Israel vs. Hamas: Washington Post reverses cause and effect

The Washington Post published back-to-back half-page reports on Gaza, the area controlled by Hamas. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization, not only by Israel and the United States, but also by Egypt, the European Union, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The terror group is also banned by Jordan. These powers condemn Hamas because its charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews (not just Israelis). But that didn't prevent The Washington Post from sympathizing with the evil regime and the fanatics who voted it into power: "For Gazans, a costly year of protests" (3/30/19) and "Thousands gather in Gaza to mark anniversary of bloody border protests" (3/31/19).

The premise of both articles is to reiterate that the Gazans' "struggle" is a resistance to Israeli oppression. The reports dwelled in depth on many examples of Palestinians injured or killed during this so-called "resistance." According to the first article, "the protests have become a tool to pressure Israel into softening restrictions on the enclave, with limited success." The Post adds, "Desperate to deliver better living conditions and deflect mounting frustrations, Hamas has again tried to ramp up pressure on Israel[.]" In the second article, the Post writes of "demonstrations aimed at Israel's blockade." Also according to the Post, the protests aimed to "draw attention to the [alleged] Palestinian 'right of return' to homes lost in the 1948 war and now inside Israel, but Hamas has also used the demonstrations to urge Israel to loosen restrictions[.]" The Post likes to portray Israel as the cause of Gaza's misery. The misery, according to the Post, is "caused by more than a decade of tight Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory." The Post adds that "Israel tightened restrictions and, among other things, drastically reduced permits for businesspeople to enter and leave Gaza." The Post freely quotes Basim Naim, head of the Hamas international relations office, as if he were the beacon of truth. The article continues, "So when young activists began to rally around the idea of demonstrations at the fence, Hamas ran with it. Naim said young people needed to be reminded of the root of their problems: Israel." How the Post can credibly explain the motives of young Gazan activists without a shred of evidence is a mystery. The Post has a nearly fifteen-year perfect record of getting this story all wrong. There were no Israeli restrictions after Israel evacuated Gaza. It was the rockets and mortars fired by Hamas into Israel that caused the restrictions. The Post has reversed cause and effect. It is obvious to any fair-minded observer. Case in point: Egypt shares a border with Gaza. With all the blame heaped on Israel, why does the Post narrative barely mention Egypt? Can't the Gazans import goods through Egypt? Can't they exit through Egypt? If Hamas and its supporters in Gaza really are looking for freedom of movement and goods, why don't they fire rockets, mortars, burning kites, and bomb-carrying balloons into Egypt? The Post won't go there because that would force it to admit that it has been wrong about Israel and Gaza for at least 15 years in dozens of articles. Hamas's complaint about Israel is stated expressly in the Hamas Charter. Its raison d'être is the destruction of Israel — not the building of a homeland. The Post has a hard time disclosing that a weak, impoverished people is trying to overthrow a strong, well-to-do country. Consequently, the Post will never get the story right. To the Post's credit, it does mention that "in recent weeks, protests have broken out on the streets, this time against Hamas." According to the Post, Hamas "has brutally suppressed demonstrators, using live ammunition and beating them with batons. Rights groups estimate that about 150 people have been injured, and detainees number in the hundreds." We shouldn't hold our breath waiting for the Post to print back-to-back half-page articles on that! Those truths are typically buried in the last half of articles, as the Post does here. That is because the newspaper doesn't care about the real story — to the detriment of both sides of the conflict.