Variant type 2 of Poliovirus was recently discovered in an infant in the Gaza Strip and the international community is claiming that it is due to the devastation Israel has caused in Gaza. As the world continues to accuse Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, this discovery only adds ammunition to their propaganda arsenal. Did Israel cause a resurgence of Polio in Gaza and has Israel actually committed war crimes in their efforts to destroy Hamas?
The Use of This Polio Case to Vilify Israel
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell described the recent discovery of polio in Gaza with the following statement:
“The re-emergence of polio in Gaza after a quarter century is another sobering reminder of how chaotic, desperate & dangerous the situation has become.”
Without directly blaming Israel, it is easy to see she alludes to this idea and expresses a desperate cry for a halt in Israel’s operations in Gaza. But are Israeli operations really to blame?
Polio is an illness that strikes fear into the hearts of all people, but especially for parents of young children. Polio isn’t typically dangerous for adults, but for children aged 5 years old and younger, it can cause paralysis or death.
Though the vast majority of cases have minor symptoms or are asymptomatic, extremely severe cases can have dire consequences. The concern over the potential spread of polio in Gaza is understandable, but placing blame on Israel is far from reasonable.
Typically spread in areas with poor hygiene and sanitation systems, which commonly occurs in regions affected by war, responsibility for this illness cannot be placed on Israel for multiple reasons. The initial reason is that Israel did not start this war; Israel would not have been forced to enter Gaza had Hamas not attacked, kidnapped, and murdered Israelis on October 7th. Not only this, but Israel has once again deflected the blame of the onset of this illness by distributing the preventative measures for the last eleven months.
The Claims That Israel has Not Taken Preventative Measures Can be Disputed Through Simple Math
WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA, and MoH (Palestinian Ministry of Health) are planning to work in conjunction to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10 with two doses of the Polio vaccine. With this number we’re able to calculate if Israel has distributed a sufficient number of vaccines to appease the international community’s demands.
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has distributed 2,821,260 doses of the vaccine to Gaza and, following the discovery of Polio, they have made plans to distribute an additional 1,000,000+ doses. This comes out to far more than what is recommended by health organizations to deal with an outbreak of Polio.
This is Not the Only Claim Against Israel
Following the ICC’s requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant over war crimes like the “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health/cruel treatment”, questions began to surface regarding whether these claims held any water. The reality of just how willing world powers and media are willing to falsely portray Israeli humanitarian aid was once again shown to the world. An investigation brought to light that, in their report, the UN omitted roughly 10,000 Israeli aid trucks that had entered Gaza. Not only this, but an additional study has found that the food aid sent to Gaza has been considered adequate for the entire population. Despite the world’s tremendous efforts to depict Israel as an immoral aggressor, case after case and study after study continually proves that Israel is not guilty of any of the crimes they have been accused of.
If there was still any question of what extent Israel takes to prevent Gazan deaths, they have also facilitated the establishment of 14 field hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Field hospitals are erected to combat the destruction of healthcare facilities (which can occur when terrorists use hospitals as their base of operations). This provides Gaza with access to medical treatments without the threat to Israel of it housing Hamas militants or being used as a means to hide hostages.
Israel is not to Blame
Despite the vilification of Israel portrayed in the media, when the facts are acknowledged, Israel is entirely innocent of the accusations held against it. The lies that are spread about how Israel is causing disease to break out, starvation, and murder are easily proven erroneous after showing the extensive efforts used by Israel to avoid Gaza casualties. Israel continues to display exceptional morality and effectively prove the claims of the world to be entirely false. Thus relaying that, if the news claims that Israel is using any means to commit genocide against civilians in Gaza, it is most likely a false portrayal of the actual situation.
Israel gets the blame for everything. If the world can’t think of anyone to blame, they think, oh let’s blame Israel. God’s people are the only ones who are strong enough to weather the storm. May God continue to uphold them and keep them.
Thank you for your clear honest comment.
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Okay, so let me get this straight. Hamas attacks Israel, killing 1200 immediately, wounding, raping and mutilating others, including babies. Then they took hundreds hostage and are still holding over 100 hostages after almost 11 months. And Israel is expected to respond by holding fire and first asking if everyone has had their polio shots? The people of Gaza voted and elected Hamas. Over 70%, according to polls, have indicated they still support Hamas. They don’t seem to care that Hamas spent millons of dollars on terror tunnels and zero on medical needs. And for sure, the last thing on the minds of those Hamas leaders were the vaccination needs of their people. It’s obvious they don’t care about their people except for using them for human shields. Bottom line – if the people who call themselves “Palestinians” really want a state, they need to grow up and start figuring out what it means to take care of infrastructure and citizens, other than using all their funds to buy limos for the Hamas leaders and weapons for murdering Israelis.