Posts 4 year-old pics of Gaza ‘Tunnel Children’, pretends they’re current - by Adam Levick

...It’s difficult to know which is worse: the fact that they completely obfuscated the terror dimension of Gaza’s tunnels, glorified Hamas’s abuse of children or unethically used four-year old photos while presenting them as current.

Adam Levick..
UK Media Watch..
06 September '17..

On Sept. 2nd, Daily Mirror published a photo essay on the “tunnel children” of Gaza, “brave youngsters” who, we are told, keep the economy in the strip going.

Though most don’t typically turn to the British tabloid for hard ‘news’, the piece, by Tom Howell, doesn’t adhere to even the most minimum standards of accuracy, and is in fact more akin to Hamas propaganda than anything resembling journalism.

For starters, it completely ignores the use of such tunnels by Hamas for terror purposes. It also perversely describes Hamas’s illegal use of child labor in these tunnels as something noble, rather than the cynical exploitation of young boys by a terrorist organization.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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A NY Times Palestinian Pity-Party Propaganda Piece Promotion

...Poor fellow! Not only has his stream of ill-gotten gain been eliminated, but his love life has been damaged as well.

Richard N. Weltz..
AmericanThinker..
14 June '15..

O, the pathos; O, the hardships; O, the suffering of it all!

The Gray Lady seems to have opened up a Gaza sub-bureau to supplement its Jerusalem team in its efforts to stir up empathy for the hard lot of the Gazans – purportedly imposed upon them, of course, mainly by Israel.

Reporters Diaa Hadid and Majd Al Waheidi, writing with a Gaza City dateline, spell it all out for us in the June 13 edition with an article headlined, “A Gaza ‘Tunnel Millionaire’ Falls on Hard Times.” It seems that a Gazan fellow who was making out very well (relatively) financially by smuggling a long list of contraband through the illegal tunnels between Egypt and Gaza has been reduced to the honest work of tea-vending because the tunnels have been closed down.

WHEN Mohammed Sawiri was rich, he bought his lover a cellphone so they could secretly text. He was a “tunnel millionaire,” one of the thousands of Palestinians who became wealthy overnight, by Gaza standards, earning $18 a day hauling goods through one of the hundreds of passageways under the border between Gaza and Egypt.

The high school dropout was 17 when he began working in a tunnel. Now, at 23, Mr. Sawiri sells 25-cent cups of tea, Turkish coffee and Nescafé in a Gaza park, facing an ice cream shop where he once ate $1.25 vanilla ices. On a good day, he makes $5, and instead of texting his lover, he slips her letters.

Poor fellow! Not only has his stream of ill-gotten gain been eliminated, but his love life has been damaged as well.

No Rachel Corries complaining when Egypt bulldozes homes to block terrorist tunnels

Isn't it amazing that when Israel defends itself from Hamas terror and smuggling of weapons, it is violating the human rights of 1.6 million Gazans - but when Egypt does the exact same thing, it is simply defending itself?

Elder of Ziyon..
02 September '13..






From Ma'an:

Egypt plans to impose a 500-meter buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, a senior Egyptian military official said Sunday.

Egyptian residents living in Saladin, al-Barahmeh, Canada, Brazil, al-Sarsouriya and other neighborhoods close to the Gaza border have received eviction notices.

Homeowners who received eviction orders demonstrated against the decision and burned tires in protest.

Army bulldozers have also uprooted trees in the border area.

The army has demolished 13 homes in the al-Sarsouriya neighborhood where tunnel entrances were found.

An Egyptian military official told Ma'an that most cross-border tunnels with entrances in fields or open areas had been destroyed in a security campaign to stop smuggling. He said it was more difficult to locate tunnels that opened into houses.

This was the same kind of clearing operation that Israel was doing on its side of the Gaza border - and which was permitted by Oslo - when Rachel Corrie was killed.

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
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Gaza terror tunnel network branches out - The learning curve race is on

...And, for the record, please take note: in each recent round of conflict the segments of the Israeli civilian public bearing the brunt of the fighting urged the decision makers to continue operations to significantly reduce the military capabilities of the enemy.

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA..
09 June '13..




The Israeli narrative:

There is no need to significantly reduce the military capabilities of our enemy. Achieving deterrence is sufficient.
This is because:
#1. We are strong.
#2. We have an answer today and will have an answer tomorrow.
#3. The fact that the other side has stopped shooting - much - for the time being - is evidence that we have achieved deterrence.

The narrative of our enemy is:
#1. We are getting stronger.
#2. We will persevere.
#3. In the ancient Moslem tradition, we accept temporary ceasefires in order to facilitate building up our military capabilities for the ultimate day of victory.

Today the result of the competing narratives is that southern Lebanon and now Gaza are both packed with huge quantities of rockets and other offensive equipment. And with each passing day our enemies improve their capabilities.

So can we simple civilians rely on the Israeli narrative?

A troubling thought: to what extent is the Israeli narrative simply self serving for decision makers who opt to postpone action for reasons that are not related to security considerations?

Years from now, when the secrets of this time are revealed to the public, will the logic behind this policy be clear or will we condemn the decision makers for a "let's forget about tomorrow for tomorrow never comes" attitude?

And, for the record, please take note: in each recent round of conflict the segments of the Israeli civilian public bearing the brunt of the fighting urged the decision makers to continue operations to significantly reduce the
military capabilities of the enemy. The decision makers cannot blame the Israeli public for a policy of opting for deterrence.

The Gazan tunnel economy making piles of money for Hamas insiders, for Hamas itself, and ...

...What's too-often forgotten when those criticisms are aired is that they protect those who make the money. Keep in mind there are virtually never any Gazan tunnels that run into or out of Israel. It's always into and out of Egypt. The Egyptians, for Egyptian reasons, have imposed a blockade and strict controls on Gaza for the past seven years, continuing up until today, on what passes into and out of Gaza. It's in their power to throw open wide the gates of Gaza with Egypt. But they don't. And so long as the Hamas regime is in control in Gaza, it's likely they won't.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
07 May '13..

This is a follow on to what we posted last night concerning Palestinian Arab corruption. In "6-May-13: European bureaucrats keep pouring cash into the dark recesses of the PA, while Palestinian Arab concerns are ignored" we looked at a report that deals with multiple issues of malfeasance and structural corruption.

The report touches on the Gaza tunnels meaning those running to and from Egypt. These are not overseen by the PA government, and so (as the report states) “great mystery still surrounded the revenues collected by the Gaza government through these tunnels".

Others are worried about the non-fiscal aspects of the Gaza tunnel industry. Just today, it was reported that

Egyptian forces uncovered 276 previously unknown smuggling tunnels under the border with Gaza on Monday. Egyptian security officials told Ma'an that 154 tunnels had been destroyed and 94 would be demolished soon. Security forces are struggling to destroy some 28 tunnels constructed under residential properties... [Maan News Agency, Bethlehem]

To understate things, Israel comes in for large, and mostly inaccurate, doses of criticism for keeping the Gazans locked in. But as the Maan report recalls, the reality is that Moslem Brotherhood-controlled Egypt has a significant shared border with Gaza. It's the tunnels on the Egyptian border that are being destroyed. And why? An Egyptian news report today quotes an unnamed military source saying

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.

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CAMERA - The New York Times Has Tunnel Vision on the Gaza Tunnels

Sarit Catz..
CAMERA Media Analysis..
04 June '12..

On May 29, 2012, The New York Times published an article by Ruqaya Izzidien, "Shuffling Through an Underground Artery to Gaza." While thousands of civilians are being slaughtered in Syria and terrorist bombs are exploding in Iraq, The Times publishes a puff piece that ignores the insidious truth about the smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The story is yet another example of the editors' penchant for humanizing Palestinian Arabs while demonizing Israelis.

Palestinian Arabs in the story are concerned that the reporter will bump her head inside the tunnel, they laugh and "guffaw" and wear "huge grins" on their "dusty, weathered" faces. Indeed, the reporter's Arab subjects have faces. The Israelis appear only in the form of an F-16 jet. Israelis "frequently" target the tunnels "in airstrikes, which usually trap and kill workers."

The article mischaracterizes the nature of the tunnels. Izzidien reports that Gazans consider "the tunnels a legitimate trade and passenger route, one that is necessary for survival in light of the blockade." Izzidien ignores the fact that Israel facilitates the importation of thousands of tons of all manner of goods into the Gaza Strip every day.

Worse still, Izzidien contends that Israel targets the tunnels with airstrikes because "the Israeli government views the tunnels as an illegal smuggling route." There is no mention anywhere in the article of weapons smuggled through the tunnels. There is no mention of Iranian terrorist trainers entering Gaza through the tunnels. There is no mention of materials brought in to construct rockets and missiles that rain destruction, injury and sometimes death on Israeli civilians.

Bedein - Why Do UNRWA & Reuters Call Munitions Tunnels An Economic Boom

Noam Bedein
Sderot Media Center
04 January '12

On December 7th, 2011, UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] issued an extensive report which lauded the vast amount of cement smuggled through the Gaza's tunnels. The report attributed recent economic growth and improvement of humanitarian conditions in Gaza to the operation of smuggling tunnels from Egypt, which UNRWA claimed have increased employment in Gaza by causing construction jobs to grow by more than 9, 400, an increase of 3.5 times relative to the first half of 2010, according to an UNWRA press release.

http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1176

On December 24th, 2011, Reuters wire echoed the UNRWA press release, published in hundreds of media outlets throughout the world, portraying Gaza residents whose economic well being had been greatly improved by uninhibited smuggling of cement through the tunnels.

Reuters reported that the tunnels were causing an "an economic boom."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/12453920/gaza-s-thriving-tunnel-imports-unleash-building-boom/

http://www.euronews.net/newswires/1294237-gazas-thriving-tunnel-imports-unleash-building-boom/

The Reuters wire mentioned in the fourth paragraph of its release that there was an Israeli “claim that these tunnels were used by the Hamas regime in Gaza to carry out “sporadic” attacks.

The UNRWA report and the Reuters wire ignored the assessment of intelligence agencies which confirm that these tunnels have transformed Gaza into a vast arsenal of munitions for missile launchers that can reach every part of southern and central Israel.

Tunnel Operators Fire Rockets and Gaza's Humanitarian Crisis

Honest Reporting/Backspin
13 June '10

Wanting to see Gaza's humanitarian situation first-hand, John Lyons of The Australian makes a startling discovery:

The tunnel operators have a vested interest in maintaining the blockade; they stand to lose tens of millions of dollars should it end. A European official who knows Gaza as well as anyone tells me what he says is one of the great unwritten stories about Gaza: that it is the tunnel operators firing the rockets . . . .

There's a strong logic to the argument of the European that the tunnel operators, many of whom have their licences only because they have paid Hamas, would be the biggest losers should the embargo be lifted.

And a pattern of behaviour certainly fits with the theory; almost every time Israel begins talking about a period of calm with Gaza or every time Israel comes under pressure to lift the blockade, rockets are fired.

Meanwhile, the LA Times also checks out Gaza. And guess what? Aid workers on the ground are hedging on the nature of Gaza's "crisis."

(Read full post)

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Gaza glutted with smuggled goods - profitability of tunnels plummets

Avi Issacharoff
Haaretz
17 February '10

Owners of the smuggling tunnels bordering the Gaza Strip and Egypt have been suffering from financial problems due to their tunnels' inactivity, according to Palestinian sources.

The reason, it turns out, actually stems from the overall success of smuggling tunnels in Gaza. Hamas has recently set up 'legal' tunnels, which they use to smuggle various merchandise. As a result, existing, non-Hamas run tunnels are suffering financially.

The Hamas tunnels are used to bring in merchandise intended for sale in markets, such as food products and home appliances. Palestinians believe that the overflow of goods caused a complete smuggling standstill in dozens of underground channels. Moreover, work on digging additional tunnels has also stopped.

The tunnel owners explain that the increase in merchandise in Gaza made prices sharply decrease, which seriously reduced the earnings from the 'illegal' smuggling industry. One of the tunnel owners told a news agency that he is waiting for a reasonable business offer to come along, because at the moment it isn't profitable for him to open the channel to smuggling.

In 2008, the smuggling tunnel trade flourished due to the Israeli blockade on Gaza, and was also strong in 2009 in spite of growing Egyptian surveillance of the tunnels, which endangered diggers and smugglers. Since June of 2007, over 100 Palestinians lost their lives in tunnel collapses.

The Hamas-run tunnels, which are deemed legal by the government, are now experiencing continuous activity. Under Hamas rule, hundreds of underground channels have been dug between Gaza and Egypt.

The recent increase in smuggled goods in Gaza caused many factories to renew activity. Overall, if judging by the two most smuggled products - gasoline and cement - tunnel activity has actually caused Gaza to experience an economic reawakening.

Ultimately, the tunnel owners' crisis came from being overly successful. "The last two weeks were the worst in the smuggling tunnel trade since the blockade in June of 2007," said a tunnel owner.
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On Location: Gaza — The politics of pumping iron

Jon Jensen
Special to Global Post
15 January '10

(One might think that this report is a product of the Hanan Ashrawi school of PR for Palestine, but then again, Jon Jensen also has to make a living. Enjoy!)



Jon Jensen is an award-winning producer based in Cairo, Egypt. He currently works as the Multimedia Editor and Video Journalist at the Daily News Egypt/International Herald Tribune.
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Egypt's Gaza smugglers shrug off reports of border barrier

Samer al-Atrush
Telegraph.co.uk
15 December 09

Trucks filled with contraband trundle along on a road leading to Egypt's frontier with the besieged Gaza Strip. Their cargo will be sorted into bags and then slipped into Gaza through the tunnels.

"That one has concrete," said Abu Khaled, as he parked his mud-camouflaged pick-up by the side of the road. The gaunt, bearded Bedouin operates a tunnel himself, and specialises in supplying the Palestinian enclave with concrete.

For a man wanted by the police for smuggling, Abu Khaled is remarkably upbeat about his prospects. He shrugged off reports that the authorities were constructing an underground barrier to sever the tunnels into Gaza.

"It shouldn't pose a problem," he said.

The smugglers have long been accustomed to outwitting frontier guards. They react to the sight of heavy machinery digging along the border and inserting pipes and metal sheets into the ground with a mixture of amusement and scorn. The barrier will reportedly reach a depth of between 18 and 30 metres (60 to 100 feet), but the smugglers say they can easily burrow beneath it.

"They're taking American money and dumping it into the ground," said one smuggler in the border town of Rafah, giving his name as Mohammed.

No one along the border believes that Egypt will ever be able - or willing - to end the smuggling that provides the people of Gaza with food, fuel and weapons. Israel enforced a semi-blockade of the territory after the Islamist movement Hamas seized it in 2007.

"There's a whole cocktail of reasons why it won't work," said Abu Ahmed, a Bedouin arms trader. The police are corrupt, he says, the Bedouin and other smugglers are resourceful, and if Egypt cuts the underground lifeline to Gaza people there may inundate Sinai, as they did briefly in 2008 after Hamas blasted the border wall.

(Read full article)
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The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

Melanie Phillips
The Spectator
26 October 09

Those who still think Gaza is starving under the tyrannical Israeli blockade (sic) will not be interested to read this by Taghreed el Khodary in the New York Times, under the headline

Goods Flood Gaza’s Tunnels, Turning Border Area Into a Shopping Mecca

RAFAH, Gaza — Dusty sacks filled with cans of Coca-Cola were being loaded onto trucks by young boys, headed for supermarkets in Gaza City. Thousands of motorcycles were lined up on display in a nearby stadium, ranging in price from $2,000 to $10,000.

At Nijma market, refrigerators, flat-screen televisions, microwaves, air-conditioners, generators and ovens filled the tents, all at inflated prices, having been spirited into this town on the border with Egypt through tunnels under the sand. Some Gazans have even purchased cars smuggled in parts into the isolated Palestinian enclave.

The tunnels emerged as an essential lifeline for Gaza two years ago, when Israel imposed a political and economic embargo after Hamas took over the area. Israel did its best to obliterate them during its three-week military offensive in Gaza last winter, saying they were being used for smuggling weapons and explosives.

But the builders set to work immediately after that, and with little hope of the border crossings with Israel opening anytime soon — and rich profits to be harvested — there are more tunnels now than ever, and Rafah has turned into a shopping mecca where the tunnel owners are kings.

‘If the siege were to be lifted,’ said Osama, 22, a tunnel owner, ‘I would end up in intensive care.’

And if he did, we all know who would be blamed.

Osama started out as a day laborer, digging tunnels from the age of 16. He graduated to running drugs and TNT through the tunnels into Gaza. Though he is a supporter of Fatah, the secular rival of Hamas, he says he supplied both parties. He was young but intimidating enough. He says he used to eat in restaurants in Gaza City and leave without paying. ‘Now it is different,’ he said. ‘We fear Hamas.’

For the same reason he no longer smuggles drugs or weapons, though the money he made from that illicit trade helped set him up in legitimate business. He says that each of his three tunnels cost about $300,000 to build, and that four friends helped him finance the enterprise.

By night he brings in live animals, motorcycles, potato chips, Coca-Cola and clothing for women and children. But the most lucrative import is fuel, which he pumps through a pipe fixed on the ceiling of a tunnel more than half a mile long and collects in a large tank on the Palestinian side. Like any smart businessman, Osama does most of his pumping after Israel has blocked fuel supplies from its side or has bombed a few competing tunnels, lifting prices in Gaza.

The tunnel owners, Gaza’s nouveau riche, say they make on average more than $1 million a year from each tunnel.

Quick -- call for Amnesty or Christian Aid to investigate these shocking accounts of destitution, malnutrition and extreme poverty in Gaza.

And what else apart from live animals, motorcycles, potato chips, flat-screen televisions, microwaves, air-conditioners, generators and ovens is coming in through those tunnels?

We can all guess.

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