Roger Cohen, "A War of Choice in Gaza": A 21st Century Blood Libel

Warning! Reading Roger ("Iran is not totalitarian") Cohen's latest New York Times op-ed, "A War of Choice in Gaza," could induce nausea and vomiting. But before analyzing the content of Cohen's "opinion piece," it is first necessary to recount a few facts.

In an August 22nd Yahoo! News article entitled "Hamas leader: Don't compare us to ISIL," Khaled Mashaal acknowledged that Hamas was responsible for the killing of the three Israeli teenagers, which led up to the current Gaza conflict:

"Meshaal acknowledged for the first time that Hamas members — but not the group's political leadership — were behind the slaying of three Israeli settlers on the West Bank in June. But he defended the murders as a legitimate action against Israeli 'illegal occupation.'"

But notwithstanding Mashaal's attempt to distance Hamas's leadership from the murders, Israel's left wing Haaretz newspaper reported on August 21 in an article entitled "Hamas claims responsibility for three Israeli teens' kidnapping and murder" by Jack Khoury:

"A senior Hamas official boasted during a conference in Istanbul on Wednesday that the group's military wing was behind the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank in June.

A video captured during the conference shows Salah Arouri, who is based in Turkey and is considered a primary figure within Hamas, saying that the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades were responsible for the abduction of the three youths, Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16."

A few days ago, in an article entitled "Israel indicts mastermind behind West Bank kidnapping" by Gili Cohen, we were informed:

"Hussam Qawasmeh, who allegedly headed the terror cell that kidnapped and murdered three Jewish teenagers in Gush Etzion in June, was charged in Ofer military court with organizing and funding the attack.

. . . .

During his interrogation, the Shin Bet Security Service says, Hussam said he had hinted to his brother that he needed funds for a military operation, and eventually he received 220,000 shekels. A female courier made three deliveries of 50,000 shekels each to Hussam’s mother’s home, the Shin Bet said, while the other 70,000 shekels were transferred to Hussam via an offsetting transaction.

. . . .

With regard to whether this attack was overseen in Gaza or by senior Hamas officials, [a Shin Bet] agent said the Shin Bet doesn’t think the kidnapping was a directive from above, though the money probably came from there, 'and even that was not necessarily for a kidnapping but for military activity.' The Shin Bet agent thought the attack was the failed attempt by a local Hamas cell in Hebron that to kidnap someone to use as a bargaining chip."

Or stated otherwise, the murders of the three Israeli boys by a Hamas cell in Hebron were funded by Hamas and subsequently justified by its leadership. Moreover, a senior Hamas official, operating out of Turkey, is crediting the terror organization's military wing with the killings.

Now back to Cohen's "opinion piece." Writing from London about the recent war between Hamas and Israel, Cohen would have us know:

"Much mystery continues to shroud its genesis, the abduction on June 12 of three Israeli youths near Hebron and their murder, now attributed to a local Palestinian clan including Hamas operatives who acted without the knowledge or direction of the Hamas leadership. (There has been no major investigative piece in the American press on the incident, a troubling omission.)

But enough detail has emerged to make clear that Netanyahu leapt on 'unequivocal proof' of Hamas responsibility (still unproduced) for political ends.

. . . .

For more than two weeks after the abduction, persuasive evidence that the teenagers were dead was kept from the Israeli public.

. . . .

The effect of this concealment, whatever its justification, was to whip up an Israeli frenzy."

As already stated, even if Hamas's leadership in Gaza did not direct the operation, it was undertaken by a Hamas cell, funded by Hamas and justified by Hamas's most senior leadership. Cohen prefers to ignore this information.

And then there is also the small matter of Hamas's charter, which calls for the murder of all Jews (not just Israelis). But why should Cohen mention the charter, if the objective of his "opinion piece" is to distance Hamas's leadership from the murders?

Moreover, unbeknownst to Cohen, many in Israel presumed that the three Israeli teenagers had been murdered when there was no request for a release of Hamas prisoners in exchange for the boys. On the other hand, it was impossible for the Israeli government to declare the boys dead without first discovering the bodies.

Continuous rocket fire from Gaza aimed at southern Israeli towns and cities throughout 2013 and 2014? Also ignored by Cohen, intent upon bolstering his premise that Israel could have avoided the last round of fighting.

Cohen concludes his opinion piece with an attack, having nothing whatsoever to do with the murders, on AIPAC:

"Two other recent pieces are essential reading in the aftermath of the fighting. The first is Connie Bruck’s 'Friends of Israel' in The New Yorker, an examination of the political sway of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby group. In it, she quotes Brian Baird, a former Democratic congressman, getting to the nub: 'The difficult reality is this: in order to get elected to Congress, if you’re not independently wealthy, you have to raise a lot of money. And you learn pretty quickly that, if Aipac is on your side, you can do that.' She also quotes John Yarmuth, a congressman from Kentucky, on upholding the interests of the United States: 'We all took an oath of office. And Aipac, in many instances, is asking us to ignore it.'"

Ah yes, AIPAC money is being used to manipulate the United States government. Remind you of something?

Using figures provided by Maplight for 2010, I took the total amount of "pro-Israel" contributions to House of Representatives recipients and divided this number by the total number of recipients. The average contribution: $16,313. Can this amount buy even a single 30-second television advertisement, let alone win an election? Oh, those scheming nefarious Jews!

Although the Middle East has descended into savagery and chaos (What ever happened to the ebullient Roger Cohen who glorified the "Arab Spring" from Cairo in 2011 after gleefully promoting reconciliation with Iran in 2009?), how dare anyone believe that Israel's security should be a US priority!

Yes, Cohen is sickening.

[In his "opinion piece," Cohen declares: "More than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians and many of them children, have been killed." Indeed, this is what is being claimed by the UN, based upon numbers provided to the UN by Hamas. However, Cohen does not mention that adult militants and gun-toting teenagers were counted by Hamas as dead "children." Cohen also fails to observe that many civilians died as the result of errant Hamas rocket fire. In addition, Cohen does not state whether his number includes the 120 Gaza residents who, according to Palestinian Authority President Abbas, were executed by Hamas.]