A football match exposes the Gazan charade of false accusations against Israel.

By David E. Kaplan

Wait a minute. Nearly every news bulletin on Al Jazeera, Iran’s English TV news network called PressTV, Turkey’s English TV news network TRT WORLD and those keeping up the rear with calculated venom, FRANCE24, RT (Russia Today) and Ireland’s RTÉ, have every day and all day for months on end covered Gazan news alleging a “genocide” perpetrated by the “Zionists” – read Jews. Newsreaders, commentators and an assortment of selected experts have daily presented this “genocide” as if they were reading the daily weather report. While few ever question announcements of daily climatic temperatures, even less question that Israel was actually committing a “genocide”.  If the experts say so and confirmed by the UN,  it must be so.

And then BREAKING NEWS:

“We watched soccer instead”

This was a leading headline pertaining to Gazan citizens that despite the so-called “genocide” they were enduring according to the media – opted instead of watching the White House press conference relating to the end of the war, and thus end the alleged “genocide”, to watch soccer instead. This was not just another  ho-hum “deal” but one that Israel had already signed off on , which meant removing its forces from Gaza and most significant that every Arab country in the region, including Qatar, had endorsed. This gave it the added gravitas that no earlier deals had.

You would expect that those enduring a “genocide”, particularly the ‘pots and plates brigade’ projecting starvation for the cameras would show some interest. Clearly, watching a football match was far more appealing!

MORE INTERESTED IN A SCORE THAN WHAT LAY IN STORE

This would be some strange and unique type of “genocide” where those supposedly effected are more interested in watching a soccer match than discovering how their “genocide” might be brought to an end!

The Ynet report revealed that while many of the so-called “genocide” sufferers across Gaza “ignored the announcement entirely” others were preoccupied with more important matters – like watching football! 

Clearly, the US president did not consider the timing of his announcement of the plan to end the war that has been going on “ thousands of years”, Trump’s language, that it coincided with “a big Egyptian soccer match,” as related by Suleiman, a resident of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah. According to Suleiman, “anyone with a TV,” in Gaza, “chose instead to watch the football match.”   You would think IF there was a genuine genocide in progress, the people suffering would be more interested to learn of their future fate than watching a football match on TV!

Clearly not and because of one clear fact. While the situation in Gaza is terrible as it is during all wars – that is the nature of war – it is NOT a “genocide”. The word “genocide” is a part of the enemy’s arsenal in the nature of this war when victory is determining not only by winning on a battlefield, territory but winning the story. It is a question always of whose narrative will prevail on the TV news networks and social media? There is no Gaza “genocide” and this is why  there are factions withing the Palestinian camp as well as TV networks like Iran’s PressTV advising Hamas to reject the deal, in other words to allow  the alleged “genocide” to continue.

While much of the world has charged Israel with restricting aid and Israel has counter-charged the U.N. with incompetence and bias and Hamas with stealing aid to finance terrorism, the Trump proposal approved by the Arab countries is very clear in addressing the immediate concerns pertaining to the people of Gaza’s welfare:

 “…upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip … including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, [and] entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.”

With Israel accepting Trump’s peace plan, if Hamas, who are the elected leadership of Gaza rejects it or vacillates, it will expose what was always a hoax: that Israel was committing a genocide.

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