The case of al-Shifa hospital – hasbara exposed

JVL Introduction

That there are tunnels under Al-Shifa hospital should surprise no-one, least of all Israel. It built large numbers of them when it was occupying Gaza directly.

But before the siege of Al-Shifa hospital IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari made some very specific allegations, viz that

• five hospital buildings were directly involved in Hamas activities;
• the buildings sat atop underground tunnels that were used by militants to direct rocket attacks and command fighters; and
• the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards.

The assertions were backed by “concrete evidence”. Allegedly.

A Washington Post analysis, reposted below, shows:

• The rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by IDF troops showed no immediate evidence of military use by Hamas.
• None of the five hospital buildings identified by Hagari appeared to be connected to the tunnel network.
• There is no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards.

The Post’s assessment is cautious in the extreme but with the best will in the world cannot find anything of substance to back up the IDF’s claims (see the original article for clips from IDF-released video “evidence”).

None of it amounts to more than a hill of beans in this crazy world.

Since this non-justification for the invasion of Al-Shifa, a string of other hospitals have become  “legitimate targets” as Israel rewrites the rules of war, while Western powers look on and do nothing.

This article was originally published by the Washington Post on Thu 21 Dec 2023. Read the original here.