The Real Story About Al Shifa Hospital, Hamas and Israel
Hamas Headquarters at Al Shifa Hospital? Not!!
A tip of the hat to Bernard at Moon of Alabama. He has a knack for finding hidden gems and his latest is a doozy. Most of the media is peddling Israel's Big Lie that Hamas has its headquarters and the hostages underneath Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Here is one example:
Israel-Gaza war: US says Hamas has command centre under Al-Shifa hospital - BBC - November 14 2023
But Bernard then links to an astonishing article from 2014. DID YOU GET THAT? Nine years ago -- July 29, 2014 to be precise -- The Tablet published this: Top Secret Hamas Command Bunker in Gaza Revealed. To quote Yogi Berra, it is Deja Vu all over again. Check out the
The idea that one of Hamas’ main command bunkers is located beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is one of the worst-kept secrets of the Gaza war. So why aren’t reporters in Gaza ferreting it out? The precise location of a large underground bunker equipped with sophisticated communications equipment and housing some part of the leadership of a major terrorist organization beneath a major hospital would seem to qualify as a world-class scoop—the kind that might merit a Pulitzer, or at least a Polk.
So why isn’t the fact that Hamas uses Shifa Hospital as a command post making headlines? In part, it’s because the location is so un-secret that Hamas regularly meets with reporters there. On July 15, for example, William Booth of the Washington Post wrote that the hospital “has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.” Back in 2006, PBS even aired a documentary showing how gunmen roam the halls of the hospital, intimidate the staff, and deny them access to protected locations within the building—where the camera crew was obviously prohibited from filming. Yet the confirmation that Hamas is using Gaza City’s biggest hospital as its de facto headquarters was made in the last sentence of the eighth paragraph of Booth’s story—which would appear to be the kind of rookie mistake that is known in journalistic parlance as “burying the lede.”
And how did Israel learn this "open" secret? The Tablet article provides the surprising answer:
The Israelis are so sure about the location of the Hamas bunker, however, not because they are trying to score propaganda points, or because it has been repeatedly mentioned in passing by Western reporters—but because they built it.Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath Shifa hospital—which is one among several reasons why Israeli security sources are so sure that there is a main Hamas command bunker in or around the large cement basement beneath the area of Building 2 of the Hospital, which reporters are obviously prohibited from entering.
Just imagine that. Not only did Israel help fund Hamas in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority (see video below), but it built part of their damn underground bunker system.
How many think that Israel is lying about Hamas NOW using Al Shifa Hospital as its base? Raise you hands. (My hand is up.) This is not the only piece of propaganda Israel has pushed in order to expel the Palestinians from Gaza and take control of the land. Besides falsely claiming that Hamas beheaded forty babies and wantonly raped Israeli women, Israel is pushing a whopper of a tale about Hamas using the Rantisi Children's Hospital as a hideout for holding hostages. Before you watch the video evidence below please take a look at Rowan Atkinson's comedy bit. Why? The IDF spokesman in the video filmed in the bowels of Rantisi sure looks and sounds like Mr. Atkinson.
In showing Mr. Atkinson's humor I am not trying to make light of the plight of the hostages. It is not funny. But, after you watch the following absurd theater courtesy of the IDF, I will bet many of you will conclude this was produced by the satire site, Babylon Bee. Pay careful attention towards the end when this IDF spokesman points to an a paper on the wall (it contains Arabic script) and claims this is the work schedule for Hamas guards, who were holding the hostages. Turns out it is nothing more than a calendar written in Arabic. You know why the Israeli is speaking in English rather than Hebrew? Yep. Feeding propaganda to gullible Americans. Geez! What a clown show.
Here is a close up of the hand written calendar.
If you have not read Scott Ritter's latest on SubStack -- The Hamas October 7 Assault on Israel --please put it at the top of your "to do" list. Here is a tease:
Israel has characterized the attack carried out by Hamas on the various Israeli military bases and militarized settlements, or Kibbutz, which in their totality comprised an important part of the Gaza barrier system, as a massive act of terrorism, likening it to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks against the United States. Israel supports this characterization by citing the number of persons killed (some 1,200, a downward revision issued by Israel after realizing that 200 of the dead were Palestinian fighters) and detailing a wide variety of atrocities it claims were perpetrated by Hamas, including mass rape, the beheading of children, and the wonton murder of unarmed Israeli civilians.
The problem with the Israeli claims is that they are demonstrably false or misleading. Nearly a third of the Israeli casualties consisted of military, security, and police officers. Moreover, it turns out that the number one killer of Israelis on October 7 wasn’t Hamas or other Palestinian factions, but the Israeli military itself. Recently released video shows Israeli Apache helicopters indiscriminately firing on Israeli civilians trying to flee the Supernova Sukkot Gathering held in the open desert near Kibbutz Re’im, the pilots unable to distinguish between the civilians and the Hamas fighters. Many of the vehicles that the Israeli government has shown as an example of Hamas perfidy were destroyed by the Israeli Apache helicopters.