{"id":1366,"date":"2010-07-21T00:55:58","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T23:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/?p=1366"},"modified":"2010-07-30T10:25:18","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T09:25:18","slug":"patten-dupe-of-hamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/07\/21\/patten-dupe-of-hamas\/","title":{"rendered":"Patten, dupe of Hamas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>Tom Gross, as brilliant as ever, reported <\/a>this week on how he believes Hamas are:
\ndeliberately leaving some Gazans in plastic tents, in order to fool gullible Western journalists and politicians who are brought to Gaza to witness a staged \u201chumanitarian crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n

This has been a suspicion of mine for some time. Commenting on a JC blog post I wrote:<\/p>\n

There is a big question over the ongoing issue with rebuilding. Hamas and its supporters worldwide and, it seems Patten and Ashton, like to point out Gazans living in the rubble of their homes. Yet shopping malls, swimming pools and restaurants are being built. It couldn’t be, could it, that those lovely Hamas peeople DELIBERATELY leave the rubble to bring pressure on Israel? Wouldn’t that be obscene? After all, if you can get a 4 x 4 through a tunnel you can get concrete and steel. Noone ever asks that question. Just like the ‘refugee camps’ after 62 years are maintained as an ongoing weapon against Israel, house rubble in Gaza may well be being used for the same purpose.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We appear to have come to the same conclusion.<\/p>\n

The Tom Gross article shows us the new Gaza Shopping mall with the comment:<\/p>\n

If there \u201care no building materials allowed into Gaza\u201d how did they build this shopping center, or the new Olympic-size swimming pool pictured below?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good question and the same one as mine.<\/p>\n

Yet in a Guardian article (I don’t give links to the Guardian on principle any more, so you’ll have to believe me or find it yourself) Chris Patten, former Tory MP, former Governor of Hong Kong and now Chancellor of Oxford University and President of Medical Aid for Palestinians, doesn’t seem to have noticed the mall, the food stores filled to the brim, the Israeli white goods filling Gazan shops, instead:<\/p>\n

Israel’s policy of blockading Gaza has been a “terrible failure \u2013 immoral, illegal and ineffective”, he said, which had “deliberately triggered an economic and social crisis which has many humanitarian consequences”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And:<\/p>\n

On earlier visits, he said, he had observed “a community that was poor, but at least economic activity was taking place”. Since the blockade, “economic and commercial life has been squeezed out of Gaza in what looks and feels and is like a medieval siege”.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The old medieval siege canard again. Israel provides most of the electricity needs of Gaza and did so throughout Cast Lead. Israel provides Gaza’s fuel needs. Israel lets in hundreds of trucks through its crossing points daily. Can someone tell me of any medieval siege where the besieger provided for the daily sustenance of the besieged?<\/p>\n

A week ago the Jerusalem Post reported<\/a> :<\/p>\n

The Defense Ministry\u2019s coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT) has given initial approval to international organizations for 31 construction projects in the Gaza Strip, constituting a 300 percent increase in the number of projects approved by Israel in the past month.<\/em><\/p>\n

The 31 projects were submitted to COGAT since the cabinet decided in June to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

COGAT had already approved nine projects before the government\u2019s decision, including the renovation of a sewage treatment plant in northern Gaza, the construction of 151 housing units in Khan Yunis in the south, and the repair of a flour mill that was damaged during Operation Cast Lead a year and a half ago.<\/p>\n

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The embargo has been criticized for its effects on food, clean water,<\/em> <\/em><\/span>medicine, and other economic needs of the Cuban population. The Cuban population is in dire need of most of these items. <\/em><\/p>\n

Criticism has come from both Fidel Castro and Raul Castro, citizens and groups from within Cuba, and international organizations and leaders including Barack Obama. <\/em><\/p>\n

Some academic critics, outside Cuba, have also linked the embargo to shortages of medical supplies and soap which have resulted in a series of medical crises and heightened levels of infectious diseases.\u00a0It has also been linked to epidemics of specific diseases, including neurological disorders caused by poor nutrition\u00a0and blindness. <\/em><\/p>\n

Travel restrictions embedded in the embargo have also been shown to limit the amount of medical information that flows into Cuba from the United States.\u00a0Malnutrition and disease resulting from increased food and medicine prices have affected men and the elderly, in particular, due to Cuba’s rationing system which gives preferential treatment to women and children.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, this is the United States’ embargo on Cuba. Yet no-one is sending flotillas to Havana, the Guardian is not banging on about Cuba almost every day, the UN has lost interest and the EU is shtum.<\/p>\n

At least Patten is anti Boycott (and I don’t mean Sir Geoffrey for cricket aficionados):<\/p>\n

“I don’t think a boycott would help,” he said. “It could have the reverse consequences to those intended.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the same page as pictures of the new Gaza mall Gross tells us:<\/p>\n

Two days ago the EU pledged tens of millions of EU taxpayers\u2019 euros to add to the hundreds of millions already donated to Gaza this year, much of which has been misused to procure arms.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile Barry Shaw has begin a Facebook cause<\/a> entitled: Palestinian funding. Obscene. Insane. Immoral. and tells us:<\/p>\n

We are having an effect. A crack has appeared in the stonewall of Palestinian lies. Our evidence is starting to get through. The photos, videos, statistics are beginning to be seen by those who have been in a state of denial.<\/em><\/p>\n

Slowly, the actual living conditions in Gaza is being seen by a wider public. They are hearing about the new Gaza Shopping Mall (we have the actual promotion material), the fine dining at Roots Club and Greens, they can see the luxurious mansions and new apartment blocks, fully stocked stores, swimming in the Olympic pool, horse riding at the Gaza academy, and much much more. <\/em><\/p>\n

The lies that Gaza is hell is being exposed. We need you to help us tear down this wall of lies and deceit.
\nThe lies, paid for with your tax dollars, is keeping the Islamic terror regime of Hamas in power. Your money is helping them gain influence in the rest of the Palestinian territories. <\/em><\/p>\n

If you care for peace, if you care for those in genuine distress, leanr the facts, spread the message, and demand that your tax money is diverted to those in desparate need.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And on his website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
An investigative report by Israel National News published on Thursday revealed that whenever the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza requests an influx of US dollars to pay its staff, the Hamas Islamic terror regime end up making a killing. <\/em><\/div>\n

It is curious that UNRWA requests the transfer of US dollars, as it did this week when it called for $12.5 million for staff salaries. The bulk of that money is provided by US taxpayers.<\/em><\/p>\n

The fact is that all financial transactions in Gaza take place in Israeli shekels, the official currency of the territory.
\nIn order for the UNRWA staff to be paid in shekels, the dollars are deposited in the Gaza Postal Bank, which is controlled by Hamas.\u00a0The bank changes the dollars to shekels, charging a hefty fee to do so. The dollars are then reportedly sold again on the Egyptian black market where they command a much higher price.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hamas makes huge amounts of money both on the initial exchange, and by reselling the dollars.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>A senior economic researcher cited in the story said further evidence of this is the fact that Hamas always complains of a lack of money. But every time UNRWA receives money, Hamas is suddenly able to pay its own salaries.<\/em><\/p>\n

Under US law, it is illegal to put taxpayers’ dollars towards any organization or movement that may result in that money reaching the hands of terrorists. These laws have been consistently ignored when it comes to the ‘Palestinians’.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hence, US taxpayers are financing the Hamas terror organisation that controls the Gaza Strip.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Confusing, isn’t it. Is there a humanitarian crisis or not?<\/p>\n

Tom Gross again (MAYBE THE TURKISH FLOTILLAS ARE GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION?):<\/p>\n

In Turkey, life expectancy is 72.23 and infant mortality is 24.84 per 1,000 births.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Gaza, life expectancy is 73.68 and infant mortality is 17.71 per 1,000 births.<\/em><\/p>\n

Turkey has a literacy rate of 88.7% while in Gaza it is 91.9%. (It is much lower in Egypt and other Arab countries where Israel did not establish colleges and universities in the 1970s and 1980s.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s GDP is almost as high as Turkey\u2019s and much, much higher than most of Africa that gets 1,000th of the aid per capita that Gaza gets from the West.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Source for above info: CIA World Factbook)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So the question is, even if there are problems in Gaza who is now responsible? Surely Hamas assisted by the EU the UN and the United States can build housing required? Israel approves and assists with projects where there is no chance of Hamas using materials for military purposes. So what’s holding them back. If they can build a mall and a restaurant, why not an apartment block?<\/p>\n

The EU, as represented by Baroness Ashton, seems unwilling to make the connection between Hamas and the plight of Gazans living in tents.<\/p>\n

I do not say that there are no problems in Gaza, but the\u00a0main cause of humanitarian suffering is Hamas with its repressive Islamist policies, its persecution of Fatah, its attitude to women and its commitment to destroy Israel and murder Jews.<\/p>\n

And why is there such a disproportionate obsession with Gaza when there are so many more critical causes. Cuba for instance. Sudan anyone? Congo? <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/div>

Tom Gross, as brilliant as ever, reported this week on how he believes Hamas are: deliberately leaving some Gazans in plastic tents, in order to fool gullible Western journalists and politicians who are brought to Gaza to witness a staged \u201chumanitarian crisis. This has been a suspicion of mine for some time. Commenting on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[600,79,598,601,602,1137,12,599,4],"class_list":["post-1366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel-and-gaza","tag-barry-shaw","tag-blockade","tag-chris-patten","tag-cuba","tag-embargo","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-israel","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1366"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1425,"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366\/revisions\/1425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raymondcook.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}