Has the West been taken in by Hamas’ lies and anti Israeli narrative?

I disagree. It’s more complex. Getting aid that you then can’t use to import not even enough building materials to keep up repairs or medical equipment to treat cancer or even equipment for a proper power generation infrastructure or safe water supply and sewage treatment. Getting aid that is used to set up a fruit and veg growing industry or soda bottling or other small manufacturing that is then strangled by Israel refusing to allow any exports to leave Gaza.

The economic impacts of the blockade I would say have more impact on the poverty than Hamas siphoning off aid for Iranian weapons.

What propaganda are you talking about then? The numbers dead is thought to be underestimated rather than over. The devastation wrecked in Gaza is clear for everyone with eyes to see. There is a lack of aid, medicine, food being allowed in, again verified by the number of trucks crossing Rafa compared to pre war. What propaganda do you think Hamas has been peddling?

I don’t think I can agree given that you obviously did not post the truth about the journalist in the first place.

The part that is untrue is “only reason”
There are many more reasons why

That’s not the only reason they are poor, the other reason is a 20yr and counting blockade on Gaza. In addition, the aid given to Gaza is dwarfed by the aid the US gave to Israel.

Finally, the Jewish culture in Israel is western. I don’t think the poster was referring to ethnicity so much as culturally it is more like a western democracy than say most Arab nations which are still very much not democratic and have much progress to make with women’s rights and reducing the income and wealth gap between rich and poor.

If we give them the benefit of the doubt given their other posts, I think the poster meant it was a bit daft to be suprised that Hamas government written curriculum for school children would be anything other than antisemitic? I really don’t think they were saying it was daft to be concerned.

The saying “truth is the first casualty of war” refers to the governments and their leaders that have decided to wage war on each other, or one on the other. Journalists are the counter to this as they are not personally invested in winning or losing a war.

Unprovoked? How often has Israel "Mowed the grass"?

2006
2008
2012
2014
2018
2019
2021
2022

But hey, let's pretend this all started on Oct 7th.

All the anti Israel threads are fine of course
What anti Israel threads? There are very few threads started by "pro Palestinian" posters. The number of posters in the CITME section is small but it is not pro Palestinian posters keeping this section active. And just because you are critical of the Israeli government doesn't mean you're anti Israel.

The final flailing of a drowning man!

Was in the pub last night and a ghastly old pair were going down the street pestering people peacefully outside sitting outside pubd and restaurants peddling a ridiculous Anti-Israeli propaganda ‘newspaper’. I bet they would have been arrested for breaking the peace if it had been listing the appalling atrocities perpetrated by the Palestinians.

Not my conspiracy theory. Take it up with Avi Shlaim and the Mossad agents he not only names but interviews in the book.

What is not true about the statement that the only reason Gaza is poor is because billions of dollars have been misspent on building tunnels and siphoned off by Hamas. Or that Hamas is actually extremely well off?

It's legitimate to be concerned about propaganda and children on both sides.

But this thread is about Hamas and it's not “a bit daft ” to worry about antisemitic propaganda in schools in Gaza.

How did the UN investigate and hold UNRWA to account?

After 16 UN member states, including the U.S., pulled economic support from the agency in January 2024, the UN commissioned the Colonna report, named for former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna who led the panel.

The report, issued four months later, validated concerns about UNRWA’s governance, politicization, and the hijacking of the agency, its facilities, and its mandate for Hamas-led purposes.

The report also confirmed that stronger safeguarding mechanisms are necessary to ensure UNRWA adheres to the humanitarian principle of neutrality, which dictates that humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious, or ideological nature. The report recommended the formation of a governance board to regularly report on neutrality issues.

Rare for a UN report on one of its entities, the Colonna report acknowledged problems with how UNRWA operates, including the permissive environment on problematic content in textbooks, supplemental material and teaching content, the politicization of staff unions and the need to better vet and train staff, and the “misuse” of UNRWA facilities – including an allusion to storing weapons, building tunnels, and other activities unrelated to a humanitarian mission.

UNRWA has committed to implementing all of the recommendations in the Colonna report, but has claimed that much of the implementation is dependent on increased funding and further action by states. So far, the oversight mechanisms of UNRWA have been strengthened, and they have committed to more proactive information sharing with Israel as well as social media monitoring of their local employees.

https://www.ajc.org/news/what-to-know-about-unrwa-and-its-controversial-role-in-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict

Israel is surrounded by hostile nations and is subjected to so much hatred regardless of who is in charge. Some of those do not want Israel to exist at all. The attacks on Oct 7th started this most recent episode of atrocities. The escalation of violence has seen huge destruction on both sides, finding a way to end this was always going to be extremely difficult, I believe that the start to finding a solution had to begin by going back to Oct 7th as that attack was unprovoked.

That's just not true is it Sharon.
I'm surprised that someone with all that anti racism training , hasn't taken the time to research what Israel has done to Gaza and show some concern for the Muslims in the region and various other countries that Israel has attacked over many years. It's not really anti racist to show no concern about this is it.

People should be equally concerned about the brain washing of Israeli children and adults.

Fair enough and perhaps this doesn't apply to you in particular but it does apply to some threads on here and many comments on social media. These have definitely ramped up recently, which isn't a coincidence.

The problem is that many of us can agree that Netanyahu's behaviour over 30 years has been despicable, that he is committing a genocide, etc. The question is, if he loses this election, who else will come into power? As far as I can see, all the alternatives will carry out the same policies. This appears to be an Israeli political class problem, which pervades many in the population too, unfortunately. The Israeli population are taught to hate Arabs, including the children. This is also stated publicly by some of their leaders. They talk of killing all Palestinians including the children because they will grow up to become terrorists. There really is something wrong when people make these kind of comments openly and also when they are not immediately ostracised for doing so.

The only reason Gaza is poor is because billions of dollars have been misspent on building tunnels and siphoned off by Hamas. Hamas is actually extremely well off. Jews are not 'Westerners', this is a deliberate lie. Over half of Israeli Jews are mizrahi and anyone with even a passing familiarity with the practice of Judaism knows about the centrality of Israel & the middle East.