Israel Fails To Cover Up Their Latest War Crime In Gaza

Bungled attempt to frame Islamic Jihad for the bombing of al-Ahli al-Arab hospital in Gaza City

On Tuesday, Israel bombed the al-Ahli al-Arab hospital in Gaza City. Initial reports were that 500 people, at minimum, were killed, with the death toll expected to rise significantly.

Some people are going to read that opening sentence and have a sharp reaction.

“Slander,” they will say. “Israel has said that they investigated and that they found that it was an errant rocket from a barrage fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

Some, trying to appear balanced, will say, “Maybe you don’t want to take Israel at its word, but why are you just accepting Hamas’ version of the story?” That subtle way of demonizing Palestinians by generalizing all of them to be Hamas.

Many people will say these things, but there is little basis to believe that Israel is telling the truth. There is considerable evidence, however, that they are lying.

I was dubious about Israel’s claim from the start, I will admit. But it wasn’t due to “anti-Israel bias.” On the contrary, every time something like this happens, I yearn for an explanation that lets Israel off the hook. I do not relish yet another example of Israeli war crimes. I would like Israel to come out of one of these issues with at least momentarily clean hands.

But that hope is usually in vain. In this case, my suspicion was immediately aroused by some pretty basic background, albeit background that might not occur to folks who have not been immersed in this conflict for decades as I have been.

The obvious trigger of suspicion is simply Israel’s history of lying about things when they feel like they may have committed an act whose backlash seems like it might hurt them. The killing of Mohammed al-Dura, which Israel insisted, falsely, was staged back in 2003 is one such example. The family of then-10 year old Huda Ghalia in 2006 is another, as was the shooting in 2022 of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

In each case, Israel, supported by the United States and various other allies, lied about its responsibility. While many people, to this day, still believe the debunked Israeli versions of those crimes, the truth of Israel’s guilt came out in all of them eventually, but clearly.

So, I’m not inclined to trust Israel’s excuses without evidence.

Reinforcing my suspicion was the scope of the destruction. al-Ahli al-Arab hospital was basically leveled, with reports of hundreds of people still trapped in the rubble. Even in an area as poor as Gaza, hospitals tend to be sturdy structures. The capacity of an Islamic Jihad rocket is unlikely to be mighty enough to cause that kind of damage. We have, unfortunately, seen ample examples of what Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s rockets are capable of, on the occasions where Israel’s Iron Dome interceptors have missed some that have hit Israeli structures. It is nothing like what we saw at the hospital.

That’s conjecture, perhaps enough to cast some doubt on Israel’s claims. But it’s not close to proof that Israel is the responsible party here.

Two pieces of evidence, however, are considerably more convincing.

One came from a fairly well-known Israeli propagandist and influencer, who also happens to be Netanyahu’s digital spokesman, by the name of Hananya Naftali. Shortly after the hospital was hit, he tweeted that, “Israeli Air Force Struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza. A multiple number of terrorists are dead. It’s heartbreaking that Hamas is launching rockets from hospitals, mosques, schools, and using civilians as human shields.”

The tweet was soon deleted.

So, we had an Israeli spokesman saying it was Israel who did it. Again, this is not at all conclusive. Naftali (who is very likely looking for a new job by now) was not a high-ranking official and his position as “digital spokesman” just means he was someone who would go out there spouting pro-Israel lines, mostly on social media, occasionally in more traditional media forums. It’s more than possible that he just jumped the gun.

The second piece of evidence, though, is much more damning. That is a tweet sent out by the Israeli Defense Forces themselves. They showed a video that included a timestamp, which showed a barrage of rockets being fired from within Gaza. The timestamp showed the time to be just about 8 PM local time.

The trouble is the first reports of the bomb hitting al-Ahli al-Arab hospital came out at about 7:20 local time. Oops.

It’s clear that the IDF waited until they could film some rockets going out, which was, of course, inevitable after the bombing of the hospital. They later deleted the tweet, then reposted it without the incriminating video. Netanyahu’s office ran with the video as well, and they soon deleted it as well.

But nothing ever really disappears from the internet. Several folks captured the screenshots before the IDF deleted the tweet. The evidence is clear as day. And, especially combined with the other factors, paints a damning picture.

My friends, Israel did this. I saw one colleague on twitter ask why Israel would do this, it makes no strategic sense. Well, neither does the wholesale slaughter of civilians Israel has been engaged in since the heinous Hamas attack on October 7. Israel has been intentionally bombing the roads they explicitly told Palestinians to use to flee to the southern part of Gaza. It has bombed the Rafah crossing, the one and only exit point from Gaza. It has not just engaged in collective punishment; it has proudly said that is what it’s doing.

None of that makes sense from a strategic point of view.

That is, unless Israel has decided to take advantage of Hamas’ brutal attack and the genuine sympathy that generated for Israel to “finish the job” it started in 1948, at least in Gaza. The West Bank would then come later, likely after Palestinian outrage there caused another horrific incident.

The better question, though, is why the United States is not just tolerating this, but doing all it can to enable it. Joe Biden has placed the U.S. into a precarious position where it can be drawn into a war at any minute by needlessly deploying warships to the Eastern Mediterranean. He has outraged the Arab world by arming Israel to the teeth even though Israel was already more than powerful enough to destroy Gaza all by itself. He has run diplomatic cover, dehumanized Palestinians to drum up support for genocide, and in every way abetted Israel’s unprecedented campaign.

That’s the question Americans should be asking. They should not, however, be fooled by Israel’s prevarication about its responsibility for al-Ahli al-Arab hospital. As with previous cases, Israel’s culpability is clear.  

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Recent articles and appearances

Interview: Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/mplitnick/

I was pleased to have a chance to get into a lengthy discussion with J.G. Michael of Parallax Views about the events ion Israel and Gaza, as well as the bigger picture and context.

Interview on Background Briefing with Ian Masters

https://soundcloud.com/user-830442635

I sat down for a talk on October 11 with Ian Masters about the growing horror in Gaza and Israel and about some of the ways it has played out in the US.

How US Democrats are fueling a brutal Israeli revenge on Gaza

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-gaza-us-democrats-fuelling-brutal-revenge

It’s not just Joe Biden. Most of the Democratic Party is cheering on Israel’s campaign of revenge in Gaza, despite the fact that Israel has explicitly stated its intent to bomb indiscriminately and commit massive war crimes. This piece at Middle East Eye looks at the responses of Democrats to the horrific attack by Hamas on Israel–itself a major war crime–and how they are encouraging a slaughter in Gaza that will serve no purpose but to enhance and extend the bloodshed.

Hamas attack the result of Washington’s hostility to Palestinian rights

https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/the-biden-administration-has-given-a-full-green-light-to-israels-war-crimes/

To the extent that Hamas targeted the military, that is very much legal, and an exercise of the right to resist that is granted to people under a belligerent military occupation. The tactic of capturing civilians as hostages is a familiar one in conflicts, but that makes it no less criminal, and given some of the targets, including very young children, no less horrifying. The extensive targeting of civilians in this attack is not covered by that right to resist. While Hamas, with its relatively primitive rockets, often has little ability to distinguish between civilian and military targets, they clearly could have in the ground assault on Saturday. That was a decision Hamas made, and it was not an acceptable one.

None of that, however, justifies cutting two million Gazans off from food, water, and electricity, or the willful bombing of civilian sites that have included hospitals, shelters, marketplaces, and other sites that have nothing to do with Hamas. War crimes do not justify more war crimes. The US enabling this is the US doubling down on what brought us all here in the first place.