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Hamas Tag

Pallywood is the industry of anti-Israel activists who spread fake images, stories and so on meant to portray Israelis in the worst possible light. Often the fakery is by western activists — you don’t have to be Palestinian to engage in Pallywood. The purpose of the fakery is to push false narratives into the mainstream media, which already is biased against Israel.

Last week on May 15th was Nakba Day, when Palestinians and their supporters mourn what they call the ‘catastrophe’ of the modern Jewish state’s establishment, mark the displacement of some 750,000 Arabs in 1948, and call for the ‘right’ of return of the Palestinian refugees to their lost homes in present-day Israel. There are many reasons that hundreds of thousands of Arabs were displaced in 1948—but as we highlighted in a recent post, chief among them was the fear of being harmed by the approaching Zionist forces.

The weekly attempts to breach the Israeli border fence by thousands of Gazans is portrayed in the media as a peaceful civilian protest. But it has been anything but peaceful, as we have documented numerous times. Rather, these are military-style assaults using the cover of civilian protests. They are controlled by Hamas, which can turn the border fence surges on and off, and whose leaders appear at a safe distance from the fence to urge people to achieve martyrdom by rushing and tearing down the fence.

Today (May 14) the U.S. embassy will officially move from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital city. The move, widely regarded as historic and “momentous” for Israel and the Jewish people, will coincide with the anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence 70 years ago on the Gregorian calendar. It also comes one day after Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim), which marks the reunification of the city during the 1967 Six Day War, and the return of Jewish heritage and holy sites to Jewish sovereignty.

We have covered Pallywood dozens of times. Pallywood is the industry of anti-Israel activists who spread fake images, stories and so on meant to portray Israelis in the worst possible light. Often the fakery is by western activists -- you don't have to be Palestinian to engage in Pallywood. But much of it comes from the phalanx of photographers and videographers who surround -- and sometimes outnumber -- Palestinians involved in hostile actions against Israel.

When you hear about the suffering of people in Gaza, always remember how Hamas, which controls Gaza, diverts cement, steel and other infrastructure supplies including electricity into building elaborate attack tunnels and developing military rocket capabilities. Add to Hamas other groups, such as Islamic Jihad, which are devoted to Israel's destruction and devote resources to that end, and it's clear that the problem is not Israel or the military blockade, but the decisions made by Palestinians themselves.

The so-called Great March of Return held every Friday for the past four weeks at the Gaza-Israel border is falsely portrayed as a peaceful civilian protest by groups like Amnesty International. That false designation has led to claims that Israel is violating international law by using live fire against "protesters" who approach the border fence. In fact, as we have documented weekly, the "protests" are actually military operations by Hamas and other terror groups using civilian protests as cover.

Hamas seems to have found its sweet spot. Under cover of civilian protests, backed by clouds of smoke from burning tires, it sends operatives to try to breach the Israeli border fence. A fence breach would be used to surge hundreds or even thousands of people into Israeli giving Hamas a propaganda victory. Such a breach also would be used by Hamas military operatives for terror operations -- that's why such a high percentage of those killed at the fence have been Hamas or other terror group military members. We have covered this Hamas tactic in numerous prior posts:

Next time you hear the usual suspects complain about the Israeli military blockade of Gaza, or how Gazans have not been able to rebuild since the 2014 war, keep in mind how many resources the ruling Hamas diverts to missiles, terror, and most of all, attack tunnels. The Hamas tunneling effort diverts huge amounts of concrete, steel, fuel and electricity that could be used for civilian purposes. I discussed in July 2014 how Hamas' tunnel effort demonstrates that it has no interest in building a civil society, One People built tunnels, the other a nation:

On Friday, April 6, 2018, Hamas staged another "protest" under the banner of the Great March of Return. We already have documented how the previous March 30 "protest" was in fact an attempt to infiltrate terrorists into Israel under cover of civilians. Almost all of the people killed on March 30 were military members of Hamas or other terror groups: