HAMAS and the Wolf

The Russian peasantry is pretty quick: it only took about three false cries of "wolf" before they figured Peter was a liar and ignored him, to Peter's lasting detriment and the wolf's ultimate satisfaction.

The Western press and liberal elite aren't so quick. Now HAMAS is crying "wolf" again--this time claiming that it is Israel's fault that Gaza is running out of anaesthetic and therefore only critical operations can take place.

A couple of months ago, a similar accusation was leveled by HAMAS against Israel, telling the world that the Israelis were depriving the Gazans of necessary gasoline to run businesses, hospitals and vehicles.

Before that was the ludicrous claim that Israel was preventing the return and entry into Gaza of thousands of Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of the border. Think about that: Egypt slams the border shut, the EU monitors flee, and this is all Israel's fault, according to Hamas. As if Israel could re-open Egypt's border with Gaza....

In the arena of "shortages" these shortages are due to HAMAS's inability to order the materials needed in a timely manner. Anyone who has worked in Supply or Inventory knows that you need to keep track of what's coming in and what's going out, and re-order as needed. There used to be a large sign in the clerical area of our office which read: LACK OF PLANNING ON YOUR PART DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY ON MY PART.

I'd like to make large copies of this in Arabic and post it all over Gaza.

Of course, this is the charitable interpretation: HAMAS is merely incompetent.

Another interpretation was offered by Nir Press, head of Gaza Coordination Liaison Administration (CLA) today:

"Hamas is unnecessarily endangering Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip by generating phony humanitarian crises," Nir said, pointing to the claim by Gaza's Shifa Hospital, that due to tight Israeli restrictions on imports into Gaza, it had run out of anesthetic for surgeries, and as a result had canceled all but the most critical procedures.

Press said that in a meeting he held Sunday afternoon with Palestinian Health Ministry officials he was informed that the hospitals were running "low" on the anesthetic. On Monday morning (that's the Very Next Day, folks), less than 24 hours after making the request, Israel transferred 151 nitrous oxide gas balloons to Shifa Hospital.

"It is the Palestinians' responsibility to order the supplies," Press said, noting that despite the daily rocket attacks on Israeli towns - on Monday 10 rockets and shells pounded the western Negev - Israel continued to transfer medical goods and supplies into Gaza whenever they were ordered.

I only have one question.

WHY are we transferring ANYTHING to this government which is firing missiles at us daily?

Press noted that orders were usually placed by the Palestinians days in advance and that Sunday's sudden announcement "was a spin by Hamas and an attempt to put pressure on Israel by creating a humanitarian crisis."

In other words, "Ooops, we screwed up, we're almost out of meds--let's blame the Israelis and tell the world that Israel's (nonexistent) occupation of Gaza is creating a humanitarian crisis!"

Which is where the story of Peter and the Wolf comes in -- the Western press and leftist corps of Arab romanticizers, antiSemites, knee-jerk antiIsrael groupies and Just Plain Stupids lap this stuff up. I can't count the number of times I've read, "Humanitarian Crisis Looming in Gaza" or some variation of this garbage in the last year.

Press noted that some items really ARE embargoed -- for example, the pipes and the fertilizer manufactured in Israel which Hamasnikim and their allies use to make Kassam rockets.....we don't let those into Gaza any more.

My other favorite is the crie de coeur by Hamas that Israel isn't allowing the various crossings to be opened to foot traffic (so people can leave Gaza and go to medical appointments or find jobs) and truck traffic for the import and export of foodstuffs.

What the MSM fails to print is the reason for these closures: a woman admitted to Israel for burn treatments was found to have a suicide bomb belt and planned to detonate herself in a Beersheva Hospital waiting room; men who snuck into Israel ostensibly looking for work turned out to be a HAMAS cell planning a major suicide bombing in synagogues in Tel Aviv; when the crossings are open, Hamasnikim or their allies shell the crossings or shoot the technicians.

Has it ever occured to ANY of these folks that the very idea of opening any part of our border to a population dedicated to our genocide is absolutely NUTS?

The US won't let people from south of it looking for work come in, much less people dedicated to killing Americans....and let's all recall the gentle British approach to IRA terrorism--they reoccupied Northern Ireland in force and clamped down with martial law. Need we even mention Russia's approach to Chechnya?

But these trusty Quartet members are more than willing for Israel to get shelled, be on permanent military alert, have our civilians killed and our soldiers killed and kidnapped...and yet demand that we make "concessions" in the name of peace and not respond in force to terrorism.

Can someone name a "concession" that the Palestinians have made in the last 60 years? Losing each war they and/or their Arab puppetmasters started doesn't count.

Soooo.....orders of medical supplies or food are immediately processed and we're apparently allowing some Palestinians to cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel for medical treatment daily, according to the Jerusalem Post.

In an effort to improve health conditions in the West Bank, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj.-Gen. Yusef Mishlav (that's the Apartheid Occupation to those of you on the Far Left) yesterday allowed 120 Palestinian medical students to enter Jerusalem to complete their studies. Some of the students are from the Gaza Strip and have been studying medicine for the past six years at Al Quds University.

The Foreign Ministry also approved a plan to train Palestinian medical teams at Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem. Under the plan, Palestinian doctors, nurses and technicians will be trained at the Israeli hospital and in addition receive a monthly stipend of $643.

On Thursday, a joint Palestinian-Israeli conference on gynecology and childbirth will be held at the French Hospital in Nazareth. The IDF has allowed 50 Palestinian doctors to enter Israel to attend the conference.

Let's hear it for Russian peasant scepticism.....the intellectual elites here and in the West appear willing to root for aid to an Islamofascist terror group-cum-dictatorship because as the children of an era of sound-bytes, immediate gratification and lack of "objective truth" (there is no such thing, they claim--unless it's THEIR truth, which is sacred) they are unable to research, analyze and objectively evaluate any threat -- to us, or to themselves.

*Photo and quotes courtesy of The Jerusalem Post