Before writing this post, I conducted a brief on-line search for the countries that have the most famine. Those that show up at the top of the list are places like Yemen, South Sudan, Haiti, the Congo, Chad and Somalia. Search for yourselves. Feel the shock I felt at seeing some of the truly horrendous pictures of children wasting away. (I have opted not to put up any of those deeply upsetting pictures here.)
Then ask yourselves: Why is it that we don’t hear more about the dying children of these places? Tens – no, hundreds – of thousands of children. Why are there no loud campaigns internationally demanding action to save them? Why aren’t people on the street taking about how terrible it is in these places?
Why? Because the starving children of Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia have nothing to do with Israel. The world is not really concerned about the children of Gaza: The world is concerned about Israel, which is fighting an existential war in Gaza – a war the world would prefer we not win. Making Israel responsible for the children of Gaza presumably provides a stumbling block to victory for Israel.
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As we proceeded to fight that existential war in Gaza, starting in October 2023, Hamas made a practice of seizing large portions of the aid intended for the people that was being brought in. Most of it came under UN auspices, via the World Food Program or UNRWA. Hamas used a portion of what they had taken for themselves and sold some of it – at inflated prices – to the Gazans for whom it had been intended at no cost.
In doing this, Hamas strengthened itself, secured necessary operating funds, and made it more difficult for the IDF to defeat them.
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Two months ago, a new distribution procedure was put in place with a private American group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), operating with the assistance of the IDF, which has been blocking terrorist actions against their aid distribution.
This new procedure threatened Hamas’s control of Gaza. Thus has Hamas promoted accusations that there was starvation and GHF was failing to get food to the people.
This is how Hamas plays it – with PR that the media readily and uncritically share. This is the other half of the war with Hamas that we are fighting: the fight against widely-believed false accusations. Widely- believed because of a readiness to believe them.
The UN, which is irredeemably corrupt, has sided with Hamas on this and insists that they must be the ones to do the aid distribution. When they were doing it, it was possible for Hamas to access supplies. Recently, the UN kept 90 trucks of supplies at the crossing into Gaza, claiming that there were security problems and the supplies could not be delivered. Ultimately, food spoiled in the sun and had to be destroyed. This is from Shurat HaDin on July 25:
“Hundreds of UN trucks packed with food are rotting outside Gaza.
“The UN refuses to move them. This isn’t a crisis of access. It’s a crisis of will. While private groups like GHF deliver aid quickly and safely, the UN does nothing.
“These photos are from yesterday. The UN isn’t helping. It’s standing in the way.”
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Let me digress for just a moment: The UN “posted a job opening on July 23 for an executive assistant in the UN Resident Coordinator Office, based in what the global body describes as ‘Jerusalem, Palestine.’”
https://www.jns.org/un-hiring-new-employee-for-jerusalem-palestine/
Says it all, I think.
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Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev recently did a session on their regular podcast series on JNS, “Israel Undiplomatic,” in which they dealt with this situation. You may find it enlightening:
https://www.jns.org/the-gaza-aid-hoax-how-hamas-controls-the-narrative-and-the-food/
Hamas control of the narrative is a key point. While the IDF is winning the military battle, Hamas is to a large extent controlling a fallacious narrative about how the refusal of Israel/the IDF to allow sufficient food in is causing children to die of starvation.
And so I wish to make an exceedingly important point here (which Ruthie made in her podcast) that is rarely if ever considered: NEVER is a country at war held responsible for feeding the enemy population. Only now, in order to weaken Israel, is this demand being made.
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Senator Cotton (R-AR) echoes this observation (emphasis added):
“I just want to point out to you what an unusual, I would say singular standard that the world seems to impose on Israel yet again. Israel was viciously attacked on October 7, without provocation. People were slaughtered, children were killed, women were raped, and yet the world expects Israel to provide food to the people from the land that launched that attack.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember food aid going from the United States to Germany and Japan in World War II…in the middle of a war, a war of aggression that was launched against Israel, Israel really has no responsibility whatsoever to provide any kind of aid into Gaza, and the fact that they’re doing so just proves they always go the extra mile because they always face unique standards in the world.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/412473
Ruthie told a story in the podcast mentioned above in which she describes a picture of an Arab mother, presumably in Gaza, sitting by a bed near an emaciated child on the edge of death. The mother, said Ruthie, was obese. And so, she concluded, if indeed that child was dying of starvation, it would have been the mother’s fault.
It’s typical of what we’re seeing: pictures and videos that allegedly but fallaciously represent starvation of Gazan children. I will be clear about this: I am not denying that there is hunger in Gaza or that some percentage of the children are malnourished. But the accusations of starvation – of famine – are false.
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There is a term that has been around for decades, one you may be familiar with: Pallywood – an amalgamation of the words Palestinian and Hollywood. It refers to pictures and videos that are doctored and falsify Israel’s situation. I would say the ability to discern truth is even more difficult now than when the term was coined because of AI and the inability in many cases to determine whether the picture we are looking at is real (never mind whether it was really taken in Gaza).
I share one picture here – presumably taken in Gaza – that was put out by AP. It raises legitimate questions and helps to make my point:
The child sitting in his mother’s lap appears horrendously emaciated, so that his bones show through. Perhaps he is truly emaciated because of famine. But can we know that this was not doctored by AI? Especially as the skin on his back, where the bones show through, is a different color from the skin on his neck. Take a look at the toddler to the right. He has a round face and certainly doesn’t appear emaciated. Why the difference between the two, who presumably are siblings?
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The picture below is from Al-Jazeera, which is pointedly pro-Hamas. The words “STARVING GAZA” were on the picture I took from the Internet. Does saying it make it so? This picture shows a very cute child who may be hungry but certainly is not starving. What’s the point here? Are we to be so taken by her that we will be resolved to prevent her from starving?
Then let us look at a photo taken by a photographer from the Anadolu Agency, headquartered in Turkey, and put out by BBC and a number of other news sources. It went out broadly:
The direct implication here is that this emaciated Gazan child is starving because the people are not being provided with sufficient food.
Honest Reporting uncovered the truth of the situation, however: He is in this terrible condition because he is a sick child with a degenerative muscle disease.
See the story here and don’t miss the video clip that explains how the suspicions of Honest Reporting were raised:
https://honestreporting.com/another-photo-another-lie/
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Please see (and share) this posting on X that shows the peaceful distribution of food packages by GHF:
GHF put out a statement on X:
“Hamas is again spreading disinformation — falsely attributing casualties near UN/WFP convoys to GHF. We expect the media to treat Hamas claims with skepticism, not amplification. We expect the @UN to be transparent about the injuries and deaths occurring with their own convoys. And we expect the media to hold them to the same standards they hold GHF. We have received credible reports that there have been multiple casualties over multiple days due to stampedes of UN and other international aid vehicles.”
X @GHFUpdates
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On Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu denied the charges of starvation in Gaza. He then announced additional procedures that are being put in place to counter the charges: There will be 10-hour “humanitarian pauses” to allow food in, with the implementation of “safe corridors.”
https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-to-christian-leaders-no-starvation-in-gaza/
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See here, as well, statements by Col. Abdullah Halabi, head of COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza (emphasis added):
Israeli moves in recent weeks to facilitate the delivery of aid include ‘expanding’ the Kerem Shalom Crossing and opening up three other terminals in the north and center of the Strip.
“We allowed longer work hours, and we took all the necessary steps to allow the international community to bring a very large amount of humanitarian aid into [Gaza], to combat the famine narrative, which Hamas uses to fight against us.”
“The State of Israel allows the entry of humanitarian aid beyond the standards of international law, without restriction. As long as the international community makes an effort to bring in the aid, we will allow them to bring it in.”
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There were those here in the government – notably Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – who were not happy about these new procedures announced by Netanyahu as they work against our efforts to take down Hamas. How do we defeat the terrorists with 10-hour pauses?
The prime minister took these actions in the face of growing anti-Israel sentiment internationally, sentiment that could play negatively in diplomatic venues – including increased support (as perverse and idiotic as it is) for recognition of a Palestinian state.
Smotrich sought guarantees from Netanyahu that we would continue to fight until we defeated Hamas.
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There have been discussions at the highest levels here about how we might handle Hamas if negotiations fail – and there will be much to say about this. I thought that a rather strange concept: “if” they fail. It has been obvious for some time that Hamas didn’t want an interim agreement. They wanted to end the war, remain standing, have all of the terrorists in our prisons released, and see the IDF pull out of Gaza. Then they would release the hostages. Both the US and the Israeli delegations had returned home but indicated they still intended to work towards a deal. And I wondered, what sort of deal, if Hamas keeps upping its demands? A new proposal offering them more, and then another?
I have just now picked up a report from Israel Hayom, the first such report, indicating that negotiations have failed. There is no clarity as to what this actually means and how it was finally decided that this was the case.
The only information I have is that Witkoff is coming here by tomorrow (which of course, as my readers will know, brings great joy to my heart). He will visit the GHF aid stations in Gaza, and for the rest we will have to hold tight and see what transpires.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/07/30/witkoff-races-to-israel-as-gaza-talks-collapse/
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I ask for prayers for all of Am Yisrael.
Pray for the wisdom and courage of our leaders.
Pray for the safety of our soldiers as they fight.
Pray for the recovery of all hostages.
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©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
