{"id":11480,"date":"2020-05-18T18:48:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T18:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cameraoncampus.org\/?p=11480"},"modified":"2020-05-18T18:48:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T18:48:07","slug":"for-ifnotnow-coronavirus-just-another-hook-for-anti-israel-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cameraoncampus.org\/he\/blog\/for-ifnotnow-coronavirus-just-another-hook-for-anti-israel-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"For IfNotNow, Coronavirus Just Another Hook For Anti-Israel Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo: Israel Defense Forces\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CAMERA’s senior research analyst Gilead Ini<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For many around the world, the coronavirus pandemic is understandably cause for grave concern. But while some worry about what COVID-19 could do to<\/em> their community, others appear more interested in what it might do for<\/em> their cause. These dogmatic activists look to seize on the scare by, essentially, appending the phrase \u201ccoronavirus\u201d to the same propaganda they\u2019ve long pushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider IfNotNow\u2019s recent petition attacking Israel<\/a>. The petition demands Israel eliminate restrictions on the Gaza Strip, which are meant to prevent terror groups there from obtaining weapons and other items that could bolster their war-making capabilities. As always, IfNotNow wants an end to those restrictions. And as is so often the case, the anti-Israel group\u2019s misleading claims are meant to inflame rather than inform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition\u2019s main point, that blame for any deaths in Gaza as a result of the virus should \u201clay squarely with the Israeli government<\/strong>,\u201d is disturbingly reminiscent of the\u00a0medieval antisemitic charge<\/a>\u00a0that the Jews were responsible for the bubonic plague. It is a bleak fact that the COVID-19 kills. As IfNotNow was preparing the groundwork for Israel to be held responsible for Gazans who succumb to the disease, the coronavirus had already killed thousands in Italy, China, and Spain, and hundreds in Iran, France, the United States, United Kingdom, and Netherlands. It has taken lives in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Norway, Luxemburg, and dozens of other countries. With even the world\u2019s richest lands beset by shortages of intensive care beds, respirators, and other needed supplies, it seems unlikely that any country can avoid burying victims of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But IfNotNow\u2019s mission is to attack Israel, and the Coronavirus offers the group another opportunity. A closer look at its petition reveals the usual falsehoods, distortions, and omissions on which the anti-Israel propaganda campaign so often rests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition, though written before a single case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the Gaza Strip, insists that Palestinians there \u201cappear to be on the precipice of catastrophe<\/strong>.\u201d  Ironically, Israel\u2019s limitations on the movement of people through its border crossings with Gaza likely slowed the introduction of the coronavirus to the territory. It was one day after<\/em> the petition was published, as Israel was dealing with over a thousand cases, that the disease was first introduced to the Gaza Strip, when according to media reports two Palestinian travelers returned to Gaza from Pakistan,<\/em> via<\/em> Egypt<\/em>. But IfNotNow and other anti-Israel advocacy groups want people to blame only Israel for any damage done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is, of course, a reasonable likelihood that Gaza will be severely impacted by the virus. If affluent northern Italy is susceptible to devastation, the poorer and more crowded Gaza Strip, which for the past 15 years has been ruled by Hamas, an internationally designated terror group, is certainly not immune. At the moment, though, the talk of a territory on the brink of catastrophe is not shared by Gaza\u2019s general director of primary care. \u201cThere is no need for panic at this stage,\u201d said the director, Medhat Abbas. \u201cWe can deal with existing cases and limited numbers,\u201d Abbas explained, \u201cbut if the pandemic increases, as happened in some countries, we will need international intervention.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entry of infected patients through Egypt\u2019s Rafah Crossing belies IfNotNow\u2019s false claim that \u201cthe Israeli government \u2026 controls what goes in and out of Gaza<\/strong>.\u201d Hundreds of people a day pass through that Egyptian-Palestinian border crossing. And hundreds of truckloads of goods enter Gaza from Egypt via that same crossing,\u00a0notes<\/a>\u00a0the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A closer look at [IfNotNow’s] petition reveals the usual falsehoods, distortions, and omissions on which the anti-Israel propaganda campaign so often rests.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

More egregiously, IfNotNow also wants people to believe Israel doesn\u2019t allow medical supplies into the Gaza Strip. As its petition puts it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The international community must do everything it can to protect everyone in the world from this pandemic \u2014 and this must include the stateless Palestinians in Gaza, whose lives are controlled by the Israeli military. The Israeli government must live up to its legal obligations as an occupying power by providing Palestinians with the medical supplies they need to survive this pandemic\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign the petition and demand that the Israeli government protects Palestinians in Gaza by lifting the blockade and immediately delivering medical supplies \u2014 such as Coronavirus test kits, ventilation equipment and medical masks \u2014 to Gaza.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is much to take issue with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n