Those Killed In Recent Attack In Gaza Were Hamas Not Journalists, Israel insists
By Bukar BOLORI
Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs has explained that the people killed in its recent attacks on Gaza were never journalists but members of Hamas.
Four Journalists were reportedly to have been killed by the Israeli soldiers on Monday in the ongoing clampdown on Hamas in Gaza.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, Sharren Miriam Haskel-Harpaz, who is on an official visit to Nigeria, insisted that the slain journalists were affiliates of Hamas. Haskel-Harpaz said Israel has evidence to back up its claims.
She said: “I want you to look at the images of the funeral of the so-called journalist that was there. And you will see those that are carrying him and the symbol of Hamas as well. It’s because he wasn’t a real journalist.
“But the fact is that they are Hamas affiliated members. Many of them have military training. It’s not just because of that that they have the symbol of Hamas on their grave, carrying them in the funeral.
“Do you know why Hamas operatives and militants are carrying them? We could identify them to you.”
She further stressed: “Many people in Gaza are being used as a tool, as part of a propaganda war of Hamas. The war that we are fighting against terrorist organisations is not just in the military front. They are also on social media, in the general media.
“How do you think they recruit new terrorists? Even here, it’s easier for them through the media, through social media, to attract them, to push their ideology. There are many more fronts, the economical one, through that political influence one, where those terrorist organisations are spreading that chaos in many more countries all around the world. And so in that war of media, many of their operatives are being used, disguised as journalists.”
The Deputy Minister also noted that most of the reports about starvation in Gaza were mere propaganda so as to pressure the international community to sanction Israel.
She said: “Those images that you brought from the funeral that you broadcast on your media, do those people who carry them look starving? Do they look like skeletons? So here’s another proof of that propaganda, of the fake news that Hamas has been propagating through the media in a media war against Israel.
“Why do they do that? To put pressure on Israel to stop the war. But we can’t.”
On when she thinks the war will end, she said: “ It ends in one way, and why only one way? Because we don’t have any other option. When all of our hostages will be back home, safely, and when Hamas destroys itself. And it could have ended yesterday, six months ago, a year ago, just now.”
She went on to say, “for a few weeks we’ve been negotiating so delicately on a ceasefire that will end this war. We agreed to it. Any proposal in the last few months that the Americans and the American envoy Whitcock put on the table, Israel said yes. Hamas said no.”
She also added another dimension to the issue, blaming the European Union threat on Israel for the elongation of the war.
“Why don’t they want to end it? Why don’t they want a ceasefire? I’ll tell you why. And I’ll tell you why those negotiations broke down. Because of European leaders like Macron.
“Every single week during those delicate negotiations, the European Union or Macron has given them a reward for the continuation of the war. Putting pressure only on Israel. Stating that if Israel doesn’t surrender, then they might impose an economical boycott.
“That is, if Israel doesn’t surrender, then Macron will declare a Palestinian state.
“What do you think Hamas thinks of it? They say, oh, that’s great. The longer this war will go, the more Macron will reward us. The more the international community will reward us. So what reason do they have to finish this war in the sun themselves? None. And that’s why the negotiation failed.”
