For Myth #2 click here.

 

If you’re unable to to view the image above, below you will find the text.

 

1. MYTH: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a level playing field: Israel vs. Hamas

FACT: This is the modern-day David versus Goliath. Why is the deadly Israeli assault collectively punishing over 1.7 million people in Gaza? Israel is an occupying colonialist force and isengaging in what all colonial powers do: carrying out an ethnic cleansing of the native population by use of force, instituting discriminatory policies — including apartheid, annexing land, and crushing any sign of strength of resistance.

The media has continuously presented this conflict as Hamas and Israel exchanging fire on a level playing field, mostly reporting that Israel is responding to Hamas rockets and is acting in self-defense.

Hamas’ Qassam rockets are homemade projectiles made from common civilian products, including pipes made of steel, cast iron and aluminum.

Israel, on the other hand, has one of the most sophisticated and advanced militaries in the world, comparable to and often cited as more advanced than Great Britain’s military and weapons of industrial warfare. Israel has also been caught using banned weapons on Palestinians in Gaza — including DIME weapons that emit micro-shrapnel and Flechette shells, which release thousands of lethal metal darts in the air.

Gaza is the most densely populated area on the planet, with over 1.7 million people living in a 139-square mile strip. Any bombing or attacks on the area will likely hit civilians.

 

FACT: Israeli shelling and bombing have devastated Gaza and its civilians

According to the UN:

• Nearly 17,000 homes bombed and destroyed

• Over 2,000 civilians dead, including about 500 children
• Over 500,000 people homeless

• At least 134 factories have been destroyed during Israel’s four-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip, crippling the infrastructure of the Palestinian national economy by targeting factories which posed no security threat to the occupation

• Cost to repair and rebuild Gaza, according to the U.N.: over $5 billion

Hamas Qassam rocket fire damage

• 3 Israeli civilian deaths

• 64 Israeli soldiers killed

 

Noura Erakat, a well-known human rights lawyer, recently stated, “What’s happening amounts to a massacre. It’s not a war… An occupying power does not have the right to self-defense. It has an obligation and duty to protect the civilians under its occupation.”

For Myth #2 click here.