Hamas Lied About Who Bombed the Hospital in Gaza - Game on for the Information War!
October 18, 2023 - Issue #20
I intended to devote this newsletter to the growing information war centered around Hamas’ lies and its use of Telegram to promulgate them.
But then events overtook my intentions.
Explosions at a hospital in Gaza killed people. How many died? Who did it? How did I first hear about it? From the New York Times whose headline blared - “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinian Officials Say.” After the headline came information that 500 were killed. Other news outlets echoed the same. That sounded really bad. Except, it wasn’t true.
Then, the news organizations got nervous that maybe they got it wrong. The New York Times’ next headline was, “Israel and Palestinians Blame Each Other for Deadly Blast at Gaza Hospital.” While true, it was hardly fair. CNN echoed much the same. Newscasters then pretzeled themselves to highlight Hamas’ claims without asking for evidence but gave short shrift to Israeli denials.
The net effect was an eruption in the Arab world, Arab cancellation of the meeting between President Biden and the President of Egypt, King of Jordan, and the leader of the PA. And, of course, increasing danger for Israel. The demonstrations and riots in some Arab capitols remind me what became standard fare before the 1967 war. Frankly, it’s scary how ready so many are to spew hatred toward Israel, and the United States for that matter.
All because of a calculated lie not backed by a scintilla of evidence.
Now for the truth:
Israeli intelligence recorded conversations between two members of Hamas in which one of them told the other that the missile that struck the hospital compound was fired by Islamic Jihad (a smaller Gaza terrorist group aligned with Hamas’ goals) toward Israel but fell short. As evidence, the Hamas member saying that revealed that the shrapnel found was not Israeli but from a local source.
Note - This is not the first time an Islamic Jihad or Hamas rocket has misfired and fallen short inside Gaza. In fact, it has already happened 450 times in this war causing an unknown number of casualties inside Gaza! Why? Because they are poorly built. Especially the ones built by Islamic Jihad. Read this article as to why. And, see this video for what happens when a Hamas rocket malfunctioned in 2021.
Israel published radar tracking which clearly shows the trajectory of what appears to be a barrage of ten rockets fired towards Israel that traveled directly over the hospital where one fell short (see below).
An Israeli missile explosion would leave a crater, as evidenced in pictures released by the IDF, but in this instance, there was no crater (also as evidenced in pictures released by the IDF).
The fire that ensued was consistent with an explosion of a rocket with unused fuel and limited payload, as was the case with the type of rocket fired by Islamic Jihad, but not consistent with the type of missiles used by Israel.
The damage on the ground did not cause significant blast damage as opposed to fire damage, again consistent with an Islamic Jihad rocket malfunction as opposed to an Israel missile hitting a target.
Israel had no airplane overhead at the time of the explosion.
Israel would not reap any political or military benefit by targeting the hospital. Nor is it likely with the precision guided munitions it uses, that one of its missiles would go off target like that.
The explosion did not even happen due to an Iron Dome intercept because Iron Dome, per an Israeli spokesperson, intercepts rockets outside of Gaza.
President Biden stated it was not Israel and that he reached that conclusion based on “Data shown [to me] by my defense department.” Also, the U.S. National Security Council has just released a statement that the rocket did not come from Israel. All based on data, I might add, that at least in part would have been independent of what Israel provided because the United States has its own capability to track missiles in the region as well as other intelligence sources.
What is Hamas’ proof? None! None other than dead bodies.
In fact, as opposed to Israel, Hamas benefits by the deaths at the hospital. As a result of the incident and Hamas’ lies, the Arab world has exploded and Israel’s present relationship with some Arab nations and a budding one with Saudi Arabia has been further shaken. In addition, Hezbollah and Iran now feel more pressure, if not an appreciated excuse, to attack Israel.
And for that matter, there is great question with regard to the amount of people killed when that Islamic Jihad rocket misfired and landed in the hospital parking lot. The announcement that 500 people died in those flames came from the Gaza Health Ministry. Hmm. How much independence does the Gaza Health Ministry have? Is it more likely to tell the truth or what Hamas wants the truth to be on pain of death. Israel believes the death toll as a result of the Islamic Jihad missile malfunction was much less than claimed. Just as it knows that the overall death toll in Gaza daily announced by the Gaza Health Ministry is terribly misleading because it does not differentiate between noncombatants and terrorists.
So, what lessons should be gleaned from this mess?
Don’t trust initial reports from the press
Question closely subsequent reports of the press when Israel provides definitive proof, Hamas just makes statements without basis, and the press continues to find a false equivalency (something that is still happening on CNN as of 11:51 PM on October 17).
This is the most important lesson—We are in an information war, and all who care about Israel are soldiers in that war. A war waged with words and voices. To wage that war, we must always question anything asserted by the same terrorists that planned to massacre, terrorize, and kidnap Israeli citizens for political purposes. If Hamas will do that, won’t it not hesitate to lie for political purposes too?
Fortunately, in this case, Israel rebutted the lies rather quickly. That will not always be possible. And, those lies have worked. The Arab world is aflame as are Israel haters in the rest of the world.
The days ahead will be hard.
Israel’s Struggle with Hezbollah—A War Without End is now available in eBook and hardback format on Amazon and IngramSpark. This compelling narrative explores Hezbollah’s origins and cancerous growth, traces Israel’s response, and reveals Israel’s present readiness to meet Hezbollah’s challenge.
Cliff Sobin
Important Link—Alma Research and Education Center: Understanding the Security Challenges on Israel’s Northern Border