Success: Times of London Removes Claim That Israel Restricts Basic Goods to Gaza

On April 17, The Times of London (subscription only) published an otherwise fair article examining how Egypt’s destruction of Gaza smuggling tunnels has impacted upon thousands of Palestinians addicted to a popular painkiller. One paragraph, however,…

Simon Plosker
April 21, 2015
12:00 am

Reading time: < 1 minutes

One paragraph, however, stood out:

We wrote to The Times pointing out that all basic needs are allowed to cross from Israel into Gaza. There is no restrictions on access to basic needs and we provided statistics from the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) that deals with movement of goods and people through Israel’s borders with Gaza.

In addition, construction materials are allowed into Gaza through recognized mechanisms such as international organizations to prevent Hamas taking those materials to rebuild its tunnels and other terrorist facilities.

The assertion that Israel is somehow laying siege to Gaza is patently false. We are pleased that The Times evidently agreed with us as the offending sentence has now been amended and no longer includes “which restricts access to basic needs and construction materials.”

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Tags: COGAT, Gaza, humanitarian aid, success, The Times of London, tunnels

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020. Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias. Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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