Key Takeaways:
- The Guardian misframes a Pacific Institute report, spotlighting Israel as the primary perpetrator of “assaults on water” despite the study showing Israel accounts for only 12% of global cases — less than Russia’s 16%.
- Major context is omitted, including Hamas’ destruction and weaponization of water infrastructure and Israel’s efforts to increase water access to Gaza through repairs, desalination support, and fuel provision.
- The study’s data is presented without crucial nuance, counting actions like filling illegal wells or incidental infrastructure damage near military targets as deliberate “assaults,” thereby reinforcing a misleading anti-Israel narrative.
“Israel attacked Palestinian water sources over 250 times in five years, data reveals,” screamed The Guardian’s headline.
Based on a report by the Pacific Institute, a non-profit focused on environmental and sustainability research, The Guardian paints a cruel picture of Israeli weaponization of water to abuse the Palestinian populations of both Gaza and the West Bank.
However, beyond the article’s headline and superficial analysis, several important points are either not addressed or seemingly deliberately obfuscated in order to portray Israel as a uniquely evil state intent on harming the living standards of local Palestinians.
Related Reading: Watering Down the Facts: Israel, the Palestinians & Access to Water
The Guardian, in its fixation on Israel, misrepresents the study by turning a broader analysis of water and conflict into a hit piece on the Jewish state.
Focusing the headline and the majority of the article on Israel, The Guardian appears to assign Israel as uniquely guilty of damaging water infrastructure and access, turning it into the chief perpetrator of water crimes in the world.
However, this is simply not true. It’s only in the nineteenth paragraph that readers learn that Israel’s alleged “assaults on water” actually account for 12% of the global total.
And despite The Guardian’s obsessive focus on one country, the study doesn’t even name Israel as the worst perpetrator of water crimes, instead accusing Russia of committing 16% of the total.
Yet, Russia warrants only two paragraphs, while The Guardian dedicates its headline and nine full paragraphs to Israel.
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Aside from the disproportionate focus on the allegations against Israel, there are several other issues with The Guardian’s article and with the study upon which it is based.
These include:
- Both the article and the Pacific Institute study make no mention of Hamas damaging water pipes between Israel and Gaza during the October 7 attacks, or that Hamas digs up water pipes in order to fashion crude rockets. This disregard of Hamas’ weaponization of water infrastructure calls into question the “impartiality” of these pieces.
- The Guardian makes no mention of the measures taken by the Jewish state to increase the amount of water that enters the Gaza Strip, including repairing damaged pipelines, aiding in the construction of a UAE-sponsored pipeline from Egypt, providing power to the Khan Younis desalination plant, and fueling water facilities.
- Some of the instances of “assaults on water” that were listed by the Pacific Institute include the military filling up illegal wells in the West Bank. This is not done to harm the Palestinians but to preserve the integrity of the fragile water system in the West Bank. When wells are illegally drilled without any oversight, they can harm both the quality and quantity of water in the area. Without providing this proper context, the Pacific Institute creates a false narrative that Israel cruelly targets Palestinian water sources in the West Bank.
- Some other instances of “assaults on water” in Lebanon or Gaza documented by the Pacific Institute were the result of Israeli attacks on nearby military targets and were not the primary focus of Israeli forces. One example of this is a 2024 attack on “Al Nabatieh, Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. During the raid, water and electricity networks are damaged.”
By making the Pacific Institute’s latest report largely about Israel and by throwing nuance to the wind, The Guardian amply demonstrates its obsessive anti-Israel agenda and total lack of journalistic integrity.
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