Why would there be a delay or a denial for an entry permit into Israel? Miller doesn’t mention the inherent security risks for Israel. There have been numerous occasions when Palestinians have used their personal medical authorization documents to cross into Israel with the intent to carry out terror attacks.
Abdel Karim’s family speculate that difficulties in gaining entry permits have arisen due to tenuous links to terror. If there is any greater proof that Israel still values the life of a Palestinian child irrespective of his or her family’s politics or terror activities, it is in the story of how Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s very own granddaughter was admitted to an Israeli hospital for treatment.
Yet, having painted a picture of Abdel Karim’s difficulties entering Israel, Miller then acknowledges that the child has been able to receive treatment in Israel. He then claims that there have been several cases where sick children have been delayed so long that they have died.
Miller offers no evidence for this serious charge. Indeed there have been cases where Palestinian children have died because their illnesses were so serious that the length of time it took to cross into Israel had no bearing on the final and tragic outcome. But it’s easier to blame Israel for their deaths.
Not mentioned are the lives of Gazans that have been saved by Israeli medical care, for example these twins from Gaza born in Israel’s Rambam Hospital only in the past few weeks.
Miller refers to “the impact of Israel’s suffocating seven year siege” on Gaza. He fails to mention:
- that Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a terror organization committed to the destruction of Israel;
- the more than 8,000 rockets that have been fired at Israel since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005;
- that the blockade is also enforced by Egypt on its own border with the south of the Gaza Strip (the only mention of Egyptian destruction of Gazan tunnels is in the online written story and not in the video report);
- that, despite this blockade, Israel allows virtually all goods to be imported into Gaza with the exception of dual-use materials that could be used for terror. In January 2014 alone, over 4,800 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom terminal containing food, humanitarian products, electrical products, construction materials and other goods.
In fact, the only mention of Hamas occurs at the very end of the story when Miller refers to rival Hamas and Fatah supporters playing together on the same soccer teams.
By omitting the relevant context – Hamas and Palestinian terror – and downplaying the medical treatment that Palestinians receive from Israel despite the security situation, Miller cynically uses the story of a sick Palestinian child to ensure that Israel is portrayed as being solely responsible for Gaza’s poverty. Once again, in the eyes of the media, it’s all Israel’s fault.
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