gaza once more in the 1967 Six Day War. Egypt relinquished its claim to Gaza in its 1978 peace treaty with Israel.

Israelis began settling in Gaza in the 1970s. For a time, relations between Jews and Arabs were peaceful in Gaza. With the start of the Intifada in 1987, this changed. Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, uprooting all Jews from the territory; even Jewish graves were removed. Gazans soon elected Hamas into office, and Hamas has governed Gaza ever since.

Lie #3: Gaza is an open air prison.

Gaza is not a “prison” in any sense. Both Israel and Egypt have land borders with Gaza and - given Hamas’ bloodthirsty terrorism - both nations insist on inspecting goods entering the Gaza region. (Israel alone inspects goods entering Gaza via sea.) Under the most recent rules, agreed in 2013, all non-military goods are allowed into Gaza. (This has been suspended since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.) In 2023, before the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, more goods entered Gaza than during the pre-blockade era.

In a prison, people can’t leave and certainly don’t return, yet both Egypt and Israel allow goods and people to enter and exit the territory. Before the Oct. 7 attacks, nearly 60,000 Gazans a month entered Israel for work purposes. Between January 1 and October 6, 2023, 113,234 people left Gaza for Egypt while 116,651 people entered Gaza from Egypt.

Huge numbers of Gazans have also emigrated in recent years, often heading to the USA, Europe, and Turkey. A Turkish news report published on Oct. 6, 2023 lamented the “mass emigration” of young men from Gaza. In fact, the report noted, the major factor in limiting the flow of Gazans moving abroad for work wasn’t Israeli or Egyptian blockades, but Hamas’ own bureaucracy, which slowed down the process of obtaining travel visas.

Besides the legal ways to move goods and people into and out of Gaza, Hamas has built a huge network of deep tunnels, used for smuggling illicit goods and transporting terrorists. Over the past decade - in a move that’s been almost entirely overlooked by the Western press - Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has demolished thousands of homes and farms along the border with Gaza, creating a “buffer zone” of no man’s land, designed to prevent Hamas from using tunnels to smuggle and attack.

The prison-like conditions that do exist in Gaza are due the fanaticism of Hamas. Residents are told what to wear, with whom to associate, what to think, and what they can say publicly. Women are forced to wear black hijabs and long black robes in public - even at the beach. Political opposition is banned, and gay rights are nonexistent. Those who transgress these draconian rules face torture, prison or death at the hands of Hamas officials.

Lie #4: Gaza is poor because of Israel.

The biggest drain on Gaza’s economy is Hamas, which mismanages Gaza’s economy, steals aid on a rampant scale, hoards resources for its fighters while neglecting civilians, and terrorizes its population. Right now, while civilians in Gaza are suffering, Hamas is holding months’ worth of fuel, food, medicine and other goods.

Economic indicators show just how damaging Hamas has been. Until 2007, when Gazans elected Hamas to govern them, Gaza and the West Bank had similar GDPs per capita. Since then, the West Bank has seen substantial economic growth and its per capita GDP is now substantially higher than it was in 2007. In Gaza, the trend has been in reverse: Gaza’s per capita GDP has declined, currently to about half of what it was thirty years ago.

Hamas’s disastrous rule disincentivizes investment. The US State Department notes: “businesses in Gaza have reported instances where Hamas courts and officials have employed coercion or have otherwise acted outside the legal system when engaging with private business.” In other words: demands for bribes and an atmosphere of fear and intimidation have driven away business. Before Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Gaza farms produced 15% of Israel’s agricultural output and a large majority of its organic produce. With rich farmland and 24 miles of dazzling Mediterranean coast, Gaza could be an economic powerhouse. Hamas has quashed that potential.

Other major reasons for Gaza’s poverty is Hamas’ refusal to invest in ordinary citizens and its plundering of aid meant for civilians. In a recent interview with Russia Today, for instance, a Hamas official living in Lebanon described how the terrorist group manufactures its own long-range Qassam missile launchers out of water pipes. That means fewer pipes to service Gaza’s rapidly growing population. On October 15, 2023, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which handles UN aid on the ground in Gaza, tweeted that they’d been ordered out of their headquarters in Gaza City while Hamas officials loaded the UN’s supplies of fuel and medicine on trucks and drove them away. UNRWA, which has been accused of being close to Hamas, deleted the tweet soon after, and later denied that any looting had taken place. A soaring birth rate (over 43% of Gazans are under 15) also puts additional strain on an already rickety social infrastructure.

Gaza is indeed a poor region. According to the US Government, its per capita GDP in 2021 (the most recent year for which figures are provided) was $5,600. The economy grew over 7% from 2020; total GDP was estimated to be approx. $3 billion. Yet by some measures, Gaza ranks highly among industrialized nations. Gaza has 13 hospitals, for example and it’s maternal fetal mortality rate is below that of the United States. It has high levels of schooling and an educated workforce. If anything is holding back Gaza’s economy, its Hamas disastrous reign of theft and corruption.

Lie #5: Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.

A majority of Americans between the ages of 18-24 believe that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are just as wrong as Hamas’ bombing of Israeli cities, plus its October 7 attacks. Israel has been accused of committing war crimes. Yet, despite the deaths of civilians in Israeli airstrikes of Gaza, Israel is waging war within the confines of international law.

Military actions undertaken for self-defense are widely acknowledged to be legal. Article 51 of the UN Charter allows for “self-defense” in the case of “armed attack.” Israel has been clear that its goal is to liberate the people of Gaza from Hamas, and to destroy this terrorist organization. Hamas, not civilians, are Israel’s target. The Council of Foreign Relations notes that this goal is legal: “International law does not explicitly prohibit the use of force to eliminate an organization such as Hamas, which Israel, the United States, and many other countries consider a terrorist group.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross contains a list of actions that constitute war crimes on its website. It reads like a list of Hamas’ recent actions, not Israel: “Deliberately targeting civilians who are not directly taking part in hostilities; Pillage; Hostage-taking; Making religious or cultural objects the object of attack, provided that they are not military objectives; Torture and other forms of inhumane treatment; Child recruitment; Rape and other forms of sexual violence.” Hamas, not Israel, is guilty of each and every one of these actions.

Hamas ensures civilian casualties by locating their military bases and rocket launchers inside schools, mosques and hospitals. The Israeli military has announced they’ve located Hamas’ main headquarters is located under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Hamas ensures that every single man, woman and child in Gaza becomes a human shield.

Hamas also ensures maximum human suffering of its own population by its refusal to build any bomb shelters or air raid warning system in Gaza. The way most Gazans know an area will be bombed is from advanced warnings from the Israeli military for civilians to get out of the way. Even when Israel does warn of an impending attack, Hamas actively discourages civilians from leaving targeted areas. It’s a horrifying truth that every single civilian casualty in Gaza benefits Hamas by swinging public opinion against Israel. Hamas uses this truth to maximize civilian suffering and bolster its position.

Speaking the Truth

With so much misinformation, it can feel difficult to stand up and call out lies about Israel when you hear them. Yet today, with Israel’s survival on the line, it’s more crucial than ever to call out incorrect smears and slanders.

Read reputable news sources, including English language news from Israel. Blog, post, and speak out for Israel. As Israel fights, we can all be soldiers on the front lines of the battle for comment and discussion about Israel around the world. Start by battling these and other pernicious lies about the Hebrew State.

Source: NewsRael

5 Big Lies About Israel’s War with Hamas